[Suggestion] Mission Functions and Weather

[Walden95]

1/30/12

Hello. Well I might as well first introduce myself being that this is the first time I\'ve spoken here. I\'m Walden95, a longtime lurker of this forum and player of this game since the mid/late-summer of 2011.

Anyways, with the upcoming update including persistence and multi-ship support, I feel that sometime in the not so far off future will become a pretty big fork in terms of where the game will eventually be. I believe that I might as well add my own suggestions.

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1/30/12

Weather in Kerbal Space Program should not just be visual; it should be functional.

- Jet streams - Jet streams should vary in strength. (Depending on distance from star & exposure to it\'s rays) They should force weather to move around a planet, and when 2 opposing steams near close to each other, they should generate swirling motion that can turn into hurricanes over bodies of water. Just like the Giant Red Spot on Jupiter, I think a feature like this could provide unique planets with varying hazard levels. You wouldn\'t want to launch your rocket in the middle of a hurricane, and that hurricane might just force you to delay your mission in several other ways including returning back.

- The first missions in a game, after initially figuring out how to orbit, should be to learn your surroundings. I believe that our satellites should each have their own piratical functions that each build up to the bigger idea of space exploration. At first, it might be a good idea to launch weather satellites that display more accurate information than crude land-based ones. Telescope probes scan the skies in orbit for possible asteroids, moons, planets and even star systems. A telescope stationed on the far side of the Mun might be better suited to finding new objects as the Mun blocks interference from Kerbol. There could also be warning systems placed into effect to track solar flares, but maybe this part seems a little ambitious.

I\'m enjoying reading all of the developer updates and am very exited for what this game will bring in future.

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4/5/12

With the release of version .14 and several addons, a lot has changed. I personally have the Comsat and Mechjeb Autopilot currently installed and am looking at the Powersat addon. In my world a network of Comsats is slowly developing and the issue of optimizing and managing an array of satellites is becoming more of an issue. After many days or months of in-game time, I\'m finding that everything in has to be readjusted. Although I find this realistic and something that I don\'t mind, I do think that better instrumentation to identify orbit angles, pitches, and height of apoptosis and periphrasis is needed. While the autopilot plugin I use does help fill the void, something better is needed.

What we need is

- An ability to accurately locate apoptosis or periphrasis when the two are within meters apart from each other

- A multilayer map-view visual overlay that displays longitudes, latitudes, poles with lines extending beyond the planet, and direction of spinning. Something like the image included below.

- An ability to display orbital inclination, or pitch

- An ability to display distance between satellites in map-view

- (additional non-related) An ability to lock a satellite\'s direction towards or away celestial bodies, like the home Kerbin or Mun, or other satellites so that ascetic communication dishes will always point in the desired direction. It might also be something useful for docking.

Image

[deadshot462]

I like this idea. Satellites should be able to 'map' ground elevations so you can get a more accurate readout on the altimeter for a future landing.

Satellites can also be used for communication. Once crew members can be 'told' what to do, a satellite would be needed to bounce back radio signals efficiently.

[Walden95]

I like this idea. Satellites should be able to 'map' ground elevations so you can get a more accurate readout on the altimeter for a future landing.

Satellites can also be used for communication. Once crew members can be 'told' what to do, a satellite would be needed to bounce back radio signals efficiently.

That is a good idea. In many of my moon missions in versions .12 and .13 were designed to scout out good landing areas. During that period, I took many screenshots so that I could remember those certain spots for the future. Identifying areas late via screenshots was sometimes difficult if I was not so careful in taking the picture during scouting. I did not think of this; but do like it.