Debris managment

[kiwiak]

Upcoming update will feature reputation (and money) in career mode.

I think way we deal with our debris coudl be linked with that.

Leaving empty boosters in low orbit shoudl decrease our reputation. People are scared of kessler syndrome. Also, dropping debris on certain areas when kerbalals live/consider as sacred shoudl do the same. Its best option to toss it into ocean.

[technicalfool]

Interesting idea. I'm wondering how well it will work when people set the debris slider to zero though?

Maybe perhaps you don't get so much a penalty for leaving debris, as a bonus for NOT leaving debris, while debris is not set to zero?

[NWM]

I think there is no need of this, exception: if it is radioactive(pl. NERVA) - and espsecially if it impacts to Kerbin!

[Atoning Unifex]

I've often felt like a bit of a cheat simply setting the debris slider to zero as I guess I should be responsible for my debris, I still do set it to 0 though! This mechanic might be something interesting to try out perhaps, especially if it removed the slider 'cheat', forcing me to deal with debris.

On the other hand orbits will never decay, hence some parts will never re-enter the atmo. Parts that do enter the atmo will always impact, until heat effects are in play. What about debris scattered on other planets too?

Also I wouldn't want to have to spend time 'fiddling about' trying to get rid of debris.

[Raven.]

One idea is to have a "Debris Score" saved in the saved game file independent of the debris slider control. Every time you leave a piece of debris it gets counted against you in your saved game. This value doesn't need to be visible to the player; it's just a value that is saved that is used to help calculate reputation. So even if you go into the menu and set the slider to zero, you still have the negative score from the twenty somewhat pieces of debris you left in LKO.

[JimmyAgent007]

Maybe with that Debris Score idea we can have contracts that spawn a piece of junk that you have left and pay you to de-orbit it. That way even with the slider at 0 you still have stuff to clear. Or something along those lines.

[nholzric]

There's a fatal flaw in your suggestion:

...People are scared of kessler syndrome...

I'm pretty sure Kerbals look forward to the cascade.

[coolitic]

Erm, since there is no orbital decay, parts would not fall back to kerbin.

[RSwordsman]

I like the idea of a bonus for limiting debris. But I do oppose penalties for leaving it; it's not always fair. For instance, there have been a few occasions where I've had landers survive contact with the surface of a world, but are non-returnable. In those cases, I have little choice but to extract the crew and leave the lander there. But I don't want a junked lander cluttering up my tracking screen, so before departure, I change the icon on the craft from whatever it was to "debris." I prefer to leave it than to unrealistically delete it from existence.

There was also one time I sent up a space station core that was just a docking hub, no probe. It was absolutely a bad idea (as one clunked docking attempt left it in an unstoppable spin) but debris can serve purposes if installed on purpose. There is too much of a reasonable doubt about it for me to consider it all waste that is best avoided.

Edited February 6, 2014 by RSwordsman

[Serratus]

Sorry but this idea seems unreasonable to me. Look at Earth. I'm pretty sure no one except a very small group of ppl are scarred of debris falling from orbit even tho there are tons flying over our heads every day. Besides there are players like myself who like to have big debris rings for realism and additional challange. Don't penalyze me for it!

I do think that debris falling to LAND could make your reputation fall. That would be a bit more realistic and would incline ppl to plan flights so that scrap falls to water. Then again if spend stages were to land on parachutes on land there shouldn't be any penalty.

All in all it seems like reputation would be more related to things going as planned rather then anything else. But how would the game know if something was or wasn't part of my plan?

[John FX]

I`d like craft with the `debris` label to degrade their orbit in atmosphere on rails, possibly with this as an option in settings (degrade/no degrade)

Not flights, just debris.

I don`t like the idea that debris has penalties other than there being lots of debris.

[Bobe]

I like the idea of a bonus for limiting debris. But I do oppose penalties for leaving it; it's not always fair.

I agree.

Perhaps a per-mission debris bonus could reward more proactive debris reduction techniques. Successfully returning a piece of debris could yield a bonus score or reputation points proportionate to the cost of the part.

For example, say you launch a rocket with two SRBs that cost 1000 "whatevers" each. Separating and letting them fall back to the surface would reward you 5% of the cost (100 total). Having them fall into water would be 10%. "Soft" landings with parachutes would yield 15% and 20% for land and water respectively.