Discoverable 'Things'

[BBcokeley]

Hi guys, first post here ive played this now for about 200 hours since Dec, and I am playing career with no mods, I was wondering if this has been discussed before, as I visit the discussion board quite often (daily) and decided to register and create a topic, this may be controversial, an some what unrealistic, but instead of randomly generating planets/surfaces, why not small/large objects like alien craft/artefacts shallow caves (for science samples or 'bonus tech' from a material sample) which could give a boost in science/rocket tech, and general excitement as one orbits a planet and sees some fuzzy object lying on a planet/moon that they have not been to, this would also put more 'Discovery' into the game as apposed to just the rocket science.

Just a suggestion, id like some opinions on this, and will try to respond to all answers, and talk on this subject asap, as I am currently 'in work'......

and the bosses are lurking...

cheers guys.

[Mazon Del]

Greetings!

I believe this has been suggested before, and I certainly would like such things however there are a few problems with what was listed.

First is that last I heard SQUAD has said that there will be no aliens in KSP, and this extends to alien craft and artifacts, which makes me a little sad, but oh well.

Additionally, for caves, this has also been suggested and from others have said that they cannot make caves due to how the planet models work, it is a game engine problem. There have been suggestions about having the "roof" be a part, much like how the SPOILER (r-i-n-g-s) /SPOILER are allowed to exist. But I have not heard anything concrete about them trying this.

I would love to see wreckage of other Kerbal endevours, like the forward/rear half of a large-ish ship floating in a gentle tumble in orbit around Duna.

[technicalfool]

I'm wondering if you've found any of the anomalies yet? There's quite a few dotted around the Kerbol system if you know where to look. Mun Arches and the Neil Armstrong memorial, pyramids, SSTV transmissions, a dead kraken and other strangeness awaits the curious traveller already! The SCANsat (and ISA Mapsat) mods can help you find the rough locations in a sort of realistic way, by using satellites in polar orbits to sweep over the body you're orbiting around to build up a map.

Currently there's no extra science that you can gain from doing experiments in the vicinity of an anomaly, though I'd definitely like that bit in particular to change.

Oh, for your first anomaly, try looking around KSC, north of the runway. It's small, it's black and it's somewhat monolithic. It's not full of stars though.

[Deathsoul097]

alien craft/artefacts shallow caves

I don't know if you know if you know this, but these are in the game. <Spoiler>

There is a crashed UFO on the Mun, and another on the edge of Kerbin's Northern Ice flats. There used to be (And possibly still is) a small cave system on Moho.

</Spoiler> Along with a whole load of other artifacts such as the:

VallHenge.

Duna SSTV Pyramid.

Kerbin's Pyramids.

Monoliths, scattered around the system.

Magic Boulder, a small rock orbiting over Ike.

Giant Kerbal Face on Duna.

Carl Sagan's face on a mountain on Tylo.

Dead Kraken on Bop.

A Neil Armstrong Memorial, in the rough shape of a LM on the Mun, roughly at the same co-ordinates of the first Moonlanding, IRL.

Curiosity's camera, buried on the surface of Duna.

[BLUESTREAK]

I'm all for this concept, but in a way that makes sense within the context of the game - things that are relatively easy to find, evenly distributed and rewarding. Say, for example, that you're EVAing on the mun... at the moment, it's a case of hop out, take a surface sample, stick in a flag, jump back in, job jobbed. If I've got a rover it's realistically only so I can go to a nearby biosphere to do very much the same from a science point of view (discounting the natural desire to do doughnuts or drive off the edge of craters, of course). So far, so standard.

So... what if, on the way to the next biosphere, I see something interesting? An unusual rock, for example? Out I hop, pick it up, and up flashes the ol' science text box saying something along the lines of "Odd... A quartz rock in a silica region - what's this doing here, I wonder?" (+10 Science), or words to that effect. Evenly distributed at random on the surface of a planetary body, with an occurrence of 1 per square kilometer or so. In effect, small items within the context of the game that are rare enough to be unusual when you find them, but not so rare as to stop people deliberately searching, exploring, and generally nosing about. You probably won't find one but it's a nice surprise when you do. It also helps prevent the grind of checking off every biosphere on a surface and running the familiar routine: "Crew report? Check. Surface Sample? Check. Mystery goo, Science Junior, instruments? Check, check, double check. Right, done. Ah well, no need to ever come back to the Midlands again..."

There's always a reason to explore. and keep going back. And keep launching.

[Nemrav]

Its certainly possible to have a cave, you just make a mesh and place it on the terrain, like a mun arch.

maybe it could be "recover technology lost by a previous space agency" that was successful but then flopped. that might be a workaround to the no aliens problem.

But ya I LIKE.

[Luis]

Contracts could even provide hints for where to start looking. "We need you to search for the wreckage of one of our probes that crashed near Ike's north pole, so we can recover the science." or "See if you can find one of the glowing radioactive rocks that our geologists have predicted might exist in the middle of Mun's largest craters." That sort of thing.

I'd love it if this were in the game. Specific landing targets make for much more interesting landings and provide a real reason to bring a rover.

[BBcokeley]

Its great to see this discussion, I was unaware of many of these anomalies already in the game, I have somewhat orbited many moons and planets and have yet to come across any of them mentioned previously, I wonder if it is graphically impossible to see them with an orbit of around 30k?

Any ways nice too see some interest, as for the caves, I did not mean them to be literal, just like some raised mountain with concave area, not a full blown cave.

as for alien ship, its only alien if the kerbals have no idea where it came from I suppose, on the other and, taking 'Ship Sample' would probably leave a foot print of where it came from, probably kerbal, as a secret privately funded space project, just trying to throw some ideas into the mix basing them on possible events.

[Stargate525]

I'd like to see the anomalies be their own biome, similar to the way 'runway,' 'launchpad,' and 'KSC' are now.

[Atoning Unifex]

Its great to see this discussion, I was unaware of many of these anomalies already in the game, I have somewhat orbited many moons and planets and have yet to come across any of them mentioned previously, I wonder if it is graphically impossible to see them with an orbit of around 30k?

No way will you see these anomalies from that far up. I doubt they're rendered at that distance, but even if they were they'd be far too small to spot.

As suggested earlier try out SCANsat, here. It provides a number of terrain scanning tools that have different resolutions and pick up different things like biome maps and anomalies. There is even a specific scanner for identifying the name of the anomaly from the game data (if you get close enough). It's a WIP but has given me no issues.

Having them provide bonus science is problematic though. Once you know where they are it becomes easy to get these bouses each game, which unbalances the game economy, or (if their discovery is required) then it makes it difficult for new players to find these miniscule structures. If something such as the scanner became stock this might get around one issue, and perhaps random anomaly placement could get around the other.

[BBcokeley]

I'd like to see the anomalies be their own biome, similar to the way 'runway,' 'launchpad,' and 'KSC' are now.

Exactly this is what I was thinking, visual things though, like the runway and all that.

Thanks for summing this up easier

[technicalfool]

No way will you see these anomalies from that far up.

You can, or at least you used to be able to. It's like spotting a needle in a haystack though. First time I found the Neil Armstrong memorial was without any kind of Mapsat or SCANsat mod. I just spotted a twinkling pixel from orbit and wondered what was down there.

Anyway, just like biomes, there's no reason to make it so you keep getting full science every time you go to the same anomaly. Give the land for a very short distance around them its own biome. Job done.

How this would work for the magic boulder might be trickier, but the same mechanic can apply. You've scanned it and got science from all available instruments. Great. Now onto the next anomaly.

[Shna_na]

I would love to see wreckage of other Kerbal endevours, like the forward/rear half of a large-ish ship floating in a gentle tumble in orbit around Duna.

Contracts could even provide hints for where to start looking. "We need you to search for the wreckage of one of our probes that crashed near Ike's north pole, so we can recover the science." or "See if you can find one of the glowing radioactive rocks that our geologists have predicted might exist in the middle of Mun's largest craters." That sort of thing.

I'd love it if this were in the game. Specific landing targets make for much more interesting landings and provide a real reason to bring a rover.

I'd like to see the anomalies be their own biome, similar to the way 'runway,' 'launchpad,' and 'KSC' are now.

This. All of this. Biomes for anomalies, science from anomalies, nice little informationy-thingies from anomalies, and little hints to them in contracts. I also think there should be some competition (tweakable for difficulty) such as another space association. This would give incentives and open up new things such as the whole idea of publicity and other rewarding things that make adventure more fun. In the Tracking Station, there could be an option to push a button to see what the other agency/agencies are doing but display them in a different colour (while KSP's is white, one could be green, another blue, etc.).

[RedDwarfIV]

A cave network could be done using the 'roof' method, by putting it in a generated crater. That would be interesting, but only something likely to appear on planets like Kerbin, Laythe and Eve where there are liquids that could cause erosion.

Tylo has a cave apparently, but it doesn't show on MapSat, is on Tylo [meaning VERY hard to get to], and isn't much more than a large rock with three connecting holes in it.

[Shna_na]

A cave network could be done using the 'roof' method, by putting it in a generated crater. That would be interesting, but only something likely to appear on planets like Kerbin, Laythe and Eve where there are liquids that could cause erosion.

Tylo has a cave apparently, but it doesn't show on MapSat, is on Tylo [meaning VERY hard to get to], and isn't much more than a large rock with three connecting holes in it.

Any celestial body with an atmosphere would also suffer from erosion. That increases the list to Kerbin, Eve, Duna, Laythe.

Also, a problem with the 'roof method' you mentioned. While they could create a separate model for the cave and put it into the world on the side of a mountain, the interior would be inaccessible. The original ground model will block off the entrance, leaving essentially an arch of rock embedded into the side of a mountain.

[technicalfool]

Also, a problem with the 'roof method' you mentioned. While they could create a separate model for the cave and put it into the world on the side of a mountain, the interior would be inaccessible. The original ground model will block off the entrance, leaving essentially an arch of rock embedded into the side of a mountain.

That's not a problem with the roof method. It's precisely what the roof method gets around.

Have a nice deep crater. Put a roof on it. Put your entrance in the roof.

[Shna_na]

That's not a problem with the roof method. It's precisely what the roof method gets around.

Have a nice deep crater. Put a roof on it. Put your entrance in the roof.

That's a valid point. My hat is now firmly tilted in accordance to your current position.

[NWM]

Why alien artifacts? Lack of immagination?

Pod in the abandoned airfield -> bonus to spacepod

Floating monolit of minmus -> bonus superconductors

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