Pthigrivi Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 (edited) Im pretty against having like intelligent 'alien' species, but what do people think about microbes? maybe flora and fauna? little plants and critters on some worlds you could catch and stick in a container on EVA and return to Kerbin for science? Is that too hokey? Or for a game with little green wall-eyed astronauts is it exactly hokey enough?Is this nuanced enough not to be a 'this has been discussed' locked thread?If not forgive me Im late to the party Edited March 20, 2014 by AmpsterMan Merged posts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartGonzo Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I like the idea of little critters, those strange formations on Pol look like little critter homes to me.As for the whole this should not be discussed stuff, as long as people aren't hassling Squad over stuff that they have said they don't want to do, I don't think you should be told what you can or can't discuss with other forum members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tychochallenge Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Ive heard plenty of forum posts about extrakerbular life but not that many on the microbe idea(in fact I very much like that idea too:P). There will probably be more types of plants on Kerbin soon(hopefully entire forests), but the devs said that NPCs will not be (and probably not ever) implemented. And besides, KSP is a spaceflight simulator not a game where you chase critters around. Well, at least not until other solar systems are added(which won't be anytime soon). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemrav Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I remember a thread < a month ago about this kind of thing... microbial life and what it boiled down to was "sure europa is one of the most probable locations, but we haven't discovered life there" and "how realistic is this anyways ?" instead of how it would be implemented, how it might effect users etc. but yes keep the marvin the martian type of alien out of the thread if you don't want a moderator to smite this thread... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pthigrivi Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 (edited) Haha it's true. But I really like that the goal of the game has become about the collection of science. I guess I'd been thinking they would not be prevalent, only in certain biomes on a few worlds, but once you'd landed in that biome they would not be terribly hard to find or catch. This could encourage things like manned rovers. I'm thinking they could be implemented when they add ground scatter, just small plants, fungi, crustaceans or even little jellyfish and mudpuppy kinds of things.If we were only thinking microbes it wouldn't even require animation, just included in the results when you take surface samples. Edited March 19, 2014 by Pthigrivi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tychochallenge Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 There is already ground scatter, go to graphics in settings page and turn on ground scatter, and you will see trees(and cactus(desert), bushes/trees(other biomes) and lots of rocks:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimMartland Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Nope, nope nope. Ok, maybe a science report on water on laythe with a 1/1000 chance of appearing that maybe possibly hints at possible maybe traces of maybe algae. Maybe.But NOTHING ELSE, got it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pthigrivi Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 Id tend to think the focus of development would be making the gameplay better. Period. I mean theres a certain cartoony fantasy to this thing, I dont see why we have to be so serious about a game where little green men fly canisters of mystery goo into space. I dont think there's any like canonical principle that says everything in the kerbal system is definitively dead. Im just thinking of what would make the play experience more rich, more fun, more rewarding, without going so far as to make things silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazhat Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Well there was that alien in the video squad posted but I am not sure that counts. I think some kind of life on other worlds would be great. Like algae or something small. Definitely not alien cities or something (apart from the kerbals of course). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenchant Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 That alien in the video looked more like a regular squid-thingy I wouldn't be adverse to hints of microscopic life in the science reports or elsewhere, as long as it doesn't stretch the suspension of disbelief too much. Macroscopic critters or plants... nope, at least not yet, but some animals on Kerbin, although IIRC confirmed not to be in the game, would be nice:p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RocketScientist00 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Hey, I had a thread like that in the past, but they totally rejected it. But some didn't. But, I don't have the microbe things discussed there. I think it will be awesome having extrakerbestrial life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tygoo7 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I really like the idea of this. I don't want intelligent life forms. I would love to be on Laythe chasing little squids (from that video) around to put in a jar FOR SCIENCE!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accelerando Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 LISTEN to me, I have BIG LETTERS shouting BOLD COMMANDS at you. You'd BETTER LISTEN to what I HAVE TO SAY with regards to my STRONG BELIEFSCheck yourself before you wreck yourselfIndeed, OP, with life beyond Kerbin bringing new research opportunities, it could add another dimension to research... advancing Kerbal chemical knowledge if you discover microorganisms in a world's crust that purefy ores, for instance... or breathe metals, like some deep-earth bacteria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgey Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Ok. So how would this affect gameplay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legendary Emu Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 The best case scenario: We get to chase little space squid things for science.Worst case scenario: Little space squid things are actually mini Krakens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pthigrivi Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 Yeah I mean even if we were only talking about biomes on laythe with little geysers around which were like stromatolite formations you could right click and take a sample for more science than your average surface sample. From a gameplay standpoint this would make some biomes more valuable than others, encouraging players to make more precise landings, and bring rovers to quickly search broader areas around a landing site for valuable science. I think it would be important to keep this very limited and special, so there was a real challenge in finding it and returning it to Kerbin. As it is now the only comparable thing are the anomalies, which aren't really part of the gameplay as of yet. Theres no scientific value to finding them, just kind of "Oh neat!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorCruz Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Im pretty against having like intelligent 'alien' species, but what do people think about microbes? maybe flora and fauna? little plants and critters on some worlds you could catch and stick in a container on EVA and return to Kerbin for science? Is that too hokey? Or for a game with little green wall-eyed astronauts is it exactly hokey enough?Is this nuanced enough not to be a 'this has been discussed' locked thread?If not forgive me Im late to the party I'm actually for this, maybe if not as vanilla, try getting someone to make this into a mod! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joonatan1998 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I thought laythe had life in its seas.(It has an oxygen atmosphere) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pthigrivi Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 (edited) So just an idea of how it could be implemented. Subsurface Ice: Surface samples taken in Munar polar lowlands, polar regions and craters on Duna, and various biomes on Vall, Tylo, Pol, Bop, Ike, Eeloo and maybe 20% of future asteroids could result in finding subsurface ice. It might also be nice to re-lock moho's rotation and have ice present on the night-side of Moho. Regions with ice could perhaps give a 30-50% science bonus for surface samples, and later could be mined and refined to make LF/O.Liquid water: Found around geysers on Duna, Eve, a few Joolian moons. I dont know if any ocean sample on Eve or Laythe should give the science bonus but it stands to reason. Geysers could be relatively common (within a short rover-ride of any given landing zone) and contained within small isolated biomes. Surface samples near them could result in 80-100% science bonus and later could be refined into LF/O at higher rates than areas with subsurface ice.Fossils: Perhaps found in visible formations in select biomes (maybe slopes?) on Duna, Eve, and Joolian moons. The formations should be relatively rare but visible from a short distance on the surface. Finding and returning fossils to Kerbin could result in an 80-100% science bonus. Microbes: Select geysers, (maybe 20% and only on a few worlds) could be marked with green tops. Taking samples from these could gain a 200% surface sample science bonus. There could also be little stromatolite formations along the coast on Eve and Laythe. There might also be a science bonus for taking an atmospheric analysis near one of these formations?Honestly you could stop right there, but maybe, possibly, there could also be a very small number of biomes with things like snails, worms, small plants, anemones, and the like that could be gathered and returned to Kerbin for big science bonuses. These regions should be rare and hard to get to (maybe 5 small biomes in the whole game) but once reached, a few kerbals with a buggy or rover should be able to buzz around and gather them.Maybe? Something like that? These could also be things that benefitted in some special way from being analyzed in the science lab module. Obviously the science multipliers would have to be carefully balanced, but I think if they only affected surface samples it wouldn't break the game or anything, just give a little extra incentive for real exploration, getting out and about on the surface rather than getting basically an equal science bonus no matter where you take sample from. Edited March 20, 2014 by Pthigrivi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amaroq Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I really like this idea -- I'd find it much more realistic and entertaining to look for microbes in different biomes than to "expose Mystery Goo" to things. For it to work "best", I think it would be a high-reward experiment for difficult missions, e.g., drawing samples from the surface of Laythe, Eve. I'd also suggest that microbial samples would not be transmittable, must be returned to either a Science Station (from where it could be transmitted for a steep penalty) or returned all the way to Kerbin. As a late-game reward, large science values wouldn't be game-breaking, and it would give you a beastly reason to build those Laythe-and-return and Eve-and-return missions. @pthigrivi, your "Fossils" idea is very interesting, especially if kept in the same style -- perhaps "Microbial fossils found in certain Duna biomes" might be an early "teaser" that there IS life out there to find, but no longer on Duna .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pthigrivi Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Just shamelessly bumping an old thread of mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claw Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Yeah, sorry. Alien lifeforms have already been hashed (and kerbals are alien to us after all). Plus necro bumping is ...Anywho, since this is unlikely to happen in stock, perhaps requesting a science add-on is in order.Cheers,~Claw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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