Rival Space Program(s)

[plainawesome]

You know how NASA had to compete with the Soviets in the Space Race? Why can't we do the same thing, but with more things to do and play with? Here's how I would see it:

When you create a new game, sandbox or career, there is a little box in the bigger create save box that shows how many rival space programs you want to compete with for fame, reputation, popularity, and money in said save file. The default would be 0 and you can set it to however high Squad wants it to be (that is if they ever go forth with this idea . For now though, let's say the limit is 4 rival space programs. So you select how many rivals you want, let's say 1, and then in the same create save box there is a horizontal slider across the bottom of the create save box about the length of the box itself, this controls the difficulty (or how fast the rival space program(s) progress) with the left side being the easiest difficulty and the right side can be the hardest. This slider may be also used for setting how much money you start out with, how much money you get from missions, and etc. Anyway, say you set it to normal, or medium and then you create your save.

You are in your new save file, you play around for a bit. To see how your rival space program is doing, you can go to the mission control building and have a look at their "intel". There, you can see how your rivals are doing, you can see what ships they are building what publicity they are getting,how much money they are getting from grants, and what new missions they are planning, that they may or may not reveal to the public. If they are doing better than you, and they are planning a new mission, you can sabotage it in some ways.

There are two ways to sabotage their launch, at least from what I can come up with. The first way is to do it yourself. You can quickly throw together a rocket or spaceplane, launch it, and crash it into the rival's rocket just as they are about to launch. This seems a little bit on the dark side, but desperate times do call for desperate measures, or maybe you might get a kick out of it, I don't know. The craft can be manned or robotic. I believe it should be robotic because when kerbals come to investigate the crash site and they find a body and you're the only other space program out there, you get accused and your program gets shut down. That is also why you must ensure that all parts of the craft are completely obliterated or else they might trace the parts back to you. Another way is to pay someone at the other space center(s) a lot of money and I mean a LOT to have them "accidentally" mess up the mission in some way (make a "mistake" in wiring the ship or maybe have one of the launch mechanisms fail causing the launch to fail, as well as the mission. This also comes with it's risks. For instance, the guy you hired may squeal to law enforcement either voluntarily or by force, so you can may extra Kash to "ensure" that doesn't happen. The sabotage thing seems a bit weird, but hey, there is a little bit of corruption in almost everything!

That was my suggestion! If you have anything to add to this, want to share a thought, or just tell me "Great idea!" please feel free to reply to the thread. I really do hope Squad puts this into the game, or at least have someone make it into a mod, but I would probably jackpot the lottery before that happens! Anyway, thanks for reading here and have a nice rest of your day!

Edited June 10, 2014 by plainawesome
Minor typo.

[Red Iron Crown]

I greatly dislike the idea of factions in competition, violent or not. I like that the only "enemies" are physics and the perils of space. I would be very disappointed if KSP became a game about "beating" others, whether AI or human controlled.

[plainawesome]

Well, like I said, the player can have no rivals in the save file the decision is up to them.

[Red Iron Crown]

Still takes development time to implement, test and maintain; these resources could be spent on other features. If it was up to me this wouldn't be something added to the game. Just my opinion, though.

[rtxoff]

i have the same opinion like Red Iron Crow, i do not like it.

[plainawesome]

Well, this feature doesn't exactly have to be top priority, and besides, I thought a little bit of competition wouldn't hurt.

[SirZortron]

I think that another way you could sabotage their launch is to launch first. Basically, if they get the job to land on Minmus and get back you could just do it first and get the reward. Or, the other "company" fails their launch with out your interaction giving you the job instead.

[Vindelle_Sunveam]

I do not like the idea of KSP becoming an arcade game. With KMP to be implemented, I like the idea of collaborating.

Because that is what the space community does.

Wether it is research or business, all space operations stands on organisations helping each other, collaborating as tightly as possible to harness the perils of space. the space race is a thing, yes, but is is not the era that gave us the most, nor the best. It was ****ing cold war, and I don't want a game that promotes exploration and space boldness to bear the ideals of the cold war.

We have enough games to do it, and plenty others will come to fill that market while jolly science and collaboration is ever so rarely put in the spotlight of the gaming industry.

I know that what I tell you might be a bit heavy compared to the fact that "it's just a game", but that is what happens when I think a game is that unique. I care for it's influence.

[Moss]

My friend and I picked up KSP at the same time, and therefore started competing to see who could get to the mun first. His space program became the "rival" of mine. I liked the thrill of the competition, and I think if an AI opponent were introduced after "scope completion" as an expansion it would definitely enrich the experience.

[Seshins]

I can see both sides of the coin. While i like the idea of selectable AI, its not true to what KSP is, and doesn't really mirror the spirit and collaboration that exists today.

[Tw1]

I do not like the idea of KSP becoming an arcade game.

Agreed, (This is one of my complaints about the way science currently works.). I would not be a fan of a rival, or any other space programs in the game, I like the idea of KSC being something for all kerbals of the planet, not just one nation or group. But, separate, collaborative/rival programs could be interesting mods, or, dare I say it.... expansions.

[plainawesome]

I suppose that there could be a way that two different space organizations could work together to make one rocket.

[Kasuha]

I don't see much of a point of this feature for single player, there are enough 'real time strategy' games where you battle an AI and these AIs usually can't compare with real players even if they get huge head start.

I think all of the proposed will be available for free in some form in KSP multiplayer, too.

[wasmic]

It could be fun as a multiplayer gamemode where each player had a seperate space program, and seperate launch sites. However, I don't think it's worth it for singleplayer vs. AI.

[Pulstar]

I'd rather have not so much an AI as simply NPC spacecraft here and there as "fluff". Random "rival" flags popping up on celestial bodies over time, a contract to create and dock a lab module to a joint space station, leftover landers or surfaces bases on other worlds, orbiters and satellites, the occasional stranded kerbonauts. The designs for those could be taken from the community, kind of like with the logo contest.

With the contract system there's quite a few things you can do with NPC spacecraft. You can have a for instance a Duna mission mimicking Mars direct where the organization giving the contract has a working kerbin return vehicle already on Duna's surface, they just volunteers and somebody (you) to send some kerbals to Duna to the vehicle.

Or you could have somebody (the friendly neighborhood kethane karthel?) give you a mission to test their refueling platform by docking with it. Or missions to recover stranded probes with no antenna or just the data the probes collected.

Quite a few things you could do with just spawning NPC crafts in random (or not so random) orbits or places on the surface.

Edited June 11, 2014 by Pulstar