Ferroflame Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 It would be cool to see comets in the game that you could intercept and orbit! Like the Rossetta spacecraft irl. If you were to implement them though, there should also be a definite SOI around Kerbol that you could exit and reenter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moss Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 I'm going to scream yes as loud as I can before this thread gets closed. Comets would be amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tery215 Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Would enjoy procedural minmusses.Though, what would you do out of the SOI? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferroflame Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 Collect the scientific data outside the helioshpere I guess? In theory they could just set one final distance boundary before you're considered outside the SOI, and then I guess your craft could just exist there until you either blew it up or brought it back..? Or maybe lose contract because of the great distance? It's space; that area would just continue forever sort of like it already does in game... It would just add one last boundary. How hard could it be to track the distance from Kerbol? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric S Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 I think you may be confused on just what an SoI is. It's not some demarcation line between what's in the solar system and what is interstellar space. It's a matter of being the dominant gravitational force within the sun's own SoI. This means that in order to leave the SoI of Kerbin's sun (the name Kerbol is one the players gave it, the devs just refer to it as "the sun"), there would have to be a gravitational force stronger than that of the sun at that point, meaning you'd then be in orbit of whatever mass(es) create that gravitational force. In the case of Sol, it would be the theorized super-black-hole at the center of our galaxy.If a comet were to cross the sun's SoI, it probably wouldn't be coming back within the lifetime of the kerbal race. Comets that come back (all of them that I'm aware of) are in orbit around the sun but completely within the SoI, though many (actually most, I think) of them have an apoapsis outside the heliosphere.To give you an idea of the difference, Voyager has passed outside the heliosphere (currently what NASA is using for demarkation between the solar system and interstellar space) at a distance of 120 AU. One AU is just over 8 light minutes, so 120 AU would be less than 17 light hours. Sol's hill sphere has been estimated to have a radius of about a light year, which is quite a bit more than that.While I have nothing against the devs adding comets to the game, we won't be leaving the SoI of Kerbin's sun until said sun is no longer the center of the kerbal's universe, and even then, it's going to take either a heck of a lot of time warp or some kind of warp drive to leave the SoI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seshins Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 I also vote a resounding yes to comets. Also waiting for word on the so called observatory gameplay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r4pt0r Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 in case this gets closed i too lend support. i want as many real life missions as possible to be recreated in ksp for my entertainment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky_walker Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 What not to suggest.Nearly every topic about comets got closed for that reason. Expect incoming doom.Never the less: +1 to the comets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r4pt0r Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 i would think a comet that has apoapsis twice the distance of jool, and has a periapsis between kerbin and eve, and an inclination of like 30 degrees or more would be a great challenge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferroflame Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 Thanks for clearing that up! I wasn't entirely sure on the distinction between the two.In any case, a helisphoere or some sort of final boarder with collectable science would be pretty cool. Maybe have some kind of instance with nearby detectable asteroids around the area that you could either scan or ignore or intercept or whatever? Something kinda similar to the asteroids that are generated around Kerbin? I think the Kerbol system could use an asteroid-belt or two. Something analogous to the Kupier Belt and/or the Oort Cloud. I dunno, but the more features the better imo.Stuff that far our could be explored by a kind of "fire and forget for a while" probe that you could launch, get it on the desired path, and then you simply forget about it while you're doing other missions around the solar system. The devs could do that if they would implement a "smart timer" or alarm/alert system of some kind to tell you when moments of interest occur, and you may want to check back on your probe. That same system could also be useful for preventing time warp from going past your maneuver node while you're controlling the vehicle, or alerting you if any other craft you've launched and forgot is about to encounter its maneuver node.It could be really useful once there are missions with time requirements and such. Plus it could give your craft some secondary targets after completing a mission or maybe after you mess a mission up. It'll happen more once they implement parts breaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferroflame Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 I hope this thread doesn't get closed. :[ It seems like this is a pretty sweet idea. If they do decide to put them in... (hint hint) ;) Be sure and make it so we can land on them, even if it means making new specific parts. Look to all the real space missions, because THOSE are what we want to do! Check out Philae! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philae_%28spacecraft%29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BudgetHedgehog Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 (edited) Just to make sure..You are aware that 0.23.5 includes asteroids that you can intercept, grab, get science from and do stuff with, right? Granted, they only occur near Kerbin and not streaking across the entire solar system (how would you even intercept that?), but they seem to be pretty much what you're suggesting. The only difference appears to be the orbits and the name. Edited June 21, 2014 by ObsessedWithKSP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Iron Crown Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 I'd prefer to have comets that are redirectable objects like asteroids rather than on-rails bodies like planets or moons. Definitely needs a tail that becomes more prominent the closer it gets to the sun.Comet trivia: After passing periapsis, a comet's tail swings around and flows ahead of it as it heads out of the inner solar system. The tail always points away from the Sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r4pt0r Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 idk, a comet on rails, half the size of gilly and with an appropriate super small soi, orbiting at a very high inclination, and a very high eccentricity would be really fun to try to encounter. but it would need special comet effects and spiked landinggear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric S Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 In any case, a helisphoere or some sort of final boarder with collectable science would be pretty cool.I do think the best way to implement the heliosphere (and oort cloud, if they go that far) would be as additional altitudes for experiments that only stars have, with a high science multipler and possibly even new experiments that can only be done at this new altitude. Not sure how practical visiting the oort cloud would be, the far side of the oort cloud is right up against the hill sphere, and I don't know how thick the oort cloud is.It'll happen more once they implement parts breaking.If you're talking about random breakdowns, the devs have no intention of implementing that, and I've heard nothing from the devs about giving parts a lifespan.This thread tickled my curiosity, so I did a little research, and there are in fact comets that come from outside Sol's hill sphere. In fact, there's one passing close enough to Mars later this year that it's remotely possible (1 in 600 chance was the last update I found) that it will impact Mars. There's also a few classifications of comets, depending on how long their orbit is and sometimes on other characteristics. The ones that can repeat at less than 200 year intervals are short period comets believed to come from the Kupier Belt and don't make it back out above the heliosphere, whereas the long period comets are believed to come from the Oort Cloud and have much higher periapse. Short period comets further get broken down into Jupiter class comets (an orbital period under 20 years) and Haley class comets, with orbital periods between 20 and 200 years. There's also a class of comet called main belt comets that mostly stay within the asteroid belt, though more modern theory argues that these are actually asteroids with a dust trail rather than an actual outgassing comet. Exocomets are comets that came from outside Sol's hill sphere and are probably going back there.The Haley comet itself seems to be the only short period comet that's visible to the naked eye, and it's also one of the few celestial objects in a retrograde orbit. Short period comets tend to be close to the ecliptic plane, whereas long period comets can come from any direction (given that, I suspect that the bulk of celestial objects in a retrograde orbit are long period comets). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technicalfool Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 There have been a number of threads suggesting comets already. Personally I'd like the idea.However, as there have been a number of suggestions for this feature already:Someone should perhaps add comets to the Already Suggested list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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