H20 and Colonization

[Pthigrivi]

So this is an idea I've been thinking about for a few months now, namely a real-world way of making colonization simple and fun by adding H20 as an off-world resource. It could come in 2 forms, ice formations in deep craters and poles, and surface water around geysers. It could also perhaps be extracted from some off-world bodies of water like the oceans of Laythe. This water could be scanned and mapped from orbit, and would be limited enough to require some precision landing of heavy equipment. Once located, it could be extracted and refined into LFO using electricity, just as future real-life missions plan to. My idea is to not just have this provide fuel, but service life support as well.

New Parts:

H20 Detector: A long antenna used for mapping sources of H20 on other worlds, either from orbit or with rovers. Science could be earned from detecting it. Similarly, retrieving surface samples of water would have a science multiplier.

Drill rig: This should be an armature, perhaps 1.25m, and once a craft has landed it could be deployed, orienting and drilling into the ground directly below it. It should draw a decent amount of power, perhaps 2 gigantors to operate.

Electrolyzer: This should be a large and very heavy component, and should draw a lot of power to operate at full capacity, perhaps 4 gigantors at kerbin. Its basic purpose is to convert water and electricity into LFO. Once attached and operating, LFO tanks could be filled via right-click either from water tanks or directly from the drill rig.

Life Support Canisters: These should come in an array of sizes and shapes, in-line and radial. Each would could hold 3 resources, Oxygen, Water, and Snacks. Each will deplete slowly over time based on the number of Kerbals in the attached craft. As with electricity and monopropellant, crew modules could hold some small, nominal quantity of each as well. For the purpose of flexible mining operations, there should probably also be water-only tanks in a few sizes.

Greenhouses: Likewise with Electrolyzers these should be large and heavy. Like science modules they should also require 2 Kerbals to operate. Their main purpose is to use electricity (or sunlight when oriented properly) to convert water and oxygen into snacks. I imagine these could come in two forms, a 2.5m cylinder which rotates automatically like solar cells to face the sun, and a 3.75m glass dome. Inside I like the idea of banks of little plants that seem to grow pop-corn straight off the stalk. While operating, the snacks component of life support canisters could be filled via right click.

Fuel Cell: This should be a medium sized part primarily for on-the-fly resource conversion for long missions. A vessel with one on board could produce electricity and H20 from liquid fuel and O2.

I know there's been a lot of talk about these things in the past, but I think this could be an elegant way of accomplishing a number of things, and would add a huge level of late-game dimension to the game, and make real colonization fun and practical. I think it also opens a number of cool opportunities for clever resource juggling and real problem solving without a maddening number of variables to consider, and ties into real-world ideas about the future of colonization.

I know there is a lot for the devs to work on before worrying about this. Just an idea

Edited July 2, 2014 by Pthigrivi

[LethalDose]

This is actually extremely similar to the basics of a resource mod that we tried to get rolling back around December (collect water ice, electrolyze into fuel and oxidizer, integration with life support mods, etc). Didn't really go anywhere.

On the plus side, it's simple, realistic (or at least "believable") and would be fun. I totally support the collection of simple molecules (e.g. H2O, H2, CO2, NH3) from planets and asteroids to be used as substrates for more complex molecules/resources (e.g. CH4, monoprop, food) as part of the stock game.

Alas, this is posted as a "Suggestion" and I'm pretty sure this is gonna fall under the WNTS list since I think both resource collection and life support are on said list. Expect the thread to get locked when a mod sees it, as previous suggestions like this have been locked. Or not, they're not exactly known for their consistency.

Edited July 2, 2014 by LethalDose

[Pthigrivi]

This very well may get locked. I know there's prohibitions on these topics but I've been on this board a long time and hadn't seen this idea of combining these two ideas before.

Edited July 2, 2014 by Pthigrivi

[sal_vager]

It's not so much a prohibition as exasperation, "oh gods not this subject again!"

If the thread stays civil and does not devolve into the usual grumbling for resources then it's fine

[Red Iron Crown]

I like the idea of adding H2O as a sort of "universal resource." It can be electrolysized into LFO, it can be made into H2O2 for a monopropellant, and H2O itself would make a reasonable simplified life support resource. It's a simple, elegant way to add rudimentary resource harvesting and life support without adding a bunch of new resources.

I'm sure some people want more depth/realism to both the resource system and the life support system, and that's fine. My personal opinion is that the stock game should be reasonably simple to remain approachable to new players; leave the more complex stuff to mods.

[MKI]

I feel that ever expanding list on what not to auggest , is too limiting of discussion and i appreciate how not every threads gets instant locked.

The main basis of all of this is again life support which itself needs to be implemented before anything more fancy comes. Such as your suggested resource gathering and colonization.

I'm a big advocator of implementing a life support mechanic, even a simple one would introduce a huge new gameplay system within the game. It would also open the door of newer things such as this.

First things first, we need life support support before resource gathering for colonization.

[Pthigrivi]

Oh I hear you. And I know I'm skating kind of a fine line on the already-suggested list.. thanks Sal for letting me squeak by for now And yeah I hadn't thought about monopropellant, but I imagine you could refine that from the electrolyzer as well, perhaps just less efficiently? Or maybe using the fuel cell to combine LFO (but more O) makes more sense? Id love for there to be a real-life feel to it but honestly its mostly about the gameplay, being able to, say, bring extra fuel and covert it into life support with fuel-cells and greenhouses in flight.

As far as priorities go I'm all for getting the core game established and fixing things like aerodynamics first. This might not even be considered until they start thinking about expansions.

Edited July 2, 2014 by Pthigrivi