Administration Facility - My Theory

[G'th]

So, we know that .25 is going to have the aptly named Administration Facility as one of its additions, which is very mysterious because all we know of it for sure its name.

But I have a theory as to what it might do. The main thing, I think, is that it wont' actually be a new building per say, but a revamp of an old one. Specifically, the Astronaut Complex. As to what it will do, I'm leaning towards Kerbals getting a revamp as well as providing the mechanic of interchanging funds, science, and rep, perhaps with other additions to complement contracts and career mode in general. My reasoning is that because the function of a real spaceport administration facility that would actually make sense to see in the game has everything to do with the astronauts, and everything to do with the running the spaceport.

We know that interchanging F/S/R is coming eventually. We also know that reputation, as it exists in the game right now, is provided by safely returning Kerbals and has little to no function. An administration facility could in fact be an expansion to reputation, and when coupled with a Kerbal revamp (giving them more abilities or making their stats more relevant, etc etc), the buildings purpose could serve as a place to hire new Kerbals and manage them.

So what do you think?

[SpacedCowboy]

Yes, I think "reputation" is going to have a lot more gravity. (no pun intended)

[Renegrade]

We know that interchanging F/S/R is coming eventually. We also know that reputation' date=' as it exists in the game right now, is provided by safely returning Kerbals and has little to no function. An administration facility could in fact be an expansion to reputation, and when coupled with a Kerbal revamp (giving them more abilities or making their stats more relevant, etc etc), the buildings purpose could serve as a place to hire new Kerbals and manage them.

[/quote']

Yeah, I think they were talking about that sort of stuff previously, and I think I recall something vague about 'after 0.24' so.. could very well be.

I hope they can lay down a science nerf though (or at least an option for one. Or a longer tech tree!). I've been playing with that science reduction mod (and avoiding part testing contracts) and having a much more interesting career... I'm afraid of what might happen if we can turn funds or rep into science. Will people finish the tree in ONE launch then?

[Heimdall5008]

Yeah, some of the testing contracts are way more efficient than a complete Kerin science mission. Yesterday a had a contract that gave 260 science for a test "landed at Kerbin". I almost overtook my science carrer (startet in 23.5) with the new carrer and have there only visited the Mun. But yesterday I completed the tech tree in the old save.

As for my theory for the administrative facility: I think maybe the stats of our Kerbonauts will get some meaning. Maybe you can train your Kerbonauts there special skills (depending on their stats), like "auto burn a preset node". AFAIK give meaning to the stats and give the Kerbonauts some skills a also on the improvment list.

[geb]

My guess is that it will be about the construction of buildings. It was always the plan (according to the planned features page) to have you pay for constructing space centre facilities, and paying again to repair them if you crash rockets into your buildings. The savefile format even has support for it, with the ability to turn various buildings on and off.

Maybe career mode in 0.25 will start by buying a launchpad and a VAB?

[SRV Ron]

Given that the possibly of paying for the research into the production of unlocked parts before they can be used, I can see the possibility of the reputation being used for the application and amount of the government grants to be used to pay for said production. The higher the reputation, the easier it will be to get those building funds.

[jros83]

Regarding kerbonaut attributes, I would caution against them having too much of an impact than we would like. Speaking just for myself, I wouldn't enjoy the game to the extent that I enjoy it now if there were undue weight added to overcoming negatives of a crew to pull off a successful or at least non-catastrophic mission, to the point where the game is less about efficient design and control and more about hoping or trying to forestall against a random accident caused by kerbonaut stats.

Some boon/consequence for kerbonaut attributes I would support though. I just wouldn't want the game to be less about design and innovation and more about trying to manage/mitigate/"level up" kerbonauts.

[Sirine]

I thinks its a museum. To publish your old craft.

Edited August 17, 2014 by Sirine

[r4pt0r]

-snip (according to the planned features page)

Just a PSA here, squad does not have a planned features page, other than this https://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/about.php

[jros83]

I thinks its a museum. To publish your old craft.

that would be cool

[cantab]

Maybe you can train your Kerbonauts there special skills (depending on their stats), like "auto burn a preset node". AFAIK give meaning to the stats and give the Kerbonauts some skills a also on the improvment list.

That would be a neat idea. The game could have Mechjeb-like features but with the twist that they're from the Kerbals rather than just an autopilot part. Not sure where that would leave probes - maybe you could assign a Kerbal as "Mission Controller" for the probe core to get the same benefits.

As for the admin building, it could simply be a place to expose the progress tracking that already exists in the savefile.

[SkyRender]

My vote goes for "reputation/funds/science interchange" as a feature, since it's one that we know is coming anyway. Being able to buy and upgrade facilities, however, is going to definitely be a multi-update thing. It's non-trivial to design entire buildings (we had an entire update almost completely dedicated to the Space Center overhaul not that long ago, and that was just one iteration of each building!). The groundwork may be laid with the Administration Facility for it, but I highly doubt it will be particularly robust just yet if it is. As for astronaut training, I'm pretty sure that will actually be an eventual upgrade to the Astronaut Complex, which is pretty barren right now. In fact, my guess would be that (in the long run) the hiring of astronauts will be done at the Administrative Facility, and the training at the Astronaut Complex.

[SkyHook]

I think that the Administration building will have the main purpose of interchanging funds. Since there are no other intelligent beings with space programs, it's hard to imagine much else though. I am too excited to find out what it does!

[razark]

The current "Mission Control" functionality should be under Administration.

[Torquemadus]

The fact that the function of the Administration building is currently super secret suggests two things:-

1: It's a game changer.

2: The exact workings of the building haven't been finalised yet and are subject to change.

The best case scenario is that the Administration building is indeed as was implied in the dev notes and is a brand new building, not a revision of an existing one. I think that if this building was in fact a revision how Building X works, then we would have been told explicitly that the devs were working on changes to Building X.

Let's engage in some speculation here. What functionality needs to be added to get the game into a "feature complete" state? What new features are eagerly awaited by players? What new features require a new building?

It seems obvious that the Astronaut facility will eventually do more than it does now. We know that it will eventually cost money to train astronauts. We don't need a separate building to do this.

Let me add my own speculation here. Training implies levelling up and learning new skills. This could make it worthwhile to send newbie astronauts on missions to level up their skills. Do astronauts get paid a salary? Does the game punish us with high upkeep costs for recruiting too many kerbals too soon? The current rescue a stranded kerbal from orbit contract implies that gaining an extra kerbal is a reward, not a burden.

Next, let's look at research. This is a very interesting area. Lots of strategy games present players with the dilemma of expending resources in the short term to gain long term benefits from research. What if my science department has a budget? Perhaps the admin building allows players to buy upgrades that improve their science output? We hear over and over again that the tech tree is too easy, that players can open up the entire tech tree in a few launches. What if the current tech tree is only a placeholder? What if the devs intend it to me vastly more difficult in 1.0? What if research became extremely slow and massively expensive without upgrades from the admin building? It might be cheaper to send ambitious low tech missions than to pay the high prices needed to unlock late tech tree parts such as the LV-N and the RAPIER.

Next speculation. This is the big one. This is the game changer I don't think anybody gave proper consideration to until now...reusability...SHOCK!!!...

Wait, haven't we all been dealing with reusability since 0.24?! Haven't we all been figuring out clever ways to justify the cost of air breathing SSTOs versus expendable launch vehicles?!...Actually no, we haven't. The current 100% recovery value of rocket parts that are returned to the KSC is nonsense. The reason why this is nonsense is because of processing costs.

Not convinced? Let's build a Space Shuttle analogue. I sell the enormous development costs of my Space Shuttle program to the Kerbin Government on the basis that contemporary launch vehicles are too expensive and I can do the same job cheaper on a re-useable vehicle. The only drawbacks are that my re-useable vehicles will incur massive weight penalties from the enormous dry mass of the orbiter, meaning that although I've technically built a heavy lift booster, almost all of my lifting power is being used to lift the dry mass of my orbiter (wings, landing gear, thermal protection).

Not to worry, I'll recover my orbiter and get 100% recovery value after each flight. Ooops! No I won't!

How much processing time was required for each shuttle orbiter between launches? How much did it cost to pay the workers involved? How much did it cost to build a contemporary expendable launch vehicle and pay for it to be ready for launch without worrying about re-usability? In case you didn't know, the Space Shuttle was supposed to be cheaper than the expendable rockets it replaced. The end result was the exact opposite. It cost a lot more to pay a huge workforce to re-use the Shuttle than it would have cost to build a new vehicle for each launch.

Let me guess, you're not convinced yet? What if I speculate that the Admin Building is where budgets are balanced and wages are set. What if the recovery value of spacecraft and yield from returned science depends on how much resources were expended? What if the return value from my SSTO depends on the salary for my ground crew? Low launch rates might make it cheaper to expend rockets rather than re-use them.

[biohazard15]

I think it may have something with contracts assignment, just like in Take On Mars. You can launch one vessel and then assign new contracts to it. When you switch to that particular vessel, only assigned contracts are shown in contracts tab.

[timsfitz]

I have no idea what the building is for, but I agree it might have something to do with budgets. The devs keep saying it will be like a tycoon game. That implies to me a more detailed budget and money system. The administration where I work mostly deals with that. They also deal with public relations so that too may be a factor.

[Likasombodee]

Perhaps investing money into things and eventually having to make choices that could benefit you (financial or with other resources) you. Example you have to choose to invest money into universities for a science bonus for your projects that expire over time, or investing into private aerospace companies that will make parts cheaper (over a certain amount of time).

[NecroBones]

I'm hoping we'll get some interfaces for managing KSC's personnel and resources. Allocating funds and manpower to launch crews, training teams, VAB/SPH staff, technicians, etc.

[Javster]

Why do we have to speculate? Why do the devs refuse to give info?

[Alshain]

Why do we have to speculate? Why do the devs refuse to give info?

Largely because they don't know the full details yet. I'm sure they have a vague idea of what it will do but if they post that and the idea changes, people have a tendency to go ballistic if they don't like it. From a development standpoint, it's safer to wait till you have more information to reveal details.

[Aragosnat]

Why do we have to speculate? Why do the devs refuse to give info?

One can also go by with. Because they can. And like another said. They could still be talking about how they want to use it. Either way. They don't have to tell us squat. But, it is nice that they are willing to do so.

Back on topic. Yeah. IT is most likey will be related to converting funds to Rep to Science. As well as possibly hiring the poor sods we use to test our rockets. As well as possibly the place where we can allocate funds to projects.