Going to the Mun and going to Duna in career mode, lack of difficulty increase

[Rowsdower]

Shortly after planting a flag on Minmus and then the Mun, I sent two Kerbals to heaven on my first Duna attempt.

Oh, heaven, the endgame planet. Of course!

[r_rolo1]

Shortly after planting a flag on Minmus and then the Mun, I sent two Kerbals to heaven on my first Duna attempt. The parachute deployed when traveling about 1000 m/s.

This is why you to land in Duna with the aid of parachutes:

a) You should enter the atmosphere in a very shallow angle, to catch more atmopshere in the way. More atmosphere = more drag= less speed when the chutes open

If possible, the chutes are to be under tight manual control and to be only deployed when the speed is safe enough...

But I assume that you already learned that ( the hard way :/ ) ...

Edited August 22, 2014 by r_rolo1

[SorryDave]

This is why you to land in Duna with the aid of parachutes:

a) You should enter the atmosphere in a very shallow angle

But I assume that you already learned that ( the hard way :/ ) ...

True enough, I learned that I'll need more experience with aero braking in the thin atmosphere.

I swear I flew half across the planet with my parachutes flapping behind me with little drop in speed when... Pop! Chutes opened and my first Kerbals to reach the surface of Duna were scattered about a kilometer across its desert surface.

[juanml82]

There needs to be a constant consideration of fun vs. challenge, of course, but the reverse arguement could be made that having it too easy discourages people from playing the game. Boredom is far more often a long-term barrier for players than difficulty.

You're using many multiple missions with many multiple options with completing them as a show of overall game difficulty, which isn't fair, nor accurate. Comparing basically end-game challenges to what we're proposing with ramping challenge overall.

And I'm not saying hard = good, I'm just pointing out why the jump from Mun to Duna seems so much easier than the jump from Moon to Mars. And I happen to agree with luinux in that perhaps there's some ramp-up imbalances, and it's due to there being 3 total sliders to focus on when completing a mission, when in reality there are many more.

Plus I mean it's a space sim, technically. It's not ultra-real, but crew maintenance and survivability is a pretty basic part of simulating space. I hope Squad considers the element at some point.

The thing is, there are harder things to do for the more experienced players. Exploring the moholes, for instance. In other words, there is a difficulty ramp which doesn't rely solely in moar boosters.

And, ultimately, KSP is a commercial venture. Difficulty ramps should be gradual, less they discourage new buyers (and I'd say the lack of a built in KER and transfer window calculator already discourage players enough).

In any event, a more realistic approach to this matter require more than a few (or a lot) of additional parts.

First we have the issue of radiation. Realistically and as long as the Kerbals don't have a cancer cure, any manned mission beyond Dres ends up with the kerbonauts developing cancer in the return leg, if not earlier.

Second, ships should be built considering artificial gravity via rotation. Which requires a complete redesign of interplanetary vessels, probably orbital construction and docks than don't wobble. And they should also have a minimum crew requirement and unlocking techs by first building a space station and keeping it in orbit for an entire Kerbal year.

That's a steep increase in difficulty. Which reflects reality, but can put people off. However, it can be accomplished by more experienced players by making house rules and using mods. Kind of a difficulty slider, if you will.

OTOH, rotating ships to provide gravity to the kerbonauts sounds like a cool idea.

[NecroBones]

Oh, heaven, the endgame planet. Of course!

If a planet named "heaven" is ever added, it needs to be guarded by a ship full of of robots...

I'll be amazed if any of the gamers here remember what I'm referencing.

(and no, it's not Futurama, as Google might imply)

[corvustech]

If a planet named "heaven" is ever added, it needs to be guarded by a ship full of of robots...

I'll be amazed if any of the gamers here remember what I'm referencing.

(and no, it's not Futurama, as Google might imply)

My next expedition to Laythe shall be Noah 9. Just don't forget the most glorious number of the Veloxi Grand Lovely or the robots will only be the first step to landing.

[NecroBones]

My next expedition to Laythe shall be Noah 9. Just don't forget the most glorious number of the Veloxi Grand Lovely or the robots will only be the first step to landing.

Excellent!