Early launch windows to other planets

[Fingal]

One complaint I often see is that it's too easy to max out the science tree with going beyond Minimus. Maybe it would encourage earlier exploration if Duna or Eve had launch windows much earlier in the game? As it currently is, the first windows don't open for more than a hundred days (apart from Moho, but that has huge Delta-V requirements) which is quite a while and a lot of players don't seem to like to warp time too much. A launch window to another accessible planet in the first thirty days or so might be worth thinking about.

[Red Iron Crown]

Eve has a reasonably good window open in Day 1. Though it'd likely be past by the time a player unlocks enough tech to make an interplanetary mission reasonably easy.

Changing the epoch would have a ripple effect through all the transfer calculators out there, but that's probably solvable.

[Random Tank]

While a lot of people would say in response "if you change the difficulty, you can't max out the tech tree just in kerbin", I don't think that is the solution.

If one thinks of the average brand new player on KSP (that skips sandbox), they will very likely keep the game on default difficulty... With default difficulty (as you say) one can max out the tech tree without leaving the Kerbin System. As the new player learns how to achieve orbit, then transfer to the Mun, then land on it, and then return, he/she will be likely to keep repeating this process, as it's what they're comfortable with. They may eventually branch out to Minmus when they learn about inclination changes, and then rinse and repeat. By the time they're super comfortable with the Mun and Minmus, it's highly likely that they've maxed the tech tree; but this is where the silly bit comes in....

An awful lot of gamers need the game to tell them what to do, like giving them missions or objectives, or else they get lost and lose interest; gamers that just "Play for fun" is surprisingly not as common as one would think, most require set progression to guide them forward (think of the shooters, while they may seem repetitive to some, they actually have a quite well designed progression system that keeps the player playing and striving for "that next camo"). The point of this? The tech tree basically is your "game progression" to a lot of people, once it's done, the game is done. That's why I say at least make it so the tech tree requires a player to go to at least Duna to complete it on default difficulty... That will force the average new KSP player to leave the Kerbin System if they want to "complete" the game, which is likely to make them realise that the extra planets are there, they are a big challenge, but look cool and make them want to go there, as it's further "progression" in the game. It's all about game design!

TL;DR: So I don't think it's about transfer windows, more about the Tech tree and gamer mentality. Change the tech tree on default difficulty to force newbies to go to Duna.

Edited October 18, 2014 by Random Tank