"safe" launch: from the ocean

[CaptainShark]

So I've seen a couple suggestions about, picking base locations, secondary launch locations, or portable VAB/hangers, all of which are cool concepts but a bit tricky to implement. Don't get me wrong: personally I'd love to eventually have some sort of "orbital dry dock" in which to build large interplanetary vehicles. But that's beside the point. Apart from convenience: these don't serve a great deal of purpose in KSP's current state. But it did spawn an idea which since the implimentation of destructable buildings did seem like something with merit: a secondary launch site for smaller vehicles.

Let's face it: if you've played career mode currently, you've realized that you will inevitably end up with a good number of one-shot, semi-expendable rockets designed to test one or two parts and collect the contract rewards. It isn't really practical to go for a half dozen of these or so at once simply from the altitude and speed requirements being occasionally radically different. SO my idea was: what if you could conduct these flights with nno risk of breaking stuff at the KSC, and the answer I thought up was: a launch ship.

now before you say that this is inpractical, this is a real thing that companies use:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Launch

The basic idea here is thus:

- Spend X amount of funding to build/purchase the secondary site (ie: ship)

- It can then be accessed from the menu, same as the VAB or hanger

- its interface would basically be identical to the VAB, but with some additional rules

- Those rules: the ship you build, unlike at the KSC, will have an upper cap on its launch mass and footprint, thus making these factors for the first time (besides cost obviously)

- the advantages: 1) that the ship could be placed at an "optimal" equatorial site by default, 2) there is no risk to your KSC buildings on take off, and 3) in the event that you do total the launch ship (somehow) you could buy another, possibly for a cheaper price than repairing one or more KSC structures.

- This also lends itself naturally to the "upgradable" thing that I've seen being kicked around, ie: a larger ship with higher caps on tonnage and footprint

Thoughts? It's kind of a halfway-house between the current single-site, and the more open "let us build anywhere" concept I've seen posted. Personally I think it'd make for an interesting game play element: first with the limitations on the size of your rockets launched from it, and the principal that instead of starting with it, you would have to "invest" in the sea launch site.

[thereaverofdarkness]

I like the idea of having secondary launch locations. I wouldn't use the ship much but I'd try it out at least once and be happy to have it.

Alternatively it could be nice to transport a rocket on a boat before launch to get it into an ideal launch location. I usually like the KSC equator but sometimes other parts of the globe are more ideal. Water transport may be slow but it could be fairly cheap compared to other forms of transportation.