An idea for planetary science missions and rescue in career mode

[tater]

Right now there are launch window planner mods, so that's a thing that can be done.

The game should incorporate launch windows into "contract" generation (I'm not entirely pleased with "contract" as the descriptor for pure science missions, and never have been, but that's what we have ).

What would be added is a launch date range for any given contract. In the case of missions to other bodies in the kerbol system, the date range would often be better launch window times. So when a Duna wind approaches, you get Duna missions. Jool, you get Jool missions, etc. The mission contract will explicitly state that there is an upcoming launch window for a least energy transfer. I wonder if it is possible for it to generate a reasonable date range for return, as well?

So that's planetary science. It also helps new players see when they are supposed to launch for Duna, Jool, etc. (always better to have in-game education rather than having to look it up).

In other threads I have suggested that many or most of the "rescue a kerbal" missions should have the astronaut within a spacecraft (they have to come from someplace, and they are explicitly not in your space program. I suggested that there be tougher rescue missions, like a guy stranded with his ship on the Mun, for example (looking like the startup screen, lol?). There might be harder ones like rescue a Duna mission that is stranded (lander with a broken leg or something, on its side). In that case, the launch window might be "ASAP," and it could tell you that it's NOT ideal at all, and you better bring a crap-ton of dv with you.

Ideally (dunno if this can be done now) there would be a good way for mods at least to hook life support to these so that the real time limit would be in play (the guy on Duna has X-hundred day's LS left...

Note that you could also possibly have an orbiter associated with some of these missions (not owned by you). So another space program has a large Jool ship in orbit, and have had a nasty failure with their lander. They have no way to return their astronaut, but maybe they had a few lander probes, and the mission says they landed them with supplies for the stranded guy (suspension of disbelief needed for a Jool rescue, IMO, or actually needed if LS is a thing). The mission would be to rescue the guy from whatever moon he is on, and return him to the orbiter already there. Another might be to simply refuel an orbiter that is in whatever planet's orbit (mission describes a leak that was fixed, but only after they had no fuel to return).

Yet another rescue mission possibility, to deliver a part. This is some critical, small component (entirely abstracted). These might allow you to send a probe (it might have a tight time limit to repair for a return window) allowing a faster transit, etc.

Rescue missions with the game supporting complex limitations could easily be one of the most fun/challenging types of missions. You might get extra rep, etc for returning any science from a wreck, or even returning the entire spacecraft so that engineers can figure out what happened… lots of possibilities.

[prophet_01]

I srsly like those ideas. Imo those are rly creative and awesome. The first one is by far the best method I stumbled across to teach newbes about interplanetary transfers and launch windows. Adding vehicles that need to be carried back home would add a ton of gameplay options. Especially with FAR and DRE I can see this beeing the challenge many experienced players are looking for, at least I would definetly try this out. Have some rep

[tater]

Yeah, there could also be contracts for, say, a company that makes engines… "For a 3 weeks there will be a launch window for Jool that maximizes the amount of delta v to reach that planet. Enter a trans-Jool trajectory using our engines in this period to demonstrate how awesome our engines are."

Note also, that if the game has a rough sense of delta v requirements added for various possible targets, the rewards for contracts can be scaled to them. Rescuing a kerbal in orbit is trivial after the first couple you do as a noob. What about in a polar orbit? Or a retrograde munar orbit, etc.

Rescuing whole ships also provides novel goals, and possibly rewards...

Say that the rival company to the player (where all these stranded kerbals come from) has some proprietary stuff… there might be rescue/salvage missions. The Union of United Kerbalist Republics might have a contract that asks for a reduce of their manned Duna mission, and being as they are strapped of funds, they offer to pay by letting you salvage their Duna orbiter. Doing so (maybe "return" only requires LKO for the craft, landed for the astronauts) allows the novel parts to be researched and added to your parts list.

[tater]

Rescue missions.

1. Stranded kerbal in Kerbin orbit. Like current mission, but there is a nearby spacecraft if he is EVA. He may be in the ship that cannot reenter/return to Kerbin. The craft can be a ship, or even a station. All would have reasonable time limits, guys don't float around for years un-rescued. Longer limit if he is aboard a ship. Orbits far more varied than the current missions (polar, retrograde, eccentric, etc).

a. Kerbal EVA has no EVA propellant, but is close by his fully functional spacecraft. Rescue him (move your hatch til you can hit F with him), then return him to his own craft.

b. Kerbal has EVA propellant (0-10% at random), but has drifted too far to return. Rescue him and return to his functional craft.

2. Stranded kerbal in orbit around another world. Same as 1, above, but around another world. If he has a functional craft there, then return him to it. Orbits far more varied than the current missions (polar, retrograde, eccentric, etc).

a. Kerbal EVA has no EVA propellant, but is close by his fully functional spacecraft. Rescue him (move your hatch til you can hit F with him), then return him to his own craft.

b. Kerbal has EVA propellant (0-10% at random), but has drifted too far to return. Rescue him and return to his functional craft.

3. Stranded spacecraft in Kerbin orbit. The spacecraft is without enough fuel to return (a), or has had a serious malfunction (. Orbits far more varied than the current missions (polar, retrograde, eccentric, etc).

a. Spacecraft is without necessary fuel to complete mission. The ship has a clampotron, and you refuel it to complete mission (amount of fuel required is in the mission request).

b. Spacecraft as suffered a serious mishap. Engine doesn't work, no attitude control, etc. Dock, and return craft to a station in LKO if it exists (within EVA distance). If not, put it in a reentry trajectory, and reenter with the capsule.

4. Stranded spacecraft in orbit around another world. The spacecraft is without enough fuel to return (a), or has had a serious malfunction (. (if they add life support, then that is another missing item that would be ( c) ) Orbits far more varied than the current missions (polar, retrograde, eccentric, etc).

a. Spacecraft is without necessary fuel to complete mission. The ship has a clampotron, and you refuel it to complete mission (this data would be in the mission request). Refuel is not to full, but enough to return set by mission (amount specified in contract).

b. Spacecraft as suffered a serious mishap. Engine doesn't work, no attitude control, etc. Dock, and return craft to a station in LKO if it exists (within EVA distance). If not, put it in a reentry trajectory, and reenter with the capsule.

c. Spacecraft needs life support delivered due to a mishap (or bad planning). Dock and resupply (amount specified in contract).

5. Stranded lander. The lander is without enough fuel to return to orbit (a), or has had a serious malfunction (. Mishaps would include cool wreck sites (like the opening screen, lol)

a. Lander is without necessary fuel to reach orbit. IN this case it will be a lander with a CM in orbit. Return crew (or craft if you can) to the CM.

b. Lander as suffered a serious mishap. Engine doesn't work, no attitude control, etc. Return crew (or craft if you are capable) to the CM.

Rewards would scale to difficulty. They would include science rewards, as the player might be rescuing science collected by the competing astronauts.

Edited February 3, 2015 by tater

[wizzlebippi]

After making a serious miscalculation on how much fuel I would need to return a craft from a polar mun landing, I set Jeb adrift. After a few more missions so I could unlock the grabber, he was in a solar orbit. I successfully deployed the grabber to retrieve Jeb, his craft, and all the science it had. I think something like this should be a mission as well.

[tater]

After making a serious miscalculation on how much fuel I would need to return a craft from a polar mun landing, I set Jeb adrift. After a few more missions so I could unlock the grabber, he was in a solar orbit. I successfully deployed the grabber to retrieve Jeb, his craft, and all the science it had. I think something like this should be a mission as well.

Yeah, certainly "adrift around another world" can include Kerbol itself as a "world" for this purpose. I was merely distinguishing between Kermin, and the more difficult regions (more delta v to get there).

[tater]

Thought of another possible set of rescue missions after I had a probe make an unscheduled gravity assist that put it on a collision course (with no fuel left)...

A collision is certain, and the player needs to rescue the crew before it crashes. Obviously very time critical. These would be hard to generate on the fly… given that the planets are on rails, it seems like a very few of these missions could be set up almost like save files, and that section concatenated into the player's game (if that makes sense). They'd be linked to specific days from game start.

These situations would need enough time that it was possible to do, even if very difficult. So you'd want to set up interactions such that there is time… like the mission is offered at the point a competing space program has a problem during a burn leaving Kerbin (does a burn, engines break, runs out of fuel, whatever). The path is arranged such that the vehicle will nearly hit the Mun, and get thrown right at Minmus, or whatever. Or leaves Minmus, will orbit close to Kermin a few times, then whack the Mun. You have X days to get the crew off, dock and refuel, whatever.

I suppose any cismunar or cisminmar orbits will have a chance for something like this once the mission is accepted and the craft spawns… I'd like to see fewer, but more interesting rescues.

[tater]

I saw that they are working on the movie 3001, which made me think of the movie 2010. That made me thing of Discovery tumbling (nevermind that she should have been spinning, unless the spun up section was going 90 degrees from how I imagined it).

Anyway, are spin states kept track of? It might be cool to have some salvage missions that require docking to unlock the ship (instead of using ][ to control the dead ship, you'd have to board them). If the ship was a decent size, and it was spinning, the boarding via EVA would be very difficult if the "wreck" was designed with no hatches near the center of rotation. The only issue is that clamp-o-trons don't care about orientation. It would be fun to figure out a way to have to dock, but first match spin (like the Pan Am shuttle in 2001).

Any other ideas for challenging rescues/salvages? The goal is novel mission types that vary in terms of dv required (polar orbits, etc), as well as perhaps even other piloting skills (matching rotation, if there is a way to make that happen).

Another idea would be a kind of "procedural" mission. Say there is a rescue op you need to do. Normally, the game would pop the unit (always a kerbal so far, but assume a ship) into an orbit, and show you that orbit. This would put the target in a region… say orbiting Duna. Your data on the orbit would be "based on last transmission" or whatever. You'd not be able to see the target (no more tab key letting you shift worlds unless you have a powered craft in orbit). When you get to the point where the target becomes visible (you are about to enter the Duna SoI, or somewhere very close), the game would generate the actual orbit… it would do so knowing when your encounter with Duna will be, when the periapsis is, etc. It would make the orbit such that it will decay, forcing the player into a race against time (maybe an eccentric orbit that aerobrakes a little. Obviously in this case it would by definition be inclined enough to avoid Ike (freeing the game to procedurally generate the orbit without worry).

[tater]

Another idea regarding rescue operations… what if there were novel parts that you could not unlock via the tech tree, but you COULD unlock via salvage? The Union of Democratic People's Kerbalist Republics has a stranded spacecraft around Duna, for example. They have their own Nerva type rocket engine that has different Isp vs thrust, has an electric generator built in, etc. Maybe they have a different capsule, too. The mission is to save the crew, but if you return the spacecraft, you can then research the parts...

People like unlocking new parts, seems like a neat way to require task completion to get some.