I return, and with a wall of text that will probably detonate on the launch pad.
Needs more struts.
Experienced Pilots- As pilots complete missions, they gain experience which makes them better at some of the aspects of piloting a giant rocket (atmosphere flight/maneuvering, orbital flight/maneuvering, mechanical repair, etc.) The idea being that there should be some reason to incorporate safety features, amusing as it might be to wantonly slaughter hordes of Kerbals.
This was definitely something I wanted to include. I was even thinking of being so sadistic as to start astronauts off with a -1 to everything, making a successful mission or two, even a simple one, vital for getting (and replenishing) pilots who don't immediately light anything on fire.
Mission Mechanics- Right off the bat, if I were doing this I'd have crew actions and design rolls be the standard 1d6 you've got there, but have "does the command capsule separate properly" type rolls be 2d6- this allows you to be more generous with bonuses, and also introduces a deviation curve that may allow design flaws to persist unnoticed for quite some time.
This I was planning on being somewhat simpler with.
Mainly there'd be a roll to liftoff, and if that went perfectly then cool. If it didn't go so perfectly then you'd have to make a roll to salvage it. If
that didn't go so perfectly then you'll need a roll to salvage
that, and so on. Well, until you collide with something as a result.
So mostly just a roll for every overt action, like "lift off," "get into an orbit," "start heading for X," etc., but then a bunch of other rolls if you get anything except a 5 for any of those.
I certainly like the notion of design flaws persisting for longer periods of time, but I'm concerned that rolling for every little thing might be too much, at least if I'm rolling for design and construction as well. Rolling for every major stage, ie separations, would be more reasonable, but I'm still not sure if I want that third excuse for things to fail.
On the bonuses and penalties note, I don't normally have any plans for minor bonuses or penalties anyway, so that'd mostly be wasted on me. On the other hand, the notion of, say, sticky gasses that make separation slightly more difficult makes me happy.
Research- Definitely something I want, not sure if there's a satisfying way to do it. To explain, in my mind Research is a way to get more money for each flight (as scientific institutions pay you money to conduct orbital research) and also a way to unlock special materials and/or new components for better performance and more options. Still very tenuous on that one, since if it makes it in it can't undercut the core design mechanic.
Hm. Well, the way I was intending R&D to function was essentially completely from the ground up, rather than a tech tree or anything like that.
So for instance, let's take thrusters. We'll say that the basic starting thrusters have Weight 1, Thrust 1, and Duration 1, meaning they can lift 1 Weight for 1 Second. Which is obviously completely useless, since that's what they weigh.
So then what happens is obviously everyone starts researching ways to increase their power or efficiency or whatever so that they can actually do their jobs. So either you research less weight, or more likely increased Thrust, then maybe some Duration, especially if trying to lift things by applying a hundred times their weight in thrust for one second has unfortunate side effects on Kerbal bones.
The main snag here is I want Efficiency and such to be things, but I'm not sure if I want them to be directly researchable things (ie a stat field) or if you just make more efficient rockets by refining their weight down everytime something increases it instead of pushing on. I want that to be a design decision, of course, so you can have some players just brute forcing their way to the stars while others try to be really efficient about it.
But again, I'm not sure if Efficiency should be its own stat or how trying to create engines twice as big but using your current tech would work.
Finally, I've been sort of wondering about new materials and fuels and such. Currently and tentatively it's all just assumed or can be assumed; that is, you don't research a new fuel type, you just research better engines and that might mean more efficient fuel or more efficient use of that fuel or whatever. It could potentially be interesting to separate out materials and structural designs and such, and might encourage more specialization or trading if you've got
really elaborate girders but they're made of styrofoam while your neighbor just sort of bolts adamantine on there and hopes it works, but it could also just overcomplicate things or require everyone to split their research or have a standing trade agreement anyway.
How's it look so far? Am I forgetting steps/equipment? Am I just super dumb and should go back to dating pigeons? I'll definitely have to go through this again once I start making up equipment stats, I just figured this would be the best starting point.
Spare rocket parts landing on civilians is entertaining, but I'm not sure if I want to worry about it. I suppose an added roll to jettison it roughly where you want couldn't hurt too bad.
Hadn't really considered equipment as such, other than sort of wondering what happens if someone decides they want to develop lasers instead of worrying about propulsion or whatever. Now that I think about it though, there's probably all sorts of awesome goodies you could equip your inept goons with to allow them to depressurize the cabin on demand.
Author
Topic: Roller's Block (RTD Brainstorming Thread) (HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY) (Derm is 5k) (Read 739532 times)