Manned Missions - Some random ideas

[jollysam 10]

Hello everyone,

For me, the manned missions are one of the best parts of the game, and one of the biggest reasons why I decided to buy it. I've been thinking of a couple of ideas that could improve them that I'd like to share. I don't know how many of these ideas are already planned for the game, and I know that there are plenty of other things that need to be addressed before most of these are considered, but here they are anyway:

The ability to choose your spacesuit

My personal favorite of the three spacesuits is the 'heavy' NASA-type suit. But the only way for me to get one if I don't start with one is to continually kill myself until I spawn with one. How about an option in the options menu that I can change to select which spacesuit I'll get when I enter a scenario/multiplayer game?

More stuff to put inside our bases

I see bunk beds, chairs, shelves, even a small kitchen in the large pressurized rover/mobile lab in the manned mission scenarios. It would be great to see these as buildable items for our Moon/Mars base. At the moment there isn't really much to do inside, besides stockpile vitamin bottles and TVs. More items would increase the roleplaying aspect of the game and give an insight into how astronauts actually live today.

Less fiddly construction

Building a base on Mars should rightly be challenging, but at the moment it feels like I have to be far, far too accurate before the base pieces 'snap' together. Decreasing the amount of accuracy that we need to attach things together would make construction a lot faster, and would encourage larger and more complicated construction projects.

Role-playing multiplayer servers

Anyone who plays Arma 2 knows that RP (role-playing) servers are pretty popular. Depending on what job you select when you start it up, you can play as a policeman or a civilian. You can get jobs, earn money, commit crimes and be sent to prison for them, all kinds of stuff. How about doing the same kind of thing in this game?

Think about it; you start with only a spacesuit and a packet of food, but that won't last long. You get a job, either mining the surface of Mars (or the Moon) or exploring far-flung waypoints on the map. Now you can pay for a rented room where you can sleep to stave off exhaustion, and food so that you don't starve to death.

Unfortunately, you carelessly run over another player on your way back one day, killing him. A militiaman (an admin?) sees it all and arrests you, and you're given a choice; pay the fine or spend time in jail. You don't have much money, so you're spawned into a cell in the colony's jail. Fortunately your crime was obviously an accident, so the militiaman only gave you a short sentence.

When you get out, its chaos! A sandstorm is coming; the vehicles need to be safely stowed away, and everyone needs to be sent inside the buildings. The last airlock door closes just as the sandstorm hits; the players who were out exploring the surface just have to try and shelter the best they can. Then a tragedy strikes; an unsecured vehicle is caught by the wind and smashes into a building full of sheltering players...

Don't get me wrong, I usually don't like RP servers. But if there's one location that can interest me enough to get into them, its a colony on the surface of the Moon/Mars.

The ability to change appearance

This is pretty low on the list because as I said; there are plenty of other things to address before this stage. But it would be useful to have a selection of heads; maybe 3 male heads and a female head; to choose from in our options screen, so that not everyone looks like a clone of each other outside our spacesuits.

Let me know what you think. I'm sure there are loads of ideas for a simulation involving astronauts!

Edited December 18, 2014 by JollySam

[dram 14]

Hey JollySam, actually a lot of what you say is planned :)

Choosing spacesuit - The way it starts now is placeholder. In the future you will not spawn anywhere on the surface but rather in a landing module. You will spawn without anything, and the landing module will within it have a supply of food, suits (light suits), and some other equipment. You will need to get materials to create a base or items, and yes you will actually have to print your items, including the suit.

Base interior stuff - Definitely, the interiors are bare atm, and it is simply due to priorities. Once the gameplay stuff is finished, the graphics can come into play, and you can bet that there will be a lot of place-able furniture :)

Fiddly construction - In multiplayer as a connected client it is worst, and don't worry we'll be tweaking it too.

RP Servers - Well I guess there is nothing stopping anyone from doing that :) As it stands anyone can start their own server, simply by pressing Multiplayer -> Create Server

Appearance - Planned. We will probably avoid adding female characters simply because it means new animations need to be recorded, as well as vocals. But male character heads are planned.

[jollysam 10]

That's good news. I guess I wasted my time then :).

I like the mining aspect done with the latest patch. Collecting various minerals and storing them in containers is surprisingly satisfying.

[felthat 1]

holy moly i want RP on mars :o Total Recall :cool:

[jollysam 10]

holy moly i want RP on mars :o Total Recall :cool:

Along with an Arnold 'eye-popping' astronaut head. :) That'll scare away any lifeforms.

On that note, I think that death by exposure takes too long in this game at the moment... I shouldn't be able to take off my helmet, put it in my inventory, get it out, and put it back on again with no side effects. I don't know much about space, but exposure feels more like a vaguely stupid dare rather than a fatal mistake at the moment. Just an idea.

How about an ability to add a country patch to our spacesuits/jumpsuit? I see there is already a space for one on the spacesuits. Just a simple way to customize our appearance and let others know where we come from back on Earth.

Keep up the good work! I'll enjoy experimenting with the 'growing things' update later. :)

Edited March 22, 2015 by JollySam

[dram 14]

Cheers!

Well in reality you would not fall unconscious for at least about 10 to 15 seconds. Note this article:

http://space.about.com/cs/basics/a/bodyvacuum1.htm

Specifically this:

In 1965, while performing tests at the NASA facility now known as Johnson Space Center a subject was accidentally exposed to a near vacuum (less than 1 psi) when his space suitleaked while in a vacuum chamber. He did not pass out for about 14 seconds, by which time unoxygenated blood had reached his brain. Technicians began to repressurize the chamber within 15 seconds and he regained consciousness at around the equivalent of 15,000 feet of altitude. He later said that his last conscious memory was of the water on his tongue beginning to boil.

And:

There have actually been cases of parts of astronauts bodies being exposed to vacuum, when suits were damaged. The results were negligible.

The biggest issue with the helmet atm is that it is immediate to put on :) It should indeed take a few seconds to attach, enough to make you go unconscious.

[jollysam 10]

That's interesting. I didn't think people could survive a vacuum for more than a few seconds, but apparently they can. I stand corrected! Poor chap, I hope he recovered okay.

Maybe when our spacesuit is damaged, we could suffer a minor or major leak, depending on the accident. Then the player takes continuous damage until he gets back to a pressurized area.

[dram 14]

That's interesting. I didn't think people could survive a vacuum for more than a few seconds, but apparently they can. I stand corrected! Poor chap, I hope he recovered okay.

Maybe when our spacesuit is damaged, we could suffer a minor or major leak, depending on the accident. Then the player takes continuous damage until he gets back to a pressurized area.

Indeed I was surprised when I read it a while back as well. I assumed more then 10 seconds were fatal, but I was wrong.

I think it would not be a bad idea. Overall a suit compromised situation should not kill instantly like it does but should have the above effects. Perhaps like you say major damage to a section of the suit could cause a leak which slowly but surely would kill you unless you return to a safe environment.

Would make a suit patch very useful :)

[jollysam 10]

Indeed I was surprised when I read it a while back as well. I assumed more then 10 seconds were fatal, but I was wrong.

I think it would not be a bad idea. Overall a suit compromised situation should not kill instantly like it does but should have the above effects. Perhaps like you say major damage to a section of the suit could cause a leak which slowly but surely would kill you unless you return to a safe environment.

Would make a suit patch very useful :)

Yes those would be good. So are real spacesuits partitioned to prevent a suit being completely compromised?

There is a lot of stuff showing up in manned section of the game, even if many of them aren't finished yet. I really like the outer space scenarios. I've been looking through the workbench, and I see models for a space shuttle and a cruise missile(!).

By the way, who is office_guy, scientist, and aurora_pajamas? Are they going to be non-playable characters in one of the future patches? Aurora has the ability to form words, I see.