Part Discussion

[YGTE]

Besides the standard chemical rocketry, which I'm sure is going to mimic parts from the earliest of spaceflight to the latest,
what other "future" rocketry can we add to KSA?
---
My hopes is (even though I'm a sandbox player) is we get fusion/fission tech, advancing towards interstellar technology.
There was also lots of talk (from what I remember) in ksp 2 videos about metallic hydrogen and various other fuel types, given that it's really dense, or, given how you would even begin to store it...
I hope KSA has its own unique engines for this type of travel, especially when players advance (or sandbox) their way to interstellar bodies.

 

[moeggz]

My personal line is that I’m ok with the end of the tech tree being matter-anti-matter (hydrogen) engines. Anything past that strays too far into the fiction side of sci fi. I hope we at least get advanced nucleaR engines.

 

[TROPtastic]

Terra Invicta is a goldmine of realistic mid/far future tech: no warp drives, but fusion and antimatter torch drives powered by petawatt reactors means that starships can have giganewtons of thrust, provided they are equipped with sufficient cooling.

I'm not sure if this fits the retrofuturistic aesthetic of KSA's intended late game tech, but it would certainly be inspiring to have realistic, non-physics-breaking, ultra powerful drive and reactor tech.

Edit: If anyone is interested in the mind bending numbers behind interstellar antimatter drives, this very accessible paper takes a conservative look at the requirements needed to send a ten tonne payload to a system 40 LY away in a century. Highlights include a fuel tank with 39 million tonnes of antiprotons and an engine so powerful that turning it on would outshine the Sun at Earth (except instead of warmth and light, it would be only high energy gamma rays).

The author is clear that this concept could end up being grossly oversized if future technology advancements deliver as much change as the last 100 years did, but it's an interesting read nonetheless.

 

[Kiwi Shark]

I think there's a lot of opportunity in not just "futuristic" engines but variants and offshoots of existing ones for variety's sake. Radial engines, engines that are really long, anything to add some extra options or considerations to vessel design. More exotic engines branch out to other types of parts too when you consider thermal and electrical management or fuel density and tank sizes so that's cool as well.

To pick something specific, maybe some more options in the ion propulsion department? Both KSP titles only had the one. It's a neat option for probe design and I bet we could get a really slick plume effect for them.

 

[silent_protagonist]

As long as they let Nertea cook I'm sure I'll be happy with the results, Near/Far Future Technologies is pretty much always in my mod list. I especially hope to see more low-thrust options, but that has more to do with having the physics and navigation tools to support it, rather than having the engine parts themselves.

 

[Air]

I would like to see parts that can be filled with gasses to float up into the upper atmospheres so we can make sky cities

 

[Kryogenic]

Don't forget about procedural parts (wings, tanks, etc)