Recovery Agency

[FluffyLogic]

Proposal for a part/craft recovery mod that tries to improve gameplay mechanics in more believeable way, without involving player directly into recovery procedures.

There are certain difficulties that offer challanges to player while attempting to use these services.

During gameplay the player will receive a contract from entity/company in bussiness of recovery, to perform some tasks that will improve the player's standing with it. All contracts should be either perma-self-regenerating or have ridiciolously long expiration date (IIR ksp has no never ending contracts).

After completing (one or more) contract the player will be offered a chance that recovery service will take the recovery off his hands.

Each recovery will require cash to pay for and it will take time to complete. Player has to pay first for recovery, then wait for it to complete and then player can get funds back for recovered parts after they arrive at facitility.

This means that recovering cheap part that is far away is not profitable. There has to be a window showing projected gain of funds so player can see if recovery is at a loss, but player may still decide to go for it if part is reqiured for mission or has a science value. Also, player can choose to forego recovery and outright sell all parts to recovery agency and receive cash, with some penalty (even the agency needs to operate at a profit, right ?).

Recovery service can be improved by with further contracts. Each type/grade of contract only shows up in list after player reaches the new region, there is no logic to have contract for south pole recovery available if player just started game and has Flea SRB and a MK1 pod.

Each improvement contract expands the range, capabilities and quality of recovery. Special discounts are available for those that choose strategy which favors the recovery agency.

The recoveries can be divided by difficulty with :

• range (how far is the target part/vessel *)

• biome (is it on a steep mountain, deep under water, floating in middle of ocean)

• planet (is it on Kerbin or Eve or elsewhere**)

• space (is it on degrading orbit, does it orbit Kerbin, Kerbol, is it on Kerbol escape trajectory***)

• Distance can be decreased at cost of extending recovery time by building a specialized recovery facility. ** Similar to above, but must have infrastructure to support recovery tech and personell). ***Hardest and most advanced type of recovery requiring a lot of effort on player's side to complete

Evolution of Kerbin recovery can be done like this:

1. player reaches a new biome or new terrain (by dividing Kerbin's surface in grid pattern)
2. a new contract shows up from recovery agency, offering service to recover any parts
3. player completes the contract and receives a new option to recover part or sell it to them
4. as game progresses, player will reach new spots and a new contract will show up to unlock recovery for that region

Recovery agency can offer player a contract to build a recovery station that will act as a hub for all recovery operations in that region.

Player can launch one or more satellites to map the planet and have the recovery difficulty map which gives info on how long and how expensive recovery can be (SCANSAT type of mapping). Without it, recovery operations from those regions can have surprising delays and costs.

Once established, recovery stations / outposts operate automatically but have stringent reqirements for the start of operations.

Player can choose to use multiple recovery agencies and if strategy to help one agency is used, other recovery agencies will frown upon it (read : demand more cash for recovery).

Not all agencies are fully versed in all types of recovery, and some may need extra help from player to evolve to next level.

To recover a part, player needs to tag the vessel with recovery ID (after constructing it) so that desired agency knows it is handling the recovery.

All recovery operations are handled through a centralized window showing projections for desired recovery and for all recovery operations currently underway.

=== UPDATE ===

KSC has a facility for receiving recovered parts which can be upgraded to later:

• increase capacity of received
• capability to perform part analysis that can help in part reliability at cost of part destruction
• part refurbishment for decreased prices during VAB/SPH craft construction
• minor science gain at cost of part destruction

All local recovery operations (like remote ones provided by agency) require time and funds to complete

[taniwha]

This will take some more careful reading.

[realares0414]

this man really just went: let's add the Blunderbirds!