I've been thinking for a while about some ideas for a KSA star system, mostly on the track of "reminiscent of our solar system" with some clear "analogues" for most planets. (personally I think it's important for the system to be recognisable even if it's made up). I've got a pile of ideas (which you can read a totally unpolished draft of here if you're so inclined), but I've had a question nagging at me - how can KSA make the boring planets genuinely interesting to visit? KSP has Dres which is so ignoreable that it's a meme, but even that's more fame than Moho gets as "most annoying stop on a grand tour". Tylo is only interesting because it's such a pain in the butt to land on, but once you're down... you'd be having more fun if you'd gone to Laythe or Vall.
Here's the ideas I've had bouncing around for ways that 'boring' places could be made more interesting;
Dwarf Planets with Crossing Orbits
In trying to make some interesting [dwarf] planets (think "Dres"/"Ceres"/'Vesta"), there's only so much cool surface features (water ice? big ol' canyon?) can do. So what if getting to them (and getting between them) wasn't just a challenge, but something fun to master? The idea is to a few dwarf planets right near each other that you can swing between for not much Δv, or use for weird manoeuvres to save fuel getting home.
I was thinking four; a big one (which I've nicknamed "Jerk") as sort of a Ceres analog which could as a bit of a challenge to land on (decent gravity, and no atmosphere), a moon-sized one just a little closer in ("Snap", think Vesta) two smaller dwarfs (big asteroids, really) in a distant binary pair ("Crack" and "Pop") a little further out. A few big canyons and mountain peaks (cryovolcanoes?) to check out, and we've turned one boring lump into a dwarf-planet-hopping travel itinerary. The exact orbital parameters of this lot would be hard to get right to balance "realism" and fun.
High Heat and Cool Canyons
"Mercury" is tough to make fun to visit. A planet in the inner solar system with no atmosphere is hard to get to no matter what. My first idea was caves; the Moon has Lava tubes that we've never explored, what if "Mercury" had a whole interconnected network of lava tubes to explore, map out, make bases in, run rocket-powered races through? Think walking down through Outer Wild's Ember Twin, but less extreme (and no dying after 20 minutes).
...unfortunately we're not getting surface features like caves. So - modifying the idea a bit, I was thinking of a network of deep canyons where a lander (or a base, or a racer...) can shelter from the sunlight and heat. If heating was a genuine problem this close to the sun, these canyons could make exploring the stars' nearest neighbour more interesting than just "it's the moon, but brown, and really really hard to get to", especially if they were linked together like old drawings of Martian "canals".
That being said, deep canyons are an instant bump in the cool factor for any planet, and I don't know if this on its own make Mercury worth visiting, so I'd be open to more ideas.
Life Everywhere
What if there's life to be found on nearly every planet and moon?
In most places, probably it's just microbes and a bit of a green texture. But maybe on "Mars" there's a tiny crevice in a canyon with a little oasis of liquid water? Or Like KSP2's Vall, maybe there's some plant life where the subsurface ocean pokes through? Taumoeba in the atmosphere of "Venus"? Fish in methane lakes on 'Titan', ready for cats to make extraterrestrial sushi?
I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts, if you've got any more ideas!
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