Spacecraft skins aging with use

[Marcel]

Just an idea I had. This is directed at developers of DG variants and other space-planes. When one first walks into the showroom and "purchases" one of your awesome add-ons and taxies it out of the lot, one expects the spacecraft to look pristine. After the first re-entry, one would expect the craft to exibit some plasma burns. Repeated flights would make the spacecraft appear more and more "weathered". I had the thought that developers might include a series of skins that would reflect this. One could change the skin based on how much use the ship had. Then I thought, "What if this could be done automatically?" Perhaps a DLL could be written that would increment a spacecraft's skin based on how many times it encountered plasma. This is way beyond my abilites, but I thought I'd toss this idea out there.

 

[Cobalt]

There's a "rusty" DG-IV skin at Dan's site. Not quite the same, but I like the idea.

 

[Sherrif of Nottingham]

Ha... Some of my "Shooting Star" reentries would make it turn black... that would be the most amazing. Then maybe a vessel thats a hanger that when you pull into it it makes you cleaner (but not sparkling like when you first "bought" it) and less burned.