My Suggestion Regarding Command Seats

[Mr. Peabody]

I'm not sure if everyone feels the same as I do, but I think command seats should be treated as regular command modules. I use command seats regularly when I need a light weight control system for a boat or a small vessal and its a real pain having to EVA a kerbal to board a command seat if its the only control system on the vessal. There is already a mod that treats command seats as regular command modules  called "take command", but it only supports v1.1 as far as I know. 

[Waxing_Kibbous]

Here ya go:

and

http://bugs.kerbalspaceprogram.com/issues/13049

[Mr. Peabody]

Thank you so much! I wasn't aware "take command" had been updated.

[Nathair]

On 2017-02-04 at 6:22 PM, The Dunatian said:

I'm not sure if everyone feels the same as I do, but I think command seats should be treated as regular command modules. I use command seats regularly when I need a light weight control system for a boat or a small vessal and its a real pain having to EVA a kerbal to board a command seat if its the only control system on the vessal.

Agreed. Personally, I like to use them for little KSC area rovers.

[Rocket In My Pocket]

This has been brought up quite a bit and it always boils down to the same thing, there isn't any practical reason (From a min/max standpoint) to not use the command seat every single time for every single craft except that it's inconvenient.

If you take away the inconvenience of having to manually load Kerbals in to it, it would become the defacto "best" command part, and no one would use any of the other command pods.

"Take Command" is a great mod (I use it myself) and exists for those that want/or need it. I feel that's how it should stay barring any major gameplay overhauls to the command seat.

Edited February 7, 2017 by Rocket In My Pocket

[Foxster]

4 hours ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

This has been brought up quite a bit and it always boils down to the same thing, there isn't any practical reason (From a min/max standpoint) to not use the command seat every single time for every single craft except that it's inconvenient.

If you take away the inconvenience of having to manually load Kerbals in to it, it would become the defacto "best" command part, and no one would use any of the other command pods.

"Take Command" is a great mod (I use it myself) and exists for those that want/or need it. I feel that's how it should stay barring any major gameplay overhauls to the command seat.

Err, apart from the lack of heat protection, the high drag, no RCS and no reaction wheel?

[Rocket In My Pocket]

3 hours ago, Foxster said:

Err, apart from the lack of heat protection, the high drag, no RCS and no reaction wheel?

Like I said, from a min/max standpoint, it's not actually "the best command part in the game."

As you point out it certainly has it's shortcomings but heat protection isn't a big deal; A heatshield with most of the ablator stripped off can protect a command chair well enough while de-orbiting, drag's effect on DV is small in the grand scheme of things, RCS/Reaction wheels aren't really needed for simple re-entry and if the actual space faring vessel needs them, it's likely going to need more than the basic command pod provides anyways. Not to mention you can just throw the chair in a service bay, or under a fairing.

Ultimately, the command chair's inability to be crewed from the VAB/SPH clearly cements it as a secondary command module for rovers and orbital tugs and such, leaving little room for a player to misunderstand it's intended use. I think this is an important distinction for the game to make.

[Superfluous J]

1 hour ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

A heatshield with most of the ablator stripped off can protect a command chair well enough while de-orbiting

Actually for my Kerbin 2 entry (which I've not yet done but have tested enough to be sure re-entry will be fine) I'm protecting the command chair with a Spark and a Round 8 tank

Edited February 8, 2017 by 5thHorseman

[regex]

It's stupid not to be able to launch into a command seat. Testing rovers shouldn't be nearly as tedious as it is, nor should flying my ultralight.

The fact that I have to do crap like this has precisely zero to do with some dumb gameplay restriction:

[Sharpy]

8 hours ago, regex said:

The fact that I have to do crap like this has precisely zero to do with some dumb gameplay restriction:

Actually, why do you do crap like that?

One separator, one pod, the rotate and offset tools to make the kerbal on the ladder to be within reach of the seat. Separator Ejection force to zero, drag offset gizmo arrows while holding shift to ignore limits.

 

(this is still "a single craft", decoupler not staged.)

Edited February 8, 2017 by Sharpy

[regex]

5 hours ago, Sharpy said:

Actually, why do you do crap like that?

Who cares how I do it, the fact that I have to launch a pod with the damn thing is the issue! The act of getting a Kerbal out of the pod and walking them to the seat OVER AND OVER AND OVER while testing or driving a rover or a plane without an enclosed cockpit is what is wrong. When I did the Dakar Challenge I tested a bunch of different open rover designs with much simpler pod connections and the sore point wasn't engineering something to hold a pod it was the fact that I NEEDED A POD IN THE FIRST PLACE!

[Nathair]

5 minutes ago, regex said:

 the sore point wasn't engineering something to hold a pod it was the fact that I NEEDED A POD IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Truer words...