Is hiring new kerbals too expensive?

[abowl]

Hello i like to play on hard mode but its difficult especially in the beginning because you need more than 100k to hire a new pilot if you lose either one and that happens to me usually always. I have to cheat the game by force closing it before it saves when a kerbal is killed. I feel like if new kerbals didnt require as much money in order to hire them it could make playing on hard more a little more enjoyable. And before you say Hard is supposed to be hard, there is no challenge in having to grind 100k+ after you lose a pilot, to get a new one, when you are already grinding to upgrade the buildings.

[nekogod]

I agree, someone else mentioned this in another post. Kerbals always start completely inexperienced so should really always be dirt cheap since you have to spend money and time and effor to make them useful.

Either that they should progressively become more expensive, but should come pre levelled.

[klgraham1013]

It's a problem with Squad's aversion to time-based mechanics. A yearly budget would be much better than artificially boosting the cost of each successive Kerbal.

Yes, it's too expensive.

[Cydonian Monk]

Yes. Even on normal difficulty they're too expensive. Running around 300K each for me right now... and I'm lucky if I have 800K just for operating expenses. I've had to resort to rescue missions to increase my ranks, which is a bit hit-and-miss in terms of the types of Kerbals I get. Last 4 or 5 rescues were scientists.

[Kuu Lightwing]

No, you actually get money for that! Rescue contracts is the way to go for "hiring" them.

More seriously, you're probably right. I haven't hired anyone yet because of the cost and because rescue contracts can get me enough kerbals.

[klgraham1013]

No, you actually get money for that! Rescue contracts is the way to go for "hiring" them.

More seriously, you're probably right. I haven't hired anyone yet because of the cost and because rescue contracts can get me enough kerbals.

Well, it's a good thing they put in a mechanic to let us invalidate their other mechanic.

[GoSlash27]

I don't hire Kerbals. I get paid to take them in already experienced.

Once I have them, I'm very careful to not get them killed.

So in that sense... no, hiring kerbals isn't expensive.

Best,

-Slashy

[Sharpy]

Yeah, four SavingClaws on a quadcoupler go to the orbit today! Gonna hire a lot!

[Kuu Lightwing]

Well, it's a good thing they put in a mechanic to let us invalidate their other mechanic.

I would rather go this way, than spending 500,000 funds each time I need a scientist for my new lab...

[Skylab]

Yeah, I love the rescue missions. You can just impress kerbals into your space program like the frickin' British Navy in the 1700s.

[Tynrael]

I haven't ever hired a Kerbal. I rely on the rescue missions but every time I go to the Astronaut Complex and see the cost for more it frightens me. I have occasionally had to cancel a low paying contract to eat the failure cost for a larger contracts up front money just to launch a vessel. If I were new to KSP and trying to do a Career play-through where I accidentally "lost" crew members I can't imagine getting far before having to make drastic changes to difficulty settings just to be able to keep playing.

Then again, "I like to play on hard mode" + "I have to cheat" makes it appear there may be no reason to choose that level of difficulty if it is meaningless for the game play. Considering the cost to upgrade the facilities and to build the rockets (especially if you also have to pay to unlock parts) the Kerbal cost seems disproportionately high.

[Geschosskopf]

Short answer: YES, hiring Kerbals is stupidly expensive. It doesn't take long for a Kerbal to cost more than the Jool mothership.

Each method of acquiring Kerbals has problems:

Direct Hiring at Astronaut Complex

Pros:

* Instantly available when you need them.

* Can see class / bravery / stupidity / gender up front so know what you're getting.

Cons:

* Ridiculous price growth, especially considering you just get a totally trained rookie.

* Cannot delete applicants off the list, so if it's spammed with Kerbals you don't want, the only way to get rid of them and get another batch of candidates is to hire the ones you don't want, which drives up the price even more.

Rescue Missions

Pros:

* Cheap: In fact, you often turn a profit, especially if you can do several rescues in 1 flight.

* Get rep rewards, which can be converted to cash / science or saved to get more lucrative contracts.

* Rescued Kerbals come with the experience they earn from being where you found them.

Cons:

* No idea what the Kerbals will turn out to be until you get them on the ground. Depending on luck of the draw, you might end up having to do a bunch of rescues to get what you want, which drives up the price.

* No control over when rescue missions spawn so you might have to wait a long time, which can be a problem.

* Actually have to spend time flying the rescue missions instead of doing your real space program stuff.

* Difficulty of rescue missions increase as you progress in the game. This increases the cost and the play time required to do them, although you can still usually turn a profit.

[ajburges]

I only hire if bads=true. Too expensive unless i need more fighter jocks for space planes and dropships.

[LittleBlueGaming]

Yeah, hiring them is too expensive. However, since it is so expensive, it makes the rescue contracts some of the best contracts in the game. I kind of like rescuing 4 kerbals in one launch, knowing their value is over $2 million.

[Moh1336]

I haven't hired any one as I really don't see the need to, I haven't killed any Kerbals in my current career and I have no need for more at this time thanks to early rescue missions.

Iif I was to hire one I would be looking around the 328,500 mark now, so the price is certainly ridiculous.

If I am completely honest, if I needed a new Kerbal I would either use the cheat console to give myself the money for one or trigger a rescue mission and hope it was the right class. I'm not a fan of cheating, I just dislike the kerbal buying scheme that much.

[Streetwind]

Just in case anyone really finds their gameplay cramped by the Kerbal hiring prices, and isn't aware yet:

There's A Mod For That

[Xacktar]

I think they are overpriced, particularly when you realize the price goes up every time you rescue a kerbal as well.

It also means that populating your space stations for contracts is usually too expensive... so you just have empty bases and stations around the system. :/

[JetJaguar]

Is there a mod for this? If not, this is a good opportunity for one.

The way I would structure it would be to have zero-star levels the cheapest with the costs increasing exponentially with experience from there. I'd also have the lower levels to be relatively common with higher levels increasing in rarity. I'd tie the skill level of the available applicants to your prestige, because the best candidates would generally want to work for the best organizations.

I'd have the candidate list cycle over time, so you don't always have the same ones sitting there. I'd implement some sort of half-life where some drop off faster than others.

Finally, I'd have some randomness to it all, so you could occasionally pick up someone for a bargain, or find a high-level candidate willing get in on the ground floor of your low-prestige startup.

If possible, I would have the cheapest to be some sort of unspecialized, raw cadet, which would have to be trained in a specialty before being able to perform any mission tasks (otherwise they are essentially tourists). I might even arrange it so it would be a little more expensive than hiring a zero-star astronaut, but you would be sure of getting exactly what you're looking for regardless of what's on the board at any given moment.

(A tangent: Maybe it would be possible to implement some kind of training system for all your astronauts. For some amount of money, they can train and gain experience while in the complex. Training would also take time, with those astronauts unavailable for missions until their course is complete. Cost and time would increase with level, and the maximum level attainable through training would be capped depending on the level of your complex. I'd probably have the levels capped at 1, 2, and 3 stars respectively, with 4-5 stars only attainable through actual missions.)

Sorry if this doesn't make any sense, I normally rely on rescue missions to impress captives hire recruits. Apparently in Kerbal society, if you save someone's life they now have a lifetime debt bond to you.

[problemecium]

300K?

300K?!?

My Kerbals are costing over a million funds now! And as I've made clear in the past, I don't go killing Kerbals like it's going out of style. It's those blasted rescue contracts.

When one spawns, I feel bad leaving it unattended (will the poor Kerbal be left to die?). But if I don't finish it, other contracts don't spawn due to having too many active, and I can't make money without any contracts. So I have to bring them back to KSC, which makes more rescue contracts spawn. Now I have like 57 Kerbals milling about in there >.<

[klgraham1013]

I think to many people are giving silly hiring costs a pass because rescue missions exist.

[Scotius]

Oh noes, one actually has to take care of his green rocket jockeys now, because *gasp* they are EXPENSIVE! Same goes for stranding Kerbals on Eve, Tylo or solar orbit - either you get your experienced kerbonauts back, or you have to fork cold cash for brand new roookies that can't even operate SAS

"No one gets left behind", folks - that's the name of the game now. Which pleases me greatly

[Terwin]

I find that I am quite happy with my 30+ rescued Kerbals, most of which are level 3(mun flag, Minmus flag, pop out to Kerbol).

The only thing I am less than happy about is that I now have 3 extra scientists on their way to Duna above and beyond what can be of use in the lab.

Fortunately I have plenty to spare now that the Kerbin SOI has been pretty much science-depleted.

May need to send out an expedition to Gilly, or even Moho to keep them occupied... they seem to be getting bored with all the tourist and rescue missions...

(I wonder if it would be more time-efficient to top off at Gilly or go straight to Moho)

[Camaron]

Rescue Contracts. I have 20 Kerbals now and every one of them is level 3 or higher. Except for Jeb and Bill, who are deads.

Flag on Minmus, Any Orbit around Mun, Momentarily hit solar orbit = Lvl 3. Throw in Duna and Ike, and you can get some more.

[Targa]

Rescue Contracts.

This ^^^. I have a dozen Kerbals, and have hired zero. All have been gotten from rescue missions around Kerbin. Not only do they not cost anything, you make money on the contract. And since they're in orbit, they automatically get leveled up. The only downside is that their profession is random, so you could end up getting 3 Engineers in a row, like I did. But you can always fire them to make room for more.

[Robotengineer]

Buy used Kerbals if new ones are too expensive.

Edited July 7, 2015 by Robotengineer
silly spelling mistakes.