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Rescue contracts: bug or brainfart?


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20 hours ago, pandaman said:

Personally I never really liked the idea of rescue contracts that placed random kerbals in places where no kerbal has gone before.  I felt a better 'scenario' would to replace these kerbals with parts from early 'test flights' that got into orbit due to technical failure.

Actually they can't spawn kerbals where no kerbal has gone before anymore. They should only be appearing where you have manned progress. That changed in 1.0 I believe.

To see recovery contracts, you need to have reached space, upgraded your tracking station a bit, and it also waits for you to progress your game a bit. You can progress in many different ways, you should generally see them about the time you hit Minmus, or if you stick around Kerbin, upgrading a few facilities will trigger this as well.

To unlock part recoveries, you need to have researched the claw.

Edited by Arsonide
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4 hours ago, Nightshift83 said:

..And just realised it's not the old standard perfectly aligned LKO-mission but at 15000 km and maybe double inclination than Minmus orbit.

Setting out to rescueing two Kerbals in Mun orbit, only to realize after picking up the first one that the second one is retrograde... Learned that one a long time ago as well. :D 

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3 hours ago, Arsonide said:

Actually they can't spawn kerbals where no kerbal has gone before anymore. They should only be appearing where you have manned progress. That changed in 1.0 I believe.

To see recovery contracts, you need to have reached space, upgraded your tracking station a bit, and it also waits for you to progress your game a bit. You can progress in many different ways, you should generally see them about the time you hit Minmus, or if you stick around Kerbin, upgrading a few facilities will trigger this as well.

To unlock part recoveries, you need to have researched the claw.

Correction: You don't need to upgrade the tracking station.  In my current "Eleventy Hard" game (I'm doing a hard with 20% science gains game as was indirectly suggested in another thread), I had to perform several interceptions with the tier 1 tracking station.   Maybe you're thinking of the Astronaut Complex?  (one upgrade is required there for EVA activity).

I actually like the rescue missions from a gameplay perspective (I enjoy orbital operations and interceptions), even if it's really weird thematically to find kerbals floating around in bare pods all over the system.

My only complaint about the whole thing is the claw-unlocked rescue-kerbal-AND-part.  Re-entry is one of my least favorite things in KSP.  I wouldn't mind having to dock with a craft (claw or otherwise), but bringing the whole damn thing back is just too weird and annoying for me.

(Well, it would also be nice if there was an in-between type of rescue contract other than "just slightly above minimum safe orbit" and "halfway to the edge of the SOI orbit".   Ex, for Kerbin rescues, they're all in the 74-90km and the 5-11Gm+ range, there's no 120km or 240km rescues.  Not a big issue, just a bit odd)

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9 hours ago, bonyetty said:

I would argue that real Kerbanauts litter as much as possible. I was under the impression that Kessler syndrome is the end game of KSP. 

Au contraire; Jeb and Val find it HILARIOUS fun to find an old booster stage in low orbit, spear it with a harpoon gun, tow it into a suborbital path, and watch it explode behind them as they maneuver their H-Wing back into a stable orbit.

I'd also love it if the rescue contracts would spawn not a single isolated cockpit but instead an entire vessel--presumably one of the stock crafts that come with the game--with some problem. Maybe it's out of fuel, maybe a part broke off, maybe it's in great condition but some fool forgot to attach parachutes, whatever. Your mission, then, is to rendezvous with the troubled ship, figure out what's wrong with it, and either rescue the pilot for a small reward, or repair the ship (KIS/KAS might be necessary for this) in a way that allows it to re-enter and land safely for full reward.

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3 hours ago, Renegrade said:

Correction: You don't need to upgrade the tracking station.  In my current "Eleventy Hard" game (I'm doing a hard with 20% science gains game as was indirectly suggested in another thread), I had to perform several interceptions with the tier 1 tracking station.   Maybe you're thinking of the Astronaut Complex?  (one upgrade is required there for EVA activity).

No I most certainly mean the tracking station, but forgot it is an upgrade that is immediately available. It's the upgrade that shows you orbits on the map, used to that was in the first upgrade, now it's available immediately. The check is still there in case that ever changes though.

1 hour ago, AbacusWizard said:

I'd also love it if the rescue contracts would spawn not a single isolated cockpit but instead an entire vessel--presumably one of the stock crafts that come with the game--with some problem.

Initially I'd considered pulling craft files from the save and punching holes in them, but it has many issues. First of all, allowing contracts to programmatically spawn things is something that you need to keep a tight leash on, or things can quickly get out of hand and even impact performance. Second of all, there are balance considerations. People already use rescues to get free kerbal hires, if full vessels were spawned in orbits all over the solar system, that'd be even worse. Thirdly, spawning things on the surface of planets can be quirky sometimes, especially with larger things. All three of these problems can be solved with single part vessels.

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15 minutes ago, Arsonide said:

No I most certainly mean the tracking station, but forgot it is an upgrade that is immediately available. It's the upgrade that shows you orbits on the map, used to that was in the first upgrade, now it's available immediately. The check is still there in case that ever changes though.

Woah.  So if we ever had a 'barn' tier to the tracking station, we'd have ships with NO orbit lines AT ALL?  O.o

Actually that would be kinda cool.  Might make me brush up on my orbital math.

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21 minutes ago, Arsonide said:

Second of all, there are balance considerations. People already use rescues to get free kerbal hires, if full vessels were spawned in orbits all over the solar system, that'd be even worse.

I'll probably get killed for this, but have you ever considered no monetary reward for Kerbal-only rescues? Just rep and a free Kerbal, because hiring them does cost a lot of money and it's a great deal to pluck them from space, one can do it pretty cheaply.

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7 minutes ago, Waxing_Kibbous said:

I'll probably get killed for this, but have you ever considered no monetary reward for Kerbal-only rescues? Just rep and a free Kerbal, because hiring them does cost a lot of money and it's a great deal to pluck them from space, one can do it pretty cheaply.

But not for nothing, and unfortunately with no other source of funding, doing flights that pay nothing can leave you unable to afford any flights at all if you aren't careful.

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