PLEASE give kerbals the ability to stop themselves from rolling down a hill

[subyng]

As I type this my Kerbal is rolling down a crater and he just keeps rolling and rolling and I can't get him to stop. I'm going to have to climb ALL the way back up this crater when he gets to the bottom.

PLEASE give Kerbals the ability to stop themselves from rolling for eternity. 

[Rath]

This is not fun, neither is it Fun please squad, please.

[Superfluous J]

I assume by now he stopped rolling down the hill, and you flew him back up to his craft.

I also assume that upon landing, he ragdolled again and you're waiting for him to finish sliding down the 2nd time.

Because that's what always happens to me.

[Stoney3K]

I don't mind a Kerbal ragdolling down a hill for fun and profit, but I *do* mind him ragdolling down said hill (or being hurled across the Great Flats on Minmus) for FIVE BLOODY MINUTES before I can control him again and be able to walk the entire bit back to my craft.

Pressing any key to regain control doesn't work, that may be fixable. Some check like "If we're ragdolling for more than 30 seconds, allow player to press 'R' to right the Kerbal and have him magically standing on his feet again" may be appropriate here.

Right now it's only boring players.

[TheDestroyer111]

15 minutes ago, Stoney3K said:

I don't mind a Kerbal ragdolling down a hill for fun and profit, but I *do* mind him ragdolling down said hill (or being hurled across the Great Flats on Minmus) for FIVE BLOODY MINUTES before I can control him again and be able to walk the entire bit back to my craft.

Pressing any key to regain control doesn't work, that may be fixable. Some check like "If we're ragdolling for more than 30 seconds, allow player to press 'R' to right the Kerbal and have him magically standing on his feet again" may be appropriate here.

Right now it's only boring players.

+1

This *may* also make bail-outs much less frustrating, although I think that to make them so, ragdolling should happen on slightly different conditions. Oh, when I said this I realized I don't know why it actually happens after bailing out of a almost-destroyed-in-the-air airplane... Why does it? And what are the exact conditions for a kerbal to start ragdolling?

[Moarmau5]

11 hours ago, Stoney3K said:

...press 'R' to right the Kerbal and have him magically standing on his feet again" may be appropriate here.

+2

Either this, or pressing said button would be similar to applying brakes on a rover wheel. Which would at least give them a chance to slow down enough to regain footing.

[tater]

Since random failures are not a thing, and since kerbals have insane dv in their EVA system, perhaps such rag doll events could actually damage their EVA system. Since it's not "random," is should be OK with Squad, right? Rag doll, and the RCS starts leaking, until it's gone. LS mods could let it damage the LS, so that leaks.

[Waxing_Kibbous]

Hasn't happened to me in a while, but I thought there was a way to stop it, either via timewarp, spacebar, something...

[luizopiloto]

Yes... give Kerbals a pair of Ice Hammers...

[pandaman]

Perhaps applying the 'brakes' could trigger the kerbal to attempt to stop the rolling by attempting to grab 'stuff' or adopting a flatter posture etc.  

Wouldn't work on steep cliffs obviously,  but it could be fun watching them try.

[marcello639]

Just allow to use RCS anytime when it's enabled. 

[tater]

15 hours ago, luizopiloto said:

Yes... give Kerbals a pair of Ice Hammers...

I was gonna say, they need ice axes for self-arrest.

The scientists should have a rock hammer, though, right?

[Superfluous J]

15 hours ago, luizopiloto said:

Yes... give Kerbals a pair of Ice Hammers...

Lara Kroft, Jool Raider.

[Psycho_zs]

+100500! Press brakes to Increase friction between tumbling kerbal and the ground.

[ZooNamedGames]

Yeah Kerbals ragdoll FAR too easily and I know this frustration well. Now this isn't often rolling down hills but more often in space during spacewalks where a small collision of about .5m/s causes my Kerbal to ragdoll and kill all controls until they're able to regain consciousness. This is exceptionally annoying as they'll coast along for another 3 minutes while I'm nearly breaking my keyboard as I shove my fingers into the WASD keys so hard I think my fingers are going to break through.

So rather than adding things to Kerbals I suggest the ragdoll system be fixed entirely and from there we can handle ground/space specific situations.

[Francois424]

how about turning the brakes on ?  RP it as Kerbals clawing and/or using their bodies to stop the ragdolling.

 

Oh Pandaman beats me to it... another +1

[subyng]

I think pressing B to add friction like brakes is a really great solution. 

[eddiew]

+1

Incredible annoyance, don't care if the fix requires 'magic' just make them stop bouncing.

[kotomikun]

It's not necessarily unrealistic, since it's kinda hard to stop falling down a 70-degree slope, but it's really tedious (nothing else in the game leaves you 100% helpless for minutes at a time) and kerbals often ragdoll for no real reason (physics glitches). Brakes, or anything else already suggested, would be great. Maybe let them tether themselves to the ground, even while already falling?

Edited September 20, 2016 by kotomikun
naturally, half of this turned out to be completely wrong

[Clancy]

If they are spinning through space (like because of a ladder glitch) you can stop them spinning by time warping. It might not work for falling down a hill though, since timewarp is not allowed while "moving over the surface."

[Trann]

Another +1 for Brakes.

 

To be more in-game plausable, maybe 'b' activates the EVA's stability brake, without extending the arm controls, and attempts to halt relative motion on the surface (which is detectable) and upright the user?  It then has a cost in terms of fuel.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Trann

[Fearless Son]

I imagine the "brakes" in question being the Kerbal madly gripping bracing their arms and legs on the surface, counting on the textured pads on their gloves and boots to slow them to something like a resting velocity.  

Granted, part of the "fun" is dealing with the consequences of things like crazy slopes and aggressive ballistics, so I would not necessarily want these brakes to be very powerful (they are after all just a Kerbal trying to literally get a grip); a Kerbal tumbling down a slope too steep to stand on should continue to tumble, but it does get ridiculous when you are on a slope that is shallow and smooth and you skid more than a kilometer while waiting for your Kerbal to slow enough that they can stand back up.  They should be able to manage their own motion once their velocity goes below a sane threshold.  

[Pthigrivi]

Couldn't we also just increase their friction all the time?