Grabbing Unit On Tech Tree

[Josh IN SPACE]

I'm just curious as to what the justification is for having the Grabbing Unit be all by itself on the tech tree?

That's a fair lump of science to put down for one part. 

10% salty, 80% curious, 10% full of pizza right now.

[Superfluous J]

I've always wondered that. Also, why the node isn't called "The Claw."

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

I always thought it was by itself because it was like the Nerv: not really necessary for gameplay. When you feel like you want it (or everything else is already researched), you pay the price and open the node.

[Zeiss Ikon]

Might be because it really came about in relation to Asteroid Day, which was originally a mod.  And the Klaw is genuinely necessary for asteroid redirect and capture missions.  Not to mention extremely handy for debris retrieval (Kessler syndrome correction) and some rescue contracts.

[John FX]

Initially I though the thread was about grabbing items on the tech tree, possibly to move them about in order to make your own tree.

That would be great.

On topic, I imagine that, as said, the options opened by the claw are fairly specific and the item would not go well in other nodes, the item is not needed for normal play, so it is optional whether you spend the science to open the node. Later in a career, the item would be relatively cheaper.

[Aegolius13]

There are quite a few points on the tech tree that make little to no sense in terms of value (looking at you, large Remote Guidance Unit).  

[Geschosskopf]

14 hours ago, Josh IN SPACE said:

I'm just curious as to what the justification is for having the Grabbing Unit be all by itself on the tech tree?

It's because various asteroid-related things in the game are triggered when you unlock that tech tree node.  Suddenly you'll get scads of Near-Kerbin Objects in your tracking center, and you'll also start getting contracts involving asteroids, which will occupy slots in the available contracts list that could otherwise be about something not involving asteroids.  These things can impact game performance and also career progression.  Therefore, Squad made it so players had the choice of dealing with this or not by selecting a single tech tree node.

See, the whole asteroid thing was essentially a Squad-made mod.  It was totally optional.  And if you did get it, you might not want to chase asteroids in all your saves.

[KerikBalm]

I thought that the asteroids were triggered by upgrading the tracking station to lvl 3?

[Zeiss Ikon]

3 hours ago, KerikBalm said:

I thought that the asteroids were triggered by upgrading the tracking station to lvl 3?

That upgrade lets you track "unowned" objects -- which, seemingly, might include asteroids, as well as vessels and debris launched by "other space agencies" (the sources of those rescue contracts).  In my 1.2.2 science save, I started with the Space Center fully upgraded, but didn't yet have the Klaw unlocked when I first spotted asteroids (er, "unknown objects") from Tracking.

[Josh IN SPACE]

Ah, that all makes more sense then. Great responses in here! I'm sitting at a crossroads on my latest mission, which is asking me to attach a new compartment to my existing outpost on the Mun.

However, like most of my missions, I end up just barely under fuel, and have to pull off some wacky landing (as with the first outpost). In this case I was able to use what I had to land the 5 kerbals safely instead of having them blow up at 60 m/s... but now they're at least 2 km from the other half of the outpost I need to attach this portion to.

Maybe I could send a vehicle there with the claw to latch on and drag that outpost all the way to the other outpost to connect them. Best tires I have are Rovemax M1. Outpost consists of viewing Cupola and the 4 kerbal hitchhiker container. So probably around 4.5 tons with the added bits and pieces and fat kerbals.

I wonder if I should recruit/rescue more people and go for a 3rd attempt with better fuel/engine consideration, or try sending a vehicle to steer the thing into place. If the first option, then I have 5 people sitting in that 2nd outpost for nothing and have to get them back eventually.

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

4 hours ago, Josh IN SPACE said:

I wonder if I should recruit/rescue more people and go for a 3rd attempt with better fuel/engine consideration, or try sending a vehicle to steer the thing into place. If the first option, then I have 5 people sitting in that 2nd outpost for nothing and have to get them back eventually.

Those expansion contracts are usually more trouble than they're worth. Especially for a ground base. The orbital station ones are okay if you're going there anyway. You just have to dock for a few seconds, then move on your way. In your situation, think I'd check my quicksaves and either do it again or scrap the whole thing. If you go for it, you'll need to be prepared, though. Even if you land next to your base, you'll still need wheels on the module, or a rover to maneuver it around to get connected (barring mods, of course).

Whatever you end up doing, a quick piece of advice that won't really help right now, but certainly will in the future; whenever they ask for a facility supporting a certain number of Kerbals, you don't actually need that many Kerbals. You don't need any at all, in fact. If you have a cupola and a hitcher, than that supports 5 Kerbals. Put a probecore on it and connect it and you'll complete the contract. The key to contracts like that is to give them the absolute bare minimum that they ask for. That way you maximize your profits. And, of course, stacking contracts whenever possible is always helpful.

[regex]

On 11/18/2017 at 4:42 AM, Zeiss Ikon said:

Might be because it really came about in relation to Asteroid Day, which was originally a mod.

No. The claw came around between 0.23 and 0.24 in 0.23.5 with the SLS parts, the ARM update, (can't remember, so long ago) and was always part of the base game. Asteroid Day was much later and introduced some new mechanics, and science and probe parts, as a mod, that were later moved into the base game.

Edited November 20, 2017 by regex

[NSEP]

Because i don't see it being simulair to any other part. The Claw is more advanced than docking ports, a different catagory than the SLS parts, and neither is it simulair to the Mk3 Capsule.

[Josh IN SPACE]

In the end, my previous save was too far before the launch and so I gave the claw-strategy a shot, but rovers (at least my small one) was not quite strange enough to tug that portion of the outpost.

I decided it couldn't hurt to practice landing again next to my outpost, so I then sent out a refueling lander to link up with the outpost half and give it a little more juice so it could make the hop to the other part of the outpost.

I got it hooked up in the end but it was quite the hassle and looks pretty ridiculous. I'll really rethink my design the next time I try adding on or setting up a new outpost. 

Thanks again for the help!