Default Pilot

[NewtSoup]

Doing my first Mun MIssion in a new game, I designed my Rocket put Valentina in the pilots seat and went to bed.

Reloaded the game this morning and launched and half way to space I notice that Jeb has replaced Valentina.

I prefer to use Valentina for everything over Jeb.  No real reason other than I like her better.

How can I promote Valentina over Jeb permanently, so that she's the default Kerbal crew member.

I realise I can simply turn off Kerbal respawning and fire Jeb into the sun but I'd rather not do that.

Game file modding is fine by me.

[stibbons]

Build a small one-seater vessel, put Jeb in it, and park it next to the KSC?

You can justify it as leaving a marker so other missions can find the space centre when they're returning home. He's doing very important work in his tiny tin can out there!

[NewtSoup]

2 minutes ago, stibbons said:

Build a small one-seater vessel, put Jeb in it, and park it next to the KSC?

You can justify it as leaving a marker so other missions can find the space centre when they're returning home. He's doing very important work in his tiny tin can out there!

That's freaky, just as you were writing that I was building a "quad rocket" for jeb that I'm going to try and land on top of the Vab so I can leave him there in perpetuity.

I'll just "promote" one of my rescued kerbal pilots to veteran and enable her badS tag as a Jeb replacement.

[Rocket In My Pocket]

Before you exile Jeb to the forbidden zone, perhaps take a look at this mod?

 

Edited February 9, 2018 by Rocket In My Pocket

[Geonovast]

1 hour ago, NewtSoup said:

Doing my first Mun MIssion in a new game, I designed my Rocket put Valentina in the pilots seat and went to bed.

Reloaded the game this morning and launched and half way to space I notice that Jeb has replaced Valentina.

I prefer to use Valentina for everything over Jeb.  No real reason other than I like her better.

How can I promote Valentina over Jeb permanently, so that she's the default Kerbal crew member.

I realise I can simply turn off Kerbal respawning and fire Jeb into the sun but I'd rather not do that.

Game file modding is fine by me.

I think it if you build your rockets so the command pod is not the root part, it won't auto fill the pod before launch.  You'll get the "This vessel will not be controllable" message when launching if you forget the board Val.

At least that how it's behaved for me.  Any time I'm mucking about in a rocket, and the root ends up not being a pod, it ends up launching empty.

Of course if you have a probe core anywhere on the thing and forget to board her it won't pop up the message..

[MaxwellsDemon]

Yeah, you gotta keep an eye on Jeb.  He loves flying so much, he'll sneak onboard when you're not looking.   I know there was at least one instance where I was launching something or other, intended to be unpiloted-- and I thought I had made it so-- but I go to the launch pad, and there Jeb is, in the rocket, grinning maniacally.  

[Just Jim]

29 minutes ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

Before you exile Jeb to the forbidden zone, perhaps take a look at this mod?

 

Hmmm... I need to take a closer look at this one!!!  

[NewtSoup]

Jeb lives here now!

 

I thought about that mod and I will probably install it as well but while it remembers crew complements for specific ships I don't think it would make Valentina the default pilot for new ships, they'd still be Jeb.  So Jeb is the official  Senior rooftop sanitisation specialist - those helipads must be scrubbed hourly!.  After all a helicopter may actually land there one day and we can't have it getting it's skids dirty from solid fuel exhaust residue.

Edited February 9, 2018 by NewtSoup

[Rocket In My Pocket]

12 minutes ago, NewtSoup said:

Jeb lives here now!

I thought about that mod and I will probably install it as well but while it remembers crew complements for specific ships I don't think it would make Valentina the default pilot for new ships, they'd still be Jeb.  So Jeb is the official  Senior rooftop sanitisation specialist - those helipads must be scrubbed hourly!.  After all a helicopter may actually land there one day and we can't have it getting it's skids dirty from solid fuel exhaust residue.

Lol nice!

Next fly him a nice little house up there.

(You are right about the mod, but it does remember your choices, so in the example you gave in your OP it would have kept Val instead of replacing her with Jeb.)

Apparently editing the order of the ROSTER in the persistence.sfs file is a thing as well according to the post I found.

It works for me to simply change around the order in the ROSTER section of the persistent.sfs file. The downside is that you might get to read the badS flag (which could be a spoiler). I like to list the Kerbals according to their job and pretend they have different jobs/ranks (Chief Pilot, Head of Experimental Science, Laboratory Assistant, and so on).

So basically if you put Val's ROSTER entry at the top, she'd always be the default pilot.

Edited February 9, 2018 by Rocket In My Pocket

[NewtSoup]

5 minutes ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

Apparently editing the order of the ROSTER in the persistence.sfs file is a thing as well according to the post I found.

Now that sounds like my kind of hack!

[Rocket In My Pocket]

Just now, NewtSoup said:

Now that sounds like my kind of hack!

Back it up first please!

I'd hate to be the guy who ruined your save file lol.

[NewtSoup]

Even Better!  On the map - Jeb, outside of his capsule is marked by a Kerbal Face.  This is better for locating the KSC than any vehicle icon.  Jeb's duties now include "Acting Locator Beacon"

AND Valentina is now the default pilot for any vehicle.

Edited February 9, 2018 by NewtSoup

[invision]

nothing worse than flying out tourist contracts only to find Jeb sneaking in there only after you landed.................

[MaxwellsDemon]

Can't do it.  As much as I do try to rotate my pilots, I do like Jeb and can't countenance the thought of grounding him.   As General Kamanin (head of Soviet cosmonaut training in the 1960s) said of Yuri Gagarin, it's a shame to make him into a living museum piece.

 

(Albeit Kamanin did understand the PR value Gagarin had and didn't want to risk him lightly.   But Kamanin was a pilot himself and understood what it meant for a pilot to be not allowed to fly...)

Edited February 9, 2018 by MaxwellsDemon
Additional thought

[NewtSoup]

If the game ever reaches persistent physics for craft anywhere at any time then I will build Jeb a solar-electric powered glider and let him forever patrol the skies of Eve guarding it from the Kraken.   Would be cool to get him flying against Eve’s rotation for permanent daytime. 

[Vanamonde]

This question about how to play the game has been moved to Gameplay Questions. 

[adsii1970]

It is actually easy. Modify your persistent file and swap Val and Jeb's flight order. It works every time...

Edited February 9, 2018 by adsii1970

[Spricigo]

16 hours ago, NewtSoup said:

Jeb lives here now!

 

 

I thought about that mod...

...I don't think it would make Valentina the default pilot for new ships, they'd still be Jeb.  

 As mentioned in the mod thread: 

• Makes sure there's a pilot on board, if you don't have any SAS-capable probe cores.

• Tries to pick the highest-level crewmembers available. (Except for pilots; if you have an SAS-capable probe core and your pilots are all lower-level than the core, it picks the *lowest* pilot available.)

If Valentina have a higher level, she will be the one boarding the vessel. (With no SAS-capable probe)

And if that is not enough the thread mentions the possibility of changing a couplr of config for customization.

[Mr. Peabody]

Jeb was the original awesome pilot. Replacing him equals great treachery. You wouldn't want to know what I do with Val (who is definitely not a badS nor ever should be) though...  (Yes, I do have BD Armory installed.)

Edited February 10, 2018 by The Dunatian

[Spricigo]

25 minutes ago, The Dunatian said:

Jeb was the original awesome pilot. Replacing him equals great treachery. You wouldn't want to know what I do with Val (who is definitely not a badS nor ever should be) though...  (Yes, I do have BD Armory installed.)

Apparently, games can evolve faster than players sometimes. 

[Mr. Peabody]

7 hours ago, Spricigo said:

Apparently, games can evolve faster than players sometimes. 

I'm not sure what connotation that carries and I don't think I want to find out...

I guess Jeb has always been my luckiest and most skilled pilot. Definitely my favorite of the original "big three."

[Spricigo]

8 hours ago, The Dunatian said:

. You wouldn't want to know what I do with Val

 

36 minutes ago, The Dunatian said:

I'm not sure what connotation that carries and I don't think I want to find out...

 Two reason to not have this conversation, then. How about we stop it before the thread (about something else) is derailed? 

If you decide that you want to know my opinion about some subject just send me a PM or just ping me in a thread about it.

[Mr. Peabody]

2 hours ago, Spricigo said:

 

 Two reason to not have this conversation, then. How about we stop it before the thread (about something else) is derailed? 

If you decide that you want to know my opinion about some subject just send me a PM or just ping me in a thread about it.

I think we can both see where this is headed so let's just agree to disagree before a heated debate starts up.