Allow Players to Pick their Kerbals at the Start of a Game

[The Yellow Dart]

I am tired of always having the same 4 kerbals in the early game, you have a nice kerbal name generator but it doesn't even matter until you actually have need of more than 4 kerbals. When a player starts a new game of any type, bring up a Kerbal Selection Screen, with the big four always available at the top of the list, and, say, 10 to 20 random kerbals, or possibly 5 random kerbals of each class. Allow the player to pick 3 to start with. You can always keep any of the main 4 kerbals that don't get selected at the top of the list in the Astronaut Complex, if the player wants to get them later, but it just doesn't make sense to always have those 4 kerbals every single game.

[klgraham1013]

I can agree with this.

[4x4cheesecake]

Would be a clean way to get rid of Jeb, who always tries to climb into every single rocket just to mess up stuff

But since there are still new players around, a selection screen should still contain some restriction in the specializations so you have to pick at least one Pilot, Engineer and Scientist (maybe it can be set for each Kerbal). Otherwise, a new player may have some troubles in the first career/science game (no SAS except stability control without a pilot, experiments cannot be reset without a scientist, etc...).

[Superfluous J]

This is ridiculously easy if you don't mind editing the persistent file, though it gets slightly harder with people out on missions. Just open the file and search for Jeb's name, then change it. Repeat for Bill, Bob and Val. You can even change their stats.

[swjr-swis]

Or create your own starting set with the debug menu, Kerbal/Create.

You can pick their genders, professions, experience, personalities, make them badS or veterans (or both), and give them your own choice of name. You can even make them tourists.

You can make a whole new set for every single game... or half-way an existing save.

We have the technology, people.

[razark]

2 hours ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

a selection screen should still contain some restriction in the specializations so you have to pick at least one Pilot, Engineer and Scientist

Oh, please no.  I'd rather have the ability to just select three or four pilots, rather than having to edit the save file.

 

Also, the candidate list should refresh more often, so I don't have to delete all of them out of the file so I can get a fresh selection.

[Pthigrivi]

I love the originals, but always thought in fairness there should be two more orange suited gals, and then let players pick any 3 when they start out. 

[Cataclism]

17 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

Or create your own starting set with the debug menu, Kerbal/Create.

You can pick their genders, professions, experience, personalities, make them badS or veterans (or both), and give them your own choice of name. You can even make them tourists.

You can make a whole new set for every single game... or half-way an existing save.

We have the technology, people.

That´s the kind of GOOD STUFF I still haven´t noticed. Thank you!

[Superfluous J]

21 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

Or create your own starting set with the debug menu, Kerbal/Create.

I didn't know that worked on existing Kerbals. They tricked me with the word "create."

[MaximumThrust]

I agree with that, also should be somewhat hard to get the money to contract the first ones, forcing you to start unnamed, at least in some game mode or difficulty option. Reputation could also influence in how much you have to pay them (or for them?!).

On 12/6/2018 at 12:37 AM, razark said:

Oh, please no.  I'd rather have the ability to just select three or four pilots, rather than having to edit the save file.

I always felt the need to have an equal amount of the 3, and did a lot of things in my install so they are equally important, maybe because the game forced me to do it at the start, and bothered me to have 2 pilots. I like your thinking, this type of freedom would be very nice, but still think the classes should be somewhat balanced.

In my current gameplay I dismissed the 4 before started playing, like it was some difficulty option that you pick at the start. Sorry Jeb, this wasn't easy with you 

[SiriusRocketry]

Make Veteran starters a game option (for noobs) and allow more customizability for those of us who are more advanced and can choose kerbals without fear of an all-engineer team

Edited December 9, 2018 by SiriusRocketry
Wonder if I can burn autocorrect

[EchoLima]

On 12/8/2018 at 1:31 AM, MaximumThrust said:

I agree with that, also should be somewhat hard to get the money to contract the first ones

I think instead you should get extra starting money to hire the first 3 kerbals, but if you decide to hire fewer kerbals you get to keep the extra money. This would be especially helpful in hard mode.