Multi Role Kerbals

[Nivee~]

I was wondering, if a kerbal could have multiple specialities. A base kerbal would have all the skills :Piloting, engineering and science-ing..

However, if a Kerbal is designated as a pilot when it was recruited, it can go up to 5 stars as a pilot, but only 2 stars as an Engineer and 3 stars as a Scientist, depending on the courage-stupidity characteristics.

This will allow greater flexibility in the missions.

Can we please have a discussion on this topic?

[Pthigrivi]

We've batted this around before and I think its an interesting idea, but its all a little dependent on some broader questions about how or if Kerbal Skills get further developed. Right now there are very few perks after 3 stars--it all feels sort of half-finished. With pilots for instance its much easier to unlock probe cores than to earn piloting skills and there are no perks for 4+5 stars so most players just slap a probe-core on pretty early and pilots cease to have a function. 

There's also the question about whether we want incentives for players to bring more rather than fewer kerbals on missions. Letting kerbals train across specialities kind of works against this. 

[Superfluous J]

I had a module manager config somewhere that spread abilities out a bit, but haven't used it in years and things have changed so I doubt it would work anyway. However it was quite a simple change. I'd not be surprised if a bit of elbow grease could recreate it.

[Gargamel]

There has been some discussion in the past about having specialized kerbals.  A base kerbal would have a minimal set of skills, and as they earn XP, they would also earn training points.   You use these points to earn new skills, be it in the Piloting, Engineering, or Sciencing department.    This would allow for a pretty nice array of different types of kerbals.   

[lunardog15]

Rpg style skill trees?

Count me in.