I don't understand rescue missions.

[strider3]

I get these "rescue" missions, where I'm supposed to rescue a Kerbal in orbit. But I get no description of the equipment on the craft that the Kerbal is in? My latest one was a Kerbal in some sort of airlock...which is not known to you until you spend the time to build a craft, launch it, rendezvous...and then find out you wasted time building a rescue ship with 2 docking port (jr. and Sr.) which will not work on the craft or part he is in? That seems extremely silly to me. Am I missing something here?

[Geonovast]

They'll always be in a single-piece craft that is a part capable of holding a kerbal, ideally this part will always have a hatch that the kerbal can use to leave the ship (I think this is really only an issue when you have part mods).  Never plan on docking with it (it will never have a docking port), just have a seat available for the kerbal so they can EVA and get into the rescue craft.

Some contracts will require the recovery of the "ship" as well, in which case you'll either need the klaw to grab onto it, or get fancy with a cargo bay - although the cargo bay option is risky since if it's just floating loose in there it could get 'splody.

[VoidSquid]

You can get a basic idea about the nature of the lost Kerbal's vessel by checking out the mass and dimensions provided in the mission description. 

Edited September 4, 2019 by VoidSquid

[Kerbart]

1 hour ago, strider3 said:

Am I missing something here?

You don’t need to dock, just get very close, and you can EVA the Kerbal onto your ship. If you have part mods, the rescue Kerbal might be on board of a part without a hatch. There’s a mod to control what parts are allowed for rescue missions, but I forgot the name.

[Snark]

2 hours ago, strider3 said:

But I get no description of the equipment on the craft that the Kerbal is in?

Correct, you don't find that out until you show up there and see it.  Doesn't really matter what kind of craft they're in, though.

2 hours ago, strider3 said:

find out you wasted time building a rescue ship with 2 docking port (jr. and Sr.) which will not work on the craft or part he is in?

Well, you never need to bother putting a docking port on a rescue ship, because the stranded kerbal's ship never has a docking port on it that you can use.  There are basically two situations:

• Contracts to rescue a kerbal.  For these, all you have to do is rendezvous with the target and park next to it (i.e. under 2.3 km) in orbit, then ferry the kerbal across on EVA, as mentioned above.
• Contracts to recover a kerbal and their vessel.  For these, your ship needs to be equipped with the Klaw, a.k.a. Advanced Grabbing Unit, so that you can grab the target (you need the Klaw since the target has no docking port to dock with).

[strider3]

4 hours ago, Snark said:

Correct, you don't find that out until you show up there and see it.  Doesn't really matter what kind of craft they're in, though.

Well, you never need to bother putting a docking port on a rescue ship, because the stranded kerbal's ship never has a docking port on it that you can use.  There are basically two situations:

• Contracts to rescue a kerbal.  For these, all you have to do is rendezvous with the target and park next to it (i.e. under 2.3 km) in orbit, then ferry the kerbal across on EVA, as mentioned above.
• Contracts to recover a kerbal and their vessel.  For these, your ship needs to be equipped with the Klaw, a.k.a. Advanced Grabbing Unit, so that you can grab the target (you need the Klaw since the target has no docking port to dock with).

I had no idea I could control the Kerbal being rescued! Does he show up in the window on the bottom right, or is there some other way to get him out of his ship?

If I have to recover the vessel, I'm guessing re-entry will be...interesting?

Thank you!

[Geonovast]

19 minutes ago, strider3 said:

I had no idea I could control the Kerbal being rescued! Does he show up in the window on the bottom right, or is there some other way to get him out of his ship?

If I have to recover the vessel, I'm guessing re-entry will be...interesting?

Thank you!

The kerbal won't actually exist until your rescue ship gets within physics range, or 2.2km.  Once you get close enough, you can switch to it using the keys [ or ], and then they will show up in the bottom right as usual, and you can  EVA them out, then puff over to the rescue craft.

[strider3]

HMMmmm...when I try to EVA the Kerbal needing rescue, I get a message..."Can't exit, module has no hatch". I went back to Mission Control and verified the mission says nothing about recovering her module...just her. I show "Save Gwenwin Kerman" as complete but "Recover Gwenwin Kerman on Kerbin" as incomplete.

Not sure how to proceed...is the mission description just wrong, and I need to recover her module as well...or am I still doing something wrong?

Standing by at 30 meters from her module.

Edited September 4, 2019 by strider3

[Geonovast]

Do you have any part mods installed?  This shouldn't happen with stock.

Can you provide a screenshot?

[strider3]

What would you like a screenshot of?

 

[Geonovast]

Of the actual rescue, the "ship" your poor kerbal is stuck in.

[strider3]

OK...let me warp to dayside......

[Geonovast]

I'm not familiar with that part, but it looks like it wouldn't have any hatches.  That's definitely a problem.  This happened because that part hasn't been exempted from rescue contracts.

I see three ways around this, listed from easiest to hardest:

1. Use the Advanced Grabbing unit to latch on to the thing, then you can transfer your kerbal to the rescue ship through the claw.  It doesn't make sense, but you can do that.

2. I see you have KIS/KAS.  Use that to either bolt on a docking port and then dock to it, or bolt on a part that has a hatch, then transfer the kerbal to that part and EVA.

3. Modify your save file so that it's actually a different part.  I've done this method.  It's not difficult, but if you're not comfortable editing the save file, it can go wrong and be frustrating.

 

Personally I think option 2 is the best and most fun.

[strider3]

The problem is I don't have the Advanced grabbing unit onboard, I don't have an engineer on the rescue craft...just Valentina (a pilot)...and no KIS/KAS parts on board, either.

Option 3 seems like the only way. I have modified my save file before but I would have to figure out what part to use and how to do this exact modification.

Or I can hope the "Backup" folder has a save from before launch...which I doubt as it only seems to hold 5? A thing I would dearly like to see increased, BTW ;-)

I could just abort this attempt, return Valentina to Kerbin, and build something with the grabber...that might be easiest.

Edited September 4, 2019 by strider3

[Geonovast]

You could send a second rescue ship, just a probe with what you need on board for the KIS/KAS solution.

Or, since this is essentially a bug, it wouldn't be too silly to "cheat".

You can "launch" a vessel that's nothing more than a KIS container that has the tool and part(s) you need for the KIS/KAS solution, a small probe core, and some RCS ability.

Use the "set orbit" part of the Alt+F12 menu to automatically move the launched container to "rendevous" with the ships in orbit.  It'll be transported about 150 meters away.  Then move it in to your rescue.

Or send a full-on new rescue ship.  Or launch another if you prefer. 

 

If you choose the save file edit, just copy your persistent.sfs file as something else when you modify it, and then use the "Load Save" button to load the modified save.  You won't even need to exit the game.  And if it borks, you can just load the backup and try again.

[strider3]

I would still need an engineer at the rescue site to attach any parts sent up, would I not? I think I'll bring Valentina home and try again with an engineer and some parts.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!

[GameTourist]

39 minutes ago, Geonovast said:

2. I see you have KIS/KAS.  Use that to either bolt on a docking port and then dock to it, or bolt on a part that has a hatch, then transfer the kerbal to that part and EVA.

...

Personally I think option 2 is the best and most fun.

Totally agree. It feels like a real rescue operation, like you're using some space version of the "jaws of life".
It's more work but more rewarding.
 

[BudgetHedgehog]

Shout out to Rescue Pod Validator - avoids this exact scenario.

 

[strider3]

So...I ended up having to "cheat" a bit. There was no way any part with a hatch or a docking port, by itself, would fit into my Kerbal Engineer's inventory...too much mass. So I went with the KAS option, using the JS-1 joint socket and the RTS-1 resource transfer station. I had my engineer attach the JS-1 to the airlock with the kerbal in it, then reeled out the hose from the RTS-1 and attached it. Who knew a Kerbal was that flexible so as to fit into a 2" hose??? LOL! (thus the cheating part).

Anywho, Gwenwin is safely back home. I do like the realism aspect of trying to attach a docking port or other part so the Kerbal in need can EVA over to my rescue ship...I just don't see how to do something like that.

For now I'm going to use the mod that BudgetHedgehog suggested (thanks buddy!).

[Geonovast]

You wouldn't use a kerbal's inventory for larger parts.  You would use a KIS container.

This is a couple years old, but still relevant.  And there are larger, cylinderical containers too.  There are also some other mods that add containers, like Universal Storage.

 

[strider3]

I have never seen that video...good stuff but, of course, it brings up other questions ;-).

How do I remove a, say, docking port Jr. from a container, EVA it over to the pod with the trapped Kerbal, and attach it so I can dock? Or, the part with hatch option...that one seems really hard to do. Anything with a hatch would be REALLY heavy and would be, most likely, a command pod or something similar? In the video it mentions using more than one Kerbal...LOL...SOooo many questions. I have never tried using more than one Kerbal to move something...and I'm completely at a loss for how moving something that large, AND attaching it to the airlock or whatever the stranded Kerbal is in would be done?

I appreciate the help...and especially all of your patience, gang.

[Geonovast]

This is kind of where ladders come in handy.  If you can get your ships really close, then you can just have your kerbal hold onto a ladder - either one built into a command pod or one attached to the side of the ship.  They can still attach parts when they're holding onto a ladder.

The small cubic storage container can actually be used as a backpack both on the ground and in space, to hold more stuff than the kerbal's normal inventory.  Just put the container into the kerbal's inventory, and it will appear on their back, and then you can access the stuff inside.

As far as the hatch, there are mods that include small airlock parts that you can use.  They'll hold a single kerbal, so you'd need to transfer the kerbal to that part first, but then they'd be able to EVA out.

As far as really heavy stuff, the additional kerbals just need to be close by.  They don't actually need to do anything, you still do all the attaching with one kerbal.

Like in these screenshots:

 

Here I was assembling a rather large rover in its entirety on the surface of Dres (which happened to be in geostationary orbit of Kerbin at the time..).

Everything that's to the left of the docking ports visible on the left side of the picture was pulled out of the two giant KIS containers in the U-shaped structure.  A lot of those pieces are too heavy for one kerbal, so I had several out to help.  Since you can only control one kerbal at a time, they appear to all the work.  The wheels were especially heavy, but I don't seem to have any in-process pictures with those, so here's it flying.

(This project was also why I started writing Superfluous Nodes)

 

Just remember that when you're building with KIS/KAS, you need to hold H to actually attach something.  R is super helpful too, as it cycles through the attachment nodes on the part, including the surface attach.  Not terribly important for temp stuff like in your original issue, but if you're actually building something precisely like you would in the editor, it lets you use the actual nodes (the green and black balls in the VAB/SPH).  I couldn't bring myself to build something I actually intended on using in space with using surface attach... you could never get anything symmetrical!

 

If you're still confused, I can do a video tomorrow mimicking your exact situation.

Edited September 10, 2019 by Geonovast

[strider3]

I would love to see a video! But, please, at your leisure...I'm not far enough along the tech tree for a lot of the heavy stuff. I was going to ask how you attached those torroidal tanks to the trusses that way but then I took a look at your SuperfluousNodes mod and I'm guessing that was how.

I'm also going to guess that the heavier the part, the more Kerbals required to move it?

Edited September 10, 2019 by strider3

[Gordon Fecyk]

On 9/3/2019 at 9:50 AM, strider3 said:

But I get no description of the equipment on the craft that the Kerbal is in?

This is in a spoiler because you might consider it 'cheaty.'

Spoiler

When you accept the contract, the Astronaut Complex will identify the kerbal as on active duty, and will show you in what seat on what kind of part they reside in.

Save the game first before accepting the contract, in case you end up with a part without a hatch.

 

[Geonovast]

15 minutes ago, strider3 said:

SuperfluousNodes mod and I'm guessing that was how.

Actually no, I wrote the mod after this build.

It was through the use of the so-called "useless" part, the micronode.

I will do a video for you likely tomorrow. (Nearly bedtime now)