Need help deciding to kill a kerbal or not

[mattig89ch]

hello all,

For the longest time I've had my first kerbal to ever land on duna orbiting duna, waiting for the planets to align and he could fire what little fuel he had to get back home. Finally the planets aligned for me, I set up a maneuver node, and threw everything that nuclear engine had to get back home. and the engine cut out with only 60 m/s left to get him home.

basically he's stranded in inter-planetary space, with 2 solar panels, a short-wave radio antena, and no one/nothing else. Being that he was the first kerbal to even touch the ground on duna, I'm a little heistant to kill him. But I also have the big 3 in orbit of duna, out of fuel, but with a re-fueler on the way to come and push them home (first serious try at docking).

Now, up until this point, every time I tried to get an intercept has met with disaster. Every docking attempt has met with explosions. Though those have been mainly from getting frustrated and impatient then anything else (so far).

Now I don't think theres a big likely hood that he would ever be rescued, though not impossible. so my question is, should I kill this important kerbal? The first one to ever touch duna, and plant the first flag. the one that generations of kerbals from here on will look towards as an example, and role model.

Or should I let him live? While he slowly dies from lack of breathable air or food. Only able to broadcast his signal a short distance, and only ever able to communicate back home if/when he manages to fly close to kerbin.

[Sirine]

Kerbal don't die with lack of food, they photosynthesis as that's why they look green. They breath oxygen+carbon dioxide like plant. So, no problem breading.

If they get boring, they just hibernate themselves. So no mentality issues.

The main problem is YOU. If you want to bring him back, sooner or later you can. It just take some times.

The game run 999 years... so, take your time. Is just that....0.22 might be out by that time. And you will have improved-equipment to rescue him, which previously seems impossible.

Edited October 5, 2013 by Sirine

[KvickFlygarn87]

Rendezvous and transfer the poor guy over!

[Sirine]

basically he's stranded in inter-planetary space

He is stranded in Sun(Kerbol) Orbit, or Duna Orbit?

[Lohan2008]

Leave No Kerbal behind.

Practice those docking manoeuvres.

As Sirine said, Kerbal don't die with lack of food, they photosynthesis like a plant. They just hibernate, so no mentality issues.

or are a Silicon based life form which can live 999 years, also their flight suits have an edible lining (imo).

Edited October 5, 2013 by Lohan2008

[Blackswimmer]

If you've only got 60m/s left to get him home couldn't you use the old get-out-and-push method?

[Trann]

Rescue, every time.

[Galane]

If you're not averse to using MechJeb, there's a way to use only its Smart A.S.S. function for docking.

First you have to get the ships in visual range of each other.

Second, right click your docking port then click control from here. Right click the second ship's docking port then click Set as target.

Third, switch to the second ship with [ or ] and repeat step 2.

Fourth, open the Smart A.S.S. window, click TGT then the TGT+ buttons. The ship will pivot around so its docking port is aimed at the second ship's docking port.

Fifth, switch to the second ship and repeat step 4.

Sixth, switch to the ship with the fuel to dock.

Now you are setup for docking. If the ships are moving together already, simply wait and they'll dock - as long as they're not moving too fast and aren't in orbits that don't intersect.

If the ships are moving apart, you need to alter that situation. Either use just the barest amount of engine thrust to just get the range closing, then stop thrusting, or enable RCS and press H until the range numbers on the target are counting down. Turn off RCS when you're not using it because the auto-pointing will get too jittery at close range and Smart A.S.S. will burn through your RCS fuel pretty quick.

RSC direction keys are HNKIJL. You'll want to figure out which one thrusts the opposite direction to H, in case you get your closing speed going too fast.

RCS can also get you out of an orbit when you run out of fuel, assuming your ship has RCS thrusters and tanks of monopropellant, that aren't empty.

Put something together like the Gemini Agena target vehicle and practice docking in Kerbin orbit. That's what NASA did before going to the Moon. First they rendezvoused two Gemini (6A and 7) capsules in orbit (AFAIK the only time two separately launched American manned space vehicles have been in orbit at the same time, ISS is a station, not a vehicle) then did a docking with an Agena with Gemini 8.

Gemini 11 still holds the manned Earth orbit altitude record of 739.2 nautical miles (1,369.0 km). Pretty sad that no human has orbited Earth higher than that since September 1966.

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

Just make him get out and push

It actually works!

[Commander Zoom]

Practice your rendezvous, use MechJeb, or both.

And just in case, quicksave first.

[Spyritdragon]

Look at my signature :-)

Pushing would really be the best option. If not, try quicksaving and preforming a very well calculated aerobrake to Kerbin. You Kerbal has much more than 60 m/s in his pack - get him on an aerobrake course that will make him just get a capture, then use his pack to get your periapsis out of atmosphere. Then you can preform a Kerbin RV rather than a Kerbol RV, which is a HUGE improvement.

[mattig89ch]

alot of people are saying go for an eva push. well...what not.

I'll let you know what happens....hopefull its good news.

btw, whats a good altitude to shoot for in the atmoshpere? assuming I can get him into the atmosphere.

[lajoswinkler]

Kerbal don't die with lack of food, they photosynthesis as that's why they look green. They breath oxygen+carbon dioxide like plant. So, no problem breading.

And where does the CO2 come from?

OP, don't kill him. You'll find a way to rescue him. I've got a Kerbal in a Kerbolar orbit with periapsis just above the star and apoapsis at the Kerbol-Kerbin distance. He's been there for the past few decades... Maybe even 100 years. He's having a blast.

[cantorobriar]

If you really want to, and you DIRELY need to get him home, there are three methods I would use. First, get out and push. Second, FORGET the spaceship and use his pack (hit R) to get him into Kerbin Orbit, then lauch another spaceship to get him. Third, hit Alt + F12 and enable the "Infinite Fuel" cheat, if you don't mind cheating. I almost always use number 2, and I've never used number 3. Just some ideas.

[joethebeast22]

Kerbal don't die with lack of food, they photosynthesis as that's why they look green. They breath oxygen+carbon dioxide like plant. So, no problem breading.

If they get boring, they just hibernate themselves. So no mentality issues.

The main problem is YOU. If you want to bring him back, sooner or later you can. It just take some times.

The game run 999 years... so, take your time. Is just that....0.22 might be out by that time. And you will have improved-equipment to rescue him, which previously seems impossible.

from the last KSP news update, it sounded like .22 wasn't all that far off, my guess is a week or two, what do you think?

[Kasuha]

I had similar problem, my Moho mission ran out of fuel on the way back. I just sent them automatic refueler, they met in Sun orbit, docked together, and went home.

Yes, you need to learn how to perform rendezvous. It's not that hard. In interplanetary space you need to deal with game's arithmetic errors, with trajectories being drawn off-course and with some other problems but it is possible and it is not even very hard once you get the handle of it.

Docking in interplanetary space is even easier than docking in Kerbin orbit as ships don't keep rotating out of alignment due to the orbit.

[goldenpeach]

[...]

The game run 999 years... so, take your time. Is just that....0.22 might be out by that time. And you will have improved-equipment to rescue him, which previously seems impossible.

What happen after that?

from the last KSP news update, it sounded like .22 wasn't all that far off, my guess is a week or two, what do you think?

I don't think 0.22 will be released in two weeks, we only had one blog entry on it!

The are coming closer and closer to 0.22 but I guess we will have to wait for at least one month(but I hope you're right!)

[Guest Brody_Peffley]

What happen after that?

I don't think 0.22 will be released in two weeks, we only had one blog entry on it!

The are coming closer and closer to 0.22 but I guess we will have to wait for at least one month(but I hope you're right!)

Hope you do know that they've been working on ksp 0.22 for 4 months now, Its getting pretty close to done.

[squirtgun1234]

Get out and push!!!!!!

[Wallace]

And where does the CO2 come from?

Same as plants, they inhale O2 and exhale CO2 when not in sunlight, and inhale CO2 and exhale O2 when in sunlight and photosynthesising. Thus the balance is maintained, a Kerbal in a sealed capsule is like a bottle garden, the oldest known bottle garden was sealed in 1972 and the plants inside are still healthy.

[Kerbolnaut]

Docking in interplanetary space is even easier than docking in Kerbin orbit as ships don't keep rotating out of alignment due to the orbit.

That's actually easy to deal with in planetary orbit. As long as you're in an equatorial orbit, just point the target docking port north or south. North and south will stay the same direction as the ship rotates around the planet's equator.

[ElJugador]

Kerbal don't die with lack of food, they photosynthesis as that's why they look green. They breath oxygen+carbon dioxide like plant. So, no problem breading.

If they get boring, they just hibernate themselves. So no mentality issues.

The main problem is YOU. If you want to bring him back, sooner or later you can. It just take some times.

The game run 999 years... so, take your time. Is just that....0.22 might be out by that time. And you will have improved-equipment to rescue him, which previously seems impossible.

Leave No Kerbal behind.

Practice those docking manoeuvres.

As Sirine said, Kerbal don't die with lack of food, they photosynthesis like a plant. They just hibernate, so no mentality issues.

or are a Silicon based life form which can live 999 years, also their flight suits have an edible lining (imo).

Sorry to rain on the parade, but Kerbals don't photosynthesize. (stated by dev (nova). They just keep going until you kill them or they die or you recover them.

[Galane]

For get out and push, the key is how far away from Kerbin is this Kerbal in his ship without fuel? How many times will he have to get out and back in for pack refills?

Should he try for a capture into Kerbin orbit or go for a direct hit, if the ship has parachutes?

How about a map screenshot showing where he is in the system?

[JiWint]

Rendezvous with a empty capsule.Use jetpack to get in!!

[lajoswinkler]

Same as plants, they inhale O2 and exhale CO2 when not in sunlight, and inhale CO2 and exhale O2 when in sunlight and photosynthesising. Thus the balance is maintained, a Kerbal in a sealed capsule is like a bottle garden, the oldest known bottle garden was sealed in 1972 and the plants inside are still healthy.

Ii wish if it was that simple, but it is not. But I get the idea and I like it.