I killed Jeb... what's it like carrying on without him?

[Apollo91]

I'm one of those people who loves to play games with permadeath. So, obviously, I have quicksave\quickload off on my career save, and I play with all the "hardcore" houserules, such as no "simulations" in sandbox and no debug. But this is the first time I've ever actually lost a Kerbal I really cared about.

I already lost Bob on the far side of the moon, underestimating how much fuel it would take to land. Jeb's death though, smacks even harder of hubris.

He was my pilot for the first trip to Minmus. I had a contract to do some EVA work in addition to the general exploration contract, and my rocket had performed unexpectedly well - so well, in fact, that my transfer stage was still half full on landing. So instead of dumping it, I landed a while from the EVA site on the engine, figuring I would just jetpack myself to the top of the cliff. Back in (0.16? 0.17? Not sure, whenever EVA and Minmus first existed together) I used to jetpack people 15km a hop, and I got pretty good at it. So I thought I would do just fine.

Immediately I figured out something was wrong. First, EVA zones are really small, and I was doing a lot of hunting around on my way down trying to stay in the zone. When I landed, I had 2.10 mono left in the jetpack. I was sweating at this point - I was 16km away from my ship - farther than I thought I would be. I was cursing myself silently - there were "above such altitude" hovers on the contract as well, and I could have done those first and burnt that transfer stage. Had I done this, I could have landed on the landing legs, which could probably handle the incline on top of the cliff in question, which probably would have been no more than an 800m hop to the EVA site. Why did I push so hard? As I lined up Jeb to the 16km marker, I let the question drop and assured myself that it didn't matter if I had used more than half the fuel; I would be more efficient on the way back because I wouldn't have to hunt around, I had a clear target.

So I started the hop. I almost thought I had it, until I started the landing phase. I ran out of fuel at 600m. As Jeb fell I flailed for solutions - put him on his helmet! - but not, there's no fuel - and was left with nothing to do but watch as he fell to become one with the dust of Minmus.

So, today, I am trying to recruit some candidates to replace Jeb. I figure I'll do this by loading up my Kerbin exploration airplane - small, high performance, very Kerbal safety! (ie you die in it.) No Kerbal seems up to it, they all freak out, all the time.

So my question to the forum is - have you killed your Jeb in a no-quickload game? And what's it like carrying on without him? Are there other Kerbals who can approach his level of fearlessness? Has anyone figured out what combination of courageous\stupid makes a Kerbal fearless? I fear many KIA's in the quest to find out for myself :\

[Rath]

Jeb has the badS flag in his config making him fearless-you gan get it randomly on other kerbals thoough

[Overland]

Name a ship after him. plant a flag in his honor..

Im not a stranger to loss of kerbals..even in the most innocent circumstances.. just about everythings deadly in KSP

In my current game I drove 90km to get him back.. but with history as a guide.. this brave little kerbal never lives long

simply because I.. like many people choose him to crew the best vehicles.. be they planes, rockets or trains..

and those things push the boundries until they cant anymore..

hes always the first to go either to dust.. or worse. orbiting kerbol. in a capsule..a station.. or EVA.. without fuel, light.. or hope

such is the life of this great pilot

[celem]

Yes, unfortunately he is the only 'always fearless' pilot. But as Rath says it will randomly generate on recruits so your high altitude plane tests are ideal for finding Jeb reincarnated. To speed things up try and get more seats in so you can test whole batches.

I also like playing permadeath style and it sure does hurt when you lose the ones you actually care about. Show your grief, erect a monument, recover the body, build a shrine. Go nuts.

Typically I do lose Jeb if Im going to lose a Kerbal. He has such a tendancy to be a Test Pilot. (If you re-order your astronauts in the complex by drag-dropping then you can change who the default kerbal that jumps into manned ships is. Its the guy top of the list, which is why its Jeb.) Once Jeb has risked his neck through my pre-orbital program and i've got a fistful of trained 'nauts (school bus to orbit and moon flybys for mass-training) I tend to move him down the list and use him for the most landmark (and hopefully tested) projects. Random crap that might not even fly then gets a grey-shirt by default.

[EdFred]

Let me sum it up this way:

"Who gives a ...., it's a ....ing game!!!"

[Vashts]

Who? Oh riiiight. That poor kerbal will be missed.

[Tex]

In my current save game, Jeb died fairly early on in an aircraft disaster. I usually end up naming spots on Kerbin for my Kerbals who die in the name of Science.

[Guest]

have you killed your Jeb in a no-quickload game? And what's it like carrying on without him?

I've killed all of the original three intentionally so I could carry on without them, it feels good having completely random Kerbals for my save.

[justidutch]

Yes, in all the recent saves I have started, Jeb is either perma-sploded or perm-stationed in orbit so I don't have to listen to his holier-than-thou tauntings. In fact, I do this with all the orange suits. They annoy me, let alone all the other recruits. All Kerbals should be equal, 'specially the dumberer ones.

[FlipNascar]

I killed Jeb. Actually I didn't kill Jeb. He was EVA on the surface of Minmus and some idiot landed on a bit of a slope with a ladderless lander. Jeb kept falling and tumbling down the hill every time he tried to jetpack back to the lander. The tumble saw him explode when he just kept on rolling... At first I was upset that it was such an act of the almighty Kraken, and such a stupid way for him to go.

Now, it seems like the right way for him to have gone. Not the all consuming massive debris-strewn fireball, but a simple fall down the hill. The fireball death is reserved for the scared Kerbals.

[Renegrade]

The last time I lost that screwball, he collided with an invisible wall on Pol in 0.24.2 (I sincerely hope that's fixed now, although I equally sincerely doubt it).

My version of carrying on was editing him back to life directly in the sfs file with a text editor. Invisible effing walls can suck it.

[Xavven]

The last time I lost that screwball, he collided with an invisible wall on Pol in 0.24.2 (I sincerely hope that's fixed now, although I equally sincerely doubt it).

My version of carrying on was editing him back to life directly in the sfs file with a text editor. Invisible effing walls can suck it.

I got hit by the invisible Pol wall, too. It's in the bug tracker!

Back on topic, I did once lose Jeb in my first .90 save. I also play without quicksaves. I was only about 2 hours in to my game... and this will sound ridiculous, but I decided to restart my whole save JUST so I could have Jeb back.

[worir4]

He always dies in my saves. Along with a few hundred others... It is best not to become attached to your kerbals

[tntristan12]

I've killed all of the original three intentionally so I could carry on without them, it feels good having completely random Kerbals for my save.

You monster... I do, too.