Kerbal Living Space

[FishInferno]

One of the things that I see a lot of players do it cram 3 Kerbals in a mk1-2 pod and send them to Duna. I know that it is simpler to do, but I always put extra liable space on my long-duration ships so that my crew has some recreational space and whatnot.

How amount, for long duration missions, Kerbals would require a certain amount of livable space on their ships. The longer the missions, the more space they require. Here are a few examples:

-For Mun missions, each Kerbal would only take up one crew slot. So a Mk1-2 command pod would be enough to send three Kerbals to the Mun.

-As missions get longer, Kerbals gradually require more space, Lets say that for a Minmus mission, each Kerbal takes up 1.5 crew slots, so a MK1-2 pod with a 2 seat lander would be enough for a 3 Kerbal Minmus mission.

-The maximum amount would be where one Kerbal takes up 2 crew slots. This would be on interplanetary missions and other long-duration missions like stations or bases.

-If Kerbals are kept in tight conditions (i.e. 3 Kerbals in a Mk1-2 pod to Jool) they become less effective. A pilot may be able to perform less SAS maneuvers or an engineer may be able to fix less parts.

Let me know what you think!

[kerbiloid]

There is already a mod for this.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/67739-1-0-0-WIP-PLUGIN-0-4-1-1-27-04-2015-KeepFit-Kerbal-fitness-degradation

Also, in Roverdude's MKS/OKS an industrial effciency depends on workspace and habitat space per head.

[tntristan12]

I totally agree. Even if something like kerbal mental health doesn't become a feature, it would still help with immersion and those more realistic players would have a but more to do if Kerbals had more than just the hitchhiker pod to relax in. One thing that always bugged me about crewable parts until now is that kerbals always seem to need to be sitting down in something. In fact, it always seems like they're sitting in a command chair, even in cases where a command chair doesn't make sense!

Another thing that bothers me is the lack of horizontally oriented IVA views. If someone wants to make a surface base, pretty much their only option is to land the habitat on its round bottom, which makes it more difficult to integrate into modularly designed bases. You *could* just land the hitchhiker on its side, but then the kerbals would be either sideways or upside down, which really screws with my immersion.

- - - Updated - - -

There is already a mod for this.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/67739-1-0-0-WIP-PLUGIN-0-4-1-1-27-04-2015-KeepFit-Kerbal-fitness-degradation

Also, in Roverdude's MKS/OKS an industrial effciency depends on workspace and habitat space per head.

I'm sure it's a great mod, but is it too much to ask to have something like this in stock as well?

[FishInferno]

There is already a mod for this.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/67739-1-0-0-WIP-PLUGIN-0-4-1-1-27-04-2015-KeepFit-Kerbal-fitness-degradation

Also, in Roverdude's MKS/OKS an industrial effciency depends on workspace and habitat space per head.

"there's a mod for that" is not the answer to everything

[Octa]

"there's a mod for that" is not the answer to everything

Here, it is, because that's not a very important scope of the game. I think for most people it's challenging enough to set up an interplanetary mission by now. This would add even more things to consider, making it to complicated.

Yes, if you want to push KSP more into realism, there's a mod for that. For everyone else, there's the stock game, which is more "arcade" like and therefore easier to play for people that are not that much into space sims.

Personally, i simply roleplay this. Most of my interplanetary vessels have an habitation module, lab and/or a more comfy coppula module.

[Capt Snuggler]

"there's a mod for that" is not the answer to everything

I second that.

life support would be my preferred choice to solve this, with LS becoming more efficient the more living space there is. I'm not 100% sure how LS could be implemented without it becoming tedium. More mission planning tools maybe? a hint system or "adviser"? you tell it where your going and it tells you roughly what you'll need by way of LS?

ether way, there should be some kind of mechanic to dissuade sending Kerbals across the solar system in nothing but a Mk1 Com pod.

[Octa]

@Capt Snuggler

In regards to the quote in your sig, the cake is almost perfect in my opinion (yeah some features of popular mods should be stock, but not all), but we all like different icings. Personally, "life support" is not my favourite flavour.

[FishInferno]

Personally, "life support" is not my favourite flavour.

This is the main reason I suggested this feature. I felt like this would still give the feeling of life support but be less hardcore.

[KSK]

Also @Capt Snuggler. There should also be a mechanism to dissuade people shooting kerbals into space without reliable launch escape options, firing them out of catapults or putting them on chairs strapped to SRBs.

I agree with the spirit of this thread but I think it's enough that players can add living quarters if they so wish. Besides, it would be difficult to impose a meaningful penalty for cramming kerbals together for months at a time (and who knows - maybe they like that. ). Engineer can't fix as much stuff? No problem, just take two of them, ditch the pilot and add a probe core.

[nholzric]

I love the spirit of this post! In 0.9 my Eve mission had... 6 Kerbals I think (to be a Remote Tech command module), but the ship was a small lander can (for Gilly), a large lander can, a lab, and two of the 4-Kerbal aircraft parts. My Role Playing was one aircraft part was the sleeping quarters, the other the living quarters and the lab and large lander can were work/engineering/command spaces. Of course it was uncomfortable to IVA in either the living or sleeping quarters because they're configured like an airline. Exactly the same fundamental problem as the hitchhiker if you want to put it sideways on a ground-station, the IVA does not look very comfortable at all.

So in theory I would love some mechanic to encourage proper living arrangements, if for no other reason to pat myself on the back that I'm doing it "right". But I can't imagine it becoming stock (not that I have a good prediction history) for the reasons people have pointed out - basically easy things (Mun trips) would stay easy and it would make hard things (Jool trips) harder without much rewarding game mechanics. Then again, the building upgrade system basically took all the features we were used to and limited them - plus, as has been mentioned other places, it's a little counter-intuitive that at the beginning of the game when you presumably need the most help plotting courses you get the least assistance.

Anyway, I'm totally on board with the spirit of your suggestion. I doubt it will be included in stock and am on the fence as to whether I think it should or not. Would love to find a mod that did some of this.

PS You'll want each Kerbal to have some sort of rolling average of living space. If you send a mission to Jool each Kerbal needs two command seats in your example. But just because I'm in the Jool system doesn't mean I can't use a 1 Kerbal lander for a - I don't know - 8 day mission to a moon, which would be equivalent to sending a 1 Kerbal lander to Minmus and back.

[Wayfare]

Taking a cue from the recent discussion on implementing life support and one of the ways in which Better Than Starting Manned uses this, it might work if Kerbals in crew containers consume substantially less life support. They just can't control the craft from there, meaning you'd need either a command pod (which you transfer out of once you're on your long trajectory) or a probe core for command. You could effectively gate interplanetary travel this way by only giving pods enough life support to make it out to Minmus, making crew cabins essential for months-long interplanetary flights.

[mikegarrison]

Why do people feel like they want Squad to enforce their own personal vision of how KSP should work?

If you want to include a hab module in your interplanetary trips, feel free. Why ask Squad to require everyone else does the same?