I can't stop rescuing Kerbals!

[mdkendall]

I started with four, obviously, and now I have twenty two. I haven't recruited any, the eighteen newcomers have all been rescued from the orbits of Kerbin, the Mun and Minmus.

I can't help it. They're so cute, and they look so happy when the rescue craft pulls up alongside and they EVA over to it. And they're actually quite good because they come with built-in experience. Gregfrod was rescued from the orbit of Minmus, and I had him do a landing to fulfill some other contract before I brought him back, so by the time he got home he had 8 XP.

I think I'm going to have to start building stations or bases, just to thin their ranks a bit.

[Xannari Ferrows]

Has the badS threshold been crossed already? Man, that was quick.

[Rath]

Install a mod to add little sirens and 'rescue vehicle' signs! Now that you have a reputation as a fanatic kerbal rescuer this is all you will ever do!

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Has the badS threshold been crossed already? Man, that was quick.

. BadS threshold? The what of the what in what?

[gmiddlemass]

Well done...

Your picture has answered one of my questions too, so far I've never had to rescue any scientists and was beginning to wonder if it only spawned pilots and engineers for some reason but your screenshot has shown that this is obviously not the case. I'll just need to be more patient...

[T.A.P.O.R.]

I like to pick them up on the way to another mission location.

Just doesn't seem fair to let them only get stuck in orbit without planting boots on another orb before they come home.

[Sir Nahme]

Admitting you have a problem is the first step

Honestly I haven't tried my hand at one yet, dislike the lack of info on where they are before you select the contract also not sure how it will interact with TAC... getting there only for them to die would be horrible XD

[magnemoe]

if you use lots of kerbals you want to rescue everybody you can find as they are not only free but you get paid for them.

[SAI Peregrinus]

Admitting you have a problem is the first step

Honestly I haven't tried my hand at one yet, dislike the lack of info on where they are before you select the contract also not sure how it will interact with TAC... getting there only for them to die would be horrible XD

I use USI life support instead of TAC, but IIRC both work the same way: before you get there and switch to their ship they're not part of your space program, and life support for them isn't tracked. Once you get them to your ship it's tracked, but they're in your ship so it's easy.

As for where they are, just assume a polar orbit of the relevant body, or landed on a pole. If you build in enough delta-v for a plane change of 90 degrees and back you'll be fine no matter what. Most are in nice 0-5 degree inclination orbits.

[Nookos]

I had a rescuing frenzy too. I enjoyed it very much. Thanks to that I learned to rendezvous ( took me more than 10 rescue mission to do so efficiently without Mechjeb ).

Very useful to have so many of them.. I can afford to land some on eve. Apart from the emotional pain of knowing they ll never come back, it s fine to do so.

Happy rescuing

As for where they are, just assume a polar orbit of the relevant body, or landed on a pole. If you build in enough delta-v for a plane change of 90 degrees and back you'll be fine no matter what. Most are in nice 0-5 degree inclination orbits.

Indeed and never forget to check their orbit s direction before entering the SOI. I got used to having them orbiting in the right direction and then it happened.. one of them was going clockwise and I found out once I was parked in a counter clockwise orbit.

Edited June 4, 2015 by Nookos

[Sir Nahme]

Eh, still too lazy lol

[Grumman]

You have 7 pilots, 10 engineers and 5 scientists. If nothing else, I'd suggest putting a couple of those scientists in Kerbal orbit with an on-board laboratory and some science for processing until you need them.

[Hotaru]

I have the same problem. Until recently (when I finally ran out of scientists for my research stations and had to hire a couple new ones) I had an all-rescuee space program going, besides the original four. At first I was sending up individual capsules for them, later I started using four-seater SSTOs to get several at once from LKO. I've even bolted some retro-rockets and chutes on and retrieved a couple of their old capsules. Eventually, though, the rescue contracts settled down a bit, to the point where now I generally only seem to have one going at any given time.

Haven't gotten one yet from anywhere besides Kerbin, Mun, or Minmus orbit though. Kind of looking forward to my first interplanetary rescue mission. Just as long as whatever space agencies are putting them up there doesn't beat me to Duna. That would be annoying.

[Scotius]

Hah! So i'm not the only one - excellent I even think about changing the name of my space program to *drums please*... Interplanetary Rescue!

Edited June 4, 2015 by Scotius

[Ferdoni]

Lol, I found out a week ago that the kerbal wich you rescued would become yours.... until then i've been hiring them at one point for L300.000 per kerbonaut....

Now I've around 30 (or more, I don't know) rescued kerbals in my Space program ^^

[tomf]

I haven't yet been anywhere outside the Kerbin system other than asteroids in my current career so I was being a little adventurous when I accepted a contract to rescue Mike from Solar orbit but hoiw hard could it be? *Click accept, go to tracking centre to work out where he is*

He out around the orbit of Jool - ok a little harder than I expected

He is going to crash into Jool - wait a minute what have a signed up for?

He is going to crash into Jool in a couple of hundred days - Oh c**p!

[Rune]

Funny, the guys I have rescued so far have fallen neatly in 33/33/33 pilots/scientists/engineers. Law of averages! And I only recently upgraded the Astronaut center to handle more than twelve of the little fellas...

Rune. "Recruiting" and "salvage rights" are synonyms on my space program.

[mikegarrison]

Helya Kerman? That's an interesting name if you sound it out. I hope she's BadS.

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I haven't yet been anywhere outside the Kerbin system other than asteroids in my current career so I was being a little adventurous when I accepted a contract to rescue Mike from Solar orbit but hoiw hard could it be? *Click accept, go to tracking centre to work out where he is*

He out around the orbit of Jool - ok a little harder than I expected

He is going to crash into Jool - wait a minute what have a signed up for?

He is going to crash into Jool in a couple of hundred days - Oh c**p!

Yeah, if they are going to assign rescuees to orbits that are at risk of being swept up by moons or planets, they should at least give you some warning about it. Time to cancel that contract, I'm afraid.

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I had a contract to pick up a kebal off the surface of Minmus. The poor guy had ended up standing next to his pod on what was almost a sheer cliff. No way to land next to him. Fortunately, when I landed on the plateau near the cliff I was within physics distance, so I was able to switch to him and have him jetpack up the cliff to where I had landed.

[katateochi]

I decided that one of my game rules was to always accept rescue contracts, so yeah, recruiting Kerbals is totally unnecessary!

[Idrryl]

I really like those contracts. It forces you to learn how to rendezvous which is crucial for bigger missions (interplanetary let's say). One time a I rescued a female pilot named Natalee Kerman, which is funny because that's the name of the main sidekick character in my book. So she's right up there with Val and Jeb. Val got to the Mun first, Jeb to Minmus and Nat to Duna

[waterlubber]

Rescue and Tourism are fun. I have a lightly modded SSTO that can get to orbit as fast as a rocket with 1km/s left. The cockpits overheat way too easily, that's why its modded. Seriously. The capsules melt before the fuel tanks. Anyway, lot of money from those contracts, and glorious rep.

[Terwin]

As of yet I have only turned down 1 rescue contract, one to rescue a Kerbal and their pod landed on the mun.

Considering how many attempts I usually need to make just to attach my klaw-based refueling system, I have doubts about my ability to somehow tilt my vehicle with rcs enough to pick up a pod without smashing something to pieces or running out of monoprop.

(my klaw-based refueling system is actually a 'replacement drills' rover because apparently touching the ground with the tip of the drill is not enough, but it holds 9K LF, so I also used it to refuel a nuke rocket to let it hop around and collect stranded mun Kerbals)

Two ships designs I have used a lot:

Orbital rescue x4: room for 4 tourists/rescues and enough delta-v to collect 2 rescues from LKO

Automated klaw: minimal rocket with a klaw for bringing back orbital kerbals, ship and all. Also good for part retrievals. (only ~12K)

I have noticed that the description says low or high orbit if that helps(I was surprised by a couple high Kerbin orbit rescues after accepting them)

[Camaron]

As of yet I have only turned down 1 rescue contract, one to rescue a Kerbal and their pod landed on the mun.

"And their pod"? Really? Are you sure they don't just want the kerbal back? The game has never asked us to bring a dead pod home before.

Every one of my rescue missions at this point includes landing on minmus (with flag-planting), orbiting Mun, and momentarily exiting Kerbin SOI. They all come back at level 3.

Also, I usually pack other contracts into the mission. My next rescue mission will pick up five new kerbals on the way to Duna for landings on Duna, Ike, and Minmus. Depending on remaining fuel I might land on Mun as well.

[Aik]

Mm - I should really go and rescue some more kerbals. I kill them so fast that I keep running out. Being rescued by me is more a curse - probably better to die floating in orbit contemplating our place in the universe rather than during a fiery death on a poorly built rocket incapable of reaching orbit.

[Camaron]

Kerbals don't die in orbit. They are ageless. So basically, you murdered them when they would not have otherwise died, you monster.

[Requia]

a question, as you have a lot of experience with this, how the heck to mark their pods as debris?