Show kerbal profession in rescue contracts

[Snark]

Title says it all. I like to populate my space program exclusively with rescued kerbals, and it's frustrating that there's no way to judge whether a kerbal is useful to me BEFORE accepting the contract.

[Monsterlunch]

So you're basically prizing a kerbals profession over his life?!

Sarcastic mode off.

Seriously, that would be a nice feature! I'd also like some procedual information in the contact to relate to those stranded souls.

[Pthigrivi]

Hmmm, I kind of like that you don't know. I mean you don't have to pay for them, it makes sense that the trade off is you don't know what you're going to get.

Edited October 19, 2015 by Pthigrivi

[Snark]

Hmmm, I kind of like that you don't know. I mean you don't have to pay for them, it makes sense that the trade off is you don't know what you're going to get.

Sure you have to pay for them. You pay for them with the time and effort you put into rescuing them, the same as any contract.

Every contract tells you the price (what you have to do to complete) and the reward (what you get if you complete). It's up to the player to decide whether the reward is worth the price-- that is, to decide whether taking the contract is worthwhile. That freedom of choice is important, and is what makes contracts fun: the player gets to decide. That's what KSP is all about: player choice. And for the player to be able to make an informed choice, the contract needs to be fully informative about both the price and the reward.

The fact that you get to keep the rescued kerbal is a big part of the reward for rescue contracts. I'd go so far as to call it the biggest and most important part; certainly those contracts don't pay a lot of cash, nor do they give any science. But a kerbal is only as valuable as the player's need for a particular profession. Hiding that from the player is like hiding any reward.

Imagine if a contract just said "Upon completion you will get an unspecified random amount of cash, which might be 100,000 funds or might be zero." It would be a lot less fun. This is exactly the same as that.

It's never fun when the player spends a lot of time and effort that turns out to be wasted due to random chance. Give the player full information about the reward, and let them decide for themselves whether it's worth it.

I can see a kerbal's profession before I decide whether to spend a bunch of funds to hire them. Why can't I see their profession before I spend a bunch of my time to rescue them?.

Edited October 19, 2015 by Snark

[Racescort666]

I kind of agree having the profession of the Kerbal labeled in the contract since the profession generation is one of the more weird things in the game. That being said, you can check in the astronaut complex what their profession is and what type of capsule they are trapped in before launching anything to go rescue them.

It's worth noting that the Kerbal professions are based off of their name only. There doesn't appear to be a clear way of how the name affects the profession of the Kerbal though. I tried messing around with it one day trying to change a profession to scientist and ended up going with Bonnie when numerous other names didn't work.

[Pthigrivi]

It's not an unheard of game mechanic though. It might not be a lot but you are essentially being paid to gain a kerbal and the missions aren't especially difficult. It makes sense that as a trade off you get what you get. I'm not particularly invested either way, but I could see the logic.

[Snark]

I kind of agree having the profession of the Kerbal labeled in the contract since the profession generation is one of the more weird things in the game. That being said, you can check in the astronaut complex what their profession is and what type of capsule they are trapped in before launching anything to go rescue them.

Wait, what?! Kerbals in not-yet-accepted rescue contracts actually show up in the list at the astronaut complex?

[smacks forehead]

Dang. The number of things in this game that are so non-discoverable... Okay, gonna go take a look next time I have a chance to bring up the game. That would provide a workaround. Not ideal, but lots better than wasting my time flying a pointless rescue mission.

I still think it would be much more streamlined to have it right in the contract-- not to mention being a boon to poor souls like me who didn't know that you can get the info elsewhere. When I think of all the time I wasted rescuing dozens and dozens Kerbals that I had no earthly use for...

It's worth noting that the Kerbal professions are based off of their name only. There doesn't appear to be a clear way of how the name affects the profession of the Kerbal though. I tried messing around with it one day trying to change a profession to scientist and ended up going with Bonnie when numerous other names didn't work.

Yeah, they're using some sort of obscure hash that's not easily reverse-engineerable. It seems like they really ought to do something about that. For example: Add a "profession" field to the kerbal in the save file. For backwards compatibility with old saves, any kerbal that lacks such a field would have an auto-assigned profession based on the name. Seems like that would do much to reduce the overall confusion, and would give modders something more to work with.

Anyway, thanks for the tip about the astronaut complex, can't wait to go check that out.

[Nookos]

That would be very good to know before accepting the contracts indeed! Very disappointing to have 10 pilots in a row. And even worse to have the surprise to find a tourist in that stranded part. ( I guess it was a bug or a very rare occurence as I only had that once)

... That being said, you can check in the astronaut complex what their profession is and what type of capsule they are trapped in before launching anything to go rescue them...

It's already too late at that point as you accepted the contract to have them appear there.

[Snark]

...you can check in the astronaut complex what their profession is and what type of capsule they are trapped in before launching anything to go rescue them.

It's already too late at that point as you accepted the contract to have them appear there.

Ah, that makes sense. Sigh. So it's not really a workaround after all.

Yes, it's still technically possible, I suppose...

1. do a quicksave

2. accept the contract

3. go look in the astronaut complex

4. if it's a useless kerbal, load the quicksave to get out of the contract

...and I suppose that's better than actually flying the mission to learn that the kerbal is yet another useless pilot. But it's cumbersome and exploity. Seems like it should just say in the contract.

[Racescort666]

It might not be a lot but you are essentially being paid to gain a kerbal and the missions aren't especially difficult. It makes sense that as a trade off you get what you get.

Until you get one with a highly inclined, highly eccentric, retrograde solar orbit. Not even once.

- - - Updated - - -

But it's cumbersome and exploity. Seems like it should just say in the contract.

Yeah, somewhat exploitative. The thing that I've been doing (since I like the rescue missions) is to just accept the contract bring them back to KSC and dismiss them. The Kerbal version of "welcome home, you're fired."

[Snark]

The thing that I've been doing (since I like the rescue missions) is to just accept the contract bring them back to KSC and dismiss them. The Kerbal version of "welcome home, you're fired."

Yeah, me too. I just begrudge the time spent.

It wouldn't be so bad if pilots were actually good for anything. The trouble with pilots is that they're totally at the mercy of the tech tree. Until SAS-capable probe cores are unlocked, pilots are absolutely indispensable. And then they become completely useless. I wish there were some other use for them, but I suppose that's a different discussion.

Edited October 20, 2015 by Snark

[fireblade274]

They should be labeled with their profession. We "pay" for them by saving them. period.