Skewed Rescues?

[Choctofliatrio2.0]

How does KSP code for rescued Kerbals? I've done about 10 rescue contracts, and I think I've only gotten a pilot once. Am I just unlucky, or does the game make rescuing scientists and engineers more likely?

[nosirrbro]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I beleive they are generated with the same generator that makes applicants which seems to me to be entirely equal

You might be feeling this way because even if the chance is equal, the chance of getting a pilot is 1/3 and the chance of engineer or scientist is 2/3, and with such a small total amount the chance of only getting 1/10 is quite high.

tl;dr Your just unlucky

[Choctofliatrio2.0]

7 minutes ago, nosirrbro said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but I beleive they are generated with the same generator that makes applicants which seems to me to be entirely equal

You might be feeling this way because even if the chance is equal, the chance of getting a pilot is 1/3 and the chance of engineer or scientist is 2/3, and with such a small total amount the chance of only getting 1/10 is quite high.

tl;dr Your just unlucky

Alright, thanks  Glad to know it's just my dumb luck and not the game being mean.

I suppose this means I should try to bring back my Kerbals from whatever station I've put them in, especially since I so desperately need pilots.

[Evanitis]

2 hours ago, Choctofliatrio2.0 said:

I so desperately need pilots.

 

Pilots? Pilots? What do they do that a cheap, low-tech OCTO core can't do? I tend to send them to interplanetary duty for a few decades, in case someone wants a new flag planted somewhere.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Evanitis

[MaxwellsDemon]

I've had a string of nothing but pilots, and I want more engineers.  Trade ya!

[Choctofliatrio2.0]

Just now, MaxwellsDemon said:

I've had a string of nothing but pilots, and I want more engineers.  Trade ya!

Hm... let me think where I put mine... i have two scientists on the ground, two in orbit... There might be a couple engineers on my Mun base. I'll get them home someday XD

6 hours ago, Evanitis said:

 

Pilots? Pilots? What do they do that a cheap, low-tech OCTO core can't do? I tend to send them to interplanetary duty for a few decades, in case someone wants a new flag planted somewhere.

I have been making the majority of my missions automated, but it's fun with Kerbals  So do you mainly use OCTOs too? The HECS is more expensive, and I can't figure out why. 

[Evanitis]

20 minutes ago, Choctofliatrio2.0 said:

I have been making the majority of my missions automated, but it's fun with Kerbals  So do you mainly use OCTOs too? The HECS is more expensive, and I can't figure out why. 

Ahh, I also prefer to bring Kerbals. But if the core is there, I can bring scientists or engineers who has actual use. Or tourists if I don't need a trained kerbonaut for the task at hand.

About the probe-cores... I can't check now, but maybe HECS and similar advanced models have more sophisticated autopilots, like a levelled pilot. I think the OCTO can only hold prograde and retrograde (maybe node too?). I never really cared, as I can just turn manually once the SAS is there.

Though I know that OCTO has built-in reaction wheels. Some advanced options doesn't. It's a pretty fun fail when you realize the satellite you carried all the way can't turn at all. I remember a time when I had to manually (and very painfully) align a sophisticated scanner probe by a kerbal in EVA to the general direction where it could burn for a polar orbit. It worked, but barely.

EDIT: Ahh, the advanced cores are also lighter. That doesn't matter much with proper kerballed heavy payloads, but can mean a considerable dV difference if it's a satellite with minimal mass.

Edited February 4, 2016 by Evanitis

[MaxwellsDemon]

I still like to put pilots into the mix... but I'll admit that if I have limited space available, they're the first ones to get cut.  From discussion on these forums, it hit me that there's absolutely no reason not to equip every Kerballed capsule with an OKTO-2 or something along those lines; I rationalize it as "improved avionics."

[Choctofliatrio2.0]

Well I feel dumb. I never thought to just bring along a scientist or engineer on a probe-controlled lander. That makes things simpler XD

[tutike2000]

Maybe the random seed generator is borked, and only generates a new type of kerbal when you start the game again.
I've rescued 4 female scientists in a row, then restarted, then had 3 male pilots in a row.

Or I'm just seeing patterns where they aren't.

[MaxwellsDemon]

I wouldn't call it impossible that something's affecting the seed.   It's already been established that the original Asteroid Day mod (for 1.04) somehow caused all the rescuees to be female.  I don't know precisely how that happened, but it's not inconceivable that a mod could be affecting things in some way.

[PnDB]

12 hours ago, nosirrbro said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but I beleive they are generated with the same generator that makes applicants which seems to me to be entirely equal

You might be feeling this way because even if the chance is equal, the chance of getting a pilot is 1/3 and the chance of engineer or scientist is 2/3, and with such a small total amount the chance of only getting 1/10 is quite high.

tl;dr Your just unlucky

 

Agreed... it's most likely just dumb un-luck.

With even odds for pilot/engineer/scientist, it's about an 8.7% chance of getting exactly one pilot in ten rescues.  Given the number of people playing the game and rescuing Kerbals, it's highly likely that someone will experience this.  Since getting 1 pilot out of ten rescues feels like something out of the ordinary, it's highly likely that someone experiencing this will post about it.
 

 

[MaxwellsDemon]

That's the catch about random numbers... with a small sample, you can never be entirely sure it's random.

[AbacusWizard]

6 hours ago, MaxwellsDemon said:

I still like to put pilots into the mix... but I'll admit that if I have limited space available, they're the first ones to get cut.  From discussion on these forums, it hit me that there's absolutely no reason not to equip every Kerballed capsule with an OKTO-2 or something along those lines; I rationalize it as "improved avionics."

Yeah, I started including a small probe core on every ship no matter what after the first time I tried sending a single-seat lander from an orbital mothership down to the Mun's surface with a scientist on board... and had to manually stabilize it all the way down.

[Zoidos]

17 hours ago, Choctofliatrio2.0 said:

How does KSP code for rescued Kerbals? I've done about 10 rescue contracts, and I think I've only gotten a pilot once. Am I just unlucky, or does the game make rescuing scientists and engineers more likely?

Bad luck. In a recent save I had 7 rescue missions that yielded 4 pilots and 2 engineers. And I wanted scientists.

[Waxing_Kibbous]

I think the distribution should be more of a throttled RNG system- once a certain occupation get rescued it's odds of getting picked decrease, if it happens again the odds get even worse and so on. I just got about 7 pilots out of 10 rescues- the others being engineers. I had to actually hire a scientist!

[Choctofliatrio2.0]

I mean, it makes sense that pilots would be getting stuck in orbit since they are more likely to fly the ship. On the other hand, engineers and scientists would probably crash more since they aren't as good pilots.

[Waxing_Kibbous]

8 hours ago, Choctofliatrio2.0 said:

Well I feel dumb. I never thought to just bring along a scientist or engineer on a probe-controlled lander. That makes things simpler XD

I just want to say that early in career one star pilots are pretty freakin' handy. The hold retrograde skill is awesome for both re-entry into Kerbin and landing on the moons.  I don't think probe cores can do that until you get the more advanced ones.

[Kuansenhama]

Nobody seems interested in just hiring Kerbals out the astronaut complex, and I don't blame anyone since they get to be so bloody expensive once you have ten or more. So we go take all the rescue contracts and rescue our extended Krews. Then it turns out we don't get the profession we need? It's a total lose-lose.

Edited February 5, 2016 by Kuansenhama

[Waxing_Kibbous]

2 minutes ago, Kuansenhama said:

Nobody seems interested in just hiring Kerbals out the astronaut complex, and I don't blame anyone since they get to be so bloody expensive once you have ten or more. So we go take all the rescue contracts and rescue our extended Krews. Then it turns out we don't get the profession we need? It's a total lose-lose.

It happens in some careers that you get over saturated with a profession, I've had others where I've had a great distribution. I'd like to see the great distribution happen as a standard, not luck of the draw. When rescuing Kerbals you get money, rep, AND the cost of a Kerbal, so really it's a good bargain (I feel that if the RNG were fixed it'd be perfectly fair to only get a Kerbal + Rep, no funds, just because they are so pricey. Recovery of parts is a different story though). If you can get 2-3 in a low orbit somewhere you can do that easily in one flight and profit.

[Jhawk1099]

On 2/4/2016 at 7:40 AM, Choctofliatrio2.0 said:

Well I feel dumb. I never thought to just bring along a scientist or engineer on a probe-controlled lander. That makes things simpler XD

Yeah I used to be in the same mindset as you and this hindered my operations. But then I was like oh wait! just strap a probe core on here and now I can do all the science with Bob or someone lesser known.

[suicidejunkie]

In my current career game, I have a policy that no probe core is allowed to be attached to a rocket engine, in order to prevent an AI doomsday scenario provide job security for the Pilots.

This has backfired a little, in that most of my flights are with Engineers so that they can assemble equipment on site, so I'm still not using many pilots.

[Fearless Son]

On 2/4/2016 at 5:51 AM, Evanitis said:

Ahh, I also prefer to bring Kerbals. But if the core is there, I can bring scientists or engineers who has actual use. Or tourists if I don't need a trained kerbonaut for the task at hand.

To be fair, an experienced pilot does have advantages over a probe core.  Their ability to enhance existing SAS systems, for example, can come in handy for craft that have less mass or energy invested in reaction wheels.  They simply make the way the craft turns more efficient.  

[Evanitis]

9 minutes ago, Fearless Son said:

They simply make the way the craft turns more efficient.  

That's the first time I hear about that. The wiki definitely disagrees with you - not that I trust it to be up-to-date and reliable.

[Choctofliatrio2.0]

1 hour ago, Jhawk1099 said:

Yeah I used to be in the same mindset as you and this hindered my operations. But then I was like oh wait! just strap a probe core on here and now I can do all the science with Bob or someone lesser known.

How much of a boost to science do scientists give? Does it increase with level?