Impossible contract?

[purpleivan]

I accepted a contract to rescue a kerbal from the Mun and to recover a piece of debris to Kerbin allow with her. However on arrival at the location on the Mun of the pair, I found I had a slight issue, in that the debris part to be recovered was a command seat.

As far as I knew this was an un-grab-able part, but I gave it a go, maneuvering my vehicle over the top of it, then activating the grabber and raising the landing gear to drop on top of it, but as expected the grabber unit do not latch on to the command seat.

 

Other than sending another vehicle up with a cargo bay that opens at ground level, then using a kerbal to nudge it slowly into it (not really a dependable solution for a contract) I can't see any way of satisfying the contract requirement of bringing the part back to Kerbin.

So my questions would be 1. Am I correct in thinking that command seats are not grab-able and 2. If so, has anyone had contracts that required the recovery of other seemingly impossible to recover items.

Actually a 3rd question would be if I'm just being an idiot and forgetting something obvious as a solution.

BTW... I'm looking for a stock game solution to this.

Thanks.

Edited December 19, 2016 by purpleivan

[Reactordrone]

Command seats can certainly be grabbed. It might be very difficult to do on the surface though. If it proves too difficult you can always complete the contract from the debug menu.

[Superfluous J]

The big problem here is the Claw doesn't tend to grab things if it's moving too slowly. In my experience 1m/s is a pretty good speed and less than that won't cut it. Also, the smaller the object the harder to grab.

I'd quicksave and then try thrusting up a bit and then falling on top of the chair a few times. If it doesn't work after 3-4 times, I'd fly home to prove that the ship can do it, and the compete the contract through the debug menu.

Edited December 19, 2016 by 5thHorseman

[bewing]

 

3 hours ago, purpleivan said:

If so, has anyone had contracts that required the recovery of other seemingly impossible to recover items.

 

This one was literally ungrabbable, and the OP followed your second route.

 

 

[purpleivan]

5 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

The big problem here is the Claw doesn't tend to grab things if it's moving too slowly. In my experience 1m/s is a pretty good speed and less than that won't cut it. Also, the smaller the object the harder to grab.

I'd quicksave and then try thrusting up a bit and then falling on top of the chair a few times. If it doesn't work after 3-4 times, I'd fly home to prove that the ship can do it, and the compete the contract through the debug menu.

I'll give the "thrust up a bit, then drop on the chair" idea a go a couple of times, but if that doesn't work I'll take the 2nd option you suggested.

When I first landed on the scene I was pretty puzzled as I could see the kerbal standing on the surface, but no debris that I could see. It was only when I switched to other "vessels" in the scene to get the kerbal in my vehicle that I came across the command seat, half buried in the surface, it was only after a quickload that it was fully above ground.

[Loren Pechtel]

On 12/19/2016 at 10:16 AM, purpleivan said:

I'll give the "thrust up a bit, then drop on the chair" idea a go a couple of times, but if that doesn't work I'll take the 2nd option you suggested.

When I first landed on the scene I was pretty puzzled as I could see the kerbal standing on the surface, but no debris that I could see. It was only when I switched to other "vessels" in the scene to get the kerbal in my vehicle that I came across the command seat, half buried in the surface, it was only after a quickload that it was fully above ground.

Yeah, I've had to Alt-F12 a contract a couple of times when my objective turned out to be underground.