Rescued Kerbals should have at least a few rank stars

[darthgently]

For example, if one is rescuing a Kerbal in orbit of Eeloo, and they survive until you get there and they were selected for such a mission in the first place, and they will become part of your crew, it seems logical they'd be recovered with something north of zero stars.  Maybe not the equivalent of what they would have earned getting to Eeloo, but something.  Throw a bone.  At least make it more likely that they are an Engineer!  ha.  For the record, I accept *all* rescue contracts because being a sailor it just goes with the territory

Edited July 1, 2021 by darthgently

[shdwlrd]

4 minutes ago, darthgently said:

For example, if one is rescuing a Kerbal in orbit of Eeloo, and they survive until you get there and they were selected for such a mission in the first place, and they will become part of your crew, it seems logical they'd be recovered with something north of zero stars.  Maybe not the equivalent of what they would have earned getting to Eeloo, but something.  Throw a bone.  At least make it more likely that they are an Engineer!  ha.  For the record, I accept *all* rescue contracts because being a sailor it just goes with the territory

I don't disagree, but we don't know if the Kerbals will gain experience individually, as a whole, or not at all. If they do gain experience, we have no idea how that mechanic will work and what effects that will have in game. There will be a lot changes from KSP1 to KSP2 systems wise. Anything based on the career and science modes of play in KSP1 should be considered in doubt. The devs have said the career and science modes are going to be replaced in KSP2.

As far as I'm aware, only Kerbal personality traits have been confirmed and explained. The devs haven't mentioned anything about experience.

[darthgently]

41 minutes ago, shdwlrd said:

I don't disagree, but we don't know if the Kerbals will gain experience individually, as a whole, or not at all. If they do gain experience, we have no idea how that mechanic will work and what effects that will have in game. There will be a lot changes from KSP1 to KSP2 systems wise. Anything based on the career and science modes of play in KSP1 should be considered in doubt. The devs have said the career and science modes are going to be replaced in KSP2.

As far as I'm aware, only Kerbal personality traits have been confirmed and explained. The devs haven't mentioned anything about experience.

Ok, that is all good news really.  I've never really liked the klunkiness of how experience and traits have been handled.  Most astronauts are fairly heavily crosstrained even if they have expertise in some field.  And the deeper they get into their careers the more general purpose their skills become.  At the cost per kilogram of an astronauts brain it only make sense that they have broad abilities as well as in depth specialties (1 or more specialties even).  As far as personality traits go (if you mean brave, stupid, etc) I could see those coming into play as to whether the rescued kerb needs to be returned to Kerbin or not.  The brave ones would probably opt to just join the crew and forge onward.  And those traits should get more positive over time and experience as kerbs overcome their personal obstacles

Edited July 1, 2021 by darthgently

[MKI]

I can't see the current kerbal experience surviving to the new game in its current form.

If I have a colony of Kerbals on another planet, why am I stuck with a bunch of noobs?? Did Jeb become the first Kerman on Duna, helped build a colony there, had kids and a family and didn't give a single lesson on how to hold retrograde!?!?

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the mechanic gets thrown out all together due to the aforementioned "klunkiness". It's one thing to go out among the stars for the challenge, for the science, for the sake of exploration, it's another to rank someone up so they can automatically point their craft in a specific direction.

It's fine from a KSP 1 standpoint which has a number of "grindy" elements to keep you from traveling out among the stars too quickly and get bored, but it is more of a "fabricated grind" the game makes up just for something for me to do and aim for. In a game that will have me pushing percentages of lightspeed with a colony ship in the vastness of space, the last thing I should be caring about is if one of my engineers on the ship can repair a flat tire.

 

Such changes could make the game slightly less "personal", as each Kerbal wouldn't have dedicated experience to signify their abilities, but there are plenty of other ways to make them stand out without affecting gameplay. Stuff like keeping track of their accomplishments, personality traits, the aforementioned new hairstyles/etc all can give that, while allowing you to give them your own story. All without forcing you to grind out Jeb because "he's the man and needs to be high rank, so I need to send him on a mission to train him". Jeb should be "the man" because he's been with you from the beginning and deserves to retire on the sands of Duna, not because he's got the most stats and gives you the most buttons to click on. 

 

If anything mods can always re-introduce similar mechanics, forcing you to "train" your kerbals just like the good old days, or make it a game setting. Lots of possibilities, but it should be one of possibilities, since I personally think the current mechanic is just what you said.. "Klunky"

 

Edited July 1, 2021 by MKI

[darthgently]

3 minutes ago, MKI said:

I can't see the current kerbal experience surviving to the new game in its current form.

If I have a colony of Kerbals on another planet, why am I stuck with a bunch of noobs?? Did Jeb become the first Kerman on Duna, helped build a colony there, had kids and a family and didn't give a single lesson on how to hold retrograde!?!?

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the mechanic gets thrown out all together due to the aforementioned "klunkiness". It's one thing to go out among the stars for the challenge, for the science, for the sake of exploration, it's another to rank someone up so they can automatically point their craft in a specific direction.

It's fine from a KSP 1 standpoint which has a number of "grindy" elements to keep you from traveling out among the stars too quickly and get bored, but it is more of a "fabricated grind" the game makes up just for something for me to do and aim for. In a game that will have me pushing percentages of lightspeed with a colony ship in the vastness of space, the last thing I should be caring about is if one of my engineers on the ship can repair a flat tire.

 

Such changes could make the game slightly less "personal", as each Kerbal wouldn't have dedicated experience to signify their abilities, but there are plenty of other ways to make them stand out without affecting gameplay. Stuff like keeping track of their accomplishments, personality traits, the aforementioned new hairstyles/etc all can give that, while allowing you to give them your own story. All without forcing you to grind out Jeb because "he's the man and needs to be high rank, so I need to send him on a mission to train him". Jeb should be "the man" because he's been with you from the beginning and deserves to retire on the sands of Duna, not because he's got the most stats and gives you the most buttons to click on. 

 

If anything mods can always re-introduce similar mechanics, forcing you to "train" your kerbals just like the good old days, or make it a game setting. Lots of possibilities, but it should be one of possibilities, since I personally think the current mechanic is just what you said.. "Klunky"

 

Agree all around.  I'm just finding it jarring to recue a noob in orbit of Eeloo.  Whatever form and "level" that a typical kerbonaut that ends up in Eeloo orbit should have, that is what they should have when you rescue them.   I'd even go so far as to award them some "crosstraining" points for having done the Robinson Crusoe thing around Eeloo for decades successfully

[MKI]

I think it's worth mentioning why I think KSP 1 gives you 0 experience for rescuing kerbals anywhere and everywhere.

If they came with experience you'd never want to hire/get your own Kerbals from the complex. Your already getting paid to rescue someone, and get to keep the rescued Kerbal more as a bonus. Plus, since it costs $ to hire new kerbals you'd have even less reason to buy your own. 

It's possible there was going to be more mechanics around this idea to make it "more fair" between the two methods of getting more kerbonauts, but it's just speculation at this point. 

 

 

[darthgently]

4 minutes ago, MKI said:

I think it's worth mentioning why I think KSP 1 gives you 0 experience for rescuing kerbals anywhere and everywhere.

If they came with experience you'd never want to hire/get your own Kerbals from the complex. Your already getting paid to rescue someone, and get to keep the rescued Kerbal more as a bonus. Plus, since it costs $ to hire new kerbals you'd have even less reason to buy your own. 

It's possible there was going to be more mechanics around this idea to make it "more fair" between the two methods of getting more kerbonauts, but it's just speculation at this point. 

 

 

Who hires kerbals?  People do that?  I got my hands full just finding things for all my rescues to do.  In early game I stage them in Minmus orbit and do periodic "training runs" to level them up, so the low rank is less of an issue.  But seriously, hiring kerbs in the early career game is a really inefficient use of funds when you can just do rescues.   From a realism perspective, why would I pay for a noob when I can get a noob in orbit for free? lol

Edited July 1, 2021 by darthgently