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Recovering Wrecks From The Munar Surface


The Flying Kerbal

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I'm curious about this guys...

Things have been a bit tight financially in my latest game, I limited the amount contracts awarded so now getting cash is much more difficult.  In an effort to keep my space program afloat, I've been doing lots of tourist contracts, including landing them on the Mun - something I seldom do normally.  This got me thinking, what happens if I mess up a landing and leave a tourist stuck on the Mun, unable to get home?  An ordinary rescue won't work as tourists won't exit their lander so can't be transferred to a rescue vessel.  So, it looks to me like the only way is to recover the tourist in whatever type of pod or capsule they're in.  But how?

Recovering wrecks is one type of contract for which I've never seen any videos, and most people seem to say avoid them, so I'm wondering if any of you have ever pulled this off, and if someone knows where I might find a video showing this being done.

I'm pretty good at landing on the Mun - plenty of practice - but still things can go wrong, I had a lander do its very best to tip over recently for no obvious reason, and it would be useful to have some idea how to go about recovering a stranded tourist if the worst should happen.

Thanks everyone.

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1 hour ago, The Flying Kerbal said:

I'm curious about this guys...

Things have been a bit tight financially in my latest game, I limited the amount contracts awarded so now getting cash is much more difficult.  In an effort to keep my space program afloat, I've been doing lots of tourist contracts, including landing them on the Mun - something I seldom do normally.  This got me thinking, what happens if I mess up a landing and leave a tourist stuck on the Mun, unable to get home?  An ordinary rescue won't work as tourists won't exit their lander so can't be transferred to a rescue vessel.  So, it looks to me like the only way is to recover the tourist in whatever type of pod or capsule they're in.  But how?

Recovering wrecks is one type of contract for which I've never seen any videos, and most people seem to say avoid them, so I'm wondering if any of you have ever pulled this off, and if someone knows where I might find a video showing this being done.

I'm pretty good at landing on the Mun - plenty of practice - but still things can go wrong, I had a lander do its very best to tip over recently for no obvious reason, and it would be useful to have some idea how to go about recovering a stranded tourist if the worst should happen.

Thanks everyone.

It depends on the state of the wreak and what you have.  EVA construction mode is your friend.  You'll need to take along an engineer, a spare (full) fuel tank and engine like the terrier, then rip off what you don't need and put your spares on, hopefully in such a way to keep your refurbished craft balanced enough to control and fly.  In EVA construction mode you can't manipulate root parts or (IIRC) parts with kerbals in them. 

Good luck!

 

Peace.

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Hi.

 

I never do tourist but....

 

They should be just like other Kerbals and can be transferred to another compartment.

So with a claw you can join with the target ship and transfer the tourist to the rescue ship. Before abandoning the said ship.

 

The last time I played with tourist they could leave a command chair and walk around.

 

Sorry I don't have any pictures to illustrate the following.

I have done a few wreck recoveries and my new standard is to have more inline stabiliser that should be reasonable.

Plus two docking ports, face to face, on the end of the ship.

I keep the landing ship cylindrical and have it roll, yaw the remaining distance to the wreck.

The larger stabilisers are nice as they make big wheels that protect solar panels.

 

Then the engineer remove one of the ports and weld it to the target as close to centred as possible.

Then the pilot pivot the ship in line with the port and throttle up.

You can adjust the thrust limiter value on the engine for finer control.

Once the ships are merged the extra stabilisers can raise the whole thing vertical for take-off .

 

I used to have landers with aircraft landing gear to taxi over the target and claw the wreck but it used fuel to manoeuvre and it is hard to have the CofG cooperate.

Slopes are a pain too.

 

ME

 

 

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10 hours ago, theJesuit said:

It depends on the state of the wreak and what you have.  EVA construction mode is your friend.  You'll need to take along an engineer, a spare (full) fuel tank and engine like the terrier, then rip off what you don't need and put your spares on, hopefully in such a way to keep your refurbished craft balanced enough to control and fly.  In EVA construction mode you can't manipulate root parts or (IIRC) parts with kerbals in them. 

Good luck!

 

Peace.

Excellent points and advice about not being able to play around with root parts in Construction mode or when there are Kerbals onboard.

As I said, thankfully this hasn't happened yet, and hopefully never will, but it's good to have some idea about how to rescue tourists should the worst ever happen.

Great answer, very much appreciated.

10 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

You'd have to Claw the crew compartment of the wreck, but considering the cost of a rescue ship, would it be worth it or would you be better off writing off the tourist? 

You're probably right about the cost of a rescue, but I hate killing Kerbals, even if they aren't officially part of my Kerbonaut Corps.  I could always call in "Blunderbirds" and let Matt Lowne pick up the bill!! :happy:

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9 hours ago, Martian Emigrant said:

Hi.

 

I never do tourist but....

 

They should be just like other Kerbals and can be transferred to another compartment.

So with a claw you can join with the target ship and transfer the tourist to the rescue ship. Before abandoning the said ship.

 

The last time I played with tourist they could leave a command chair and walk around.

 

Sorry I don't have any pictures to illustrate the following.

I have done a few wreck recoveries and my new standard is to have more inline stabiliser that should be reasonable.

Plus two docking ports, face to face, on the end of the ship.

I keep the landing ship cylindrical and have it roll, yaw the remaining distance to the wreck.

The larger stabilisers are nice as they make big wheels that protect solar panels.

 

Then the engineer remove one of the ports and weld it to the target as close to centred as possible.

Then the pilot pivot the ship in line with the port and throttle up.

You can adjust the thrust limiter value on the engine for finer control.

Once the ships are merged the extra stabilisers can raise the whole thing vertical for take-off .

 

I used to have landers with aircraft landing gear to taxi over the target and claw the wreck but it used fuel to manoeuvre and it is hard to have the CofG cooperate.

Slopes are a pain too.

 

ME

 

 

Martian Emigrant... I didn't ignore your response, the site crashed again as I was responding to the one by Vanamonde.

That's a very good point, and one I never thought of, while they may be unwilling to actually get out of their crashed pod, there's nothing stopping them being transferred.

This has genuinely given me something new to think about, transferring them to a rescue craft simply never entered my head, it's an excellent suggestion.

As I said, so far I've never had to try to save a stranded tourist, and long may that continue, but the idea you suggested has definitely given me a bit more confidence in being able to return one to Kerbin, should the need arise.

Great suggestion, thank you very much.

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@The Flying Kerbal No sweat.

I hate killing or abandoning the virtual little guys too.

Just one more thing.

About the cost of a rescue.

If you don't mind waiting for another contract to get say science for the Mun or to get another tourist on the Mun  then you can do both.

 

Just don't forget to leave an empty seat for the return trip.

 

ME

Edited by Martian Emigrant
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