The ethics of Space

[technicalfool]

Depends. Would rescuing a kerbal be fun or a grinding and frustrating waste of time?

Have to say I'm really not one for grind. In the X game series, I tend to trade-grind just far enough get my first station and then run SETA (Err.. Singularity Engine Time Accelerator - they made Time Warp a purchasable in-game object) overnight with my ship 200km above the ecliptic to avoid police checks. Come back in the morning to either an explodified, pirate-raped station, or enough credits in the bank to buy another station or half decent ship. Save or reload accordingly. The game gets a lot more fun once you have your own M6 (corvette) or M7 (frigate) class ship and a good enough income from stations and station-complexes to supply yourself frequently.

As for the Player Hub missions.. what kind of sado-masochist thought those up? An entire complex of 13 chip fabs and it still takes days of 10x SETA to get the required resources where they need to be?

KSP on the other hand, doesn't have much in the way of deliberately-introduced and frankly boring grind-work. It's all challenges that you set yourself at present, and every launch is a unique thing just waiting to screw up in a new and completely unexpected way. Whatever happens with career mode.. Squad, please avoid the temptation to Add More Grind in order to artificially extend gameplay. You've already got gameplay by the ton!

Edited June 18, 2013 by technicalfool

[regex]

What if the career mode is launched?

Will they add in life-support and consumable resources other than fuel? I imagine there would be a lot more dead Kerbals than the few I've accidentally pancaked on the Mun's surface.

Video Game Cruelty Potential much?

I don't follow.

Rescue missions are pretty challenging but sometimes you just want to get on with testing the next iteration of your interplanetary craft. I suppose that's what "End Flight" is for.

[DChurchill]

I generally shoot for a safe return, but sometimes it doesn't happen and I don't lose sleep over it.

I have to admit, watching a rover roll over on Jeb and then his suit popping like a grape with an audible foomp! is pretty darn funny. It was a lonely drive for Bill back to the lander, though.

[Duxwing]

I have thought about this problem to such an extent that I maintain two separate save files, one called "Simulator" and one called "Missions": though deaths are only 'real' on the latter, I'm so attached to my Kerbals (especially the original trio) that I still end flight before the crew dies when playing in the Simulator, and I'd be so sad about losing even one that I haven't yet launched a craft in the Missions save. I also keep my orbital debris set to "Unlimited" so that space junk will be a real concern in the Missions save.

But once I develop a rock-solid ship, I will launch it in the Missions save and bask in the glory.

-Duxwing

[j-tk]

Wait: some of you DON'T use Kerbals AS Probes?

[drlambnz]

I use F5/F9 way too much, so all my Kerbals' deaths occur every single other parallel universe than the one they're in. Regarding space ethics though, the only issue that Kerbals might have a problem with in my space program is that I very rarely plan a return trip; the way I see it, we're trying to colonise other planets. Even with a single Kerbal. I do make sure they live out the rest of their lives in comfort though; I've taken to creating little all-in-one bases adapted for the destination, that include living quarters, science quarters, and some sort of short range transportation.

[Duxwing]

Wait: some of you DON'T use Kerbals AS Probes?

Ha ha ha :/

-Duxwing

[pa1983]

I use F5 and F9 to save kerbals some times. But I try to build safe crafts, crap do happen. Sens I fly spaceplanes the most common cause of dead kerbals is landing on Duna. High speed landing at low grav can cause the plane to bounce and nose down and well the pod is the first to go. Im considering unmanned crafts in the future.

Most of my New SSTO's do have ejection systems but when you crash when landing often the pod is the first to go. Most of the time bugs kill my kerbals.