How many plays "for real - with conscience"?

[EasyAce]

Hi guys,

short question, just to lower my curiosity.

Do you think it is most common to don't care about the Kerbals and careless test designs with Kerbals inside, or to actualy use probes first to minimize causalties?

I just wonder, as I tend you use probes way more than manned (kerbaled??) rockets.

I hate to "loose" my kerbals on idiotic construction errors, so I only send Kerbals when I have a design that works.

So far I haven't lost any Kerbals... but at the same time I haven't gone further than the Mun either.

[electronicfox]

Whats a conscience?

[Richy teh space man]

I've had this dilemma too. I have two saves, one is my "career" mode and the other is the sandbox test. It works as the flight sim for the career mode where I can test something without risking Kerbals in career mode.

A simulator within a simulator, Kerbception..?

Edited June 4, 2013 by Richy teh space man
Fixed spelling

[kahlzun]

It has occured to me that the disposable, replaceable, nature of the Kerbs in this game must be how generals feel ordering troops to battle: You see their names, and laud their successes, but when they inevitably die, you just send another in their place...

[SalmonellaDingDong]

I feel bad killing them.

[Sᴄɪɴᴛɪʟʟᴀᴛᴏʀ]

I just set up an abort sequence with action groups, which usually works.

I have a little safety achievement board as well, "It has been 1 day since the last accident"

[KevinW42]

I don't really feel too bad about killing them if I'm just testing a rocket or something, but on actual missions, I do my best to keep them alive.

I also have a tendency to retroactively classify anything that doesn't leave Kerbin's atmosphere as a test.

[Tw1]

I think the approach Richy teh space man describes is quite common.

[Mihara]

Do you think it is most common to don't care about the Kerbals and careless test designs with Kerbals inside, or to actualy use probes first to minimize causalties?

I have two saves. "Simulation" and "Reality".

In simulation, I do everything, hyperedit my landers into orbits over planets to test them, with kerbals in them or without, crash things just to see how much abuse they will survive, timewarp through decades to get to launch windows, and in general, nothing that happens in there "sticks" - it's a virtual testing ground where my kerbals log into, die for giggles and respawn.

In "Reality", every vessel comes with a means of unmanned control, no exceptions, every object in orbit has been launched from the ground, every bit of fuel is either from Kerbin or was mined on the Mun, kerbals only go up and down from LKO in tried and tested designs and live on comfortable stations while their heavy and wobbly ships get launched, probes go everywhere first, and every manned interplanetary mission is followed by a tanker just in case. I don't even quickload unless I got bitten by a bug.

Because there, they don't get to respawn.

That simultaneously satisfies my conscience and allows me the engineering freedom needed to actually get any results.

[Godot]

All of my manned rockets have an escape tower on top of their capsule that is operable during the whole ascent ...

therefore the probability for them to get killed during this phase of the mission is extremly low.

The chance for them to get killed while trying to land on a planet/moon or while being a little too fast with their jetpacks during EVA is considerbaly higher ...

but at least in my currrent new game in 0.20 I haven´t lost a single Kerbal yet

[AmpsterMan]

I play with a conscience. I have a regular save and a sandbox save where things get tested out. I call it Jeb's Dreams XD.

[rodion_herrera]

I call it Jeb's Dreams XD.

"Jeb's Nightmares" would have been more fitting!

[KasperVld]

I tend not to crash my Kerbals that often anymore, but if I do I set myself the task of giving each of them a funeral using this mod

[Stazi]

After 0.20 was released I started over with a fresh save, and have adopted the "leave no Kerbal behind" policy. Just last night I went through a few different designs of a rescue ship built to operate within Kerbins SoI. It's still not working as well as I would like, since the dV on it is barely high enough to land on the Mun and return. I've also started playing with debris enabled again(yay for 0.20 memory optimization!) so I've been working on variations of the rescue ship designed to dock with and de-orbit spent stages and debris.

[Akalaël]

I have a consciousness. I dislike try my rockets when they are manned (kerbaled ?), I don't like sending my refiueling ships with a command pod...

That is for my consciousness...

And then, I send one refieuling ship... Takes ages to turn (don't understand why, it's only a 50t playload ), can't get the precision I need for docking, and I have 7 others launch to do with that rocket...

And then, I test 5, 7, 10 crafts and it's a pain to launch with no torque.

So I put my consciousness in a big, huge, deep pit, I sit on it, and carry on !

I think the major improuvement about taking care of your Kerbals will occurs when the career mode will arrive. Imagine, you'll hire and train Jebediah Kerman, at a cost that still has to be determinate. This will be an investisment, maybe (and hopefully) a big one, and if you loose this investisment (read : if Jeb dies in the first launch you make with him), THAT will be painfull.

[Schmonzo]

I try not to kill my Kerbals, but I don't use two saves. My Kerbals do their projects 'Race into Space' style, meaning that accidents happen. But I try do minimalize the chance of accidents happening. I always send probes first, after they have been successful Kerbals follw.

[XerZin]

Abort action groups

[Laphtiya]

I use the crew manifest with permanent death enabled, so safety first! managed to land Jeb on the Mun with zero casualties, however probes are a different story I've "killed" 20 so far. But no Kermins have been harmed ......just shaken.......mostly bill

[erkha343]

Since it's still in sandbox, I don't really care, but for the sake of gameplay I do make escape mechanism to try and save the Kerbals in case something goes wrong.

And it might be a good idea, because when career is implemented it will probably be a major setback to loose Kerbals.

[Alephzorg]

Same as many here, I use 2 saves "trials" and "Conquest". Sometimes, I don't just try the design, I go through the whole mission in "trials". And if it works fine, I redo it in "Conquest". Twice the work but barely any casualties.

[Markotiks]

I have a Test Dummy save for testing out radical ideas or designs I'm a little iffy about. All those Kerbals are expendable. In my real Space Program save I try to keep all crew alive and try to prevent them getting stranded anywhere. Although accidents still happen and I feel bad when I lose a Kerbalnaut. As long as I keep my OG crew (Jeb, Bill, and Bob) alive I can get over the other deaths. Feel bad, but I can get over it.

[Kilmeister]

I have a "career" mode save where the leave no Kerbal behind policy is in effect and perma death enabled. Most everything I actually intend to fly in this save I test here too, I just try to minimize the fatality rates by using unmanned tests first or just putting 1 kerbal in the pod instead of 3 etc...

Then I have my test save where I create death machines for them to play with.

[MDBenson]

I try wherever possible not to kill Kerbals needlessly. If I have Kerbals in a pod and something goes wrong I'll land the pod or return it to Kerbin or rescue them or whatever, but occasionally I forget to remove them before the flight and things go... wrong :\ I DO fly a LOT of manned (un Kerbed?) missions to test stuff. I use mod parts with 6 or 7 seats and losing that many at once does tend to feel rather unnecessary, especially given how many of my test launches end up in the sea, or blow up on the pad

Needless to say it's more an 'oops' than a crisis. It's only a sim/game ultimately!

[koshelenkovv]

Anything I build does not fly at first try %)

I start with sending probe scouts, then Kerbals and I test rockets without Kerbals.

Every manned pod have Sepatron Escape System.

Also, every LV-N have extra decoupler and chutes to land safely.

[vonKerbin]

I just started playing and I feel terrible when mine die.

They just look so happy and filled with awe at their incredible journey that when it goes wrong I feel guilty.

In the week I've been playing, I've killed 4 so far: One when I outright forgot to put a chute on the design, one when I accidentally deployed the chute too early and it snapped off, one when he would have been stranded in orbit around the Mun so I retro'd enough to degrade the orbit to his death (instant > slow freezing suffocation imo), and finally ... last night ... I crashed on the Mun but he survived. Now he's stuck there.

Last night I began wondering if it is possible to do everything 'unmanned' so that I can learn how to land on the Mun without risking my little guys.