How many plays "for real - with conscience"?

[mellojoe]

So far, I've been burning through Kerbals faster than I burn through rocket fuel.

[Eric S]

Count me in the two saves methodology. I don't do full missions in my test save, but I do test the more demanding parts.

[Epthelyn]

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),

Kerbals have infinite oxygen, so there's no need to feel bad about them floating in space. Prior to 0.20 I had a Kerbal in orbit around Ike who had been there for 11 years; I had to eject him to rescue Bill and Bob

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The only Kerbals I really care about are Bill, Bob and Jebediah simply because they stand out in their orange spacesuits inside the rocket. I also started playing long before randomly generated names, so they're special.

In every other case I'd rather save the rocket than the Kerbal and in most cases the lost of a Kerbal tends to be the loss of a mission, particularly if that mission was either solo or somehow crashed a landing pod into a body and I actually needed the pod.

I don't like leaving Kerbals standed in boring places though. Eve (and Duna to a certain extent depending on the mission) is a 1-way-trip but at least it's pretty to look at. Any Kerbal stranded on the planet-facing side of the Mun or Ike is also fine by me, along with anyone stranded on Joolian moons; In all cases there's something more than rock to look at.

So yeah, Death of Kerbal = Death of Rocket, so I only really care when the rocket is at stake

[Rage097]

I'll only use probes for interplanetary missions before I send any Kerbal there. I'll always send a Manned mission to The Mün and to Minmus because I know what it takes to land on them.

I'll also use Kerbals for weapons testing on the runway. I'll load the weapon(if vehicle) first and drive it off the runway. then i'll load the Target and get the Kerbal out and away. Unless it's a clone, In which case I'll try to kill it/launch it away/whatevs to avoid paradoxes.

[Voidryder]

I fly my space program as it is real. I test a design through an abridged mission flight profile before I crew it.

And I use the Crew Manifest mod with permadeath enabled, Ioncross Life Support and Deadly Re-Entry to make it as real as possible.

I've only lost one Cosmonaut, Bill Kerman to a misaligned re-entry in 37 crewed flights. Miscalculated the battery drain, it went to zero just as I started re-entry and so I had to stop controlling the capsule. Bill died in a fireball over the West Coast.

So yeah I play with a conscience.

[Cdr_Zeta]

Hi,

I have play with a conscience...

Most of my first couple months learning, then realizing I can call my games a SIM; then creating a roleplay and turning the SIM into a KSA SIM (academy sim where they learn and get grades, and the kerbals stay active; I never end their missions; this is to start really soon as all SIM tests are done, missions roleplay design is done, and the real missions are starting soon.

Send out porbes, retest of lifters etc; all being done in 'real mission' mode form here on out ! The roleplay begins; the ARG's have started; some kool things goin on in my Kerbin Solar System !

Cdr Zeta

[Free Trader Beowulf]

I too have a simulation save and a "real" save and play as if it was a real space program, as best I can.

All my ships can fly uncrewed and I only use two proven designs for flinging Kerbals into space. The heavy gear and fuel is always launched unmanned. Crew manifest helps a lot with that. No Kerbal will ever be left behind, possible rescue and abort plans are considered when planning missions. Stations have escape vehicles and bases will have return vehicles on standby. You know, in case someone gets sick or something.

I also keep crew records, my Kerbals have ranks and professions and can earn service ribbons. There's even a well funded retirement plan and subsidised health centre.

[acealeam]

Yep. I've lost quite a few kerbals, but I do care. If things are going badly I try to save them (plus it's a lot more fun this way.) And once I got a ship stuck on the mun without enough deltav to get back, so I launched a rescue mission and got them safely back to kerbin.

[justinlego001]

I have one save and one save only! I play as if I am the manager and the pilot of a space program and all of the rockets. I use mods for maximum realism. Also, my dream is actually to become an astronaut and go to the Moon or Mars or some other terrestrial celestial body that I am able to walk on the surface!

[Camelotking524]

Why do I care about my creations? They are just Frog DNA and Grass DNA mixed together with a dash of Lemon-Lime flavored Tang thrown in. I can make more.

[SmallChange]

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"

Man, that would be an awesome mod. No parts, no real function. Just one of these signs up on the wall in the VAB, and have it keep count, and revert to zero each time a Kerbal is killed in action.

(I would totally install that, and I'm one of those grumpy vanilla players!)

[CozmikR5]

Conscience? What is this silly concept?

[Pipcard]

I also have a save where I can test things non-conscientiously, and a save where I do things "for real".

[DisarmingBaton5]

Wait... Kerbals... They're the things that jump out of the command pod and pop, right?

[Kerbol Prime]

Depends actually. Most of the time I don't care, but I currently have a program where I go for efficiency and safety. In that case I always have an abort system. However poor Jebediah was killed due to staging failure during abort sequence test (how ironic since it was meant to prevent death). He was ressurected shortly after and put into a plane...

[FlamedSteak]

The launchpad is a concience free zone.

Everywhere else I do my best to keep my kerbals alive. If I'm a little squeaky on fuel and get stuck somewhere I'll always attempt a rescue mission to get them back.

That being said, I haven't stranded a Kerbal any further than the Mun yet.

[Felsmak]

Consc... ience? Sounds tasty. Where can I get one?

[Markus Reese]

I personally have alot of sentiment in respect to fictional characters of all aspects of gaming. There are times when I laud st being the villian to a comical sense, but in ksp, I never play the villian.

Exception was pre probes where sometimes I would want to just ptest something and then just restart mission so death never happens.

Now, I design every ship in stages beginning with abort and landing. Every kerbal can always get back home most every time through planning and patience... But not always...

Prime example is my hero pilot, Lars Kerman who first showed up in 0.w17. The a-team was at duna and it's moons. Lars was in process of becoming first Kerbal to orbit Eve but progress was tough and he survived many mishaps to come back for more.

Well, 0.18 came out and mission to orbit eve went into full effect. I edited the new persistence to bring Lars in as my number one pilot. To eve we went.

Well the mission did not go according to plan. Decoupling mishap resulted in skimming atmo too close. Fortunately I was able to jettison the main drive and use the space plane lander to make a safe landing. Return was impossible.

That was back before December. 6 months later and development of new tech meant that the rescue ship has arrived today. Lars will be home soon with movie to follow. I have kept my version 0.19.4 until mission is complete. When I update to current version, I will need to find out how to get Lars a custom jumpsuit.

[CHR1SZ]

I haven't been very far at present (my consists purely of an SSTO, a large LKO station, a small Mun base and rover, and a reliable rocket system for putting large objects in LKO), but I have safety systems present in all my craft (i.e. I've made rescue ships and I can safely abort any manned mission inside the atmosphere). I'm considering sending something to Eve but I'm not sure whether I can be bothered to make something that can return to Kerbin, so it's unlikely any kerbals will get to visit. If any of my kerbals are killed by pilot error, then it's their fault. If they are killed due to mechanical failure (e.g. parachute comes off) then it does sadden me somewhat. I've placed a flag amongst the debris of my various SSTO prototype tests at the end of the runway as a memorial to all kerbals K.I.A. in this way

[Peder]

I try to keep it realistic.

But in general Im an experienced player and often build the same rocket to get into orbit..

And if I go to another planer I normal send down a probe or a rover first, and afterwards make a kerbonaut landing.

[TheDarkStar]

As long as they are off the launchpad, my Kerbals tend to be safe. However, I've probably killed a few thousand Kerbals in and above the KSC area.

[Moon Goddess]

I've always played with a conscience, but not really with the whole reality thing

Now I'm starting to get more real about it, not ending flight on things that go bad, using ion cross, and such, and puting escape systems on my flights.

[rryy]

I mostly try to keep my Kerbals safe, but I don't bother with things like unmanned tests or launch escape systems or rescue missions. My launch escape system is, "decouple the capsule and deploy the parachute." If that doesn't work, I either End Flight before they die, or I let them crash.

[Qwertyest]

For me, it depends on whether I'm on "mission" or whether it's preparation and testing for the up-coming mission. I still won't kill them on purpose during testing, but if they die, they die. If something's gone horribly wrong mid-test, then I'll probably just exit out and head back to the VAB to make adjustments.

But when it comes to actually going on a mission, from the moment of lift-off, then they always have to have a way of safely returning to Kerbin built into the mission plan. This is probably why I haven't actually sent a Kerbal outside of the influence of Kerbin's gravity yet (aside from Mun/Minmus landings). I'm pretty sure I could get them to Duna or Eve, for example, but I'm not so sure I could get them home again! So I've only sent probes and unmanned rovers to such places so far. But I believe my mobile space station I've been working on may give my kerbals the opportunity to travel to these distant worlds and still come home again afterwards.

[Paul Kingtiger]

I try to not cause any Kerbal deaths, and test fly rockets remotely before man rating them.

Just one of the objectives I set myself to give me something to work towards.