What happened to K.I.A. / Kerbal emotions

[Diodon]

In a lot of youtube KSP crash videos I see the Kerbonaut portraits go to static with K.I.A. written over it but in all of my crashes the portrait just disappears. Is this something that got removed? It seemed like a humorous way to increase the emotional investment in the game and drive it home to the player that not only was their mission a complete failure but they even failed to protect the brave Kerbonauts who's lives they were entrusted with.

On a related note, is there any correlation between the facial animations of the Kerbonauts and what is presently happening with the ship? I'm not always sure what their states of mind are though it does seem like they have a few expressions like wonder and awe, and flat out abject panic and fear. Perhaps I'm just projecting on them and they are always just in varying states of mouths-agape. As the game progresses towards letting you select your crew it would be cool to give them unique personalities that would impact their animated reactions to various mission events, for example; apprehension prior to liftoff or orbital maneuvers, panic from excessive G forces or spinning out, boredom during uneventful stretches of time, and excitement upon arriving at stations/moons/planets.

[RazorWolf19]

The Kerbal Emotions are dynamic and they change with the events of the flight. Also, each Kerbal reacts differently to certain situations depending on their courage and stupidity values (if they are stupid, they laugh more/ if they are courageous they don't freak out as much or often).

As with the K.I.A, I'm not %100 sure why they were removed or when, but if I were to take a guess I would say 0.16. The reason for that is because 0.16 is the version which added EVA and therefore ever-changing pod occupation. In other words, there can't be a K.I.A if a new Kerbal can simply board the pod and take that place.

Happy Flying!

[Tiron]

The Kerbal Emotions are dynamic and they change with the events of the flight. Also, each Kerbal reacts differently to certain situations depending on their courage and stupidity values (if they are stupid, they laugh more/ if they are courageous they don't freak out as much or often).

As with the K.I.A, I'm not %100 sure why they were removed or when, but if I were to take a guess I would say 0.16. The reason for that is because 0.16 is the version which added EVA and therefore ever-changing pod occupation. In other words, there can't be a K.I.A if a new Kerbal can simply board the pod and take that place.

Happy Flying!

Back in the days of yore, when we had KIA Portraits, there were only three Kerbals. Every flight, you got Jeb, Bill, and Bob. Even if they'd been killed on the previous flight.

Also, how are you going to put a new kerbal in the pod when the pod was destroyed? The only way to kill a kerbal while having a portrait for them is to destroy the pod they're in. They don't get a portrait while EVA, not even when docked to a command seat.

[RazorWolf19]

Back in the days of yore, when we had KIA Portraits, there were only three Kerbals. Every flight, you got Jeb, Bill, and Bob. Even if they'd been killed on the previous flight.

I know this, that was my point; the portraits dynamically change. (but they didn't in the past)

Also, how are you going to put a new kerbal in the pod when the pod was destroyed? The only way to kill a kerbal while having a portrait for them is to destroy the pod they're in. They don't get a portrait while EVA, not even when docked to a command seat.

Yeah, overlooked that, sorry. However, in the future when they add life support and death from too many G's it will be feasible to die in the pod and have a K.I.A.

[Itchono]

It still happens in weird cases so the KIA files themselves are still in the game but only happens in game-breaking situations most of the time

[joppiesaus]

First I thought this was about Kerbal In Action,

but than I realized it means Killed In Action.

[regex]

It seemed like a humorous way to increase the emotional investment in the game

Wait, what? How is "K.I.A." in any way humorous?

On a related note, is there any correlation between the facial animations of the Kerbonauts and what is presently happening with the ship?

Most certainly, at least in my game. They get bored, serious, scared, enthusiastic, excited, and even sport ****-eating grins when they're on another planet.

[Guest]

On a related note, is there any correlation between the facial animations of the Kerbonauts and what is presently happening with the ship?

There are plenty of times Bill seems ready to lose his mind from sheer terror during reentry, but is elated when the parachutes open. So yes, there's a correlation.

[Fel]

It still happens in weird cases so the KIA files themselves are still in the game but only happens in game-breaking situations most of the time

Almost certainly mod related.

The "K.I.A." screen occurs when the kerbal is "killed" (ProtoCrewMember.Die()) but not removed from the part.

You'd have to somehow manage to kill the kerbal without destroying the part.

[Blackstar]

How about this as a possible workaround for the dynamic portrait issue: When a part containing Kerbals is destroyed (not detached), the portrait switches to the KIA screen for 5 seconds, and then is removed after the delay.

[Tiron]

Almost certainly mod related.

The "K.I.A." screen occurs when the kerbal is "killed" (ProtoCrewMember.Die()) but not removed from the part.

You'd have to somehow manage to kill the kerbal without destroying the part.

That's coming. Lack of Oxygen and Too Many G-Forces deaths are planned, for a start.

There are plenty of times Bill seems ready to lose his mind from sheer terror during reentry, but is elated when the parachutes open. So yes, there's a correlation.

It's based on the Crew Member's statistics. There are, at present, three relevant statistics. Dumb, Brave, and the BadS flag. Dumb is how smart they are, oddly enough, which affects how well they're able to tell when they SHOULD be worried about something or not. Brave is their level of courage, which is pretty obvious. BadS is an on-or-off flag that squad calls 'pilot training', which causes them to have said (@%-eating grin almost any time they're in flight, with the sole exception of when the ship starts breaking. Right now, only Jeb has the BadS flag set.

For an illustration of what the various statistics do, Bill and Bob are pretty good examples.

Bill has a low Brave value, but a high Dumb value. He's pretty aware of what's dangerous and what's not, but has almost no tolerance for anything that's even slightly in the 'not' category, and thus freaks out anytime it's the least bit dangerous.

Bob, on the other hand, has a midlevel brave value, but a very low dumb value. The latter tends to override the former, because he's so unaware of what's going on and what he SHOULD be afraid of that he interprets almost everything as a life-threatening emergency, unless it's blatantly obvious that it's not.

If you get one with high brave AND high dumb, they react quite appropriately. When things are going normally, they're not quite so grinny as Jeb, but close. Unlike Jeb they still react to goings-on that don't involve explosions.

Edited July 3, 2013 by Tiron

[Diodon]

Wait, what? How is "K.I.A." in any way humorous?

It paints the picture of the utter failure of the mission which is frequently preceded by some comical mishap or rash miscalculation. The mission is over and the player is faced with a scene of burning wreckage, shrapnel falling, wild boosters flying in all directions, and the stark realization that there was in fact a crew in there. It's dark comedy, like the cut-away scene from Family Guy where Elmer Fudd finally kills Bugs Bunny; simultaneously sad and hilarious.

Regarding the other replies, I guess I'd just never noticed any correlation. I'll keep an eye out. I try to glance at them from time to time but I'm far to often trying to balance a nearly out of control rocket lol.

It's clear my original question about the KIA portraits was a misunderstanding of what the portrait represented. So the portrait just represents who is in that seat of the pod? I had assumed you just saw one portrait for each Kerbonaut throughout the mission.

[Tiron]

It paints the picture of the utter failure of the mission which is frequently preceded by some comical mishap or rash miscalculation. The mission is over and the player is faced with a scene of burning wreckage, shrapnel falling, wild boosters flying in all directions, and the stark realization that there was in fact a crew in there. It's dark comedy, like the cut-away scene from Family Guy where Elmer Fudd finally kills Bugs Bunny; simultaneously sad and hilarious.

Regarding the other replies, I guess I'd just never noticed any correlation. I'll keep an eye out. I try to glance at them from time to time but I'm far to often trying to balance a nearly out of control rocket lol.

It's clear my original question about the KIA portraits was a misunderstanding of what the portrait represented. So the portrait just represents who is in that seat of the pod? I had assumed you just saw one portrait for each Kerbonaut throughout the mission.

They're listed in order by which seat they're in, yes, and empty seats get no portrait. Neither do Kerbals on EVA. At this point it's pretty much literally just a camera pointed at the Kerbonaut sitting in their chair in whatever Pod/Cockpit they're in. Hitchhikers don't currently have ports OR IVAs, but I gather it's being worked on.

[Diodon]

It's based on the Crew Member's statistics.

Goes to show my lack of perception, lol. That's great to hear, looking forward to checking that out tonight!

[regex]

It paints the picture of the utter failure of the mission which is frequently preceded by some comical mishap or rash miscalculation. The mission is over and the player is faced with a scene of burning wreckage, shrapnel falling, wild boosters flying in all directions, and the stark realization that there was in fact a crew in there. It's dark comedy, like the cut-away scene from Family Guy where Elmer Fudd finally kills Bugs Bunny; simultaneously sad and hilarious.

Huh, I just assumed it was a statement of fact, that someone was "Killed In Action". The comedy is in the rocket exploding or failing in spectacular ways; Kerbals are just along for the ride.

vOv

[Tiron]

Huh, I just assumed it was a statement of fact, that someone was "Killed In Action". The comedy is in the rocket exploding or failing in spectacular ways; Kerbals are just along for the ride.

vOv

It can help drive home just how badly you've failed. Although if you're like me and actually include ways for your semi-brave almost-astronauts to survive failures...It's somewhat annoying when they don't work.

[regex]

It can help drive home just how badly you've failed. Although if you're like me and actually include ways for your semi-brave almost-astronauts to survive failures...It's somewhat annoying when they don't work.

I'm in the "it's just a game" camp and don't really care about my Kerbals because they're digital and literally come back from the dead, which is probably why I don't see the humor in the whole "K.I.A." thing, although tbh escape systems are interesting things to build and keeping Kerbals alive is engaging at times. In fact, I usually try to keep that one Kerbal that gets all resolute before a launch and then becomes terrified about ten seconds in alive, that guy's pretty lovable.

[Diodon]

Perhaps a better comparison is with Wile E. Coyote except instead of a KIA you see a coyote shaped hole in the ground and instead of rocket debris... actually there is probably rocket debris also. Sure, he'll be healthy in the next scene but for that moment you can feel for his plight even as you laugh at his predicament.

[pigletx2]

That's coming. Lack of Oxygen and Too Many G-Forces deaths are planned, for a start.

It's based on the Crew Member's statistics. There are, at present, three relevant statistics. Dumb, Brave, and the BadS flag. Dumb is how smart they are, oddly enough, which affects how well they're able to tell when they SHOULD be worried about something or not. Brave is their level of courage, which is pretty obvious. BadS is an on-or-off flag that squad calls 'pilot training', which causes them to have said (@%-eating grin almost any time they're in flight, with the sole exception of when the ship starts breaking. Right now, only Jeb has the BadS flag set.

For an illustration of what the various statistics do, Bill and Bob are pretty good examples.

Bill has a low Brave value, but a high Dumb value. He's pretty aware of what's dangerous and what's not, but has almost no tolerance for anything that's even slightly in the 'not' category, and thus freaks out anytime it's the least bit dangerous.

Bob, on the other hand, has a midlevel brave value, but a very low dumb value. The latter tends to override the former, because he's so unaware of what's going on and what he SHOULD be afraid of that he interprets almost everything as a life-threatening emergency, unless it's blatantly obvious that it's not.

If you get one with high brave AND high dumb, they react quite appropriately. When things are going normally, they're not quite so grinny as Jeb, but close. Unlike Jeb they still react to goings-on that don't involve explosions.

Nope, it's rare, but kerbals other that jeb can sometimes get the BadS flag.

[Guest Brody_Peffley]

Nope, it's rare, but kerbals other that jeb can sometimes get the BadS flag.

Hope you do know this is before 0.20 right..

[swiftgates24]

Nuh nuh nuh nah NECRO!

[KittyProgram]

Nananannana.... na.a..a.a..a.a.a......... NECROMAN!

[KvickFlygarn87]

Hope you do know this is before 0.20 right..

Hope you do know .20.2 was released in May 2013 right..