Killing your Kerbals: does it make you feel bad?

[katateochi]

wow a post from 2013, this might be one of the oldest necro'd posts I've seen!

On the whole, even in sandbox I try hard to keep them alive.  Especially the increasingly inaccurately named orange trio (of 4).

But am I concerned for my Kerbals? or is it in fact that I don't want to scratch the paint on my shiney new spacecraft!? I keep the craft safe, which just happens to mean the Kerbals on mission are safe too!

[Rocket In My Pocket]

Personally, I can't bear the thought of losing a single Kerbal. I'll revert a 3 hour mission to the launchpad if I think there is even a chance a Kerbal could become stranded or killed.

New Kerbalnauts cost money though, so perhaps it isn't out of concern, but more so cheapness lol?

[adsii1970]

I try to avoid killing them. It's why spacecraft and high altitude aircraft always has some system to save the crew in the event of catastrophic failure. Since 0.22, I've only lost eleven.

[Claw]

Old indeed.

I kill enough kerbals during testing, experimentals, and bug fixing that when I play regular games, I try to go out of my way to save them. I figured maybe that balances things a little.

[Terwin]

Loading a save game that is hours old may be a steep price some times, but that is the price I pay when I am not careful.

My Kerbals pay their dues with the sweat of their brow and their patience(sitting alone in a tin can all the way to Minmus for example). They do not pay in blood and tears.  That is what saved games and revert to launch are for.

[herbal space program]

It would probably be a mercy for me to kill my Kerbals, given how extremely long I leave them stuck in space during my endless missions.

[Lord Aurelius]

Killing Kerbals? What's that? /jk

I always revert flights or quickload if something goes wrong so I haven't (permanently) killed a Kerbal in quite some time, although aircraft testing especially usually results in lots of mishaps that do (temporarily) terminate some unfortunate Kerbals who are resurrected a short time later to try again with a tweaked design (or less shoddy piloting at least).

That said, yes I do feel bad about killing them (which is why all of my designs are extensively tested using the methods described above so that I technically don't have any dead or stranded Kerbals).

[HoloYolo]

Yeah I care so much....

[pandaman]

I try not to kill any, and regret when it happens,  but hey 'space is hard', it's a dangerous job and they know the risks...

[Frozen_Heart]

I feel really bad about killing kerbals but they still end up dying by the boatload. I am not a skilled pilot...

[Randazzo]

If you're dumb enough to climb inside a rocket I built in twenty minutes, you deserve whatever happens to you.

 

Edited December 8, 2015 by Randazzo

[JohnF]

I read "better" instead of "bad" and I was going to say, "Only a little."

[theend3r]

My kerbals don't die, they live through the power of determination.

[problemecium]

I continue to proudly claim to have killed zero Kerbals since something like 0.20 (when I was just starting out and before I started counting).
Of course I do make liberal use of quicksaves, but recently I've never had to load a quicksave because of a death - only because of loss of an unmanned craft, me seeing that Kerbal deaths were imminent, etc.

[HoloYolo]

2 minutes ago, parameciumkid said:

I continue to proudly claim to have killed zero Kerbals since something like 0.20 (when I was just starting out and before I started counting).
Of course I do make liberal use of quicksaves, but recently I've never had to load a quicksave because of a death - only because of loss of an unmanned craft, me seeing that Kerbal deaths were imminent, etc.

"Zero"

[problemecium]

My ships are safe ("Simulations" excluded)!

[SheVa Nine]

17 hours ago, Frozen_Heart said:

I feel really bad about killing kerbals but they still end up dying by the boatload. I am not a skilled pilot...

I feel your pain.

[DunaRocketeer]

If a Kerbal dies I try not to press F9, but I still do sometimes. Every rocket I create that carries Kerbals has to have escape thrusters - this is especially true since I have the launch failure mod running, plus life support to worry about. I'm also sticking to tried and tested rockets/spacecraft that I know how to fly well.

[sieve]

On 8/17/2013, 2:23:32, boxman said:

Depends on if i am playing a serious mission or not. If not then I have no issues with killing a few kerbals.

Here is one of the kerbal death machines i made today:

 

Lol u sick bro

[Piper]

I hate having Kervals die.  While I don't always have abort options, I use KCT, and as such I always run simulations of my design before I actually send it to be constructed.  That's not to say I've never had any accidents, but so far, in this career mode anyways, they've all been ones my Kerbals could walk away from.  In past versions though, I have had Kerbals die on me, most namely one that died in a botched Minmus extreme EVA, and one flew an airplane into the side of a mountain when descending through the clouds.

[Guest]

No.

I have no safety measures.

[SpenSpaceCorp]

Kerbin's ground is mainly green because of the sheer amount of Kerbals that go SPLAT after a rocket failure!

[Kerbart]

21 minutes ago, SpenSpaceCorp said:

Kerbin's ground is mainly green because of the sheer amount of Kerbals that go SPLAT after a rocket failure!

And their circulation fluid is blue. Hence the oceans.

[Overland]

For me its not the kerbals but the trains themselves..specificly the locomotives

 

The very heart and soul of a train

From the moment the engines start in a cloud of smoke.. Throttle brought upto idle and headlights start to glow brightly.

A trains soul is reborn.. For the lucky ones it means just a local trip to the mountains or some yard shunting..

But for the unlucky..they pass that 30km threshhold that means a train and her crew are left to thier own for survival and any incident bad enough means that all is lost and yet another class number is added on the side of a sister minted with the same hopes as her fallen classmate

 

..that new trains first mission then involves rescuing any remaining crew from her fallen sister train and planting a flag in her honour.. Eventually slowly proceeding through the wreck with engines at a respectful low rpm as the wreck fades smaller in the distance..

 

Its not easy to be optimistic about a journey given the origins.. And its always a great hope that... This time.. This locomotive...this train is the one to succeed

My list is great.. Both sad and an honour to behold

44 class from 4403 to 4409 lived eventful lives..achieved much.. Some even had 100s of kilometres in experience.. 

4409 went in a firey explosion battling a mountain with twin generator failure.. Being the most emotional loss thats noteworthy

4410 to 4425 some still live on as yard shunters..others retired..4402 is in space orbiting kerbin

40 class D4001 to 4015 lived assorted lives too detailed to mention..

 

Noteworthy would be 4016..still functional yet impaired parked 80km from KSC with broken front wheels awaiting recovery

 

Its never easy..but if it was...it wouldnt be the same

[Andem]

If they wear an orange suit, they know what they signed up for. White suits, on the other hand, are sacred. Their deaths are to be avoided at all costs.