Kerbal-Specific Skills (Expanding on other suggestions)

[Smidge204]

Was digging through the Suggestions forum and found a few interesting tidbits. For reference:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/53799-List-of-ideas-for-suggestions

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/42783-Kerbal-Resumes

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/50339-Different-classes-of-Kerbals

So the basic idea is skills for Kerbonauts. I thought maybe I could flesh out the idea a bit more, since I think it has good potential to add some depth to the game. For example, the player would have incentive to be more careful with their crew selection and to keep their well-trained Kerbals alive longer! Even a relatively simple skill point system could add a bit of flavor, IMHO.

Skill Sets

Piloting - The Kerbal's experience with the control of various craft. Adds a bonus to craft control (manifest as a bonus to reaction wheel torque/engine vectoring/control surface reaction). Increases the dampening from SAS to reduce oscillations. Some parts get a slight bonus for impact resistance (Landing gear and wheels in particular). Perhaps a slight bonus to engine efficiency (1-2% tops) because a skilled pilot knows how to exploit all the "sweet spots" in the controls.

Repair - For this to work you'd need to modify Kerbal-performed EVA activities a bit to add a chance of failure. Repair skills decrease failure rate and at higher skill levels may add resistance to further malfunction or better, "tuned" performance for bits that have been graced by the touch of a skilled Kerbal's wrench. (Bonus: Three levels of failure! "Failure" and simply try again, "Catastrophic failure" and part is permanently disabled for the rest of the mission, and "Spectacular failure" where the part explodes. )

Science - Specializing in research protocols, a Kerbal trained in science can get more science point yield per experiment. (NOT necessarily increasing the total science points obtainable at a particular location, just how much you can extract per attempt/scan/sample). Having a Science major on board automatically adds the bonus to most things, however taking samples and making EVA reports under certain situations would be particularly fruitful, and transmissions may be slightly less lossy. Automated science experiments may also have a chance to fail, which will need a keen mind to reset and prevent.

Of course, using a Kerbal who is inappropriately skilled may have the opposite of the desired effect.

Getting Skill Points

So I could go two ways with this... one is a generic RPG style experience system where you distribute the skill points as you like based on earned mission experience. Consider it like sending them for training or whatever.

I think it would be easier and more appropriate, however, to automatically increase skills based on the things the individual Kerbals have done in their careers as "On the Job Training." For example, using the same Kerbal to always perform repairs will gradually increase that Kerbal's repair skill, having the same Kerbal in the top slot of the crew (or only crew in a particular capsule/seat) would improve his piloting skills, and having the same Kerbal interact with science equipment would improve science skills. This also allows for Kerbals to improve during a mission, instead of waiting until afterwards... so your crew becomes more valuable over time and you have more reason to bring them home in one piece!

Each Kerbal recruit would start with a random level of each skill but usually be fairly poor all-around except, perhaps, for the occasional prodigy/Badass. You can add a hidden stat for how well a particular Kerbal learns ("Stupidity" ?) for extra fun!

Optionally, these stats could work against each other so it would not be possible to max out all three of them at the same time. Either a cap on the total amount of stat that can be added, or subtracting from one stat as another is improved.

And to go the extra mile, throw in a "Ruggedness" stat to increase Kerbal's durability in case they ever "fix" how well they currently bounce.

=Smidge=

[boomerdog2000]

I think a combination of being able to pay for training and on-the-job would make sense. That way once your space program is up and running you don't have to do too many training flights for rookies, or break something on purpose for your kerbalnaught to repair. Perhaps there could be a cap on the training or it gets much more expensive for the higher levels.

[Smidge204]

I forgot about the funding mechanic! Yes, that makes perfect sense... if you're managing funds, you should be able to use it for training. Excellent!

=Smidge=