Do your Kerbonauts have personalities?

[James_Eh]

Mine do.

It bugs me that my screen is littered with flags that all read "PARTY!!!" because that's what Billy-Bobrod Kermin puts on each and every flag that he plants. He went hog-wild on Laythe, returning to the ship, getting new flags, and covering the entire island with "PARTY!!!" flags. He was all excited about the sand, you see.

Meanwhile, the other crew plant boring flags like "One step for..." and "A Great Day for..." and all that committee-designed stuff.

Jack always misspells at least one word on his flags.

On missions, it always seems to be the same crew of 3 that decides to "Go For It!!!" and winds up running out of delta-V with 100 m/s left to go. It seems to always be the second crew of 3 that sighs and goes to rescue them.

My wife keeps trying to explain to me that, in fact, I am all of the Kerbals.

I disagree vehemently.

Off to the couch!

Edited January 7, 2014 by James_Eh

[Clockwork13]

Pfft, my Kerbals are plain stupid. They have gotten themselves lost in space like 5 times so far.

[Specialist290]

I've got pretty well-defined personalities for the original three in my head:

• Jebediah is always the Fearless Leader, eternally calm, cool, and collected. He'll sometimes act like the semi-sociopathic screwball we all know and love when he's around "fresh meat" to keep them on their toes, but he knows when it's time to buckle down and get serious, too.
  
• Bill is Jebediah's "lancer," always there to critique Jeb's plans for things that might go wrong. He and Jeb make a big show of not getting along, but they both have an great deal of respect for one another (especially since Bill is one of the few kerbonauts who will tell Jebediah he's wrong to his face and not mince words about it). He also plays the "good cop" to Jebediah's "wacky cop" around new pilots, although he can get a bit grumpy when the newbie Just Doesn't Get It.
  
• Bob is sort of the Quiet One, as well as the group's designated scientific expert. He doesn't like it when Jebediah and Bill argue and largely prefers to be left alone with his experiments. He also gets motion-sick rather easily. That said, he opens up when he's talking about something he's passionate about... at which point the issue becomes getting him to shut up before he bores everyone to death about minutiae that few other than him truly understand or care about.
  

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Of course they have Personalities....

But Bob's only interested seems to be screwing up!

[James_Eh]

...about minutiae...

Nuts. I should have spent a few seconds worrying about minutiae prior to thundering my landing craft into a Kerbin sea due to a horrible lack of fuel in the outboard jets of the lander. RCS will not save you from a 2000 m/s blunder.

(bad KSP night, coupled with guilt because I really should be outside shoveling or something)

Edited January 7, 2014 by Specialist290
Merging sequential posts

[Scotius]

In every batch of KSP recruits i get the "Enthusiast" that will bounce with childlike glee when in space - which i find very adorable. And always there is a "Scaredy-cat" - which will freak out everytime his rocket does anything. Which i find amusing. And always i get at least one "Stone-cold pro" (except Jeb of course) - cool, calm and collected all the time - which is reassuring. Those tend to get promoted to Mission Commanders off the bat.

[I_Killed_Jeb]

I have gotten attached to a certain Matrick Kerman who ends up test piloting all of my SPH creations, most of which are terrible. I have decided he has the personality and badassness of Yuri Gagarin and all the early astronauts rolled into one

[Specialist290]

In every batch of KSP recruits i get the "Enthusiast" that will bounce with childlike glee when in space - which i find very adorable.

Agreed. There's something endearing about the way they'll gaze at their surroundings with the biggest, goofiest grins on their faces

[Javster]

Seedos Kerman was one from my old save. He was a great pilot.

[Ithicatic]

I just registered just so I could reply to this thread ;-)

In every batch of KSP recruits i get the "Enthusiast" that will bounce with childlike glee when in space - which i find very adorable.

I make sure to always send those kind of recruits on the most dangerous, Jeb-worthy missions. Since I have perma-death on they... tend not to last more than one mission. I've started resurrecting Jeb because I missed having a Kerbal grinning madly during insane maneuvers.

[Thomas988]

These are some of the biggest guys in my sandbox save.

Jebediah: the hero of the space program. Does pretty much everything, goes pretty much everywhere.

Bill and Bob: You could call them "Mini-Jebs". They tend to hang out on moons a lot.

Seekin, Gerrrim and Kelrie: commonly found on most missions, experienced in a little bit of everything.

[Commissioner Tadpole]

Jebediah is, well, a daredevil.

Bill is often grumpy but is wise.

Bob is easily scared and not too bright.

Mitkin is sort of a 70's guy.

Mallan is an easily frustrated guy.

Archie is a coward and shy. (And he's my Kerbal reincarnation )

Anmy is not only courageous, but she is wise as well.

Camke is the annoying guy who horns in everything.

Edited January 11, 2014 by Commissioner Tadpole

[Guest]

The roster of my latest career game:

Jebediah Kerman:

One of the founders. Fearless, brave, and often insane. Having survived inumerous flights and endured the most dangerous journeys, Jeb is THE HERO of the space program. A year aboard the station has made him much calmer, however.

Bill Kerman:

Also one of the founders, Bill is highly technical. He is often skeptical about wether a craft will work or not. Known by fellow staff as a stick-in-the-mud, he may be a buzzkill, but he is important to the success of complicated missions.

Bob Kerman:

One of the founders, Bob is that cheerful guy who barely knows what he's doing but is always happy. Bob maintains his high spirit and optimism through even the most dire of situations.

Kirk Kerman:

A veteran pilot, Kirk is a mediocre kerbonaut. He's not very smart or brave, and relies mostly on luck and prayers rather than actually controlling the ship for survival.

Gregor Kerman: Ol' Greg, as the staff calls him, Gregor is known for being a test pilot. His bravery (or stupidity) usually ensures him the honor of first piloting a craft. He is currently in the hospital, for no known reason. (not our fault, of course).

These five were the first of the space program. Personalities are made up, of course.

[ArmchairGravy]

I have a soft spot for "Screaming" Bob Kerman.

[InterCity]

Jeb has BadS enabled, i can call that a personality

[Duke23]

Jeb is "dude in charge" and although a bit insane he is very good at what he does and always takes the lead. A risk taker that can actually pull it off. Almost never on solid ground, he is usually found piloting a large transfer ship or other high profile missions or hanging out at the station waiting on a bigger and better ship to be built. He does like to test new designs but he does not however go on my "I wonder if this will actually fly" missions. Recently piloted my newest and best transfer ship to Duna to rescue Bill and ran out of fuel while trying to rendezvous with my orbital station on the return, used RCS to complete rendezvous and docking.

Bill and Bob are the "normal" ones and are usually found on routine missions close to home but are considered experienced and reliable. Bob has been on my orbital station for quite a while and is in charge of its operation at the moment, while Bill tends to randomly sneak into dangerous missions without anyone noticing until it's too late to turn around (One-way trip to Duna, for example)

Tomrod is a brave soul and has piloted several risky rescue missions or just plain untested ships or both, but is sometimes a little braindead. Once performed a successful rescue mission then absent mindedly almost got himself stuck in Kerbol orbit because he wanted to take a "detour." Currently on hiatus at the Mun Outpost after helping Kirbus to assemble it.

Kirbus is a darn good pilot, a bit cocky and and very lucky. Usually found pushing the structural limits of a Skycrane somewhere. Has survived a couple nasty crashes and will try anything once, even if he has to abort the payload into the dirt to avoid getting himself killed. Recently was in charge of putting most of my Mun base on the surface; crash landed one Skycrane killing Kurt in the process and almost crashed the replacement he was sent (both due to engineering oversights on the payload).

Kurt is a pretty chill guy. Willing to go on the "dangerous missions" but is careful and doesn't really take risks. First Kerbal to orbit the Mun. He was supposed to touch down and return but when fuel got low he decided not to do either, and instead parked himself in the best orbit possible for rescue. Recently killed in a tragic Mun accident (but has since resurrected himself).

Geneton is the rookie pilot and alternates between overly cocky and nervous. Tends to do dumb things against his superiors' advice while arguing that its the "better way" or get himself into sticky situations but luckily hasn't crashed anything yet. Recently piloted the rescue lander at Duna and was the first Kerbal to touch down on Ike.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Duke23

[Silverchain]

Mine don't have much in the way of personality, and because the adulation surrounding them annoys me I have deliberately kept Jeb and Bill locked up in a Science Lab orbiting the Mun for practically the whole duration of my current game while Bob has been sat on a space station in LKO. If I get a Kerbal with a name I like I make sure to keep giving them flights, but Kerbals with crap names tend to get left sat in a rover or stuffed into a hitchhiker module.

[Guest]

Jeb is the first guy to sign up, the leader, and not a psychopath. He's always smiling because he's an adrenaline junkie.

Bill is THAT GUY who is always criticizing Jeb's more dangerous tactics. He is also extremely fearful of fire, propulsion, high-g, Jeb, rockets, being any more than 10 feet off the ground, et cetera.

Bob is just that other guy who sits silently in his corner and follows his orders.

Phillong is a mix between Jeb and Bob.

[Lazro]

Jeb: An early hero of the space program. In his prime, he was a daredevil, riding three SRBs and a liquid rocket into orbit regardless of his face being pushed into his skull, and being the first kerb on the Mun doesn't hurt his resume either. Retired, but ever so often manages to sneak into a launch. Which nobody really minds.

Bill: Another early hero. A level-headed engineer, he got his legendary reputation by fashioning a radio out of spare parts lying around the capsule once the on-board one failed. He also pioneered the "get out and push" technique. Now, as a head designer, he has designed the Soy-udz Capsule and the to-be-launched Project Mirror Eve flyby mission.

Bob: The Michael Collins to the Orange-suited trio. A shy, easily frightened geologist, he nevertheless managed to pass the psychology tests and landed a couple Mun Missions. He currently is retired in Kerbin City.

That's all for now, I think.