Please make crew changes save with the craft file

[AndreyATGB]

I'm sick of wanting to launch an empty ship with a command pod only to realize at like the circularization burn the game automatically put a kerbal in it. The problem is that if I revert to VAB, remove the guy and launch then revert again, it defaults to putting someone in the pod again. I would love if it would remember my choices, for example:

-empty command pods

-science labs with crew

Right now, command pods get automatically filled and labs are empty, regardless what changes I make and save the craft file.

[lajoswinkler]

Ditto. Every time you do something, they're back.

[vexx32]

I think that perhaps the most elegant solution would be to allow this to be modified with tweakables -- set each command pod or crewable part to be filled with a configurable number of crew for launch, the exact number of crew in each crewable part defined by the tweakable setting.

[Savage117]

I very much agree to this, im trying an Iron Man approach to the game and any Kerbal I kill needs to stay dead, but Jeb, Bob, and Bill keep cloning and re-spawning. So I remove them from the craft before launch, but they hop right back in every time I need to go back to the VAB to tweak something, its really annoying. They should only hop into a craft if the previous saved pilot has died or is in another ship, or make the pod/lab/habitat always empty and pop up the pilot selection before each launch, add a button to select "unmanned" and a check box to choose if you want the pop up or not.

Edit: Or use the tweakables like Vexx32 said in his ninja post above.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Savage117

[Atoning Unifex]

+1, and further adding a 'control from here' tweakable to allow choosing the primary pod on a multiple pod vessel.

[sal_vager]

I'm nearly certain this is actually going to be added to KSP, it just didn't make it into 0.23

[Dunbaratu]

One potential problem I see with this is that the crew list that is saved in an active vessel is not just a list of 'which parts are populated' but also "whom are they populated by". It doesn't just say "this capsule has two Kerbals". It says "Seat 1 of this capsule has Kerbal ID #1 in it." (Which when you look it up is a Kerbal called "Jebadiah Kerman".) Then it says "Seat 2 of this capsule has Kerbal ID #2 in it." (Which when you look it up is a Kerbal called "Bill Kerman".)

If you save that with the craft file, then you are saying "these are the people whom this craft is supposed to be flown by", which brings up the question of what should the game do if those named Kerbals aren't available when you launch.

It may sound like a trivial problem because you can just say "well populate them with someone else then", but remember that one future plan the KSP devs announced is to keep track of astronaut experience. It could start to become quite relevant whom is flying the mission.

[vexx32]

If it matters too much exactly who is flying, then you'll want to be double checking the crew list anyway, to make sure you have the right pilots in. I don't think that'll be too much of a concern, especially when said craft could be one of ten attempts going up, each with different crew.

[Dunbaratu]

If it matters too much exactly who is flying, then you'll want to be double checking the crew list anyway, to make sure you have the right pilots in. I don't think that'll be too much of a concern, especially when said craft could be one of ten attempts going up, each with different crew.

But the point you missed I think is that the format for the saved information that exists in the game right now isn't "please put somebody in this seat".

The saved information is formatted in a way that really means "This seat contains Jebadiah Kerman".

That means that you cannot remember the astronauts in the craft file the same way you remember them in active flights, and a request to "please save the way I populated these astronauts in the craft file." isn't as simple as it seems on the surface.

If the seat information is stored in the craft file merely by copying exactly what the player did when populating the vessel, then that would mean if I design "My Mun Rocket, Mark 1" in the VAB, drag Jeb into its command seat, and then launch it, then go back to the VAB, load "My Mun Rocket, Mark 1" again and launch it a second instance of it, then I have just told the game to make Jeb co-locate and exist in two different vessels at the same time. Jeb's pretty badass, but he's not THAT badass.

This is why the game cannot merely copy into the craft file what it was that you did when populating the vessel.

Craft files are templates for a vessel that can be instantiated into existence multiple times, while a vessel is just a single live instance of a craft. That difference is very relevant here because the game only "knows" how to populate specific named astronauts into specific vessel instances. That's the only UI that currently exists.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Steven Mading

[Kasuha]

Saving who's sitting where does not make much sense. The next time I load the craft that Kerbal may be on a mission or dead. But saving the information which seats should be occupied on each launch is a very good idea IMO.

I think that could be implemented using tweakables - right-click on the module and you get either a button for each seat or a slider allowing you to set up number of crew members to occupy it from 0 to max capacity.

And I still think the crew button which allows me to set up the crew before the launch should be moved next to Launch button. Because there is no point in saving that, but I may want to do that before each launch.

[John FX]

I agree with the OP. It`s really frustrating and tiring to have to redo crew settings each launch.

I see it more as a `preferred pilot` setting rather than a hard coded kerbal though. Obviously this would allow `no pilot` as an option.

Allocating the crew is part of the process of setting up your mission and should be with the parts and action group icons. The order should be parts, action groups, then crew. The icons on the other side are file system, exit and exit with launch. Crew does not belong there.

If you want jeb, bob and bill to be the pilots but they are flying a mission then any busy/dead pilots just get replaced using the current system, or if experience is a feature at that point, your most experienced or inexperienced (at your choice through a toggle setting) pilot would be the replacement. You could even have an `alternative pilot/crew` setting if you want. This could be done through the current crew screen with minor adjustments.

This would allow much more flexibility than simply setting how many crew members are on board.

[JimmyAgent007]

Could this be fixed partially by disabling the respawn? Also, how would you go about doing that? An option in the game would be nice but a file tweak could work just as well.

It would be nice though if the game remembered i wanted alter the crew in the pods. The only ideas i can think of have been suggested already

[AndreyATGB]

I understand the issue of being unable to put the same Kerbals in the same seats but when I just revert to VAB and launch again there is no reason at all the changes to crew shouldn't stick. As for saving in the actual craft file, an option to simply populate selected parts with any kerbal is more than enough, this way I can have a rescue craft with a pod that I don't have to remember to remove the kerbal from every time I use it.

[Kasuha]

But they don't change if you just revert to VAB and then go to launch again.

They get reset only when you change something on your ship. Something anything. Even staging change resets the crew.

Yes, there could be some more effort to keep the crew you set up. But these are two different things - one is to keep exactly the crew you did set up (at least as long as you did not remove modules they were occupying), and the other is ability to save some crew setup together with the ship.

Both would be nice to have. Either would be good.

Edited January 16, 2014 by Kasuha

[thereaverofdarkness]

I think the craft file should save the number of kerbals in each command pod or crew module, while the save point you go back to when you revert to the SPH or VAB should have saved exactly which kerbals were where.

[Capt Snuggler]

What about also showing little Kerbal icons next to the Command pod(s) in the staging list to indicate which pods have occupants?

[ravener]

how about a folder in the atronaut complex called "on leave" where you can put kerbals you dont want in your rockets?