Crew report stacking

[NoMrBond]

Please consider allowing crew reports to 'stack' in a command pod provided they are from different situations

It seems incongruous that you can EVA a Kerbal to collect (and subsequently store) any number of (different) reports from outside, including experiment retrievals, but only store one crew report

If the report is 'storable', it seems like it should be stackable like any other datum, and not be an exception to the behaviour of 'data' in-game

[Mitchz95]

I would like to see this as well.

[Daveroski]

The crew report is only really valid as data as soon as it is made and transmitted.

It is a report on what is happening right now.

If you are making a second report then the first has already lost much of its value.

Would you send a kerbal into space without the means to communicate? Of course not.

And so you would like him to report at significant times during the mission.

Putting off a report until later would never do.

[Superfluous J]

It makes no sense that you can transmit 10 reports back for 10 science each, but if you don't transmit you can only get one of those reports. As long as they're from different biomes you can store ANY NUMBER of ANY EXPERIMENT (including EVA reports, which are essentially crew reports from a space suit instead of a space ship) with one odd exception: Crew Reports.

I guess Kerbals don't have pencils and paper in their capsules. Only in their suits. And when they're buckled in they can't reach them.

[Kasuha]

You can get EVA, collect data from the capsule, enter, and the crew report will be stored into the stored data folder. Any number of crew reports can be held in a capsule this way.

[JumpsterG]

You can get EVA, collect data from the capsule, enter, and the crew report will be stored into the stored data folder. Any number of crew reports can be held in a capsule this way.

As noted, this is possible in the game currently with a little fidangle. Removing that extra busy work of exit pod/grab science/reenter pod would be nice, though.

What could be asked for is that all experiments immediately place their results in the command pod "data folder" after being run (automatically stacking inside as a side effect) rather than keeping them in the part that generated them. This gets complicated, though, since a vessel with only a probe core could not carry data, and vessels with multiple command pods would need a way to select which pod gets the data. It spoils the fun of having a kerbal interact with the science parts to move data around but removes some of the busy work, so... Neutral change, I think.

I don't know if it's a great suggestion, but I think it's the next logical step to thinking out a solution to the problem laid out in the original post. Solves the problem and makes more aspects of science collection (potentially) easier to manage.

[LethalDose]

You can get EVA, collect data from the capsule, enter, and the crew report will be stored into the stored data folder. Any number of crew reports can be held in a capsule this way.

I believe the OP is requesting a solution to a problem (I agree that this is a problem).

What you posted is a work-around for the problem. It is not a solution.

[NoMrBond]

The crew report is only really valid as data as soon as it is made and transmitted.

It is a report on what is happening right now.

If you are making a second report then the first has already lost much of its value.

Would you send a kerbal into space without the means to communicate? Of course not.

And so you would like him to report at significant times during the mission.

Putting off a report until later would never do.

That is not even representative of how it currently works, a Crew Report can be made and stored at any point, then "handed in" when you recover the vessel, even if you made that report on the launchpad then did a return trip to Eeloo after. Nor are the crew reports things like 'after 10 minutes', 'after an hour', 'after a day', 'after a week', they're situational, a crew report from the surface of Ike doesn't become invalid because you later make a report from the surface of Duna, or any sequence of situations.

That might work if a crew report could never be stored (which would be fine too, no different a situational condition than barometer requiring atmosphere etc), representing a conversation between the capsule and mission control, requiring a live connection to mission control to even make.

Another option would be to make crew reports an automatic running total which accumulates during the mission as the capsule travels, the Kerbals are always making interesting notes (for any non-zero measure) instead of requiring constant micromanagement, and when you get back your 'crew report' is compiled from all the crews experiences

[JadedStoner]

Let's take this a step further and make Crew Reports part of a Mission Log. This could be the foundation for all the stats monkeys like myself who want to see when/where/how high Jeb was on his last go round. I imagine something like this:

Kerdate 4525.2 - Commander Jeb, personal log. KSP Launchpad: Bill forgot to pack the snacks again. Countdown holding at T-4:20 while the ground crew brings snacky cakes.

Kerdate 4525.9 - Commander Jeb, personal log. Low Kerbin Orbit: Wow... The sun just broke over the horizon, I wept. Bob had these inspirational words, "Hey Jeb, check out this selfie I took with Kerbin!"

Kerdate 4526.4 - Commander Jeb, personal log. 60km east of KSC, splashdown: Damn, reentry was AWESOME!!!! SPAM in a can indeed! See you back at KSC!

The game could 'geotag' locations and events like launch, reentry, descent, landing. I want my kerbalnauts earning flight badges for their uniforms!

[JimmyAgent007]

Let's take this a step further and make Crew Reports part of a Mission Log. This could be the foundation for all the stats monkeys like myself who want to see when/where/how high Jeb was on his last go round. I imagine something like this:

Kerdate 4525.2 - Commander Jeb, personal log. KSP Launchpad: Bill forgot to pack the snacks again. Countdown holding at T-4:20 while the ground crew brings snacky cakes.

Kerdate 4525.9 - Commander Jeb, personal log. Low Kerbin Orbit: Wow... The sun just broke over the horizon, I wept. Bob had these inspirational words, "Hey Jeb, check out this selfie I took with Kerbin!"

Kerdate 4526.4 - Commander Jeb, personal log. 60km east of KSC, splashdown: Damn, reentry was AWESOME!!!! SPAM in a can indeed! See you back at KSC!

The game could 'geotag' locations and events like launch, reentry, descent, landing. I want my kerbalnauts earning flight badges for their uniforms!

All of this!

[Kasuha]

I believe the OP is requesting a solution to a problem (I agree that this is a problem).

What you posted is a work-around for the problem. It is not a solution.

If you want to keep multiple measurements from your thermometer, you do exactly the same - you go EVA, collect data from the instrument, and store it in the capsule. It does not make much sense that you need to go EVA to collect data from the capsule, but I don't think it is a problem. It just works the same way as other scientific instruments.

[Superfluous J]

If you want to keep multiple measurements from your thermometer, you do exactly the same - you go EVA, collect data from the instrument, and store it in the capsule. It does not make much sense that you need to go EVA to collect data from the capsule, but I don't think it is a problem. It just works the same way as other scientific instruments.

Actually that's what I think the main problem is, the clunky must-go-eva thing. You don't have to go EVA to scrub the goo containers. There should be a right click option on a (manned only?) capsule to "collect all experiments," and one on EVA'd Kerbals as well to collect all the experiments within, say, 5 meters of them.

And Crew Reports should just go into the "collected" bin as soon as you opt to not transmit them.

[Kasuha]

And Crew Reports should just go into the "collected" bin as soon as you opt to not transmit them.

The problem is that the "collected" bin is tied to a capsule. And you can have multiple capsules on your ship. You'd need means to select the storage capsule and you'd need means to transfer it between capsules and even between different ships anyway. EVA is not very comfortable but it solves these problems.

But it's true that a capsule could have a function "store data from all experiments" and it would collect and store both the thermometer data and the crew report. Except people would still complain the crew report is not stored automatically while they want to keep the temperature measurement on the thermometer.

[Superfluous J]

And Crew Reports should just go into the "collected" bin as soon as you opt to not transmit them.

The problem is that the "collected" bin is tied to a capsule. And you can have multiple capsules on your ship.

How is this a problem? Crew reports are also tied to a capsule. You have 18 capsules on your ship. Your do a crew report in capsule 12 and opt not to send it. It gets stored in capsule 12's "collected" bin in exactly the same way as if you went EVA, took the report, and then stored it.

You'd need means to select the storage capsule and you'd need means to transfer it between capsules and even between different ships anyway. EVA is not very comfortable but it solves these problems.

Ah, I think I see the problem. You think I want to REMOVE the option for Kerbals to do this stuff EVA. No. That should be a nice, reliable fallback that always works for when you want to do something unconventional (note: I don't mean "wrong" or "dumb" here, just uncommon and impossible to generalize in code beforehand) like transfer a crew report from one capsule to another, same ship or not.

Except people would still complain the crew report is not stored automatically while they want to keep the temperature measurement on the thermometer.

People will complain no matter what they do But I still think that (within reason) the more options available to reduce redundant clicking and juggling of Kerbals, capsules, and experiments around will be beneficial. It's fine to take the temperature data from the thermometer and store it in the capsule, it's another to do it in a dozen biomes on all 5 pieces of science equipment plus crew reports.

I've considered strongly putting a Kerbal in a chair on the side of my rocket within reach of all experiments and the capsule, simply for the purpose of collecting experiments and storing them.

[allmappedout]

That is not even representative of how it currently works, a Crew Report can be made and stored at any point, then "handed in" when you recover the vessel, even if you made that report on the launchpad then did a return trip to Eeloo after. Nor are the crew reports things like 'after 10 minutes', 'after an hour', 'after a day', 'after a week', they're situational, a crew report from the surface of Ike doesn't become invalid because you later make a report from the surface of Duna, or any sequence of situations.

That might work if a crew report could never be stored (which would be fine too, no different a situational condition than barometer requiring atmosphere etc), representing a conversation between the capsule and mission control, requiring a live connection to mission control to even make.

Another option would be to make crew reports an automatic running total which accumulates during the mission as the capsule travels, the Kerbals are always making interesting notes (for any non-zero measure) instead of requiring constant micromanagement, and when you get back your 'crew report' is compiled from all the crews experiences

You know, this is actually a pretty good idea, although instead of an accumulation, simply have it so that whenever a kerbal's situation changes (ie: low orbit, high orbit, SOI change, landed), a crew report is automatically generated.

[NoMrBond]

You know, this is actually a pretty good idea, although instead of an accumulation, simply have it so that whenever a kerbal's situation changes (ie: low orbit, high orbit, SOI change, landed), a crew report is automatically generated.

Yep, that's what I meant by accumulating, that the crew report would just automatically build up over the course of the mission as the capsule transitioned through the various situations.

If it remained 100% transmissible you could review and choose to transmit at any time -or- you could treat it like other science (again, for consistency) and have transmission loss (we talked to mission control about it), science lab processed transmission (we added in all the measures, metrics and pictures etc) and recovery amounts (full debrief back at KSC).

[JadedStoner]

All of this!

Thanks man! I think some roleplaying aspects would be great. I mean, who didn't want to be stationed at the helm of the Enterprise-D, sitting next to Ensign Buxom or Ensign Ethnic?