Don't you just hate it when you make a station and forget to fill it in with crew?

[Vane]

I for one hate it when i send a station into space and i forget to fill it up with kerbals... I don't notice until i'm in space and i'm like, Come on really!

Is there like a setting where ksp will fill in your rocket/stations up automatically?

But yeah don't you?

[CalculusWarrior]

I actually prefer sending up stations empty, then bringing kerbals to it later. In my mind, when the modules are brought up to orbit, they are 'locked down' and not really accessible to crew.

[FenrirWolf]

If anything I hate it when I'm intentionally launching a 3-man pod with only 1 crewmember, and half the times I need to revert the flight the game suddenly fills the 2 empty slots.

[internerd]

If anything I hate it when I'm intentionally launching a 3-man pod with only 1 crewmember, and half the times I need to revert the flight the game suddenly fills the 2 empty slots.

Or it's always Jeb... Sometimes i don't want a total baddass kerbonaut.

[Pipcard]

All space station modules IRL were launched without people being inside those modules during launch.

(so that the spacecraft that brought the crew up can be used as an escape pod during an emergency, I guess)

Edited April 2, 2014 by Pipcard

[merendel]

I normaly send my station habitation modules up unmaned, partly because they have a less than ideal track record for makeing it into orbit the first try. So I send em up, do whatever asembly and then send up the Krew pod 32k.

Stick that thing on a rocket and I can fling up to 32 kerbals into orbit in a single go. I cant remember what mod adds those, probably either B9 or Firespiter but those are soposed to be airplane passenger modules. 2 kerbals per section.

[samstarman5]

Command and Pilot Modules I may have manned during the launch, but Hitchhiker and Science Modules will be empty.

[spikeyhat09]

well seeing as from now on 100% of my stations will consist of many modules hooked into a central class E asteroid...

[lammatt]

how do you fly it if you dont have a crew?

you have a probe head on it?

if so, you still have control of the thing, that's nothing wrong with it. just fly another ship to get the people there.

if not, how do you get it into space to begin with? are you a wizard?lol

[John Crichton]

I almost always assemble stations and large motherships without Kerbals until it's all set up...and then use an antimatter SSTO (hilariously quick!) to man those stations/ships in orbit.

Too many historic Kerbal slaughters make me hesitant to man stuff that needs to be assembled still.

[Seret]

I actually prefer sending up stations empty, then bringing kerbals to it later.

Me too. It's safer that way, and I always like to run a full test of the escape system before I send up the boys.

Tbh a lot of my stations are unmanned anyway, since they're fuel depots. The only time I have fuel and bodies in the same structure is if I've attached the science lab to make a one-stop refuel and transmit shop for science landers.

[Random Tank]

Most of my stations are simple refuellers; because, apart from aesthetics, there is hardly any point having any other stations... So I usually use probe stations, which makes crew not a problem for me! But I sympathise with the problem; a couple of my SSTO shuttles ending up with only the pilot is.... Really annoying!

[Frank_G]

I tested an Eve ascension vehicle on kerbin a few days ago... It had crew, but on re-entry i noticed, that it had all for an orbital rendezvous, but no parachutes... If i had forgotten to crew it, it would have been less catastrophic... So it isnt that bad, to forget the crew, especially in early design states...

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Because my spacestations have no Launch escape Systems, I bring the Crew up seperately.

Permadeath makes you think differnt

[Pecan]

Command pods are filled automatically most of the time, even when not intended - as has been noted. It should only be hitchikers and labs that aren't.

The best way to ensure you have the crew you want and only them is to launch from the space centre screen, not the VAB/SPH. That is, click on the launch-pad or runway as appropriate, select your craft from the menu and place exactly the right Kerbals for the job in exactly the module you want them.

[Armchair Rocket Scientist]

I for one hate it when i send a station into space and i forget to fill it up with kerbals... I don't notice until i'm in space and i'm like, Come on really!

Is there like a setting where ksp will fill in your rocket/stations up automatically?

But yeah don't you?

I launch space stations unmanned anyway for roleplay reasons.

First of all, I assume that space stations don't have parachutes, LESes, or heat shields. They may not even have seat belts. If something goes wrong on launch, the crew are screwed.

For that matter, what if the brand new station has a sudden problem in orbit, such as a piece of debris causing a leak, or a critical life support system breaking? For example, if Skylab had been launched with crew, they would have died due to the lack of a sunshade: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_2

"Don't worry", you say, "I have a rescue vehicle lined up." Well, what if the launch of the rescue vehicle is delayed due to bad weather (this happens all the time IRL).

[cantab]

Yeah, I'm another who more often has the opposite problem of Kerbals putting themselves in the pod for what's meant to be an unmanned test. I took to clicking EVA on each and having them fall to the ground and walk away, while mentally shouting "OUT! OUT! OUT!" to them. Then one time one managed to clobber a solar panel on the way down - a retracted shielded panel, mind you

[katateochi]

Yeah I also send most modules up as unmanned craft and I suffer the same problem of over eager Kerbals stowing away on them. One of the reasons I still use crew manifest as its a little more dignified than booting them out of the door. Assembly crew come up in an Orion style craft (it was meant to be a DragonX but ended up looking more like Orion!) and I usually send the rest up in an SSTO.

It's a pity that a craft's crew configurations are not saved when you save the craft. Pods should have a variable for populate_on_launch or something like that.

[LethalDose]

Yeah, I do the same as most posts here: I usually launch stations unassembled under a fairing with just a probe core (or two depending on the design and lifter) for guidance, and bring kerbals up later.

I find stations are useful for refueling, static rendezvous locations for crew/data transfers, and as science stations with lab modules (mainly around Minmus, but I want to try it around Jool). I've also used stations in LKO for studying kerbal survival during long term space expeditions (i.e. getting a feel for TAC-LS recycling units).

[Legendary Emu]

I, for one, fill up the station after assembly. But I hate it when I want to send up a specific crew, mess up the launch, revert to VAB to add more struts, and there's the stupidest and uncourageousest Kerbals in the space program stuck in mah ship.