What do I do with all these Asteroids?

[Kerbonautical]

So I returned yesterday to be pleasantly surprised with the arrival of the latest update of KSP. First off I really like the new parts as it allows me to build rockets that are aesthetically more similar to real life on a vanilla file. But now to the question.

I recently noticed a bunch of Asteroids all in close proximity of Kerbin, yet I actually have zero idea of what to do with them outside of landing and and capturing them, which is not looking like it's going to be easy due to them all being on rather unusual paths. The tracking station seems to be picking up any that are within a reasonable distance of Kerbin but no further, obviously these will eventually leave Kerbin at which point I figure they will no longer be tracked. So is there some way for me track these as they travel further into the system? I also read somewhere on this forum about the Asteroids have an orbit path inlcuding Ap and Pe, yet I have none of these readouts coming from them?

Any help here would be really appreciated as I'm having a bit of trouble understanding how to start with these floating rocks as I haven't followed this update much.

[Greenfire32]

these will eventually leave Kerbin at which point I figure they will no longer be tracked. So is there some way for me track these as they travel further into the system?

Click on the asteroid in the tracking station and then click the "Track" button next to where the abort/recover buttons are. Any asteroid that is being tracked will not despawn, allowing you to track it throughout the solar system.

[Pecan]

At the other extreme - don't track them and they'll just go away (and more will spawn). I think Squad/NASA have done a really good job in introducing these in a pretty non-intrusive way. Yes, there are many more of them on Kerbin-intercept than there should be, otherwise we'd have to wait (game) years to see one. Rather than live in perpetual fear of falling rocks though we can just choose to track the ones that interest us.

[TheScareCake!]

This screenshot i found in the steam community page may help you.

[vger]

Be careful not to feed them too much. They multiply like tribbles.

[HamHead]

Be careful not to feed them too much. They multiply like tribbles.

^this. Before I knew it, I was tracking well over a hundred. Really clogs up the map and makes you wonder how many there really are.

Anyone know of a cap on the number of tracked asteroids?

[problemecium]

I had an awesome YouTube link to put here... some dude was doing a documentary about uh... either monkeys or flamingos, and there was a part where there was a monkey surrounded by hundreds of flamingos with the narration "This monkey just wants to eat his banana but there's flamingos EVERYWHERE!".

So yeah. "I just want to go to space but there's asteroids everywhere" ROFL ROFL ROFL LOLZ

I'mma crawl into a hole and die of shame now.

[Superfluous J]

Anyone know of a cap on the number of tracked asteroids?

Infinity.

More practically, when your game slows down to a level where you can't play any more, or it crashes because you hit the memory limit.

[Sirrobert]

This screenshot i found in the steam community page may help you. http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/3316081228616017707/FFC1979108A605C7D16215B6A3D8F915B0627A59/1024x768.resizedimage

Well, I guess you just permanently changed ALL of my future space stations

I hope you're proud of yourself. This is going to cost me so much more work

Edited April 10, 2014 by Sirrobert

[Tery215]

If you get bored of them, then you can turn them into decorative rocks or trophies that crushed the KSC

(And the Kerbal's dreams)

[electronicfox]

You redirect them all in such a way, that they all end up on a collision course at the same time, in the same place. Then wait on ground where theyre expected to land...preferably with a lot of fuel tanks close by.

[Technical Ben]

Yep. What to do with all these. I just "stole" one, and think I upset them... they're attacking!

[Liowen]

Something that I think would be fun to do is eva a Kerbal somewhere on Kerbin and try to crush them with an asteroid, this would also give you a target to aim for in your map. Yes I know you could use a ship on the ground, but where is the fun in that?

[Mitchz95]

Can asteroids be "recovered" from the tracking station once they've been landed on Kerbin?

[NecroBones]

Can asteroids be "recovered" from the tracking station once they've been landed on Kerbin?

I haven't verified it, but I think they can if you still have a spacecraft (or even just a claw) attached to it. I think the answer is "no" if nothing is attached.

[SirJodelstein]

Here is another stunt to try with those space potatoes

[Mitchz95]

I haven't verified it, but I think they can if you still have a spacecraft (or even just a claw) attached to it. I think the answer is "no" if nothing is attached.

[GavinZac]

I just tried it. If you detach from the asteroid and then switch to it using the [ or ] key, you can click "Recover" after it lands.

Do you get the sample science, or do I need to send someone to pick it up :/

[Mitchz95]

Do you get the sample science, or do I need to send someone to pick it up :/

No, you have to take surface samples manually. There's no science gain when you recover the asteroid.

[GavinZac]

No, you have to take surface samples manually. There's no science gain when you recover the asteroid.

Gah. Seems a bit silly. Mod idea?

[Mitchz95]

Gah. Seems a bit silly. Mod idea?

They probably did that so people wouldn't exploit the system. Landing an asteroid on Kerbin is actually pretty easy, since they usually survive the impact just by being really tough. You're meant to send people up to it.