Kerbal AI (not autopilot)

[SergeantBlueforce]

I'm aware that people have already suggested that Kerbals should be able to fly craft by themselves, but this is not what I'm suggesting.

What I'm suggesting is that that EVA Kerbals should have some sort of AI; for example, instead of just standing around gawping at nothing, EVA Kerbals should walk around, chat with other Kerbals (via radio, of course) and interact with their environment.

Even though this may not have any real effect on gameplay (as the Kerbals won't actually affect anything) I think it's better than all Kerbals being content with standing in the same place and staring at a wall, forever.

[Kasuha]

I remember this being suggested some time ago and I think they should not walk around (at least not into places from which they couldn't return back) but there's a lot of other idle actions they could do instead.

Maybe when the game is feature complete, devs will get over to implementing such details as well.

[Tex]

I'm with Kashua on this. It's definitely not the first, and will not be the last, thread about idle Kerbals. In the same way, I would also like to see some idle animations, but it's something I believe I can wait for.

[Dunbaratu]

More idle AI would be nice, just so long as you're always careful to never create the situation where the player has to babysit the Kerbals to keep the idle AI from making them do something detrimental. Not having an AI is better than an AI that causes you to "lose" if you don't actively keep overriding what it's doing. You don't want to turn this into The Sims, Kerbal edition, where you have to slap your Kerbals around because they forgot to sleep, or forgot to go to work, or forgot where the bathroom was and started peeing on the floor (messy when in freefall), or tried to pilot themselves in EVA and failed at it and are now drifting away from the ship.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Steven Mading

[SlimeCrusher]

Yea, idle animations, awesome, but auto-moving Kerbals would be fun, but just to a point, it would just mess up everything, imagine carefully putting 10 kerbals into a line, and then noticing they're wanting to walk around in a messy way...

Now, this got me thinking, maybe on a future update they can add animations to EVA reports, surface samples and maybe interacting with other things, as for example removing science from an experiment (An easy "grab and put in space-pocket" animation can work on this) and repairing wheels (Same animation as grabbing science, but reversed?). But i doubt we'll be seeing this in near future updates, maybe in 1.0.0, but in the meantime is better to focus on getting the game finished

[shizophrenic]

i like the idea of more animations.

kerbals don't doing something ...uhmm.. errm silly i can't quite imagine ... i remember a video footage from the mun ... about repairing a wheel...

[SergeantBlueforce]

...it would just mess up everything, imagine carefully putting 10 kerbals into a line, and then noticing they're wanting to walk around in a messy way...

Solution: you have to allow your Kerbals to do what they want.

[KerbMav]

.

Seeing your username this statement puzzles me!

I am all for idle animations, stationary that is!

Looking around, pointing at the sky, moving handheld gizzmos around, flipping buttons on their suits ...

[Grover]

I always imagned mysef having to 'babysit' the little green guys, like stopping them wandering off too far or playing with the landing gear of the craft (it would be a shame if a daft kerbal retracted one of the legs and toppled the craft by accident ), perhaps the "stupidity" attribute could relate to how often they do something stupid (like breaking something) or how far they wander before they realise they should turn back, or even how much flailing there is when they go on an orbital EVA

Maybe the kerbals could be strictly given tasks rather than controlled, so you give them a command to "go there" or "do science stuff", and depending on their stupidity they may take a while or mess it up, making for some need for either spending more on hiring clever kerbals or funding rescue missions because bill broke the ship again (ok, to be fair, how could he have known that moon rocks dont belong in the fuel tank and engine exhaust?)

[r4pt0r]

I always imagned mysef having to 'babysit' the little green guys, like stopping them wandering off too far or playing with the landing gear of the craft (it would be a shame if a daft kerbal retracted one of the legs and toppled the craft by accident ), perhaps the "stupidity" attribute could relate to how often they do something stupid (like breaking something) or how far they wander before they realise they should turn back, or even how much flailing there is when they go on an orbital EVA

Maybe the kerbals could be strictly given tasks rather than controlled, so you give them a command to "go there" or "do science stuff", and depending on their stupidity they may take a while or mess it up, making for some need for either spending more on hiring clever kerbals or funding rescue missions because bill broke the ship again (ok, to be fair, how could he have known that moon rocks dont belong in the fuel tank and engine exhaust?)

if a kerbal ever broke or toppled one of my ships because of some AI thing, i would uninstall. this is the worst idea ive ever read on the forums here. not trying to attack you personally lol, but no. please no.

[Grover]

Duplicate post, sorry... stupid phone

[Grover]

if a kerbal ever broke or toppled one of my ships because of some AI thing, i would uninstall. this is the worst idea ive ever read on the forums here. not trying to attack you personally lol, but no. please no.

I understand why you wouldnt like it, but i rarely find myself stuck anywhere now that ive learned how to land safe and check dv before any commitment, most veteran players are the same, with the comical stupidity of kerbals we can finally have a legit reason to launch a rescue mission rather than staging one.

I believe its only an annoyance if you want it to be, for me however, its just another challenge. I will make these kerbals conquer the solar system even if i have to get the super-glue out to stop them misbehaving

[Xaelath]

This would be great.

[Tortoise]

Then my kerbal would fall off my crane

[SergeantBlueforce]

Alright, even if Kerbals moving by themselves is not a good idea, I still want SOMETHING that stops them seeming like mindless automatons, incapable of doing anything without direct input.

[Javster]

Kerbals should have some basic common sense, no matter how stupid. They shouldn't walk off ships, or large cliffs. Low-bravery/low-stupidity Kerbals might stay a bit away from the edge, while stupid/brave Kerbals will walk up to the edge and look down.

[ScandinavianMapping]

Where is the download link?

 

[Fizzlebop Smith]

6 hours ago, ScandinavianMapping said:

Where is the download link?

 

The "I'm suggesting" verbiage of the OP suggests to me that this is an idea for a mod, rather than a mod already out.

Kerbal EVAl follower is a wonderful tool to bring life to the kerbals.

You can create way points. I like staging pictures with it and it's amazing for heavy parts in eva construction with KIS