Wolowitz Kerman and his duties

[Janos1986]

I've been thinking...

Don't you feel like engineers are a bit useless as they are now?

I mean, they can repair legs, chutes and wheels, but should that really be it? If you're careful enough while landing the ship they're no use to the mission they're in.

IMHO I'd like them at least to have a perk as scientists do, maybe something like a funds boost on recovered parts after a flight proportional to their level, maxed at 100% value of course, or maybe the integration of something along the lines of a limited Kerbal Attachment System mod, in a way that only engineers can add, move around, replace or repair parts while flying and give the stock KSP EVAs a greater purpose.

What do you reckon about engineers?

Edited December 18, 2014 by Janos1986

[AcidSludge]

They really should have perk-like benefits. Something like, maybe, an ISP-"Boost"? Or Throttle to 110% for x seconds when an engineer is on board. 2% moar rocket power. Such things.

[Tw1]

They really should have perk-like benefits. Something like, maybe, an ISP-"Boost"? Or Throttle to 110% for x seconds when an engineer is on board. 2% moar rocket power. Such things.

Nope. We've had this discussion.

I'd like to see them offer TWR and delta V readouts, and things like that. That would be another good thing for an engineer to do.

[Luis]

I'd like to see them offer TWR and delta V readouts, and things like that. That would be another good thing for an engineer to do.

Now that is an excellant idea.

[liweih]

What about reducing overheating?

[Janos1986]

Since Jeb is now a green, googly-eyed SAS module, It seems fit for Bob to reinvent himself as a living Kerbal Engineer Redux interface. I like that.

I still think that the funds boost on recovery could be neat though, since the career became so hungry for money.

[Hannu]

What about reducing overheating?

This is very unrealistic advantage. Many players (including me) would not like that. SQUAD suggested that pilot skills would affect physical parameters, but community gave huge resistance.

I hope that SQUAD will include KAS or similar functionality, life support system or even some resource utilization. That kind of technical stuff would give engineers "natural" benefits over other astronauts. I hope also that developers of such mods take engineer astronauts into account, if it is possible.

Engineers could also have similar docking functionality than MechJeb's Smart ASS. On first level they could point ship to the target, second step would be ability to point prograde/retrograde relative velocity vector and most skilled could also keep their ship aligned to target port.

[monophonic]

AFAIK deep space refueling is still on the cards. There could be some role for engineers there. Maybe they could boost the filling rate some? Or they could be needed to set up the fuel scoops/drills/whatever. I don't have the details of whats to come obviously.

[Sirrobert]

I imagine they'd be highly needed when/if recources ever get somewhere.

And I agree, some deltaV readouts would be extremely usefull, and a perfect role for the engineer

[helaeon]

I think Engineers are going to be fairly valuable to modders shortly. I will be surprised if Roverdude does not take advantage of the Engineer tag for his bases and have those kerbals have special powers as far as those go. Possible that KAS will be going to Engineers having special abilities or parts only being able to be removed safely or attached by engineers.

[Sirrobert]

I imagine they'd be highly needed when/if recources ever get somewhere.

And I agree, some deltaV readouts would be extremely usefull, and a perfect role for the engineer

[Wallygator]

What about reducing overheating?

No. You should not be able to change the physical nature of a part.

[rdwulfe]

I highly support Engineers being able to do KAS related effects and giving TWR, DeltaV, and similar readouts.

[shadowfax]

Engineers are going to be valuable as you get farther into the game. You can land your rover as carefully as you want - eventually you're gonna blow a tire driving it around. Better to have the engineer fix it than launch a whole new rover.

Also, if your mission to Duna includes a lander that uses 'chutes, you're going to want to repack them so they can be used again when you return to Kerbin.

I'm not entirely sold on the 100% specialization idea, though. Especially in the early days of NASA, everybody had to be crosstrained to do everything. The guy who piloted the lunar lander also had to be trained in geological sample collection, and had to be able to fix things when they broke.

The mission specialist concept works fine when you have a 6 person shuttle or the ISS, but in the steps leading up to such things, your astronauts really need to be able to do it all. I think I'd prefer a system where you have training missions so that you can direct what skills your Kerbals learn. Spend enough time and/or money training him and Jeb can be expert in all 3 branches.

[Janos1986]

Which is why I'd like my engineers to do something more than repairing wheels.

It's a bit trivial for an advancement especially when confronted with the other 2 classes.

"Cool, I spent the last 2 years exploring the Mun, Minmus and Duna, now I can finally repair a wheel".

They could have thought at least something like

Level 0: Engineering computer with vessel info.

Level 1: Pack chutes, Complete engineering computer with orbital/surface/rendezvous data.

Level 2: Repair legs, wheels, foldable solar panels, foldable antennas

Level 3: Move/Add/Remove small parts on a flying ship + Recover funds boost by 5%

Level 4: Recover funds boost by 10%

Level 5: Recover funds boost by 25%

Is it too much?

Also, maybe even scientist deserve more attention, making them capable of cleaning one science module per mission for example.

Oh, the possibilities!

Edited December 18, 2014 by Janos1986

[dryer_lint]

DeltaV readouts sound like a great idea, engineers definitely need more stuff to do.

[Kegereneku]

I'll suggest Engineer to give access to more action (balancing fuel for example)

Anyway I don't have problem with them yet. I don't expect Engineers to be needed everywhere.

[kookoo_gr]

I like the concept of specialization of a Kerbal but i think it should be directed by the player and not be specified by the game when you hire a Kerbal. As someone said above the real life space program started with the astronauts being able to do everything. In KSP you should be able to select the path of your Kerbals after they level up to 1 star. At level 0 all Kerbals should be able to have basic SAS functionality aka hold heading and it should stay throughout a Kerbal's life, also it would be good if a Kerbal had a direction into a specialization eg. Kerbal X at level 0 is better at engineering etc. that way you can decide whether you are going to make him a pilot or an engineer or a scientist if you have shortage of personnel, but should you decide to make a prone pilot an engineer he should have a buff at his traits. Ah, also make it possible to be able to fire(sack) a Kerbal.

This will also give the player a reason to rotate their crew at missions, earn experience, have a variety of options during a mission and not use just one kerbal for all missions. This what i mean.

Right now i am playing career mode and the only one that gets to fly my missions is Jeb especially now that he is level 1 and can hold attitudes. Bill and Bob are just sitting in KSC doing nothing until i manage to unlock maneuver nodes and get to the Mun (i am playing at hard mode). If i feel like rotating my crew it will be only with another pilot Kerbal i have hired but Bill and Bob (and any other scientist/engineer i hire in the future) will remain at KSC and only the pilots will fly missions in combination with a strategy to convert reputation into science the only ones i need are pilots. Also it would be nice for contracts to require a Kerbal's specialization at a mission eg. test part X with an engineer at location Y, go to the Mun with a pilot and a scientist, do science and get back.

Finally give extra jobs for the scientist/engineer after an upgrade. The scientist should be able to clean experiments at some point, heck make him be able to clean an experiment once or twice at EVA and have unlimited use with the combination of a lab. Be able to recognize a biome or something in the map view. For the engineer i like what Janos1986 wrote

This will also give the astronaut complex a new role for training your Kerbals and the player can have more fun with their Kerbals in their missions. I know this is just the first implementation of Kerbal experience and i as well as others in this community would like this to evolve to the better.

Edited December 19, 2014 by kookoo_gr