Changing Kerbal Roles

[SelectHalfling0]

Not sure if this is the right forum, as it is not entirely a support issue.

I have a career game that I just got back into. My big three other than Jeb, Bill and Bob (Gusster, Harhat and Malney) are all scientists. I was wondering if anyone knows how to change their roles. I searched the persistance.sfs and could not find any obvious way to change it.

[adi_tetac]

I think I heard it was based on their name somehow.

[CalculusWarrior]

It is indeed based off a kerbal's name. Try changing a few letters around and see what that does.

[Rolanvorxariat]

How about make Manley " Manley"?

[SelectHalfling0]

I was hoping to leave their names intact. Their are some strange numbers below them, labeled with "id".

[vexx32]

Yeah, they all have IDs as well, but their roles are based on some kind of hash of their name or something like that. There are only three roles, after all, so changing a letter or two should​ fix them up -- just make sure you change all references to their name, if their names appear in more than one place.

[Superfluous J]

I've found that if you change their last names by one letter you can get any of the three professions. It's not consistent (Not every Engineer named Kerman will become a scientist if you change their name to Ferman) but if you try enough combinations you'll get it eventually.

I actually have a save dedicated to bulk trying different names to see what their stats will be.

[Bill Phil]

This shouldn't be based on name. That's plain ridiculous. It's only three possibilities, so a procedural generator isn't that hard. Or make the player decide. Or, better yet, base it off of Stupidity. Engineers are medium, pilots high, and scientists low.

[Superfluous J]

This shouldn't be based on name. That's plain ridiculous. It's only three possibilities, so a procedural generator isn't that hard. Or make the player decide. Or, better yet, base it off of Stupidity. Engineers are medium, pilots high, and scientists low.

100% agreed. Squad seems to like making stuff like this hard to modify, though.

Seriously we already have stats IN THE GAME. They're currently called Stupidity and Courage. Why not add one to that existing framework that takes a string? Or an integer. Or a frickin' Char if you're so concerned about memory.

[Liowen]

This shouldn't be based on name. That's plain ridiculous. It's only three possibilities, so a procedural generator isn't that hard. Or make the player decide. Or, better yet, base it off of Stupidity. Engineers are medium, pilots high, and scientists low.

Actually I would have engineers have the highest stupidity they love to over complicate the simplest tasks. After working on cars for many years I believe all engineers are given a lobotomy upon getting their degree, it is the only way to explain some of the "design" choices they came up with.

[Vanamonde]

As this is a how-to sort of a question, moved to Gameplay Questions.

[razark]

I'd rather have the ability to directly determine what my Kerbals are, even if it's just an extra line in the save file.

I had the problem with one career I started where I couldn't get any Pilots. I started with Jeb, of course, but all the available candidates were either Engineers or Scientists. I ended up having to delete that one and start a new career.

[SelectHalfling0]

Thanks for the tips. I am changing around names now.

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