Stupidity trait affects skill acquisition rate.

[LexieAssassin]

Dumber Kerbals gain skills slower than smarter ones. Perhaps even a hidden genius flag that adds a bonus to skill gain.

LexieAssassin

[CaptainKipard]

The only problem I see with that is what's stopping you from hiring only the cleverest Kerbals?

[eddiew]

The only problem I see with that is what's stopping you from hiring only the cleverest Kerbals?

I already do this because there's a couple of mods (MKS and Extraplanetary Launchpads among them) that have better efficiency with clever kerbals. The dumbest guy on my team is Bill; he goes with my Duna landers to repack the chutes. Keeps him out of trouble

The OP's idea could work, if;

- the pool of available kerbals is reduced, never offering more than a couple at a time

- the only way to get different applicants to hire is to hire the ones in the queue

- kerbals cost maintenance money (so you don't just hire hundreds)

- firing/killing kerbals was penalised so heavily that it'd be better to take a dumb one on training runs than to kill/fire him in order to get a fresh hire (this is much like working in academia...)

[FreeThinker]

In my Mod KSPI 0.90 Extended Configuration I reduced the effect of stupidity from +/-50% to +/-10. Beside that Instead I introduced the effect of Profession (+/-50) and Skill level (0-50% bonus) on Kerbals reseach ability in the Science Lab.

[LexieAssassin]

Hirmh... Interesting. I suppose you could always add an option at the crew building whatzit (omg I forgot the name of the building ) to put a dumb Kerbal into some sort of training or schooling to make them smarter over time at the cost of some funds.

LexieAssassin

PS-

The only problem I see with that is what's stopping you from hiring only the cleverest Kerbals?

That's kind of my point... >_> >_>