Whack A Kerbal? I don't get it

[cicatrix]

I've been meaning to ask this question for a number of months by now.

There is Whack A Kerbal option in the debug menu, but I don't quite understand what can be achieved with it and generally - what is its purpose? It creates some objects where I click my mouse but aside from that I don't quite follow what to do with it.

[andruszkow]

Destroy stuff. That's it

[KerBlam]

It's for stress relief... It works too.

[Axelord FTW]

I would think its purpose would be as straightforward as possible.

To whack stuff.

[Sirrobert]

If a construction is pissing you off, you can shoot it instead of just terminating. Way more satisfying

[cicatrix]

So, this 'whack a Kerbal' is there just for lulz?

[Sirrobert]

For us, yes basicly. Sometimes people put something somewhere and it blocks acces to something else. It should be possible to knock of the blocking part with wack-a-kerbal and keep the rest of the ship intact. Though I don't recomend trying it without a quicksave.

Funfact, you can also blow up the buildings in KSC with wack-a-kerbal

Remember, Alt F12 is a debugging tool. Sometimes you need to blow something up to test something

[capi3101]

Whack a Kerbal is pretty much just for fun. If you're looking for something more specific to do with it, here's something to try:

1) Put a stack of about ten S3-14400 fuel tanks out on the launch pad, arranged in a rough triangle.

2) Back the camera up to the VAB - there's a little line there at the start of the crawlway; make sure it's in view.

3) Set your whack-a-kerbal settings up for a Sphere, a good small to medium size and whatever weight you want. Set whatever speed you want to.

4) Aim carefully for the tanks on the launch pad. Fire when ready.

5) Count the number of pins you blew up. If you get all ten, it's a strike. If there are any left, shoot again; if all ten are destroyed after the second sphere, it's a spare, otherwise it's an open frame.

6) Revert to launch. Score as high as you can for ten frames.

If you blow up the launch pad, it's a foul. But at least it's a foul of awesomeness.

Been thinking about turning that one into a proper challenge for a couple of versions now......

[michaelsteele3]

Whack a Kerbal is pretty much just for fun. If you're looking for something more specific to do with it, here's something to try:

1) Put a stack of about ten S3-14400 fuel tanks out on the launch pad, arranged in a rough triangle.

2) Back the camera up to the VAB - there's a little line there at the start of the crawlway; make sure it's in view.

3) Set your whack-a-kerbal settings up for a Sphere, a good small to medium size and whatever weight you want. Set whatever speed you want to.

4) Aim carefully for the tanks on the launch pad. Fire when ready.

5) Count the number of pins you blew up. If you get all ten, it's a strike. If there are any left, shoot again; if all ten are destroyed after the second sphere, it's a spare, otherwise it's an open frame.

6) Revert to launch. Score as high as you can for ten frames.

If you blow up the launch pad, it's a foul. But at least it's a foul of awesomeness.

Been thinking about turning that one into a proper challenge for a couple of versions now......

I'm pretty sure that would fall under the category of "Illegal" In real life. Maybe even a "act of terrorism" in some states.

[Deltervees]

I'm pretty sure that would fall under the category of "Illegal" In real life. Maybe even a "act of terrorism" in some states.

No, it would just count as bowling with explosives, to which there are no laws, however, the explosives are the illegal and/or hard to get part. This does not make it a good idea, but it does sound fun.

[Alshain]

For the most part it is used in testing. Imagine you were the developer responsible for making the buildings explode. You have to test it, so do you....

A. Launch a craft for every building and crash it every time you made the slightest code tweak.

B. Make a quick tool where you can blow it up with the touch of a button.

FYI, pretty much every cheat code in the history of gaming was made for this purpose. Even when you had to punch in that ridiculous key combination to activate the cheat menu on the NES games, that was meant for the developer testing, not the players.

[capi3101]

No, it would just count as bowling with explosives, to which there are no laws, however, the explosives are the illegal and/or hard to get part. This does not make it a good idea, but it does sound fun.

That's arguably the most attractive aspect of KSP - every single item in it is A) readily accessible and given the right set of conditions, highly explosive...

[Sirrobert]

I'm pretty sure that would fall under the category of "Illegal" In real life. Maybe even a "act of terrorism" in some states.

Sure, but this is Kerbin. On Kerbin, that's just 'awesome'

[MarvinKitFox]

I'm pretty sure that would fall under the category of "Illegal" In real life. Maybe even a "act of terrorism" in some states.

Virtually EVERYTHING Jeb does in KSP would count as "acts of terrorism" or "weapons of mass destruction" or "environmental catastrophe" in the real world.

I mean, just what would *really* happen if he re-entered the earth's atmosphere with a capsule moving at 122 kilometer per second?

Or let his NERVA-class nuclear thermal rockets burn up on reentry?

Or flew his VTOL lander into the VAB?

Or launched BoB using an upside-down F1 rocket engine, just to see how far he could fly?

((p.s. examples of each of the above can be found on the challenges forum. With pictures, sometimes movies. Even high-score boards for best 'boom' factor ))

[problemecium]

Perhaps we humans have something to learn from the Kerbals. Why waste our explosives on killing people in wars when the explosions are their own reward? xD

To Bop with settling our differences - let's just blow stuff up!

[match]

Whack a Kerbal = Space bubble wrap

[dryer_lint]

Perhaps we humans have something to learn from the Kerbals. Why waste our explosives on killing people in wars when the explosions are their own reward? xD

To Bop with settling our differences - let's just blow stuff up!

This. My god, yes, this.

I'm sure we can get rid of the nuclear arsenal if we have a robotic nuclear war on the moon, and show it as reality TV. Would certainly win public support, anways

[LABHOUSE]

Oh, that is what it is for? I thought you could use it to slow down sliding kerbals to keep their heads from popping out of the helmet on mun? No wonder it never worked. But I still never have gotten anything to spawn (and yes I did click the button that was labelled sphere).

[Norpo]

Programmers get bored, too. The results are easter eggs and "debug" features.

[panzer1b]

Its for fun, destroying stuff, and it also comes in handy to create scenarios where say a ship gets shot apart by cosmic debris, enemy fire, or whatever you want it to be. I use it also to damage craft, and it arguably has made my battle damaged pirate drifter colony actually look like its a collection of complete junk strapped together, most of that junk damaged either from Whack-a-Kerbal, or actual combat with enemy craft/missiles.

[Tw1]

So, this 'whack a Kerbal' is there just for lulz?

It's also handy when you have a decoupler fail to decouple, and a good aim.