I think some kerbal-esque contracts could really spice up the game.

[fjdkf]

When I watch the CGI videos for the game, I see Kerbals ending up in ridiculous positions all the time due to catastrophic failures. However, none of the contracts reflect this Kerbal... characteristic.

Placing satellites in orbit, doing science, and exploring other planets can lead to some player-induced Kerbal incidents, but it would be nice to have some Kerbal-esque contracts as well, to showcase their ability to get into trouble. Some ideas:

Rescue a kerbal spacecraft that's on a collision course with kerbin.

Rescue a research team from the surface of the mun.

Repair the landing legs on a crashed rocket.

Retrieve a rover from orbit around Gilly, and land it back on the ground

Additionally, it would be interesting if there were missions that popped up on your screen as you flew around the solar system. This would fit quite well with these Kerbal-esque missions. For example, if you were flying over Duna, and got a report of kerbals on a collision course with Ike. I think this would make the game feel more dynamic.

Sorry if this has been posted before, but I couldn't find it in the "don't suggest" section.

[dlrk]

KSP is a spaceflight/management sim, you're describing an RPG

[tater]

Excellent ideas. There are already stranded kerbal contracts (how they got there, who knows), and the kerbals are clearly from alternate programs as you do not "own" them.

I posted some ideas for new contracts here.

Here are the relevant bits:

Rescue missions.

1. Stranded kerbal in Kerbin orbit. Like current mission, but there is a nearby spacecraft if he is EVA. He might alternately be in the ship but it cannot reenter/return to Kerbin for some reason (unpacked chute needs engineer, lack of fuel to deorbit, etc, see #3). The craft can be a ship, or even a station. All would have reasonable time limits, guys don't float around for years un-rescued. Longer limit if he is aboard a ship. Orbits far more varied than the current missions (polar, retrograde, eccentric, etc).

a. Kerbal on EVA has no EVA propellant, but is close by his fully functional spacecraft. Rescue him (move your hatch til you can hit F with him), then return him to his own craft.

b. Kerbal

has

EVA propellant (0-10% at random), but has drifted too far to return. Rescue him and return to his functional craft.

2. Stranded kerbal in orbit around another world. Same as 1, above, but around another world. If he has a functional craft there, then return him to it. Orbits far more varied than the current missions (polar, retrograde, eccentric, etc).

a. Kerbal EVA has no EVA propellant, but is close by his fully functional spacecraft. Rescue him (move your hatch til you can hit F with him), then return him to his own craft.

b. Kerbal has EVA propellant (0-10% at random), but has drifted too far to return. Rescue him and return to his functional craft.

3. Stranded spacecraft in Kerbin orbit. The spacecraft is without enough fuel to return (a), or has had a serious malfunction (. Orbits far more varied than the current missions (polar, retrograde, eccentric, etc).

a. Spacecraft is without necessary fuel to complete mission. The ship has a clampotron, and you refuel it to complete mission (amount of fuel required is in the mission request).

b. Spacecraft as suffered a (possibly serious) mishap. Engine doesn't work, no attitude control, etc. Dock, and return craft to a station in LKO if it exists (within EVA distance). Alternately repair with engineer. If not, put it in a reentry trajectory, and reenter with the capsule. (possible engineer repairs here, stranded crew = pilot/scientist)

c. Satellite in need of repair.

4. Stranded spacecraft in orbit around another world. The spacecraft is without enough fuel to return (a), or has had a serious malfunction (. (if they add life support, then that is another missing item that would be ( c) ) Orbits far more varied than the current missions (polar, retrograde, eccentric, etc).

a. Spacecraft is without necessary fuel to complete mission. The ship has a clampotron, and you refuel it to complete mission (this data would be in the mission request). Refuel is not to full, but enough to return set by mission (amount specified in contract).

b. Spacecraft as suffered a serious mishap. Engine doesn't work, no attitude control, etc. Dock, and return craft to a station in LKO if it exists (within EVA distance). If not, put it in a reentry trajectory, and reenter with the capsule.

c. Spacecraft needs life support delivered due to a mishap (or bad planning). Dock and resupply (amount specified in contract).

5. Stranded lander. The lander is without enough fuel to return to orbit (a), or has had a serious malfunction (. Mishaps would include cool wreck sites (like the opening screen, lol)

a. Lander is without necessary fuel to reach orbit. In this case it will be a lander with a CM in orbit. Return crew (or craft if you can) to the CM.

b. Lander as suffered a serious mishap. Engine doesn't work, no attitude control, etc. Return crew (or craft if you are capable) to the CM.

c. Lander has broken parts that can be repaired by an engineer, repair for them.

Edited February 4, 2015 by tater

[klgraham1013]

No. Please stop spawning things in my game. Unless there's a specified "other" who's also launching rockets, perhaps as competition.

[tater]

No. Please stop spawning things in my game. Unless there's a specified "other" who's also launching rockets, perhaps as competition.

There are already rescue contracts for guys who clearly belong to other space programs. So you prefer that they flew to space like superman, presumably. Or, of course, you can simply never take those contracts (as you likely do not ever given that post) and nothing is spawned.

If kerbals are to be stranded by the game, and you are going to take the contract, then they should bloody well have spacecraft with them most of the time as any survivable explosion will leave parts, and my own rockets leave every separated part as "debris."

[fjdkf]

KSP is a spaceflight/management sim, you're describing an RPG

Source? On the KSP website, it says "Kerbal Space Program is a multi-genre game where the players create their own space program". I would interpret that to mean that it pulls elements from many game types instead of sticking to one genera.

I'm not advocating for any massive changes... just for some of the contracts to reflect the accident-prone nature of Kerbals.

[klgraham1013]

There are already rescue contracts for guys who clearly belong to other space programs.

My apologies. I don't really play career anymore. Got to frustrated with it.

edit: I am confused with the rest of your post. When did I say anything about superpowers? ...and I know you can just ignore those contracts. I'm suggesting they not be there to begin with.

[tater]

You said not to have KSP "keep spawning things in my game." In my experience only 2 things are spawned into anyone's game, asteroids, and the silly, stranded kerbals (they spawn only if you chose the contract). In the case of the latter (contracts are by definition "career," btw), they are explicitly not owned by the player's program (says so in the tracking station), so they MUST come from another program (besides, as player we know WE didn't strand them). They either came in a craft, or flew there like superman

Assuming they go to space the usual way, what is more likely? That they ran out of rcs, with their pod drifting nearby, or that their craft completely disintegrated miraculously leaving just the astronaut?

Right now, the rescue contracts are really boring. I only ever take them if the guy has an awesome name, lol. Adding more interesting or compex rescues would be FUN, and perhaps provides novel missions for a game that doesn't have random failures. It could even provide a cool way to get new parts (if they ever made it less trivial to unlock all the tech). A craft might be rescued/salvaged and it contains a part that your engineers then copy... Just trying to think of ways to make the contracts less boring or stupid ("test jet engine underwater on the mun" ).

Edited February 4, 2015 by tater

[AbacusWizard]

I would LOVE to see more variety in rescue contracts. When I first started the game, some of the greatest times I had involved rescuing crew (and science) from missions gone horribly wrong, and I was really excited that this would be integrated into the game with rescue contracts... but there's really only one rescue contract, repeated over and over again. Once I have a reasonable amount of cash and technology, there's no point in bothering in rescue Poorschmoe Kerman from Kerbin orbit; both the reward and the challenge are too low for me to care. On the other hand, if Poorschmoe Kerman and his three brothers are stranded in a failed colony on Duna, or in solar orbit on board an ion-powered spaceship with broken* solar panels--with rewards to match--things would get a lot more interesting.

* On that note, can high-level engineers learn to fix broken solar panels? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease?

Also, missions like "Bring a sufficiently skilled Engineer to X and repair Rover Y's wheels" or "Bring a sufficiently skilled Engineer to rendezvous with Rocket Z in orbit and repack its parachutes so it can land already" would be awesome.

[Wanderfound]

There's also a lot of potential in "delivery" missions.

* Deliver small item X to location Y in space with short timeframe: urgent repair mission.

* Deliver huge (50+ ton) item X to location Y on Kerbin: heavy airlift/trucking mission.

* Drop a tank of size X while flying above location Y, short timeframe: frame as waterbombing for firefighting purposes, add fire/smoke visuals to location. Pacifist bombing mission.

[tater]

Dropping any cargo except satellites makes little sense unless a destination is actually spawned in. That or you could lose ownership of stations you build for contracts, then get resupply missions to them...

[RainDreamer]

Sometimes I think the stranded kerbals are just from accidents, like this one in one of the trailers:

I think this is probably quite common for kerbals.

Edited February 4, 2015 by RainDreamer

[tater]

I don't disagree. But since I know every launch I have made, and every guy riding those by name, the stranded guys must be someone else's accident, not mine. You have to admit, the current rescue contracts are, well, boring. It would be nice to have variability, and interesting challenges for rescue ops.