[Suggestion] Spaceplane missions

[Phyper]

Hi,

every time I do order a spaceplane mission, I wonder why the pilots are to choose because of their leadership instead of piloting skills. For me it seems a little bit odd.
Wouldn't it be more reasonable to use their piloting skills?

[N_Molson]

Yeah, that seems a bit odd. My understanding is that "leadership" skill also means "first astronaut" piloting skill. In the case of the X-15 of Mercury, there is only 1 crew position, so the pilot is always the commander. I guess that in Gemini, for example, you will have 1 commander with "leadership" skill assuming orbital manoeuvers, and 1 specialist with "piloting" skill that will perform precision manoeuvers like orbital rendez-vous and docking.

[Sabratha]

Yeah, that seems a bit odd. My understanding is that "leadership" skill also means "first astronaut" piloting skill. In the case of the X-15 of Mercury, there is only 1 crew position, so the pilot is always the commander. I guess that in Gemini, for example, you will have 1 commander with "leadership" skill assuming orbital manoeuvers, and 1 specialist with "piloting" skill that will perform precision manoeuvers like orbital rendez-vous and docking.

Yeah but in case of single-man missions, its odd. Especially in plane missions where the guy actually pilots it.

I think single man missions should go by "piloting" if the crewman is actually flying the craft, or "fitness" if he's just a passive passenger (like Gagarin in Vostok).

[N_Molson]

Yeah, "Leadership" should definitively reflect the ability of an astronaut to manage his crew to work together efficiently and make sure that everyone keep a good morale (see the movie Apollo 13 ). Something like a mix of charisma, diplomacy and psychology. Which doesn't mean it should be his only skill : depending of the spacecraft or mission, he will need to pilot, perform an EVA, scientific duties and in any case, a good fitness is a selection criteria.

For the CAPCOM in mission control, "Leadership" seems to be the right skill, as his role is to be an interface between the astronauts in flight and the mission controllers, here again there is a lot about saying things with the right tone to keep everyone happy.

[Sabratha]

Just checked. In the new moon missions, both "Commander Pilot" and "pilot" use the leadership stat.

There's certainly a bug there.

[Nacho84]

Just checked. In the new moon missions, both "Commander Pilot" and "pilot" use the leadership stat.

There's certainly a bug there.

A quick comment about this: the current scripts still need to be tweaked so that the right abilities get used at each mission step. Luckily some chaps from both the Matrix and the Slitherine forums are going to give me a hand with that, so you'll be seeing all those changes in the near future.

Cheers,