Annoyance/Bug - Astronaut Statistics

[Drewpan]

Hi Guys,

I believe there is still a MAJOR hole in the generation of stats for personnel.

I am playing 7.24 and was offered only 3 Astronaut candidates with a "Trainability" rating above 70
which in my experience play testing this game is essential because otherwise personnel do not improve
fast enough to meet goals. This may or may not be seen as just "luck of the draw" but on top of that,
the actual stats of these Astronauts in this case was woeful eg.

Leadership : 39.5
Piloting : 31.4
EVA : 53.0
Science : 56.0
Fitness : 40.7

Pay : 35, Morale : 55, "Intelligence" 79

In terms of these figures, to me this implies that this individual could not lead a horse to water, let alone
command troops in the military, bombed out of flight school let alone is a TEST PILOT, and is so out of
shape that he could barely climb a flight of stairs, let alone the ladder to an aircraft cockpit. A Morale of 55
implies that this is his last chance to get ANY job in the military, but an intelligence/trainability score of 79
suggests that he should hold dual Doctorate Degrees.

In reality, the Test Pilots selected for Astronaut Training were all highly motivated, intelligent and skilled
individuals who later went on to be very successful in the Military or Business. Many Astronauts went on to
be Brigadier Generals or Admirals. This blows low leadership score away. Test Pilots are the BEST pilots and so
low Piloting skills are laughable. While there might be an argument for lower EVA scores, often Test Pilots
underwent extensive G Training or Test Flying AND Parachute/Freefall Training which would give them a firm
base for later EVA. Scott Carpenter later went on to the Sea Lab program and was an experienced Diver while
NASA still uses underwater training today.

I would say that since most Astronaut candidates had at least a Masters degree in Engineering of some kind,
often Aeronautical engineering, that their general Science would be superior to many other non-scientists.
Finally a Test Pilot who was unfit to fly was grounded and the Military has VERY high standards in this area,
so a low fitness score would be impossible.

In terms of how to handle this in the game, how about this idea.

All Astronaut Stats start at 60 (65 might be better) with a modifier applied. To use a common role playing method
of rolling 3x 6 sided dice, the modifier would then add between 3-18 extra points. Using statistics, the "bell curve"
of rolls would add an average of 10 points to each stat.

The end result would be that astronauts would start with a higher initial stats. This could be easily offset with lower
improvements while training, or alternately leaving the training improvements and adjusting Morale in relation to
involvement in Training, Missions or Programs.

Astronauts were very Morale affected with Candidates not selected on a mission, backup crew or the latest Program
becoming Career orientated, some being lured back to the Military and some to Private Industry. If Morale was modified
each Season dependent upon what an Astronaut was doing this would be a bit more realistic. I find that at present I recycle
Astronauts until they Die and the others in the pool just keep training. How about Training Astronauts in their five Stats
more than 3 times in a row starts to reduce their Morale, and if they do General Training 5 times in a row their Morale drops
off faster. How about an increase in Morale if they are involved in a Mission. How about everyone's Morale dropping if a Mission
fails or a crew dies. How about assigning crews and backup crews to a Program or Mission increasing Morale or losing
Morale if the Mission has reached all of it's Mission Goals.

I think that I need to be forced in the game to Manage my Astronauts better, because otherwise the initial 7 Astronauts
can complete EVERY Mission to a Manned Lunar Landing. There is no incentive to have more than 7 other than to have a few
Spares who just constantly Train and do nothing else.

Hope this helps with Development.

Cheers!

Andrew (Drewpan)