Astronauts and Skills

[jfjohnny5]

I'm a bit confused. It says in both the manual and here in the forums that astronauts need all of their skills, but when assigning to missions, the Leadership icon is the only one I see for any given position. I was assuming each crewed position had one skill it relied on more than the others, just like with Flight Controllers. But I can't find any feedback in game that tells me what kinds of skills an astronaut might need for a given position on a mission roster. Info?

[lordshipmayhem]

I think the skill level for both astronaut and controller is an average of all their skills, not just one. I base that on having tried to goose up a different skill on each of the five original controllers - but in the first mission that required all five, the game still told me that one had a stinking low mark despite being specialized to one point in the 80% range. After that, I kept sending them into Advanced Training to goose up the skills by concentrating on which training would increase the total score the most.

[Hirschi]

As far as the Mission Control is concerned: Every controller just needs no be specialised in one certain skill (propulsion etc) except the Flight Director. His skill is determined by the average of all skills. To be more flexible, I train all my controllers in every skill starting by training his strongest skill first to above 90% and then always the actual weakest skill repeadedly.
For the pilots: I don't know exactly, I train them in the same way as my controllers except starting with maxing out Leadership first. But the program seems to use Leadership only, Got a young astronaut, skilled Leadership above 90% and she was best fit in a mission although there were other astronauts with less Leadership but all other skills above 90%

[lordshipmayhem]

I think you'd get a faster return for your money if you train all the astronauts and controllers from their worst levels up first. As the skill level rises, the rate of improvement per session drops dramatically. At 31% you can get increases in the mid- to upper-20's, by the time you've raised it up to the 70's the improvement drops to just above 10% per 3-season trip to the classroom.

[Hirschi]

mathematically correct.
I just want for my controllers, that they have at least one skill above 90% before starting to max out the rest in that way you said.

[N_Molson]

Hello,

Astronauts use the required skills for each mission step, and different positions in the crew require different skills. As an example :

Gemini :
- Commander : Leadership - Piloting - Science (when required) - Endurance
- Pilot : Piloting - EVA (when required) - Science (when required) - Endurance

Apollo :
- Commander : Leadership - Piloting - EVA (lunar landings) - Science (when required) - Endurance
- Capsule Pilot : Leadership (when alone with the LM away) - Piloting - EVA (when required, for non-lunar EVAs) - Science (when required).
- LM Pilot : Piloting (especially during missions using the LM) - EVA (lunar landings) - Science (when required) - Endurance

Overall the Endurance skill is extremely important, as it is always (but more or less) used for all crewmembers. Physical condition is a requirement. A good commander must also shine in leadership and have decent piloting skills. A good pilot must be excellent at piloting, but also well-trained enough to perform EVAs safely.

And here are the "classical" situations in which the different skills are used :

- Leadership : when the 'naut is alone (X-15, Vostok, Mercury), is extremely important in a lot of mission steps. Self-control, ability to hold the stress (psychology). When the 'naut is in command of a crew, leadership is put forward during the most critical situations (say lunar landing), but also during steps involving duration.

- Piloting : major skill that any 'naut should master. Especially critical in complex situations such as rendez-vous, docking or lunar landing.

- EVA : A specialist skill, useful only for the 'nauts performing an EVA, and only used during those EVA steps. Also includes Lunar EVA, and EV crew transfers of course. Notice that spacecraft like Gemini or Apollo require a full depressurization of the cabin to allow an EVA, so the whole crew uses the skill in those situations. This is where Voskhod or Soyuz, which have airlocks, shine. Anyway the 'naut that proportionnaly uses the skill the most is the one performing the EVA.

- Science : Another specialist skill, used mostly in duration missions, and during lunar trips (Trans-Earth / Moon Coast ; Lunar Pass / Lunar Orbit). Also important during lunar EVA (Geology, use of the various experiments and scientific instruments).

- Endurance : All-around skill. Some situations put more physical stress on the crew than other, typically reentry (deceleration forces), launch / ascent (acceleration forces), long durations (as the human body is not made for microgravity), EVAs (a tribute to Alexei Leonov and Gene Cernan, amongst others)... Short but technical steps like docking, lunar landing, don't use that skill a lot.

Hope it helps, have fun

[Hirschi]

Wow, thanks for that comprehensive answer.
So it was not a failure on my side to max out every skill on my 'nauts. Good to know,