Kerbal Space Program Jumpchain v.7b

"For all its material advantages, the sedentary life has left us edgy, unfulfilled. Even after 400 generations in villages and cities, we haven't forgotten. The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood. We invest far-off places with a certain romance. This appeal, I suspect, has been meticulously crafted by natural selection as an essential element in our survival. Long summers, mild winters, rich harvests, plentiful game—none of them lasts forever. It is beyond our powers to predict the future. Catastrophic events have a way of sneaking up on us, of catching us unaware. Your own life, or your band's, or even your species' might be owed to a restless few—drawn, by a craving they can hardly articulate or understand, to undiscovered lands and new worlds.

"Herman Melville, in Moby Dick, spoke for wanderers in all epochs and meridians: 'I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas...'

"Maybe it's a little early. Maybe the time is not quite yet. But those other worlds— promising untold opportunities—beckon.

"Silently, they orbit the Sun, waiting."

 - Carl Sagan



Kerbal Space Center Jumpchain

Welcome to Kerbin!  Kerbin is a fairly pleasant habitable planet in a fairly remarkable solar system.  But what's truely remarkable about Kerbin is that it's inhabited by Kerbals.  Kerbals being the only dominate life form on the planet beyond the flora.  They just seemed to have... well... spontaneously arisen one day; short, green-skinned little cuddly things roughly 3 feet tall and vaguely rountund with non-threatening facial features roughly akin to big green plushies.  They don't need sleep, or food, or water.  It's entirely possible that they're plants of some kind, being green as they are.  Sort of a softer, more bouncy version of Irkens.  This wouldn't deserve much attention, had it not been for once curious fact.  That fact being, all Kerbals are obsessed with one thing, and one thing alone;

Space.

Yeah.  You remember the Space Core in Portal?  He's fucking SMALLTIME compared to Kerbals.  Kerbals are absolutely fucking gonzo over Space.  And flying.  And really huge fucking rockets.  And the really huge fucking explosions they make when they come crashing down.  And when they actually make it into orbit?  Ho boy.  Yes, it's fairly safe to say that Kerbals are very focused on aeronautics and space exploration, though you do have a few odd ones that are all about exploring the actual ground.

Weirdos.

And that's where you come in.  See, Kerbals have built a space center in the middle of... well, fucking nowhere, really, and they're all about getting up into space.  And they've put you in charge.

That's right.  For the next ten years, you're going to be in charge of Kerbal Space Center.  You're going to be directing this group of joyful space maniacs into exploring the Kerbin System and possibly beyond.

Have fun.

...

Oh, and I know what you're thinking.  Space?  Big deal, right?  You probably have a fleet or two in your back pocket.  Hell, you can probably turn into a space ship yourself by this point.  Which means getting into orbit is a fairly trivial thing for you.

Well, you know what the Kerbals are going to do if you do that?  If you just whip out your shiny space ship to haul them around?

They're going to cry.  Yeap.  That big, grinning expression is going to be slowly massacred, like a child watching his favourite toy be systematically destroyed in front of them.  They're going to stumble to the ground like you've ripped their heart out, and sob.  Pathetically.  Piteously.  Because you don't want to have fun with them.  You don't want to share in that bright, shining joy that comes from making into a successful orbit for the first time, or returning safely from the Mun.

So, unless you like piteously sobbing Kerbals, if you've got to employ the hypertech, you'd best be subtle about it.




[Perks]


This Is, Actually, Rocket Science - (Free) - You gain an instinctive grasp and understanding of Delta V and orbital mechanics.

Speak English, Dammit! - (Free) - You gain perfect understanding of Kerbals and the way they speak in thier burbling, whack-ass mix of swedish meatball chef... something.  Conversely, you can pick this to have them all speak english.

Espirit de Kerbal - (Free) - You gain a coterie of 20 Kerbals.  They share what perks you pick.  Counts as one companion.

Do What I Tell You - (-100) You could guide a man a thousand miles away through heart surgery over the phone.  However, time-lag is still a thing to take into consideration.

Kerbal Biology - (-200 CP) You regard such things as 'sleep', 'water', 'food', and 'oxygen' as quaint, outdated suggestions.  No, your skin doesn't turn green.  You also may develop a slight mania or obsession for outer space - don't be surprised if you find yourself stargazing.  Alot.

I Am a Pilot, Actually - (-100 CP) - All the engineering and mathematics in the world doesn't mean much if you can't actually fly the damn things.  You're far from being supernatural in skill, but you're not a weekend warrior, either - you effectively have the piloting skill of Neil Armstrong when it comes to piloting rockets, spaceships, and aeroplanes.

Aerospace Engineering Makes Things Go Fast - (-100) - You have an intuitive grasp on the mechanics of wind-flow, material sciences, atmospheric drag, tensile strengths, rocketry, so on and so forth, and how it applies to the art of designing vehicles that traverse the sky and space.

Visit Exotic Alien Worlds, And Study Them - (-100) - You are a master of Xenoplanetary study.  How they came about, how they developed, why they developed, their environmental makeup, and so on.


[Drop-in]

Switch to Over View - (-200 CP) -  You're aware unerringly of the location of Kerbals in your pilot/engineering/science corp within the Solar System and on the planet, giving you a mental 3d map that lets you sketch out where they are.  Post-jump, this lets you keep track of individuals within your organization, be it business, explorer corp, or simply adventuring party.

Fast Forward - (-400 CP) - Are we there yet?  Sometimes, you just want to get things over with - such as, say, interplanetary travel.  This ability is limited to your proximity to a celestial body - the closer you are dictates how fast you can speed things up.  This ability does not, however, alleviate such things as body requirements - utilizing this capability in excess when you still need to eat, sleep, and breath might not be the wisest thing to do.

Jumper On Your Shoulder - 600 CP - Time lag, distance, the gulf of space - none of that means a damn thing.  When your Kerbals need your assist, they're going to get it.  A moment's concentration can send your awareness directly to the Kerbal in question, allowing you to give directions and advise as necessary, lending your personal immediate supervision to insure that they can pull off a successful landing, docking, and/or rescue mission.


[Pilot]

Wings Are For Amateurs - 200 CP - You regard wings and control surfaces as quaint, out-moded methods of flight.  If it so much as has the barest hint thereof of an aerodynamic body, you can make it fly.  Somehow.  It may not fly well, fast, or far, but it WILL fly.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears for Fuel - (-400 CP) - There are times when you need to push your machine above and beyond it's capabilities, to draw forth the barest sliver of fuel from it's tanks.  When luck and happenstance fails, and all that's left is skill - even that, too, can run out.  For other people.  But not for you.  When necessary, you can pull off miracles, insane tricks of flight and truly legendary landings on planets terrestrial and alien at a cost.  Doing so leaves you severely weakened, however - the further you push it, the more severe the cost in terms of your health.  Pushing it too far can leave you in a coma - but sometimes it's worth the price, if it means bringing your craft down safely.

Every Landing You Can Walk Away From - 600 CP - Dying in a crash is for other people.  If you are at the helm of a vehicle and crash, you will survive.  Period.  This may extend to immediate environmental hazards resulting from the crash, but it won't last long-term.

[Engineer]

200 CP

This Is How I Want It - 400 CP - Your capability of mentally designing items is vastly boosted.  It's almost as if you have a mental idea space in the fashion of a construction bay with a lists of parts you have on hand that gives you an idea of what you can build at that moment...  actually, that's pretty much what you have.  As a bonus, you can mix and match parts in a manner roughly akin to legos, and giving you an idea of what would work and what wouldn't(and how much resources it would take to build).  Mind, this doesn't mean that your mental creation will perform successfully, but it will function.  As a final bonus, you can mentally hand-off the resultant creation to your Kerbals to build, and they'll do so without a mistake or screwup - meaning any snafu that results will be on your own head.

In A Cave, with a Box of Scraps - 600 CP -  You take substandard materials and make them perform up to the standards of other, higher quality substances.  Such as, taking steel and aluminium from a junkyard and turning it into space age quality material.  The more sophisticated the material, the better the result.  Sadly, this'll only work on items you personally design, build, and construct.  Warning:  The management is not responsible for the end result in giving Kerbals access to Adamantium or other such goodies.

[Scientist]

200 CP

400 CP

Extraordinary Thought Requires Extraordinary Surroundings - -600 CP - Creativity and inspiration are found in grand vistas and thought-provoking sights.  This is true for many people - for you, it's literal.  The more esoteric and exotic your location, the more you'll find your creativity and research boosted, the wonders of your view giving insight into the structure of the natural world.  Impressive, wind-swept mountain ranges, alien landscapes, the orbit of uncharted worlds - all are more fuel for your mental fire.






[Technology Packs]

 - - While agonizing over construction and the day to day operations of Kerbal Space Center(and fending off hugs from affectionate and giddy Kerbals because SPACE), you find your door being burst down by one rather enthusiastic Kerbal with a rocking moustache, who then plonks down a huge sheaf of blueprints and papers and begins to explain them in detail.  Looking over them yourself, you find yourself nodding along, as it seems that this Kerbal has single-handedly plotted out a method of technology develop that will actually scale up to FTL drive and fusion/antimatter reactors.  Sure, you'll have to build the tools to build the tools, but atleast you have a road map.


[Items]

Emblems - (Free) - You'll not only find your creations and rocketships neatly emblazoned with a flag/symbol of your choice, but you'll also be able to fashion cloth emblems for Kerbals(and companions) to utilize to represent various mission types.  However, you'll only be able to gift the patches so made to those whom directly participated in the mission itself.  While they offer no bonuses, they do make a nice keepsake and reminder of the glories you and your Kerbals(and companions) achieved - wether it's landing on the Mun or going to the stars.

Coffee Mug - (-100 CP) This chipped and stained coffee mug has the emblem of Kerbal Space Center on it's ceramic face.  Sipping from it produces a near endless stream of hot drinks of extremely excellent quality - coffee, hot chocolate, and so on.  You can also vary the caffiene content of the liquid, from decaf(you heretic), to espresso(You fine person, you).  Pouring the mug out will simply result in a typical mugs-worth amount of liquid content, but you'll find it refilled the next time you pick it up.  Also, you never loose it - it'll always be nearby when you want it.  Good thing, too, as people will likely be stealing it once they realize it's marvelous qualities.

Snack Machine (-50 CP)  This robust and solid vending machine is a never-ending supply of snacks and carbonated drinks in excess, seemingly filling it's interior with a plethora and variety of munching goodness that shifts over time so you never get bored of it's variety.  While sugary treats are all well and good, it's true benefit is the morale boost it offers to places of business it's install within.  After all, who doesn't like chocolate to get you through a hard work day?

Coffee Machine (-50 CP)  While not as good as the Coffee Mug, this vending machine still produces very good quality coffee - and only coffee.  Espressos, Cafe Lattes, Americano - if it includes coffee, this machine offers it.  Aside from the morale boost of having a steaming cup of high-quality coffee on-call, it also offers a natural energy boost from those that partake from this holy font.  Which can be important, on those critical 24/7 missions.  Warning:  The management is not responsible for Kerbals discovering the options for Irish Coffee, or Black Blood of the Earth.


[Challenges]

[Companions]

Skott Kanley - 100 CP - Some Kerbals actually have distinguishing features - this bald Kerbal in particular seems to be gifted with a fairly impressive amount of mathematics, engineering skill, and piloting capabilities, making him a treasured assistant when it comes to managing the Kerbal Space Program.  You could even leave him in charge of Kerbal Space Center for a while and he'd manage things just fine, if you, per se, wanted to do some actual in-person piloting yourself.  Or visit the Mun.  Or Minmus.  Oddly enough, he likes to introduce himself with the phrase 'Hullo!  I'm Skott Kanley!'

Nikolai Kesla - 100 CP - This Kerbal not only has a rocking mustache, but his brilliance when it comes to engineering and science is without compare.



[Drawbacks]

Green Alien Space Babes - +0 - Rather being being cute, cuddly, roundtund version of Irkens, Kerbals are now human-like, green-skinned aliens with actual gender differences.  Rather than being 3 feet tall, they instead seem to average from 4' 5" to 5' 4".  Weirdly enough, they still weigh similar, probably so as to not throw off the fuel requirements too badly.  For your companion corp, you can pick and choose the gender ratio as you so desire - the default is 50/50.

Kerbal Must Die - +100 - Kerbals don't die - they just wait to respawn into your pilot corp.  Normally.  Now?  Once a Kerbal is gone, he's gone.  You'll still get no end of volunteers for your missions, but you're now aware that one snafu will result in a horrible, terrifying death.  No pressure.

Companions Must Die - +100 - See above.  While they'll be fine at the end of your ten year stay here at Kerbal Space Center, when your companions go up in a blaze of rocketry glory, they'll be gone for the rest of your stay.  Resurrection methods won't work, either - better make sure your contraptions you build are up to snuff.

How The Hell Did He Get Up There? - +100 - Amatuer rocketry abounds.  This results in a plethora of Kerbals somehow getting into orbit... sans rocketship.  This means you're going to have to go up there and rescue them.  Or not.  I mean, they seem pretty happy up there, so you could just leave them.  Well, unless they need little things like food... or oxygen...  I'm sure you'll learn to ignore their pained, breathy gasps as they suffocate over the radio eventually in such a situation.



Kerbin Technology Superior - +100 CP - You are locked out of utilizing other technology for the Jump. If you want to reach the stars, you've got to rely on your little Kerbin friends and their obsessive genius.

  Set Difficulty Level to Real Life! - +300 - Ohoh!  Think yourself a badass, huh?  Think yourself the next Werner Van Braun?  Well, it's time to put up or shutup - in Kerbin, the planets are now all scaled to their Solar System counterparts - meaning getting out of the gravity wells are now FAR more difficult than before.


Kerbal Needs Food, Badly!  - +200 CP - Kerbals now need to eat.  And breath.  And - gasp! - sleep.  This drawback also gifts you with the Snack techtree - allowing for air-recirculation, space-going greenhouses, in-situ food production, dedicated habitation quarters, the works.  Keep in mind, having to keep your Kerbals alive the old fashioned way will make interplanetary travel exponentially more difficult.

Solar Flares - +200 CP - Looks like Kerbal's star is having some mild temper tantrums.  While the radiation isn't enough to kill, it will disrupt communications are inopportune times, resulting in Kerbals having to rely on thier own skills to pilot and land.



[Notes]

* Reducing Kerbals to a sobbing, piteous, broken wreck does not offer you any physical and/or metaphysical benefits you'd normally receive from such things.  You monster.