Deep Space Network Suggestion

[Shadowsteps]

I know the devs said they were planning on having the range of the Deep Space Network vary with difficulty.  They didn't explicitly say how it would vary (or at least I couldn't find it) so I'd like to recommend that they have a slider for altitude (going from 0 to just beyond Minmus) allowing us to set exactly how far the DSN goes.  That way those who want to set up their own network can set it to ~20km and not have the RemoteTech problem of losing control of probes as they are about to land on kerbin (and their relay sats drop below the horizon), while players who don't want to make their own network can set it to cover all of kerbins SOI.

Edited January 28, 2016 by Shadowsteps

[Francois424]

To the best of my knowledge, the new system will only allow better XP when transmitting experiments.
Everything is still subject to change, of course, but from what I heard/read, nothing like losing communication of your probe on Minmus like you said.

But your idea of a slider is very good in the unlikely event that they go with RemoteTech's style transmission/control.

[Blaarkies]

IIRC you will not lose control of a probe when its relay sat is behind the planet(or even if you have no dish). This stock relay will only limit the transmission of science: If the probe is landed on the dark side of the Mun, then you will never be able to transmit the sweet surface science points(since the Mun is in the way and tidally locked), until you actually get another probe behind the Mun so that it can see both the lander AND Kerbin...only will the lander actually be able to transmit science.
 

Nothing about losing control AFAIK. But i do agree on the altitude thing for DSN. It feels wasteful to setup a massive relay network, when you could just wait a day until Kerbin is "visible" again(except for tidally locked situations)

[Aperture Science Employee]

I feel there should be an option for the RemoteTech style, with controlling the probe being a factor. If new players are frustrated, they can switch to the XP version instead.

[Armisael]

Isn't that basically just installing RemoteTech at that point?

[Shadowsteps]

From Ted in the Development Relay post on Jul 22, 2015: "The first feature is probe telemetry. With this, a probe must establish a connection back to Kerbin or another 'control point' via an antenna part in order to operate - be controlled by the player, or active in any way. These control points are the planet Kerbin, or a craft with an antenna, a pilot Kerbal, and optionally a large probe core. "

Has this changed since then?

[Andem]

So they're implementing remote tech, without all the cool features of remotetech... 

On 1/30/2016 at 10:49 AM, Shadowsteps said:

From Ted in the Development Relay post on Jul 22, 2015: "The first feature is probe telemetry. With this, a probe must establish a connection back to Kerbin or another 'control point' via an antenna part in order to operate - be controlled by the player, or active in any way. These control points are the planet Kerbin, or a craft with an antenna, a pilot Kerbal, and optionally a large probe core. "

Has this changed since then?

I dunno, it seems like it. That annoys me.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Andem