Deployment Time

[StevieC]

How feasible would it be, to indicate in the VAB, how many seconds it takes for a part (such as a solar-panel, landing-leg, or antenna) to deploy, and (when applicable) to retract? This would be especially useful to know for retractable solar-panels if they are located in a way that requires one to retract them before an engine-burn to prevent the engine's exhaust plume from damaging the solar panels. To keep the electrical charge as full as possible, it's helpful to know how long one can keep the solar panels extended before needing to retract them for the engine-burn. Similarly, knowing how long landing-legs take to deploy could be useful for timing when to extend them for a landing.

[Wjolcz]

In space flight you always want to extend and/or retract everything as soon as possible (if it will be needed at some points).

Next time you need extra EC to kick start your vessel I would advise you to keep one extra battery's flow disabled. The small ones are great for it. They keep the charge in cases when you need auxiliary power.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Veeltch

[Snark]

I'm having trouble understanding the utility of any of these suggestions.

If you need to retract a solar panel before <thing happens>, then just allow yourself a few seconds.  I see little point in trying to time it exactly.  What difference does an extra couple of seconds of solar charge make, especially given that you're going to be opening them right back up again as soon as whatever-it-is happens to be finished?  If you're so strapped for electrical power that you can't bear to lose another few seconds of charging... you should really be putting more batteries on your ship.  Even a very small battery has the energy equivalent of many, many seconds of solar panel charge time.

Similarly with landing legs:  Why on earth does one need to know, to the second, how long they need to extend?  Just extend 'em when you're still well-clear of the surface and you have all the time int he world.  What's the point of waiting to the last possible instant?  (And besides, you don't even know to the second when you're going to be reaching the surface anyway, unless you're running a mod to tell you that.)

Similarly with antennas:  None of them take a super long time to retract or deploy; it's just a few seconds.  I'm having trouble thinking of any scenario where it matters, to the second, just how long it takes.

Adding this sort of information to the UI seems counterproductive to me.  Adds clutter, without providing any actual player benefit as far as I can see.

Can you explain a bit more about the scenario where you believe such information would be useful to you?