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I'm relatively new to KSP, but I have already put 47 hours into it. It is amazing game, but there is one element that frustrates me the most --> no trajectory planning or at least able to slow down time or have an active pause option where I can plot my orbit.

It is really cumbersome to fly, keep the rocket in control and plan the trajectory at an orbital view, while everything happening in real time....

So I wish if there would be at LEAST an option to slow down time in the game.

Is this possible to consider this option to implement it in the game or is there a mod that already exist? (I could not find one only autopilot mode, which is not what I'm looking for)

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Honestly, I don't usually need to make such quick adjustments I've screwed up a node and need to make an adjustment really fast or I'm sending the ship into the atmosphere/into an escape trajectory. And when that happened (which happened to me a few days ago after using node splitter to split an injection burn to the planet Sarnus of the OPM mod: at some point after the first burn the Mun must had put me into a suborbital trajectory, the second burn lasted for ten minutes and I had less than 15 minutes to raise the periapsis, remake the second node and burn it), well it's part of the game aspect of the game. It's like complaining that an enemy is jumping at you when you have low health in an action game

 

In any case, unless you have a very narrow window to make your maneuver, I suggest you postpone the manuever one more orbit, so you'll have time to fine tune it. If it's the circularization burn when taking off from the KSC, I just use MJ's circularization maneuver planner option since going into map view, making the node and getting back to the ship to check everything is ok (ie, no empty stages not detached) is a bit cumbersome

Edited by juanml82
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I like the Idea of a physics slow motion but I don't see the need for maneuver planning.

I mean like: If you plan let's say a transfer to another planet and your unfinished node is 1 minute ahead, why don't you just wait one more orbit. Most of the times you have all the time you need an in the very rare times you don't, you'll get to learn how to eyeball things. Can be fun too.

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Don't take this the wrong way, but if you are running out of time plotting your orbit, I feel as though you are plotting your orbit wrong or something.  There is so much time to do all of that.

Furthermore, this would be easy mode for landing. Part of the thrill of the game is descending toward the Mun at high speeds and figuring out how and when to slow down.  If you could slow down time, well that would ruin it really.

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Welcome @SojuSake to the Forums,

We have a realy great modding comunity and for your question is a mod answer here:D if you wish to try it out.

And as a beginner advice, don't plan the nodes to near to your ship. Get in the orbit, look for orientation get a fresh breath. And then beginn to plan a node.

Funny Kabooms

Urses

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Thank you all for your replies, I did not think I will get so many responses :)

From most of the comments I can see that it is a game element to plot your manuevers in real time. I guess after some time you gain the experience how to get into orbit the most efficient way. 

For me currently what very frustrating is that after launching the rocket I have to check the orbital view, plot navigation trajectory, screw it up, delete the trajectroy, select another navigation node, plot a new trjectory, go back to the rocket and steer the rocket to target....but then your first stage ran out of fuel.....

As some of you have mentioned before, you see it as a game element, but I feel that slowing down time or have an active pause would help to put rockets more efficently to orbit as you have more time to tweak your trajectory. 

And I guess in real life people also don't start to plan their rocket flight right after ignition :sticktongue:

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9 hours ago, SojuSake said:

/snip/

If i may give you some tipps.

1. Read at forums how to get a Rocket in space. Search for "gravitational turn" and "DeltaV" this helps a lot.

2. You can stear the Rocket from the map view, you do not need to change every time. In map view if you look on underside of the window you see a triangle that enables the navball there (or press",") and you can steer like you will. You can't stage there but trust, SAS funktions and Stearing are full present. And on the right side you have rressouces to See how much Fuel you have and other options.

3. Learn to fly with Instruments like Navball and you only need the Rocket view to Enjoy the Sightseeing :D

4. I Think the best ist try everything out, If  it goes BOOM than it is Kerbal! You have every time the ability to quicksave (F5) and to Quickload (long press on F9) to look what happened (F3) and to revert (ESC). Look at wiki the keylayout and read the Tutorials. Do ingame Tutorials and try out the Missions. 

This is not rocketsience... ohhh :D

And if you see you have a Problem do not hesitate to ask here at forums.

Fly safe, fly high, have fun and many Funny Kabooms for you

Urses

PS: i hope it helps a Littel.

Edited by Urses
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8 hours ago, Numerlor said:

well you could try [snip] speedhack with values <1

@Numerlor, that link was going straight to a download from a site some sources identify as possibly malicious. It has been removed for the safety of our forum members. 

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8 hours ago, SojuSake said:

Thank you all for your replies, I did not think I will get so many responses :)

From most of the comments I can see that it is a game element to plot your manuevers in real time. I guess after some time you gain the experience how to get into orbit the most efficient way. 

For me currently what very frustrating is that after launching the rocket I have to check the orbital view, plot navigation trajectory, screw it up, delete the trajectroy, select another navigation node, plot a new trjectory, go back to the rocket and steer the rocket to target....but then your first stage ran out of fuel.....

As some of you have mentioned before, you see it as a game element, but I feel that slowing down time or have an active pause would help to put rockets more efficently to orbit as you have more time to tweak your trajectory. 

And I guess in real life people also don't start to plan their rocket flight right after ignition :sticktongue:

I'm a bit confused by your description.  You are plotting your orbital insertion maneuver before you shut down the first stage?  Usually you don't want to do that until your Ap isn't going to move anymore.  That means all engines should be off and you are coasting to your Ap.

As mentioned, you can steer from in the map view, and that is useful, but not necessary for orbit.

There may be an issue with your ascent profile.  Perhaps you are going to steep, or even attempting to go straight up (don't worry, most of us did that as beginners).  Ideally you want to turn the rocket fairly low to the ground and gain lateral speed.  But not so early that you burn up.  It does take practice.  Going straight up and then extending your orbit is very fuel costly.  This is due at least partially to gravity pulling you back down, lateral velocity however doesn't get taken by gravity.  Also, by gaining lateral velocity you are killing two birds with one burn, which saves fuel.  By the time your Ap is where you want it (full engine shutdown) out of the atmosphere, you should have a very large ballistic arc that extends a little less than half way around the planet.  At that point you have a lot of time to wait for your ship to reach the Ap, in fact once you have planned your orbital insertion, you will may want to time warp

Edited by Alshain
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A few other mods that may help (and are pretty much on the mandatory list for me):

* Precise Maneuver

* Better Burn Time

* Trajectories

I agree with Alshain though, sounds like your doing the gravity turn too late.  I use a script I wrote in KOS and have gotten good results when I'm pretty much horizontal by the time I hit about 35km and end up going fast enough that I'm getting heat fx.  You don't need to be that aggressive but the general idea is to get as much horizontal velocity as fast as practical.

Doing that pushes AP out further, giving you more time to plan your circularization as well as saves delta V.

Also, going on a hunch, but IMO early on its best to play in Sandbox mode rather than Career.  I believe some of the things you don't get until upgrading the KSC raise the already fairly steep learning curve.

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@SojuSake,  An obvious, and probably pointless, question but have you looked at the tutorials?  They can give you the basics of how to achieve orbit and offer a good guide as to what your ascent profile should look like.  Yours wont be identical, and it depends on the ship design too, but it should help a bit.

Trust me, we all (ok. that's an unqualified assumption, but I bet most of us) struggled to reach orbit at first.  And don't hesitate to ask on here for more help if you need it.

...And please share your inevitable success too.

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On 4/4/2017 at 6:45 PM, Alshain said:

Furthermore, this would be easy mode for landing. Part of the thrill of the game is descending toward the Mun at high speeds and figuring out how and when to slow down.  If you could slow down time, well that would ruin it really.

For you. I rely on Mechjeb's suicide burn calculator and KER's "distance to suicide burn" indicator

On 4/4/2017 at 7:08 PM, SojuSake said:

Thank you all for your replies, I did not think I will get so many responses :)

From most of the comments I can see that it is a game element to plot your manuevers in real time. I guess after some time you gain the experience how to get into orbit the most efficient way. 

For me currently what very frustrating is that after launching the rocket I have to check the orbital view, plot navigation trajectory, screw it up, delete the trajectroy, select another navigation node, plot a new trjectory, go back to the rocket and steer the rocket to target....but then your first stage ran out of fuel.....

As some of you have mentioned before, you see it as a game element, but I feel that slowing down time or have an active pause would help to put rockets more efficently to orbit as you have more time to tweak your trajectory. 

And I guess in real life people also don't start to plan their rocket flight right after ignition :sticktongue:

Are you having issues with your circularization burn when taking off from the KSC? Once you're in orbit, you create the maneuver nodes when your engines are powered down (ie, 0% throttle)

Just in case it's the circularization burn when you take off, here's a rough outline of go to go from the Launchpad to orbit:

Take off vertically

Once you hit 100 m/s aprox., tilt east (that is, 90° in the navball, usually the D key unless you rotated the command pods) very slightly, about 5 degrees

Keep tilting your rocket very slowly and carefully while you're under 10,000 meters and specially before you break the sound barrier (about 330 m/s. KER's hud has a match indicator. That, or I added it manually). Don't tilt your rocket when you're around match 1: the drag is higher and that means your chances of tilting over are higher

Above 20,000 meters, keep tilting your rocket east gently. The idea is to have it nearly horizontal by 30-50 km, but it depends on the rocket's design. You don't really have to be that precise at this point.

Eventually, your Ap will be above 70km. Again, I recommend KER's hud display so you don't need to go to the map view and can enjoy the view. By the time you have it around 75-80km, cut the throttle. That's when you plan the circularization burn.

In the map view, click in the Ap icon and keep pushing the prograde handler of the node until the Pe is above 70km. You'll see the Ap move around and head towards the other end of Kerbin when you do that. Personally, I use Mechjeb's maneuver planner to create that particular node because it gets tiresome to create it every time I want to send something into space.

You'll see the estimated burn time (I recommend the Better Burn Time mod, as the stock calculator is very imprecise) but it doesn't account for staging (or I think it doesn't). Generally speaking, you divide the burn time by two and you use that result to determine how much time before the node you need to start burning. So if your burn is one minute long, you start burning 30 seconds before the node.

As a rough approximation and depending a lot in your TWR, that circularization burn is usually within 60-30 seconds before your Ap

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45 minutes ago, juanml82 said:

For you. I rely on Mechjeb's suicide burn calculator and KER's "distance to suicide burn" indicator

Thats a mod though.  Not something that would be added to the sock game.

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