Stupid Comnet

[DrDress]

I just don't get it!

Every time I think I'm getting a grip on the communication mechanics, I build a craft but find out that It's out of communication range. Another mission scrapped.

I now have 100G relay and direct antanne and control center at lvl 3. So I should be ok. But I have three casses that I would like to have shed some light on:

1) I once flew a mission to Jool with a mothership carrying a 100G relay antenna, which worked all the way to Kerbin. It had some probes with 2G direct antennea flying to the different moons. They should relay their data to the mothership. This only worked when the probe and mothership were very close, so I had to cancel most of the mission. This was somewhat disappointing, if a little surprising.

2) So I tried almost the same mission again, but this time the probes had 15G direct antenna. This made little difference and I had to wait a lot of time for the probes to be with in antenna range. This was a big surprise, since I thought the the next tier of antennae (2G -> 15G) would drastically increase range.

3) I just flew a manned mission with a probe core on it. I gave it a 100G direct antenna figuring this would have the same range as the 100G relay antenna which gave me a signal al the way to Jool. But once again I was in for a surprise! As soon as I ledt Kerbin's SOI I lost control of the probe!

 

I'm getting REALLY tired of guessing the type of antenna needed... and always guessing wrong! Can anyone inlighting me or do I have to put two 100G relay antenna on every craft to be sure? Maybe a rule of thump or anything.

 

[Streetwind]

That is very odd indeed. Two standard questions, just to get them out of the way:

- Using any mods?
- You did remember to deploy the antennas, right...?

Some of the antennas are fixed, but some start folded up and will not work unless you press the button to deploy them. Every pod and probe core comes with a default 5K antenna that will cover very short distances, so it sounds a lot like what's happening to you is your craft drifting out of range of their built-in antenna with the main dish still offline.

 

Edited March 24, 2018 by Streetwind

[Foxster]

Personally I just turn it off. It's not a very exciting or particularly well implemented feature. 

[DrDress]

I might have figured it out 3). For control purposes I have to extend the antenna manually. Not sure about my Jool mission though. HEre I tried science transmission without luck.

20 minutes ago, Streetwind said:

That is very odd indeed. Two standard questions, just to get them out of the way:

- Using any mods?
- You did remember to deploy the antennas, right...?

Some of the antennas are fixed, but some start folded up and will not work unless you press the button to deploy them. Every pod and probe core comes with a default 5K antenna that will cover very short distances, so it sounds a lot like what's happening to you is your craft drifting out of range of their built-in antenna with the main dish still offline.

I haven't seen your answer. But as I wrote I can to some of the same conclusion. This just doesn't fit with my data transmission issue. Unless KSP says I can't transmit data, as it assumes I only use the buildin antenna, even though it deploys the main antenna automatically when transmitting. That would be a little lame implimentation

20 minutes ago, Streetwind said:

 

 

[Kerbart]

Nothing obscuring your transmissions? (moons, planets, the sun?)

1 hour ago, DrDress said:

I might have figured it out 3). For control purposes I have to extend the antenna manually. Not sure about my Jool mission though. HEre I tried science transmission without luck.

I haven't seen your answer. But as I wrote I can to some of the same conclusion. This just doesn't fit with my data transmission issue. Unless KSP says I can't transmit data, as it assumes I only use the buildin antenna, even though it deploys the main antenna automatically when transmitting. That would be a little lame implimentation

 

Something to consider: in order to transmit science you have to control the probe. The small antenna might not be sufficient for that.

 

[Streetwind]

The small pod-integrated antenna is perfectly capable of probe control, but it is (intentionally) unable to transmit science.

Edited March 24, 2018 by Streetwind