New idea - heading buttons

[Anselmostevens]

Had an idea for a new set of SAS buttons to add to the current set:

Flight heading Buttons.

Currently you can set your SAS autopilot to prograde, normal, etc., but it would be extremely helpful to be able to align your craft with the compass headings.

90°-  (east)

0° - (north)

270° -(west)

180° - (south)

While it would have many helpful uses, I currently have the greatest need for it when launching into orbit and want to keep my heading at exactly 90°. The only way to do this currently is to manually keep your marker lined up with the compass. The prograde marker helps, but constantly changes heading while under acceleration.

[Yeet_TheDinosaur]

That's a nice idea!! That will help when my craft is going the wrong direction!

Is there a mod for this?

[Gargamel]

While Squad has surprised in the recent past with QOL improvements such as Robotics and a Dv indicator, I don't think a stock autopilot is in the works.   I think that will forever be in the realm of mods, such as MJ.  Manually flying your craft is one of the great things KSP does for us, it makes us learn how spaceflight actually works. 

[Anselmostevens]

I see your point gargamel, however, I dont think it takes away from the manual flying of a craft more than the prograde/radial/normal/target/maneuver buttons we already have.

Edited July 28, 2019 by Anselmostevens
Mispell

[Gargamel]

3 hours ago, Anselmostevens said:

While it would have many helpful uses, I currently have the greatest need for it when launching into orbit and want to keep my heading at exactly 90°. The only way to do this currently is to manually keep your marker lined up with the compass. The prograde marker helps, but constantly changes heading while under acceleration. 

It also shouldn't be that difficult to keep your craft on 90 if it's balanced correctly.   There are lots of great Tutorials out there on how to launch, but basically, and others will correct me on better methods, you launch straight up, wait till you get to about 50 m/s (only a few seconds after launch), kick over about 10 degrees or so towards 90 degrees, and when the prograde marker catches up to your actual heading, Just click hold prograde.  This will naturally take your craft on a pretty decent gravity turn, leaving your circularization burn fairly short.  I can manually fly a launch pretty much hands off without an autopilot using this.   It really depends on your craft design though, if it's tippy and prone to flipping over due to improperly placed CoM, then yeah, it'll be a fight to keep it on course.   But if you design your rocket so it burns fuel from the bottom up, and the draggy end is at the back, you should have a pretty smooth flight. 

10 minutes ago, Anselmostevens said:

I see your point gargamel, however, I dont think it takes away from the manual flying of a craft more than the prograde/radial/normal/target/maneuver buttons we already have.

The SAS directions are designed mainly for spaceflight.  These are arbitrary directions relative to your orbit around a body or to a target, and each has a specific use.  But if we include the 4 major cardinal directions, why can't they add the 8 major headings?  Why stop there?  If you can do the 8, it would be trivial to make an edit box and make it a compass.  But if we can hold a compass heading, then we can easily also hold a pitch and roll, and shazam you have a working autopilot. 

[Anselmostevens]

Yes, its not difficult to hold at 90°, just like its not difficult to hold at prograde. The buttons are for precision.