KSP windows in career mode

[Rylant]

Hey all. 
 

So in order to be efficient, you have to use the ideal transfer Windows to move to the different planets and then back to Kerbin. It can be hundreds of days or even years between your windows to get out to the different planets and then back again. So in career mode, do you wait for potentially years to go to the planets you are visiting and then wait again for potentially more years until you get a good window back?

Seems like a lot of wasted time fast forwarding between windows. 
 

Rylant

[Curveball Anders]

20 minutes ago, Rylant said:

So in order to be efficient, you have to use the ideal transfer Windows to move to the different planets and then back to Kerbin. It can be hundreds of days or even years between your windows to get out to the different planets and then back again. So in career mode, do you wait for potentially years to go to the planets you are visiting and then wait again for potentially more years until you get a good window back?

Seems like a lot of wasted time fast forwarding between windows.

I create and keep a list of upcoming windows and then play with other stuff (and prepare) until a window opens.

Then it's time for a bunch of launches (or returns).

I rarely fast forward more than 1/2 - 1 day.

And yes, I (ab)use KAC a lot ... ( I think my record was 39 entries ...)

 

[radonek]

This is just how celestial mechanic works. But you don't have to wait for perfect Hohmann transfers if you can get boost from other bodies. Sometimes you even don't want to (Moho).

[Guest]

To be efficient then potentially yes (unless the planet happens to be in the right place by coincidence). But you can trade efficiency for time so you don’t have to wait. Mechjeb’s porkchop plotter is really good for this as it allows you to find the perfect compromise for your situation.

[Rylant]

 

6 hours ago, FruitGoose said:

To be efficient then potentially yes (unless the planet happens to be in the right place by coincidence). But you can trade efficiency for time so you don’t have to wait. Mechjeb’s porkchop plotter is really good for this as it allows you to find the perfect compromise for your situation.

Thanks FG. And thanks everyone. I will say that I have Mechjeb installed but I try to not use it. I read on how I need to burn and try to come up with the maneuver myself. If I can’t figure it out, I ask Mechjeb and see how it figured it. I know it’s cheaty, but I can live with it. 
 

Rylant

Edited April 25, 2021 by Rylant

[AlexinTokyo]

Sounds like you want to play the way I do; lots of missions going on concurrently in appropriate timeslots without a lot of warping around.

First thing (as @Curveball Anders says) is to get and learn Kerbal Alarm Clock - this will give you the ability to jump out of a mission part way through and come back at the next important time (even if that is 180 days away).  As a side benefit, you can also set Earth-time alarms, so you don't forget to sleep )
The other mod I use a lot for this is Transfer Window Planner. This implements the functionality of Alex Moon's Launch Window Planner in the game (and should be similar to Mechjeb's porkchop plotter, but I have never used that, so I can't comment) and also has the ability to sync directly to KAC, so once you've found a transfer you can save the details directly to a KAC alarm.

With these two, you can both plan ahead and find transfers that are possible even if not optimal, and jump between missions as required, so you can have a Jool probe on the way when you launch your Duna mission at the optimal launch window.