[0.20.2] Mission Controller v0.10 (06/24/2013) [ALPHA]

[BlazingAngel665]

You might want to read HarvesteR's latest dev blog http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/entry.php/550-Rethinking-the-way-flights-end, in which he flat out states that players will be able to (i quote) "freely retry a failed mission without consequence".

Note this is still sandbox mode. Career mode will hopefully/probably change this.

The yellow sticky note in the bottom of the second image indicates that eventually "reverting" will be limited

Edited June 15, 2013 by BlazingAngel665

[theSpeare]

No, I'm not a god, I just use a good strategy to achieve results, that's it. And the mod already gives you the option of trying again - it allows you to go into negatives - think of it as "stabilization credit", that you have to repay. _this_ is your punishment and at the same time insentive to perform better. I play with FAR and that itself add more complications (need to have fairings, for one) on top of already challenging environment that this mod offers, and that forces to _think_ before doing something - like it is in real life. And that is what I love the most about this mod - it's more about strategy than about anything else.

If he hypothetically added the option to revert without losses, it looks like it wouldn't even affect you in the slightest, considering how passionate you are about how you play.

[MasterFlyer6626]

how the f*** do you make a mission? Introduction and mission packages aren't very helpful. Also, where do you put the completed missions?

[legodragonxp]

I have only had a chance to tinker with a few of the stock missions and this is looking really slick to me. Yes, it isn't a 'true career mode' but it is a great jump from the vanilla sandbox. I haven't had a chance to play with NT Space Progran missions yet, but I was reading through the mission files and it looks like a fun way to play.

-Lego

[Simmer22]

Tell me where I can get the Kerbal currency sign NOW!

[Sandworm]

These aren't finished, but here is what I've been working on. There are two mission sets "Military_Launches" and "Kapollo". The former is mostly stock stuff, the later requires the Ioncross crew support mod. There are a dozen missions total, but nothing massively complicated. All but the later Mun missions can be accomplished with 1-meter or smaller parts.

[URL=http://hugefiles.net/1toad2cge534]http://hugefiles.net/1toad2cge534/Sandworm_Pack_2.rar[/URL]

I'm totally open to feedback, changes and/or additions.

Edited June 16, 2013 by Sandworm

[TaranisElsu]

That is exactly how it should be and how real life space agencies operate (I guess).

Actually:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_insurance

http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/9211051ec012.pdf?expires=1371360841&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=7DCBAB2E746F1174243C0EC9A55C500E

http://worldspaceriskforum.com/2012/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/28JOHN1.pdf

Most real life space companies offload the risks to the insurance companies. Of course, their insurance rates are based on the success rate, so more failures = higher insurance rates. But the company does not lose the entire cost with every failure.

Another thing is, COST-PLUS contracts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost-plus_contract) are actually very common in the government. These are written such that the company gets reimbursed for the entire cost of developing or building some system, plus an agreed upon amount for profit. I was thinking of adding a parameter to missions where this would be an option. Obviously the rewards would not be as great, but it would be interesting to play with to see if it could be balanced and fun.

[greg12]

Why do you guys want to earn money quicker with the things like insurances and "computer simulation". I played the stock and NTSpacePrgoram and both give too much reward already. I think the mod well done already and its doesn`t need any of that. If someone can`t play in the limits to make profit just write your own mission with higher reward. I think its would be more fun and challenging if the reward and the starting budget be lower. But this is just my opinion and no one take this personally.

By the way a depth tutorial of how to make mission packs would be really useful.

[theSpeare]

Is there any chance of adding vehicle recycling to splashdowns? Maybe apply a slightly lowered percentage of recovered cost

Also F2 doesn't hide the Flight Control icon for some reason.

Edited June 16, 2013 by theSpeare

[Snillum101]

Is there any chance of adding vehicle recycling to splashdowns? Maybe apply a slightly lowered percentage of recovered cost

Agree with this, even if it was 25%-50% lower.

[nobody44]

Is there any chance of adding vehicle recycling to splashdowns? Maybe apply a slightly lowered percentage of recovered cost

Also F2 doesn't hide the Flight Control icon for some reason.

Sure, I can do that. The percentage of recovered cost will be 40% for mass (75 for landing) and 90% for fuel (95% now).

These aren't finished, but here is what I've been working on. There are two mission sets "Military_Launches" and "Kapollo". The former is mostly stock stuff, the later requires the Ioncross crew support mod. There are a dozen missions total, but nothing massively complicated. All but the later Mun missions can be accomplished with 1-meter or smaller parts.

[URL=http://hugefiles.net/1toad2cge534]http://hugefiles.net/1toad2cge534/Sandworm_Pack_2.rar[/URL]

I'm totally open to feedback, changes and/or additions.

As soon as I have the chance (not on weekends) I will look into it and if you don't mind I will link the package in my first post.

Tell me where I can get the Kerbal currency sign NOW!

It is the currency symbol of Laos, the Laos Kip.

how the f*** do you make a mission? Introduction and mission packages aren't very helpful. Also, where do you put the completed missions?

Did you check out the project on github. This is where I will update the documentation for mission designers. I will link the project on github in the first post.

This mod has definitely add a little sizzle back to the game for me! Great job!

Question in general, what is a good way of finding the current longitude of AN on your orbital path? I mean, I can see the value of the LAN, but I have trouble visualizing where exactly that is. Like a "time to LAN" or something would be extremely helpful for me. Is there a mod that helps with that? I have flight engineer redux, but the longitude in the Surface display seems wildly off to me. In one orbit it would just bounce back and forth between 123 and -247 degrees without anything in-between.

The flight engineer redux plugins shows the LAN value. At least in my memory it does.

It should be in the Orbit window. Did you disable the value maybe? Unfortunatly there is no "time to LAN" value, because there is no such node. Here is a good description of what LAN actually means.

About the rewind suggestions: I think the current missions are fair. And even if they were not, the plugin will never stop you from launching because of missing krones. Say you failed 5 times on the launchpad. What is the big deal? Sure you lost a lot of krones, but the space program will continue and you will recover from that loss. My main purpose of this mod was to make "me" (= the user) think *before* I launch. If I implement a rewind method, everyone will use it after a failed launch. But from my point of view failed launches are part of the experience.

And failed launches should hurt (= you lost a lot of krones), but they should not make you stop progressing (= you will always be able to launch, even with -1000000 krones on your account).

[BlazingAngel665]

You should add an above ground altitude parameter. This would be more useful than above sea level parameter for many things.

[adammada]

Mission: ComSat Contract III

Required eccentrity: 0-0. Mine eccencrity displayed: 0 . But still RED.

PE is: 2,867,711m

AP is: 2,869,350m

Seriously? Is it doable?

[brians200]

Is it possible to have it hide the windows and icon when pressing f2. I like to hide the hud while taking screenshots, and this is the only thing that stays open..

[vaughner]

Hey all, Scott Manley just reviewed the mod on his youtube channel. Check it out here ->

[Sandworm]

Mission: ComSat Contract III

Required eccentrity: 0-0. Mine eccencrity displayed: 0 . But still RED.

PE is: 2,867,711m

AP is: 2,869,350m

Seriously? Is it doable?

An actual eccentricity of 0 is nearly impossible. That should read "0 +/- 0.1" rather than absolutely zero. The fact that the display reads zero doesn't mean that the calculation behind that is 0. Looking at your PE/AP ratio, it isn't. To be actually zero the PE and AP would need to be exactly equal. Check the mission file for a field "eccentricityPrecision". If it is set to "0" rather than the default of "0.1" then the mission is nearly impossible.

[itsme86]

An actual eccentricity of 0 is nearly impossible. That should read "0 +/- 0.1" rather than absolutely zero. The fact that the display reads zero doesn't mean that the calculation behind that is 0. Looking at your PE/AP ratio, it isn't. To be actually zero the PE and AP would need to be exactly equal. Check the mission file for a field "eccentricityPrecision". If it is set to "0" rather than the default of "0.1" then the mission is nearly impossible.

It's definitely doable because I did it. The AP and PE doesn't have to be completely exact, just closer than adammada are currently at. It says eccentricity has to be 0, but a little off is still okay.

[nobody44]

Mission: ComSat Contract III

Required eccentrity: 0-0. Mine eccencrity displayed: 0 . But still RED.

PE is: 2,867,711m

AP is: 2,869,350m

Seriously? Is it doable?

This is just a precision display issue. The eccentricity needs to be between 0 and 0.0001. And it is doable .

Watching the video from Scott Manley right now... fun fact: The hover mission will be removed, because I used it to test something .

[legodragonxp]

(might be wrong here... retesting).

-Lego

Edited June 16, 2013 by legodragonxp
possible PICNIC

[BadManiac]

First of all, this is BRILLIANT, thank you!!! It completely transformed the game for me. I've done a few stock missions and about a third of the NT missions. So far no major issues. The rewards seem ok, it's pretty easy to make 25-30K per launch for the repeatable commercial satellite missions for example, so money isn't exactly a problem so far. But I'm assuming the later missions dealing with the rest of the Kerbin system changes that.

Now, for my question of the day. I'm seeing a lack of rover missions, so I thought I'd take a stab at making some, but I'm a bit unsure of the actual capabilities. Can you track a rover specifically, or does the system not distinguish between a landed probe and rover? And is it possible to track distance driven?

As an simple example, would it be possible to create this type of mission? And if not, can the required features be added? (I really like rovers )

1. Launch to the Mun

2. Land on the Mun

3. Drive 10km

4. Redock rover with landing craft

5. Launch back to Kerbin

6. Land on Kerbin (extra reward for landing at KSC)

[BlazingAngel665]

First of all, this is BRILLIANT, thank you!!! It completely transformed the game for me. I've done a few stock missions and about a third of the NT missions. So far no major issues. The rewards seem ok, it's pretty easy to make 25-30K per launch for the repeatable commercial satellite missions for example, so money isn't exactly a problem so far. But I'm assuming the later missions dealing with the rest of the Kerbin system changes that.

Now, for my question of the day. I'm seeing a lack of rover missions, so I thought I'd take a stab at making some, but I'm a bit unsure of the actual capabilities. Can you track a rover specifically, or does the system not distinguish between a landed probe and rover? And is it possible to track distance driven?

As an simple example, would it be possible to create this type of mission? And if not, can the required features be added? (I really like rovers )

1. Launch to the Mun

2. Land on the Mun

3. Drive 10km

4. Redock rover with landing craft

5. Launch back to Kerbin

6. Land on Kerbin (extra reward for landing at KSC)

I included an icon for rover missions, not sure how to actually implement them though.

[AWickedWookiee]

I just downloaded this mod. When I load the game and click on the little MC logo at the bottom I see no missions listed. I tried this in several different screens with no luck. Any ideas? I am going to go and double check my installation directories.

[itsme86]

I just downloaded this mod. When I load the game and click on the little MC logo at the bottom I see no missions listed. I tried this in several different screens with no luck. Any ideas? I am going to go and double check my installation directories.

Did you click the big Configure button that lets you choose which mission pack to use?

[theSpeare]

Sure, I can do that. The percentage of recovered cost will be 40% for mass (75 for landing) and 90% for fuel (95% now).

I'm not going to argue for fuel costs because I'm sure you're already set in stone with that idea, although apparently fuel is supposed to be cheaper than the rocket engines themselves (which would make reusability a lot more viable and more encouragable) - however I would like to plead that you increase the recycle rate for mass on dry landing, to maybe 90%? I've been developing these launch vehicles very similar to SpaceX ideas where I land them right back onto the surface to save on costs, and I believe the recycle reward should be a lot higher if you're able to do this.

[White Owl]

Nobody44, I love this mod. I hope you don't feel too pestered by all us users clamoring for fixes and updates. Be sure to take time to just play.

That said... I had an idea about balancing part costs. I suggest generating a given part's construction cost by multiplying its mass by some constant for that type of part, then adding the cost value from the config file.

Example: A simple structural or aerodynamic part will be relatively inexpensive, so Cost = (mass)x(100)+(cfg cost)

A fuel tank or RCS tank is slightly more complex, so Cost = (empty mass)x(500) + (cfg cost), and of course you wisely count the actual fuel cost separately.

An SRB has to be stronger than a fuel tank, but is still fairly simple tech. Cost = (empty mass)x(1000) + (cfg cost)

A liquid-fuel rocket engine is very complex, so very expensive, and has a few more factors to consider, such as thrust, Isp and gimbal range. Cost = (mass)x(5000) + (thrust)x(500) + (gimbal range)x(1000) + (Isp in vacuum)(100) + (cfg cost)

An unmanned probe core represents the heart of the payload, so is even more expensive than an engine. Cost = (mass)x(10000) + (cfg cost)

And of course, a manned crew capsule is the most expensive piece of equipment you can find. Cost = (mass)x(25000) + (crew capacity)x(10000) + (cfg cost)

Keeping the config file cost as part of the equation allows mod authors to still have a large influence over the relative costs of their custom parts. And obviously all these numbers are just what I made up out of thin air to illustrate the idea; they would need balanced. I'm no coder, but it seems to me that since you already read the fuel quantities to generate costs, a system like this shouldn't be too very different.

Edited June 17, 2013 by White Owl