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How do you Track Your Missions


SgìobairOg

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Well, after being away from KSP for a few months due to work I've returned to find I have a group of ships in MKO and no idea what I intended to do with them. I'm at the point where I'm trying to run whole programs, I've got a GNSS cluster around Kerbin, I've got a space station build. I need to run some exploration missions to more planets but I'm still trying to work out a plausible return scenario. I've got crew stuck on Duna and Science stuck on Eve. But now I can't keep the 70-odd craft in my tracking station straight. :(

So, if you're playing like me, how do you keep your missions straight? How do you note when you leave that fuel cannister in Minmus orbit looking for an opportunity to use up the excess fuel you accidentally put up there? Are there any good programs? Or do you just make some other notes?

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I name mine with their destination and purpose: Duna Station, Tylo Lander, etc. The only things that come back are the workhorse 'tractors', eg; Eeloo Tractor - Kerbin. On the other hand I've never yet brought anything back from Moho or Eve's surface.

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3 words:

Kerbal Alarm Clock.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/24786-0-25-0-Kerbal-Alarm-Clock-v3-0-1-0-%28Oct-26%29

While it won't help you remember what all your missions are doing, you may want a notebook or something similar for that, Kerbal Alarm Clock seriously helps me with running multiple missions at once, especially so I don't forget that they're entering something elses SOI, etc. This way, while you're time warping for one mission, another mission doesn't get messed up because you forgot that it entered jool's gravity and you discover that it's now on a Kerbol Escape Trajectory.

Of course, naming your ships generically helps, such as Eve Lander, etc.

I still have no idea what the Flying Lemur is doing.

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Yeah, it would be nice if there was a way to attach a notepad to a command pod where you could write notes, such as what action group does what. I've been putting action group info on the drop down description in the VAB, but it would be really good to have that same note available and editable in-flight.

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I tend to give mine lame descriptive names like "Duna Contract Probe" or "Gilly Kethane Scanner". If it's a complicated mission (as in more than just run to x and do x) then I try to make that my "main" mission and not do any other complicated one at the same time. I use KAC also. Sometimes I just have to go through the last 10 or so entries of my tracking center to see what's already out there doing something so I don't launch doubles.

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Kerbal Alarm Clock is a lifesaver. Been using it for a while. In game notes looks like it could help as well.

Thanks

This currently have 4 interplanetary ships, Eve, Duna and two to Jool, I have 4 bases, Mun, Minmus, an orbital construction facility in minus orbit and an asteroid around Kerbin.

I also has three asteroid redirect missions. It will be worse as the ships will spawn bases on all bodies.

Kerbal alarm clock keep track of nodes, SOI changes and custom triggers. I even use it to set an timer years ahead in time for objects I visit often.

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Elucidate! Type them all in or have you some clever - and rather desirable - mod that I need to know about?

I've not done much web programming, so I decided to make learning experience out of tracking my missions/Kerbals. I've got an old laptop with a bad screen that wasn't doing much else. I have a little site with pages to display Mission, Ship, Ship Class, and Crew, including pages for adding and editing each.

http://imgur.com/a/oztsH

Every so often I come up with an idea and try to make an improvement. I also keep a page with the mods I'm using, current version, and a forum link. It comes in handy when a new version of KSP is released.

I figured it was a more interesting and personally useful learning method than going through some book and following examples to make a movie or book database.

Edited by razark
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I've not done much web programming, so I decided to make learning experience out of tracking my missions/Kerbals. I've got an old laptop with a bad screen that wasn't doing much else. I have a little site with pages to display Mission, Ship, Ship Class, and Crew, including pages for adding and editing each.

http://imgur.com/a/oztsH

Every so often I come up with an idea and try to make an improvement. I also keep a page with the mods I'm using, current version, and a forum link. It comes in handy when a new version of KSP is released.

I figured it was a more interesting and personally useful learning method than going through some book and following examples to make a movie or book database.

I have to say, that's awesome. Do you use Final Frontier as well, for tracking things like the first Kerbal on the mun/duna/every other place?

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I have to say, that's awesome. Do you use Final Frontier as well, for tracking things like the first Kerbal on the mun/duna/every other place?

Thanks. I do indeed use Final Frontier; it is part of what inspired me. At some point I intend to bring the awards from it into my system. I like what it does, but it didn't track everything I wanted.

For example, why should a Kerbal get credit for a mission when he's just along for the ride to a station in orbit? I also built limitations into it for my role-playing. Any mission with more than one crewmember must have a commander, but the commander must be qualified (either a pilot that has flown at least one previous mission OR any crewmember with at least three previous missions).

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I've not done much web programming, so I decided to make learning experience out of tracking my missions/Kerbals. I've got an old laptop with a bad screen that wasn't doing much else. I have a little site with pages to display Mission, Ship, Ship Class, and Crew, including pages for adding and editing each.

http://imgur.com/a/oztsH

Every so often I come up with an idea and try to make an improvement. I also keep a page with the mods I'm using, current version, and a forum link. It comes in handy when a new version of KSP is released.

I figured it was a more interesting and personally useful learning method than going through some book and following examples to make a movie or book database.

Cool :-) Last time I was playing with PHP I was trying to show my daughter how programming worked and made a pizza-cost comparison page ^^.

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I generaly name my ships in such a way that there intended use is obvious. Satalites are labled for what they are (remotetech relays, resorce sanners, or science probes) Along with the body they are soposed to be orbiting. Interplanetary missions have the name of their destination in them, sometimes with a discriptor to indicate a special mission/contract. Space Tugs and fuel depot stations are usualy prety obvious nomater what the name.

Kerbal alarm clock helps me keep track of events that need my attention.

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I just started a science mode game a few weeks ago, and I keep meticulous track of my missions with Google spreadsheets. On the spreadsheet, I'll have a line for each mission, which will have the ship name, mission objective, mission start date, mission end date, how much science I got, etc. Also, KAC is really something I couldn't live without.

As for ship names, I will get creative with the names, but each ship has a Star Trek style designation (ex. NCC-1700) before the name, such as KER 01 Saphire Of Dreams (KER stands for Kerbal Exploration Rocket).

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In the past I wrote a log in MS Word. Currently, after I fly a mission, I return to the VAB afterwards and write the mission details in the saved description of the ship itself. Each ship is different so they're saved by name of mission and it's easy to check each one (I've also got a fairly low number of missions even though I'm avoiding part tests).

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