diomedea

Well, yes, I believe that. I know what it takes to build a comms infrastructure using RT2, and you get nowhere without having built it. Indeed my plan would be to add new missions and modify the ones standard to StoryMissions, to accommodate for RT2 and other mods. I know that getting in a perfect KSO orbit is a daunting task. Even more so, if I want my satellite to be exactly at a specific longitude. I am rather proud having been able to place one of my main comms relay sat within 0,2° on the vertical of KSP, and to make it remain there within 0,1 sec/orbit (I have two such sats in KSO, almost opposite, and they are all I really need in terms of comms to support any other mission). Even so, it takes only 600 orbits (150 days) before moving 1° out of position and needing realignment. But that is what is done IRL with geosync sats, and I don't want (yet) this game to become too easy.

Welcome, fellow kerbonaut. While I don't know about a single tool to give you transfer windows in KSP, I believe you could be interested in the following two: - Launch Window Planner (http://alexmoon.github.io/ksp/), a tool that calculates such windows in a browser, external to the game. As you may see using that tool, there are a number of parameters about your desired transfer to set. - Kerbal Alarm Clock (KAC) (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/kerbal-alarm-clock-2/), a tool that allows you to set a reminder for almost any action ingame (and realworld time as well). So, if I plan a mission somwhere, first check the Window Planner and find the time of the launch, then set an alarm with KAC. Duration of flight and required Delta-V from the planner are also very useful, so you can build/use a ship with the required performance.

That was fast. Thanks. All fine and smooth with the save I use with your mod. However, with other saves where I don't use your mod, the welcome window proposing the first mission still opens at restart. But now the correct setting is already pre-selected, so I have just to close that window to proceed (one clic, it was three clics before). However, I may have found a trick. If I edit the file 'KSPStoryMissions.sav' stored with my game, and at line "NextMission = " change the mission to 'nil', no more welcome window opened, just the stock KSP space center.

@ Patupi: Yes, black-out came out as I was mainly thinking at g-stress (you may guess, I like flight sims too). More on that, I have a vague idea (of which I made a post for suggestions to Squad) about fitness and training of Kerbonauts, therefore stress endurance would be increased if properly trained, but on the reverse fitness decreases while Jeb and Co. remain inactive while aboard a ship for some time. And the above "fitness" parameter may easily accommodate for rehabilitation after hibernation (or even after an illness).

@ Patupi: I like your ideas, if ever we succeed in having a form of life suspension depicted, those are all valid points to consider. I certainly need to define a 'state' for kerbals being aboard a ship but inactive, without any possibility to accomplish any task; that's not for life suspension only (e.g., I think we could have sleeping cycles, black-outs, possibly even illnesses in a far future). It certainly should require time to get into or away from life suspension. I was thinking at least 8 hrs., but I have yet to see how long will take a journey to Jool or beyond when I use some of the advanced drives (not only stock game, but from other mods as well). If they reduce travelling there to only a few days, it would not make sense to get into/out of hibernation. Very smart your idea about the risks from immature technology. That should be applied to all the advancements in game, maybe we could have a variable with each new device representing reliability, begins low when just discovered and increases each time it is used (exponentially up to 100%). I see a whole new branch developing in the space center here: technological improvements through parts testing, of course requires some labs to conduct (and the player will have to spend time and money to have his parts properly tested/improved). Eh, my tanks may even stop exploding on the launchpad... However, I'm dreaming too much about how this game may develop.

@ Frederf: You're pretty right. However, I can't really ask KAC to implement the perfect solution as it goes way beyond time calculations. On split-manouevers, the correct solution requires to recalculate the orbital change with each single burn, and each burn to be applied so to consider the full time of the manoeuver and the end position of the intercept. However, nothing like the above can be asked from KAC, I have yet to find any of the navigation mods with KSP be able to consider a split-man, less so to solve it. I would rather keep and update a single node for the whole manouever, instead of generating new ones, but this is only a matter of preference. About long-durations, this is another aspect that KSP doesn't seem to me accurate enough. Speed should be integrated along the burn, while mass is decreasing with fuel expenditure and therefore acceleration increases. There is no simple solution to this navigation problem, integration over burntime is the way serious tools go. Instead the whole KSP model for calculating trajectories seems to me to account only for the end-result (final speed, final mass). Lacking better tools with KSP, it would be enough for me that KAC provides for the approximate 50/50% before/after the node. That alone would be accurate enough for at least 90% of those manouevers where time of burn is really relevant.

@ Stodgy: I had a go with your mod, like the idea behind it and think more of it is better. As I like to play with a number of other mods as well (e.g., RT2, Kethane), I would like to make missions relevant to those, not only to stock KSP. I figure I could make so if it was possible to have conditions for success be based also on the following: - Orbital parameters: success is achieved only when my ship is within a set tolerance from: requested apoapsis, requested eccentricity (and a derivative: requested orbital period), requested inclination, requested ascending node longitude, requested argument of periapsis and requested anomaly at a set time; not all of them always required, but success depends on having reached all the set parameters at the same time. - Land position: success is achieved if landed within a set distance from a requested latitude/longitude on a specific body. - Activation of one or more devices (and possibly other specific actions connected with the peculiar devices) while in a specified orbit or land position. The above should be repeatable, so to have a single mission require more than one device activation, while in different spots. While I'm here, I would suggest a small config file was created with each game. Every time I restart KSP and enter any of my games, your mod pops up with its welcome @ the space center proposing a mission; if I am not interested to play with your mod in a specific game, I must always disable it at each game restart.

In my main game I noticed that a number of my communication probes in orbit, when I take them in control and exactly when I use the RT2 Flight computer (to change their orientation or to stop rotation), they start shaking violently and are reduced to pieces. I have resorted to only manually control them. Must say beyond RT2 (ver 1.2.7) I have a number of other mods installed. Is there anything I could do? In case this could be useful to isolate any bug in RT2, should I provide any further info?

IMHO, and again it is a matter of personal opinion, your solution would be more expensive if the cost of each ship was computed. For me it is, again, a matter of reality to consider also the cost, even if the game puts no limit in that regard. Then, again IMHO, it could become a nightmare to keep routinely sending ships. You are running your mission with a huge logistical train behind, and that kind of approach generally spells disaster in all kinds of operations in our world... (maybe not on kerbin, however). Absolutely concur. I totally respect your approach, as well. You certainly are a skilled modder yourself, therefore better at finding what may not run right. But you also have the right to play (and test) what you like. @ TaranisElsu: if you like, I could have a look at those recyclers. Maybe you will have to tell me one thing or two about what to catch, however.

Extremely useful plugin. Many thanks regex for this. I have tried other mods here, but whenever I need to perform a precision manouever (could be a perfect orbital insertion, a most timely burn, or just the least expensive) I use PreciseNode to check if my plan is really the best. If only I could ask PreciseNode and have it check automatically for me...

@ regex: yours is a valid approach, proof is the "picnic ship" is what is used in reality to keep the ISS crewed. However, let me explain my view on this. If humans ever will be sent to external planets and beyond, the best strategy will be as depicted in "2001: a space odissey". With at least part of the crew hybernated. If you consider it, we are actually closer to a successful cryostasis than to a fusion drive, though the latter is more commonly depicted in space games. Anyway, I don't want to suspend consumption of consumables altogether, rather to be able to reduce it (at a price: a cryostatic chamber is a pretty heavy item to bring in space). And also to increase the rate of consumption when the circumstances require. Therefore the amount of supplies available on board remains an important logistical factor in planning a space mission. I like realism, therefore I play with this mod; but in my view we have to be able to use foreseeable technology as well, or we shouldn't even send a kerbal beyond Duna.

@ fenderzilla: Yes, whatever we call it (cryogenic chamber, life suspension, hybernation device) the effect is to reduce methabolism --> reduce consumption of supplies --> allow longer journeys. That is one of the possibilities opened by allowing a variable rate of consumption, you may find Aknar already introduced this concept @ post #271 and myself mumbling about "life suspension" (among other things) @ post #276. Welcome to the club!

Thanks for your attention towards my proposal. If I understand you correctly, you would like to implement a calculation of the burn duration (meaning to know mass of the ship, thrust of the engines and the speed change required). That would certainly be outstanding, as I see the KSP stock game itself being erratic in showing such value. If you can get a correct burn duration, then you can also implement correctly the countdown to the node (what I was asking, but probably I was not clear enough) as the time left before the node (current time minus time of the node, both perfectly known already to your mod) minus half the burn duration (this last term I have never seen considered in stock KSP countdown). Now, if you are going to calculate the burn duration, you may also make this a perfect tool by including a warning that a split-manouever is required (another thing totally lacking in KSP). A split-manouever must be done whenever the burn duration is too long compared with the orbit period (generally the case with low-thrust engines) so that a single continued burn would also be applied at a wrong position; instead the total burn duration must be split to occur in a number of orbits, always at the same phase. In case of a split, the node must not be cleared until after the last portion of the burn, and possibly an alarm should be re-created after each partial burn to warn for the time of the next.

Have you had a look at FAR (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/ferram-aerospace-research/)? That mod includes a "Control & Analysis System" that opens in VAB/SPH to show all kinds of static and stability data (among others). Very detailed, even too much oriented to true aerospace engineers, requires some knowledge of the matter to be used properly. And this feature is not even advertised as it should!

@ MacTee: many thanks. Very useful set of Vids you suggested, can't believe not to have found them stickied somewhere on the forum or the Wiki. Useful the thread with the example plugin, as well (I had that already bookmarked, though). And thanks for your hints about versioning systems. Pity about KSP documentation, it is all "find yourself and share with others" here?

As I can't find any definite answer from previous threads, I ask any of the experienced good souls here the fatal question: - what is the correct set-up for a modder? I already have MS Visual Studio Express, no problem I can read C#. But is Unity required for anything, and if so, what version? I have some experience with project control, mostly subversion and variants. And GoogleCode. But I see many developers here like GitHub: should I open an account over there as well? Or would you suggest otherwise? Is there any repository online with KSP reference documentation, where you can find described what visible methods do from the stock DLLs?

The astronaut complex in the space center seems to be ready for a good overhaul, though I have still to find any suggestion or plan about its development. So, let me post my thinking. To start, each and every Kerman has to gain a few more tracts; courage and (lack of) intelligence being not enough for a "true" kerbonaut. First new tract: Fitness. To be related with the amount of exercise that the Kerman has put in his preparation. Fitness will slowly decline if not actively kept, even during space trips. To gain fitness, @ the complex there need be a number of proper tools: a gym, a centrifuge (for High-G), a water-splash trainer (like Dilbert Dunker), a pool (for neutral-buoyancy AKA 0-grav training), a long-stay closed complex. Second new tract: Flight ability, to be improved with basic physics studies, flying lessons, and extensive use of simulators. Third new tract: Science ability, to be improved with more science studies, and laboratories, to simulate scientific experiments. To add to the training facilities mentioned above, a medical centre. Not that a Kerman ever gets ill (unless you want to introduce that too, would be nice) but to provide medical tests. Then, any Kerbonaut needs to be qualified for flight (either atmospheric or in space) by comparing his skills and medical tests. The player may actually act as the head of the qualifying office, and allow even poorly trained Kermen to go, but the results may not be optimal. Indeed (I reckon somebody already suggested something along the following lines somewhere), fitness should be made a limit to sustain manoeuvers, EVAs, low and high gravity environments. Flight ability may limit how precise and fast any manouever will be made. Science ability will limit the amount of science recovered with experiments.

TBH, I am only at the very beginning with KSP modding, though I know where my towel is with other game mods and some programming. What I believe to have pretty clear is that I need a variable instanced for every Kerman in game, to represent his actual stress. This variable must be initiated to be = 1.0 at game start (No logic to actually calculate its value until somebody takes that task, me included). And of course, to have this variable enter the calculation about resources consumption/transformation (I believe are at lines 133-135 and 139-141 in GlobalSettings.cs, with the source of this mod). I have begun looking through the methods exported by Unity DLLs, have seen a few about animations as well but can't say which does what (while still looking for proper references). Therefore I can't promise to come out with anything useful for your idea in general. But who knows...

@ Aknar: yes, you earlier put a lot of ideas, variable consumption of resources included but more or less that was lost to me, it seemed you were just considering how to make Kermen react to deprivation (beyond other points I am not going to discuss). While my point remains to have consumption of resources made variable based on (so called) "stress". But I accept you were the first to have shown a concept of variable consumption of resources. In that sense, my proposal could be seen as going one step deeper about your concept. What I propose does not imply (directly) to change the mood of Kermen, facial look or else. But certainly there are points in common among the two proposals. Dunno if any script could be tied to a calculation of a Kerman activity (your point, I believe) but you may be right; a Kerman activity is actually very much at the base of my "stress" concept, therefore modding such a script may be a part for including my proposals as well. I certainly see the chance to have both become a reality, and working together. But to tell more, I also would like to see other things about kerbonauts (not strongly related to Life Support) that also will have an effect on "stress" calculation. While I have to wait and see what Squad will be cooking for us in the future versions, I certainly expect Kerbonauts to be given much more attention; possibly with added values, performance statistics, training devices. Therefore I anticipate that stress may be calculated considering fitness, and Kerbs must undergo fitness sessions and tests before a flight.

@ TaranisElsu (and others who may want to comment on this). ON CONSUMPTION RATES In case you ever want to add even more realism to your fine mod, please consider that resource comsumption rates are not to be a constant. I mean, I am absolutely fine with a normal Kerman consuming 1 of each resource a day, but in a normal condition only. With "normal condition", let me default to being relaxing on Kerbin, or enjoying a spacetrip without causes of concern. There are a lot of circumstances when conditions are less-than-perfect for a Kerman. So, let me introduce the concept of "stress". A Kerman experiences stress in a variety of situations, like when doing hazardous jobs (EVA ?), heavy jobs (had they to lift and carry around some items during their walk on Duna?), training to keep his/her body fit (they must, if they have to reach Laythe and be of any use once landed), but most of all when experiencing high-G acceleration (in case you don't believe me, just look Bill or Bob, their horrified faces during launch tells enough). On the contrary, we could have a device for long space journeys with the effect to reduce consumption rates. A sort of "partial life suspension" that will also make Jeb & Co. less reactive when activated (so, you have to switch that device off, or Jeb will take 10x more time than usual to perform even the simplest duty). On top of that, we could also have a device measuring "stress" in real time for each Kerman aboard a ship. Sort of a "Life monitoring system", I reckon that was a standard item with human crews in space. I am actually not asking you (yet) to make all of the above. But to start, to allow that to be implemented in future versions, allowing consumption rates to be calculated with regard to the "stress" variable. In case you allow this, I am going through your source files to see if I can understand how your mod works and if I can be of any help to implement any of the above (no promise, I have some expertise with other games but I am just starting with KSP).

@ toadicus: That's fine for me. Thanks. That gives me precision when required, at the same time allows improved readability by changing scale (I reckon that's also consistent with tristavius fine ideas). If only I could have one more desire to satisfy, that would remain the 'configurable pane'. VOID's Orbital Info pane I tend to keep always open (with extended info subpane as well), but is a bit too obtrusive on the GUI. However, while manouvering (or waiting the correct time) I really need to keep watch of one or two values here and another there, e.g. Periapsis + Inclination + Orbital period. Would like to be able to setup myself a custom pane (or a few, to account for different circumstances) with only the chosen values displayed, and keep just that custom pane open. @ tristavius: good points. Anyway, I was certainly less than clear in my previous post, sorry. I failed to explain why I need such precision. Then, let me give an example: I want to build a station in a lagrangian point (I know KSP does not allow true Lagrange points as the gravitational laws are a bit 'tweaked', so let do with a fake one). I can simulate to be in a L4 or L5 point when relative position of my station to the minor body does not change with time (I suspect that L1, L2 and L3 points can't actually be faked in KSP). For L4 and L5 points, I need to have set my station with exactly the same orbital parameters of the minor body, but for longitude (that has to be apart enough to be outside of the minor body SoI). Because fake, my Lagrangian points are not intrinsically stable, therefore any minor deviation from the correct orbital parameters result in relative motion with the minor body. So, I want the upmost precision to keep such inconsistency to a minimum.

@ Vanamonde: absolutely concur (yes I'm repeating my thought: finding things myself is one of the most rewarding feelings...). But thanks, since I tried KSP for the first time I have continued to believe to be missing documentation on it, and it could be only my fault not being good enough to find. I have already gone through pages 'n pages of threads about gameplay questions, thanks. Some good finds there.

Welcome mate. About the badges, go see here to have them custom made for you: http://ribbons.cgagnier.ca/ Of course, earning them is a different thing. Complete missions, achieve objectives. Career mode, to make the accomplishment that bit more serious. To make things more rewarding, I also use a few mods to improve realism. P.S. you're from Belgium? I lived 3 yrs in Mons (2003-2006), my soul has remained there since then.

@ Trigger Au First off, compliments for your mod. KAC is really my No.1 'must have', couldn't live without. I have a suggestion. Sorry in case it was already considered (but I can't find about it in this thread). KSP is very nice, lots of good features and such. But for one thing, that is closely connected with time: countdown to burn time. Yes, that value that appears to the right of the Navball and down when a node exists. Problem is, it is way too small and almost not noticeable. IMHO, such an important value should be put in full evidence, at least when the focus is on the relevant ship and the time-to-burn goes below a set threshold (say, 10 sec., but could be adjustable). I believe everything needed to set an 'alarm' at burntime-10sec. already exists in KAC, the only thing should be to create an action when that alarm goes off, that will display the countdown in a larger font, in a set position onscreen (I would initially set it just @ the center) and a set colour (I would initially make it dark red, to differentiate from other readings and provide a sense of urgency). At burntime = 0, or shortly after in case no burn was initiated, this additional display will disappear being no more relevant. Being nothing more than a value to be properly displayed at the correct time (already known to KAC), I am under the impression that you could very easily implement this. Could you please be so kind to evaluate the feasability of such feature?

Yeah, I will. eventually. find time to go through those vids and raise my hands and call mission control (Squad technos) about my hardware rig. But finding things myself is one of the most rewarding feelings here on Kerbin, so I am also tempted to try, and try harder each time, with rocket building to find how to build a proper heavylifter.