Why are flags considered "flights"?

[Johnny Wishbone]

Ok, time for something petty that has always bothered me: why are planted flags considered "flights in progress"?

When you resume a saved game, it says " X flights in progress" under the name of the game where X is the number of ships, bases, rovers, probes, and stations you have in flight (basically, anything with a capsule or probe core). I find this weird, since a flag is not a controllable object (yes, you can focus on them, but you can't do anything with them). Why would it be included in the count with capsules and probes, but debris is not? Shouldn't debris be included then too?

My preference would be to not include planted flags in the "flights in progress" count. Like I said, its just a petty detail that bothers me.

[Mister Dilsby]

Well they could be flights--haven't you ever run a flag over with a rover?

[regex]

Because KSP.

[r4pt0r]

Because KSP.

Basically. This has been brought up numerous times. A cursory search shows the oldest "flags aren't flights" thread is from August of 2013 , and theres another in October of '13 as well.

You would think something would have been done about it by now.

Edit: If you can find an older one, please share.

[Mister Dilsby]

Basically. This has been brought up numerous times. A cursory search shows [...]

And here I thought your forum title referred to real life ancient history

[thadisjones]

Well they could be flights--haven't you ever run a flag over with a rover?

Have you ever planted a "Guide Beacon" flag at the end of the runway, and come in SO LOW APPROACH when landing you clipped it?

[stupid_chris]

Do you not ride your flags to the Mun? Mu would be dissapointed in you.

[Remkeau]

To quote some other forum user (who? forgot) on this issue: it's becausing you are flying a flag, no?

[Wallace]

You can find and jump to them from the tracking centre, and so I guess the flights number is just the total of all the things you can jump to the the tracking centre.

[wolfedg]

Perhaps the flags are sentient and just haven't developed the ability to move yet.

[pincushionman]

You can find and jump to them from the tracking centre, and so I guess the flights number is just the total of all the things you can jump to the the tracking centre.

You can jump to debris from the TC too, that don't make them flights either.

[JumpsterG]

Well they could be flights--haven't you ever run a flag over with a rover?

Huh. Now that you mention it, I have never touched a flag once it was placed... Is it really possible to dislodge flags by hitting them?

I want to test this now...

P.S. Agreed, remove them from the count of active flights, please. Non-critical, which is why it's been ignored, but mildly annoying.

[Sidereus]

Huh. Now that you mention it, I have never touched a flag once it was placed... Is it really possible to dislodge flags by hitting them?

I want to test this now...

P.S. Agreed, remove them from the count of active flights, please. Non-critical, which is why it's been ignored, but mildly annoying.

Not sure about that, but I've had them explode randomly and for no discernible reason. Near as I can figure it was a glitch involving time warp.

[Superfluous J]

You would think something would have been done about it by now.

Actually I wouldn't. On the list of "things fixed in 1.0," if "Flags are now not considered flights in progress" was in the list, my personal hype-list would have it somewhere near "We fixed the spelling in this submenu that nobody ever noticed until late one night I saw red squiggly lines under the word in the config file."

I'm much happier that they've been working on pretty much every single other thing in the game, rather than this.

Except the whole ROUND-8 thing. Not too happy about that.

[dryer_lint]

Because the flags are objects represented as separate Tracking Station entities. The game refers to these objects as "flights".

I mean, come on guys. What do you want them to do, make special categories for Objects That Do Not Fly?

[RainDreamer]

On the same note, why are bases and rovers considered flights? Feels like they are better called missions.

[Twreed87]

Because the flags are objects represented as separate Tracking Station entities. The game refers to these objects as "flights".

I mean, come on guys. What do you want them to do, make special categories for Objects That Do Not Fly?

Except it doesn't include debris, which are also represented in the Tracking Station. And since debris is hidden by default from the tracking station, as are flags, you'd think they'd treat them the same way for "flights in progress"

It's not about the semantic use of the word "flights" for things that aren't flying (I mean, you do fly a flag, afterall) but more about the fact that once a flag is up, you're never going to do anything with it again, so why act like it's some active thing? I like to keep my active flights from cluttering up by turning useless things into debris when I'm done with it. This way, when I load up a save and it says "10 flights in progress" that means there are 10 things I'm currently paying attention to/working on. I don't want it saying "50 flights in progress" because I planted a bunch of flags everywhere.

[Findthepin1]

Why are flags considered "flights"?

I don't think the flags can tell the difference.

To quote another user (idk who), because KSP.

[dryer_lint]

Except it doesn't include debris, which are also represented in the Tracking Station. And since debris is hidden by default from the tracking station, as are flags, you'd think they'd treat them the same way for "flights in progress"

Oh, I didn't know this...

Excuse my over-eagerness back there

[jwenting]

In the English language, saying that you're flying a flag is a valid expression meaning you're raising/hanging out a flag.

[AbacusWizard]

Perhaps the flags are sentient and just haven't developed the ability to move yet.

Or maybe they're just moving veeeeeeeery slooooooooooowly.

[Superfluous J]

In the English language, saying that you're flying a flag is a valid expression meaning you're raising/hanging out a flag.

But nobody would call a flag "in flight" unless it was actually on a plane or something.

[Renegrade]

Actually I wouldn't. On the list of "things fixed in 1.0," if "Flags are now not considered flights in progress" was in the list, my personal hype-list would have it somewhere near "We fixed the spelling in this submenu that nobody ever noticed until late one night I saw red squiggly lines under the word in the config file."

I'm much happier that they've been working on pretty much every single other thing in the game, rather than this.

^ that's pretty much how I regard it too.

(there's lots of well written opinions in the KSP forum, and in such variety that I can usually find one that's really close to how I feel )

[Technical Ben]

Because programming. I would guess a "flight" actually means an "instance/item/object to track in game". As it's tracked and a thing, the game (programmers) puts it in the same space as "flights" and space craft.

[JimmyAgent007]

also since debris is something that you can choose not to leave laying around (the slider in the options) they dont want you loosing flags because of that.

that being said, they can make it a pseudo debris that never gets cleaned up.