Do you feel cheaty using reaction wheels?

[micha]

Hmm, this is a bad poll. You've combined the "are reaction wheels cheaty" question with "where do you use reaction wheels".

I use reaction wheels everywhere - yet I do find them cheaty. OTOH it's a game, and the core emphasis (for me) is fun. I'm not training to be a NASA mission planner after all.

[Columbia]

OTOH it's a game, and the core emphasis (for me) is fun. I'm not training to be a NASA mission planner after all.

This. You hit it on the head spot-on.

If reaction wheels are cheaty, well then---Limit their torque. If you think they're too weak, clip them together. If you think they're good enough, then.. apply them to your designs. I don't give a single regard (Honestly) on how people build. I sometimes clip jet engines together to power large airliners, I'd call that cheaty.. If I was doing a challenge in the forums.

We have to realize that these things are just a matter of preference. I don't want to use mods to reach goals I've never done before, but I shouldn't criticize people for doing so. Why? It's their game. They can do whatever they want with it - They can go to Eve, Jool, Duna, every single planet and back --- And not even EVA once. I can't do anything about their playstyle (Though I agree, it makes me twitch from Obsession-Compulsion.)

Honestly, simple as that.

[Juicy]

Somewhere in the universe, some little Kerbals are playing a game called Human Space Program, and complaining on the forums about weak reaction wheels.

[Edax]

If anything, reactions wheels need buffing as their habit of spontaneously exploding, thus spitting the craft in two and dooming all on-board is a major drawback.

[Motokid600]

Squad has to do something to encourage more use of monoprop and jets. Whether it's by nerfing reaction wheels or by some other means. There is very little critical reasons for a player to develop a good rcs system for a craft.

Either that or just take mono prop and rcs jets out of the game theres always that option. You'd probably never know there gone.

[Superfluous J]

Either that or just take mono prop and rcs jets out of the game theres always that option. You'd probably never know there gone.

When I'm landing on a docking port on Minmus' surface - let me tell you - I know when the monoprop's gone. It's when it goes from freakishly difficult to impossible.

The only change I want to be made to the reaction wheel/rcs system is to allow me to turn off RCS for rotation, yet keep it on for translation.

[John FX]

When I'm landing on a docking port on Minmus' surface - let me tell you - I know when the monoprop's gone. It's when it goes from freakishly difficult to impossible.

The only change I want to be made to the reaction wheel/rcs system is to allow me to turn off RCS for rotation, yet keep it on for translation.

IIRC MJ has that option.

[Superfluous J]

IIRC MJ has that option.

Yeah but then I have to install MechJeb.

More seriously, it's like saying "I need a hammer" and somebody suggesting you buy a controlling share of Home Depot.

[Edax]

Squad has to do something to encourage more use of monoprop and jets. Whether it's by nerfing reaction wheels or by some other means. There is very little critical reasons for a player to develop a good rcs system for a craft.

Either that or just take mono prop and rcs jets out of the game theres always that option. You'd probably never know there gone.

I'd definitely use monoprop thrusters more if they had the same soundeffects as the rcs from Apollo 13.

[Motokid600]

I'd definitely use monoprop thrusters more if they had the same soundeffects as the rcs from Apollo 13.

Yea, there ya go.

[Matt the Cat]

Ya know if you use the docking option while driving a rover around, you get more stability! Sorry if this was a repost, I didn't want to read 6 pages!

[pxi]

Sigh.

These 'is x cheating?' posts that crop up from time to time remind me of the old days when we played Street Fighter 2 in the arcades. There was always this one guy who insisted that using fireballs or heaven-forbid throwing your opponent was 'cheating'. Of course this had nothing to do with the fact that these were the same guys that repeatedly got bodied by their opponents - they were upholding an honour code, whether anyone else agreed with them or not.

Use the tools the game gives you.

[BlueCanary]

Sigh.

These 'is x cheating?' posts that crop up from time to time remind me of the old days when we played Street Fighter 2 in the arcades. There was always this one guy who insisted that using fireballs or heaven-forbid throwing your opponent was 'cheating'. Of course this had nothing to do with the fact that these were the same guys that repeatedly got bodied by their opponents - they were upholding an honour code, whether anyone else agreed with them or not.

Use the tools the game gives you.

I'm not so much saying I think it's cheaty as that sometimes I find it more rewarding to find a more difficult but more realistic solution.

- - - Updated - - -

Ya know if you use the docking option while driving a rover around, you get more stability! Sorry if this was a repost, I didn't want to read 6 pages!

Unfortunately the way I have controls mapped that wouldn't do anything, I have arrow keys for driving and WASD for rotation so docking mode wouldn't do anything except block off rotation.

[KerikBalm]

Well, I wish they modeled saturation of the reaction wheels, but I don't have a problem with them being able to turn a ship faster than they could IRL... gameplay means a 0 minute turn isn't very fun.

The whole time-warp stops rotation thing would have to be changed though to get things realistic

[Accelerando]

People like you making threads like these sap me of my will to play video games

The entire gist of every single one of "is X cheating?" threads ends up being to/to not legitimize making other people feel bad about the way they play games. As if it's a question that needs debating. I hate every single one of these threads and I want them to end forever

Edited July 21, 2015 by Accelerando

[BlueCanary]

People like you making threads like these sap me of my will to play video games

The entire gist of every single one of "is X cheating?" threads ends up being to/to not legitimize making other people feel bad about the way they play games. As if it's a question that needs debating. I hate every single one of these threads and I want them to end forever

Calm down, this is a thread asking a question about the way people use a feature in a video game, not asking about the best way to set puppies on fire. I was just wondering whether other people use reaction wheels the same way as me, not trying to make anyone feel bad about anything. That OK by you, Forum Gestapo?

EDIT:

Also if you read this thread you will notice the only person trying to make anyone feel bad is you, and nobody at any time has stated or even implied "my way of playing the game is right and your way is wrong".

Edited July 21, 2015 by BlueCanary

[Accelerando]

Calm down, this is a thread asking a question about the way people use a feature in a video game, not asking about the best way to set puppies on fire. I was just wondering whether other people use reaction wheels the same way as me, not trying to make anyone feel bad about anything. That OK by you Forum Gestapo?

A "question about the way people use a feature in a video game" that in a thousand other threads, a thousand other times, has produced the exact same result: endless bickering over whether or not it's "legitimate" for people to use the features they want in their single-player game that they paid money for. You may not be shooting for that type of discussion, but that's exactly where it ends up, without fail. I'm sick of watching it happen, I'm sure it makes plenty of people feel like crap. So I'd rather those threads just disappear.

I'd apologize for my harshness, but hey, why not compare an angry forum post to the institutions of an organization that slaughtered millions of Jewish people, among many others? I'm sure they appreciate the sympathy.

[Megadeath]

So, I'm gonna be the dumb guy in the room, because I'd rather read it here: people keep talking about saturation of reaction wheels; what does that mean?

As to the realism vs gameplay, it seems to me they went with a gameplay focus. To me at least, a rocket feels like its weight when turning on reaction wheels alone. Using them in rovers, or atmospheric craft feels op, but I do it anyway. My justification runs: nasa/esa/whatever plan things out ahead, and play it cautious and this would be boring;

[Loerelau]

I am not using them on rovers (turn off all reaction wheels), but I do on normal spaceships.

[BlueCanary]

So, I'm gonna be the dumb guy in the room, because I'd rather read it here: people keep talking about saturation of reaction wheels; what does that mean?

As to the realism vs gameplay, it seems to me they went with a gameplay focus. To me at least, a rocket feels like its weight when turning on reaction wheels alone. Using them in rovers, or atmospheric craft feels op, but I do it anyway. My justification runs: nasa/esa/whatever plan things out ahead, and play it cautious and this would be boring;

I think the idea is that on craft in real life that use reaction wheels, after a while they have built up so much momentum that they cannot spin any faster and so become ineffective, so another form of attitude control (usually rcs) has to be used to "dump" the momentum so reaction wheels can be used again. This would add more challenge to gameplay be meaning craft could not rely on reaction wheels infinitely and would need some rcs too.

[Red Iron Crown]

Did a thread about reaction wheels just get Godwinned? D:

Please dial back the rhetoric and personal attacks. It is OK for people to think a certain playstyle is cheating, or not; surely we can share our opinions here without resorting to that sort of arguing.

[Kuu Lightwing]

Squad has to do something to encourage more use of monoprop and jets. Whether it's by nerfing reaction wheels or by some other means. There is very little critical reasons for a player to develop a good rcs system for a craft.

Can you give any reasons for doing so? You don't like how other players play the game?

Either that or just take mono prop and rcs jets out of the game theres always that option. You'd probably never know there gone.

Given this part of the comment you won't probably notice if the docking ports are gone.

[Rath]

The capsule comes with RCS fuel I wonder why RCS jets are not stock. Then the reaction wheels would be cheat, once they had reached full spin you can simply use the stock jets to bring them back to zero.

RCS jets are stock, you may be playing career and not have unlocked them yet.

http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Place-Anywhere_7_Linear_RCS_Port

http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/RV-105_RCS_Thruster_Block

http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Vernor_Engine

[pxi]

I'm not so much saying I think it's cheaty as that sometimes I find it more rewarding to find a more difficult but more realistic solution.

It's a fair question, it's the way it's phrased in the topic title that gets me -> Do you feel cheaty using reaction wheels? IMHO if questions like these were phrased in less pointed language, the resulting discussions would be more positive.

I'm all for you playing towards a self-imposed challenge btw. No issues on that front.

[BlueCanary]

It's a fair question, it's the way it's phrased in the topic title that gets me -> Do you feel cheaty using reaction wheels? IMHO if questions like these were phrased in less pointed language, the resulting discussions would be more positive.

I'm all for you playing towards a self-imposed challenge btw. No issues on that front.

Yeah, I did think the title was a bit easy to misconstrue, but I couldn't really think of a better way to word it.

Really, the main reason I posted this thread because I was making rovers that used reaction wheels for flip avoidance and stability and I was wondering if people would be disappointed/less likely to download than if they used another solution.

Edited July 21, 2015 by BlueCanary