Who else doesn't Time Warp to Interplanetary Transfers?

[Bishop149]

Yep, I'm in this club. . . . I feel very uncomfortable timewarping away more than about 1x Minmus transfer time (6-10 days)

In my current career save I think the longest I have timewarped in one go is about 30 days.

Therefore I have thus far only visited (and returned from) Eve and sent a multiship mission to Duna which will arrive in the next 60 days or so.

One of the earliest things I did was launch a bunch of stuff at Jool. . . .don't think it even half way yet.

It just feels wrong to "waste" years.

[CoriW]

If I have something else I want to do in the meantime, I'll do it. Usually I'll warp ~150-200 Kerbal days at a time, then go transmit science from my stations. When necessary I send the crews down to collect more data to process, or rotate crews. Otherwise, it's just warp to the window.

The explore contracts are what mostly interests me now, as the joy of launching satellite after satellite or flying to some random spot for zero science is long gone for me.

Everybody must use time warp to some degree. If you didn't, that means you could be waiting three to four real months for windows to arrive, assuming you left KSP running 24/7.

Yeah I can definitely agree with launching satellite after satellite or going to random spots losing it's appeal very quickly. On the note of the degree of time warp usage I typically only use time warp within planetary SOI, which I think makes time go by at a reasonable pace, without having "nothing" happening for extended periods of time. I only don't time warp for interplanetary transfers as I find it makes too much time go by where nothing is accomplished, essentially wasted time that could be spend doing stuff within Kerbin SOI for example.

[GarrisonChisholm]

I play the same style as the OP. I'm not accelerating interplanetary travel too much and instead do Kerbin missions until something arrives close to it's destination. And i use Kerbal Alarm Clock too for that matter. I actually guess there are lots of people playing that style.

I agree with Doc, & am one of the "lot". The only time I accelerate time is for orbital changes, whether on Mun/Min missions or dropping Peri at other worlds (so far only Eve/Duna). So, between completing contracts from extant orbiters & landers (cheese) time really marches the most on my Mun/Minmus missions. I have 8 outbound planetary missions, and that is about the most I am comfortable with, as on my kirst [typo fully accidental, but hey its a K!] play-through (stock) my Alarm Clock is a tablet of looseleaf.

[stratvox]

Well, I'm playing like the original poster, using KAC. I am planning on continuing to do so until I finish unlocking the tech tree, at which point I will be taking larger steps in time, to collect science from labs and turn it into money via the Admin building. I will allow I find some types of contract more tedious than others, so I've gotten better at turning those down when they come up in Mission Control; still sometimes they are useful. The early part of the contract game is necessarily going to include a lot of farming so that you can garner operating funds as well as science, but I expect that once I get past that it will become more interesting as I will be spending more time waiting for transfer windows to other planets while my labs do my farming for me.

The early farming does in fact fulfil a useful purpose; all those surface sample/eva/yadda contracts help the player get together the skills needed for landing on bodies without atmospheres. Yep... you need skillz to explore the planets. I'm currently on day I dunno close to day 180 I guess, just had my second window to Moho (this time I sent an orbital surveyor with enough dV to actually remain in orbit instead of just doing a flyby like the first one I sent on day 8). I think working within those contraints is actually good... I simply didn't have the tech or the money to do more than a flyby on the first Moho transfer window, which makes it "feel" more like I'm running a space program. Of course, it's a hundred and seventy days later and I've leapfrogged about thirty to forty years in human space tech development, but hey... it's a game .

I don't necessarily mind blowing past huge time, but only when I don't have other alternatives. I still have lots of science to collect over the coming half year kerbal time; my second moho satellite will be coming in, and there are still plenty of biomes on Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus for me to get landers on and sample, and as I continue my way through the tech tree I'll be needing to make return trips as I unlock more instruments. After I get to that, it'll be warp time as I get various missions aloft to other planets.

<shrug> Seems to be a reasonable way to approach it to me.

[problemecium]

A poll would be nice for this thread.

I'm one of those who uses KAC to scope out all the transfer dates and then does other stuff until it's time to go. In my current save I didn't even build my Jool ship until about a week before the transfer window arrived. The time before then was spent working up the tech tree and establishing some orbiting outposts around Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus.

[panzer1b]

Yeah I can definitely agree with launching satellite after satellite or going to random spots losing it's appeal very quickly. On the note of the degree of time warp usage I typically only use time warp within planetary SOI, which I think makes time go by at a reasonable pace, without having "nothing" happening for extended periods of time. I only don't time warp for interplanetary transfers as I find it makes too much time go by where nothing is accomplished, essentially wasted time that could be spend doing stuff within Kerbin SOI for example.

I second that, the only cool stuff i liked in career was the experience, limits on probe autopilots (actually i dont even use autopilot so thats a moot point), and some exploration.

That said, everything in career i can do in sandbox (and im not limited by science or money or other grindy things). I guess im in that creative crowd that got here before science mode was even a thing, and i feel that those 2 modes just impose useless limitations on me.

I kinda like to play KSP more military wise though, set up multiple factions, and switch between them and try to take over planets, destroy other factions, ect. This sofar has yet to get boring as it makes me constantly develop new vessels, better armor, better weapons, better tanks, ect, all to counter some development i made for another faction. KSP is a COMBAT SIMULATOR, not a peaceful exploration game!

[Warzouz]

Well, I don't usually timewarp to the transfert window of the planet I want to go. I usually plan to go on the next planet which window is coming.

For example, I'm planning a Eve ascent vehicle because I've a window in 20 days. But I still need to send return vehicle to most of my stations to do crew rotations.

That's why, i beta 0.9, I didn't go to Eve, but Jool instead. I had a window in 30 days, so I design a hugh exploration space station (13 fight parts assembled around Laythe. I played 3 weeks on that one...

[CoriW]

A poll would be nice for this thread.

I'm one of those who uses KAC to scope out all the transfer dates and then does other stuff until it's time to go. In my current save I didn't even build my Jool ship until about a week before the transfer window arrived. The time before then was spent working up the tech tree and establishing some orbiting outposts around Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus.

Your absolutely right, a poll would be an amazing idea for this thread... Consider it done.

[Superfluous J]

I used to do missions while waiting for transfer windows, until I realized I was doing a dozen boring things waiting for that window to do the fun thing I wanted to do 3 weeks ago that I've now forgotten what it was.

Now, when I want to go somewhere, I time warp to it.

[Skalou]

haha,

do you really wait 2 years for a launch windows?

see you in KSP 3.0 (with a broken save) for the capture burn!

(or maybe i didn't unsterstand well the question)

[EladDv]

i just do what i want and efficiency be damned! i dont use transfer windows- i overkill!

[CoriW]

haha,

do you really wait 2 years for a launch windows?

see you in KSP 3.0 (with a broken save) for the capture burn!

(or maybe i didn't unsterstand well the question)

Well, what I do is I will use Time Warp but only for missions that are going on within a planet's SOI. So for example rather than Time Warping for 100 days until my Duna transfer window comes up, I'll do Mun and Minmus missions, only Time Warping during those (so like 3 days for a Mun mission, and 10 days for a Minmus mission) until my transfer window. The same thing goes for after I send a ship off to another planet, I don't Time Warp until it arrives at Duna, but instead do more missions on Kerbin/Mun/Minmus and only Time Warping during those, until the ship bound for Duna arrives there.

Then later when I send a ship to Jool for example, I'll use Time Warp within the Jool system. The idea is that I don't Time Warp specifically to get to a launch window, or during a ship's interplanetary transfer because the time I would spend warping could be utilized to do other missions within planetary SOI's that only require small amounts of warp (For example, a Minmus mission may require 10 days of warping.)

I hope that better explains.

[moogoob]

I got into an argument with someone on Reddit once about my habit of launching interplanetary missions into 650KM orbits just so timewarp would be fast enough. I don't go on Reddit any more.

[Skalou]

Well, what I do is I will use Time Warp but only for missions that are going on within a planet's SOI. So for example rather than Time Warping for 100 days until my Duna transfer window comes up, I'll do Mun and Minmus missions, only Time Warping during those (so like 3 days for a Mun mission, and 10 days for a Minmus mission) until my transfer window. The same thing goes for after I send a ship off to another planet, I don't Time Warp until it arrives at Duna, but instead do more missions on Kerbin/Mun/Minmus and only Time Warping during those, until the ship bound for Duna arrives there.

Then later when I send a ship to Jool for example, I'll use Time Warp within the Jool system. The idea is that I don't Time Warp specifically to get to a launch window, or during a ship's interplanetary transfer because the time I would spend warping could be utilized to do other missions within planetary SOI's that only require small amounts of warp (For example, a Minmus mission may require 10 days of warping.)

I hope that better explains.

Ok, i understand better (i re-readed the op also), thank's

and in fact i do the same as you: ( we really need more forum smiley's...)

i don't warp ONLY for the transfert windows or during the transfert in carrer mode, however i tend to do less mission during this time as the career progress,

during the 1st Minmus mission: 4 missions to the mun, 6 sub orbital-flights, 10 of science on Kerbin,... it takes nearly more irl time than in game time.

Now: oops my finger ripped(edit:slid): waaaaarp!

Edited September 12, 2015 by Skalou

[Thomassino]

Yes, I used to play this way and it annoyed me so much when I had almost whole techtree finished in about half a kerbal year harvesting science from Mun and Minmus...and only launched one interplanetary Duna lander.

Kerbal Construction Time solved it for me though... my new career now feels more like realistic space program.

[jwenting]

Kerbal Construction Time solved it for me though... my new career now feels more like realistic space program.

so now you timewarp through the construction and research times...

If you use that mod, you should be man enough to not use timewarp at any time. 7 days to Minmus? Let it last 7 days real life.

A month to build that rocket? Sit there behind the screen for a month real time.

See how quickly you get bored...

[cosimas]

I use Outer Planets Mod and run multiple missions at the same time. A spreadsheet is helping me keep track of the 82 current flights.

I timewarp when there are no ships departing or entering a plantary SOI, so sometimes there are gaps of 30-40 days, othertimes there are *almost* too many things going on at once. =)

The trick is to avoid two areobrakings happening at the same time for obvious reasons!

I launch maybe 2-5 ships in each planetary launch window - I will usually get each ship safe (i.e. in a stable orbit around a body) before moving to the next. Once all ships are safe and I have a gap until the next SOI, I will do the interesting things with them like dock, land etc.

So to return to the original question, I don't feel like timewarp is too much of waste of time in my KSP.

[CoriW]

Yes, I used to play this way and it annoyed me so much when I had almost whole techtree finished in about half a kerbal year harvesting science from Mun and Minmus...and only launched one interplanetary Duna lander.

Kerbal Construction Time solved it for me though... my new career now feels more like realistic space program.

so now you timewarp through the construction and research times...

If you use that mod, you should be man enough to not use timewarp at any time. 7 days to Minmus? Let it last 7 days real life.

A month to build that rocket? Sit there behind the screen for a month real time.

See how quickly you get bored...

@jwenting I think that the reason that Kerbal Construction Time has a certain appeal to it is because rather than time warping for long periods of time with *nothing* happening, it gives you the sense of "A ship is being constructed" and so the warping doesn't make it feel like your just wasting time away as it would without having to wait for ship construction, and then it has the added bonus of taking enough time that you get transfer windows and more stuff happens with interplanetary flights more quickly in terms of IRL time. In fact it's actually quite a genius idea for people like me who feel time warping for years with *nothing* happening is "wasting" time.

I use Outer Planets Mod and run multiple missions at the same time. A spreadsheet is helping me keep track of the 82 current flights.

I timewarp when there are no ships departing or entering a plantary SOI, so sometimes there are gaps of 30-40 days, othertimes there are *almost* too many things going on at once. =)

The trick is to avoid two areobrakings happening at the same time for obvious reasons!

I launch maybe 2-5 ships in each planetary launch window - I will usually get each ship safe (i.e. in a stable orbit around a body) before moving to the next. Once all ships are safe and I have a gap until the next SOI, I will do the interesting things with them like dock, land etc.

So to return to the original question, I don't feel like timewarp is too much of waste of time in my KSP.

Whoa, 82 current flights? Well, someone has been busy. You've surely populated the entire Kerbol system by now, how many years into that save are you? Just curious.

[cosimas]

I'm on year 2 day 358.

My first ships to Sarnus (Saturn-alike) arrived a couple of months ago. In around 1000 days my first ships will arrive at Urlum (Uranus).

Don't ask when the Plok (Pluto) fleet will get there...

[CoriW]

I'm on year 2 day 358.

My first ships to Sarnus (Saturn-alike) arrived a couple of months ago. In around 1000 days my first ships will arrive at Urlum (Uranus).

Don't ask when the Plok (Pluto) fleet will get there...

Ah right I hadn't realized just how long it takes for stuff to arrive at those outer planets, I haven't tried to go to any of them yet.

[cosimas]

You'll definitely need some timewarp when you do =)

[Sasquatch_Punter]

I just build a few research outposts around the Mun and Minmus, then pretend that they're performing offscreen while my major exploratory missions are in transit.

What bothers me more are the asteroids. Who knows how many giant E-Classes hit Kerbin every year? Imagine how tedious stopping every one would be... Ugh.

[chrisb2e9]

If Kerbals could age, and die from it. I would care. But they don't. so I timewarp years if I need to.

[adsii1970]

Well, during my career play through's I've never really gotten to many other planets because I usually don't time warp up to interplanetary transfer windows. Instead I just do Kerbin/Mun/Minmus missions until a transfer window presents itself, and usually spend several Kerbin days or weeks preparing ships and such for the journey.

I'm not entirely sure why I do it this way, I guess I just don't like the idea of a year of Kerbin time going past and literally nothing happening during that period, it just feels wrong to me.

Now the couple down sides to this play style is that firstly if I build a ship that has some flaw or is missing some part and send it off to another planet, only to realize the flaw half way through the trip or once I've landed on the planet, I just have to live with it until my next transfer window comes up. Secondly this play style tends to make me get bored of the game before I go out to many other planets as doing Kerbin/Mun/Minmus missions can only be entertaining for so long before the boredom starts to kick in, which is why I only end up with a couple years of Kerbin time passing before I stop playing all together.

So out of curiosity, does anyone else use this play style, and regardless of that what are your opinions on this sort of play style?

This is exactly the way I play it. Right now I am waiting for the node to set a new deep-space Kerbin station (set to orbit at the edge of the Kerbin sphere of influence beyond Minimus). So, while it is traveling to its new home, I am doing other missions to pass the time.

Time warping for weeks and weeks with nothing happening just feels like wasted time to me. I know that it's a very arbitrary thing but I still don't like doing it. So I end up spending all of my time launching and maintaining stations and bases around the Kerbin system.

You're being productive while waiting. Time is not wasted...

You need Kerbal Alarm Clock.

People who don't have Kerbal Alarm Clock have the exact problem you described.

I do have Kerbal Alarm Clock but simply choose not to use warping. The way I look at it, as the current mission is progressing, new technologies are being developed, I am honing my skills in landing probes, practicing planetary transfers, etc. So, for me, it's not wasted time.

[davidpsummers]

I do, while waiting for a window, run any other missions I have planned. I don't run missions just because I'm waiting for the window. I also tend to have a day or two (minimum) pass between missions of any sort.