Auto trajectory and purpose for pilots

[fireblade274]

So have you ever tried bringing back a craft to Kerbin but it runs out of fuel before being able to slow down and gain orbit? Instead you got its periapsis at 70km and its going mach 15 out of orbit. You launch a rescue vessel to get to it before it leave its escape trajectory (preferably before periapsis) but it's so hard to find that perfect configuration of nav ball inputs to get the intercept you want. This is just one example of trajectory's that are hard to find manually with the nav ball.

And then we have the issue of pilots loosing their value as the late game comes up; being replaced by drone cores that can hold all maneuvers nodes.

SO why not let 5 star Kerbals have the ability to calculate the best trajectory for your needs?

I'm thinking if you have a 5 star pilot AND a top drone core on the same ship, you can have him use the core to calculate the best trajectory's automatically.

Now I know there has to be mods out there that auto-trajectory for you (mechjeb?) but this is something I feel would be good stock and would help give purpose to pilots in late game.

Any thoughts?

And maybe while your at it you could let me know of the best mods that do currently provide auto-trajectory capabilities. I won't like it (especially if its not user friendly) but it would be useful for those time consuming node placement's and tinkering's, or until the slim chance its added stock

[Tex_NL]

If you mean something like MechJeb's manoeuvre planner I totally agree with you.

(I am not talking about autopiloting that manoeuvre, just creating and setting up the node.)

[fireblade274]

Yea thats what im talking about just setting up the node

[Javster]

It would be a nice feature, and another reason to level up your Kerbals

[pandaman]

Yes this would be a nice thing to have

[Alshain]

I would be ok with this if it were a 5 star pilot ability. At that point which you can get a pilot to 5 stars, you've proven you know how to do it yourself.

[nothingSpecial]

I suppose that's good enough for five-star pilot. And I'd then put another mod to shelve and use stock functionality, and that is good for me.

I don't really think that "pilot+core" is necessary, we can always say that it was done by pilot manually without aid of mission control.

[nikokespprfan]

  fireblade274 said:

So have you ever tried bringing back a craft to Kerbin but it runs out of fuel before being able to slow down and gain orbit? Instead you got its periapsis at 70km and its going mach 15 out of orbit. You launch a rescue vessel to get to it before it leave its escape trajectory (preferably before periapsis) but it's so hard to find that perfect configuration of nav ball inputs to get the intercept you want. This is just one example of trajectory's that are hard to find manually with the nav ball.

And then we have the issue of pilots loosing their value as the late game comes up; being replaced by drone cores that can hold all maneuvers nodes.

SO why not let 5 star Kerbals have the ability to calculate the best trajectory for your needs?

I'm thinking if you have a 5 star pilot AND a top drone core on the same ship, you can have him use the core to calculate the best trajectory's automatically.

This could be a good contender for the solution of the late-game-pilot question. Like the idea.

[fireblade274]

Wow so far everybody agrees at least somewhat, i feel fuzzy inside

[passinglurker]

I like it though I was never opposed to autopilot for pilots in general I just didn't think it was a realistic request with the polarity over mechjeb.