What are patched conics ?

[Eric S]

Come on look at how many missions we have in L1 and L2. Look asking for a little more realism (challenge) is not asking for a perfectly accurate simulation of reality. There are a variety of cheats that could be done that can still provide 1) reasonably accurate predictive flight paths and 2) more interesting/realistic/challenging orbital mechanics.

I've seen quite a few people suggesting cheats on something like this, fake SoI being the most common. I haven't seen one that would meet your first criteria. Without n-body physics, Lagrange points would be about as gross an approximation as pre-1.0 aerodynamics were, basically just giving you some place new to orbit a satellite/probe. Too much of the KSP UI depends on the predictability and ease of calculations of patched conics to make n-body physics part of the base game.

[S1gmoid]

Personally, so far I'd say patched conics are good enough. I'd rather have double precision floats and atmospheric braking on rails as a first step toward realism.

Anyway. Here's the n-body physics mod, and it is progressing nicely. We've got some proper professionals working on it, and it seems they made it acceptably fast by using better numerical integrators.