How do you survive ion burns?

[More Boosters]

So for the first time in my numerous KSP careers (I restart a lot) I decided to unlock Ion Engines. The burns take even longer than with NERVA, even for small satellites, so how do you deal with this?

[Jovus]

Proper medical treatment can reduce and even eliminate long-term effects of ion burns.

Okay, seriously this time: generally I don't. That said, there are several potential helps if you're determined to use ion engines:

You can propel it most of the way with a higher-thrust engine, then use the ion drive for small mid-course corrections.
You can strap multiple ion engines on your craft.
You can use physical timewarp to shorten the real-world burn time.
You can play other games while you burn (see next point).
You can use mods to either execute the burn for you, or set up an alarm that will let you know when you're close to done (so you can ignore KSP in the meanwhile).

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

physic warp x4 is your friend :)

So is playing KSP in windowed mode and do something else for a while :P

But really, if you set up a Probe with enough Xenon and keep it very very lightweight (perfectly balanced so no SAS module, lightest Command Module with minimum SAS-torque, lightest solar-Panels for Electricity/second, smallest batterie-pack AND only cubic octagonal struts as a Backbone) you can bring home a ton of science.

...assumed you got the Patience. :) Edited November 23, 2015 by MalfunctionM1Ke

[More Boosters]

[quote name='MalfunctionM1Ke']physic warp x4 is your friend :)

So is playing KSP in windowed mode and do something else for a while :P[/QUOTE]

Yeah about that, I could never get Physics time warp to happen in space. Someone said > < but those really just throttle whatever timewarp you currently have as default.

[Wolfos31]

[quote name='More Boosters']Yeah about that, I could never get Physics time warp to happen in space. Someone said > < but those really just throttle whatever timewarp you currently have as default.[/QUOTE]

To use Physics warp instead of time warp in space hold the Alt key while pressing < or >. I don't know what keybinding you'd have to use if you're on a Mac.

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

[quote name='More Boosters']Yeah about that, I could never get Physics time warp to happen in space. Someone said > < but those really just throttle whatever timewarp you currently have as default.[/QUOTE]

You have to throtte up in space and press ALT + . (I think) ALT + the normal timewarp-button.

From the WIKI

. Time warp (physical time warp in atmosphere) increase
, Time warp (physical time warp in atmosphere) decrease
Mod + . Physical time warp increase (compulsory)
Mod + , Physical time warp decrease (compulsory) Edited November 23, 2015 by MalfunctionM1Ke

[More Boosters]

[quote name='Wolfos31']To use Physics warp instead of time warp in space hold the Alt key while pressing < or >. I don't know what keybinding you'd have to use if you're on a Mac.[/QUOTE]

Well, Alt's the modifier key and it's right shift on Linux. Will try.

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

Perigee kicking, and read the tutorial on long burns in my sig.

[KatzOhki]

[quote name='Wolfos31']To use Physics warp instead of time warp in space hold the Alt key while pressing < or >. I don't know what keybinding you'd have to use if you're on a Mac.[/QUOTE]

"Option"

[EditorRUS]

Better time warp mod.
Physics Warp x100 makes it quick.

[xiej]

.

Edited November 15 by xiej

[Aragosnat]

Read a book. Go play outside with friends. Many bio brakes. Cook dinner/lunch/what ever. Sleep.... Basicly do something else if mods don't work or don't want to use cheaty mods that places things in orbits.

[problemecium]

My trick is very, very small ships. For one thing, this makes the ion engines more powerful by comparison, and for another, it means I can use Physics Warp in space with minimal fear of Kraken attacks as compared to larger ships.

[Xyphos]

keep your ion-powered spacecraft extremely lightweight, I'm talking bare-bones minimalist.
your parts list can be sorted by mass, so I suggest you start with that.
alternatively, you could simply "Just add more[B]â„¢[/B]" ion engines, but that'll burn through your electric charge quickly, requiring more battery & solar panels, which would add more mass.


I don't have a photo, but I used to have a 144-engine ion-powered tug for interplanetary travel, powered by LFO cells; the xenon tanks were detachable and easily replaced.

[kerbiloid]

Try PersistentThrust
[url]http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/133735-WIP-1-0-5-PersistentThrust-v1-0-4-alpha[/url]

[Francois424]

I cheat. Yup that's right. I simply increase the thrust of the engines to something like 5 (instead of 2).
If not they are simply to obnoxious to use consistently except for small probes.

In 1.1 tho I am going to try and find bigger ion engines. I would not mind have beside the current 2kn-0.625m one, some 10kn(1.25m)-25kn(2.5m)-100kn(3.75m) Ion engines. They only need more thrust, not any more or any less efficiency.
I don't use many Ion Drive Ships... And I ever only "Mod my game" when I have the full tech tree unlocked anyways.
Have to admit tho, if we'd have 25kn ions by the time the first nuke is unlocked, I might finally use different engines for interplanetary

[AeroGav]

I never found them that annoying. A reasonably constructed ion powered craft doesn't take long to boost, I usually just open the throttle while eating my dinner and by the time i'm done, we're on an escape trajectory. Or surf the forum on a second pc while the main one is doing the burn.

I find waiting for the correct launch window/burn window much more time consuming, or waiting for your ship to catch up with another one during an orbital rendez vous. In the case of the rendez vous, it's so tempting to do another burn to hurry things up or use more time acceleration but 9 times out of 10 it means overshooting and starting over.

When it comes to waiting for your burn window, i'm often in a highly elliptical orbit with a low periapse, which prevents me using higher levels of time acceleration. Watch it go round the planet 50 times..

Then there's those timid re-entries where you skip around the atmosphere 10 times before finally staying down for good.

How about when you're in some very high tech, very expensive SSTO and you misjudge the re-entry and have to fly back halfway round the planet to land at ksc, at 220 m/sec.

Of course you could just put it down anywhere, get only 10% of the recovery cost back due to distance, then grind contracts to make up the cash, that's not a time sink or anything....

[DunaRocketeer]

Try to get into the roleplaying aspect of ion propulsion - My first interplanetary mission is usually a mission to Gilly, which is propelled by 4x ion engines. It's a lot of fun planning your burns well in advance to avoid planet shadow and to take advantage of perigee kicks. Plus it can be an enjoyable challenge plotting all the course corrections you need to efficiently get to Gilly using ions.

Spaceflight should be more 2001 than Star Wars :cool:

[Van Disaster]

[quote name='kerbiloid']Try PersistentThrust
[url]http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/133735-WIP-1-0-5-PersistentThrust-v1-0-4-alpha[/url][/QUOTE]

Yeah, this is the option I was going to suggest also.

They're considerably higher thrust than they used to be ( also considerably more fuel consumption ). I think I rather preferred them before.

[RogueMason]

Set the thruster going, phys-warp x4, and Alt-Tab out to the internet or something for a little bit. I actually don't mind performing ion burns, they're oddly satisfying. Just the other day, I had to perform a pretty hefty one for an Eve probe that I'd sent on its way, but because I was focusing on getting a load of modules into Duna orbit, I missed the Eve encounter I set up :rolleyes: Fortunately, the orbit I was left in wasn't bad, so I could correct, and the probe is now back on course for Eve.

[klgraham1013]

I use patience. :cool:

[Choctofliatrio]

My first "big" mission, before I got good enough at the game to plan Mun encounters (I sucked at the game. Still do), was to send a probe into VERY close orbit of the sun. I used an ion engine for the entire burn to reduce my periapse and apoapse. It was AWFUL. The whole day I had it running, checking in. I think I gave up when periapse was still like a couple hundred thousand meters from the sun. Just... awful.

[r4pt0r]

Phys warp, shift+tab to browse the internet(Steam browser)

[DancesWithSquirrels]

Kerbal Alarm Clock for the _long_ burns (like launching for Moho), physics acceleration to x4, and building my ships so that they have about 1 m/s/s acceleration; I haven't had a problem with any of my missions.

I build some of my nuclear transfer stages with roughly the same acceleration, too. Periapsis kicks become a necessity, and it's nice to have about 300 m/s in the batteries for when you get eclipsed, but again it's quite workable.


[B]Edit:[/B] Actually, I did have one ion mission go absolutely kablooey on me - a >250 part ion ship using OX-STATS on cubic struts (in 0.90) just disintegrated when I went back to it from the tracking station. Over and over again as I tried to restore it from F-9, giving me a Kessler syndrome with a cloud of small parts. But I blame the Kraken for that, not low accelerations. Edited November 24, 2015 by DancesWithSquirrels
Added sad story

[cantab]

Click hold manoeuvre then stick a TV show on. I have two monitors which is a big help, but otherwise I could always watch something on my phone or an actual TV.