have you ever used remode control point?

[omelaw]

few things (mk1-2 command module, Remote Guidence Unit) have ablity of become command probes that not connected to ksc from there with pilot onboard-

but I don't think I ever used it.

[p1t1o]

Remotetech has a similar utility, I have used it on a few occasions. In one case I put a permanent station in a high polar orbit around Kerbin (about 0.5*Mun altitude) and used it to host some long-range comm equipment. The high polar orbit meant it was rarely occluded by Kerbin, instead of the shell of several commsats that you would need for constant coverage from LKO.

As far as I understand it the new inbuilt functionality lets you off from occlusion in some cases, ie: if your probe is around Duna, Duna itself, and Ike, can occlude your transmission, but Kerbin/Mun won't. 

Is that accurate? Is it a toggleable option?

Command post functionality is also of use if say, sending a manned misison with some extra unmanned landers, in this case you dont have to worry about a home connection, and your command post can have a decent window of comms with your landers for most uses.

Edited October 14, 2016 by p1t1o

[Mikki]

It works, i have a station around Kerbin with two pilots in a big lander can, the smallest relay antenna attached to control a unmanned rcs tug even if the only connection is the station. Make sure to use the proper probecores for such tasks.

[magnemoe]

Think this is more interesting around other planets. Around kerbin you are likely to have so many satellites up you are unlikely to ever get blocked, 
Duna / Ike is one but Jool system offer more block points and you need large relays. 

[katateochi]

This was something I was very much hoping would be available, so I played with it a bit during the pre-release. 
The Mk1-2 Command Pod and Mk2 Lander Can act as probe control points, so long as you have 2 pilots on board the craft and (IIRC) the craft needs a relay antenna too. With both those pods you can only remote control a probe with direct line of sight "single hop only". 
The RC-L01 Remote Guidance Unit can also be a probe control point, but it only requires that one pilot is aboard the craft AND you can control the probe via other relay satellites ("multihop capable").
So RC-L01 all the way then!

I really like the idea of a long range manned exploration craft that's out of range of Kerbin and has a set of probes that it can deploy for scanning.  

One thing it doesn't say anywhere is if there is a limit to the number of probes a remote command craft can control.  I've only tried it with a single probe, but I wonder if you wanted to have a bunch of probes if you'd need more RC-L01s and more pilots on board. As it doesn't mention a limit I don't think that will be the case.

[Northstar1989]

On Fri Oct 14 2016 at 8:26 PM, katateochi said:

This was something I was very much hoping would be available, so I played with it a bit during the pre-release. 
The Mk1-2 Command Pod and Mk2 Lander Can act as probe control points, so long as you have 2 pilots on board the craft and (IIRC) the craft needs a relay antenna too. With both those pods you can only remote control a probe with direct line of sight "single hop only". 
The RC-L01 Remote Guidance Unit can also be a probe control point, but it only requires that one pilot is aboard the craft AND you can control the probe via other relay satellites ("multihop capable").
So RC-L01 all the way then!

I really like the idea of a long range manned exploration craft that's out of range of Kerbin and has a set of probes that it can deploy for scanning.  

One thing it doesn't say anywhere is if there is a limit to the number of probes a remote command craft can control.  I've only tried it with a single probe, but I wonder if you wanted to have a bunch of probes if you'd need more RC-L01s and more pilots on board. As it doesn't mention a limit I don't think that will be the case.

Ahhh, Katateochi- loved your Constellation style Duna mission YouTube video!  Ever since I've been trying to do one myself...

My current goal is to do one using the stock CommNet system and ISRU, with my own style and music choices of course (it will probably not be nearly as interesting or exciting as your video, though- and a few of the same songs will be featured I liked them so much...)

I'll be playing around with Probe Control Points a bit in the test-run (I plan to use a 2-Kerbal lander with only 2 pilots on the mission, and 6 crew.  So the 2 pilots will remotely guide the lander to Duna orbit, rendezvous and docking with the Kopernicus by being the first to ascend back to orbit from the surface base and guiding subsequent flights), so I'll let you know how my messing around with Probe Control Points goes if you're still interested...

 

Regards,

Northstar

Edited March 9, 2017 by Northstar1989

[KerikBalm]

I've considered using them, particularly with OPM installed but the range buffs disabled.

It becomes very hard to connect to plock and Neidon. However, I just build large relays to establish the connection

Spoiler

^ Ground station with 25 RA-100s, combined strength: 1,118

^ Orbital relay put on a very elliptic polar orbit, or outside of kerbin SOI (to a pseudo L4 position): 20 RA-100s, combined strength: 945.7 

^ My relay going to plock (its got a lot of LF and a LV-N behind those dishes). 7x RA-100s, combined strength: 430.35 

However, when I send manned missions beyond kerbin SOI, I do a crew of 6 (2 pilots, 2 engineers, 2 scientists, 50:50 gender) with an advanced probe core. So I do have a remote control point backup for when there may be occlusion.

An example of a base I was designing for deployment on laythe (or other worlds) from a mk3 cargo spaceplane:

Its got a multihop probe core, and 2x RA-100s (Combined strength: 168.2), so it should do well as a remote control point. If I give it another 2x RA-100 module, its strength is greater than that of the kerbin DSN (4^.075)* 100 = 282.8 vs the lvl 3 DSN being 250.

I suppose I could take one of those mega-relays and make them a remote control point so I dont have to worry about them connection to kerbin, but a single RA-2 in kerbin SOI is sufficient to connect them in most cases (maybe playing with only a single ground station would make this a bit more attractive)

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

I have a mining base on the far side of the Mun. Although I have some relay satellites in orbit around that body I don't have anything near 100% coverage, and would sometimes abruptly lose control of my unmanned fuel transport vehicles on approach, which as you can imagine is bad news. However, purely by chance I'd put a Mk2 Lander Can on that base (I needed somewhere to put my engineer and thought it looked better than the Mk1) so when I found out about probe control points I stuck a pilot in there and now never have to worry about losing control of my landers.

This was also the reason why I delayed my manned interplanetary missions for as long as I did; I wanted to make sure that I had the RC-L01 unlocked before I started serious activities (beyond the occasional scanning or relay satellite) around other planets.

[septemberWaves]

I'm going to figure out some uses for the remote control points at some point in my mission architecture series. Just because they're an interesting functionality and I want to play around with them, not because they're the most useful thing in the game (which they're really not).