What is MechJeb and what does it do?

[Jeb!]

Hello

I'm fairly new to modding in KSP. I've seen that a lot of people use MechJeb, and some see it as an essential mod for their install.

I don't really know much about it, could someone explain to me what MechJeb is, what it does, and why I should (or shouldn't) use it?

 

Thanks! 

[Gaarst]

Gives you all sorts of information that, IMO, we'd need to have in the stock game, as well as an autopilot for sending stuff in orbit and docking. Probably also does a bunch of other things.

If you don't want to use an autopilot and want to do everything on your own, then MJ is pretty much equivalent to any other information mod (KER, VOID...). There are a couple other autopilots mods out there, but I'd say MJ is the most advanced.

[Jeb!]

2 hours ago, Gaarst said:

Gives you all sorts of information that, IMO, we'd need to have in the stock game, as well as an autopilot for sending stuff in orbit and docking. Probably also does a bunch of other things.

If you don't want to use an autopilot and want to do everything on your own, then MJ is pretty much equivalent to any other information mod (KER, VOID...). There are a couple other autopilots mods out there, but I'd say MJ is the most advanced.

Thank you for your reply!

What sort of information does it provide specifically? How does the autopilot work, and can it complete entire missions from takeoff to landing by itself, or do you have to train it somehow?

Edited December 14, 2016 by Jeb!

[legoclone09]

31 minutes ago, Jeb! said:

Thank you for your reply!

What sort of information does it provide specifically? How does the autopilot work, and can it complete entire missions from takeoff to landing by itself, or do you have to train it somehow?

It gives you Delta-V, TWR, orbital details, target details, etc. It can complete entire missions for you, it can do liftoff, maneuvers, and I believe landing. You don't need to train it. Very useful, but if you don't want the autopilot you can install Kerbal Engineer for just the ship stats.

[Jeb!]

Just now, legoclone09 said:

It gives you Delta-V, TWR, orbital details, target details, etc. It can complete entire missions for you, it can do liftoff, maneuvers, and I believe landing. You don't need to train it. Very useful, but if you don't want the autopilot you can install Kerbal Engineer for just the ship stats.

Thank you! MechJeb sounds like a really useful mod. I think I will start using next time I rebuild my install.

[legoclone09]

2 minutes ago, Jeb! said:

Thank you! MechJeb sounds like a really useful mod. I think I will start using next time I rebuild my install.

Very useful, and I love it!
And this seems a little relevant to your name..

[Jeb!]

2 minutes ago, legoclone09 said:

Very useful, and I love it!
And this seems a little relevant to your name..

LOL Oh my goodness that's hilarious! 

I must confess I wasn't really trying to suggest anything in my name, simply saw an opportunity for a parody. 

And congrats to the President-elect, he's definitely better than a Kerbal in office. 

[legoclone09]

9 minutes ago, Jeb! said:

LOL Oh my goodness that's hilarious! 

I must confess I wasn't really trying to suggest anything in my name, simply saw an opportunity for a parody. 

And congrats to the President-elect, he's definitely better than a Kerbal in office. 

And yeah, let's not get into politics. Rules and everything.

[Jeb!]

53 minutes ago, legoclone09 said:

And yeah, let's not get into politics. Rules and everything.

 Wait there's rules?

Lol yes I know 

Edited December 15, 2016 by Jeb!

[Tex_NL]

Seriously people? The guy asks about MechJeb and NOBODY even bothers to provide him with a link?

Download it, try it. And you've got your answer.
If you don't like it, uninstall it. Nothing gained, nothing lost.

[Palaceviking]

In short it hobbles your learning and the development of your piloting skill,  fun for a bit but I uninstalled it and went with engineer in the end.

[sarbian]

Its main feature is to create chaos on the forum by attracting people who will explain how you should play your solo game. And it also provides some useful in game feature like configurable displays, utilities and piloting assistant.

[Avatarium]

Quick question(s): Is there a complete tutorial on youtub for Mechjeb? If so, I think it would help answer his question.

[genericeventhandler]

I always have it installed, but I use it less and less each time. The only thing that I use it for at the moment is delta v calcs and rendez-vous, because it's boring as hell to do. 

That said, I learnt most things from watching how mechjeb did it. 

[Jeb!]

On 12/15/2016 at 10:05 AM, Tex_NL said:

Seriously people? The guy asks about MechJeb and NOBODY even bothers to provide him with a link?

Download it, try it. And you've got your answer.
If you don't like it, uninstall it. Nothing gained, nothing lost.

Thank you! Perfect timing, I'm just now updating to 1.2.2.

On 12/15/2016 at 10:35 AM, sarbian said:

Its main feature is to create chaos on the forum by attracting people who will explain how you should play your solo game. And it also provides some useful in game feature like configurable displays, utilities and piloting assistant.

I've played KSP enough now to understand fairly well how to pilot rockets and aircraft. What I want now is to be able to take some of the difficulty and monotony away from escape and capturing burns. I spend way too much time fiddling with the orbit change thingy and it sucks up all my game time.