Kerbin time versus Earth time

[Jacke]

Just getting back into KSP after a long time away.  Back then, when Kerbin time was added, I stuck to using Earth time, having a sunrise and a sunset 4 times each per "day".

Now I'm thinking this one through again.  Maybe I should go with Kerbin time.  A "day" would be one day-night cycle.  And 6 hours long, with the hour at least being the same unit with either setting.

But a lot of the time, my focus of attention won't be on Kerbin but elsewhere, often with either much quicker or slower light-dark cycles or continuous light in interplanetary space.  And  I'm more accustom to working with 24-hour days, not 6-hour ones.

So which one do you use, Kerbin time or Earth time?  And why?

[ansaman]

I just use Hammer Time ! "Can't Touch This..."

[nascarlaser1]

For certain things I use real life time, like keeping track of how long an engine can burn. For figuring out when a transfer window and such is going to happen, I use Kerbal time.

[The Aziz]

Since the only differences are day and year lenght - one hour is still one hour, I see no reason to use earth time. While we could count time using Sols on other planets than Kerbin, but I wouldn't care. If the mission time is 2 years 69 days 4 hours, and current time since the beginning is 6y,34d,2h, I exactly know how many sunrises Gene Kerman saw since the mission started.

[Guest]

Earth time, always. That's the way it was and that's the way it will always be. Keeps things in perspective when it takes a little over a year to get to Jool.

[Whirligig Girl]

Depends. If I'm using a planet mod that doesn't match Earth or Kerbin (and doesn't have a configuration with the Sigma Kronometer or whatwasit), I'll use Earth time. If I'm using the stock solar system, usually Kerbin time. Earth time for RSS, obviously.

[natsirt721]

Earth time, for sure. You don't have to convert years and days into meaningful timespans.  Especially due to the 'more days-per-year but fewer hours-per-day' disparity.

[Superfluous J]

Kerbin time. Though honestly it almost never makes any difference.

How often does the length of a day or of a year actually matter? To answer that rhetorical question: when you're on Kerbin. And in those instances, Earth time doesn't mean anything.

[OhioBob]

Kerbin time.  I don't think Kerbals care how long it takes Earth to rotate.

[DrLicor]

Earth time, but that just has to do with that I'm playing with Real Solar System. Otherwise I would use Kerbal time

Edited August 23, 2017 by DrLicor

[Jacke]

(Damn, it's like JPF versus PFJ.... )

Thanks for all the comments.  And I welcome more!

There is one sticking point.  Isn't Kerbin's 6-hour rotation its sidereal rotation period, when it realigns with the stars, not with its sun Kerbol.  For Earth, that's (from the link) "...23 hours, 56 minutes, 4.0916 seconds (23.9344699 hours or 0.99726958 mean solar days)."  So it's not even that nice 4-times ratio.

Or was that fixed in some version of KSP?

[OhioBob]

1 hour ago, Jacke said:

There is one sticking point.  Isn't Kerbin's 6-hour rotation its sidereal rotation period, when it realigns with the stars, not with its sun Kerbol.  For Earth, that's (from the link) "...23 hours, 56 minutes, 4.0916 seconds (23.9344699 hours or 0.99726958 mean solar days)."  So it's not even that nice 4-times ratio.

Or was that fixed in some version of KSP?

It was fixed.  6 hours is now the length of Kerbin's solar day.  It's sidereal period is 5 h, 59m, 9.4s.

[Tyko]

On 8/20/2017 at 4:25 PM, regex said:

Earth time, always. That's the way it was and that's the way it will always be. Keeps things in perspective when it takes a little over a year to get to Jool.

Not entirely true. The Earth used to have a 12 hour day and it's slowing a bit every year