Auto-Rocket?

[Spricigo]

19 minutes ago, Pand5461 said:

Bootom line is, writing generic autopilots is hard

Ok, but that is not the point. 

 KoS seem less "easy to use" then MJ. Being that the principal feature the OP is looking for. 

So, while I understand that KoS is valid option and in some ways superior,  MJ seems more suited for the OP. Considering that what exactly he asked is not an option available.

23 minutes ago, Kerbal101 said:

MJ is basically "half-cheating" yourself into the orbit and writing machine instructions is realistic approach to how autopilots work.

Writing machine instructions is a realist approach to how a autopilot is built. 

How it realistically works is that those intruction produce the desired effects (engine activation, throttle level, ...)  It don't matter who  created those introductions previously. 

In that regard is unrealistic that Its up a single person to deal alone with this vastly different aspects of a space program, Instead of diverses specialised teams for each  task .But that's a moot point. KSP need to be fun, more than it need to be realistic. 

 

[Pand5461]

46 minutes ago, Spricigo said:

2 hours ago, Pand5461 said:

Bootom line is, writing generic autopilots is hard

Ok, but that is not the point. 

That is exactly the point. MechJeb is very good as it is and, more importantly, very flexible.

Trying to make it handle complex missions from start to finish will restrict vehicle designs or mission profiles possible. I've already said about gravity assists already but there are other things. Let's say you want to get to Jool orbit. How do you capture? Will this be assist from Tylo? Laythe? Aerobraking? Good old retroburn?

The transfer maneuver plotted and executed. What to do next: timewarp to destination or leave controls to the player?

Player wanted 100 km orbit at target planet, and after departure burn the periapsis was exactly 100 km. After entering solar SOI and timewarping a bit it's 500 km. When do we correct - in the solar SOI or in the target SOI?

Being a fan of Unix way, I'd say that providing basic tools and letting users build complexity themselves is better than trying to make a silver bullet.

[Spricigo]

3 hours ago, Pand5461 said:

That is exactly the point.

Mmm, no. I will concede that maybe I didn't made myself clear, but that is not the point I raised.

All that flexibility and robustness KoS have is nice and all. But moot point if the potential user is not willing to deal with the required scripts. 

 

[Pand5461]

2 hours ago, Spricigo said:

 I will concede that maybe I didn't made myself clear, but that is not the point I raised.

We both didn't then.

My point was not about kOS at all. My point was about everyone having roughly the same idea of what a good maneuver execution or a good transfer or a good docking is and everyone having their own idea of how to properly perform an interplanetary mission. So, doing an automatic mission planner + executor will be tremendous work for little appreciation and quite a bit of disapproval. And also not a big deal of improvement compared to Astrogator (and there was a Matlab tool that handled gravity assists and whatnot) + MJ as it is.

I would like to refrain from the argument on what's better, MechJeb or kOS/kRPC. Just would advise anyone not happy with MJ to try the latter. That maybe helpful in terms of teaching to appreciate others' work.

Like, I do know that I can make kOS scripts do things more efficiently than MJ but have no idea how to make them work for about any craft without "some assembly required".

[Spricigo]

 

2 hours ago, Pand5461 said:

My point was not about kOS at all. My point was about everyone having roughly the same idea of what a good maneuver execution or a good transfer or a good docking is and everyone having their own idea of how to properly perform an interplanetary mission. So, doing an automatic mission planner + executor will be tremendous work for little appreciation and quite a bit of disapproval. And also not a big deal of improvement compared to Astrogator (and there was a Matlab tool that handled gravity assists and whatnot) + MJ as it is.

I agree with you on that. A much valid point that often is under-considered.

And about the 'which is best argument'. Well, that is up to personal preference, what approach better suits one's playstile. 

 

[NSEP]

I think manually controlling spacecraft is one of the fun parts of the game. And if you want an autopilot, just get mechjeb. Im not saying MechJeb is 'cheating' since its a Singleplayer game, nobody to yell at you for chesting in a Singleplayer game. I think the reason why the Devs added their own communication and their own mining system is because mods like Karbonite and Remotetech are not 100% friendly 4 everyone. Mechjeb however, is friendly 4 everyone. 

[Dunbaratu]

This space intentionally left blank.

Edited September 10, 2017 by Steven Mading
The forums won't let me delete a post, so I just blanked its content. I decided I was just repeating what I'd already said in the past.

[Canopus]

I think advanced probe cores and skilled Kerbals should atleast be able to execute maneuver nodes. That would make low thrust Spacecraft a lot more viable and it's basically the biggest reason for me to use Mechjeb.

Edited September 12, 2017 by Canopus

[mk1980]

1 hour ago, Canopus said:

I think advanced probe cores and skilled Kerbals should atleast be able to execute maneuver nodes. That would make low thrust Spacecraft a lot more viable and it's basically the biggest reason for me to use Mechjeb.

that's actually a pretty good idea! would be a nice convenience feature much like the other SAS functions.

[sevenperforce]

7 hours ago, mk1980 said:

that's actually a pretty good idea! would be a nice convenience feature much like the other SAS functions.

Yeah, I could accept that, as long as there were no staging events mid-maneuver.

[Helmetman]

I'm wholeheartedly against such a function for many of the reasons already posted.

While there are different ways, I find mechjeb wonderful for landing spaceplanes through the use of the surface autopilot function and stability assist included to land geared spacecraft or spaceplanes on bouncy worlds like Duna in order to precisely fine tune touchdown and descent rate. Something I would have to tap my keyboard to death with on the A,S,D,W, side of it to control such a craft without it.