Better orientation to the sun

[Martian Emigrant]

Hey all.

 

It happened again I warped and the ship was in that one orientation where the panels are in the shade resulting in a dead ship.

Could we get some way for the ship to orient itself to position a "Master Panel" in the sun bellow say 10% or 10 units or open to sugestions.

It could be done with special intelligent panels. Maybe a new improved probe core that would open new items on the solar panel menu.

<Solar Panel Override Control Wheels> <Below> <10%>.

IDK. Whatever make sense.

 

Thanks,

 

ME

 

 

[qzgy]

That's an interesting idea. Probably special intelligent panels would work best that are a bit heavier and maybe between the gigantor and smaller panel sizes.

Also, I've heard whispers that this is part of persistent rotation. I might be wrong, so don't take my word for it, but apparently you can lock orientation to a specific body asking to be focused in one direction or so.

[Spricigo]

  On 1/29/2018 at 8:55 PM, qzgy said:

Also, I've heard whispers that this is part of persistent rotation. I might be wrong, so don't take my word for it, but apparently you can lock orientation to a specific body asking to be focused in one direction or so.

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Yes, persistent rotation mod does that.

In stock the solution is to have redundant(?) panels placed at different angles, so you always have at least a bit off sunlight hitting one panel. IMHO that is all that is necessary in stock.

[Martian Emigrant]

  On 1/29/2018 at 9:19 PM, Spricigo said:

Yes, persistent rotation mod does that.

In stock the solution is to have redundant(?) panels placed at different angles, so you always have at least a bit off sunlight hitting one panel. IMHO that is all that is necessary in stock.

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Yes, but I don'T like putting panels on the underside of a landed probe or the re-entry side of an SSTO

 

ME

Edited January 29, 2018 by Martian Emigrant

[Spricigo]

 

  On 1/29/2018 at 10:36 PM, Martian Emigrant said:

Yes, but I don'T like putting panels on the underside of a landed probe or the re-entry side of an SSTO

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Who does? I still don't think that is good enough reason to change the game. 

But that is just my humble opinion.

[Capt. Hunt]

actually, I think a better solution would be something that kicked you out of timewarp if your battery got below a critical point.

[eddiew]

  On 1/30/2018 at 2:07 AM, Capt. Hunt said:

actually, I think a better solution would be something that kicked you out of timewarp if your battery got below a critical point.

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This sounds much easier, tbh. I'd settle for an alert that <vessel x> is below 10% power with a jump-to option if I'm not in that flight scene.

Needs the ability to be disabled vessel-by-vessel though, because once a probe/rover is landed, it will regularly not have power through the night.

[Laie]

  On 1/30/2018 at 10:10 AM, eddiew said:

once a probe/rover is landed, it will regularly not have power through the night.

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good point.

@Martian Emigrant: if you have one extendabe / rotating panel, stick it out in the normal direction relative to the sun before going into warp. That way it will stay in the light while your probe fast-forwards. Also remember the RTG -- it's the definite no-worries solution.

[mattinoz]

Couldn't they just tweak warp to discount a small amount of generation in return for always charging if craft receives sun.

[Martian Emigrant]

  On 1/31/2018 at 5:23 AM, mattinoz said:

Couldn't they just tweak warp to discount a small amount of generation in return for always charging if craft receives sun.

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The panel do charge when warping if they are facing the sun. BUt as you start orbiting the other way panels that were in the sun now are blocked.

So when you start a multi year warp you can be in the sun but when you come out of warp the batteries are dead. No SAS, no Com

 

ME

 

[peteletroll]

I think this is another challenge in designing a ship. You have to choose and place the solar panels like you have to do with engines and landing legs.

[DrLicor]

Well, as said before, Persistant Rotation does that job. You can select the body you're orbiting or just another, when the mod is enabled, the ship will stay locked in rotation relative to the selected planet. 

By default, the mod is on 'dynamic', this means it will always rotate according the planet's SOI you're in. But you can easily change it to another, it's great when doing mission with long warps and a limited amound of EC 

[mattinoz]

  On 1/31/2018 at 5:50 AM, Martian Emigrant said:

The panel do charge when warping if they are facing the sun. BUt as you start orbiting the other way panels that were in the sun now are blocked.

So when you start a multi year warp you can be in the sun but when you come out of warp the batteries are dead. No SAS, no Com

 

ME

 

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As noted this is more an issue with Kerbal killing rotation while warping instead of conserving momentum. If the rotation didn't disappear then player could a) think about what slight rotation to leave craft with to make sure panels present themselves to the sunny side b) have a station keeping autopilot system correct as needed to.

a) will never be prefect b) has a power cost.

So yes panels produce power in warp as they should but a game abstraction causes an issue. If fixing the game issue is to hard then the option change the game calculations to better reflect real world. On average the craft with exposed panels and some sunlight will always collect some power but not optimal power.

To me a craft in warp should only generate zero power if blocked by planet and never run out of battery unless it drains the batteries while transiting the planet.

[FleshJeb]

If you have more than one electrical storage device, lock one of them. When the main runs out, unlock the emergency reserve and reorient the ship.

[Gardevoir11]

But you cant reactivate a battery without control