Alternative sugg. to stock dV readout debate

[Spraki]

Hi.

TL;DR: have a kerbal scientist tell your dV readout with crude dialog like 'mmh this ship might make orbit! And get home!', 'Oh, it can get there to celestialBody, but, eh, whomever you send will be stuck there.' etc

.........

I was wondering about this idea while thinking about a "middle-ground solution" to the dV readout debate.

I am not quite up-to-date, but last I saw, it was like...

Community: Squad, give us stock dV readouts like in KER/mechJeb!

Squad: Nah, guys. Readouts steal the kerbalness of KSP. Plus, just use said mods.

Hmm.

My suggestion, be it mod or stock:

How about having a button in SPH/VAB that pops up a kerbal scientist, who has a multitude of dialog related to where you wanna go?

Should be female kerbal scientist. Because we already have quite the male cast all across the KSP administration.

So you click on target destinations like Jool/tylo deadspace or orbit or whatever. Based on the current vessel in the SPH/VAB editor, (S)he says things along the lines like:

Couuuuld work. But only to get there. One way trip. We'd need to get some combustibles if you want to get home. Maybe we could set a mining op somewhere?

Or

I seriously doubt this vessel will leave the run way.

 

In any case, maybe there can be some R&D progress, where the scientist gets better at judging and 'doing your dV math'. The scientist could have an error margin too.

Or you click on 'send to ksp building for extra dv calcs'. So you do other stuff, and then you get a report. 

The scientist could also do segmented suggestions. Saying stuff like 'ok the named stage capsule segment should have some 3k of fuel. Enough to get back from jool, but you may need to do some serious launch window magic, bro.

 

I also think this could be 2d illustrations , visual novel style. Maybe even some dialog. I'd almost want to draw some myself lol. No anime style. But maybe so we can see more kerbals in the game.

Would this suggestion make sense?

Maybe we could also have a stock interactive kerb dialog for launch windows too. 

 

 

[suicidejunkie]

This sounds like a fancier pantsier version of the type of thing the design warnings do, and I like the idea if it isn't too much work.  Should be a don't-show-again option on it like most tutorial hints have.

Karen pops up with a Dubious Fry expression when you design a ship with a parachute on the first stage.

Mod makes a Jeb cameo in the background stuffing doughnuts into his flight suit when your lifesupport supplies are short.

 

Given the nature of dV and the fuzziness of rocket calculations, I expect it would factor into challenges quite quickly.  EG: Win the bet!  Design a rocket that Kelly thinks won't make it to Minmus, and go there anyways.  (No EVA pushing allowed)

[Cap Arcona]

I really don't like that I have to wait for certain mods to update after the game updates. Modders have their own lives and sometimes drop their mods altogether, so modding for something so incredibly basic seems very unfair. If you want more Kerbalness, there should be a slider for breakPart chances during a mission. Then you'd have planes falling out of the sky and Val getting stuck on Vall, instead of "oops I ran out of fuel because I didn't want to crunch the algebra to see if my second stage could push all the way to Jool SOI like I had intended." or "hmm, looks like I brought enough fuel for twenty-five missions".

I still have these situations *with* KER, they just aren't so incredibly severe. It makes the game easier for new players, too, because there's a way provided to them to learn how to build rockets without holding their hands through some lame tutorial. The messages thing seems fun but it's far too obscure to solely rely upon for information on the state of your intended mission.

Isn't the game hard enough, already? I've been playing for at least four years, and I still haven't built a base on Moho!

[Wjolcz]

Either have actual numbers or let a mod do the job.

Any 'middle ground' idea is bad IMO. Having a "This might get to the Mun" text is no better than nothing at all. There are much more complex manouvers to perform in KSP than just from-A-to-B Hohmann transfers.

[m4ti140]

The game should either calculate the dV for you or have all the data for calculation readily available in a nice table. Otherwise I'm not gonna launch the game without KER installed, like other 90% of users.

[DAL59]

[Spraki]

On 23.3.2018 at 2:33 PM, Cap Arcona said:

I still have these situations *with* KER, they just aren't so incredibly severe. It makes the game easier for new players, too, because there's a way provided to them to learn how to build rockets without holding their hands through some lame tutorial. The messages thing seems fun but it's far too obscure to solely rely upon for information on the state of your intended mission.

Isn't the game hard enough, already? I've been playing for at least four years, and I still haven't built a base on Moho!

 

The popup kerbal should not be that vague, unless you drew the error margin slider too far. 

It should just give a very good assumption of things just to get to orbits. Say if you'd have some 4k dV, you should definitely get some places.

 

Either way, right now, it is way too ambiguous to just launch into the sky. This idea is merely to have a tool that doesn't give accurate numbers, while at the same time giving you some pointers. Perhaps there should also be some separate mission control section where you can plan the mission. 

You do a simple from/to/aerobrake?/etc selection buttons and lineup for missions you can name and you get some advice from the fellow kerbs.

 

Don't get me wrong. KER is fine and I use it too. But as long as Squad won't do anything in that fashion, I would rather stick to suggesting alternatives in the meantime.

At least we still have modders working on KER.

Edited March 29, 2018 by Spraki