Orbit Decay?

[Chel]

Hello. When a spacecraft achieves orbit in real life, if left unchecked it can be pulled back into the Earth's atmosphere through a process called Orbital Decay. This happened to the Skylab and Mir space stations, and I believe would be useful in Kerbal Space Program. However, there would have to be some option for it (because if a player just makes a space station, sets time warp to 1000000 and lets it run, before they know it the space station will be destroyed). I'm thinking of having an Orbital Decay option in the game settings, and being enabled by default on Hard difficulty.

Thoughts?

[Gargamel]

Well......... There is the Orbital Decay mod, but we all know the reaction that occurs when somebody says "There's a mod for that". 

But your point of time warp is quite true.  The ISS requires boosting of its orbit roughly once a month. If a player has a number of orbiting vessels, then they would end up spending  most of their time just playing around with these orbits.  I would think the vast majority of players, even on hard mode, would not find the concept of pretty much constant micro-management to be appealing.  Therefore, I think this is an option that should squarely sit within the "there's a mod for that" realm. 

[Capt. Hunt]

Another major problem with supporting that main stream is that the physics engine wouldn't be able to put anything on rails, it'd constantly have to be calculating atmospheric drag for all objects.

[mattinoz]

41 minutes ago, Capt. Hunt said:

Another major problem with supporting that main stream is that the physics engine wouldn't be able to put anything on rails, it'd constantly have to be calculating atmospheric drag for all objects.

If it can calculate solar power on rails why couldn't it fudge a tiny tiny amount for orbital decay on rails?

[StahnAileron]

The problem is the micromanagement in the long run, as @Gargamel notes. You can fudge the numbers for time warp on rails as @mattinoz notes. ("Decrease orbit semi-axis by X meters per orbit/day/hour/etc." Other parameters as wanted, like scaling loss with altitude.)

If there was an orbital decay function, it would have to automate station keeping, making engines/RCS and fuel(s) mandatory on any long-term orbital craft. (Space stations, comm sats, survey sats, etc.) With enough things in orbit, you'll be spending (read: wasting) a lot of time with station upkeep without automation. ("Spend Y fuel to prevent X loss of altitude per Z interval.")

Of course, this in turn leads to management of refueling all of those craft in the long-term as well. For that, you would have to have a system for automating that as well if you wish to cut down on the tedium. As KSP is not yet a true game (in my eyes, anyway) and is just a sandbox simulator (Career mode doesn't count and you know it), that's not gonna happen (any time soon, at any rate; maybe in KSP 2).

If you could record launch profiles you've done manually, like refueling/-supplying a space station, and could set the game to use said profile in an automated fashion, then orbital decay could be a thing. However, for the sake of simplicity and gameplay, the lack of orbital decay is the right choice to appeal to the masses. For those who want more realism - *points to Mod Section of forum* - You should find a mod that suits your tastes. (I do believe there is a profile recording mod as well to help automate regular, repeat launches.)

Remember, if you want something in stock, it has to appeal or offer value to (close to) EVERYONE, not just you personally or a small niche of players.

[KerbolExplorer]

9 hours ago, Gargamel said:

Well......... There is the Orbital Decay mod, but we all know the reaction that occurs when somebody says "There's a mod for that". 

But your point of time warp is quite true.  The ISS requires boosting of its orbit roughly once a month. If a player has a number of orbiting vessels, then they would end up spending  most of their time just playing around with these orbits.  I would think the vast majority of players, even on hard mode, would not find the concept of pretty much constant micro-management to be appealing.  Therefore, I think this is an option that should squarely sit within the "there's a mod for that" realm. 

Maybe we could configure our vessels to when orbit falls below X Km the station will automaticly boost its orbit(Aslong as theres fuel and a working engine)

[Superfluous J]

11 hours ago, mattinoz said:

If it can calculate solar power on rails why couldn't it fudge a tiny tiny amount for orbital decay on rails?

It doesn't calculate solar - or any - power while on rails. Well, let me be specific, it doesn't do that when the craft isn't in the physics bubble of the currently controlled craft. Which is when orbital decay would really get annoying.

Put a relay satellite into orbit. Close all the solar panels, then leave it on rails for 100,000 years. It will still function as a relay.

ISRU is a totally different beast, but it also doesn't function on rails. The system just runs really fast when you load the ship, to simulate all the stuff that would have happened on rails.

[ZooNamedGames]

They could always just leave a small portion of automation- let unknown entities refuel your spacecraft. Just buy the contract in career/science mode and a group sends fuel to probes for a price. In sandbox, you just enable disable the option. Disabling the decay, will disable it all outright like the options for career when career is disabled.