Question about using ion engines and time

[SpaceFaringOrBust]

Ok, so I'm sure there has to be a way to deal with the time that it takes for ion engines to change Δv. But I have yet to figure out a way other than turning on the game setting a timer and walking away. Whenever I use the normal time advance, my engines shut off.

On another note I have noticed that Kerbal time and real time doesn't go hand in hand. Is that something in the programming or the maneuver node calculation missing a variable( such as the mass of the spacecraft?

[Gargamel]

Moved to Gameplay Questions. 

[bewing]

You can use Alt period to go into physwarp, up to 4X.

And no, this game does a physics simulation and is not intended to match realtime. It deliberately slows the simulation if it goes faster than realtime, but that's rare.

Edited April 12, 2019 by bewing

[Foxster]

The lateral thinking solution is to use these engines only for their designed purpose: To push little craft a long way.

If you use them with larger craft for their isp advantage then you'll have to take the painful hit of the resulting low TWR.  

[Aeroboi]

I use Bettertimewarp mod using 100x physical timewarp on some vessels. For reference, 100x 0.05TWR  = 5 TWR in real seconds (or 0.05 times 100).

If my intention is to visit a planet i.e. Eve I would create a maneuver that has a trajectory that doesn't intersect the target but instead make sure the orbital line is in front of Eve instead of a direct encounter. The reason being is that Eve keeps traveling at it's orbital velocity around the Sun so that it will drift away from the encounter by the time you meet it. Think about leading the target like in a ballistics game.

The result when aiming ahead (leading the target) that you would just end up with a eccentric solar orbit that has no target encounter but would just continue to circle the Sun.
Some ION craft of mine have 40K+ Dv. So for a quick Eve trip I would expand 20K Dv from Kerbin and another 20K to slow down.

Based on the craft velocity, solar eccentricity, target eccentricity, inclination and target speed (Eve's orbital velocity) I can both calculate or roughly estimate how much the orbit line has to be in front of the target body Eve.
Once done I don't even have to create a maneuver node. All I have to do is know how much time it takes to decelerate (use mechjeb for burn time)
This time is the time it takes to get to the orbit intersect line. So if you require a 2 day burn you have to start your deceleration burn 2 days before entering the orbit line of your target.
 

By the time you do your deceleration burn make sure your at 0° on the AN/DN relative to the target (Eve)
As you try to decelerate 2 days prior to the targets orbital intercept line (that is if you require a 2 day burn to decelerate) you'll notice you come nowhere close to a encounter only when you get very close to pushing the last 1K Dv from the budget. This will look confusing as you'll find out that the encounter doesn't come until the very end. Just trust the calculations and you should hit spot on. In any case creating a maneuver node 2 days before the expected encounter shouldn't be a problem.

Edited April 12, 2019 by Aeroboi

[Jarmo]

I ended up using that small Quad adapter to add 4x ion engines for my probes.
That's about ton of extra weight and lots of kerbucks wasted, which sucks, but cuts down real time usage so much it's worth the tradeoff, IMO.