How accurate is comms occlusion?

[RocketSquid]

Is occlusion based on the geoid or on terrain? In other words, if I have a lander with relay antennae, and a rover with a tiny little whip antenna (or just an internal antenna) that can only talk to Kerbin by relaying through the lander, will the rover lose signal the moment a hill comes between it and the lander, or will it still have signal until it’s far enough away that the curvature of the planet is in the way? Will a taller craft be able to communicate farther over the surface?

[Aeroboi]

The Geo ID. More specifically. When the signal can't travel in a direct line from one vessel to another without the direct line dipping below sea level altitude. In other words, if the signal can travel in a direct line without going below 0 meters you will get a signal when a hill or even a mountain is in between.

Furthermore, I always make sure I have global coverage since it isn't particularly hard to send 3 small satellites using a relatively small rocket even early on, but that depends on how good you are at building in early career. In sandbox I make sure I always take those sats with me if it is my first mission to Duna for example.

 

Edited May 7, 2019 by Aeroboi

[bewing]

Note that there are two sliders in the difficulty settings regarding occlusion -- to pretend to handle atmospheric refraction. If it's less than 100%, your signal can travel a little ways through the geoid. If it's over 100%, then even LOS is not quite good enough.

Edited May 7, 2019 by bewing

[RocketSquid]

59 minutes ago, Aeroboi said:

The Geo ID. More specifically. When the signal can't travel in a direct line from one vessel to another without the direct line dipping below sea level altitude. In other words, if the signal can travel in a direct line without going below 0 meters you will get a signal when a hill or even a mountain is in between.

Furthermore, I always make sure I have global coverage since it isn't particularly hard to send 3 small satellites using a relatively small rocket even early on, but that depends on how good you are at building in early career. In sandbox I make sure I always take those sats with me if it is my first mission to Duna for example.

 

Yeah, but for the mun it just seems excessive. Why should I pay full-planet prices when I only need the network to cover half of a moon?