Where are patched conics?

[Joe Kerbal]

Hello. I've upgraded my Tracking Station and it said I should see patched conics. I know what a patched conic is but I didn't notice any difference in the visualization. What am I missing here? are they available when planning a manouver or what?

[jimmymcgoochie]

They should be visible in the tracking station but only when you follow a specific craft (the orbits won’t show any changes otherwise) and will show up in map view both when planning a manoeuvre and when you’re just flying.

There’s an option in the settings that can change the number of patches (if that’s the right term) and you can turn it up to 6 which is helpful for seeing the results of a series of nodes or travelling through several SOIs e.g. around Jool, but it may also come with a performance cost too so I suggest you keep it at 3 or 4.

There’s another option to change the draw mode, experiment with that to find the one you like the most.

Edited June 17, 2020 by jimmymcgoochie

[micha]

You'll now see your projected trajectory in the Map view as you execute burns.

To actually plan manoeuvrers you also have to upgrade the Mission Center.  When you adjust manouver nodes  you'll now see the projected trajectory change.

[bewing]

The trajectory of a tracked object in a single SOI is a "conic" (short for conic section, a mathematical term).

When you are in control of a craft that is traversing multiple SOIs, the trajectory through each SOI is a "patch" of a conic, and a certain number of patches will show up in Map mode or in the Tracking Station. So, the patches show up for only the one single focused craft, both on the current trajectory (if the SOI changes) or on a maneuver node trajectory (if the SOI will change).