Knowing if a planet is ahead or behind in the orbit?

[ProbeIke]

I've right now been trying and trying to get my orbit to lead me to Duna. I've been using the calculator at http://ksp.olex.biz/, and have been ejecting from kerbin at around 150 degrees and with Duna being 45 degrees ahead of Kerbin. I never get the orbit right, but the problem is I never have any idea whether I might overshoot or undershoot Duna.

While the perfect solution would be a holographic image (like the intercept indicator) that indicates where Duna will be when I cross it's orbit, (And so I can modify the orbit appropriately until I get intercept) there is no mod I know of, nor mechjeb tool, (mechjeb takes the fun out of kerbal anyways) that allows me to do this.

So, how do I determine whether I might over or undershoot the planet while en-route to it?

[sal_vager]

Hi ProbeIke, try changing the value of this line in KSP_win\settings.cfg to a higher number:

CONIC_PATCH_LIMIT =

It'll add more orbit lines, watch out though, they get less accurate the more you add.

[adammada]

use protractor plugin, it can draw it.

[ProbeIke]

@sal_vager

I already made conic_patch_limit five, and it doesn't help me. The problem is that the orbit I have with the sun, when in yellow (not in it yet, still in kerbin burn) does not give me any indication of where Duna will be when I hit the point where my orbit and Duna's cross, so I can never adjust it properly in-flight (unless of course I get it perfect the first time)

[sal_vager]

Yeah it'll only do that if you will be close enough to enter Duna's SOI, If you are ahead or behind you can go into a lower or higher solar orbit to catch Duna up, wasteful of fuel I know but I do that rather than miss or reload.

[phoenix_ca]

This is a problem that, while having no specific solution right now, WILL be solved in future. In the current build there is no way for the engine to detect where along an orbital path the mouse is. Harv recently implemented a function that can detect exactly where the cursor is when it's hovering over an orbit path. With that ability, drawing shadows of where other orbital bodies will be at that time in the orbit should be far easier.

Edit: So, essentially, what you're asking for is coming, it just isn't available yet. The protractor mod is a good choice in the interim.

Edited October 5, 2012 by phoenix_ca

[maltesh]

Seconding the Protractor mod. It can show you the point on your orbit where your spacecraft gets closest to your target, and tells you the distance at that closest approach. From there, you can experiment to find a direction to burn that turns that close approach into an intercept.

[ProbeIke]

Welp, I guess I'll use the protractor mod for now. I saw what Harvester was making (this http://i.imgur.com/ZI5YW.png) but I had no idea what it was (looked like some coding overlay with all the fancy schmancy lines) and so that will be a much bigger help when it comes out.

I used to play Orbiter, and mechjeb just scares me because of all the MFDs. I enjoy instrument-free space travel much more than the prograde, retrograde, monotonous tone of orbiter.