UI/UX Timewarp limit is too restrictive on some non-atmospheric planets (Gilly, Bop, Minmus...)

[Anonymous Bug Reporter]

Reported Version: v0.2.0 (latest) | Mods: none | Can replicate without mods? Yes 
OS: Windows 10 | CPU: Intel i9-12900k | GPU: RTX 2070 | RAM: 32GB Corsair RGB Vengance

 

So when I'm in orbit of a planet with no atmosphere, such as Mun or Minmus, I should be able to timewarp more than 4x because there's simply no danger. I think time-warp at certain altitudes for certain bodies needs to be revisited. Just because I have a 9km peri on minmus, doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to warp through to my 23k apo like, immediately, if there's no atmospheric friction.

 

Included Attachments:

Edited December 27, 2023 by Spicat

[HebaruSan]

Preferred Title: Time warp limits interfere with missions and science gameplay in For Science!

Reported Version: v0.2.0 (latest) | Mods: CustomFlags | Can replicate without mods? Yes 
OS: Win 10 | CPU: i7-3770K | GPU: GTX 1060 6GB | RAM: 32 GB

 

I just got back into orbit from the Minmus Monument, and I have some extra fuel, so I'm looking to collect some additional science before heading home. My craft is just entering the night side of its orbit, and I'd prefer to conduct my landings in daylight. When I go to map view, I see this:

The daylight area where I'd like to do those landings coincides with my apoapsis, which is 28 minutes away. Since time warp is arbitrarily limited to 4x at this altitude, I would have to spend 7 full minutes staring at nothing and waiting for my craft to inch its way there in order to conduct the landings that I have planned. The "time warp to point" option barely speeds up the game at all. This is unnecessary and capricious and frustrating.

Please allow all levels of time warp when in a stable orbit!

 

(Merging in related report from the "trash posts" thread that demonstrates the impact on the missions half of the update...)

 I am following the new For Science! missions, and...

Spoiler

... I'm on the one with the Minmus Monument. It's at a high latitude, so captured into a polar-ish orbit. However, I'm not quite passing over the marker yet:

This shouldn't be a big problem. Minmus rotates under my orbit, so I can time warp ahead until the marker is under my orbit for a nice cheap landing.

I start pressing "." to increase time warp and wait for the vessel icon to start whipping around Minmus and the waypoint to move. Instead, nothing happens. The maximum time warp 10km above Minmus is apparently 4x.

This limitation has been annoying and unnecessary all along, but now it's an obstacle to continuing the mission that the game has given me. To proceed, I will have to switch to the Tracking Station in order to access what is essentially the exact same screen I'm on right now but without the arbitrary time warp limits, then switch back to the craft to do the landing. This is a cumbersome workaround, not gameplay.

Please allow all time warp levels when in a stable orbit so we can do these missions without disruption.

Edited December 28, 2023 by HebaruSan

[Bej Kerman]

On 12/26/2023 at 5:30 AM, Anonymous Bug Reporter said:

So when I'm in orbit of a planet with no atmosphere, such as Mun or Minmus, I should be able to timewarp more than 4x because there's simply no danger. I think time-warp at certain altitudes for certain bodies needs to be revisited. Just because I have a 9km peri on minmus, doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to warp through to my 23k apo like, immediately, if there's no atmospheric friction.

It's ironic. This is the ONE feature I can say Squad got right, in that the game only cares about altitude as long as you're on a near-collision course. 

[The Aziz]

Thresholds below which the warp is limited to 4x:
The Mun: 9318m
Minmus: 15100m
Ike: 20872m
Gilly: 11900m
Moho: 17987m
Dres: ?
Tylo: 49180m (!)
Vall: ?
Bop: ?
Pol: 8800m
Eeloo: ?

Edited January 18 by The Aziz
Tylo

[Spicat]

@HebaruSan, merged your bug report.

This is really annoying, I don't know if this is a bug but I hope it's not intentional.

[HebaruSan]

3 minutes ago, Spicat said:

@HebaruSan, merged your bug report.

This is really annoying, I don't know if this is a bug but I hope it's not intentional.

Can you please update the title? I'm not complaining about "too restrictive", I'm complaining that this unnecessary limit exists at all, specifically because it is highly deterimental to both major halves of the new content of the For Science! update.

Edited December 27, 2023 by HebaruSan

[Spicat]

Just now, HebaruSan said:

Can you update the title? I'm not complaining about "too restrictive", I'm complaining that this unnecessary limit exists at all.

That would land too much on a "suggestion" kind of topic. The limit is probably a technical thing but also a design decision.

[HebaruSan]

13 minutes ago, Spicat said:

That would land too much on a "suggestion" kind of topic. The limit is probably a technical thing but also a design decision.

Well, we need some way to alert the team to the terrible consequences of this bad design decision. They created a feature and then turned it off exactly in the scenario when it's most useful and needed. There isn't even a benefit to doing that.

This isn't a proposal for some big new feature. It's emergency-level feedback from users that the core user experience of the content they just released has a huge problem.

Edited December 27, 2023 by HebaruSan

[Ultimate Steve]

I do agree that bug is a strong word, but I do also think that suggestion is a weak word, so I am not entirely sure where this should be put. But yeah, time warp limits are too restrictive. They are making hunting for the new discoverables a pain, making biome hopping a pain, and making me put stuff in less efficient higher orbits, or taking less efficient steeper trajectories because I'm optimizing for time spent IRL instead of Delta-V.

[MechBFP]

This definitely needs to be fixed. I can already time warp through Kerbin’s atmosphere on a return trip, so may as well let me do the same kind of thing on other planets/moon since it doesn’t actually fix the problem anyway when time warping fast enough. 
I haven’t tried it yet, but I can probably time warp straight through a CB like in KSP1 if I have it turned up high enough. 

[Navoan]

Orbiting Bop atm and yeah, wow, this being changed would be lovely.  Workaround is go to to KSC, then to Tracking Station, Focus on the body your craft is on/around and then time warp.  But still, irritating.

[CFTeague2]

Id like to support changes to this.      Gilly is the worst.    I break orbit from 20km up, I can timewarp fast at first, but soon I still have something like 12km to fall, and I cannot go faster than 4x warp.

I made dinner, then ate dinner, basically, before it landed   (tho, to be fair, it was just reheating leftovers)

 

I do understand, we dont want someone to timewarp straight thru a planet.   but theres got to be some middle ground where low speeds are allowed to warp a little faster...

Thanks!   -CFTeague2

ps.   the original 20km or higher orbit was actually BECAUSE of this limit.    I didnt want to not be allowed to timewarp when in orbit.    if I could have timewarped faster at lower altitudes, I would have used a lower orbit, and then I wouldnt even had so far to "fall" down to gilly...

Edited March 24 by CFTeague2
ps

[squibonacid]

I'd also like to support this, really takes the fun out of missions to gilly.