Communication Relay / Network

[Abakan83]

This had been rather troubling gameplay-wise, since all unmanned vehicles will have issues with control for deep space missions. This had become one major issue when performing Duna missions, since the lack of relay ability between vehicles means that crafts will nearly always be uncontrolable upon leaving Kerbin's sphere of influence, despite my planting of relay satellites in orbit close to the area. However one satellite did manage to reach Duna orbit, with signal, somehow......

[The Aziz]

46 minutes ago, Abakan83 said:

means that crafts will nearly always be uncontrolable upon leaving Kerbin's sphere of influence

Been to Jool, didn't lose signal. Just pick the antenna with appropriate range and you're good to go.

[pg17]

Maybe you encountered a bug (repeatedly), because I had several instances of relay workings for me.
For example I had one 130Gm satellite in high orbit around Kerbin, another one in high orbit around Jool and it's moon, and I could control my craft in low Jool orbit with only the probe core integrated 200Mm range without any issues. While in other instances I lost connection with KSC because I didn't have the range to hit any "relay" (as I understood, every antenna is supposed to act as a relay in ksp2... but I don't know if it's only for the "real" ones or if the integrated ones are also concerned).

Also double check the following thing (I, for one, made the mistake) : Make sure your two crafts/relays have the appropriate range to send and receive. A craft with a 200Mm range can't be controlled with a 130Gm antenna unless it is not farther than 200Mm from it (in the game you can't send instructions to your craft if the craft can't "reply back").

Side note for information: the occultation system isn't implemented yet (we are many who really hope it will come).

[Abakan83]

On 1/26/2024 at 2:31 AM, pg17 said:

Maybe you encountered a bug (repeatedly), because I had several instances of relay workings for me.
For example I had one 130Gm satellite in high orbit around Kerbin, another one in high orbit around Jool and it's moon, and I could control my craft in low Jool orbit with only the probe core integrated 200Mm range without any issues. While in other instances I lost connection with KSC because I didn't have the range to hit any "relay" (as I understood, every antenna is supposed to act as a relay in ksp2... but I don't know if it's only for the "real" ones or if the integrated ones are also concerned).

Also double check the following thing (I, for one, made the mistake) : Make sure your two crafts/relays have the appropriate range to send and receive. A craft with a 200Mm range can't be controlled with a 130Gm antenna unless it is not farther than 200Mm from it (in the game you can't send instructions to your craft if the craft can't "reply back").

Side note for information: the occultation system isn't implemented yet (we are many who really hope it will come).

I see...... it might sure be the issue with the relay range, I'll see what I can do to improve the relay coverage.

And by that I mean littering orbits with micro-satellites, since I'm just purely incompetent to come up with a suitable comms network anyway

[Flush Foot]

On 1/25/2024 at 12:33 PM, The Aziz said:

Been to Jool, didn't lose signal. Just pick the antenna with appropriate range and you're good to go.

4 minutes ago, Abakan83 said:

it might sure be the issue with the relay range

I'm not sure if 'relay range' is the only thing here... I have a Jool crewed mission underway and I think I got a pop-up alert that this vessel, with three of the largest deployable antenna warned of being beyond CommNet range while Kerbin was practically eclipsing Kerbol from its perspective (not literally but it was almost directly between the craft and Kerbol while the craft was still inside of Duna's orbit)... though I suppose another craft might have caused that warning [and the pop-up just didn't say who was affected].

It sure would be nice though if a craft's CommNet / Full Control icon gave some indication as to 'signal-strength/quality' 

[steveman0]

I left behind or repopulated past planets with the 130 Gm antenna and no longer receive any notices about vessels losing communications. I sent a probe to Eeloo with no issues after this. When you see the popup message, it isn't always for the craft you are currently controlling. Check the satellite icon on the nav ball to confirm control with the current craft.

I suspect a major reason they don't do more with commnet is precisely because they don't yet have a good way to visualize the effective coverage. If you do have proper coverage, it does seem to work as intended from my experience.

[Flush Foot]

7 minutes ago, steveman0 said:

Check the satellite icon on the nav ball to confirm control with the current craft

Might not a crewed craft leave CommNet range [pop-up alert] but still show as full-control due to the Kerbals in a command pod?

[steveman0]

1 hour ago, Flush Foot said:

Might not a crewed craft leave CommNet range [pop-up alert] but still show as full-control due to the Kerbals in a command pod?

Yes, I believe you do receive a notification popup even with a crewed craft. The UI icon showing a satellite symbol I think should mean the communications status regardless of whether you have crew or not. This might be relevant if you were to leave your ship and plan to control it remotely. I don't know if there's a separate icon for control status aside from a center-of-screen prompt that comes up when you try to provide input to an uncontrollable craft.

[magnemoe]

Just now, steveman0 said:

Yes, I believe you do receive a notification popup even with a crewed craft. The UI icon showing a satellite symbol I think should mean the communications status regardless of whether you have crew or not. This might be relevant if you were to leave your ship and plan to control it remotely. I don't know if there's a separate icon for control status aside from a center-of-screen prompt that comes up when you try to provide input to an uncontrollable craft.

Yes, this is relevant if you leave ship or even cockpit like man the orbital lab. It also don't let you transmit home science.
 

[Abakan83]

I went back and checked my vessel setups, and YES, the problem is i'm using antennas with a range FAR SHORTER than required for inter-system communication, the design of my ship also tend to lose too much electricity through their flight. Few relay satellites are set up accross Kerbin-Duna orbits, and also one on the Duna orbit, that ought to solve my problem, aw yeah.