Improving the maneuver node system?

[Frostiken]

Are there any plans to improve the maneuver node system in 0.2 or in the future?

In specific:

1) Maneuver nodes disappearing when you focus on another ship. This is just idiocy. Set up a complex series of burns far into the future, you're doomed to be stuck tracking that ONE SHIP until it's completed them all.

2) "Knowing" how powerful your engines are without having to throttle them up to full before you start executing maneuvers. Telling me "N/A" on the burn time is crap. Mechjeb and FlightEngineer know how much delta-V my engines produce, why doesn't the core game? This is important for timings as well as a couple of plugins out there like RemoteTech.

3) The node UI setup itself. All you have to do is click on the node circle in the middle and drag it along the flight path- aaaaaand it's gone. Trying to select a node but it goes into 'delete mode'- aaaaand it's gone. And the handles themselves for making maneuvers are awfulbad for making fine adjustments.

This is easily one of the more frustrating aspects of the game.

[bsalis]

A lot of features lack polish.

It's still in development.

For me, selecting a target in a crowded orbit is my main annoyance... I really need to just install that mod people keep talking about to deal with that.

[Tarmenius]

Trying to select a node but it goes into 'delete mode'- aaaaand it's gone.

If you right-click on the circle, the handles will return.

And as bsalis said, keep in mind that the game is still being developed. Check out the Planned Features list here: http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Planned_features If you look under Space Center, you'll see that a flight planner is intended to be in the full game. I imagine that once it's implemented, most of these issues will be a thing of the past.

[Eji1700]

Agree with the above, and have several more to add-

I'd like if somehow the game could calculate atmosphereic data as well(since aerobraking without mechjeb is a guess and check method right now). Granted from what i've heard they plan on redoing the air physics or something, so that might be why.

Reminders/timers/alarms. There's a LOT of stuff that's basically "ok, now float for 4 weeks". The game actually tracks persistant time, so it'd be nice to just set up a flight out to jool, and suddenly have it remind me when i'm a week/day/hour away from needing to do the next burn/arriving a certain point.

Toggling the number of conics in game. NOTHING is more obnoxious than getting an encounter, but having it send you on an almost perfect orbit for the second loop. Now you have all the other obnoxious manipulation issues + trying to click on the correct path for altering orbits.

Moving the controls. Sometimes i want to look at duna while i mess with the flight path. This requires focusing on duna, but making sure i can see the controls in the background. Let me hold a button and just pull the manuver node off the line and put it where I want it so its easier to really plan ahead.

And god so much more(calculations always seem inaccurate when you go from solar gravity to a planets)

Anyways I realize the game isn't complete and that a lot of this is probably on the "to do" list(especially since mech jeb can do most of it and more), but it can be so frustrating when doing longer interstellar flights to have to micromanage a bunch of hidden rules, and it makes it VERY obnoxious to teach.

[bsalis]

I'd like if somehow the game could calculate atmosphereic data as well(since aerobraking without mechjeb is a guess and check method right now).

Yeah, agree with you. It seems the missing piece of maneuver nodes, or navigation in general. I remember Damion in an interview said that one of the game development philosophies was that all failures could only be attributed to the player. Meaning the game had to provide the information and tools to succeed. Currently aerobraking is mostly guesswork and rule-of-thumb.

Reminders/timers/alarms.

I *think* such things are planned but cannot ref a firm source.

[NeoMorph]

I set up a perfect maneuver yesterday and then decided to move a Kerbal from one part of the ship to another via EVA while I was waiting. When I got my Kerbal back in I had a bit of a rage when I realised that my my perfectly plotted course HAD VANISHED just because I had done an EVA. EVA must stand for Extremely Very Annoying. It's all because EVA Kerbonauts are treated as a spaceship.

I do use this though - http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/maneuver-node-improvement/ - it lets you re-open the node if it auto closes just by hitting O (the letter O not the number 0). Does help a bit.

It would be great if you could save your nodes, that's for sure.

Edited May 4, 2013 by NeoMorph

[Brofessional]

It would be nice if there were +/- buttons for fine adjustments next to each of the handles.

[NannerManCan]

You just hold the handles close to the middle and it goes slow

[FluffyBob]

I set up a perfect maneuver yesterday and then decided to move a Kerbal from one part of the ship to another via EVA while I was waiting. When I got my Kerbal back in I had a bit of a rage when I realised that my my perfectly plotted course HAD VANISHED just because I had done an EVA. EVA must stand for Extremely Very Annoying. It's all because EVA Kerbonauts are treated as a spaceship.

I do use this though - http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/maneuver-node-improvement/ - it lets you re-open the node if it auto closes just by hitting O (the letter O not the number 0). Does help a bit.

It would be great if you could save your nodes, that's for sure.

Alarm clock also helps with this. If you set an alarm for a maneuver node it can recreate the maneuver node when its time, do all the EVA's you want, build and launch new ships and close and restart the game twenty times, no worries.

These two mods take most of the frustration out of maneuver nodes.