Wry observation

[Scarecrow88]

I've only been a member of the forum for a few days but I am already getting a sense there is a distinct splitting of opinions regarding the use of Mech Jeb. Personally I have found that the very basics - launch, achieving orbit, circularising and even extending the orbit to allow passage to the Mun or Minmus to be quite straight forward, and am struggling to imagine that you would need to use an autopilot to manage even these simple tasks. I mean, c'mon guys, it's not rocket science.

Oh, hang on a minute!

[MRab2]

After doing it several hundred times it stops being not rocket science and becomes tedious.

[Scotius]

Yeah, i do all of these things by hand. Partially because i like flying my rockets, partially because my maneuvers are more...instinctive. MJ uses brute, mechanical force - it can be a lifesaver when your ship starts to tumble. But when there is only slight wobble that can be countered by hand, MJ will just shake the ship apart. On the other hand there are things like docking, or pin-point landings. I will freely admit in such cases i use MechJeb, because his mechanical precision is better suited than my twitchy fingers So, i guess for me MJ is an equivalent of a crutch or cane, not a full blown wheelchair.

[Canopus]

I could play the game perfectly without mechjeb. My first munlanding back in 0.16 and my first docking was Manual. But i think mechjeb is an awesome plugin. It provides useful data and can perform maneuvers that require long burn times with the NERVA or the ION engines. I also use the ascent autopilot and the maneuver planner.

[musicpenguin]

Mechjeb is very useful, But I'm not using on my clean save.

[23278]

I have 37 vessels in orbit. About half of them are over 400 tons and at least 3 docked sections. 4 of them are 800+ ton monsters that took over 10 launches to assemble and refuel. MechJeb saves me from the monotony of launching. Especially when the ships hit 1000+ parts on the pad and chokes my comp to the point it takes 10 minutes to get into orbit. I would have quit playing by now without it.

But I still find myself needing to manually launch the complicated bits. There are some things not even Mechjeb can fly, lol. I still do all my own docking, interplanetary transfers, and landings though. That's what I find fun!

[Richy teh space man]

Do we really need another mechjeb vs non mechjeb thread?

[The Error]

Personally? I *know* I can fly my rockets by hand. But getting them into orbit becomes so routine it's tedious, so I use MJ to do what I already can.

[Echostatic]

Do we really need another mechjeb vs non mechjeb thread?

Yes.

Yes we do.

[Noticeably FAT]

I was about to type out a long reply explaining why I use it, but then it occurred to me that I really don't need to defend how I play a game. So, I won't.

[TelluriumCrystal]

My personal opinion: MechJeb is an incredible tool, but it will never replace a human pilot.

[Tw1]

Yes.

Yes we do.

Like theism and atheism, Mechjeb and non-mechjeb will continue to be argued until the end of time.

I like having the tools, MJ offeres. But I'd never rely on it totally. It tends to crash my more complex designs...

[Guest]

Do we really need another mechjeb vs non mechjeb thread?

Yes. Because apparently a dead horse hasn't been properly flogged until it is broken down into its individual atoms, and I'm sure there are those who won't stop there.

[Chocki]

I have never understood the super vocal anti MJ group. If this was some type of mmorpg, I could understand the complaints. MJ would be akin to many early WoW mods that reduced playing a class to mash 1 button. But this is a sandbox game. You play it for what you enjoy. I know my piloting skills suck, so I let MJ do the accents, and long (ion) burns. I even use the maneuver planner, and editor to adjust the node. It doesn't cheapen the game for me. My game is can I get x done by designing y ship to do it. I still have to deal with all the basics, fuel, power, balance.

I do give credit to those that fly, as they have a skill I can't seem to master.

[Scarecrow88]

Oh dear. This was never meant to be a yes v no thread, but as I said in my OP, most threads on this forum seem to include comments one way or the other at some point. My original point was just to have some fun with the oft used phrase 'it isn't rocket science', but I can only assume the same crack has already been made so many times that it completely passed everyone by.

[h3half]

Personally, I'm more of an engineer than a pilot. I find the game much more fun when I design the rockets and plan how my stations will hook together, and then let MechJeb launch them into orbit.

[Rage097]

I Have never used MechJeb because i thought it was completly unnecessary for me. However! these statistics will explain what i would need it for.

%=Need for mech jeb.

Acheiving orbit-0%

To the moons-1%

Rendevouz-21%

Docking-10%

interplanetary travel-17%

Landing on a place with atmosphere-18%

Landing on a pace with no atmosphere-45%

Landing on a place with no atmosphere & high gravity-85%

[Luckless]

Yes. Because apparently a dead horse hasn't been properly flogged until it is broken down into its individual atoms, and I'm sure there are those who won't stop there.

Hit them hard enough and you will start fusing some into cool and new things...

Personally I use Mechjeb now, mostly for the extra information that it can provide for me. I will sometimes use it for launches, but it depends on what my goals for that play session is. I see it as a tool, and I will use that tool when it makes sense to.

I'm also considering trying to use something like MechJeb to do fully scripted missions. Write out all my movements ahead of time, and make no decisions after hitting launch, just follow the script to its bitter end.

[Uncle Mort]

so I let MJ do the accents

Best typo in years.

I wonder who or what old MechJeb would sound like?

[wolfedg]

On Topic: Personally I have never tried mechjeb and probably wont because the game works just fine for me without it

Off Topic: The debate about whether or not to use it (also mods, cheats etc...) - esp. in a singleplayer game should really be left to the individual. It has no bearing on how anyone else plays the game. It might effect skill level to a degree, but from what I gather most people using mods, mechjeb, cheats etc... are already experienced players trying to add functionality or decrease tedium.

Edited May 17, 2013 by wolfedg

[Guest]

Oh dear. This was never meant to be a yes v no thread, but as I said in my OP, most threads on this forum seem to include comments one way or the other at some point. My original point was just to have some fun with the oft used phrase 'it isn't rocket science', but I can only assume the same crack has already been made so many times that it completely passed everyone by.

Unfortunately (and inexplicably), the subject of MechJeb has become as divisive as debates on the proper way to make tea, if not more so. Those who don't use it are quick to troll those who do. So yes, people tend to cringe and glaze over whenever a new MJ thread is started.

Like h3half, I'm a much better engineer than I am a pilot. But just because I use MJ doesn't mean an awful lot of thought hasn't gone into the design. I love researching spacecraft designs that were never built just to see if the things would actually have flown. And if they don't, then I get to puzzle out where the design flaws are and fix them. It's a lot of fun, and has cost me more hours that I care to think about.

[Canopus]

Best typo in years.

I wonder who or what old MechJeb would sound like?

MechJeb sounds like a mixture between Hal 9000 and GlaDOS and has the same tendency to go Kerbicidal and kill your pilots:)

[SecondGuessing]

Unfortunately (and inexplicably), the subject of MechJeb has become as divisive as debates on the proper way to make tea, if not more so. Those who don't use it are quick to troll those who do. So yes, people tend to cringe and glaze over whenever a new MJ thread is started.

Water first then milk!

But yes, mechjeb is a controversial topic. Of course, it's only controversial because there are a lot of self-centered people out there who feel compelled to pretend that theyre wounded whenever someone does something that they disagree with, even if the action has no chance of affecting them at all.

[Mishkin_007]

I was one of those who talked down upon mechjeb until I actually started using it recently. In conjunction with the Kerbal Alarm Clock its a huge time saver and I can get a lot more done.

The point that turned me over to it is that all of these missions IRL would be automated so why shouldn't mine especially when it improves productivity 10 fold. I can do all of these things by hand if needed but at this stage of the game its tedious and very time consuming. I'm only using it right now just to get a 100km orbit and using the smart ass to point my ship around, everything else is still the same for the most part. I did however yesterday use the landing assist after my aerobrakes on jool and laythe and it worked really well...lol.

Edited May 17, 2013 by Mishkin_007

[SecondGuessing]

The point that turned me over to it is that all of these missions IRL would be automated

IRL the potential problems are much higher, as are the potential losses. I'm not denigrating mechjeb users, but this is a lame excuse. Mechjeb doesn't add any realism to the game, it simply smooths off some of the tedium found when you launch your hundredth rocket. That's perfectly fine, but don't pretend that using mechjeb makes your space program more realistic than not using it would.