First time seriously using Mechjeb

[llamatoes]

I seriously don't see how a competent player (i.e, me) can actually watch Mechjeb, I let it do one launch, as I couldn't be bothered to to do this one launch, as I had cocked up and accidentally ended flight, so I let mechjeb take the wheel, and I was coming very close to telling it to PLZ STAHP MECJAEB DES FEUL INEFFICENT! Mechjeb will never beat me in piloting, flying, and rendezvous skills.

[regex]

Cool story. Also, MechJeb is cheating.

[alacrity]

As a long time Mech Jeb user I can tell you this is a common inference. I have a few ships mech jeb can't even get to orbit.

Primarily I use mech jeb for the same reason you stated. I can't be assed to launch my refueling barge one more time. I actually redesigned it a little just for mech jeb launching. Extra fuel, and rcs gas, over simplified and perfectly symetrical.

On the plus side. It is a fast way to test my weirder designs. Build it strap n a quick mech jeb controller and press go. 9 times for 10 the thing blows on the ground but I can use the fail data to redesign and fix.

Alacrity Fitz

[Guest]

If you give MJ and inefficient flight profile to use, you'll get inefficient results. It's doing what you told it to.

You don't blame the hammer if you try to nail Jello to a tree and, predictably, fail.

[Plur303]

I also agree that mechjeb is intolerably bad at flying. I tried it back in 0.18 and 0.19 a few times and was more annoyed by it than it was worth. I have not even considered reinstalling it since. I also consider it cheating.

I foresee the thread being closed pretty quickly though. Mechjeb discussions ALWAYS end up very hostile. There are a lot of people in denial about not being able to play the game without training wheels that will defend it to the bitter end.

If you give MJ and inefficient flight profile to use, you'll get inefficient results. It's doing what you told it to.

You don't blame the hammer if you try to nail Jello to a tree and, predictably, fail.

It's not just ascent. Mechjeb burns through RCS when auto-docking, doesn't do very efficient orbital transfers, doesn't know how to exploit the Oberth effect, and simply can't fly certain large or wobbly ships. It also likes to pulse between 0 and 100% thrust and rip apart very fragile ships that are docked together.

Mechjeb is a very crude hammer and can be blamed for many things. It is not a precision tool.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Plur303

[Fried]

Cool story. Also, MechJeb is cheating.

your new art you, this has been argued so may times, but mechjeb is supported by the devs. the devs have said many time's that the space shuttle isn't flown by hand even though it could be in theory.

also mechjeb 2.0.8 is a lot better on fule.

[Scotius]

Oh? Then try to land 100+ part vessel less than 50 meters from another 100+ part ship, when your timer turns yellow - i dare ya. It's not a question of skills, just practicality. Though i have to agree, MechJeb does not do fuel efficiency

[Uocjat]

You don't blame the hammer if you try to nail Jello to a tree and, predictably, fail.

failure depends entirely on the consistency of the jello - nailing it to a tree is entirely possible

[Canopus]

Cool story Bro!

Nah not really, ofcourse its not better than a human pilot but if you constantly build huge ships and structures in orbit, doing all the flying yourself becomes very tedious soon.

[Guest]

failure depends entirely on the consistency of the jello - nailing it to a tree is entirely possible

As is giving MJ an efficient ascent profile to follow. In both cases, planning and preparation are involved. Accepting the defaults and crying about it failing? Not the tool's fault.

[Plur303]

Cool story Bro!

Nah not really, ofcourse its not better than a human pilot but if you constantly build huge ships and structures in orbit, doing all the flying yourself becomes very tedious soon.

It is my opinion that the flying is the fun part. There is no career mode or goals in the game yet so the voyage is the entire purpose of playing the game right now. Automating the voyage removes all satisfaction of playing the game for me.

Play the game however you like. But personally I cannot understand why people play a game about flying space ships if they get bored flying space ships...

Some people argue it is about designing space ships but once you understand the concepts of thrust to weight ratio and delta V you can build ships just by looking at those values. As long as your ship is assembled reasonably then it is pretty much guaranteed to work as long as you have the delta V and TWR to do what you want to do. There is nothing left to do but fly it. Automating the flying makes this one of the most boring games I can imagine. I don't see the fun in automating a flight to a different planet/moon just to land and have nothing to do.

The experience of the voyage is the destination in my opinion.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Plur303

[zzz]

Then try to land 100+ part vessel less than 50 meters from another 100+ part ship,

HyperEdit will make it even better. It beat MJ in almost any goal and more fuel efficient.

Edited June 26, 2013 by zzz

[SilentWindOfDoom]

It is my opinion that the flying is the fun part. There is no career mode or goals in the game yet so the voyage is the entire purpose of playing the game right now. Automating the voyage removes all satisfaction of playing the game for me.

Play the game however you like. But personally I cannot understand why people play a game about flying space ships if they get bored flying space ships...

Flying is fun, docking is satisfying, but when you have to launch 4 identical payloads one after the other and dock them in orbit, something that will take hours, i really don't feel i am missing out on satisfaction when i use MJ to launch and get close. Maybe you enjoy six hours of wrestling spacewhales with RCS but i sure dont. Then again, to each their own.

[DChurchill]

In before the storm.

Cheating in a single player game. That's pretty funny.

Primarily I use mech jeb for the same reason you stated. I can't be assed to launch my refueling barge one more time. I actually redesigned it a little just for mech jeb launching. Extra fuel, and rcs gas, over simplified and perfectly symetrical.

Winner winner chicken dinner. How many launches do I have to do by hand? If it becomes so tedious that I don't fell like playing because I have to launch something yet again for the 50th time, then what's the point?

I still dock myself, because it's still fun. I let MJ plot my planetary intercepts because the little maneuver node doofer is like hitting a fly with a sledgehammer. And I let MJ launch my rockets because I'm tired of it. And I'm certainly not going to stop because "teh mekjebz r cheeturs!"

But personally I cannot understand why people play a game about flying space ships if they get bored flying space ships...

You left out half the game.

Edited June 26, 2013 by DChurchill

[Canopus]

Infinite Fuel and hyperedit are cheats. Mechjeb is an assistance.

[g_audio]

It is my opinion that the flying is the fun part. There is no career mode or goals in the game yet so the voyage is the entire purpose of playing the game right now. Automating the voyage removes all satisfaction of playing the game for me.

Play the game however you like. But personally I cannot understand why people play a game about flying space ships if they get bored flying space ships...

Well it is Kerbal Space Program. It's not all about the flying technically. Some times just establishing a base of operations on another planet is highly entertaining, whether I flew it there myself or not.

[regex]

your new art you, this has been argued so may times, but mechjeb is supported by the devs. the devs have said many time's that the space shuttle isn't flown by hand even though it could be in theory.

NASA is cheating.

[llamatoes]

If you give MJ and inefficient flight profile to use, you'll get inefficient results. It's doing what you told it to.

You don't blame the hammer if you try to nail Jello to a tree and, predictably, fail.

I gave it exactly the same flight profile as my previous launch, gravity turn 10km.

[Canopus]

I don't get why people always bring up this discussion. A human pilot is Of course better at flying. Do they have some inferior complex?

[thepielord]

NASA is cheating.

say whaaaaat. yea because they would rather have people pilot all their craft instead of use auto-pilots which are much less likely to screw up

[Jason_25]

It is my opinion that the flying is the fun part. There is no career mode or goals in the game yet so the voyage is the entire purpose of playing the game right now. Automating the voyage removes all satisfaction of playing the game for me.

Play the game however you like. But personally I cannot understand why people play a game about flying space ships if they get bored flying space ships...

It can be argued that the flying part is the boring part. Spaceflight is just not very hard, even with the stock instrumentation. Also, there is nothing to see out there. All the planets are barren. In my opinion, the only thing to do is build, not fly.

Also, you are right about building stuff, that is not very "hard" either, but sometimes it is fun to challenge yourself with what you can make. Challenging yourself to create a stock parts authentic space shuttle for instance.

[The Jedi Master]

say whaaaaat. yea because they would rather have people pilot all their craft instead of use auto-pilots which are much less likely to screw up

Do any of you understand that he might, just might, be joking?

[Guest]

I gave it exactly the same flight profile as my previous launch, gravity turn 10km.

One parameter out of many.

And seriously, did we really need yet another MechJeb troll thread?

Edited June 26, 2013 by Jack Wolfe

[Canopus]

Also, there is nothing to see out there. All the planets are barren. In my opinion, the only thing to do is build, not fly.

I visit the planets to enjoy the views.

[zzz]

NASA is cheating.

Nasa not playing the game. It's already very simple in comparison with complexity of real spacecrafts. Simple rules, no consequences and even bricks can to orbit. But if flying is not intresing and you want to skip it then Hyperedit is much better and faster.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/report/article/nasas-jet-propulsion-lab-is-obsessed-with-a-certain-game-and-i-bet-you-can-

What you want to say to me by it?

Edited June 26, 2013 by zzz