Bye Bye mechjeb

[KWilkiePJ]

After a few months of playing with mechjeb, the latest release has been, shall I say more of a hindrance than a help. Thus far I have reverted back to manual as its far quicker and more reliable, which is the only reason I used it in the first place. I there was a delta V monitor in the VAB I wouldn't need to use it at all!

What are your thoughts? so far, I have had wonky take offs, a docking autopilot that doesn't work at all and to boot a precision landing autopilot that is no longer precise.

another piece of food for thought, for me precision landing is far more difficult than docking

[Benie]

*hugs 0.20*

Seriously, though. I don't think this means MechJeb is useless. Hopefully the author will look into these issues when he has time, and release an update.

MJ still has dev builds. Have you checked those?

Edited July 27, 2013 by Benie

[ddavis425]

I there was a delta V monitor in the VAB I wouldn't need to use it at all!

If that's all you needed it for then you could have just used Kerbal Engineer.

[msyblade]

I'll be honest, I was using mechjeb for the last couple of months. The "lazy" way too. . .Click "Eve" and minimize while checking my messages, lazy. But with the update I've been flying full manual control, and I've learned the what they say is true: The damn thing taught me how to fly.

Dont think I'll install it again even if it's updated. I really enjoy flying it now that I know what to do.

[Giggleplex777]

I did a one shot semi-precision landing on Duna today. Just a few small corrections from the edge of its sphere of influence and landed with 20km from my target (basically, Curiosity-style). That was way harder than docking.

[FITorion]

Landing I can do. Precision landing? well that involves planetary rotation... maybe atmospheric deceleration...

Usually what I do is just land close enough... then take off again to move it where I need it.

Docking I can do. It's not hard once you figure out how the docking controls effect the symbols on the navball... and what the symbols on the navball mean.

[dlmarti]

After a few months of playing with mechjeb, the latest release has been, shall I say more of a hindrance than a help. Thus far I have reverted back to manual as its far quicker and more reliable, which is the only reason I used it in the first place. I there was a delta V monitor in the VAB I wouldn't need to use it at all!

What are your thoughts? so far, I have had wonky take offs, a docking autopilot that doesn't work at all and to boot a precision landing autopilot that is no longer precise.

another piece of food for thought, for me precision landing is far more difficult than docking

I am a little confused. In your post you state you only used it for delta V monitoring, but then you go into all of the automatic stuff that is not working?

Was this really a post about you "graduating", or a plea to be considered elite?

[espm400]

I actually just started doing precision landings the day before .21 was released, and despite the fact that I picked up non-atmospheric landings pretty quick (as long as I timed the suicide burn right...), I'm still having some issues with touching down a rocket at KSP. Just need a bit more practice, but that's what probe cores are for.

Docking, on the other hand, I picked up within about an hour (after watching a video and realizing what all the icons on the navball meant).

As for MechJeb, I've used only one of the autopilots, and only once. Back in .19 I decided to try out the docking autopilot, but considering it used about five times the monoprop that I would have used, that was the also the last time it got used. For me, MechJeb is all about the wealth of information.

[annallia]

*hugs 0.20*

Seriously, though. I don't think this means MechJeb is useless. Hopefully the author will look into these issues when he has time, and release an update.

MJ still has dev builds. Have you checked those?

I am still running 0.20x and having issues with MechJeb now and then. For instance today I was trying to put a lander on the moon (after my new moon base went poof). I loaded up my favorite Mun rocket made minor changes to it (hitchhiker can, extra booster to make up for the weight) and went to launch. MechJeb failed to get it into orbit 4 times in a row and I couldn't figure out what was going on.

Turned off MechJeb and did it myself, no problem. Used MechJeb to get it to the Mun, no problem, set up orbit, no problem. Go for landing.. problem. For whatever reason at about 350m above the mun MechJeb decided it would be a good idea to flip my lander around and kick the thrusters into full power slamming it into the surface. I tried to save it, as soon as I saw it flip around and start burning I canceled the auto land and tried to flip it around and start a burn myself but before my thrusters got to half power my lander slammed into the Mun.

[Ironwatsas]

Well, I mostly use MechJeb for calculating Delta-V during construction, ascent guidance, and setting up maneuver nodes. Typically I use the smartASS function to align spacecraft for docking, but use RCS thrusters manually. I find that MechJeb tends to eat up Monoprop when it does it on it's own.

As for landings... well... I haven't tried landing with mechjeb. Aside from ejecting capsules, but those are easy...

[FleetAdmiralJ]

Docking seems pretty straight forward now. I use docking camera to help me align, but even if I didn't use that, it wouldn't be that bad. Precision landing...oy. I've tried that several times and at best got to within maybe 5km (which if you're talking about modular base pieces, isn't very close. Maybe if I was just trying to hit a general target on a planet it would be)

I just float way too much over the surface, and the direction I go as a result of corrections still seems too unpredictable to me to be able to make at truly precision landing.

I suppose the theory behind both things - docking and precision landing - are largely the same, but I just think there are more variables to consider doing landings than dockings.

[Benie]

Turned off MechJeb and did it myself, no problem. Used MechJeb to get it to the Mun, no problem, set up orbit, no problem. Go for landing.. problem. For whatever reason at about 350m above the mun MechJeb decided it would be a good idea to flip my lander around and kick the thrusters into full power slamming it into the surface. I tried to save it, as soon as I saw it flip around and start burning I canceled the auto land and tried to flip it around and start a burn myself but before my thrusters got to half power my lander slammed into the Mun.

I do admit, MechJeb doesn't see what is a "pinpoint landing". I did a "test" (well, trying an idea to use Hooligan Labs Landing Pads (the 8x8 ones) at scattered locations on Laythe).

It always lands about 80-90m away from where I want it to.

As for your problem, hate to say this, but it's saying your rocket design "isn't good enough".

I've only had a few botched MechJeb landings, and that was either because it was trying to constantly set its angle of approach (while landing) and not doing the final approach burn to slow it down and coming in too fast, or it spinning end over end when it tries to set the angle of approach.

Both had to do with the design of the rocket. And I am using Build #69.

[annallia]

I do admit, MechJeb doesn't see what is a "pinpoint landing". I did a "test" (well, trying an idea to use Hooligan Labs Landing Pads (the 8x8 ones) at scattered locations on Laythe).

It always lands about 80-90m away from where I want it to.

As for your problem, hate to say this, but it's saying your rocket design "isn't good enough".

I've only had a few botched MechJeb landings, and that was either because it was trying to constantly set its angle of approach (while landing) and not doing the final approach burn to slow it down and coming in too fast, or it spinning end over end when it tries to set the angle of approach.

Both had to do with the design of the rocket. And I am using Build #69.

Eh, sometimes I think it is a problem with MechJeb working on my PC. I find that if I botch a landing like that. Save my vessel close the game restart the game and launch the same vessel again and MechJeb will do it right.

As evidence I did just that, not only did MechJeb get it into orbit successfully it transfered to Munar orbit and landed safely without spinning it around and slamming head first into the Mun.

[AmpsterMan]

One of the things I love about doing things manually is thr wait/reward. I just landed on the face on Duna from within half a kilometer today.

Felt like awesome

[steveman0]

Honestly the in game waypoint system is good enough for any macro scale planning I've needed. The only thing I really use it for is the flight data and for quickly orienting myself without having to spin in circles until I spot the marker I'm looking for with each step of the flight.

[magnemoe]

I do admit, MechJeb doesn't see what is a "pinpoint landing". I did a "test" (well, trying an idea to use Hooligan Labs Landing Pads (the 8x8 ones) at scattered locations on Laythe).

It always lands about 80-90m away from where I want it to.

As for your problem, hate to say this, but it's saying your rocket design "isn't good enough".

I've only had a few botched MechJeb landings, and that was either because it was trying to constantly set its angle of approach (while landing) and not doing the final approach burn to slow it down and coming in too fast, or it spinning end over end when it tries to set the angle of approach.

Both had to do with the design of the rocket. And I am using Build #69.

Mechjeb has an CPM of around 70-100 meter I think, that is most landings come within that distance, however Laythe has always been very inaccurate and more like 500 meters.

An know bug is that the function who tries to kill vertical speed before final decent freaks out on low gravity worlds like Gilly, Bop, Pol and Minmus with some rare landers.

Solution is to disable autopilot then it display killing vertical speed and do the decent manually. This is anyway an good idea for pinpoint accuracy.

Another issue is that mechjeb is not very smart, one recent experience, sending an ion powered probe to Moho, an 15 minutes burn from LKO, now as I started in 200 km attitude and dropped down to 130 km during the burn before the node I got extra boost because of lower and faster orbit and this sent me far inside Moho orbit. However the same would have happened if you let it fly on ASAS, mechjeb just make sure you point in the right direction and burn the required m/s.

[KWilkiePJ]

I am a little confused. In your post you state you only used it for delta V monitoring, but then you go into all of the automatic stuff that is not working?

Was this really a post about you "graduating", or a plea to be considered elite?

Not to be considered elite, such things don't bother me. It was interesting to see how mechjeb did its work, it taught me a hell of a lot.