Delayed control for empty vessels

[DancZer]

I would like to see delayed control for the empty vessels. Why?

Because that is the reason why NASA want to send men to the mars. The astronaut can do much more and easier than the robot at great distance, because of delay.(in this case the delay to Mars is about 9-42 min).

In the future state of the (i hope) the crew will require oxygen and food to survive(this is a big drawback), but at least the player can control an enjoy the game without delay.

The drawback of empty vessel should be the delay.

The amount of delay should be depend on the actual scene. If the vessel i further the delay increase. If there is something between the vessel and the ground control(or other vessel with crew) the vessel should discard the control(data loss). In this last case the player should deploy the communication satellite to the orbit of the planet/moon to create a communication lattice.

I know that this feature increase the difficulty, but this is how the things going out there?!

P.s.:If the devs discard this feature, it is possible to create mod like this? I have not study the KSP API yet.

[Sirrobert]

WTF is up with all this 'I want it cause that's how it happends in real life' crap?

THIS IS A GAME. It's not a NASA simulator

[Eric S]

Look into the RemoteTech addon. Two of the three main branches of it have communication delays due to lightspeed, and the third may be getting that in the future, if I recall correctly.

[DancZer]

This game is sill under developement and i suggest a feature which in my opinion would make a game better. These kind of comment leave yourself, if you can't make valuable comment please.

Thx, Eric S i am going to check it later.

[Sirrobert]

This game is sill under developement and i suggest a feature which in my opinion would make a game better. These kind of comment leave yourself, if you can't make valuable comment please.

Thx, Eric S i am going to check it later.

Very well, allow me to rephrase it, as you didn't understand it:

I think it's a horrible suggestion, because I think realism for the sake of realism has no place in this game.

To add an example: Play some Signal Delay. Now imagine landing something with that delay while falling towards a planet at 100m/s

Edited November 1, 2013 by Sirrobert

[Nemoricus]

I think it's a horrible suggestion, because I think realism has no place in this game.

I think it would be better to say that it is a bit of realism that detracts from rather than adds to gameplay. Sure, signal delay is realistic, but it would make controlling all but the simplest maneuvers extremely frustrating. Landing requires responsiveness on the order of less than a second, but if there's ten seconds of delay between your command and its reaction, you'll crash the vessel.

The only way signal delay can be a playable mechanic is if it's paired with some sort of autonomy on the probe end.

[giltirn]

This seems to be something that only a small part of the community would actually want (I would find it very frustrating myself), and is hence probably best addressed using mods.

[boomerdog2000]

I tried remotetech but ended up not installing it for .22. Without an easier way to program things ahead of time it was just too tedious.

[SuperWeegee4000]

I'm sorry, THE Mars?

KSP isn't really about the total realism that you have to face in, well, real life. Besides, the probe could be autonomous.

[DancZer]

I think it is depends on the implemenzation and the response to the user/UI I don't want a realistic signal delay.

Giltirn maybe you are right.

I was thinking about, why should i make empty vessel instead of vessel with crew. Thats why i suggest this.

[boomerdog2000]

At the moment science rewards. You can do more science with kerbals than without.

[Sirrobert]

I think it is depends on the implemenzation and the response to the user/UI I don't want a realistic signal delay.

Giltirn maybe you are right.

I was thinking about, why should i make empty vessel instead of vessel with crew. Thats why i suggest this.

Idk, maybe so you can do EVA reports, surface samples, crew reports, plant a flag...?

[konokono]

If we really wanted realism we would be programming our probes to fly themselves rather than actually flying them. i.e. MechJeb is more realistic than non-MechJeb

[DancZer]

This video sums up well what i suggest to be in the game.

Maybe the delay should be optional(difficulty settings).

[Sirrobert]

This video sums up well what i suggest to be in the game.

Maybe the delay should be optional(difficulty settings).

Than just use the mod. For optional things that only a few people want, we have mods

[Nobody]

I could see this as an optional difficulty switch after more of the core game is complete. If it is added probes would need to be fitted with some kind of auto pilot, parts for landing probes(Curiosity's airbag covered box) and relay satellites to get around com shadows would need to be added. Also a remote command module to allow a closer manned vessel to take control of the probes with less delay would be nice.

Still there is a lot of more important things that need to be done before something like this should be added.

[Ernest3.14]

I feel like all discussions about signal delay suffer from the mindset of realism vs gameplay. We've already compromised realism (some might disagree) for the sake of gameplay, in that Kerbin is much smaller than Earth. However, there are still limits, as in it's still difficult to launch ridiculous-looking ships. In the same vein, we should at least consider signal delay: maybe make the speed-of-light in the Kerbal universe very quick, such that it doesn't become a significant factor until somewhere outside of Jool. I think signal delay is an important of a "thing" as to merit an implementation in-game (just like realistic physics is), but we don't have to make it inhibitive. Plus, you can always send Kerbals. Of course, this should come with a primitive programming system, or unmanned probes would be impossible. Line-of-sight should also be required for control.

tl;dr: Make speed-of-light really fast so it only becomes an issue when player is ready for it.

Edited November 3, 2013 by Ernest3.14
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[DancZer]

Or as the bounce count of signal increase the delay increase too. Like 4 satellite connection is more delay than 2 satellite. In this case the delay caused by the signal processing on the satellite not the distance.

I really want to put useful probes in the space like satellites instead of random stuffs. I like when something have a function out there.