Worst part of the game-- the waiting!

[antiquark]

I wish there was some way to avoid all the waits in the game. There are situations where you just have to sit there and watch for minute after agonizing minute, basically doing nothing, but you have to sit there so you don't miss an important action at the end of your wait.

For example:

- Warping. If you want to warp to your encounter with Jool, you just have to sit there watching the timer count down. You can't go do something else in the meantime, because you might miss your encounter and go flying off into a useless orbit.

- Burning. If you want to run a nuclear engine burn, some of those take 15 minutes! Like with warping, you can't go do something else in the meantime, you just have to sit there and watch, to make sure you don't miss the end of the burn.

- Flying. Say you want to fly halfway around Kerbin. That means, sitting there and watching for 30 minutes! You can't activate an autopilot and go sleep for a while (like pilots do in the real world). You have to periodically adjust your pitch.

- Rovering. Similar to flying, say you want to rove over a wide plain. Same problem, you're mostly just sitting and watching.

The physics warp "sort of" helps, but it seems to cause unstability and other problems. Also you still have to wait, because physics warp only goes up to 4x.

I formed these opinions after playing .22 with no MechJeb. I could do it, I got through the science tree twice, but man, the waiting... the waiting...

[Superfluous J]

For warping, I suggest Kerbal Alarm Clock. It should be in the main game, really. And if something similar isn't eventually in the main game I'll be shocked.

For burning... Yeah. That's an issue. I avoid ion drives because of that but even with nukes you can have some crazy burns. 4x physics warp helps but by all means do a quicksave first. That cuts a 15 minute burn down to about 4 minutes if you can actually do 4x warp.

For flying... Yeah. That's an issue. I solve it by not flying anywhere

For rovering... I've never kept a rover upright for long enough for that to be a problem.

So in short, install KAC and abuse physics warp.

[Vonar]

Yeah, Kerban Alarm Clock is your best friend when it comes to planning and managing multiple interplanetary missions at once.

[Sirrobert]

If you have to burn 15 minutes with an Atomic motor, you need to add more. Sounds like you use 1 motor for a 100ton rocket.

Obviously that's ganna take awhile

[Nuke]

im of the opinion that a game should never make you wait unnecessarily. i would argue that some of the things in the op's list dont qualify as waiting. burns, rovering, and flying really dont coun't because its not so much waiting as it is requiring time to accomplish a thing in game. time warp kinda does make you wait, especially for those long transfers. another step in warp (and a few more steps in physics warp for those infernally slow ion engines) would be awesome and would fix this.

wouldn't be against a waypointing system for rovers, where you set up some waypoints, and your rover can traverse the surface while in warp. add altitude to the waypoints, and you can do the same thing with aircraft. this would obviously not work for space navigation, but would eliminate some of the time spend traveling along the surface.

Edited November 3, 2013 by Nuke

[Kasuha]

Maybe the game should not let you wait unnecessarily but believe it or not, the game is pretty busy during these waiting periods (except maximum time warp, there are different reasons why it can't be higher).

I find these waits still orders of magnitude shorter than periods of waiting or performing repetitive tasks in MMORPGs.

[Sirrobert]

im of the opinion that a game should never make you wait unnecessarily. i would argue that some of the things in the op's list dont qualify as waiting. burns, rovering, and flying really dont coun't because its not so much waiting as it is requiring time to accomplish a thing in game. time warp kinda does make you wait, especially for those long transfers. another step in warp (and a few more steps in physics warp for those infernally slow ion engines) would be awesome and would fix this.

wouldn't be against a waypointing system for rovers, where you set up some waypoints, and your rover can traverse the surface while in warp. add altitude to the waypoints, and you can do the same thing with aircraft. this would obviously not work for space navigation, but would eliminate some of the time spend traveling along the surface.

This game is about flying and roving spacecraft. Waypoints may work in an RPG where the travel time is long and the actual gameplay doesn't start until you arive, but the travel time IS the gameplay here. If you don't want to rove, than don't rove. You can do the same thing way faster with sub orbital hops. Same thing with planes.

Maybe the game should not let you wait unnecessarily but believe it or not, the game is pretty busy during these waiting periods (except maximum time warp, there are different reasons why it can't be higher).

I find these waits still orders of magnitude shorter than periods of waiting or performing repetitive tasks in MMORPGs.

Ha, you bet. I remember grinding the same mob for 3 hours, doing nothing more than a bot. In 3 hours I can get design a ship, use it to get to any planet, and come back here

[SaturnV]

My thought is completely different, I love the waits. I mean, hey, it's REAL-TIME simulation! Coast along the kerbin waiting for the correct time for burning always makes me exciting

[Zutha]

I'm such a mod hater I really wish Alarm clock was part of the game

As for long burns, I play KSP with sound off and watch TV most the time.

[Monkeh]

I'm such a mod hater I really wish Alarm clock was part of the game

This...this...this is silly! You hate mods but you really wish one was part of the stock game! Just use it for God's sake, who are you trying to impress by not installing a mod you really want? That's just cutting of one's nose to spite one's face.

Edited November 4, 2013 by Monkeh

[allmappedout]

^ This. So much this.

"I Hate things that make my life better". I play mostly stock (through laziness mostly!) but the simple fact is that the game is not complete so there are some things that are practically must-haves. As I've said before, Mods fill the gaps that the alpha creates. You have hundreds of modders making mods vs 3 developers. You work out who is going to get something done first!

[sidew]

I made a 6h burn with a prove with ion drive....

Good luck I use KSP in window mode, so I can doing other things in same time (browsing, watching video, reading news)...

[coolitic]

Just FYI, I'm pretty sure auto-pilot is on the "Do Not Suggest" list.

[Rockhem]

I see what you are seeing about aeroplanes, but if you set your trim right on stock KSP, you can go away until it gets there. Also, in real life pilots don't sleep during a flight at all because autopilots can fail, and the do. A lot.

[Corona688]

The flight planner would be more useful if it could drop you out of timewarp when the window arrives. You could slap on timewarp x 10,000 and go for coffee and not fear flying past.

[RadHazard]

I'd personally like both KAC's alarm clock feature and a Node Autopilot to be part of the stock game. I know most people are averse to autopilots, but I figure most of the challenge of setting up a transfer is getting the node right. Once you've got that, it's just a matter of keeping your ship straight (which SAS is usually capable of) and turning your engine off when you're done. It'd certainly help make those long burns less tedious.

[Grover]

The only time ive found this an issue was landing on gilly, since time warp is blocked below about 5km, or around 15 minutes real time, so i minimised itand started looking on the forum and mod hub, since i have a windows 8 pc and i can see my time to node through my translucent task bar (i set a node just above the surface), didnt even have to use KAC (which is a must have by the way)