no autopilots?

[ravener]

i just read thrugh the planned features page, on the bottom it says what wont be added, i saw one thing that suprised me. most make sense, but i vaguely recall harvey saying he wanted kerbals to be able to fly and your space empire to be able to function without the player doing every mission.

have i missed something here or do kerbals piloting not count as autopilots?

FYI harvesters thoughts were at least a year old, things might have changed.

Edited November 8, 2013 by FEichinger

[vexx32]

Honestly I don't know if anyone but the devs really know at present. We'll just have to see how it pans out, methinks

[Technical Ben]

I'd like a "redo mission plan" option, where trained/experience Kerbals can activate an option to automatically spawn a ship in space. That is, only as an exact copy of the mission plan you already did. So, if you have say 1 tank in orbit, you can request that mission to be redo 2 times, and you now have 3 tanks in orbit (but at relative positions depending on time of launch). As you have already proven your launch craft can do the mission.

Well, it would be nice as a mod, would save me making the same launch 10 times over to fill a tanker.

[UberFuber]

I'd like a "redo mission plan" option, where trained/experience Kerbals can activate an option to automatically spawn a ship in space. That is, only as an exact copy of the mission plan you already did. So, if you have say 1 tank in orbit, you can request that mission to be redo 2 times, and you now have 3 tanks in orbit (but at relative positions depending on time of launch). As you have already proven your launch craft can do the mission.

Well, it would be nice as a mod, would save me making the same launch 10 times over to fill a tanker.

I don't think that would work due to several reasons.

1. What happens if, using your previous launch trajectory, your launch path would cause you to impact another spacecraft in lower orbit?

2. What happens if the spacecraft you designed is so near the edge of instability that if you would've launched it normally, it would disintegrate sometimes (I've some spacecraft prototype that's near that edge, they'll occasionally launch successfully, in other time they will spontaneously deconstruct mid-flight).

3. For interplanetary missions, how would you handle that your "current" missions may involve a complex set of maneuvers that could only happen at a specific time windows (for example, your mission involves multiple gravity assists to reach Eeloo, which naturally means that all the planets involved must be in the right alignment).

[Technical Ben]

1) "Kessler syndrome" is still too rare in this game to warrent the worry. Once in orbit, it's got plenty of opportunity for a crash. But the game already can calculate paths, you can check for crossover (ahead of time or in real time).

2) It could have a survivability rating. More manual flights, better survivability (though I agree, KSP is avoiding random events, so might be for Mod additions instead). Or, it can only perform to the percentage of the Kerbal pilot, which is always less than 100%. Thus you never get back the full fuel use/orbital height you had in the manual flight.

3) I'd actually be happy if it only covered launches. Things like supply launches to a station (fuel/food/kerbals). Or possibly to other planets, but again, as above would have a distance limit and also need to have been done manually before.

A bit like setting up a trade route. When I have 10 fuel tanks to add to a station/tug, sometimes I long for a way to skip to the next part, flying the tug! Or just a "SimCity" style watching the Kerbals do their thing while I only tell them "build, go there, find that".

But it's only a suggestion, not a requirement. It's not something to pick apart all the possible faults in.

[Wahgineer]

When they said that the kerbals would have limited piloting abilities, I would think it'd be like Mechjeb's Smart A.S.S, but you still have to perform burns (and kerbals wouldn't be 100% accurate).

[Kasuha]

"Redo launch and orbit insertion" could be theoretically done (expecting nothing out of ordinary will happen, such as your rocket breaking up when gravity kicks in on launchpad). But what if your mission was landing on Mun? Should Redo also land on Mun, or should it just execute the same maneuvers and end up wherever these maneuvers will get it with absence of Mun at the appropriate place?

What about mission to dock with your orbital station?

[Nobody]

I have a feeling that some automated functions will come when resources are added. Once a mining base is set up automatic rovers and shuttles(pre-built or your own design) will likely gather and carry loads home for money. These would be completely out of user control once turned on so players would not be using them for parts of the mission or gathering science.

This would give a steady supply of money/resources without the boring grind of flying load after load of resources home. Bases would still need checked on from time to time so they can be moved when veins are emptied.

[fatfluffycat]

I have a feeling that some automated functions will come when resources are added. Once a mining base is set up automatic rovers and shuttles(pre-built or your own design) will likely gather and carry loads home for money. These would be completely out of user control once turned on so players would not be using them for parts of the mission or gathering science.

This would give a steady supply of money/resources without the boring grind of flying load after load of resources home. Bases would still need checked on from time to time so they can be moved when veins are emptied.

You know KSP is not plan to be anything like this.....

[Jordanpumah]

This would give a steady supply of money/resources without the boring grind of flying load after load of resources home.

Flying back and forth from another planet is nowhere near boring, especially if you do an orbital dock or something.

But that's just my opinion.

But i guess it would be nice to be able to order vehicles to move RTS style, tons of machinima potential.

[Kegereneku]

Be aware that KSP is NOT going to become an Economy/Management Game where you mine space-resources and craft rocket with it or even sell those resource. It have already been said over and over. In fact I pretty hope we don't have to do anything like "Grinding Money" to finance mission.

There's also the fact that KSP cannot deal with simultaneous mission, even if simulated. It would also be hard for the computer to follow.

For Autopilot.

The Developer said it would be something you ask the crew to do. How ? I have no idea. And I'm fairly sure it will not totally negate the possibility for a very costly Mechjeb-like module as a technology to develop very late.

Personally I don't need one for more than executing burn, although Mechjeb ability to calculate atmospheric-drag for a perfect landing have been very useful.

I've seen people who seem to be against the idea of railroaded mission asking you for example to JUST put a man into orbit like an historical-reenactment rather than letting "good player" build some Gamebreaking ScottManley-rocket right from the start.

Personally I'm for the idea of railroaded mission, so obviously (for the balance) any form of autopilot would have to be limited, costly or context dependent.

[KaBob]

Personally I don't know if KSP really needs an autopilot but I would like a few features similar to SAS. Specifically, I'd like a way to have RCS work on cutting out horizontal movement (very useful for docking and landing) and also a way to keep your ship pointing in the same direction relative to the surface (which would be very useful for planes). I'd imagine the first one would need its own button or shortcut key but the second could just be an option on the sas module or something.

[ravener]

i see most people here are in support of some form of autopilot. i cant remmember anyone saying it would definitly not happen. why then is it in the list of things confirmed to never be in the game?