Do you use ION engines?

[HeadHunter67]

It's a good job the stock ion engine only needs 1 Gigantor at Kerbin to run at full throttle, and 2 Gigantors way out at Jool then isn't it?

If only that were the case - but not on the designs I've used. Perhaps for dinky little probes that don't do jack, that's enough - but I tend to like my missions to accomplish something. And, you know, the engine isn't the only thing that needs power when you're doing a scientific mission.

If ion engines could fulfill the role for which I need them, I'd use them. I've tried them and didn't like them. It's nice that they work well enough for you, but that doesn't help me in the least.

[darkfall13]

It's a good job the stock ion engine only needs 1 Gigantor at Kerbin to run at full throttle, and 2 Gigantors way out at Jool then isn't it?

Yeah you're right, but I didn't know that when I built my first Ion craft... 5 engine only 8 Gigantors, works at Jool just fine shutting off the central engine, but it has crazy delta-v so I also sent 2 on Kerbol escape to be my Voyagers, which takes an insane amount of time even with warp when you're slowly throttling down to keep your engines powered...

Other than those 3, technically same model, I have not used ions again...

[Motokid600]

Not once have I used them. I don't even use NERVAS.

It just comes down to my playstyle. When it comes to interplanetary travel I like short, few minute burn times. The reason being is the ejection burn. I go with ballistic trajectories everytime all the time. I set my burn node so that I'm on a direct collision course with the target. So with a very powerful ejection stage ( usually I use the main stage of my ascent vehicle for this ) I nail the burn. I've gotten quite good at it. I can get an encounter right out of the gate.

Which brings me to why I don't use NERVAS/ION. If the ejection burn takes 10min ( or god forbid you have to make multiple passes ) you can forget being anywhere near your target. And I hate that. So with a 3min burn I ignite engines at t-1.30 and cut engines at t+1.30. Nailed it.. little fine tune with Rcs to a collision course, set alarm to kill warp at SoI transfer, sit back and relax all the way to the target.

Ions would only complicate that process. However.. that being said. Im now using Krag's new planets. Those might require a new strategy. It takes a 5km D/V ejection burn to get to the new gas planet... Oh ... My .. god. I cannot even fathom the size if the ship needed for a manned landing and return mission. And I cannot wait to take on that challenge.

[Pineapple Frenzy]

I use Ion engines when I want to lazily cruise between the moons of Jool. I like the challenge of trying to maximize my science, TWR, and DV. Of course, this is an exercise in sparsity. Since every Ion engine required 16 1X6 solar panels to operate reliably out near Jool, it becomes difficult to keep TWRs from falling below .06 (Kerbin) with any more than 7800 m/s DV. With .06 TWR, I can burn 500 m/s in about 13 minutes, which isn't too bad. Scaling up the vessel while maintaining the same panel to engine ratio opens up marginally more payload space, but at some point this is eaten up by the requisite reaction wheels.

[Colmath]

I haven't used them much yet, although I've been playing with the idea for quite some time. I tried to use it for MapSat satellites but didn't put enough solar panels on it for it to be effective. Nowadays I'm thinking about using it for interplanetary probes, but the design is in a very very very early stage.

[06SteveO]

"Ion" is not an abbreviation.

No, I don't use them. I've tried but it just makes my balls hurt, pardon my French.

I don't think your problem is related to ion engines... you may want to consult a physician. Haha :-P

[liweih]

I used it quite often when I was doing a kerbol fly by.

You can have full power of the ion engine with 1 single 2by3.

[angrysheep]

I use them for solar planes.

[Galileo Kerbonaut]

I've never used an ion engine. I really should try them out once.

[Geschosskopf]

Yes. Ion engines. I've actually just discovered how useful myself and am only beginning to explore their capabilities, but already I'm loving them. Mapping probes are a no-brainer, but you can do so much more with them. For instance, I just built a xenon-burning taxi to shuttle crew around repeatedly between all the moons of Jool and I'm working on a bigger version to haul payloads like Kethane.

The Near Future mod has similar things like VASIMRs which get more thrust but need MUCH more electricity. They also burn argon or hydrogen which, sadly, you can't (yet) make out of Kethane. So, you can't really use them for permanent bases but they're great for 1-shot deals.

[architeuthis]

I started out using them for probes, but I later decided that unless you went big with them they didn't offer a huge advantages over something like a Lv-1. These days I use ion engines mostly for fine tuning orbits of synchronous orbit space stations and satellites.

[RRoan]

Do I use ion engines, you ask?

Try doing that with anything else.