MechJeb realism.

[Alex_Leonardo]

I know that there is a large amount of people who want to play "legitimately", and don't want to use mods that help them with flights, such as, MechJeb. I argue that MechJeb is way more "legit" than doing everything.

I also know you don't get the same sense of accomplishment also. But seriously, docking takes way too long (At least on my computer, even with the set target, and maneuvers.)

So I decided to test the legitimacy of this. After a few minutes, I found out that there are already fully automated rockets, I knew for ICBMs they were automated, but not ones that could dock. So I realized, Using MechJeb is way more "legitimate" than actually carrying out every tedious process. I even bet the only reason they have people in the control room is to press "abort" if anything goes wrong.

Also, SAS helps, but, you can only go in a straight line.

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

Please, don't bring this up...

[regex]

.

.

Edited January 25, 2014 by regex

[Pds314]

Good point. Of course, what is more realistic is something like kOS scripts to do what mechjeb does. This is especially true if we are talking about the 1970s or so, and not today where we have automated falcon rockets, automated dragon capsules (including docking), automated skycrane landers, and 6-7 years from now, automated cargo SSTO spaceplanes.

[acc]

for me MJ is simply a bord-computer, like every rocket in real life has too.

mainly i use it for no need of the default node tool in map view, because very bad to adjust precise and get lost often.

BUT: i think it's better to learn doin the stuff manually fist, so you can check if MJ does it right/efficient and have the know how to adjust.

Edited January 25, 2014 by acc

[Pds314]

Also, docking isn't really that tough. It just takes practice. What is tough is docking under high gravity. (e.g. Cupcake's "Today I build a rocket").

[Karriz]

Of course you can use Mechjeb if you want to, you don't need to justify it in any way, it's your choice. I don't understand why threads about this are still appearing.

I personally find it way more rewarding to do things myself. It takes practice, but once you get the right procedure, docking becomes reasonably easy and quick.

[Faark]

This is a single player game (not a simulator), so everything is legit as long as the dud in front of the PC has fun. Yes, that includes MJ, though you better keep in mind that letting MJ do all the stuff for you can make this game boring. But do whatever you like. No one can tell you otherwise, unless the one is from Squad... in that case the one should imho just close this thread.

[Damaske]

I use Mechjeb because: 1) I HATE the why the node setups for doing any type of orbital maneuver is set up waay to easy to over shoot as your trying to make a orbit change, and way too hard to set one up with its (to me) stupid click and drag UI. 2) Docking is a pain in the butt and i've never ( and i have tried) been able to dock a craft due to issues with my Radeon video card and unity, screen framerate changes. 3) I have a hard time getting two craft close to each other to dock due to #1. 4) I suck at flying space planes and to me mechjeb is like autopilot. I don't use the ascent autopilot for my rockets as i can fly them as the flight profile in mechjeb suggests.

Most of all, I do not care what others think about mechjeb, I feel it needs to be a part of the stock game. Its not perfect yet, and to me it has the feel of early airplane autopilot systems where as they worked but they are not perfect. If you want to use mechjebs automated systems great use em, You don't want to use them fine don't use em. I feel that they need to be in the game simple as that.

Again these are "MY" views on the matter, yours may be different don't force your views onto me with that "cheating" talk.

Damaske

[JacobT11]

My views on this are similar to Damaske. Space flight, as I see it, isn't about grabbing ahold of the controls and flying it like some pre-autopilot days airplane. It's very much computer orientated. As has been said, kOS is in some regards closer to what's actually used, but both kOS and MechJeb, for ME, are a much more realistic experience. But this is how I play the game. MY way isn't the right way or the wrong way, it's just MY way. To call MechJeb cheating is ludicrous. I could understand if this were a multiplayer game, but as it is, it's a single player sandbox game where anything goes. Everyone's entitled to their own unique play style.

[PDCWolf]

Main argument against this is that every mission needs a specific autopilot in real life, while mechjeb is just a global computer that "just works" everywhere unless you suck at making rockets, and that's why most people consider either progcom or kOS better options if you want "Realistic autopilot capabilities". On top of that, progcom and kOS -unless you download scripts from other users- limit to your own capabilities and it's still you playing the game and not a calculator.

Everybody knows the rest of the arguments, so I'll just name them.

•Leaving the spaceflight part of a spaceflight game to a computer and comparing it to downloading an aimbot for [flavor of the month shooter game]

•Less rewarding everything

•"If you think spaceflight is tedious then why do you play spaceflight games"

•"If you don't care then why do you make threads to justify yourself" -this is kind of a "flammable tail" argument, meaning you do something as to not set your own tail on fire or let others do so. The inverted case is easier to understand: "Look at their opinions about mechjeb, better to make a thread so that I show I have a good reason to use it and I'm not just a cheater in their eyes"

•"Those are not your achievements, mechjeb did them" -Mostly in response to "LOOK WHAT I DID" threads with obvious use of mechjeb.

But yeah, you can do what you want, it is your game and nobody cares (or rather nobody will jump on your neck) as long as you don't go over the line like the last 2 points in the list. Otherwise, get ready for arguments.

Me? I consider mechjeb a too powerful tool that kills the experience both on old and new players. It's something that should never be stock (And hopefully wont according to the devs). It goes against the vision of the game and kills half of the gameplay. I also agree with most of the arguments in the list.

[johnnyhandsome]

I use the frak out of MechJeb to launch, land, dock and do various maneuvers. Some may think that's cheating, but really who cares, I'm enjoying myself.

Computers have been used from the very beginning of spaceflight to automate much of the maneuvers needed. NASA probably wasted a certain amount of time and money by using pilots to manually dock every manned ship in the program. It was ridiculous.

[PDCWolf]

I forgot a very important point on the arguments list, and it is that most people talk about spaceflight without knowing jack .... about it or it's evolution while justifying their use of mechjeb. That's generally what detonates a mechjeb talk thread. This was most obvious with our lovely but biased previous CM.