Glide scopes

[Nightwinds]

As somebody who really likes to mess around with space planes, I would like to have glide scopes, Its really hard to line up on most runways and flat surfaces, and so a glide scope would help locate the runway and help you land. Maybe even a portable one that you can set up on other planets, but only on level areas.

[GarrettKajmowicz]

I've started playing around with SSTO craft myself and I keep noticing a similar issue, too. I'd love to see this. Even if only at the main spaceport.

[bigbadben]

there was a papi mod, iirc he used a 4 degree glideslope (instead of the standard 3-ish), saying it was better for KSP's aerodynamics.

But I am with you, a ILS would be handy. A common mistake I see in Harv's and Manley's youtube videos is that they have a .....very.....flat approach, with little to no flare. A common mistake, for beginners that don't have a proper 'sight picture' yet for vfr landings.

[Nightwinds]

there was a papi mod, iirc he used a 4 degree glideslope (instead of the standard 3-ish), saying it was better for KSP's aerodynamics.

But I am with you, a ILS would be handy. A common mistake I see in Harv's and Manley's youtube videos is that they have a .....very.....flat approach, with little to no flare. A common mistake, for beginners that don't have a proper 'sight picture' yet for vfr landings.

I still have to do a last second turn to land on my first approach, and I can't even land at KSC from orbit. Its mostly my fault, but I figured it would be easier for newer players if portable glide scopes could be researched in career mode to help set people land space planes at bases just out of visual range. I also think it would help the idea of bases on planets, by helping locate bases without having to go into map or try to guess how to land at a certain area that might not be flat. Of course you can aim the glide scope, so you can aim it straight up or out, depending on what you want to land there. Aiming it up would be for landing rockets or landers, and it would guide them to an area, so you could equip it on a rover and stop the rover in one area to land a resupply mission. or other cool things.

[Sevant]

Amen.

I'm getting better at manually lining things up (with very flat approaches), but that's just because the alternative was to keep crashing into the ground or flying over the runway...or over the grass to the side of the runway.

[Serratus]

I doubt SQUAD will go for it since they routinely avoid making dedicated tools for any kind of vehicle. But a small tweak to maneuver nodes so that they account for aerodynamics would make a lot of difference. At least I would be satisfied with it. Thoughts?

[Nightwinds]

I was originally thinking that you could set it up so that it faces out or up, if it was a "Portable" glide scope, just so that you could locate and land near a certain location. Of course, it would drain a lot of battery power and be unusable in space. Just so that would be used for resupplying rovers and finding bases or landing. It would most likely be a default part of the space center for space planes. But my problem was originally that I couldn't line up with the space center in a SSTO, and that a glide scope would help people line up with the space center from a further distance, but I wouldn't mind if they changed the maneuver nodes to account for drag caused by atmosphere. I'm trying to create something that would help newer players, but could be used in different ways by people who are experienced.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Nightwinds