Time Warp possibility?

[Jas1126]

I am currently orbiting a body and gathering near space reports. Problem is, I'm forced to constantly go back into the pod for every time warp.

Would it be possible to allow for time warp in space while my astronaut is on the ladder? Or, is there some technical issue? Thanks for reading.

[Tw1]

It's probably to prevent exploits. Ladders have some interesting physics. Or, it's so the poor guys don't have to cling on for hours at a time.

[Jas1126]

Exploits? I can't think of any whilst in low orbit; aside from convenience. My beef is that it's tedious and unneeded to have to constantly reenter the pod just to do a quick time warp.

There's no significant opposing force while in space. I honestly cannot see a reason not to allow for it.

[Tw1]

Exploits? I can't think of any whilst in low orbit; aside from convenience. My beef is that it's tedious and unneeded to have to constantly reenter the pod just to do a quick time warp.

Kerbals on a ladder effectively have no mass in the way the game processes things. Some have used this trick to cut fuel needs on Eve accent vehicles.

There's also this sort of related trick. *Whistles innocently*

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/70180-Attempting-to-go-to-space-the-Kerbal-on-ladder-engine-An-experiment-report?p=980474&viewfull=1#post980474

There's no significant opposing force while in space.

No, but a kerbal's arms would get really tired.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Tw1

[Jas1126]

Surely they could program exceptions to take care of the exploits.

"Arms getting really tired" could simply be relieved by a cable attachment. Again, only functional whilst in space (negated upon entering a planet or moon at a certain altitude).

Exceptions are the spice of life to a programmer. To not take advantage of them is sheer laziness or due to time constraints.

[coolitic]

A kerbal would then shift the mass of the ship that way, and that would cause problems.

[Jas1126]

A kerbal would then shift the mass of the ship that way, and that would cause problems.

Wouldn't that be irrelevant in space?

[MKI]

I see 2 main reasons why the game doesn't allow it.

1. Exploitation: Whats the point of chairs if you can just use a ladder? As long as you have a control unit, chairs are pointless. You could litterally make a 100 kerbal ship, by having them hold onto the sides. Super unrealistic, super rediculous (even for kerbal standards) and as said before, MASS-LESS. Personally this isn't that big of an issue, but my other reason probably is

2. to prevent unusual occurrences in the physics, and the amount of work to fix those issues.

We all know that Kerbals themselves have unusual physics applied to them. The main reasons why they have special treatment are they are flexible, unlike a ridged ship body. They also have to have special animations, such as walking/jumping/RCS packing/ spinning/ rag dolling and a few others. This makes them "special" at least in the game's eyes. So at times, when a kerbal is on a ladder they might start "sliding" off.

This would mean there would need to be changes with kerbals climbing on latters, to prevent them from "slidding off" during time warp. Changes would probably make them ridged when on ladders to prevent them from slidding around or moving in general. This could cause issues with them climbing somewhere ridged and letting go and becoming edridged. This would probably make many more EVA buggs occur in relation with ships and other bodies.

This is only one example of how Kerbals physics need to be dealt with. There are many more (FTL EGG?)

It seems like a lot of work just for something that really shouldn't be done in reality (long term spacewalks) unless necessary. Gameplay wise, what is so hard at just getting back into the Pod, when you do roughly the same effort to get onto a ladder?

[Xaiier]

Kerbals on ladders are connected to the ship, but aren't technically docked, as that would cause problems with allowing them to move. Because of this they are a separate ship, and when going into time warp they would drift away/into the ship which would cause problems.

[Killerdude8]

Kerbals on ladders are connected to the ship, but aren't technically docked, as that would cause problems with allowing them to move. Because of this they are a separate ship, and when going into time warp they would drift away/into the ship which would cause problems.

Simple, They need to make Kerbals on ladders act like a Docked ship, in the sense they'd be considered a single entity.

[Sirrobert]

Wouldn't that be irrelevant in space?

I see you are on of those people that is confused about mass and weight.

Everything has mass, also without gravity.

WEIGHT is simply a factor of gravity and mass.

You can try it yourself, put something in space that is more massive on 1 side than the other, and try to fly it. Your ship will flip

[DoToH]

Poor Jeb... not enough having him waiting for more than a year inside his pod to get to "that green ball over there" (Jool) and now you guys want him to wait outside!!!