Bunch of suggestions based on long play

[vagran]

After several days spent in this game I have some suggestions. Before that I should say that I played with Orbiter so I will refer to it (probably this game is inspired by Orbiter, isn't it?).

1. Radio altimeter to have altitude to planet surface otherwise it is very inconvenient to land.

2. When marks on nav-ball are out of scope some marks should be displayed on the ball edge to show the shortest rotation direction (e.g. same mark but smaller and transparent).

3. Somewhere on the stage view current gravitation source (planet name) should be displayed.

4. On the stage view should be a button (or something clickable with corresponding shortcut) to skip current maneuver effectively proceeding to the next one (if any). I did not found way other than going to orbit map view selecting maneuver and deleting it which takes time and is critical when maneuvers have tight schedule.

5. Indication of angle between my orbit plane and target orbit plane (ecliptic angle if I am not wrong), also for a maneuver resulting orbit. Required when aligning orbits planes, e.g. when traveling to moon. Now the only way is trying to do it approximately in orbit map view looking to result from different directions which is poor method IMHO.

6. In resources window there is a consumption rate (e.g. for fuel or electric charge). Should be nice to have also estimated time for them with current source (fuel tank or battery).

7. When landing (VTOL vehicle) it is very boring to keep horizontal speed zero (honestly I cannot do it ideally at all), once you lose focus you again have some movement. Would be nice to automate it (just keep orientation properly, see next point).

8. Attitude stabilization is good, and it would be even better if it could keep current orientation in pro-grade and retro-grade direction (like in Orbiter). Also would be nice to have such feature also for current maneuver direction (blue mark on nav ball).

9. Altitude hold and vertical speed hold functions for VTOL.

10. Compass or something similar on orbit map view for each planet. So that you can look at it and it is clear for you which heading you need to keep during launch.

11. Several times messed with my vessel rotation direction on orbit. There should be some indication for rotation direction when you look at orbit.

12. Some estimation for fuel consumption for planned maneuvers. Otherwise it is not clear is it enough or not.

13. Damage report is available only after crash. There should be some alarm when something damaged and the report should be always available.

14. Would be nice to be able to attach actions or action groups to stage (e.g. extracting gears, most preferably any action like in action groups bindings in construction mode).

15. On the stage view time till apogeõ and/or perigee should be displayed as well as apogee and perigee altitude. It is quite important information especially when you ascending to orbit from surface and there is no time to switch to orbit map and find them. Also orbit period duration would be nice.

16. There is no way to plan ascending to orbit from surface. It would be nice to have possibility to do it before launch and follow planned maneuvers after. Otherwise it is quite difficult to ascend to required orbit, and changing orbit is expensive in fuel.

17. Currently when planning maneuvers in orbit view it does not snap to orbit nodes. Also it should be possible to click node and add maneuver for it. Currently it actually creates maneuvers near node but not exactly on it. (apogee, perigee and AN, DN when target selected).

18. Kind of bug: in vessel construction mode it is not possible to change pod. It can only be the first part but cannot be changed which is sad.

In overall, the game is beautiful even while not yet ready (at least for geek, which played with Orbiter . Orbiter with gameplay is really cool). Spent days in career mode. However it is now not very obvious what you should do to get many science points, should have some road map to make it more obvious.

[cpast]

Things that already exist in the game:

4. You can click the red 'X' right next to the maneuver delta-V indicator next to the navball (or if the maneuver's mostly done, it turns to a green checkmark) to delete the maneuver node from any view. This was added in 0.23.5.

5. This already exists - select a target object, then go into map view and look for the boxes labeled "AN" and "DN". These point to ascending and descending nodes, and hovering over them shows the exact inclination between your orbit and the target's.

6. It's already there - on the right of the bars, in parentheses, it says some form of rate of consumption (though I agree it could be made more useful, and that being able to toggle between consumption rate and estimated time remaining would be nice).

13. You can hit F3 at any time to show the flight log (which is what displays after a crash saying "catastrophic failure").

18. Changing the root part is annoying but possible. You can disconnect everything connected to the root (if your root is a pod, this likely isn't that much - almost all of the rocket can be disconnected by taking off the thing directly beneath the root), and click elsewhere in the VAB (but *not* over the part list, which deletes the item you're moving; just put it in the air next to the pod, without attaching). Then, delete the root part by dragging it to the part list, and place a new root part. Then reattach the rest of the rocket. Again, I agree it could be made to be easier (by letting you change the root).

Things that it's believed will not be implemented:

7, 8, 9: Squad has said that autopilot is out of scope. 8 might be considered, but 7 and 9 are unlikely.

[massau]

if you want 7 ,8 and 9 than i guess you will have to start using mods.

mechjeb is an auto pilot mod that can do a lot of things for you 8 is unlocked very fast but 7 will take a longer time before you get to the upgrade.

[Rakaydos]

#1 is available in cockpit view.

[Kasuha]

1. Radio altimeter to have altitude to planet surface otherwise it is very inconvenient to land.

The altimeter at the top of the screen measures distance from "sea level".

Radio altimeter is available in IVA view and that measures distance from surface. On most bodies, at least.

2. When marks on nav-ball are out of scope some marks should be displayed on the ball edge to show the shortest rotation direction (e.g. same mark but smaller and transparent).

Ghost marks were intended but then devs ran out of time. Most marks can be found using their antipod, the maneuver mark is the only exception. There is a mod (enhanced navball) that fixes it. We can believe it will get improved before the final release of the game.

3. Somewhere on the stage view current gravitation source (planet name) should be displayed.

Nice to have feature but not essential IMO. The body governing your current SOI can be easily identified in map view and it does not change that often.

4. On the stage view should be a button (or something clickable with corresponding shortcut) to skip current maneuver effectively proceeding to the next one (if any). I did not found way other than going to orbit map view selecting maneuver and deleting it which takes time and is critical when maneuvers have tight schedule.

There's a small "X" button on the maneuver indicator. If you press it, the maneuver will disappear and the game will proceed to the next maneuver.

This button changes to green check mark if you execute the maneuver to within 1% of its planned impulse.

5. Indication of angle between my orbit plane and target orbit plane (ecliptic angle if I am not wrong), also for a maneuver resulting orbit. Required when aligning orbits planes, e.g. when traveling to moon. Now the only way is trying to do it approximately in orbit map view looking to result from different directions which is poor method IMHO.

Difference to ecliptic plane is not available and you're not the first asking for it. Difference to selected target within the same SOI can be found in map view, yellow indicators "An" and "Dn". If you point your mouse at them, they'll show you the number.

6. In resources window there is a consumption rate (e.g. for fuel or electric charge). Should be nice to have also estimated time for them with current source (fuel tank or battery).

Resources window is inaccurate, mixes values from all stages together. Engine burn time is determined only by fuel accessible to it. Maybe such a timestamp next to the engine in staging column would help but I don't think it is essential to have it.

7. When landing (VTOL vehicle) it is very boring to keep horizontal speed zero (honestly I cannot do it ideally at all), once you lose focus you again have some movement. Would be nice to automate it (just keep orientation properly, see next point).

It's not that much of a problem once you get used to it. This game is about building rockets and then flying them, not about watching how they fly themselves. Besides, there are mods that will land for you (e.g. MechJeb).

8. Attitude stabilization is good, and it would be even better if it could keep current orientation in pro-grade and retro-grade direction (like in Orbiter). Also would be nice to have such feature also for current maneuver direction (blue mark on nav ball).

I'm sure some players would enjoy it but I don't even see practical use for it.

9. Altitude hold and vertical speed hold functions for VTOL.

Part of the challenge again, I guess.

10. Compass or something similar on orbit map view for each planet. So that you can look at it and it is clear for you which heading you need to keep during launch.

Manually place-able marks in map or in space would definitely help.

11. Several times messed with my vessel rotation direction on orbit. There should be some indication for rotation direction when you look at orbit.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'rotation'. If you mean the direction in which the ship is following its orbit then you're not the first to suggest some arrow marks or such and hopefully something will get implemented eventually. Till then, you can check timestamps on periapsis and apoapsis markers and deduce the direction from these.

12. Some estimation for fuel consumption for planned maneuvers. Otherwise it is not clear is it enough or not.

MechJeb or some other informative mod will help you. Stock game is meant to be played using some level of guesswork.

13. Damage report is available only after crash. There should be some alarm when something damaged and the report should be always available.

It usually becomes clear rather fast that something broke. And the report is available on F3 anytime.

14. Would be nice to be able to attach actions or action groups to stage (e.g. extracting gears, most preferably any action like in action groups bindings in construction mode).

That would be nice. Again, you're not the first one to suggest improvements in this area.

15. On the stage view time till apogeõ and/or perigee should be displayed as well as apogee and perigee altitude. It is quite important information especially when you ascending to orbit from surface and there is no time to switch to orbit map and find them. Also orbit period duration would be nice.

You can see these in map view if you point your mouse at appropriate marker. Or use MechJeb or other informative mod.

16. There is no way to plan ascending to orbit from surface. It would be nice to have possibility to do it before launch and follow planned maneuvers after. Otherwise it is quite difficult to ascend to required orbit, and changing orbit is expensive in fuel.

Yes that'd be nice.

17. Currently when planning maneuvers in orbit view it does not snap to orbit nodes. Also it should be possible to click node and add maneuver for it. Currently it actually creates maneuvers near node but not exactly on it. (apogee, perigee and AN, DN when target selected).

You can zoom in to make more precise placement, or use a mod that will place it for you. But since even placement of Ap/Pe changes over time due to arithmetic errors and you are never going to make an instaneous burn, there's no real need for such precision.

18. Kind of bug: in vessel construction mode it is not possible to change pod. It can only be the first part but cannot be changed which is sad.

Pull the rocket off the pod, put it aside, then delete the pod and place a new one. Then attach the rocket back. The first part placed is root part of the ship and if you remove it you must select a new root part for which there are some special rules and you cannot use any part for that.

In overall, the game is beautiful even while not yet ready (at least for geek, which played with Orbiter . Orbiter with gameplay is really cool). Spent days in career mode. However it is now not very obvious what you should do to get many science points, should have some road map to make it more obvious.

You can find a lot of information on the Wiki and here on forums. At present the science is not very balanced, you don't need to fly to other planets to get enough science to uncover the whole tech tree. I guess we can expect changes to that in the future.

[UbioZur]

I will answer some 'possible' way to do it at the moment either stock or with mod in case you want the feature asap.

1. Radio altimeter to have altitude to planet surface otherwise it is very inconvenient to land.

Stock: IVA view (below 3000m). MOD: KER, Mechjeb, Steam Gauges

2. When marks on nav-ball are out of scope some marks should be displayed on the ball edge to show the shortest rotation direction (e.g. same mark but smaller and transparent).

Stock: if you can see the opposite mark then you can deduct where to spin. Mod: Enhanced Navball

3. Somewhere on the stage view current gravitation source (planet name) should be displayed.

Stock: Looking around with the camera (I personally don't see the 'point' since it's quite fast to know where we are on the map). I don't recall any mod that would do it. Maybe KER/Mechjeb

4. On the stage view should be a button (or something clickable with corresponding shortcut) to skip current maneuver effectively proceeding to the next one (if any). I did not found way other than going to orbit map view selecting maneuver and deleting it which takes time and is critical when maneuvers have tight schedule.

use the little red cross next to the Delta-V reading of the maneuver node.

5. Indication of angle between my orbit plane and target orbit plane (ecliptic angle if I am not wrong), also for a maneuver resulting orbit. Required when aligning orbits planes, e.g. when traveling to moon. Now the only way is trying to do it approximately in orbit map view looking to result from different directions which is poor method IMHO.

Map mod, just look at the AN (Ascendant Node) and DN (Descendant node) value. you need a target to be selected.

KER and I believe Mechjeb could display it in flight mode too.

6. In resources window there is a consumption rate (e.g. for fuel or electric charge). Should be nice to have also estimated time for them with current source (fuel tank or battery).

In space there isn't much talk about time and more about Delta-V. KER/Mechjeb can give you a reading on the delta-V left for the vessel (not always precise, and it depend on a lot of things)

7. When landing (VTOL vehicle) it is very boring to keep horizontal speed zero (honestly I cannot do it ideally at all), once you lose focus you again have some movement. Would be nice to automate it (just keep orientation properly, see next point).

No automation will hapen on the stock game (may get a dlc for it), Mechjeb could do it I think, may be KOS.

And lot of practice.

8. Attitude stabilization is good, and it would be even better if it could keep current orientation in pro-grade and retro-grade direction (like in Orbiter). Also would be nice to have such feature also for current maneuver direction (blue mark on nav ball).

Mechjeb, may be KOS could allow you to do it, I don't think there will be anything stock since it would require an automation.

9. Altitude hold and vertical speed hold functions for VTOL.

Same as above.

10. Compass or something similar on orbit map view for each planet. So that you can look at it and it is clear for you which heading you need to keep during launch.

From what I understand if you know how to read a navball you should be fine to determine your angle with the horizon and also your orientation (0 being north, 90 east, 180 south, 270 west).

11. Several times messed with my vessel rotation direction on orbit. There should be some indication for rotation direction when you look at orbit.

Not sure I understand but I guess knowing to use the navball and where is the north/south on the body you are orbiting can help.

12. Some estimation for fuel consumption for planned maneuvers. Otherwise it is not clear is it enough or not.

Same as 6, there is the estimation of the Delta-v require for the maneuvers. (everything space related is processed with Delta-V)

13. Damage report is available only after crash. There should be some alarm when something damaged and the report should be always available.

F3 to access the report at any time. all the default key binding can be found on the wiki.

14. Would be nice to be able to attach actions or action groups to stage (e.g. extracting gears, most preferably any action like in action groups bindings in construction mode).

Sadly you can attach action to all stage but not a specific one. I don't know of a mod that could do that either.

15. On the stage view time till apogeõ and/or perigee should be displayed as well as apogee and perigee altitude. It is quite important information especially when you ascending to orbit from surface and there is no time to switch to orbit map and find them. Also orbit period duration would be nice.

KER/Mechjeb for the in flight view.

16. There is no way to plan ascending to orbit from surface. It would be nice to have possibility to do it before launch and follow planned maneuvers after. Otherwise it is quite difficult to ascend to required orbit, and changing orbit is expensive in fuel.

Maneuver node require to have a direction path so it can extrapolate from there. if you are not moving on the surface then it doesn't have anything to work with that.

I guess a good coding on KOS can make you do it Else trial, error and experiences

17. Currently when planning maneuvers in orbit view it does not snap to orbit nodes. Also it should be possible to click node and add maneuver for it. Currently it actually creates maneuvers near node but not exactly on it. (apogee, perigee and AN, DN when target selected).

An option to snap to node could be cool I guess, but again the maneuver is more of an approximation of what to do than the real maneuver to do, than it works great for information and quick planning and not so great for precise planning. not sure if Mechkeb could do it, or maybe PreciseNode

18. Kind of bug: in vessel construction mode it is not possible to change pod. It can only be the first part but cannot be changed which is sad.

Not much of a bug than a design choice of how to store the vessel, it is a tree and therefore you need to have a root before you can change anything.

You don't NEED the pod to be the root, other parts can do it too.

Selectroot can help, abandoned mod but apparently still working.

The game will soon arrive to a moment where all the major feature are implement and content/balance/tweak will start to be added.

Note that by looking well, you can find other mods than those I have posted to do some of the things. Also if you do not want to use mod, you will have to wait until it's implemented (if it does get implemented) and learn to find a stock solution for it.

Edit: ninja'd

[Diazo]

While your question certainly has been answered, I just want to add a couple more options.

Note that I am the author of both of these, but they look to fit perfectly with what you are asking for.

1. Radio altimeter to have altitude to planet surface otherwise it is very inconvenient to land.

I wrote a very simple distance to ground mod that takes care of this. While it does not show the additional information KER or MechJeb offers, it is very lightweight and non-intrusive because all it does is change what the altimeter at the top of the screen displays.

9. Altitude hold and vertical speed hold functions for VTOL.

While I wrote it because I was tired of crashing my skycranes, the Vertical Velocity control mod sounds exactly like what you are asking for. If you want it especially for VTOL's, it works great when paired with Davon's Throttle Control mod. Davon's TC also offers thrust balancing for flying a vessel with an offset center of mass. (Note I am not Davon, our mods are able to work great together.)

And if that is not what you are looking for, take a look around the Add Ons forum. Odds are someone has made a mod to fill the need you are looking for.