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Contract deadlines vs. phase angles


geb

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Isn't it strange how we insist on the realism of launch windows on one hand but are totally dismissive of the ladders-after-rockets paradox on the other?

It's not completely off-base. The early Apollo LM design featured a knotted rope dropped from the EVA hatch.

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"Look Ma! A rocket-ship with no ladder!"

No paradox at all.

Edited by RoboRay
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It's not completely off-base. The early Apollo LM design featured a knotted rope dropped from the EVA hatch.

"Look Ma! A rocket-ship with no ladder!"

No paradox at all.

It would save on weight. :) For the most part I tend to leave ladders out when going to the Mun or Minmus. Though mostly because I forget and then am too lazy to go back and put one one lol. Jetpack is good enough of a ladder for me. :)

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ive been interplanetary many times, i understand that certain launch windows can help you save fuel(but i always just launch whenever i want to launch), but what is a phase angle? the wiki page for that is gibberish to me.

phase angle = more or less = launch window

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Well, if ladders are so easy, go and build a ladder of the size it is that reliably extends on any other planet than your homeworld and folds back to the small pack it is delivered in as well as does not weigh so much as to cost you precious fuel. :wink:

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In the preview videos, even simple contracts like going to the Mun had huge deadlines of 4+ Kerbin years. It should be possible to find a halfways suitable transfer window in that kind of timeframe.

those are rookie starting missions, that's why they have very lenient deadlines

maybe the trick will be to only grab the interplanetary missions right before you're ready to go

also, the deadlines could be just so long that you'll always have time to wait for the next phase angle, no matter where it is when you take the contract

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If it's taking you four in-game years to reach the Mun, that's a LOT of repeated failure.

I get the impression that these aren't meant to be a challenge at all. It sounds like a first pass at contracts, and it's just putting systems in place for tweaking later.

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It would save on weight. :)

Yeah, it would, which is why they tried it.

I've never seen the film of the first test with an actual astronaut suited up, swinging and spinning around on the thing trying to climb it, but I'm told it was hilarious. :)

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I hope there are certain contracts with no time limit, otherwise fancy low-consumption tours which can take many years would be unfeasible.

I remember seeing some contracts say that they have no time limit. I think the "Explore Duna" contract (return or broadcast science from Duna orbit and Surface) in one of Manley's recent videos was listed as "Does not expire".

The stupid thing was that it also had what appeared to be a fairly large advance (either 200k, or 2M). Advance + no expiration basically means you can take the advance and run. It's free money as long as you leave the contract "active".

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There are two kinds of timeline for a contract ending...

"Expires" is when it's no longer available to accept. When you do accept it, you're given a "deadline" for completing it. I'm not sure which one you're seeing.

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There are two kinds of timeline for a contract ending...

"Expires" is when it's no longer available to accept. When you do accept it, you're given a "deadline" for completing it. I'm not sure which one you're seeing.

There are some examples provided around the 90s mark in EnterElysium's

. There are expiration intervals, but no listed duration in the available contracts. Specifically an orbital mission to the Mun with a 50k advance.

So either there is a duration, but you can't find out what what it is until you take the contract OR there isn't a duration.

The former case is just insane, especially in the context of phase angles/launch windows as mentioned by the OP.

The latter case is exactly what I'm talking about in my previous post.

Which is it?

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Hopefully, we'll know soon, but both options sound a little crazy to me. :)

I don't remember which video I watched that talked about the difference between expirations and deadlines... I've watched so many.

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The worst option would be if deadline and expiration are both the same thing, which would mean you could accept a contract a few seconds before expiration, and have seconds left in which to complete it.

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