Impossible Contract: Test engine at 188,000m around Jool and still be IN ORBIT?

[Pedant]

Hello chaps!

The name on the tin says it all: is this possible? I sincerely hope so, since I'm financially committed to the hilt

The contradiction:

- Jool's atmosphere extends to 200,000m

- Contract specifies that the KR-2L must be tested:

> At Jool: no problems

> Altitude between 186,800 and 188100m - no problems

> In Orbit - Whoops... apparently my going into the atmosphere (ie under 200,000m around Jool) instantly cancels the Orbit criteria being met.

This was a contract worth 11 million.

Would any of the clever KSP boffins out there have any clues on this one? Hopefully I'm just being a silly duffer and missed something.

Thanks in advance!

[Jodo42]

Are you running any mods? According to the wiki Jool's atmosphere ends at just under 140,000m in the stock game, which means you should be just fine.

[Russoft]

Even if the atmo goes to 200 km, I've orbited Jool with my PE within the atmosphere. It took so many orbits for my orbit to decay that I eventually burned retrograde so I could descend into Jool and get barometer readings. Just set your AP in space (>200 km) and PE at 187 km or something.

[Pedant]

@Jodo42 - I'm running Engineer 1.0.0.0 but don't have that active on this mission since it's a tad buggy still.

@Russoft - I have no problem orbiting my craft just inside the atmosphere, but apparently the Contracts system does - the issue is that as soon as I get near the correct altitude it 'unchecks' the 'Orbit' requirement as being no longer met.

Hopefully the screenshot below clarifies what I meant (pardon the bad grammar in the captions).

It seems that KSP considers Jool's atmos to be 200,000 and straying any lower flags you as not being in 'orbit', for contract purposes at least.

Does that make more sense?

[Pedant]

Done some more testing, and as I suspected the Contract system is definitely deeming the 'Orbit' requirement to be not met when an Apsis is under 200,000 around Jool.

See two more shots below, and note the Contracts panel on the right when the Jool periapsis moves from just over 200k to just under 200k.

Any thoughts? I'm desperate, since this will cost me 11,000,000 credits which is more than I have

[technion]

I'd suggest posting this in the support forum because I believe you've identified a bug. That Pe would definitely still count as "in orbit".

[Bobnova]

There are contracts you should not accept in real life, too.

Personally, I'd call this a feature

[EdFred]

Go into your persistence file. Change the contract to 202km orbit.

[Taki117]

try it anyway. Just because it doesn't say the conditions are met doesn't mean they are not met. (I've run into this before)

[Eric S]

The periapsis is low enough, the craft itself, however, isn't because it's near apoapsis in that screenshot. Try the experiment when you're at periapsis. The altitude limits in all the contracts I've seen are placed on the craft, not the orbit. Yes, you have to be in a certain type of orbit (suborbital, escape, or orbit), but other than meeting those criteria, the orbit doesn't matter, just the craft's altitude.

[UmbralRaptor]

Definitely leaning towards bug. It looks like the info panel that was introduced in 0.20 has always said 200 km for Jool's atmosphere, even though it's been 138 km since 0.17.

edit: well, this is interesting...

(In other words, OP found a bug.)

Edited July 27, 2014 by UmbralRaptor

[Russoft]

@Russoft - I have no problem orbiting my craft just inside the atmosphere, but apparently the Contracts system does - the issue is that as soon as I get near the correct altitude it 'unchecks' the 'Orbit' requirement as being no longer met.

You're right. The contracts system only detects an orbit that's outside atmo. I experienced this while Aerobraking at Duna today. I had to raise my PE above 50 km to get the orbit component of the contract to complete.

Maybe this is intentional. Maybe we should all be on the lookout for bad contracts (that said, it's still technically an orbit, even if it's within the atmosphere...)

(I now see after reading other posts that the confusion is where the atmosphere begins: 138 km vs. 200 km. Guess that's why the game is "in development")

[Dracula]

Are the contracts pulling the information straight from the info panel, seems like it should be an easy fix for the dev's regardless? Have you submitted this to bugs&support?

[Kryxal]

I missed out on the Eve exploration mission (not really since it doesn't expire, but it's going to be there until the NEXT launch window) because the unmanned lander I sent never registered as having established an orbit ... I aerocaptured, did an orbit, and deorbited.

[Pedant]

Thanks for the ideas chaps, muchly appreciated!

@Taki117 / @Eric S: Cheers, but that was the first thing I tried: actually running the KR-2L experiment anyway at the correct altitude and cycling the stages as well just in case. I've also tried varying eccentric / circular orbits, all to no avail.

I'm trying to be somewhat puritanical and do this without mods or alterations, but I'll try the persistence file edit as EdFred suggested just to get me out of a tight spot...

@Bobnova: Regarding the 'feature not bug' thing that gets spruiked regarding these broken contracts, sorry, not buying that. Clearly not the game's intention (e.g. blatant dastardly tricks)!

[Pedant]

@UmbralRaptor - agreed.

Tried the persistence file edit to make the orbit higher than 200km, and that did the trick.