Dealing with long term missions

[RiggerLee]

So in the older versions I could just do long flights, orbits, etc. and I didn't worry about time or what year it was. I do like the idea of contracts and more complex space programs but I'm getting frustrated now that I'm looking at Duna and beyond. With missions to Mun or Minmus I could pretty well keep track of multiple flights on the map. I could fill the time for transfers with other flights. Things too and from my space station, etc. The times to Duna being half a year are just too much and what if some thing is out of position? In some ways this is realistic but it's also very annoying.

Here's an idea I'd like to toss out for you to kick around. If their is already some way to do it please tell me. What if when you hit Esc. and returned to space center you had the option to also revert in time to the launch. So what I'm basically suggesting is that there could be two different times. One is space center/space program time the other being mission time. I know this sounds strange. Let's say I start a long mission to Duna or Jool. I fly the probe or satellite all the way to Duna and land or circle or what ever. Then when I hit escape I have the option of returning to mission launch time when I go back to the space center. It's like being able to run parallel missions but I can focus on one at a time. Space program time progresses along as it normally would. In the mean time that Duna mission is theoretically progressing. It has a date associated with it and on that date it will appear in orbit or on the surface of Duna. If I wanted to send a second mission to meet it I could launch another probe or ship and once it passed the save date of the last mission you would find that last probe waiting there for you.

I realize this is kind of complicated and I may not be doing a very good job of explaining it. But mull the thing over and kick it around a bit. I think it could be done.

Lee

[NoMrBond]

FMRS does this, but it might be kind of unwieldy for your purpose

Perhaps consider Kerbal Alarm Clock so you can get notifications for your flights and switch back to them when they need attention?

[Sirrobert]

It took me awhile to figure out what it is that you actually wanted out of your suggestion, but you want a Kerbal Alarm Clock. It keeps track of upcoming SOI changes, planned manouver nodes, that sorta thing.

That's a much better solution than trying to mess around with timetravel

[Tuareg]

to be honest i dont really see the point, OP could simply just launch one mission and instead of time warping and finishing the entire mission stop when its flying to the target and launch the next one. ppl are too much reliant on time warp. i can play spacex type missions without any mods, it just needs things to be done with thinking and planning

[ratchet freak]

to be honest i dont really see the point, OP could simply just launch one mission and instead of time warping and finishing the entire mission stop when its flying to the target and launch the next one. ppl are too much reliant on time warp. i can play spacex type missions without any mods, it just needs things to be done with thinking and planning

except without timewarp some missions can take RL years to finish and then suddenly months later you get a notification on a probe that you forgot you even sent out

[Tuareg]

except without timewarp some missions can take RL years to finish and then suddenly months later you get a notification on a probe that you forgot you even sent out

OMG. i didnt say dont timewarp at all. haha... i said if you plan doing other things too, dont just timewarp to the end, instead do what else you want when your craft is on its way and timewarp only when all your planned crafts are up. sure you need to watch where they are but i dont think following 2-3-5 crafts simultaneously is such a big problem...

[JadedStoner]

I haven't played with Kerbal Construction Time myself, but I think this might be what you are looking for. Not quite the 'time running in the VAB' you are looking for, but it would require you to spend a few days game time between constructions...

JS