Keeping manoeuvre orbital info visible?

[2 Zons]

When editing a manoeuvre node for say an intercept with a moon, I can mouse over the projected path and see the Pe of the intercept but when I move my mouse over to the node it dissapears. How do I keep that info visible? This seems essential to making effective manoeuvres. I haven't got to the point of doing interplanetary transfers yet, but If I can't keep this type of info visible it seems this would be very difficult.

[Namdaets]

Your orbital details are always shown in the flight details panel (or whatever that thing is called.)

You can just adjust your burn node and watch the numbers change (i.e. AP and PE) in the panel rather than trying to eyeball the node.

Hopefully this is relevant. Sorry ahead of time if I misunderstood the question.

[2 Zons]

Yes you are correct your current orbital information is shown and the resultant orbital information for a manoeuvre, but not the orbital information where it goes into another sphere of influence, like when intercepting a moon. You can't see the Pe for the moon when you are planning your transfer burn without mousing over the Pe.

[kananesgi]

Orbital intercepts are not easy given the current state of the map view (EDIT: I mean precise orbital intercepts). A dev did say a couple of weeks ago that they are actively working on making the map work better. As it is, I have the same problems with trying to fine-tune an approach to another body. It's especially annoying to me since the map doesn't actually show the other body at the approach point, but rather just shows a tangent line in open space indicating your orbit, and it's janky trying to get the camera to a point where you can really see the approach and still be able to reach the node controls.

This is why I wish they would create a new window/pane that opens up to allow numerical entry for node adjustments, so you can change a node that's not visible on the screen while your looking at a far-off point on your orbit. Also, give us a ghost image of the body at approach to better visualize how the flyby is going to happen.

The map has a lot of problems, IMO.

[Illusori]

Map mode as it stands is barely fit for purpose. You can't make sensitive adjustments on manoeuvre nodes, you can't pin the on-hover information you need to see what your adjustments are doing to closest approaches. You can't see the ascending/descending nodes of intersection between two orbits, only for the parent body. (You can't access ANY useful ascending/descending node info in vizzy, so I guess we're supposed to be grateful we have this much?)

You can't step manoeuvre nodes forwards/backwards through orbits to set them up several orbits in advance or see how the effect changes.

You can't centre the view on where your the target body will be at closest approach, meaning you can't get a close view of what the orbit projections are doing out there.

There's a lot to love about this game, but some bits should blatantly still be in early access rather than considered finished.

[kananesgi]

Originally posted by Illusori:

...You can't make sensitive adjustments on manoeuvre nodes...

Actually, you can make pretty fine node adjustments. In the Orbit Info panel, toward the bottom, is the Gizmo Sensitivity slider. You can run it all the way down to 0% and you can't adjust the node at all. Set it to 1% and you can make some very fine adjustments, easily fine enough to accomplish anything I can think of to a reasonable level of precision, if it weren't for the other obstacles that the current map system throws at us. Sure, you can't get it down to 0.00001 precision like you can with a certain mod in the other game, but you don't usually need that level of precision, either.

You can't step manoeuvre nodes forwards/backwards through orbits to set them up several orbits in advance or see how the effect changes.

This is one of my biggest wishes for future map development. Right up there with the ability to manipulate a node without having to center on it or even see it directly.

You can't centre the view on where your the target body will be at closest approach, meaning you can't get a close view of what the orbit projections are doing out there.

You can do this to some extent by panning the map around. First get a node setup to make some kind of approach to your target body so that you get an orbit projection for the new SOI (the tangent line in open space I mentioned before). You can then pan the camera (r-click and drag by default) around to get a better look at it, though it doesn't help a lot given it just shows the orbit, not the body being orbited at that point. However, you can adjust the node to get closer or further from the body and use the amount of "hook" or curve in the projected orbit to get a rough idea of the closeness of the approach. Definitely not ideal, but it's doable.

There's a lot to love about this game, but some bits should blatantly still be in early access rather than considered finished.

On the bright side, I honestly think it's "version 1.0" in name only. The devs seem to know it's not complete and are actively working on fixing these issues. I think the 1.0 release was more to capitalize on the fiasco that the KSP2 EA release was potentially going to be.

[toinkertoy]

Originally posted by kananesgi:

You're restoring my faith that KSP players might actually be able to be able to get good at this game!

[Namdaets]

Originally posted by toinkertoy:

Originally posted by kananesgi:

You're restoring my faith that KSP players might actually be able to be able to get good at this game!

It's got a few rough edges here and there (KSP does too), but overall it seems pretty polished, and I've really been enjoying my time with the game. I stayed up until 3 a.m. last night messing around with Vizzy and was finally able to launch a rocket into a 100km+ orbit with like 2k dV left over in the final stage, so I flew by Luna and ran out of battery before I could orbit, lol.

[toinkertoy]

Originally posted by Namdaets:

It's got a few rough edges here and there (KSP does too), but overall it seems pretty polished,

About half the gripes I hear anymore just sound like differences in how this game is set up (i.e. not exactly the same as in KSP) and have never really bothered me having never played that other game!

The other half are mostly legit features that could really benefit the game by making tasks a bit less cumbersome to accomplish. But I've prolly played so much at this point I just learned how to work around/with them.

[Illusori]

Originally posted by kananesgi:

Actually, you can make pretty fine node adjustments. In the Orbit Info panel, toward the bottom, is the Gizmo Sensitivity slider.

I think I've managed to look for this feature everywhere EXCEPT there, that's super helpful, thanks.

You can do this to some extent by panning the map around. First get a node setup to make some kind of approach to your target body so that you get an orbit projection for the new SOI (the tangent line in open space I mentioned before). You can then pan the camera (r-click and drag by default) around to get a better look at it, though it doesn't help a lot given it just shows the orbit, not the body being orbited at that point. However, you can adjust the node to get closer or further from the body and use the amount of "hook" or curve in the projected orbit to get a rough idea of the closeness of the approach. Definitely not ideal, but it's doable.

interesting workaround, I'll have to try it. I think I'd just instinctively only tried rotating from habits learned in KSP.

On the bright side, I honestly think it's "version 1.0" in name only. The devs seem to know it's not complete and are actively working on fixing these issues. I think the 1.0 release was more to capitalize on the fiasco that the KSP2 EA release was potentially going to be.

Yeah, that was my impression too, but I figured I'd been snarky enough already about stuff visibly in the game to be making allegations about stuff I can only conjecture about.

Thanks for the great tips.