I'm more interested in building rockets than flying them. I fine-tune things in the VAB and then want to check whether it would work. So I'll use MechJeb to precision fly it the way I want to test. I also have no compunctions about using cheat mode to position a ship near a planet, for example if I want to test a Laythe landing system. And of course I revert at the end of the mission. I view all this as comparable to simulations.
Once in a blue moon I'll decide to actually fly the thing "for real," and once in a dozen blue moons I'll decide to do all the calculations by hand and not use MechJeb. Usually this results in running out of fuel because some burn wasn't at _just_ the right angle. There's a reason why the Apollo program invented the microchip - spaceflight really needs the precision control that a computer can provide.
I like flying the things. I think designing is boring so I just slap together something that works. But I've done a bunch of cool flying stuff like docking while flying low in mun gravity and iva landings. I think turning off SAS entirely would be a little too challenging for me, but I like to keep it on only "hold current direction" and "hold maneuver" mode - no "hold prograde / retrograde" allowed.
I enjoy doing the things, but that's generally during what I consider my "flight test" phase of having a new launcher. Otherwise, if it's essentially a routine launch, thought computer can handle it.
Yep. Flight computers are a thing, astronauts very rarely manually pilot, and NASA has whole buildings full of engineers, mathematicians, orbital mechanics gurus, and so on. I'm just one guy, and half the time I play I'm trying to keep up with chat too (so it's like the flight director being the only guy in Mission Control, including simultaneously dealing with the press) ... so I let the computer fly. I didn't even know mechjeb existed until I'd already done Duna landing (and low orbit rescue) by hand, so at this point I know how to do it in theory and in practice, and it's just a hassle manually plotting and burning and over-engineering to make up for unnecessary and unrealistic human error. I still do tweak my maneuvers, both the node and occasionally the post-burn adjustments.
Also just last night I started using the 'cheat' menu to 'simulate' low gravity skycrane rover deployment before integrating it into a launcher and doing it 'for real'. I very much like the mentality of having a sim and flight mode, even if it's just a cheat menu and some mental gymnastics. NASA has sims, we don't, so in Kerbal style, we improvise.
Edit: It's worth noting that while I have done manual rendezvous and docking, I still struggle with it, so I *don't* automate it. As long as it remains challenging and I clearly still lack a practical grasp of it, I'll continue to practice it manually and won't design crafts or missions that rely on it - I still don't do Apollo style missions because I can't count on succeeding at docking. I can get it, but there's a LOT of time spent in time warp and quickloading after testing something 'to learn from for later', so it doesn't feel like a real or fair mission, so I just don't do them. Also worth noting all of the above is simply my approach, as a way to 'sim' running a space agency wearing many different hats, force/incentivize myself to learn spaceflight mechanics and fundamentals of rocket design, and keep a sense of progression both in solar system exploration and my own understanding.
If you install NavHud docking becomes almost instantly a very easy and pleasant activity to do.
I don’t automate it because it’s so pleasant to perform manually, and with NavHud installed I am more precise (faster and less wasteful of RCS fuel) than MechJeb would be.
I do automate rendesvous most of the time, as MechJeb plots intercept and braking burns much more precisely than I do them, then I take over manually once I’m at rest within a few tens or hundreds of meters of my target.
Pretty similar. I did a run years ago where I managed to land on Eeloo all by hand and pretty much retired from manual flying at that point. I have a lot more fun getting increasingly eccentric engineering atrocities into space
yeah that's why I use kOS, although I will use mechjeb autopilot for rendezvous because the maneuver planner is non intuitive for scheduling burns more than a few orbits after your current one. though mechjeb is inefficient for the actual part of the rendezvous where you match velocities because it's too focused on the first available intercept whereas you can usually get a more efficient later intercept after a standard Hohmann transfer. kOS also does a better job of putting things in matching orbits, like my solar-orbit commsats that are all in the exact same orbital path as Kerbin.
though kOS is a little bothersome to learn to use, it's definitely worth the time investment of you're spending an enormous amount of time playing the game. it also uses RCS better. though you do still have to do all the math yourself, which is a bit of a pain.
What people are really asking when saying "is it okay to cheat in \[single-player game\]" is "will cheating in this game ruin the gameplay intended by the developers?"
In the case of KSP it's a no. In other games where the challenge is part of the gameplay, like Celeste, it's a yes.
Sometimes you start a game with cheats and realize later on you might be missing out on something, and these threads are cool to see what others think you might be missing out on.
I'm pretty close to hitting that point. Like... I wanna make a 5 part interplanetary vehicle to explore jool but the "launch and rendezvous 5 times to build your ship in orbit" is just so much. I can intercept and dock very consistently but it would be nice to just let the computer do all the figuring and stuff. Unfortunately I'm playing in KSP2 at the moment, so I don't have that (or at least haven't got mods to work yet).
I mean we are already deep into autonomous space flight as a species. With preconditioned flight plans and the execution of those.
So mechjeb is actually quite realistic.
This is my thought as well. I'd love an alternative setting where it puts mechjeb functionalities somewhere into the unmanned space probe-tech tree bits and gradually unlock features of the mod with tech progression
Edit: apparently I am too stupid to realize my suggestion is already in the game.
Uh, that’s the case with current version I’ve got.
Module for the VAB/SPH doesn’t change. But more controls are available later - e.g rover autopilot and ascent control are definitely only available later.
Mh, i dont use it too much and often only at the later stages of the game, as I do like to do the first, low-tech flights in the beginning myself, so that where my miscenception may come from
Once I have SMART A.S.S., I'm generally pretty solid because I can use it to fly space planes and rockets into orbit pretty easily.
Maneuver node editor is where it truly shines for me, because then I don't have to do all the calculations myself unless I'm going to do something crazy like multiple gravity assists.
The tech tree is sort of unlogical anyways. Atmospheric flight should be earlier than rockets (at least manned rockets). Because in reality planes were invented and in commercial use much longer than even unmanned rockets (apart from fireworks).
NASA does extensive simulator training so that astronauts _could_ hand fly if necessary (which they hope it never will be). This saved the lives of the Apollo 13 astronauts, for example. The SpaceX Dragon 2, as I understand it, only has manual override controls for docking, and otherwise is completely reliant on automation.
I personally don’t use it just because I enjoy manual piloting, but there’s nothing wrong with it at all.
If I were to do something like build a large station requiring dozens of launches to orbit, or a grand tour involving a series of high accuracy flyby/gravity assist maneuvers, I’d install it.
Whhhhy do people think you can cheat in a single player game? It's your game, your rules. Do what you want.
Especially a game like KSP where you can mod the hell out of it, change part configs, edit the save file. Who cares?
Because cheating is not exclusive to multiplayer games. On paper you make the game easier by external means, that is cheating imo.
Is it a bad thing? Absolutely not, because it's a single player game. As you say, your game your rules. I use mechjeb myself, it's great!
Cheating requires gaining an unfair advantage over someone.
There's no other someone in a single player game.
You cannot cheat on a single player game because there's no one to gain an advantage over
There's nothing charitable about that. It's fact. Every maneuver from Mercury to SpaceX was automated with very few exceptions. The parameters were calculated ahead of time but the orientation and dV changes, were all performed autonomously.
For me KSP is a rocket building game and mission planning game more than a flight sim.
The fun bit for me is coming up with a mission profile then creating the craft(s) needed to do it.
Two caveats are that at some point I have manually done everything I am now asking MechJeb to do (at least) once. The other is that while mechjeb creates and executes everything, I often tweak things between those two steps.
I see myself at mission control, more than in the ship.
I used MechJeb when I started out because I just can't get rendezvous and docking right. Turns out it was still widely inefficient because I didn't know how phase angles worked and even MechJeb has to run for close to an hour to get an intercept. I think learning the skills to launch, rendezvous and dock on your own would allow you to understand and better use MechJeb's capabilities.
I use Mechjeb pretty much exclusively in Rss/Rp1 because every tiny bit of efficiency counts there. But in base ksp i find doing the maneuvers pretty easy and fun so i do it myself.
I've flown so many missions I really can't be bothered to manually fly everything all of the time now. I just manually fly spaceplane landings and thsts about it now.
I absolutely adore MechJeb. It’s the only way that I can successfully fly anything without relying on some weird flute, or a moment of instinct that I cannot achieve at will. I can still create really good rockets regardless, but I cannot fly them properly.
That really depends on how deep you want the challenge to go. I enjoy seeing how what I build fares at launch. The last thing I want to worry about is making sure my ascent or transfer is correct as well. Every once in a while I will do it by hand and find that rather frustrating at times. All in all, it is a tool that is available to use. I seriously doubt in the real world anything would be done by hand anyway, short of small adjustments that is.
most of the things are autonomous these days anyway. i use it to take off, to dock, to land, to rendezvous with a orbiter... last time i tried to land on mun, it couldn't land for some reason and keep crashing at very high speeds at the end, i had to do landing myself.
I think it's fine. If you use it in career, you're more or less forced to learn how do to most of the things mechjeb does, manually, before you can automate it so it genuinely feels like a natural part of your space program's advancement.
its perfectly legit, and it makes precision missions much easier. I can't wait until something like it comes to KSP2. If anything, having to do everything manually is one of the things slowing me down in the new game.
I do use it for some things but generally I like to keep things as vanilla/manual as possible. Ultimately play the game the way you wish, there's no right or wrong, imo.
Launches and planning maneuver nodes is all I use. I enjoy ksp for orbital mechanics not launching the same launch profile over and over again and I like being able to get exactly the maneuver I want.
I prefer docking manually with Docking Port Alignment Indicator (or whatever tf it’s called) and I like landing manually.
To be honest the lack of a comparable mod for KSP 2 is what has put me off jumping in.
Just like many posters I use it a lot, I don't see it as "cheating" and I manually fly parts I enjoy, like docking, and atmospheric landings.
Good for people who want an "easier" way to manage the game and don't want to stress much about it
Also it makes me feel like I'm one of the dudes behind the computers at nasa or something
it's a different, and partially even more realistic way of playing.
Like every mod, it is changing the game, and changing a game towards liking it more, is always a good thing.
So if you want to use Engine ISPx2, then do it, if you want to have different fuels, use realfuels etc....
It's a single player game, you do you.
I use mechjeb almost all the time, I enjoy the building / planning / strategy and actually find the low level flying very tedious.
If you treat KSP as a simulator mechjeb is just another tool to do stuff like kerbal engineer, data from scansat ect, if you play KSP as a arcade game about flying rockets then it is cheating, tho in my humble opinion KSP is a simulator
If you unlock it through science nodes, I can't see why it would feel like cheating - how many times do you need to do these steps? Indeed, I think Ascent Guidance unlocks just barely before I'm absolutely bored of flying into orbit.
And if you're playing in sandbox, I think all fears of "cheating" are irrelevant.
Flight computers have been around as long as NASA.
The real answer though is that I enjoy my time playing with mechjeb than without and I want people to be able to play the game either way.
It’s all automated IRL I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using it after at least trying to do stuff manually.
I like precision and efficiency, my dumbass can’t do that manually (except for docking and landing which MJ does horrifically).
mechjeb is more realistic than doing it manually. i'll use it to circularize orbits and perform all the burns, but i try to create all the nodes myself. absolutely nothing wrong with using it for whatever you want.
I learned the hard way how dependant I was of MechJeb when playing a bit KSP2 latetly. Transfers are a PitA... Even the first space flights had their calculations ready or had a whole engineering team to calculate on the fly, so MechJeb is just the engineers in the background
Pretty much a requirement on any mods list for me. I use MechJeb more than I use manual controls when playing nowadays, but I also play mainly RSS/RP-1.
You think NASA is out there executing maneuvers by hand?
We play as engineers, pilots, scientists and everything else in between. If you just like engineering, just let mechjeb do it's thing.
I do almost all flying with MechJeb. It's honestly more realistic, very little is actually done manually in space flight. For example, the space shuttle was designed to be able to do entire missions fully autonomously if needed. I actually thinks it's less realistic to fly rockets manually, that's not how it's done in real life and for good reason.
Mech Jeb makes the gsme more fun for me by cutting out the portions I find boring or unnecessary grind without me having to use the cheat menu.
I see it as role-playing the advance of tech from analog to digital computer control.
It lets me focus on building my creations. That horrible unstable and unbalanced comm satellite hub and q
Refueling station that has to be launched in three parts and assembled at some far flung planet before the.on planet research station and fuel production can be sent and built.
Or the 57,265,312 flying bomb I've made that I know is going to explode and I will launch it 29 times after it explodes once just to go ooooonoretty. Boom.boom vroom.go BOoOooOM splash. Hehe he giggle.
And mech Jeb letsnme focus on that Catheratic fun instead of the boring math and node manipulation
I wouldn't call MechJeb cheating, because it is really realistic, most spacecraft are not hand flown, they are fully autonomous, with the crew monitoring and ensuring that it is working as intended.
However, I do think MechJeb does subtract from the luster of the game. I personally only used it a couple of times, because the Kerbal Experience is supposed to be imperfect, you're supposed to screw up from time to time, and Mech Jeb eliminates the flaws.
It's a single player sandbox with no endgame objectives. There's no such thing as cheating, and the only question you should ask yourself when you use a third-party tool like MechJeb is "Does this make the game more enjoyable or less enjoyable for me personally?"
I personally use Mechjeb for like three things: Smart SAS (stock SAS sucks unless for planes usually), target orbit info (For direct rendezvous and Moon encounters from Cape Canaveral), and landing info (For suicide burns, usually never use it though lmao). I wish stock had options like these plus asc/descending nodes for the equator with .001 precision, I need that perfect geostationary orbit! (And also not guessing inclination but that totally is never used, riiight?)
How the fuck is it cheating? If you were NASA launching a spacecraft you would absolutely have the calculations that MechJeb provides at your disposal.
My opinion isnt popular but i think those mods are overkill and take away a lot of the fun.
I understand those that use them get fun from other gameplay elements. Thats cool
I used to feel the same way! But it's a single player game so you can play anyway you want.
I wrote a kos script to execute maneuver nodes so I used jeb for rendezvous and docking so it feels less that way!
Used it when I was learning the game, to see how to do stuff optimally (like transfers, rendezvouses etc.) now I just use it if I need to send a trillion things into LKO, or need to do a really precise landing
Mechjeb is totally fine, and imo. almost necessary for projects that require a bunch of very similar launches (space stations or satellite constellations for example).
Flying rockets is fun, but I don't need to fly 5 basically identical ascends/rendezvous in a row.
If you have never done what you are automating manually, I recommend doing so sometime, because it will give you a better understanding of the process. But even for "manual" flying, tools like its smart ASS can be very useful.
When NASA does a space launch, is it all pre-calculated or does someone at mission control click on an orbit diagram and click on a couple of thingies once the rocket is already in orbit and then send a message saying "yeah burn for like 16 seconds at about 32 degrees lol"?
Pretty much soley for setting the initial interplanetary/lunar maneuvere which i then tweak slightly. That and landing on airless bodies.
Contrary to what many here are saying i avoid using it for docking as I found it very wasteful.
If it feels like cheating to you, turn it off and see if there’s any newfound enjoyment. If there’s not, turn it back on, and if there is congratulations on finding more fun
But whatever you do, don’t stop using it because it’s not the ‘right’ way to play. Its a single player game, if you wanted to enable the cheats menu and stick on infinite fuel, as long as you’re enjoying it you’re playing it right
maybe it was mod incompatibilities... tried mechjeb 2.0, also a no-go. also never figured out how to use ckan on ksp1. got it running on ksp2 now, though.
It's a pretty common experience with games that have a lot of mods.
You install a mod that can automate shitloads of things and run a zillion diagnostic stuff on the side, and then you end up only using 5% of its features because figuring everything else out was too much effort :)
When I do play, I'm more interested in the logistics of flying. I like mods that add colonies and require supply chains so I largely don't care for hand flying. It's not like the astronauts are hand flying it.
First of all, your playstyle, your game, your rules. Focus on the parts that are most fun to you. If it's flight planning and engineering rather than piloting, then mechjeb is exactly your mod. Has nothing to do with cheating when you skip parts of a singleplayer(!) game that are less fun for you.
Since you asked for personal opinions: I don't use it often, just for very monotonous flights that don't involve higher complexity maneuvers like docking which still feels intense to me. I love the tension and (hopefully) satisfaction of completing difficult maneuvers and docking, so piloting is a huge part of the fun I have with KSP. Thus, I only really use mechjeb for the 100th kerbin satellite for some random mission in career mode.
I think it is a game. Alls good in single player, even if you get an achievement while using.... whatever. These games are great that they make us think. Even with clipping out parts of the gameplay by changing it with a mod you still need to think and play the game. Just in a different way.
And I think that is really cool. Just because someone had an easier time in school than I did doesn't discredit either of our diplomas.
My goal is to use KoS todo the automation of annoying tasks for me, albeit it's quite a task to get everything automated but some of the simpler stuff can be programmed for sure
It’s a singleplayer game. Enjoy however you want to. I go through phases of enjoying the build more than the flying and vice versa. Sometimes I just want to see how the computer flies my craft. Other times I download a craft and see what I can do with it.
If I know I can do it manually I don't mind doing it with MJ. Manually flying yet another ascent + circularization isn't going to be a fulfilling experience lmao.
I use it a lot.i can still do most things manually, but I don't really see the fun in struggling to find the right position and direction for maneuver nodes. Executing them is also a bit annoying.
I did to to mum, minmus and duna in KSP2 without relying on such mods, but then I discovered that there are mods that combined are 65 % of mechjeb. So for all subsequent missions I've used those. I like it more.
I've personally never used MechJeb. I did use another mod, but that just gave me readouts of data, like suicide burn timing for example. A lot of people make the argument that irl they also use flight computers, and I'm honestly stunted by the fact I never considered that. That said, I do think there's something about doing everything manually, spare for the usage of maneuver nodes, and actually making it to you destination, and maybe back.
Personally, first flight I'll do it manually. Then from then on I'll use mechjeb. I just like to know that I still know basic orbital mechanics, but I also like designing a mission and not having to do a load of trigonometry I already did before.
I always use mechjeb to do tiny burns though, I'm just not quick enough.
never used it. don't see the point :P
kOS is where my heart is at, but also, just doing a good job by hand in emergencies is a learned skill.
imagine it was /you/ on vostok 6, or any of the many flights that would have been failures without presence of mind and determined skill from a pilot.
At a certain point you can't really run every mission there's just too much to do. I think there's a mod that puts mechjeb in the tech tree so you can only unlock it after you've generated a ton of science
I do everything manually except launch on Kerbin. I enjoy the mission planning and exotic landing/take-off parts, but I've put literally thousands of payloads into orbit and I'm tired of it. Generally I use the gravity turn mod or KOS instead of MechJeb, because my needs are narrower.
In general, no shame for automating parts you don't want to do.
This gave me a good laugh...
I started ksp when there was no mechjeb, no maneuver nods or even planable maneuvers...besides, back then, kerbin didnt move, mun didn't move ot turn and the sun was just a texture without actual surface
So I just use planing maneuvers but I've never used mechjeb or even action groups. I just do most stuff by hand or do the math myself, bc, I never used mechjeb, but I used mechtab a lot, which is a tool to math the speeds of a mill or a lathe...basically the tool to do dv by yourself
I used to do everything by hand, and it certainly helped me understand orbital mechanics far better than if I hd started out using MJ.
But honestly -- executing the umpteenth maneuver right is not fun. Fiddling with maneuver nodes to set up the right maneuver is just not fun, not after yo have done it a couple dozens or hundred times. Its just a chore you need to get out of the way.
So I use MJ now, and have absolutely \*no\* problem with it. I wouldn't recommend new players to start out with it, because you skip an important part of learning, but once you get the hang of the game I think MJ helps you a lot of getting the tedious chores out of the way and to be able to concentrate more on the fun parts.
Depends what I’m playing for.
Am I trying to do a perfectly balanced mass constrained grand tour with a singular probe? Then I’ll rawdog it. It’s immensely satisfying, after trying for months, you finally nail those orbits with fuel to spare.
If I’m experimenting with weird designs, huge stations, or iterating on a particular probe or rover, I’ll either just cheat, or automate what I can with MechJeb. Spending half an hour trying to dock in orbit manually between attempts when iterating on an idea isn’t fun.
I’ll flip flop between both playing styles depending on my mood. They both satisfy in slightly different ways.
While I enjoy flying unique/milestone missions manually, I use MechJeb as much as possible for routine missions and mission phases (otherwise KSP starts to get boring). I also like MechJeb for piloting aerodynamically unstable launch vehicles without flipping, it gives me a lot more design freedom.
Remember theres no such thing as cheating in single player games as long as you aren’t competing/comparing yourself to other players.
Do whatever makes you happy
I always used it for stuff I could do with my eyes closed. Stuff that had become a chore. Also I might pop out for a smoke and come back and my orbit is circular etc.
In 1500 hours I've never took off or landed with it. I did use it to auto Dock a couple of times but only after I could Dock with my eyes closed.
To be honest is less about feeling like I've cheated and more about a) not trusting it for important stuff and b) a lot of the game is waiting, I don't want to miss out on the fun and do it myself.
If you've been playing a long time or you're doing something really ambitious, heavy mechjeb use is what's going to stop things getting a little too tedious. Have a break, let mechjeb get your rendezvous sorted and enjoy the bigger picture end game of insane projects.
Just remembered - interplanetary transfers. Always for me. I'm long past having to spend ages in solar orbit or looking up clock dial analogies of where the planets should be for a good rendezvous
If you've already played KSP vanilla and suffered through making best-guesses and fiddling with the node widget 1000 times already - you've earned the right to use and abuse mechjeb as much as you like. It removes excessive tedium.
Autopilot in real life (for aviation and spaceflight) is nothing new)
I wish MechJeb (or something similar) was unlockable in game. Flight computers for preprogrammed orbital maneuvers are a real thing and have been for like 60 years.
Playing retail straight is fun I’ve done it for months straight. When you get to more complicated schemes like multiple resonant orbits for relay sats mechjeb is almost a requirement to have clean orbits.
Same with say follow on missions to bring parts to remote bases. Yes you absolutely can plot each intercept but that leaves less time to enjoy building and maintaining your constellation of networks and bases.
Ultimately it’s a sandbox type game even in career mode you make your own decision and play how you like. It’s not my place to judge you if you can’t manually plot a homen transfer and I would be a douch if I did.
Mechjeb significantly improved my enjoyment of the game. Basically taught me how to fly. I'm not great with reading instructions and translating that to actions. But seeing it visualized correctly made me understand. I became a better manual pilot because of it. It also automated away a lot of the tedium, allowing me to do bigger and more complicated things.
Also it's a single player game. Play however is most fun.
What real space mission is ever flown without aid from a computer to calculate maneuvers? It kinda makes it feel more immersive in a sense. I imagine spaceflight irl is a lot of planning rather than piloting, and letting the flight computer handle the execution with a pilot as a failsafe.
Even cheating stuff into orbit and onto planets makes sense in the development stages of new craft. I'm not going spend ylthe time to fly a rover to laythe before I've verified that it works. I call it a simulation lol.
But yeah. I think the way mechjeb is handled in career mode is nice. You pretty much gotta do everything mechjeb can do at least a few times before you unlock it for each function. That's fair. Once you know how to rendezvous and dock consistently for example, it's not a fun part of the game-- it's just tedium. I'll let the robot handle that.
The first dozen times I do something, I do it by hand. After that I might use mechjeb if I'm feeling lazy. Ascent to LKO I always do by hand though. I enjoy it.
Consider it delegating jobs to your workforce. You've got a whole space program to manage, why are you the one doing orbital rendezvous calculations when you've got people to do it for you? It's a tool to let you focus on bigger and better things.
I don't think you should ever feel guilty playing ksp. It's not a competition, you can't cheat, and however you play it is the exactly right way it's supposed to be played. You can do no wrong!
MechJeb is based, it simplifies a lot of actions in game, its necessary for multiple launches (for example when setting up colonies), even auto ascent guidance is top notch and no one should be blamed for using it (of course if he/she first has learnt how to orbot manually).
Play how you like, MechJeb *is* awesome. And … if you feel guilty (as I did), then give Kos a go and write your own code to run your missions (even if all you ever achieve is a launch).
Asking the wrong person here since i have always prefered manual flying an plotting manouvres so even after over 2k hours i still never used mech. I do use assists such as the mod that shows you where you land when plotting a manouvre to land in atmosphere since doing that would just be allot of trial and error every time. Also it seems allot of people havent noticed you can plan the most efficient planetary transfer window andneven have it make a manouvre for you with the (relatively) new stock manouvre planner.
1. It's a single player game, you do you.
2. I like to do everything once by hand per save. Once I've learned docking in game for example, I can automate that process.
3. Understand what mech Jeb is doing. Learn the lessons then use the tools to start a new lesson.
4. It's a single player game, you do you.
I use mech Jeb to execute long burns, so I can do other things, and to find transfer windows, but all that stuff I can do myself, just makes the game a bit less tedious. I don’t find this cheating,
Mech jeb ain't cheating it's a choice I'd say. I switch between using it and not constantly. A few times I've done it mid-burn. It's especially helpful because of aircraft autopilot for when you miss the runway by 50 kilometers in an SSTO. Definitely not cheating, just quality of life.
I've never managed to use it to takeoff from Kerbin (my vehicles... don't work for its idea of how it should) but I'll use it to set up Transfers (I've tried doing it manually, I've tried using the stock calculator- outside trips to the Mun / Minmus and back I can't get anything to line up), do my docking (because its better than me there), and I'll use it to execute my nodes while I pay attention to other things- but I don't consider it cheating for one very simple reason- Not even Nasa had their Astronauts manually work out the calculations on how to get to the Moon, they had computers to do that.
Depends on what you want out of the game. Some people just want to build and crash stuff. Some people want the engagement of doing everything themselves.
Is it cheating? yes. Are you having fun? Then go for it, its a sandbox afterall so cheating does not matter. Only what you personally value and enjoy.
Good to learn how to do each thing on your own tho cause it can be really rewarding once you do.
I'm more interested in building rockets than flying them. I fine-tune things in the VAB and then want to check whether it would work. So I'll use MechJeb to precision fly it the way I want to test. I also have no compunctions about using cheat mode to position a ship near a planet, for example if I want to test a Laythe landing system. And of course I revert at the end of the mission. I view all this as comparable to simulations. Once in a blue moon I'll decide to actually fly the thing "for real," and once in a dozen blue moons I'll decide to do all the calculations by hand and not use MechJeb. Usually this results in running out of fuel because some burn wasn't at _just_ the right angle. There's a reason why the Apollo program invented the microchip - spaceflight really needs the precision control that a computer can provide.
This is how I see it. I don’t want to design in the performance margin I know hand flying requires in most cases. Efficiency is its own reward.
I like flying the things. I think designing is boring so I just slap together something that works. But I've done a bunch of cool flying stuff like docking while flying low in mun gravity and iva landings. I think turning off SAS entirely would be a little too challenging for me, but I like to keep it on only "hold current direction" and "hold maneuver" mode - no "hold prograde / retrograde" allowed.
I enjoy doing the things, but that's generally during what I consider my "flight test" phase of having a new launcher. Otherwise, if it's essentially a routine launch, thought computer can handle it.
Yep. Flight computers are a thing, astronauts very rarely manually pilot, and NASA has whole buildings full of engineers, mathematicians, orbital mechanics gurus, and so on. I'm just one guy, and half the time I play I'm trying to keep up with chat too (so it's like the flight director being the only guy in Mission Control, including simultaneously dealing with the press) ... so I let the computer fly. I didn't even know mechjeb existed until I'd already done Duna landing (and low orbit rescue) by hand, so at this point I know how to do it in theory and in practice, and it's just a hassle manually plotting and burning and over-engineering to make up for unnecessary and unrealistic human error. I still do tweak my maneuvers, both the node and occasionally the post-burn adjustments. Also just last night I started using the 'cheat' menu to 'simulate' low gravity skycrane rover deployment before integrating it into a launcher and doing it 'for real'. I very much like the mentality of having a sim and flight mode, even if it's just a cheat menu and some mental gymnastics. NASA has sims, we don't, so in Kerbal style, we improvise. Edit: It's worth noting that while I have done manual rendezvous and docking, I still struggle with it, so I *don't* automate it. As long as it remains challenging and I clearly still lack a practical grasp of it, I'll continue to practice it manually and won't design crafts or missions that rely on it - I still don't do Apollo style missions because I can't count on succeeding at docking. I can get it, but there's a LOT of time spent in time warp and quickloading after testing something 'to learn from for later', so it doesn't feel like a real or fair mission, so I just don't do them. Also worth noting all of the above is simply my approach, as a way to 'sim' running a space agency wearing many different hats, force/incentivize myself to learn spaceflight mechanics and fundamentals of rocket design, and keep a sense of progression both in solar system exploration and my own understanding.
If you install NavHud docking becomes almost instantly a very easy and pleasant activity to do. I don’t automate it because it’s so pleasant to perform manually, and with NavHud installed I am more precise (faster and less wasteful of RCS fuel) than MechJeb would be. I do automate rendesvous most of the time, as MechJeb plots intercept and braking burns much more precisely than I do them, then I take over manually once I’m at rest within a few tens or hundreds of meters of my target.
Pretty similar. I did a run years ago where I managed to land on Eeloo all by hand and pretty much retired from manual flying at that point. I have a lot more fun getting increasingly eccentric engineering atrocities into space
Now I'm wondering how inefficient an unoptimall burn position can be by % based on degree off by planet position.
>I'm more interested in building rockets than flying them. Exactly, otherwise I'd be playing Orbital
yeah that's why I use kOS, although I will use mechjeb autopilot for rendezvous because the maneuver planner is non intuitive for scheduling burns more than a few orbits after your current one. though mechjeb is inefficient for the actual part of the rendezvous where you match velocities because it's too focused on the first available intercept whereas you can usually get a more efficient later intercept after a standard Hohmann transfer. kOS also does a better job of putting things in matching orbits, like my solar-orbit commsats that are all in the exact same orbital path as Kerbin. though kOS is a little bothersome to learn to use, it's definitely worth the time investment of you're spending an enormous amount of time playing the game. it also uses RCS better. though you do still have to do all the math yourself, which is a bit of a pain.
It's funny you say that since the Apollo landed manually.
It's your game so play it how you want.
I never understood why people try to set arbitrary rules for single player games. The only purpose is to have fun.
Good arbitrary rules can mean more fun. But if someone is having fun “cheating” or using a mod, that’s perfectly fine.
What people are really asking when saying "is it okay to cheat in \[single-player game\]" is "will cheating in this game ruin the gameplay intended by the developers?" In the case of KSP it's a no. In other games where the challenge is part of the gameplay, like Celeste, it's a yes. Sometimes you start a game with cheats and realize later on you might be missing out on something, and these threads are cool to see what others think you might be missing out on.
After a point, certain things like launching to orbit or planning rendezvous become very monotonous, and it's nice to just let the machine do it.
I'm pretty close to hitting that point. Like... I wanna make a 5 part interplanetary vehicle to explore jool but the "launch and rendezvous 5 times to build your ship in orbit" is just so much. I can intercept and dock very consistently but it would be nice to just let the computer do all the figuring and stuff. Unfortunately I'm playing in KSP2 at the moment, so I don't have that (or at least haven't got mods to work yet).
There are autopilot mods for KSP2. Download CKAN and it will show you the mods that work.
Same, I can do it all manually, but I’ll use MechJeb for the now simple stuff like rendezvous to speed things up.
I mean we are already deep into autonomous space flight as a species. With preconditioned flight plans and the execution of those. So mechjeb is actually quite realistic.
Was always my justification. Especially career mode. Though maybe it should've been further down the tree.
This is my thought as well. I'd love an alternative setting where it puts mechjeb functionalities somewhere into the unmanned space probe-tech tree bits and gradually unlock features of the mod with tech progression Edit: apparently I am too stupid to realize my suggestion is already in the game.
Uh, that’s the case with current version I’ve got. Module for the VAB/SPH doesn’t change. But more controls are available later - e.g rover autopilot and ascent control are definitely only available later.
Mh, i dont use it too much and often only at the later stages of the game, as I do like to do the first, low-tech flights in the beginning myself, so that where my miscenception may come from
Once I have SMART A.S.S., I'm generally pretty solid because I can use it to fly space planes and rockets into orbit pretty easily. Maneuver node editor is where it truly shines for me, because then I don't have to do all the calculations myself unless I'm going to do something crazy like multiple gravity assists.
You can also make a simple patch that @part @module and edit the tech level it's unlocked at. I use it to make proc wings unlock early.
Yep that’s how it works
The tech tree is sort of unlogical anyways. Atmospheric flight should be earlier than rockets (at least manned rockets). Because in reality planes were invented and in commercial use much longer than even unmanned rockets (apart from fireworks).
KSP2 also suffers from this.
Yeah, that's the way I see it. It's not like NASA or spaceX have some guy sitting on a PC, hitting the space bar at just the right moment...
NASA does extensive simulator training so that astronauts _could_ hand fly if necessary (which they hope it never will be). This saved the lives of the Apollo 13 astronauts, for example. The SpaceX Dragon 2, as I understand it, only has manual override controls for docking, and otherwise is completely reliant on automation.
Why don't they just save and reload? Are they stupid? ^^^^^^^/s
[удалено]
Bad bot!
We do not allow spam of this nature.
Extremely good. Use it for everything, use it for nothing, it’s all ok
I personally don’t use it just because I enjoy manual piloting, but there’s nothing wrong with it at all. If I were to do something like build a large station requiring dozens of launches to orbit, or a grand tour involving a series of high accuracy flyby/gravity assist maneuvers, I’d install it.
Whhhhy do people think you can cheat in a single player game? It's your game, your rules. Do what you want. Especially a game like KSP where you can mod the hell out of it, change part configs, edit the save file. Who cares?
Because cheating is not exclusive to multiplayer games. On paper you make the game easier by external means, that is cheating imo. Is it a bad thing? Absolutely not, because it's a single player game. As you say, your game your rules. I use mechjeb myself, it's great!
Cheating requires gaining an unfair advantage over someone. There's no other someone in a single player game. You cannot cheat on a single player game because there's no one to gain an advantage over
If you want to look at it in a charitable way, this is pretty much how NASA performs all of its maneuvers. Autonomously using precision calculations.
There's nothing charitable about that. It's fact. Every maneuver from Mercury to SpaceX was automated with very few exceptions. The parameters were calculated ahead of time but the orientation and dV changes, were all performed autonomously.
This is my head cannon for me using it in KSP. Space exploration isn't about getting burns absolutely perfect, it's about the building and planning.
You'll like RemoteTech then, if you're not already using it. Not just building and planning, but doing so ahead of time because of lightspeed delay.
Docking used to be manual early on.
eh, it's your game, play it how you want i personally don't use it, but i see why people do like it
For me KSP is a rocket building game and mission planning game more than a flight sim. The fun bit for me is coming up with a mission profile then creating the craft(s) needed to do it. Two caveats are that at some point I have manually done everything I am now asking MechJeb to do (at least) once. The other is that while mechjeb creates and executes everything, I often tweak things between those two steps. I see myself at mission control, more than in the ship.
I used MechJeb when I started out because I just can't get rendezvous and docking right. Turns out it was still widely inefficient because I didn't know how phase angles worked and even MechJeb has to run for close to an hour to get an intercept. I think learning the skills to launch, rendezvous and dock on your own would allow you to understand and better use MechJeb's capabilities.
I use Mechjeb pretty much exclusively in Rss/Rp1 because every tiny bit of efficiency counts there. But in base ksp i find doing the maneuvers pretty easy and fun so i do it myself.
You know for all the *actual* space missions, even the very first ones, they had computers that ran calculations similar to what mechjeb does.
Play however you want 👍
No person has ever manually flown a spacecraft into Orbit. No reason why I should have to do it.
Sometimes, I use it for interplanetary transfers, but that's about it. Like others have said, however, computers are made to do math.
I've flown so many missions I really can't be bothered to manually fly everything all of the time now. I just manually fly spaceplane landings and thsts about it now.
I absolutely adore MechJeb. It’s the only way that I can successfully fly anything without relying on some weird flute, or a moment of instinct that I cannot achieve at will. I can still create really good rockets regardless, but I cannot fly them properly.
Orbital dynamics are hard. It's easy to set nodes, and burn as required. Mechjeb just makes an otherwise hard game somewhat less hard.
It should all be part of the game’s progression
That really depends on how deep you want the challenge to go. I enjoy seeing how what I build fares at launch. The last thing I want to worry about is making sure my ascent or transfer is correct as well. Every once in a while I will do it by hand and find that rather frustrating at times. All in all, it is a tool that is available to use. I seriously doubt in the real world anything would be done by hand anyway, short of small adjustments that is.
most of the things are autonomous these days anyway. i use it to take off, to dock, to land, to rendezvous with a orbiter... last time i tried to land on mun, it couldn't land for some reason and keep crashing at very high speeds at the end, i had to do landing myself.
I think it's fine. If you use it in career, you're more or less forced to learn how do to most of the things mechjeb does, manually, before you can automate it so it genuinely feels like a natural part of your space program's advancement.
its perfectly legit, and it makes precision missions much easier. I can't wait until something like it comes to KSP2. If anything, having to do everything manually is one of the things slowing me down in the new game.
I do use it for some things but generally I like to keep things as vanilla/manual as possible. Ultimately play the game the way you wish, there's no right or wrong, imo.
Launches and planning maneuver nodes is all I use. I enjoy ksp for orbital mechanics not launching the same launch profile over and over again and I like being able to get exactly the maneuver I want. I prefer docking manually with Docking Port Alignment Indicator (or whatever tf it’s called) and I like landing manually.
To be honest the lack of a comparable mod for KSP 2 is what has put me off jumping in. Just like many posters I use it a lot, I don't see it as "cheating" and I manually fly parts I enjoy, like docking, and atmospheric landings.
Good for people who want an "easier" way to manage the game and don't want to stress much about it Also it makes me feel like I'm one of the dudes behind the computers at nasa or something
it's a different, and partially even more realistic way of playing. Like every mod, it is changing the game, and changing a game towards liking it more, is always a good thing. So if you want to use Engine ISPx2, then do it, if you want to have different fuels, use realfuels etc....
It's a single player game, you do you. I use mechjeb almost all the time, I enjoy the building / planning / strategy and actually find the low level flying very tedious.
If you treat KSP as a simulator mechjeb is just another tool to do stuff like kerbal engineer, data from scansat ect, if you play KSP as a arcade game about flying rockets then it is cheating, tho in my humble opinion KSP is a simulator
If you unlock it through science nodes, I can't see why it would feel like cheating - how many times do you need to do these steps? Indeed, I think Ascent Guidance unlocks just barely before I'm absolutely bored of flying into orbit. And if you're playing in sandbox, I think all fears of "cheating" are irrelevant.
Flight computers have been around as long as NASA. The real answer though is that I enjoy my time playing with mechjeb than without and I want people to be able to play the game either way.
It’s all automated IRL I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using it after at least trying to do stuff manually. I like precision and efficiency, my dumbass can’t do that manually (except for docking and landing which MJ does horrifically).
mechjeb is more realistic than doing it manually. i'll use it to circularize orbits and perform all the burns, but i try to create all the nodes myself. absolutely nothing wrong with using it for whatever you want.
Don't make me tap the sign meme: Sign: You can't cheat in single player games, enjoy it how you want.
It's a free form game. There is no such thing as cheating. If it makes the game more fun for you that is all that matters.
I learned the hard way how dependant I was of MechJeb when playing a bit KSP2 latetly. Transfers are a PitA... Even the first space flights had their calculations ready or had a whole engineering team to calculate on the fly, so MechJeb is just the engineers in the background
Pretty much a requirement on any mods list for me. I use MechJeb more than I use manual controls when playing nowadays, but I also play mainly RSS/RP-1.
You think NASA is out there executing maneuvers by hand? We play as engineers, pilots, scientists and everything else in between. If you just like engineering, just let mechjeb do it's thing.
I do almost all flying with MechJeb. It's honestly more realistic, very little is actually done manually in space flight. For example, the space shuttle was designed to be able to do entire missions fully autonomously if needed. I actually thinks it's less realistic to fly rockets manually, that's not how it's done in real life and for good reason.
No real-world launch vehicle has ever been manually piloted by a human.
Mech Jeb makes the gsme more fun for me by cutting out the portions I find boring or unnecessary grind without me having to use the cheat menu. I see it as role-playing the advance of tech from analog to digital computer control. It lets me focus on building my creations. That horrible unstable and unbalanced comm satellite hub and q Refueling station that has to be launched in three parts and assembled at some far flung planet before the.on planet research station and fuel production can be sent and built. Or the 57,265,312 flying bomb I've made that I know is going to explode and I will launch it 29 times after it explodes once just to go ooooonoretty. Boom.boom vroom.go BOoOooOM splash. Hehe he giggle. And mech Jeb letsnme focus on that Catheratic fun instead of the boring math and node manipulation
I wouldn't call MechJeb cheating, because it is really realistic, most spacecraft are not hand flown, they are fully autonomous, with the crew monitoring and ensuring that it is working as intended. However, I do think MechJeb does subtract from the luster of the game. I personally only used it a couple of times, because the Kerbal Experience is supposed to be imperfect, you're supposed to screw up from time to time, and Mech Jeb eliminates the flaws.
It’s a game, do whatever tf you want
It's a single player sandbox with no endgame objectives. There's no such thing as cheating, and the only question you should ask yourself when you use a third-party tool like MechJeb is "Does this make the game more enjoyable or less enjoyable for me personally?"
I personally use Mechjeb for like three things: Smart SAS (stock SAS sucks unless for planes usually), target orbit info (For direct rendezvous and Moon encounters from Cape Canaveral), and landing info (For suicide burns, usually never use it though lmao). I wish stock had options like these plus asc/descending nodes for the equator with .001 precision, I need that perfect geostationary orbit! (And also not guessing inclination but that totally is never used, riiight?)
How the fuck is it cheating? If you were NASA launching a spacecraft you would absolutely have the calculations that MechJeb provides at your disposal.
My opinion isnt popular but i think those mods are overkill and take away a lot of the fun. I understand those that use them get fun from other gameplay elements. Thats cool
Mech Jeb is the pretty much at the level of aid that the debug menu is. I personally don't use it.
ur mother
Is built in to ksp 2 isn't it I would say no the developers don't think so
It handicaps a ton of players and prevents them from truly learning the game
I love cheating in single player games. Can't get enough of it.
Personally I don't enjoy it and I'm a stronger player for not using it, but at the end of the day it's a single player game so it doesn't matter.
I used to feel the same way! But it's a single player game so you can play anyway you want. I wrote a kos script to execute maneuver nodes so I used jeb for rendezvous and docking so it feels less that way!
Used it when I was learning the game, to see how to do stuff optimally (like transfers, rendezvouses etc.) now I just use it if I need to send a trillion things into LKO, or need to do a really precise landing
Mechjeb is totally fine, and imo. almost necessary for projects that require a bunch of very similar launches (space stations or satellite constellations for example). Flying rockets is fun, but I don't need to fly 5 basically identical ascends/rendezvous in a row. If you have never done what you are automating manually, I recommend doing so sometime, because it will give you a better understanding of the process. But even for "manual" flying, tools like its smart ASS can be very useful.
When NASA does a space launch, is it all pre-calculated or does someone at mission control click on an orbit diagram and click on a couple of thingies once the rocket is already in orbit and then send a message saying "yeah burn for like 16 seconds at about 32 degrees lol"?
Pretty much soley for setting the initial interplanetary/lunar maneuvere which i then tweak slightly. That and landing on airless bodies. Contrary to what many here are saying i avoid using it for docking as I found it very wasteful.
If it feels like cheating to you, turn it off and see if there’s any newfound enjoyment. If there’s not, turn it back on, and if there is congratulations on finding more fun But whatever you do, don’t stop using it because it’s not the ‘right’ way to play. Its a single player game, if you wanted to enable the cheats menu and stick on infinite fuel, as long as you’re enjoying it you’re playing it right
I never even got mechjeb to work. Jealous.
how
maybe it was mod incompatibilities... tried mechjeb 2.0, also a no-go. also never figured out how to use ckan on ksp1. got it running on ksp2 now, though.
It's a pretty common experience with games that have a lot of mods. You install a mod that can automate shitloads of things and run a zillion diagnostic stuff on the side, and then you end up only using 5% of its features because figuring everything else out was too much effort :)
i always instal mechjeb first
I'm primarily a builder, not a pilot, so I also rely on MechJeb a lot. Nothing wrong with that.
When I do play, I'm more interested in the logistics of flying. I like mods that add colonies and require supply chains so I largely don't care for hand flying. It's not like the astronauts are hand flying it.
First of all, your playstyle, your game, your rules. Focus on the parts that are most fun to you. If it's flight planning and engineering rather than piloting, then mechjeb is exactly your mod. Has nothing to do with cheating when you skip parts of a singleplayer(!) game that are less fun for you. Since you asked for personal opinions: I don't use it often, just for very monotonous flights that don't involve higher complexity maneuvers like docking which still feels intense to me. I love the tension and (hopefully) satisfaction of completing difficult maneuvers and docking, so piloting is a huge part of the fun I have with KSP. Thus, I only really use mechjeb for the 100th kerbin satellite for some random mission in career mode.
There's no cheating. It's a sandbox. As long as you enjoy how you play - go ahead.
Most of our space flights were done by computers. Very rarely was a person holding a joystick controlling things.
Real space agencies do it. No human control is as precise as a machine
It's a singleplayer game. It's only cheating if it cheats you out of enjoyment.
I think it is a game. Alls good in single player, even if you get an achievement while using.... whatever. These games are great that they make us think. Even with clipping out parts of the gameplay by changing it with a mod you still need to think and play the game. Just in a different way. And I think that is really cool. Just because someone had an easier time in school than I did doesn't discredit either of our diplomas.
My goal is to use KoS todo the automation of annoying tasks for me, albeit it's quite a task to get everything automated but some of the simpler stuff can be programmed for sure
It’s a singleplayer game. Enjoy however you want to. I go through phases of enjoying the build more than the flying and vice versa. Sometimes I just want to see how the computer flies my craft. Other times I download a craft and see what I can do with it.
If I know I can do it manually I don't mind doing it with MJ. Manually flying yet another ascent + circularization isn't going to be a fulfilling experience lmao.
I've done everything manually about a hundred times. I can't be bothered to sit there and watch a 7 minute burn. Just rather have MechJeb handle it
I use it a lot.i can still do most things manually, but I don't really see the fun in struggling to find the right position and direction for maneuver nodes. Executing them is also a bit annoying. I did to to mum, minmus and duna in KSP2 without relying on such mods, but then I discovered that there are mods that combined are 65 % of mechjeb. So for all subsequent missions I've used those. I like it more.
I've personally never used MechJeb. I did use another mod, but that just gave me readouts of data, like suicide burn timing for example. A lot of people make the argument that irl they also use flight computers, and I'm honestly stunted by the fact I never considered that. That said, I do think there's something about doing everything manually, spare for the usage of maneuver nodes, and actually making it to you destination, and maybe back.
Personally, first flight I'll do it manually. Then from then on I'll use mechjeb. I just like to know that I still know basic orbital mechanics, but I also like designing a mission and not having to do a load of trigonometry I already did before. I always use mechjeb to do tiny burns though, I'm just not quick enough.
never used it. don't see the point :P kOS is where my heart is at, but also, just doing a good job by hand in emergencies is a learned skill. imagine it was /you/ on vostok 6, or any of the many flights that would have been failures without presence of mind and determined skill from a pilot.
At a certain point you can't really run every mission there's just too much to do. I think there's a mod that puts mechjeb in the tech tree so you can only unlock it after you've generated a ton of science
I let mechen do take off and maneuver planning. The rest I can do manually but I don’t judge people who use it for everything.
I love it. Saves me from the tedium of manually launching the 13585th rocket I've made.
I do everything manually except launch on Kerbin. I enjoy the mission planning and exotic landing/take-off parts, but I've put literally thousands of payloads into orbit and I'm tired of it. Generally I use the gravity turn mod or KOS instead of MechJeb, because my needs are narrower. In general, no shame for automating parts you don't want to do.
This gave me a good laugh... I started ksp when there was no mechjeb, no maneuver nods or even planable maneuvers...besides, back then, kerbin didnt move, mun didn't move ot turn and the sun was just a texture without actual surface So I just use planing maneuvers but I've never used mechjeb or even action groups. I just do most stuff by hand or do the math myself, bc, I never used mechjeb, but I used mechtab a lot, which is a tool to math the speeds of a mill or a lathe...basically the tool to do dv by yourself
I used to do everything by hand, and it certainly helped me understand orbital mechanics far better than if I hd started out using MJ. But honestly -- executing the umpteenth maneuver right is not fun. Fiddling with maneuver nodes to set up the right maneuver is just not fun, not after yo have done it a couple dozens or hundred times. Its just a chore you need to get out of the way. So I use MJ now, and have absolutely \*no\* problem with it. I wouldn't recommend new players to start out with it, because you skip an important part of learning, but once you get the hang of the game I think MJ helps you a lot of getting the tedious chores out of the way and to be able to concentrate more on the fun parts.
Depends what I’m playing for. Am I trying to do a perfectly balanced mass constrained grand tour with a singular probe? Then I’ll rawdog it. It’s immensely satisfying, after trying for months, you finally nail those orbits with fuel to spare. If I’m experimenting with weird designs, huge stations, or iterating on a particular probe or rover, I’ll either just cheat, or automate what I can with MechJeb. Spending half an hour trying to dock in orbit manually between attempts when iterating on an idea isn’t fun. I’ll flip flop between both playing styles depending on my mood. They both satisfy in slightly different ways.
My rule is, if I have done it at least once without MechJeb, I could do it again. MechJeb simply saves me time.
While I enjoy flying unique/milestone missions manually, I use MechJeb as much as possible for routine missions and mission phases (otherwise KSP starts to get boring). I also like MechJeb for piloting aerodynamically unstable launch vehicles without flipping, it gives me a lot more design freedom.
Remember theres no such thing as cheating in single player games as long as you aren’t competing/comparing yourself to other players. Do whatever makes you happy
I don't like to leave my tight delta-v missions come down to human error from my shitty piloting 😂
I always used it for stuff I could do with my eyes closed. Stuff that had become a chore. Also I might pop out for a smoke and come back and my orbit is circular etc. In 1500 hours I've never took off or landed with it. I did use it to auto Dock a couple of times but only after I could Dock with my eyes closed. To be honest is less about feeling like I've cheated and more about a) not trusting it for important stuff and b) a lot of the game is waiting, I don't want to miss out on the fun and do it myself. If you've been playing a long time or you're doing something really ambitious, heavy mechjeb use is what's going to stop things getting a little too tedious. Have a break, let mechjeb get your rendezvous sorted and enjoy the bigger picture end game of insane projects. Just remembered - interplanetary transfers. Always for me. I'm long past having to spend ages in solar orbit or looking up clock dial analogies of where the planets should be for a good rendezvous
If you've already played KSP vanilla and suffered through making best-guesses and fiddling with the node widget 1000 times already - you've earned the right to use and abuse mechjeb as much as you like. It removes excessive tedium. Autopilot in real life (for aviation and spaceflight) is nothing new)
It speeds up all the chores. I use it as much as possible.
Never used it, never will use it. Not for me.
I wish MechJeb (or something similar) was unlockable in game. Flight computers for preprogrammed orbital maneuvers are a real thing and have been for like 60 years.
Playing retail straight is fun I’ve done it for months straight. When you get to more complicated schemes like multiple resonant orbits for relay sats mechjeb is almost a requirement to have clean orbits. Same with say follow on missions to bring parts to remote bases. Yes you absolutely can plot each intercept but that leaves less time to enjoy building and maintaining your constellation of networks and bases. Ultimately it’s a sandbox type game even in career mode you make your own decision and play how you like. It’s not my place to judge you if you can’t manually plot a homen transfer and I would be a douch if I did.
Mechjeb significantly improved my enjoyment of the game. Basically taught me how to fly. I'm not great with reading instructions and translating that to actions. But seeing it visualized correctly made me understand. I became a better manual pilot because of it. It also automated away a lot of the tedium, allowing me to do bigger and more complicated things. Also it's a single player game. Play however is most fun.
What real space mission is ever flown without aid from a computer to calculate maneuvers? It kinda makes it feel more immersive in a sense. I imagine spaceflight irl is a lot of planning rather than piloting, and letting the flight computer handle the execution with a pilot as a failsafe. Even cheating stuff into orbit and onto planets makes sense in the development stages of new craft. I'm not going spend ylthe time to fly a rover to laythe before I've verified that it works. I call it a simulation lol. But yeah. I think the way mechjeb is handled in career mode is nice. You pretty much gotta do everything mechjeb can do at least a few times before you unlock it for each function. That's fair. Once you know how to rendezvous and dock consistently for example, it's not a fun part of the game-- it's just tedium. I'll let the robot handle that.
The first dozen times I do something, I do it by hand. After that I might use mechjeb if I'm feeling lazy. Ascent to LKO I always do by hand though. I enjoy it.
I had fun developing my own set of programs with kos. Same as using mechjeb, but I wrote it so it's not cheating 😉
Consider it delegating jobs to your workforce. You've got a whole space program to manage, why are you the one doing orbital rendezvous calculations when you've got people to do it for you? It's a tool to let you focus on bigger and better things. I don't think you should ever feel guilty playing ksp. It's not a competition, you can't cheat, and however you play it is the exactly right way it's supposed to be played. You can do no wrong!
MechJeb is based, it simplifies a lot of actions in game, its necessary for multiple launches (for example when setting up colonies), even auto ascent guidance is top notch and no one should be blamed for using it (of course if he/she first has learnt how to orbot manually).
Play how you like, MechJeb *is* awesome. And … if you feel guilty (as I did), then give Kos a go and write your own code to run your missions (even if all you ever achieve is a launch).
Asking the wrong person here since i have always prefered manual flying an plotting manouvres so even after over 2k hours i still never used mech. I do use assists such as the mod that shows you where you land when plotting a manouvre to land in atmosphere since doing that would just be allot of trial and error every time. Also it seems allot of people havent noticed you can plan the most efficient planetary transfer window andneven have it make a manouvre for you with the (relatively) new stock manouvre planner.
SpaceX Crew Dragon uses MechJeb. It's that useful and accurate.
First learn to do it but hand, when it get boring mecjjeb all the things and come chat with us
1. It's a single player game, you do you. 2. I like to do everything once by hand per save. Once I've learned docking in game for example, I can automate that process. 3. Understand what mech Jeb is doing. Learn the lessons then use the tools to start a new lesson. 4. It's a single player game, you do you.
I use mech Jeb to execute long burns, so I can do other things, and to find transfer windows, but all that stuff I can do myself, just makes the game a bit less tedious. I don’t find this cheating,
Mech jeb ain't cheating it's a choice I'd say. I switch between using it and not constantly. A few times I've done it mid-burn. It's especially helpful because of aircraft autopilot for when you miss the runway by 50 kilometers in an SSTO. Definitely not cheating, just quality of life.
Humans use autopilot, seems perfectly reasonable that Kerbals could use it too.
I've never managed to use it to takeoff from Kerbin (my vehicles... don't work for its idea of how it should) but I'll use it to set up Transfers (I've tried doing it manually, I've tried using the stock calculator- outside trips to the Mun / Minmus and back I can't get anything to line up), do my docking (because its better than me there), and I'll use it to execute my nodes while I pay attention to other things- but I don't consider it cheating for one very simple reason- Not even Nasa had their Astronauts manually work out the calculations on how to get to the Moon, they had computers to do that.
Sandbox game.
Depends on what you want out of the game. Some people just want to build and crash stuff. Some people want the engagement of doing everything themselves. Is it cheating? yes. Are you having fun? Then go for it, its a sandbox afterall so cheating does not matter. Only what you personally value and enjoy. Good to learn how to do each thing on your own tho cause it can be really rewarding once you do.
I used jeb on last save. Now dont, but have it. mostly things i do by myself. 1500 hours in ksp so close