Meteor Seasons Balance

[clickrush]

As I was implementing rocketry automation I was revising @Saturnus meteor water clock @R9MX4 meteorology guide and started thinking about the meteor shower balance. I feel like it is a bit off.

The current state only alows for 1 safe rocket flight every 14 cycles.

To explain in short why this is the case: A rocket flight takes 3 cycles and the only time you can safely open your bunker doors for that long is during the meteor peace season which is 4 cycles long, while the meteor season only allows for up to 2 cycle breaks (random intervals). I understand that the game needs a bit of a lategame timesink, allthough I'd rather it based on building and optimising stuff than being hardwired like this. But I feel like this is a bit too crazy. I also understand that you can build multiple rockets, but the sheer space and material requirements are pretty huge. You can barely do it with the amount of fossil that is generated if you don't use steel for anything but covering the surface and building rockets, while it is hard to keep a high/steady egg shell production.

I suggest that the meteor seasons will be revised. For example an 8-8 split (instead of 10-4) would allow for 2 safe rocket flights with a 2 cycle buffer to empty cargo, ready the astronauts and fill the tanks. This would also have the benefit of lowering the generated regolith by ~20% which is welcome as well.

[Saturnus]

17 minutes ago, clickrush said:

The current state only alows for 1 safe rocket flight every 14 cycles.

If I recall correctly a space mission takes the distance travelled divided by 5000 in cycles to complete which would mean that missions 60000km away takes 12 cycle to complete and then you have 2 days to prepare for the next mission. 60000km is about the optimum distance for cargo hauling petroleum powered rockets. So I don't see this as terribly limiting. It's only when you only have access to the steam engine and can only go to the nearest planets it seems a bit odd. Once you set your sights for longer hauls and serious space exploitation it's hardly a limit at all.

[clickrush]

1 minute ago, Saturnus said:

If I recall correctly a space mission takes the distance travelled divided by 5000 in cycles to complete which would mean that missions 60000km away takes 12 cycle to complete and then you have 2 days to prepare for the next mission. 60000km is about the optimum distance for cargo hauling petroleum powered rockets. So I don't see this as terribly limiting. It's only when you only have access to the steam engine and can only go to the nearest planets it seems a bit odd. Once you set your sights for longer hauls and serious space exploitation it's hardly a limit at all.

Ok I take everything back then . This makes it super awkward though as you can only safely send rockets to either 3 cycle trips or 10-12 cycle trips but nothing in between.

[Saturnus]

Just now, clickrush said:

Ok I take everything back then . This makes it super awkward though as you can only safely send rockets to either 3 cycle trips or 10-12 cycle trips but nothing in between.

If you have the meteor clock you can always check exactly how many cycles are left to the next peace season. Then you just calculate backwards to give you a 4 cycle launch window. In that launch window you send at the first break in meteor showers. A break in a meteor season is always minimum 300s. Plenty of time to open the bunker doors, launch the rocket, and close the bunker doors again. 

[clickrush]

1 minute ago, Saturnus said:

If you have the meteor clock you can always check exactly how many cycles are left to the next peace season. Then you just calculate backwards to give you a 4 cycle launch window. In that launch window you send at the first break in meteor showers. A break in a meteor season is always minimum 300s. Plenty of time to open the bunker doors, launch the rocket, and close the bunker doors again. 

Right, thank you for that. I completely neglected the fact that the only problem to reduce landing to the peace season and not starting.