Suddenly ion engine is not available

[Rocketman1999!]

Since the update it’s missing

 

[Altaïr]

Since the update it’s missing

Ion engines are only unavailable in challenge mode, but it keeps being available in sandbox mode. Sorry, you can't crack all the missions by abusing of ion engines

 

[Xremh]

Wait... What you say?
What does that mean?
Is the ion engine is an dishonorable advantage or a in-game cheat?
Unexpected!

 

[Altaïr]

Wait... What you say?
What does that mean?
Is the ion engine is an dishonorable advantage or a in-game cheat?
Unexpected!

In a sense, yes.
Technically it's not a cheat, but ion engines are so powerful that they would defeat the purpose of the challenge section. I guess that's the reason why Stef chose to remove them.

 

[Mars Pathfinder]

Wait... What you say?
What does that mean?
Is the ion engine is an dishonorable advantage or a in-game cheat?
Unexpected!

Ion Engines are broken

Think of a engine where it doesn't need an fuel cause it can itself without em

Ion engines needed to run on ELECTRIC (which we don't have RIGHT Now) and propellants (which we have)

Also I think ion engines have higher isp compared to irl ion engines (correct me here Altair)

 

[Altaïr]

Also I think ion engines have higher isp compared to irl ion engines (correct me here Altair)

Actually no, real ion engines have their specific impulse around 5000 seconds, this is much higher than ingame. However their thrust is extremely low. Even a prototype like the X3 produced 5.4N of thrust against 1.5 tons in SFS, which is... 14700N
And for the X3, it's for an input of 100 kW of electric power, which would need something around 180 m² of solar panels to produce.

Real ion engines are that efficient, but because of their low thrust they need a very long time to change noticeably a trajectory. And of course, no injection/insertion burns with them, and no easy landing on any body (even Deimos!).