Dashboard

In-flight dashboard

The dashboard is the mod's face - the split between nominal and effective thrust is the mechanic. It appears on the stock toolbar and auto-opens when the layer activates (β above the gate); it stays hidden during ordinary in-system flight. The window is draggable, and there is a Simple / Expert toggle.

Simple mode

┌─ RELATIVITY ───────────── ● ACTIVE ─┐
│ Speed   0.923 c  ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░│1c         │
│ Thrust  8.9 / 154 kN  ( 5.8% )       │
│ Brake authority  5.8%   ⚠ decel now  │
│ Mission   12.4 yr                    │
│ Crew       4.8 yr   (−7.6)           │
└───────────────────────────────────────┘

Row	What it means
Speed	β as a fraction of c, on a light-wall gauge (below).
Thrust	effective / nominal kN and % - the 1/γ³ factor from The Physics#1-thrust-falls-as-1γ3-the-light-wall.
Brake authority	retrograde effective thrust % (same 1/γ³), plus the ⚠ decel now cue.
Mission	coordinate (UT) time elapsed.
Crew	proper time elapsed, and the running gap vs mission time.

Expert mode

Expert adds the underlying numbers:

• γ: the Lorentz factor.
• life support ×0.39: the proper-time consumption multiplier (1/γ).
• dose ×1.00 (not dilated): the deliberate contrast row: placed right beside life support, it shows that a fast crew ages less but soaks the same dose (radiation, not starvation). Shown only when Kerbalism is installed - it is the only framework that models dose.
• turn rate ×0.39: attitude authority (1/γ); turning is slowed too.

The light-wall speed gauge

A linear bar from 0 to 1 c with a hard wall at 1.0, plus the numeric 0.923 c. Above ~0.9c the final segment fills with a non-linear tail so the last approach to c visibly never completes - the asymptote you can't fill, readable at a glance.

The two clocks

• Mission clock = coordinate time (game UT).
• Crew clock integrates proper time τ = ∫ dt/γ from launch: a true crew-age odometer, shown next to the mission clock with their difference.
• The gap is permanent: slowing down never catches it back up. The accumulator never resets.
• Stored per vessel, and it keeps advancing while the vessel is unloaded (on return, the elapsed time is integrated with the vessel's background β), so the odometer is right when you come back.
• It is display-only: it never manipulates game UT or time-warp. (During warp γ = 1, so it advances 1:1 with no new gap.)

Brake-authority cue

Because braking is direction-blind (1/γ³), and turning to face retrograde is itself slowed (1/γ), arrival deceleration has to start absurdly early. The ⚠ decel now cue fires at the turnover point - when the distance left has shrunk to what you need to brake to rest (plus a small margin). For example, at 0.9c and 1.5 g that is roughly 0.84 light-years out.

The cue is exact when it knows how far the destination is - set a target in the Trip Planner or pick a destination body. With no target it falls back to a crude speed heuristic (it can't know the distance). This one cue is what prevents the "why can't I stop?" soft-lock the mechanic would otherwise cause - see FAQ.

Panel states

Condition	What you see
relativistic cruise (β above the gate)	the full dashboard (Simple or Expert)
under warp/jump (a warp mod raised WarpFlag)	a collapsed WARP panel - speed in c-multiples only
below the activation speed	hidden (or off (sub-relativistic) if pinned)
implausible β (kraken)	disabled - implausible β

Under warp the relativity rows vanish (they are identity by design); only the warp speed remains, supplied by the warp mod itself.