What are your standard custom action settings?

[Wcmille]

Do you have patterns in how you set your custom action groups? For example, I find myself doing this:

1: Activate all science devices

2: Switch between air breathing and closed cycle

3: Toggle solar and cooling panels

4: switch between 2 and 4-wheel drive.

[steuben]

- to change mode on the panthers or rapiers

- toggle engines  <-- usually by set for space planes air breathers off

- toggle panels

- toggle drill deployment

- toggle drilling and isru

 

 

[Kerbin vonKerbal]

I like to set my abort action groups based on whatever custom LES I've built for my Kerbals. Besides that it's the rare spaceplane engine toggling and solar panel deployment.

[Ten Key]

"1" is reserved exclusively for unlocking my descent batteries prior to reentry.

[swjr-swis]

These I have pretty much standard on all my craft, others depend on the design:

4. 'activate' science instruments (open doors of Jr/Goo, enable readouts)

5. perform science experiments

6. reset science instruments

7. toggle antennae

8. toggle radiators

9. toggle solar panels/activate fuel cells

[Snark]

1 is always solar panels.  0 is always engine-mode toggles.  Cockpit lights always in the Light group.  Got a few others that I'm not as religious about.

Incidentally, if you have certain "standard" groups that you always use, you may find this little mod useful:

...it lets you use ModuleManager config to set things up so that everything will just put themselves into your preferred action groups by default when you build them, so you basically never have to muck around with the action-group menu.  (For example, "I always want 'toggle solar panels' to be in group 1", or whatever.)

Also, this is really more of a discussion topic than a "how-to"-- moving to Discussion.

[tg626]

• 1. Jettison LES / Payload fairing
• 2. Deploy antennas / solar panels
• 0. Abort II: decouple LES & Deploy chutes
• ABORT. Decouple capsule & fire LES
• LIGHTS. Lights on (if equipped) & lamps on
• BRAKES. Wheel brakes & A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E.S. or Engine Reversers and/or drogue chute (if equipped)

[razark]

Spacecraft:
Abort: Aborts.
0: Jettison fairings.
1: Toggle On-Orbit Operations/Maneuvering modes.  Toggles solar panels, ladders, opens service and cargo bays.
2,3: Usually science instruments.
4: Toggle maneuvering engine.
 

Aircraft:
0: Toggle pod torque.
9: Toggle engine/intakes.
1: Disable nose gear steering.
2: Toggle ladders.

[Kyrt Malthorn]

1-5 - craft function specific. Drill and ISRU controls for mining rigs, engine modes for space planes, sets of engines for modular/reconnecting craft, etc 

6 - science

7 - solar panels

8 - "radi(eight)" radiators

9 - antenna

 

 

In the early game with only a T2 VAB I bind either science experiments or solar panels to "breaks" - the other to "lights" unless the craft actually does have lights.  By the time anything I build has breaks besides simple aircraft, I've probably unlocked the rest of the action groups.  Planes, fortunately, don't have deployable solar panels.  

[SpacedCowboy]

Wow! There are so many combinations, pending on what type of craft you're trying to fly, space, orbit, or land.

[AbacusWizard]

My designs often involve a large vessel (like a mothership or an orbital station) with smaller vessels (like a lander or a crew shuttle or a spaceplane) that dock to it. To avoid accidentally triggering action groups I didn't intend to trigger while docked, I usually separate action groups into "mothership/station only" (1-5) and "smaller vessels only" (6-0). That being said...

 

MOTHERSHIP/STATION CONTROLS

1: toggle solar panels

2: shut down all engines

3: activate main engine(s)

4: run repeatable science experiments, or general utility (toggle cargo bay doors, shielded docking ports, etc.)

5: run cleanable science experiments, or general utility

 

SMALLER VESSEL CONTROLS

6: toggle solar panels (and drills, if on an ISRU lander)

7: shut down all engines

8: activate all engines

9: run repeatable science experiments, or general utility (stop drills and converters, if on an ISRU lander)

0: run cleanable science experiments, or general utility (start drills and converters, if on an ISRU lander)

ABORT: deploy parachutes (if any)

 

SPACEPLANE CONTROLS

6: toggle jet engines and air intakes (usually on spaceplanes I just use non-deployable single solar panels)

7: shut down rocket engine

8: activate rocket engine

9: toggle ladder

0: toggle shielded docking clamp

ABORT: deploy parachutes

 

 

 

Note that this means that if I have several small vessels docked to a station and I want to make sure (for safety) that ALL of the engines are turned off, I just have to tap 2 and 7. Convenient!

[Overland]

1, Primary Generator On/Off

(or electric power custom genset)

2, (Diesel locos only) Secondary Generator 

STAGE: HORN TOGGLE (air horn)

R . Rotating Warning Beacon  (Amber & Red)

ABORT: Rear Lights

4: Ditch Lights/high beam

Light - Headlights 

GEAR: Ladder toggle

BRAKES: Locomotive & Train Brakes

 

[cantab]

I used to try and standardise action groups, but decided it was too much hassle with various different craft,

Now I'd say the only constant is 1: Science!. After that it varies. And on a lot of craft I'll manually extend stuff like panels.

I mean my Shuttle/spaceplane requires six action groups just for engines - engine switch, mode switch, and gimbal switch for the panthers and the rapiers separately. That would never work in a standard scheme. Plus a group to toggle the solars and radiators because I need to do that fairly often.

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

1. toggle main engines

2. toggle secondary engines (usu. vertical thrusters, or rockets on spaceplanes)

3 & 4 other engines and/or mode switch on RAPIERS and Turbojets

5 SCIENCE!

...

9. lock landing struts / extend ladders/ deploy drills (ground mode)

0 solar panels / radiators/ open bays/ deploy antenna (space mode)

[Superfluous J]

None. I use none action groups.

[Tw1]

1-2: Tend to be engine toggles, or if the vehicle is more of a rover, different wheel functions. 

3: Ladders. Always. Unless I have a complex system of ladders, then it's just the main ones.

4: A few craft have this as intake toggles, but I'm not sure I make SSTOs enough to call it a standard. 

5: Toggles solar panels, radiators or anything else vulnerable during atmospheric flight 

9: if there's a specific set of lights I want to switch on and off separately to the rest, like spotlight/headlights or landing lights.

0: Toggles steering on back wheels. Occasionally also does stuff with breaks, the general idea is this switches the vessel between distance driving and precision driving mode. 

 

 

It's useful to have some standards for frequently used features. Then you only have to remember exceptions for a specific craft. 

 

Edited June 9, 2016 by Tw1

[CaelumEtAstra]

Most of the time for probes it's something like

1. Activate Solar Panels
2. Activate Science
3. Toggle OMS

and that's it. Everything else is right-click.

For manned...er...kerballed craft, ABORT activates LES and decouples the command module.

For aircraft, it usually goes:

1. Toggle Afterburner(s) (If applicable)
2. Toggle Flaps
3. Toggle Main Engine(s)
4. Toggle APU (a Juno on the back, used on the big planes to generate power and taxi)
5. Toggle Cargo Ramp/Bomb Bay (for cargo planes and bombers, respectively)

Edited June 9, 2016 by Mrsupersonic8

[Curveball Anders]

I use Snark's DAG mod, but not very much.

 

[moogoob]

1 - power, either cells or panels

2 - hatches/docking port

3 - cargo bays

8 - drogue chute manual override

9 - main chute manual / cut drogues

10 - abort

Abort - eject fairing/ ejectable nose cone assembly

[JoeNapalm]

Mine tend to be somewhat craft-specific.

1 is generally solar arrays and sensors.

2 usually engines.

ABORT generally does very drastic things to get the crew away from the asplody bits ASAMFP.

 

-Jn-

[Archgeek]

1: toggle solar panels

2: varies, often engine toggles or science

...

9: toggle radiators

0: abort pt2 -- electric boogaloo -- decouple LES tower if present, pop chutes

Abort: cut all main engines if still possible, release crewed parts, fire escape system, be it an LES tower, lander engines, or just a couple of seperatrons.

[MircoMars]

I almost never put lights on my spacecraft, so I use 'U' for solar panels (also has to do with light, right?) even after unlocking actiongroups. '0' is for experiments or 'B' with tier 2 VAB.

[X-SR71]

Some action groups that will never change for me:

 

1- solar panels and antennas

0- all science experiments

ABORT- jettison ore

[suicidejunkie]

I have a perl script to edit my SFS and add these to all vehicles to protect against symmetry breaking and forgetfulness.

1 = Toggle Terriers (emergency/landing thrust on rockets with poodle/nuke cores)

7 = Radiators

8 = Retract drills

9 = Deploy drills and Start Harvesting (press twice)

0 = Toggle solar panels

 

Also, for SSTO+Minmus spaceplanes, which are a staple craft:

1 = Toggle Air-breathing Engines

2 = Toggle nukes

3 = Toggle intakes

4 = Nose-up puffs (for holding 90 AoA on descent for rapid deceleration, and for flipping between vertical and horizontal during vacuum landing/launch)

5 = Retro Puffs