Stock refueling solution

[Klapaucius]

I'd like to see a stock refueling solution that does not involved docking ports or the claw. I realize there are some mods out there, but this seems like a pretty core concept.

 

It would be great , for example, to transport a drill to refine ore somewhere on Kerbin and set up a refueling station. I land my plane there, and a flexible hose on refueling station tank is available to fuel my craft--perhaps attaching to a (very) small filler coupling part.  Similarly, that same setup could be created for spaceplanes on Duna or Laythe or for wherever.

The main thing is to not have to either: add docking ports--which require very precise alignment, or just fire claws at things--which is a bit against the spirit of things and not very precise.

 

As an addon, it would be nice if the Kerbals have the ability to pick up that hose and move it.  Right now they can walk and fly aircraft, but they cannot pick up stuff.

[TheFlyingKerman]

25 minutes ago, Klapaucius said:

add docking ports--which require very precise alignment

KSP is about engineering challenge...

 

[Daveroski]

11 hours ago, TheFlyingKerman said:

KSP is about engineering challenge...

Your games may be about engineering challenge.

For most people I suspect it's more about exploration until they find that they can't get to Duna because Nothing in the game tells them how.

So most of those who continue to play restrict themselves to the Kerbin System.

Some of us are old hands. I know that many tricks that work on Kerbin don't always work on Bop or Eve.

I've had to learn to land on top of upward facing docking ports simply because it's the easiest way for me to do many things.

I have got my gravity turns down to a point where I rarely need to fire an engine for Jool orbital insertion.

But yes. Even I think that @Klapaucius isn't saying anything that I haven't thought about myself.

A simple real-world way of joining two vessels together on the surface of a different world would add joy to the game.

There will always be other problems that requires engineering, like getting back into orbit from Tylo and Eve.

People are different and get different things from the game.

I never bother building Aircraft unless they can get into orbit and bring rescued Kerbals back home.

If the game had what Klapaucius is talking about, it wouldn't hurt my style of play but would give him and I dare say many others joy.

I'm all for that.

Regards,

D.

 

 

[mattinoz]

14 hours ago, TheFlyingKerman said:

KSP is about engineering challenge...

 

Quick poll of engineers would probably suggest adding a flexible fuel hose. 

[qzgy]

2 hours ago, mattinoz said:

Quick poll of engineers would probably suggest adding a flexible fuel hose. 

A hose? I dont think those have been invented yet.

[mattinoz]

2 hours ago, qzgy said:

A hose? I dont think those have been invented yet.

Not only have they been invented they far exceed the abilities of anything mere humans have made.

[The Aziz]

I'm curious... Do these work with KAS? I mean, they have two point surface attachment model, and that's basically all we need.

[Pacca]

I feel it'd be better to have some sort of robotic arm part that has a claw or attachment node on it, kind of like what the ISS has. It'd cover everything you'd want functionally (although not visually, but it makes more sense for space).

 

 

[DMagic]

This is one of the first things I noticed that KSP was lacking. Even before resource gathering was a thing, this seemed like an obvious addition to the game.

I made a pretty simple implementation of it that makes sense to me:

[dreadanaught]

2 hours ago, DMagic said:

I made a pretty simple implementation of it that makes sense to me

 

Cool

[Klapaucius]

5 hours ago, DMagic said:

This is one of the first things I noticed that KSP was lacking. Even before resource gathering was a thing, this seemed like an obvious addition to the game.

I made a pretty simple implementation of it that makes sense to me:

I had never heard of this mod, so I looked it up and watched KottabosGames's video on it.

 

That is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I love the fact that it only requires the mod part to be on one ship, so I can create a tanker to fuel all my stock aircraft rather than adding parts to everything.  This is a really elegant solution.  Will it work in 1.6.1?

 

 

 

[DMagic]

1 minute ago, Klapaucius said:

I had never heard of this mod, so I looked it up and watched KottabosGames's video on it.

I think there were some bugs that showed up in that video, they should all be fixed now.

And there is also the similar companion mod, EVA Strut, that uses basically the same mechanism for adding struts on EVA.

[Tyko]

39 minutes ago, Klapaucius said:

I love the fact that it only requires the mod part to be on one ship, so I can create a tanker to fuel all my stock aircraft rather than adding parts to everything.  This is a really elegant solution.  Will it work in 1.6.1?

That's interesting. I think I'd personally avoid a one connector solution because rigging tanks to support refueling is a non-trivial problem - I'm not sure we've even done it in the real world yet. Even with KAS I have a house rule against Kerbals attaching that mod's refueling port to a craft after it's launched - re-plumbing a fuel tank is just a bit of a stretch for something they could do in the field.

I also don't use Klaws for resource transfer either, for the same reason. "yessir, we refueled your craft...we had to use a giant can opener to do it. Hopefully the duct tape will hold everything together for ya"   

Edited January 11, 2019 by Tyko

[Klapaucius]

4 minutes ago, Tyko said:

That's interesting. I think I'd personally avoid a one connector solution because rigging tanks to support refueling is a non-trivial problem - I'm not sure we've even done it in the real world yet. Even with KAS I have a house rule against Kerbals attaching that mod's refueling port to a craft after it's launched - re-plumbing a fuel tank is just a bit of a stretch for something they could do in the field.

I also don't use Klaws for resource transfer either, for the same reason. "yessir, we refueled your craft...we had to use a giant can opener to do it. Hopefully the duct tape will hold everything together for ya"   

I, like many of us, have my own personal in-game rules of what I allow and do not allow. The mod simply gives me a good option, and I can impose my own restrictions on what works or does not for me.  I can already see me making sure I only attach to a fuel tank (and not just any body part) and probably I would also impose on myself a rule that the Kerbal must be able to access the fill location (whether from the ground or via ladders etc.) 

 

I tend to upload a lot to KerbalX and I like to keep things stock not only for the challenge it puts on me but also for share-ability.  So it is a balance, and this seems to be a good compromise.

 

In the real world, no one refuels planes by putting a docking port on them and driving another one up and attaching it.   

[Tyko]

1 minute ago, Klapaucius said:

In the real world, no one refuels planes by putting a docking port on them and driving another one up and attaching it.   

Agreed...you couldn't even refuel a lawn mower if it didn't have a refueling port. That's why I think it's odd to be able to refuel a rocket that doesn't have a refueling port 

[Klapaucius]

1 minute ago, Tyko said:

Agreed...you couldn't even refuel a lawn mower if it didn't have a refueling port. That's why I think it's odd to be able to refuel a rocket that doesn't have a refueling port 

Which kind of goes back to my original post. A stock KSP hose system with a dedicated small part that looks like a fuel cap. I kinda wish they would take a look at a few of the holes in the parts catalog (like this or props) rather than re-jigging existing engines.

[Tyko]

5 minutes ago, Klapaucius said:

Which kind of goes back to my original post. A stock KSP hose system with a dedicated small part that looks like a fuel cap. I kinda wish they would take a look at a few of the holes in the parts catalog (like this or props) rather than re-jigging existing engines.

Yep...well there are so many little things I'd like to see fixed. Haha. I'm really glad they're cleaning up the parts personally. Relatively speaking only a few of us care about refueling, but everyone had to look at the old engines   

[Duck McFuddle]

To be completely honest, I don't see any huge need for this. Yes, docking ports are hard to align and the claw is against the spirit of things but Squad having to hard code this for the very few players who would actually use this... I just don't see it. 

 

To put it simply, I don't think it's an issue many people have.