Part Factories

[Pthigrivi]

This is a subtle one: Id love if part factories were a separate module for colonies and orbital platforms or even vessels, and that they came in a few different sizes and enabled the local VAB to add parts up to a certain diameter. Im thinking one at 2.5m that makes parts up to 1.85m, one at 5m that makes parts up to 3.7m, and a huge one that does everything. This could act as a nice progression mechanic for expanding base and station capacity, but in a funny way the one Id be most interested in is the 2.5m factory because it could make small replacement parts. Early in the progression or even on deep exploration missions you could add one to vessels or stations to make things like RCS ports, fuel ducts, lights, wheels, solar panels/ etc. that engineers could install if those parts were forgotten or broken. Another interesting mission profile could be to pack a bunch of dense resources like metals and fuels and a factory and colony hub and just manufacture everything up from scratch in situ. Kinda kills a few birds.

Edited April 10, 2022 by Pthigrivi

[Ahres]

My input isn’t very helpful, but I’ll post it anyway:

I like it!!

[darthgently]

Do you mean like the Extraplanetary Launchpads mod?   As in having something like that in stock?  It seems like KSP2 will have something like that as stock for orbital construction at least.  And since colonies in other star systems are a given in KSP2 it would be horrible if they didn't have a way to build parts and had to have them delivered from Kerbol.  I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your wish is granted, at least in general terms

[Pthigrivi]

5 minutes ago, darthgently said:

Do you mean like the Extraplanetary Launchpads mod?   As in having something like that in stock?  It seems like KSP2 will have something like that as stock for orbital construction at least.  And since colonies in other star systems are a given in KSP2 it would be horrible if they didn't have a way to build parts and had to have them delivered from Kerbol.  I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your wish is granted, at least in general terms

Yeah I just mean it isn't a given that the part factory is a separate set of modules. One could just as easily make offworld VABs a package deal that consume resources without the intermediary. 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Pthigrivi

[darthgently]

Ok, then yes, I totally agree.  A part that was like a small one-off workshop that could be a part of small craft would be great.  It wouldn't be something you'd build an entire craft out of, but more geared to fabbing up repair parts on spartan initial missions to far off places.  I really like the idea.  Many large ocean going ships have a workshop with lathe etc for the same purposes really.  It isn't like they are going to build another ship, but they can machine new parts if no spare is on hand as needed to a large degree; or repair broken parts enough to get back to a port

[shdwlrd]

A small parts factory or shop makes sense. If it's needed to make different craft, no, don't want it. If used for small eva items and replacement parts, it's a useful thing to have. 

[Vl3d]

Part factories are abstracted away by the V/O/BAB/SPH part selection filters and inventory.

What would be useful would be tooling for craft subassemblies for mass production related resource efficiency.

And craft / subassembly / part / resources trade for multiplayer.

[t_v]

Okay, that’s a different idea which has been brought up elsewhere. 
 

For the original idea, I definitely think it’ll be useful and, depending on how hard it is to set up manufacturing in colonies, this could also help manufacture replacement parts or even small landers late-game, IKEA-style. I could definitely see myself packing one of these to add an extra engine to a lander or even create a rescue vehicle because the previous lander was destroyed on the surface. What do you think of allowing entire small craft to be built piece-by-piece with the late game part factories?

[Vl3d]

Nice. Stored parts auto-combinatorics based on schematics. Manually you can already do it in KSP1 in EVA construction mode.

[Pthigrivi]

6 hours ago, t_v said:

For the original idea, I definitely think it’ll be useful and, depending on how hard it is to set up manufacturing in colonies, this could also help manufacture replacement parts or even small landers late-game, IKEA-style. I could definitely see myself packing one of these to add an extra engine to a lander or even create a rescue vehicle because the previous lander was destroyed on the surface. What do you think of allowing entire small craft to be built piece-by-piece with the late game part factories?

I think that would be fun! It probably will come down to what the distinction is between the VAB, BAE, and in-the-feild manual construction with engineers. Do you need a special Base-core module to use the BAE?  Are all the regular parts available in the BAE? And can you use the BAE to build a rocket? If so are there limitations to that? Nate has mentioned the distinction between building a whole colony from scratch vs the base in a box strategy, but can you land a part factory and ISRU with a couple of dudes and bootstrap from there or do you need some more substantial starting modules to get going?

In any case I think having field construction available for replacement parts would be really important for reducing player frustration if they forgot a ladder or broke a PV panel. So many times Ive gotten something all the way to minmus and realized I forgot landing lights or RCS ports or something. If you could pull up to a small station with a part factory and retrofit without manually keeping spares of everything in inventory that would be amazing.

7 hours ago, Vl3d said:

Part factories are abstracted away by the V/O/BAB/SPH part selection filters and inventory.

Yeah in this idea building a bigger part factory would essentially unlock larger diameter parts in the local VAB. It could be a part of the way colonies upgrade and expand their capabilities as they got bigger. 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Pthigrivi

[SkyFall2489]

There's EPL, for whole vessels, but there's also things like Sandcastle and OSE that are for individual parts - there needs to be a distinction.

[darthgently]

9 hours ago, t_v said:

Okay, that’s a different idea which has been brought up elsewhere. 
 

For the original idea, I definitely think it’ll be useful and, depending on how hard it is to set up manufacturing in colonies, this could also help manufacture replacement parts or even small landers late-game, IKEA-style. I could definitely see myself packing one of these to add an extra engine to a lander or even create a rescue vehicle because the previous lander was destroyed on the surface. What do you think of allowing entire small craft to be built piece-by-piece with the late game part factories?

My first rover to Duna was just parts that I KIS'd together after landing.  Of course I had wheel alignment issues, dangit, but it worked good enough

[shdwlrd]

Thinking about pre colonial VAB assembly for crafts. A shop like what Pthigrivi is describing would be necessary to assemble small packed base modules and craft. I'm thinking it would allow you access to a craft editor and whatever parts you bring with you or are producing are the only parts available. And to not supercede the VAB, you are very limited to what you can build and produce. I'm thinking up to 10 tonnes max dry weight, and no individual parts more than 1 tonne. 

I'm just thinking of all the times I sent packed Buffalo rovers to bases and the headaches trying to assemble them in-situ using KIS. There was always that one part that wouldn't connect properly and you had to fight with.

[darthgently]

15 minutes ago, shdwlrd said:

I'm just thinking of all the times I sent packed Buffalo rovers to bases and the headaches trying to assemble them in-situ using KIS. There was always that one part that wouldn't connect properly and you had to fight with.

Stock construction with its ability to rotate and offset made a huge difference in this kind of work.  But it doesn't work for all parts

Edited April 11, 2022 by darthgently