Rename the Categories in the VAB so they make sense

[kspnerd122]

Methalox being sorted the way it is makes sense, everything else though, doesn't (You are either naming engines for the fuel, or for the remass, which both lead to inconsistency)

If using Remass/Propellant to sort

Jet engines mostly use the air as their Remass/Propellant, not methane, methane is the fuel, not the Propellant.

Lots of futuristic engines use Hydrogen as their Propellant/Remass, not all of them are fission engines or have remotely similar fuel.

If using fuel to sort

Ion Engines mostly use electricity, and spit out Ions, so just call them Ion engines (And generally can use any inert gas/noble gas, Xenon gets the best thrust but using argon and krypton also work)

Nuclear Engines can use ANY PROPELLANT in real life, hydrogen is preferred due to high specific impulse, however it is not the only thing you can put in the engines (you can put anything in that's a gas at the operating temp of the engine and) and also the "Fuel" for a nuclear engine is the reactor, not the hydrogen.

What I propose to fix the issue

Methalox Engines - No Change

Methane Engines --> Jet Engines (why did anyone think naming jet engines "Methane Engines" was a good idea)

Xenon Engines --> Ion/Electric engines (Technically they are electric propulsion, but most people know em better as Ion engines)

Hydrogen Engines --> Fission engines/Nuclear engines (Fission is more correct but nuclear also works ok)

[Bej Kerman]

32 minutes ago, kspnerd122 said:

(why did anyone think naming jet engines "Methane Engines" was a good idea)

Because they use methane.

[The Aziz]

It makes sense from gameplay perspective.

Imagine a new player. Picks up the Dawn engine. It says it's ion/electric. New player packs batteries, sends it to space. Engine doesn't work. Why, it's electric..? New player searches for ion tanks. There aren't any. New player is close to giving up but changes their design, picks the NERV. It says fission engine. What is fission? What fuel does it use? New player doesn't know.

The categories are named after used fuel for ease of use, so players don't have to look up in description what they should put in the tanks/pick the correct engine type. 

New player picks the SWERV. It says from the start it's a hydrogen engine. New player picks the hydrogen tank without a second thought. The ion engine won't use any other tanks than xenon, nuclear (and mind you, nuclear pulse engines are coming, which could make it potentially even more confusing) engines use hydrogen exclusively.

Edited June 10, 2023 by The Aziz

[Lowi_Sace]

I do agree with you. A good solution (in my opinion) is do the catagories: liquid feul engines  nuclear engines, jet engines, xenon engines etc. Than give us partvariants of parts (like ksp1) and have for engines and feul tanks the opurtunity to choose a fariants for different feul types (Hydrogen, Methane and add Kerosine). The feul type will determine specs of engines and feul storage. They could make it easy for players by making the engine switch to the variant that fits with the feul tank

the main problem I  do have is the amount of feul tanks we now have. This will only vat worse when we get more feul tanks in the future of the game. Also something that bothered me a lot in KSP1 (and 2) is the endlessly stacking of feul tanks and them mostly being a bit to long or to short for my build

[Pat20999]

What doesn’t make sense is that there isn’t any uranium-235 fuel tank cuz you need that for the reactor aka hydrogen is not the fuel. Uranium-235 is.

And for the fission reactor time is limited cuz you are not having uranium.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Pat20999