Multiple throttle groups

[Psycix]

Say that we have a rocket with LV-T45's and a Mainsail. Throttling down for terminal velocity optimizes fuel usage, except for the fact that you're burning fuel through the mainsail that could have been spent in the throttled LV-T45's. Being able to throttle separate groups would allow us to throttle down the most inefficient engine first.

There are many more uses for this, like VTOL aircraft, SSTO's (throttling jet engines separately from rockets), spacetugs and skycranes just to name a few.

It's probably more of an advanced feature for expert users, just like action groups, and I think it would add some extra possibilities to craft design.

The only hurdle that I can see is a challenge in interface and input design (which buttons will throttle the other groups? do we switch control between them?), but it should be possible to overcome.

What do you think?

Edited August 1, 2013 by Psycix

[Aghanim]

Agree!

VTOL will benefit really much from this as we could manage to use hover for main vertical propulsion and use horizontal jet engine to accelerate forward

Or auto-stabilizing VTOL with addon that can access every hover engine throttle

And then we will finally make helicarrier here!

[Comrade Jenkens]

This would make VTOL craft much easier.

[allmappedout]

All you'd need to do is set throttle %'s with a sliding bar, prior to launch (at least, that is how I envisage it).

Which, in real terms, actually makes more sense, as the whole 0-100% scale of rocket throttle is less realistic (not that i'm complaining though!).

Would be easy to calculate required balance for non-CoM thrust too....if we had a way to measure distance!

[Psycix]

Hmm yes, it can also be used for steering. Throttling down an engine will allow you to obtain an off-center thrust, making for a powerful steering maneuver.

A small addon could indeed tap into the different control groups and allow you to do attitude adjustments by throttling, much like a quadcopter.

I think the game currently relies too heavily on thrust vectoring.

It would also help a lot with oddly shaped crafts like a space shuttle.

[Kerbal01]

Would this work like action groups?

[Exsmelliarmus]

This would also be great for balancing unwieldy craft like Space Shuttles, where side mounted engines are used to compensate for the lack of gimballing.

Edited August 2, 2013 by Exsmelliarmus

[danet88]

Absolutely love this idea. I was experimenting with VTOL dropships last night and thought how much easier it would be to control if you could set up throttle groups. In conjunction with a saitek throttle quadrant it would bring new found awesomeness!

[xtoro]

I was going to put Suggestion for multiple throttles here but I found this, so, I also want multiple throttle options!

[Laie]

Would this work like action groups?

Not necessarily. Throttling all selected engines at once would be one approach. Though some means to declare sets would be nice, so you don't need to do the same selection again and again. Also, sometimes engines are a bit hard to spot in-flight.

[herbal space program]

It seems to me that you could partially implement this just by letting us change thrust limiter settings for groups of engines in the action groups. Trying to do this manually on individual engines generally results in a lithobraking maneuver for me.

[Ricardo79]

It seems to me that you could partially implement this just by letting us change thrust limiter settings for groups of engines in the action groups. Trying to do this manually on individual engines generally results in a lithobraking maneuver for me.

Not a bad Idea but wait only 10 (advanced) action groups allowed yet. So where should this one goes if already have at least 15 things which might be on action groups...

But sure combined this Idea with the in flight actiongroup editor and a pageable hotbar for different ten active actiongroups or at least a way to on the fly easy and fast engine adjustment would be nice.

[ImmaStegosaurus!]

Going to bump this back up, cause Energia-STS-ish shuttles are really hard without multiple throttles.

My current project has three engines on the orbiter, four in reusable core/fuel tank and two sets of LF boosters. I'd need like minimum of two, preferably four throttles to get this thing fly properly. Trying to right click and adjust individual engines is sort of hard during ascent, though easier than in previous builds as popups may stay..

[Tyko]

Along the same lines - if I wanted to build a ship with engines pointing forward and aft - say a space tug - what's the best way to control it? is there a way to map engines to RCS controls (like you can map RCS to forward engine)?

[THX1138]

2 hours ago, tjt said:

Along the same lines - if I wanted to build a ship with engines pointing forward and aft - say a space tug - what's the best way to control it? is there a way to map engines to RCS controls (like you can map RCS to forward engine)?

You can put the engines in separate control groups so you can toggle them on and off in sets.

[klgraham1013]

I'd love at least two throttles (left and right shift / control) for better VTOL control.

[KrazyKrl]

I'd suggest an extension of the action groups for throttling engines. You have 10 "Engine Groups" which you can switch between via MODKEY+(1 through 0) i.e. just like action groups. All engines default into engine group 1; but may be reassigned.

[mattinoz]

I always hoped the throttling for Engine Efficiency would be an engineer skill. Not that changes the need for throttle groups for other reasons. I just thought it was a good way to expose the feature to newish players and make life easier for experienced players. Also a bucket load of value to having engineers on the flight deck.