Refueling at the KSC

[Togs8896]

Hey guys, brand new to this forum so I hope I'm not suggesting too many repeat topics. I apologize in advance if I do though!

Being an avid SSTO spaceplane fan, I find it sad when one of my craft returns to the KSC and is stuck there with no fuel, even though the plane itself is entirely capable of reaching orbit again. I've seen some people make creative fuel truck designs with docking ports, but I would love to see a more fleshed out version of this. Perhaps there could be an option to spawn fuel trucks of various sizes and fuel types, preferably costing resources in career mode, which could then be used to refuel and refit the spacecraft. Each fuel truck would have a hose which a Kerbal would have to manually attach to a player-placed fuel port on the ship in order to transfer fuel. This way, the same spaceplanes may be used to shuttle personnel and payloads to orbital stations without requiring a new mission. Even if the whole truck isn't implemented, if at least the hose and fuel port system is, it could be used by players to make their own fuel trucks and provide an easier refueling option than docking ports.

As well as the fuel truck, I would also love to see a fuel equalize button. For instance, some of my craft will have fuel imbalances which are difficult to manually transfer and manage. I propose in the fuel transfer screen, there be an "equalize" button in addition to the "in" and "out" buttons. This would automatically split the difference of fuel in the tanks and save everyone a few minor headaches.

Hope everyone like the ideas and, again, I really hope they haven't been suggested a hundred times already

[Naten]

I use a mobile fuel canister to refuel mine with a docking port. The inline Clamp-o-Tron can be attached to a crane with the right height and same size of port. I retract, extend, and repeat the landing gear until it docks.

I modified the crane a bit to carry payloads to its cargo bay. It's a stock cargo bay, P.S.

[elind21]

use KAS and kethane. works for me

[pokeman]

I've always thought it would be awesome to be able to refuel at the tanks at KSC. If I could build a fuel vehicle, top it up at the tanks with a hose similar to KAS and drive it over to my spaceplane on the runway I would be a very happy kerbal. You can more or less do it now with stock but you have to mess around with docking ports and building special fuel tanks rigs on the launch pad (or replacing the truck over and over).

[wronkiew]

I've been wanting something like this too. I often use KAS, but it feels a bit like micro-managing to have to EVA in the spaceport. How about dedicated landing pads on the grounds. When you land there eventually a fuel truck drives up and refuels everything and recharges the batteries. Something similar for the runway too.

[wronkiew]

I've always thought it would be awesome to be able to refuel at the tanks at KSC. If I could build a fuel vehicle, top it up at the tanks with a hose similar to KAS and drive it over to my spaceplane on the runway I would be a very happy kerbal. You can more or less do it now with stock but you have to mess around with docking ports and building special fuel tanks rigs on the launch pad (or replacing the truck over and over).

Oh, that would be cool too. The models would definitely be less useless if you could refuel from them.

[TaranisElsu]

There was a mod that added refueling at the KSC and KSC2: the Refuel Assistant System (RAS) http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/ras/. But it seems to have been abandoned .

If your vessel is considered "Landed", then my Fuel Balancer mod (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25823) will allow you to edit the amount of fuel in the tanks. You could use that to top off your fuel trucks, then drive them over to your space plane and refuel it using KAS or something.

[Scoundrel]

My personal solution, which won't work for everyone, is to have a fuel truck by the runway, refuel the SSTO, then use the "recovery" button in the Tracking Center to recycle the fuel truck when it runs out of fuel. I mean, I personally would love being able to land the SSTO on the helipads and have the option of transferring fuel from the VAB into the fuel tanks, and perhaps something similar with the hangar/control tower building. Heck, I'd even like it if I could click on the kerbonaut complex and be able to have a guy pop out the front door. Methinks, though, that these types of suggestions are more of a polish kind of thing that they'd look at down the road when they put the KSC to rest to focus on other aspects of the game.