How useful do you find fueling stations?

[Diche Bach]

To answer the earlier compatibility question about kethane, the converters produce stock resources. They are as compatible with stock as you can get. If you are refering to the kethane engine, it runs on normal jet fuel but can burn in non-oxygenated atmospheres.

I use kethane to create an orbital fueling network. My one in the Kerbin system is really pointless (I can always bring fuel right from KSC) but I refuse to bring up tankers so I challenge myself. Call it practice, because I will be using it to create a fully self sufficient system out of Jool.

Very cool! Looking forward to getting enough Comsats into lowish orbit that I can really deal with geosync comsats and then upwards from there!

[CheftonUTD]

I've just built my first station, I was planning on using it as a fuel depot (which it's quite capable of doing for all my craft so far), but have found it's seeing more use as a crew transfer post. For example when I need to rescue some stranded Kerbals but don't have space in a nearby ship, I can drop them off at the station then go pick up some new passengers. It is handy for topping up on RCS fuel though, but that's probably because I'm so bad at docking at the moment that I use it just to dock there...

[Runboy]

I personally Get by without them

[Tiron]

I have to disagree with this. In my experience playing with it, per the Kethane docs, and from looking at the CFG files, this engine only runs on raw Kethane for fuel and "KintakeAir" for oxidizer (the only source of which is the integral intake on the engine). Normal LF (aka "jet fuel") won't do anything for it.

Also note that the KE-J65 is a very special-purpose engine. It only works reasonably well in a combination entailing low speed and high throttle, meaning a very heavy airplane. Forget using it for an SSTO. And because it can't SSTO, and because it lacks a rear attachment node, you always need at least 2 engines. So if you have a light airplane, you have to REALLY throttle back because each engine is so powerful, but that means it tends to cut out even more frequently.

It's basically set up like a side-mounted supercharger. The Intake on the engine (which uses 'kintakeair' instead of 'intakeair') is set up so that the primary factor that increases the input is the engine's throttle, and speed actually DECREASES it. When I played with it, it had a nasty tendency to flameout if you cut the throttle too much, at which point the kintakeair drops to nearly zero and it's extremely difficult to get it restarted.

My test plane only had one engine, and I didn't push it high enough to get an altitude flameout, but I suspect that if you flew high enough, you'd get a rapid, sequential flameout of all engines rather than just one. Because when one engine flames out, it basically stops generating intakeair, and the engines obviously weren't self sufficient since one flamed out, so the next one does...etc.

Personally, I think if I ever tried to actually use it, I'd probably mod the cfgs on the stock intakes to get them to produce kintakeair as well, because the foibles of that engine's built in intake made it both annoying and somewhat dangerous (Cutting the throttle causes flameout. Going too fast causes flameout. Once flamed out very difficult to restart. Recipe for a forced glide landing.)

[Vonar]

I don't really use fueling stations unless if they are simple, and placed in a low Kerban orbit. I generally prefer to use automated space tugs that can haul stuff around from a low orbit to a higher orbit, or to the Mun / Minmus and then can be disposed of or refueled when their tanks run low.

[Fengist]

Like virtually everything I've done in this game, I went to great efforts to build the 'perfect' one, admired it for a bit when completed and then, had no reason to use it.

[MiniMatt]

I've not actually successfully docked anywhere yet so take all this with a pinch of salt. Have thus far only got to the Mun & back, Minmus & back, and Duna & well.... hmm... let's move on shall we?

I'm seeing the potential in Kerbin orbit stations not so much as refuelling stops but the place where you pick up your interplanetary stage tug.

If most designs end up having a launch>orbit stage, a nuclear-engined orbit>destination stage, and a destination payload/lander/return stage then we're constantly lugging very heavy nuke engines up into Kerbin orbit.

Rather than do that, why not put the payload directly atop the launch>orbit stage, use a bit of payload delta-v to dock with a station where it picks up an interplanetary stage consisting of one/two (if you're impatient) nuke engines and necessary fuel and replenishes the payload fuel used in docking?

A couple of nuke engines is 4.5 tons and that's quite a lot to haul from the Kerbin Space Centre every launch. The launch stage needs 20-25 tons less fuel if it doesn't need to carry those nuke engines up to orbit.

A handful of tug designs to accommodate different payload masses & destinations could be parked at a station, all equipped with a probe core, RCS and sufficient fuel to deliver the payload stage to it's destination then return to the station for refuelling and future use. The fuel for the interplanetary stage is, one way or another, always going to have to be hauled into orbit, whether in a single design or to a refuelling station; but the heavy engines - it could be worthwhile only hauling those up once and reusing them.

First post should really of been a grander entrance with explosions and dancing elephants.

Moderator Edit Here you have a dancing elephant, courtesy r/gifs:

[0x7be]

I've placed my refuel station on Minimus orbit. It is being refueled by minig kethane on Minimus surface.

Such placement of station gives +1 km/s of delta-v for any interplanetary mission I launch from Kerbin.

[MiniMatt]

Moderator Edit Here you have a dancing elephant, courtesy r/gifs:

Yay Tuesdays can always be improved via the liberal application of elephants.

[Spyritdragon]

Im reasonably bad at launch stages, so i regularly end up having to use some payload fuel to boost myself into an actual orbit. I regularly refuel at my station then just to save me the pain of designing a better ascent stage and doing the ascent over again.

[John FX]

I designed some fuel dumps and a shuttle craft/tug to fly between them. All I need to do is get a kerbal to orbit and they can do a grand tour then get back into the craft that can only just get to orbit and back then they go home.