OrangeKnots Action Groups

[orangexception]

Purpose

Define a common action group designation. This will allow all crafts to follow a set of rules, which will allow easy of use and improved safety concerns when docking.

All Crafts

These rules supersede all specific craft rules.

All manned craft must have a tested Abort plan.

7 Disable Reaction Controls

- Reaction Wheels

- RCS Thrusters

8 Toggle Reaction Controls

- Reaction Wheels

- RCS Thrusters

9 Toggle Instruments

- Communication Devices

- Scientific Instruments

- ISA Mapsat

- Kethane Scanner

0 Toggle Solar Panels

Backspace Abort, Abort, Abort

- Shutdown All Liquid Engines

- Decouple Any Manned Section (including probes attached to manned section)

- Deploy Chutes on Decoupled Sections

- Fire Sepratrons on Decoupled Solid Boosters (angle of separation must not intersect with any Manned Section)

- Start Abort Solid Engines

- Start Engines attached to Manned Section

Docking Capable Crafts

Any craft attempting docking maneuvers must disable craft reaction wheels and RCS thrusters after a successful docking connection. Permanent Stations Modules are exempt from this behavior.

Stations must be able to disable your reaction controls. Once you have undocked from the station, then you may enable reaction controls via the 8 key.

Remote Tech

Incoming craft with Remote Tech, must disable Flight Computer within 15 meters of docking port.

MechJeb

Incoming craft with MechJeb, must disable MechJeb within 15 meters of docking port. All utilities must be disabled and Smart A.S.S. should be in the OFF position.

MechJeb Docking Auto-pilot should be disabled within 7 meters of docking port.

SSTO

1 Toggle All Jet Engines

2 Toggle Gimbals & Air Intakes

- Exception: Main Rocket Gimbal

3 Toggle All Rocket Engines

4 Toggle Main Rocket Engine

Rockets

2 Toggle Gimbals & Air Intakes

- Exception: Main Rocket Gimbal

3 Toggle All Rocket Engines

4 Toggle Main Rocket Engine

Stations

Permanent Station Modules must have these exceptions:

7 Toggle Station Reaction Controls

- (All Crafts - Disable Reaction Controls)

Version 001

Edited September 25, 2013 by orangexception
Formatting

[orangexception]

I wrote this up for .21 release and it's been very helpful for my designs.

[Tilion]

Hmm, I too find having a standard action group setup very useful. Equally I find that I have to have, for the sake of the challenge, the enjoyment & realism, a fairly complex abort system which inevitably takes up several of the action groups (I've long been averse to spamming the spacebar). So, to properly sort out the action groups, it can be quite a challenge arranging everything; rarely I'll have to swap minor things around, but my basic system is:

Backspace: Abort Mode I

- shutdown main engines

- decouple where needed

- activate Escape Stage engine(s)

- fire core/upper stage retros

1: Rocket: Abort Mode II or SSTO: Switch between Jet & Rocket Engines / SABRE Modes inc. Intakes Toggle

2: Rocket: Abort Mode III or SSTO: Toggle Jets & Intakes

3: Rocket: Abort Mode IV or SSTO: Toggle Rockets

4: Toggle Reaction Controls (Wheels & Thrusters)

5: Toggle Electric Generator / Retract Solar Panels / SSTO Air Brakes / Extra Mod Function

6: Toggle Cargo Doors & Bay Lights / Docking Covers & Docking Lights / Secondary Lighting

7: Toggle Access (Ladders/Secondary Gear)

8: Toggle Systems (solar panels/science instruments/comms/scanners/detectors)

9: Separate from Escape Stage

0: Parachutes

This setup is quite flexible and can usually leave at least one group free somewhere. Groups 1-3 alternatives are mutually exclusive but are not usually activated once on-orbit, 9 & 0 are only used on/after re-entry and everything in 4-8 is designed to prevent critical overlaps even with multiple types of craft interconnected to a space station/IP stage - and though you likely wouldn't want to in most cases, they can be toggled at will without undue harm to docked systems.

SSTO's rarely need more than a single abort mode as the worst case scenarios happen at vastly reduced thrust/acceleration differential rates (compared to say, a mainsail asparagus stack separating, driving up through a mid-stage & ramming a capsule).

Abort Modes are heavily modelled after Apollo:

Mode I provides abort from Pad/Runway and for LKO craft, a backup, emergency de-orbit capability; it is also the only SSTO mode, functioning through the full flight envelope while for standard rockets it can be relied upon until around 250 m/s.

Modes II-IV are for higher velocity aborts and usually involve extra stages and/or attitude alteration - Stage IV is invariably AOA/ATO using the craft's Service Module Engine/Orbital Maneuvering System (with some optimisation on smaller craft, the SM is often the Escape Stage with sepratrons for the initial boost and the main SME/OMS for attitude correction and powered landing).

I can have problems with the occasional jet-equipped shuttle/reusable rocket designs, but usually it's just a compromise between groups 1-3, the number of abort modes and an extra bit of much loathed spacebar-spam staging.

One of the things you've got in your setup, orangexception, that's quite different than mine, is the 'Disable Reaction Control'. Personally I can't afford the room for such when there's a perfectly good toggle, though I understand the need to shut down certain of a docked/separated craft's wheels & thrusters to rebalance the craft, I normally do such things manually or assign them to group 5 if need be (as it's rare that a craft has a toggle-able generator on-board and retract panels is only used on atmospheric landers) - though I do like your methodology! I find the best way to avoid the destabilising effects of docking that you accomplish with this action group/rule is to toggle off the system in the final moment before you anticipate the connection will be made when on a 0.1m/s lined-up final and coasting in.

The other thing you've got that I completely ignore is the engine gimballing - I don't know whether it's because I've rarely had any problems with such (or if I have, then the way I redesign/setup my craft - usually just the core stage has gimballing left on and I lock the other engines before launch) but I've always managed any gimbal locking manually - maybe that says something about how old & naff my computer is, hence incapable of handling designs with such a multitude of engines that need in-flight gimbal state changes enough to warrant an action group!

The rest of my action groups are pretty self explanatory, sure, there's some times when you don't want everything switched on at once in those groups, but it's a simple task to prioritise based on the main mission of the craft in question and to make the rest of it manual. The last two groups are once more evidence of my need to cut down on spacebar mashing when I was testing a bunch of abort systems - it has the great bonus of always being a very safe and speedy abort sequence (drastically cuts down on Kerbal deaths vs mashing through the stages and hoping your stage separates and your chutes will deploy in time during low altitude/pad aborts) and they're quite vital given the multitude of abort modes I use - as full separation & chute activation directly on abort (if you've got any serious velocity behind you) is one of the surest ways to demolish your otherwise safe escape system and kill your Kerbals.

Wow - that's more than enough from me, apparently this is a 'Quick Reply' I'm about to post... God only knows what a long'un would be! I've droned on for far too long, I fear. Anyhoo - the best of luck & much continued success for your well-organised rules/action group system, orangexception!

Edited September 28, 2013 by Tilion