Classification symbols

[MatzahMan]

At the tracking station and on the map view they both have tabs at the top of the screen that let you select ships, landers, bases, stations, etc. I am confused on how they classify these things. I know something with a lander can turns into a "lander" icon, and i think any kind of capsule is a "ship", but when I launch my space station in career mode with stayputniks, it says its a a "ship" not a "station." Is there any way of changing the classification of stuff?

Edited November 11, 2013 by MatzahMan

[Deadweasel]

At the tracking station and on the map view they both have tabs at the top of the screen that let you select ships, landers, bases, stations, etc. I am confused on how they classify these things. I know something with a lander can turns into a "lander" icon, and i think any kind of capsule is a "ship", but when I launch my space station in career mode with stayputniks, it says its a a "ship" not a "station." Is there any way of changing the classification of stuff?

It's based on general design, what's controlling it, and where it is when it "wakes up". BUT, if the game gets it wrong after deploying a probe, undocking a shuttle or whatever, just right click on the controlling pod/probe core and select Rename Vessel. You can change its name and its icon to whatever you like there.

[annallia]

I thought it had to do with different core parts and whatnot.

For instance I can make a ship with a MK3 command pod still show up as a probe ship just by having the root part be a probe core. Ships that use the lander cans (in my experience) get classed as landers more often than not and so on.

Only one that I cant seem to reliably get is a station...

[Kasuha]

The game does a guess and is pretty often wrong. Just right-click on the control module and choose Rename craft to give it the icon you want.

[MatzahMan]

Thank you very much for all the responses, you are all very helpful

[aeTIos]

Keep in mind that you can't rename your probes if they are out of charge. That gave me a headache, so I figured I'd share it

[Spyritdragon]

Keep in mind that you can't rename your probes if they are out of charge. That gave me a headache, so I figured I'd share it

Either you can mount a refuelling mission in this case, which can transfer EletricCharge, or you have no ways of gaining power whatsoever, in which case i think there is currently a bug that when switching bad and forth from map view and zooming in and out quickly (mouse-wheel) in map view grants you a little bit of power, which you can then use to tag it as 'debris' since you won't be doing much useful with it anyway.

[KerbMav]

I would still like a new category - so far my satellites are marked as probes - which is not really what they are, is it?

[tobjv]

I would still like a new category - so far my satellites are marked as probes - which is not really what they are, is it?

As far as I know. All man-made Satellites are still Probes. They just happen to be orbiting something. A probe is just heading off in a direction.

[KerbMav]

Id just like to be able to label them after their purpose.

Or else we could remove the base categorie, as every lander is a base until it takes off again ... ? No.

[tobjv]

This type of cosmetic fix though is something I personally have no problem with. It could be addressed during the giant push to finish up KSP.

[Kasuha]

This type of cosmetic fix though is something I personally have no problem with. It could be addressed during the giant push to finish up KSP.

The only time I have problem with it is when it marks my dropped (undocked) fuel tanks as ships, landers, or probes and I have no way to change that as they have no command module or probe core.

[MatzahMan]

Although I do like cosmetics, having your ships labeled correctly help with organization and faster identification at the tracking center.

[Deadweasel]

The only time I have problem with it is when it marks my dropped (undocked) fuel tanks as ships, landers, or probes and I have no way to change that as they have no command module or probe core.

Things like that might warrant either a special mission to get rid of the thing, or, perhaps quicker and easier, editing of the persistent file to re-class and rename the thing instead.

Although I do like cosmetics, having your ships labeled correctly help with organization and faster identification at the tracking center.

My (minor) beef with the current system is that it counts planted flags as "flights". Minor thing, I know, but I hate doing that double-take when I go to load the saved game and see "10 flights in progress" and it takes me a moment to realize the bulk of that count are flags. :/

[MatzahMan]

I hate when a whole list of flags fills up the tracking station list and it takes me longer to find what I am looking for because I have to sort out the flags. Did the game do this in .21? I can't remember.

[Deadweasel]

I hate when a whole list of flags fills up the tracking station list and it takes me longer to find what I am looking for because I have to sort out the flags. Did the game do this in .21? I can't remember.

Flags were available before, but not by default. You can remove them from the list in the Tracking Station view by right-clicking the flags in the topbar. Left click selects ONLY that icon's craft type, right click adds/removes that type from the visible list.

[MatzahMan]

Thank you, that's going to help immensely.