Action Group Addition

[Themorris]

Hi,

now, that the tweakables are coming I wanted to suggest another feature for the action groups. I suggest to divide the actions in an action group into multiple stages, which have a time delay between them.

For example: Abort - fire escape tower - wait 2 secs - seperate escape tower - wait 2 secs - deploy chute. <= 3 stages

Or you can trigger the next action stage by pressing the action group button again.

For example: Abort - fire escape tower - press abort button again - seperate escape tower - press abort button again - deploy chute. <= 3 stages

I think this wouldn't be so hard to implement(but I also think I have no idea how hard it is to implement features like this), but it could make some cool and complex procedures possible(like my example).

I hope you like my idea.

greetings,

Themorris

[Dun Kirk]

I got a better idea....

action groups can be placed as a stage group. same thing but simpler.

[Luis]

I got a better idea....

action groups can be placed as a stage group. same thing but simpler.

I've been saying this since 0.18. The staging sequence should be a kind of action group. The other action groups fire all their actions the first time you press the key; the staging sequence can be activated multiple times and only activates the actions in the next subgroup each time. Why not allow all the part actions to be in the stage sequence? This would let you extend solar panels as part of normal staging, for example. And why not allow all action groups to be separated into subsections by having a 'pause' action to divide them? The first time you hit the key, everything in the first group activates, the next time you press the key it activates the next group and so on. When you get to the last group, it loops back to the first one.

This would let you have an abort group that fired decouplers, then separatrons, then parachutes. Rather than all of them at once.

For bonus points, you could even have two kinds of pause action. One that requires a key press to proceed, and one that simply waits for a user-specified number of seconds.

[Themorris]

Yes, there is already a action group for the staging button.

[Supernovy]

Indeed, but as far as I can tell that's just a regular action group that is activated by spacebar. What would be interesting is if things entered into the stage action group became icons in the stage list. Perhaps even the other way around - have every stage activated thing in that group and taking something out would remove it from staging.

[ultrasquid]

Seconded, for both;

A time delay that can be inserted in an action group (that respects its own internal sequence. Items go in the order they want to now)

And the ability to assign action groups to a staging icon.

[allmappedout]

Wow! What a good idea. Whilst I'd thought about having a timing delay on the action groups, the idea of putting them in the staging tree is a stroke of genius! It makes remembering what your action groups are much simpler, as you can do all the requirements pre-launch, where you need to. Each AG could just have a simple box with (1), (2), etc etc to denote which button it relates to, but you wouldn't need to know what was on it if you'd set it up correctly, which I think would help massively.

[Frederf]

This would effectively turn the 10-element action group set into a 2-dimensional 10xN matrix where each action becomes an action list. Each element would be 1 to N long depending on how many layers are added. AG3 could be 1-long, AG7 could be 21-long.

I really like this idea because it means that the classic staging tree can become a list in the "Stage" action group. It can still have a graphical representation and auto-population like current but you could add new, previously impossible, functions to the stage list like toggling pod torque, extending antennas, which could be later toggled the other way. The "Abort" AG being a small list is a prime example where one key pressed a few times does all the abort stages.

It does ask the question how should the lists progress: cycle, one-way, two-way? Configurable?

[ultrasquid]

It does ask the question how should the lists progress: cycle, one-way, two-way? Configurable?

Right now, an action group sequence doesn't seem to matter. Hit its hotkey and they all fire simultaneously, or at least one would expect them to. Things kind of break down after parts detach.

Say, for example, I want to launch an air-to-air missile from a plane wing. I'd assign a radial decoupler, booster rocket, and maybe a guidance module to fire all at once. As it stands now, the ejection force of the decoupler is the only thing giving clearance to keep the rocket from damaging the plane.

So, within the action group, I'd assign the following:

SAS module -- engage torque

Radial decoupler -- decouple

DELAY -- 2 seconds

Booster rocket -- start

And if somebody ever invents a proximity fuse, you'd want an additional delay before that engages too, so you don't blow yourself up instead of the target

I'd expect it to work in the order of the list. Right now action group lists cannot be reordered, so that's another feature we will need for this to work.

[Frederf]

I'm talking about the proposed Action Group Sequence. You press AG1 and it fires off all actions associated with AG1-1. When you press AG1 again it fires off all actions in AG1-2 and so on AG1-3, AG1-4, etc. Action groups would be strings of what is currently known as action groups. They'd be action group groups perhaps. You're talking about adding programmatic items (ifs ands nots waits) to individual classic (current) AGs which is cool but different.

Actions on the Fly is a mod that allows reconfiguring action groups in flight so it's possible if not default behavior.

[ultrasquid]

I'm talking about the proposed Action Group Sequence. … They'd be action group groups perhaps. You're talking about adding programmatic items (ifs ands nots waits) to individual classic (current) AGs which is cool but different.…

I understand what you're getting at now, but I think the additional programmatic items would work well together with your idea.