Tweaking The Pipes

[DaveSteadman]

Hi,

I'd like to suggest a revision of the pipes, making them more obvious in their function and useful in new areas:

- Push-Pipe (Red): If there is any fuel in the source-tank and any fuel in the destination tank, a Push-Pipe will transfer it across.

- Balance-Pipe (Green): If the percentage-full of the source-tank is greater than the percentage-full of the destination-tank, a Balance-Pipe will transfer it across.

Push-Pipes will allow for more creative booster setups, with the builder having an obvious fuel flow pattern.

Balance-Pipes will allow for larger sets of tanks to be used without the overhead of manually transferring to each one. Good for space stations and complex booster setups.

[Captain Sierra]

Please explain the push pipes better. I don't see a difference between them and standard pipes.

[TimMartland]

+1, more pipe functionality would be nice. Speed of the red pipe and fuel % on either side of the green pipe should be tweakable.

Captain, I think he means replace the existing pipe with these two.

[Atoning Unifex]

This is an interesting take on fuel management. Most suggestions revolve around menus to control balancing but this adds in a dimension where you have to engineer your craft correctly.

A note on the push-pipes, isn't this exactly how the pipes already work? Fuel flows from the source into the target.

How about a tweakable pipe, that can also be changed using actions, one that can be set to "stop", "push", "pull", or "balance", allowing greater control during flight?

[Strikerklm96]

What about one type of pipe that has a light to indicate what state it is in (green, red, yellow), and can be right clicked on to have its various options toggled like direction and state.

[Stargate525]

Yes, the push pipes are exactly how they work now.

Though I'd also like a balance pipe that doesn't care about percentages, but real numbers.

[Kasuha]

The matter is, fuel pipes do not transfer any fuel. They only work as clues for engines when they go looking for fuel around the ship to use when generating thrust.

I believe all current pipes work kind of how you are proposing your push-pipes.

I don't see a way how your balance-pipe could be reasonably implemented. The thing is, pipes do not necessarily have to connect fuel tanks. And even when they do, the place from which the fuel is drawn does not have to be either of them.

If you feel like getting some more info, here is my tutorial about how fuel drawing works and what role do pipes play in it.

[DaveSteadman]

Regarding the Push-Pipe being the current pipe. I just did a test to be sure... The current pipe I would call a Draw-Pipe, in that it draws required fuel from source to destination. 1 - It doesn't actively push fuel when the engines aren't running and 2 - the destination tank is never topped up. If its not full, then it just won't get any emptier.

Now off to read that tutorial... thanks.

[Luis]

Excellant tutorial Kasuha, I definitely learned a thing or two there. But just because this is the way that fuel pipes currently work, does not mean that it couldn't be changed. I would love the pipe functionality to be expanded so that they could operate in their current mode, or an active pumping mode that transfers as much fuel as possible to the connected tank, or a balancing mode which keeps both tanks at the same percentage capacity. This could be controlled through the tweakable menu with the colour of the pipe changing to indicate its current state.

[KN_Namida]

When I need to balance the fuel between many tanks in a rocket stage, I usually place pipes going in both directions. That works too

[Capt Snuggler]

would be great to have the functions of this mod in the form of fuel pipes rather than tweakables.

[coolitic]

Yes, the push pipes are exactly how they work now.

Though I'd also like a balance pipe that doesn't care about percentages, but real numbers.

^^

Yeah, percentages and actual number maybe as separate pipes?

[Luis]

When I need to balance the fuel between many tanks in a rocket stage, I usually place pipes going in both directions. That works too

Are you sure that works? I think all that will do is create a circular loop that will prevent fuel flowing properly at all. I don't see how that could possibly balance the fuel levels between tanks. Perhaps you have a mod that is actually doing the balancing?