Do actions groups matter once docked?

[Liowen]

Normally when I build a craft I setup my action groups in a fashion that is similar to each other (IE Solar panel toggle on 1 ladder on 2). But I have often wondered if it matters what action one ship has when docked with another? Basically craft A has solar panels on the 1 key and the ship it is docking to has them on 2. Does it matter once the craft has docked or do the remain on separate action groups even after docking?

Edited March 19, 2014 by Liowen

[capi3101]

Whatever you've got assigned to an action group activates when you push the right button. Case in point, I've got eight Eve lander probes docked to a mother ship right now plus a Gilly lander. The sci experiments for six of those probes are activated on key 7; were I to push key 7 with the whole kit-and-kaboodle still docked, all six of them would fire off their experiments simultaneously. Were I to undock one, and have control of that one when it was undocked, pushing 7 would only activate the experiments on that single probe. All of them - and I do mean all of them - I've got set up to open solar panels on 1.

So yes, you dock two craft together, and one of them does one thing on a particular action group while the other does something else with that same action group, and you hit the button while they're docked, the docked craft will do both things simultaneously.

I might not be talking very clearly here - if not lemme know.

[Amaroq]

Yeah -- for this reason, I find it pretty important to have some standard action-group mappings across each of my vessels.

I've settled on groupings like:

"Prepare for Orbital Maneuvering"

"Interplanetary or On-station"

"Prepare for Aerodynamic Flight or Re-entry"

"Prepare for Landing"

"Prepare for Takeoff"

With a couple reserved along the lines of:

"Start Science"

"End Science"

"Start Special Function" (e.g., Kethane)

"Stop Special Function"

"Derelict / Power-Recovery Mode"

[Liowen]

Whatever you've got assigned to an action group activates when you push the right button. Case in point, I've got eight Eve lander probes docked to a mother ship right now plus a Gilly lander. The sci experiments for six of those probes are activated on key 7; were I to push key 7 with the whole kit-and-kaboodle still docked, all six of them would fire off their experiments simultaneously. Were I to undock one, and have control of that one when it was undocked, pushing 7 would only activate the experiments on that single probe. All of them - and I do mean all of them - I've got set up to open solar panels on 1.

So yes, you dock two craft together, and one of them does one thing on a particular action group while the other does something else with that same action group, and you hit the button while they're docked, the docked craft will do both things simultaneously.

I might not be talking very clearly here - if not lemme know.

Nope you were clear enough on the point, I know when the two crafts are not together that pushing said action key will only do that craft. So my idea of keeping an **** retentive process is actually a good thing!

[Superfluous J]

My current game has action groups all over the place, but when I start my next one, I'm using a P-touch to stick labels on my monitor listing what action groups do, an I'll design every single ship to conform to those groups.

And if I forget and realize during launch I'm going to revert the flight. I'm going to consider it more catastrophic than a Mainsail falling off an orange tank.

[Liowen]

My current game has action groups all over the place, but when I start my next one, I'm using a P-touch to stick labels on my monitor listing what action groups do, an I'll design every single ship to conform to those groups.

And if I forget and realize during launch I'm going to revert the flight. I'm going to consider it more catastrophic than a Mainsail falling off an orange tank.

I sometimes find myself triple checking my action groups before flying (and doing it before filming now) this also goes for my staging. I think I may have OCD on those things, but for the life of me I cannot figure out why. Now if I could only stand locking all the science things into an action group that would be great, but I get more out of actually clicking on those lol.

[Kryxal]

I could definitely see the utility of an action group for science while doing an atmospheric pass on Laythe ... click one, click the next, and so on, while my periapsis keeps going down.