IntakeAir with Fuel-crossfeed logic

[palioxis1248]

So I was thinking about intake air, and I realised that the main problem with airhogging really isn't the fact that there are ridiculous numbers of intakes per se, but rather the fact that it's blindingly obvious none of those intakes could possibly feed air into the jet, considering how they're usually hanging out everywhere or nested into each other and things like that. And the problem is, so long as the air intake system allows any intake at any location to feed air to any jet, realistic intakes aren't going to happen.

Instead, why not have an intake air crossfeed system, very much like how we currently have a fuel crossfeed system to keep those Mainsails going? It's worked for the rockets so far, so I don't see any problems adapting this to jets and intake air. Except, of course, no "air-lines". That'd be ridiculous.

The system would basically make use of a "fuel-tank" like intake-air storage device, in the form of the existing Engine Nacelles, or tweakable settings that convert certain parts (jet fuselages, structural fuselages, NOT struts) into air-storage canisters but remove their initial functions (i.e. Jet fuselages no longer store fuel if used to store air). The storage capacity would probably be quite low, on the level of 0.1 intake air, to prevent ppl from spamming large canisters of air to power their jets.

Only intakes attached directly or via air-crossfeed-capable structures (i.e. converted fuel tanks/various multicouplers, no struts or plates) would be able to feed air into air-tanks, and only engines attached to air tanks via air-crossfeed-capable structures would be able to draw air from the air-tanks. Intake and jet placement would actually begin to make sense.

[Kasuha]

I think what is really needed is another overhaul of resource consumption.

Parts which consume distributed resources (air, electricity, monopropellant, xenon) should not be evaluated separately, instead the system should first collect the sum of demand of all such parts, then if there is not enough resources to cover the demand, distribute the available amount proportionally.

That'd get rid of not only asymmetric flameout, but also asymmetric ion engine failures and some other, subtle effects such as a probe getting a kick when it runs out of monopropellant.

Edited March 19, 2014 by Kasuha