The Manager Window: Station and Ship Management

[Victor Grissom]

Hi all,

One of the things that always gets to me is that if I dock things in orbit to make a bigger ship or a space station, they still act like separate modules. As of now, we don't have a spacecraft management tool. What I'm envisioning is a unified system that handles action groups, resource flows, and automated actions based on basic programming steps and triggers.

For Example:

I have an epic Laythe expedition mothership. It's a train, pulling multiple modules and fuel tanks behind its nuclear rocket puller. I've built the thing in orbit through docking and want it to function as one ship. There are three things that I want this ship to do.

1. I want to set up certain fuel flow rules, because I was not able to put in fuel lines.
   
2. I want to get rid of empty tanks along the way.
   
3. Before I aerobrake through Jool and Laythe, I want all of my solar panels and antennae to stow via one action group and open via another.
   

The interface for all of this is a well-lit model of the ship against a grey background (a "cyber" VAB), henceforth referred to as the Manager Window.

I filter for various types of part, such as fuel. All of my fuel tanks are now highlighted in green. I then tell tank 4 to flow into tank 3 into tank 2 into tank 1. Arrows appear, indicating the flow I've now set up. I right click tank 4 and it asks me if I want to create a trigger. I say yes, and create a trigger based on the tank being empty. On the right of the screen, similar in structure to the staging diagram, a list appears. I click the docking port and drag it into this list at the "0" position. It gives me a couple of choices for the object (like action groups in the VAB). I select "Undock." I then title my list "Jettison Tank 4" and add the comment "Tank 4 is empty." It goes into a small list in the top right. I exit the Manager Window.

Now I'm doing my burn, when a notification pops up with "Jettison Tank 4" or "Cancel." I click "Jettison Tank 4," and a docking port disengages, kicking the thing off the back, leaving me free to continue my burn and maneuver my ship without distraction.

Also in the Manager Window, I could access the action groups menu from the VAB. But now, it applies to the entire mothership. Using the filter tools, I select all of the solar panels. I then set up my new action group and am ready for aerobraking.

Thoughts?

-Vic