Improve upon the vessel type UI

[Rdivine]

Would is be possible to improve upon the interface of vessel types?

If you do not know what i am referring to, please look at the picture below.

There are many variants of vessels other than the stock ones, such as spaceplanes etc. I suggest that the new interface consists of 5 icons ; Spaceplanes , Probes , Manned Capsules , Stations and Space Debris. When you click on an icon, such as "Spaceplanes" , a list of subsets under the category of "spaceplanes" appear, such as "atmospheric" and "SSTO". You choose one subset, and the vessel type will be named "atmospheric spaceplane" or "SSTO spaceplane". The same can be done with other categories, such as Probes. Examples of subsets under "probes" are "scientific" , "atmospheric" , " interplanetary" for probes within the kerbol's SOI, or "interstellar" for probes on an escape trajectory out of kerbol.

Here's a simple chart for the possible vessel types :

So, from the chart, we can have vessel types such as "Refuelling outpost" or "Scientific atmospheric spaceplane" or "Reconnaissance probe".

Please tell me what do you think about the idea!Feel free to leave any suggestions on this feature below.

[Kasuha]

Your classification is not very systematic IMO. My personal classification would rely on basic properties:

- manned vs unmanned/automatic

- moving vs stationary

- with aerodynamic lift vs no lift

- in space, on ground, in water (under water?)

Also there's a rather comprehensive list:

Here's the vessel clases I think there should be, and you should be able to change it in the VAB for each control part (So it changes properly at undock/decouple). Also, color coding?

Unmanned

Probe

Satellite

Rocket Stage

Robot Rover

Probe Lander

Probe

Debris

Drone (Unmanned airplane)

Manned

Capsule

Spaceship

Station

Base

Orbital Construction Ship

Lander

Buggy

Rover

Large Rover

Air

Flying Machine

Glider

Spaceplane

Airplane

Airship

VTOL

Rocket (These take priority until staged off. They can be tagged on a decoupler only, so when you stage the decoupler of the rocket and release the payload, the payload has the correct icon, but during ascent the rocket has the proper rocket icon)

Sounding Rocket

Light Lift Launch Vehicle

Medium Lift Launch Vehicle

Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle

Super-Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle

Misc

Gizmo

Contraption

Kerbal (only used on Kerbals)

Time Machine

Helicopter

Boat

Submarine

Missile

Automobile

Robot

[Tex_NL]

A minor tweak would indeed be very welcome. And the ability to adjust them in the VAB/SPH is pretty much mandatory.

[table]

[tr][td][/td] [td]Probe[/td][/tr]

[tr][td][/td] [td]Probe lander[/td][/tr]

[tr][td][/td] [td]Probe rover[/td][/tr]

[tr][td][/td] [td]Capsule[/td][/tr]

[tr][td][/td] [td]Lander[/td][/tr]

[tr][td][/td] [td]Manned rover / Surface vehicle[/td][/tr]

[tr][td][/td] [td]Base[/td][/tr]

[tr][td][/td] [td]Aircraft[/td][/tr]

[tr][td][/td] [td]Multipart ship / Mothership[/td][/tr]

[tr][td][/td] [td]Debris[/td][/tr]

[/table]

(Icons 'borrowed' from KSP Ribbon Generator.)