Any tips to help make "action groups" for robotic parts less confusing?

[Thatguy]

answered :D thanks

[ShelLuser]

Have you read the wiki about action groups yet and/or the in-game documentation?

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Action_group

It sounds to me as if your problem isn't necessarily with the groups themselves but the way in which some components function.

Anyway, it's really very simple: action groups allow you to make one (or more) components "do" something by hitting a specific action key. Because these can be convenient in common situations we already have a few "build-in" action groups which can be used to turn the lights on/off, expanding the landing gear (or other gear; depending on your craft), brakes (should speak for itself) and even the emergency stop can be fully customized to your needs.

Even the staging process is basically an action group in itself!

All that's left to do is set up your craft for it to "do" something.


For example... I've designed a "rescue vessel" of some sorts in an attempt to get some of my stranded kerbals back to kerbin. It has a cargo bay and a grabbing unit. Because this is the main function of the craft I set up the "gear" group to open the cargo bay doors, enable the grabbing device and also turn a few lights on.

The advantage here is that I can simply press 'g' when near my stranded capsule and my ship is ready for action. Or press 'u' to toggle all external lights, stuff like that.

In the end it's really nothing more but allowing several parts to "do" something when you press a specific key.

[andylaugel]

Well, I've got a mining ship rover with a robotic boom arm used for ground-based fuel transfers, and the following action groups:

1 - Toggle motors on all robotic parts of the boom arm. (Sometimes the arm goes floppy, and tapping 1 once or twice fixes it.)
2 - All science instruments collect science.
3 - Extend all solar panels, thermal control units, & drills.
4 - Retract all solar panels, thermal control units, & drills, Stop all drills, ISRU operations and fuel cell arrays. Reset to build angles for all robotic parts.
5 - Start all drills, fuel cell arrays, and the ISRU's LiqOx production.
8 - Toggle solar panels.
0 - Toggle all engines.

So when I land, I tap 0 so I don't accidentially launch if I bump the wrong button. I may tap 2 if I haven't been in that biome before. When I want to mine, I'll tap 3, wait until everything is deployed, then tap 5. When I'm all refuelled, I tap 4 to pack up. Then tap 0 to turn all the engines back on, and launch back into orbit.

[andylaugel]

Oh, here are a couple of pictures of that boom arm in action.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2357454849
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2357455540
I also use a KAL-1000 unit here. It coordinates the two hinges so the docking port at the end remains perpendicular to the ground. Playing it back and forth moves the arm up and down.

[Thatguy]

I have read all of the wiki, I still find the hinges extremely confusing.

[Thatguy]

there should be a simple expand-collapse button like everything else.

[Wobbly Av8r]

While I can empathize with your frustration, the unavoidable answer to your question is "Not if you wish to honor the spirit of Kerbal space exploration".

Having an engineering mentality to technical things (similar to you by my observation) leads folks to increasingly complex designs, and the reason it gets more and more difficult to execute is because the original design of the robotics *while surprisingly capable* was not to provide infinitely dynamic movement like a human arm/hand, but more of a "pre-programmed" assembly-line type operation. As you push that boundary from pre-set to dynamic, as ShelLuser implied, it becomes more difficult because it wasn't designed to be managed in the way you desire.

That's not to say it can't be done, only that the spirit of KSP is more along the lines of a Lego kit to get to the Mun, not a one-off custom machine.

The good news, however, is that if you don't like the spirit of KSP, there always seems to be a mod for that, although I personally have no idea what mod to use here!

[Thatguy]

The game has come a very long way from the days a MOD was needed to simply get out of the atmo, however with all things KSP, they has slowly worked away at the overly confusing nature of the way items are described to the player. This is something that has been a base portion of the game since development however. I am not wanting a simple bendable arm, just a clear understandable way to signal the hinge between 2 positions without returning to school for a basics engineer lesson in Ardunio. I'm launching Sunday morning spaceships not working on my resume for Boston Dynamics. But, I fold to the limit of the game, and will just not use them lol, like dozens of other past parts in the game, I'll just skip them due to lack of functionality. Thanks, happy Mun shooting.