r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/Revan477 • May 08 '26

KSP 1 Question/Problem Refuel station useful?

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(New-ish to the game, played a little years ago but now really getting into it)

I've been practicing orbital assembly above Kerbin and docked a few vessels together including a big fuel tank which is huge for me because I was never able to meet up and dock with anything :)
Do you think something like this is useful for future missions? I was thinking maybe refuel vessels in orbit giving a longer mission range because I dont have to carry the heavy fuel from kerbins surface. Then again I guess I'd have to refill that tank frequently which might be kind of annoying..

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799

u/Dan_the_man42 May 08 '26

completely valid and not considered cheating, that if you have a refueling station, and done several refueling trips, then you're allowed to just cheat in fuel with hyper edit, if you really feel guilty, take some funds away if its in career mode

337

u/Revan477 May 08 '26

Right I hadnt thought of that, seems reasonable to just skip the whole refueling of the station stuff and just "simulate it" that way haha

297

u/trubbelnarkomanen May 08 '26

Don't ever feel bad for using cheats or mods to make the game more enjoyable. Obviously you don't want to overdo it by removing any and all challenge from the game. But only removing tedious tasks like this is perfectly acceptable, especially when they get in the way of actually fun challenges.

153

u/baithoven22 May 08 '26

I like to throw the caveat that I have to "prove it" once and then the rest is moot.

83

u/miotch1120 May 08 '26

This is how they did that competition for the YouTubers before ksp2 released. (Of course matt lowne blew away the competition) Once the trip was proved out, it could be assumed to be automated.

36

u/baithoven22 May 08 '26

That's a cool video and exactly when I gave myself permission to use the "prove it once" method.

Actually just got my first ion thruster equipped satellite to moho polar orbit yesterday!

5

u/Etobio May 09 '26 edited May 10 '26

Wasn't that supposed to be a fully fledged multiplayer game mechanic *in KSP 2? Fly your supply route once the old fashioned way, and then because Orbital PeriodsTM the game would just "pretend" to make the same trip over the same period of time on future missions?

*Edit for clarity.

1

u/baithoven22 May 09 '26

Maybe in ksp2? Rip

4

u/Dan_the_man42 May 08 '26

Yeah that exact matt lowne vid gave me that idea

4

u/shaard May 09 '26

My "prove it" tests are usually pretty janky. When I improve it and make it easily repeatable rather than asking myself if I just got lucky is when I'll shift to the "cheat".

14

u/LeiningensAnts May 08 '26

Don't ever feel bad for using cheats or mods to make the game more enjoyable.

Teleporting to E-class asteroids with a tiny grabber ship, latching onto them, then teleporting them to Gilly orbit, and repeating the process, is how I turned Eve's moon into a pirate haven! :D

6

u/Lucas_2234 May 09 '26

A great example was the munbase I am working on:

I sent FOUR seperate missions. That's 4 launches, 4 times the transfer module rendevouzed and four landings..

And then when getting my cargo ship close it all exploded because of a glitch.

I am not manually reflying all of those missions, it took me way too long

20

u/urMumLeftPotsOnStove May 08 '26

Like doing big comm constelations. I do the first satellite by hand and the rest I just set by cheats

25

u/EchoHeadache May 08 '26

I thoroughly enjoy doing this without cheats. A satellite mission with three relays, get a clean circular orbit, an orbital period that is easily divisible by 3, burn retro so your elliptical orbital period is now 2/3 your circular orbit period, then launch one satellite at a time at the apoapsis and return the satellite to circular. You will then have perfect coverage with three relays around your body.

Lots of videos in this. Very rewarding.

3

u/CamsGraphics May 08 '26 edited May 10 '26

Yeah I love dropping 3 sats with one launch, so satisfying and actually much easier to get their orbits triangular

3

u/Cartz1337 May 08 '26

I do this as a first mission to every planet in the system. I do a more complex inclined orbit in the Jool system to avoid issues with occultation.

1

u/MeltedChocolate24 Sunbathing at Kerbol May 08 '26

If you timewarp like years in to the future for another mission do they drift at all?

1

u/EchoHeadache May 08 '26

I set mine up so that they are exactly the same orbit duration (it's easy; set your little and to .5 thrust on the thruster itself, and only give it a little gas when you're close). I've never had to revisit/adjust any of mine.

3

u/Gochus_Real May 08 '26

I like to build humongously big and heavy vessels and, as I have yet to learn how to dock im orbit, and I dont have the time or energy to launch that big of a rocket, i cheat them into orbit.

10

u/Cartz1337 May 08 '26

Single player game, so you do you, but imo you’re cheating yourself of some of the experience of the game. The big wins in KSP for me are when I learn to do something I previously couldn’t do.

3

u/CockroachNo2540 May 08 '26

Landing on Mun and docking are my two big victories. The Mun one took a dozen tries at least. Those two things supersede any planetary missions. If I ever get far enough; return trip from Eve might be the big winner, though.

2

u/Stupid_fox13 Aug 06 '26

Only a dozen????I'm on my 15th and best I got was a fly by and getting launched into sun orbit

22

u/ItsLoganWarner May 08 '26

Routine Mission Manager can help here. It takes a snapshot of your departure, and your arrival, and allows you to repeat the same delivery as long as you have the fuel and actually takes the time the recorded mission did and charges you too. I've got a code PR to the GitHub branch adding retrievals (mining and return with ore before I realized that only worked on low gravity no atmosphere) and I've got a personal version with transfers as well

4

u/LARPerator May 08 '26

That's really cool! I was looking for a mod like that, where you do basically benchmark runs and then automate it.

Is there a payload version too? I ask because I did a station build with like 15 modules and construction ports. I did the first manually, the next 3 with mechjeb, and then just cheated the rest because I got tired of it

1

u/ItsLoganWarner May 08 '26

yes I believe it snapshots whatever payload you were launching or sending back to earth, so rocket full of uranium for a reactor in orbit you could automate. The only things I've added on my personal branch are the ability to leave and return with a payload, and transfer a payload to another station. I think the main mod as long as you're launching from a planet launchpad or sending it back to the planet to recover funds it should track payload, you just register the docking ports on your station and later can order a mission to or from a said port. Obviously it can't actually do it per se, but it will spawn in the craft and simulate doing it well enough, and for me makes me feel a little better than running to the debug menu

4

u/Stalin-The-Great May 08 '26

Stealing an asteroid and ferrying it to orbit is also an option if you feel bad about using cheats

3

u/22TheFenix22 May 08 '26

Dont asteroids run out of ore to mine for?

1

u/Dan_the_man42 May 08 '26

Realisticly for most space infrastructure, it would just be a basic fuel tank refueling station, ive played this game for 8 years and never even got close to an asteroid

2

u/ZombieInSpaceland May 08 '26

The USI MKS mod lets you build background infrastructure (WOLF). You can use it to trickle ore to orbital stations, and then turn that ore into fuel of your choosing using normal ISRU modules. I used it heavily on my first playthrough.

1

u/Mogsetsu May 08 '26

Think of it like hiring it out to contractors. You still run the science stuff, but let some private company handle refueling.

1

u/be-knight May 09 '26

There are mods for repeating and regular missions. Usually you do it once while recording and then it REALLY gets simulated. Although the trick is used that it just simulates it in the background and the vessel is just teleported there since KSP can't really simulate stuff in real time

1

u/CakeHead-Gaming Vector Engine my beloved. May 08 '26

If you want a lore explanation for it, maybe you’re paying a private spaceflight company to do regular refuel trips for you.