So I feel like I should make a forum about different fuels, what they do, and what they are good for to help with new players.
LIQUID ROCKET FUEL
Jet Fuel :Jet-modified kerosene. Only purpose is for jet engines.
KEROLOX: Liquid kerosene (RP-1) and liquid oxygen. A basic fuel. It is heavier than other liquid fuels. On the upside, it’s good and compact, so fuel tanks don’t have to be too big. Not as efficient of the other fuels though.
HYDROLOX: Combination of Liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen. The most lightweight fuel out of the 3 basic rocket fuels. It is also the most efficient out of the three. But you must make hydrolox stages larger due to the fuel being light.
METHALOX: Combo of liquid Methane (CH4) and liquid oxygen. Pretty efficient, and perfect if you want a bit of both kerolox and hydrolox. Also has a cool blue plume!
NUCLEAR THERMAL FUEL
LIQUID HYDROGEN: Liquid hydrogen, the basic nuclear thermal fuel, is the most lightest fuel source among all fuels. It’s also very, very efficient. Used only for nuclear engines, and it is good for deep space missions, but not recommended using it in atmospheres, so use it in vacuums. (ie. colony ships) Main letdown with this fuel is that 99% of the spacecraft mass has to be Liquid hydrogen if you want a good amount of D-V.
WATER: Water is very heavy. It’s also only used for nuclear thermal engines. It’s very efficient, but it is heavy. Recommended for small deep space probes, but not large colony ships.
It’s also vital for the human/drood body.
OTHER FUELS
BATTERY/ELECTRICITY: Batteries are very heavy, but electricity can be renewed, making this source of fuel exclusive. Used for rover wheels, rotators, lights, ion engines, and more. Can be renewed with solar panels.
XENON: Used for ion engines, xenon is pretty heavy but it is SUPER efficient. You use this combined with a separate battery to power ion engines. Speaking of ion engines, ion engines are very low thrust but super high efficiency engines that you should ONLY use for deep space probes.
SOLID FUEL: Used for solid rocket motors. Solid fuel is heavy, cheap, and compact. Solid rocket motors have no throttle control and when you ignite it, it burns and burns until it runs out of fuel. Good for side boosters and lifting stuff out of droo.
MONOPROP: Used for RCS thrusters. Moderate weight, monoprop is used for an RCS which is basically a system of tiny rocket engines purely used for controlling craft attitude.
however in many instances monoprop has gaven me a chance to get back to drooo after I run outta fuel. So keep that in mind.
There is also Pentherite(a hidden fuel type which can be obtained by typing PETN in the tinker panel’s fuel type section for fuel tanks and engines) which has a yellow exhaust flame and has the highest explosive power but is horribly inefficient.