This part


I have never been able to use this thing as an actual silo, if you start it with the rocket in the silo, the rocket just falls over and explodes. Its almost impossible to get the rocket back in there once it has been launched.

Its a cool looking module, but I have better luck putting the docking part in the open space in the corner than I do trying to land a rocket in there.

Admittedly having a rocket in a silo is more fluff and aesthetic than practical, I like trying to set up a cargo/shipping center in my base even though there is no need to return stuff into space.

Those silos used to work back when rocket legs weren't made out of Flubber™.

Craft and delivery haven't been that much of a subject during the latest updates, except for their AI maybe. Maybe reserving craft on surface will have a purpose one day. At least in scenario missions, like Zombie Cave.

On the topic of craft: I wish that rocket AI would deliver units the same way I do; dropping them off from midair when close to the ground, without landing. They would be much faster and better that way.

They are also a pain in the ass if you want to return something to orbit since they keep bouncing around and not keeping their ♥♥♥♥ doors open. The main thruster activating should be fixed so that it doesn't close the doors.

You can use the rocket dock to keep them stable on the ground, but it doesn't fit the silo nicely unless you take the time to manually position it...

Mind you, the silo is a very very old module (you can tell just by how much it differs from the general modules in the exterior style, no steel reinforcement). Perhaps a redesign is in order, with an integrated rocket dock? It wouldn't be hard to keep the vent (which should be kept, really, it's a defining feature for the module), you'd just need to redesign the overall aesthetic and the part where the rocket actually sits.

an integrated dock would be great, but part of the reason docks don't work is that rockets don't automatically dock in build mode. they just bounce around and eventually trip, fall, and explode.

This thread reminds me of this.

Yeah, the silo is somewhat odd, I guess it's kept like that for sentimental reasons, though, it can be perfectly be turned into a working base with enough patience and some fine-placing of modules. Which is a pain in the butt, considering that you usually want to build something fast, or that screwing up will end you up with an unfixable bunker.