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How do I unlink RCS of mini-ship from main ship?


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How do I unlink the RCS/gear/etc. of my docked mini-ship subassembly from the main ship?

I have a large ship with a docked scouting ship. When I turn on RCS, or press 'G' for gear, the mini ship works along the big ship. I want to unlink these ships. The mini ship is in a bay and does not need to fire its RCS or deploy its gear when the main ship is landing or maneuvering.

 

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Hi @Kreikna, welcome to the forums!

Unfortunately, you can't do what you want in a vanilla game.  KSP puts gears, lights, brakes, and RCS into those default action groups automatically, and there is no stock way to edit action groups in flight.  You could change those groups before you launch the docked mini-ship, but it sounds like you're past that point already.

However, if you're not opposed to mods, then Action Groups Extended not only ups the number of action groups from 10 to 250, it also allows you to edit your action groups in flight.

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Can't edit the action groups in flight ... but you can open the right-click context menus of all the rcs thrusters on your mini-ship, and just disable all of them. If you set the thrust limiter of one unit to zero, then all the units that were created using symmetry with that one will also have their thrust set to 0 -- until you re-enable them.

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RCS thrusters inside closed cargo bays are automatically disabled.  The same mechanic usually works with engines ('cannot activate while stowed') but does seem to get confused over time, after the engines have been activated and shut down a few times.  It's entertaining to see your cargo bay start to glow red from the engines firing inside...

With landing gear, you're out of luck.  They will always deploy, and happily clip right through the cargo bay walls.

Action group is the best answer.  Maybe 1 to activate everything, 2 to deactivate everything.  If the cargo bay really closes completely around the scout, put open cargo bay on 1, close cargo bay on 2 along with the activate/deactivate actions.

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[SOLVED] Thank you for the input. Here's what I did:

I disabled the reaction wheels, RCS ports, engines, etc. on the mini ship in the SPH by default. I set  number 6 to toggle RCS, engines, and reaction wheels. This way, I can turn the ship on and off as a whole using one key. I put all the engines of the mini ship in the final stage (which I plan on never using). I suppose stage-lock could be used once launched (Alt+L). I didn't see an elegant way to have staging on the mini ship and still be able to disable/enable the engines and RCS ports.

I removed the gear functionality from the G key on the mini ship (but left the gear toggle for the main ship) and changed number 5 to toggle gear.

Between using numbers 5 and 6, I get the functionality I want and I only use up two command keys.

Another thing to note is that I right-clicked the fuel tanks in the SPH and clicked the green arrow next to the LfOx mixtures to prevent the main ship's RCS or various thrusters from eating the mini ship's supply.

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