Tell me why this is...

[RocketBlam]

I have a Dres lander (which I just used to prove the existence of Dres, by the way). So here I am back in orbit, and I've reconnected to the nuclear transfer stage, as you can see here:

Here's the deal: The lander engine has a little Ox left in it, and of course it has some weight, as do the landing legs. My idea is to eject those (since I don't need them) to save weight, and thus increase my available D/V. Same fuel with less weight of course means more D/V. Well, when I do that, and leave just the command pod attached, the D/V doesn't change at all.

Is this a problem with Kerbal Engineer reporting D/V, or is it a game thing? I've even saved and reloaded, and the D/V does not change when I eject the lander engine/fuel tank.

ETA: I've made sure that the assembly is being commanded by the control unit (not the command pod), so it should be calculating the D/V correctly.

Edited May 25, 2016 by RocketBlam

[The_Rocketeer]

You could put together a mockup of the craft in its current arrangement in the VAB and see what dV KER gives it then, which would at least tell u if KER is being consistent.

[FancyMouse]

1 hour ago, RocketBlam said:

Is this a problem with Kerbal Engineer reporting D/V, or is it a game thing?

For sure KER, as the number is calculated by KER, not by the game.

And the reason for what you see is - see (S1)? KER is already displaying your delta V after you decouple (i.e. stage S1). It would have been S2 if the delta V is calculated in your current stage.

Edited May 25, 2016 by FancyMouse

[RocketBlam]

5 minutes ago, FancyMouse said:

For sure KER, as the number is calculated by KER, not by the game.

And the reason for what you see is - see (S1)? KER is already displaying your delta V after you decouple (i.e. stage S1). It would have been S2 if the delta V is calculated in your current stage.

Yep, I think you're right. Thanks, that makes sense.

[Alshain]

In this case KER will always assume you are decoupling.  The reason is your active engine is on the stage 0, so it assumes you will decouple before using it.  Move the engine down to stage 2 (before decoupling) and I think your results should change.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Alshain