What does a flashing green stage indicator mean?

[steve58]

Thanks...

[Zhetaan]

It means that pressing the space bar will launch the rocket; it is essentially an 'armed and ready' warning light.  When you activate a stage (including initial launch), the light becomes amber for a fraction of a second; this is the 'stage firing' indicator.  After that, it becomes a solid green; this is a warning that pressing the space bar will continue to stage the rocket; the main difference between solid and blinking green is that blinking green is pre-launch whereas solid green is post-launch.  If you press mod + L (mod is the ALT key on Windows machines), you will lock the staging, the space bar will no longer work (until you press mod + L again to unlock), and the indicator light will become a solid mauve (a pinkish-purplish colour).  Also, reaching the last stage in the stack makes the light go out.

Edited March 1, 2017 by Zhetaan

[bewing]

Generally, it means, "Hit the button and launch already! We're all waiting to see your rocket explode!" If you're seeing it at any other time than on the launchpad, I'd like to hear about it.

Edited February 17, 2017 by bewing

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

I see it pretty regularly post-launch. Just about any time I dock or undock a vessel the light starts blinking.

[sal_vager]

It means you have an unactivated stage, as on the pad your engines are not lit yet, and if you have staged a decoupler the next engine may not be lit, but it's ready to be.

It will be a steady green in flight with an activated stage, and will blink orange a few times when you stage.

When it's green it means you can stage the vessel, so be wary of the space bar when you're landing on the Mun for example, as you can accidentally stage and strand yourself.

It'll be unlit when all your stages are used as there's nothing left to stage, and it will be pink when you're unable to stage, such as when you have locked your staging (modkey+L), the KSP window is unfocused or your vessel has no control, such as when flying a probe with no electric charge, and empty ship or a piece of debris.

[KerbalAustronaut]

A flashing green light means the stage is ready to be "Deployed". If you check the tutorial, Famous Rocket Scientist Wernher von Kerman has locked the controls, which made the LED stay a solid green. But when it was unlocked, it would flash green, and after you deploy a stage, it momentarly flashes orange to let you know it's not ready to release another stage. But once it turns green again, it's ready to be deployed once more.

[Daniel Prates]

And is there a reason why there is a delay, with a red light, between firing two stages, like say activating a decoupler for a lower stage and then activating the  engine of a uppet stage? Is it just for game immersion? I think is cool, hsving to wait that 1 or 2 seconds, but i see no practical reason for it.

[swjr-swis]

4 hours ago, Daniel Prates said:

And is there a reason why there is a delay, with a red light, between firing two stages, like say activating a decoupler for a lower stage and then activating the  engine of a uppet stage? Is it just for game immersion? I think is cool, hsving to wait that 1 or 2 seconds, but i see no practical reason for it.

That delay was actually added later in the game development, to prevent stages from rapid-firing by accident if someone kept their finger on Space for a micro-second too long. Apparently it happened often enough that the community outcry (or laughter?) drove the devs to add a small delay between stages.

[Daniel Prates]

4 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

That delay was actually added later in the game development, to prevent stages from rapid-firing by accident if someone kept their finger on Space for a micro-second too long. Apparently it happened often enough that the community outcry (or laughter?) drove the devs to add a small delay between stages.

Haha! Didnt know that. Well it makes sense.

[Spraki]

I was under the impression that blinky green light is a safety.

Whereas a constant green light is 'next stage immediately activated when SPACEBAR'ED '.