Search the Community

The CoM indicator currently shows the CoM that you would have with full fuel tanks - but the CoM can move a lot when fuel is being burned, so this is really bad. When you remove fuel from the tanks in the VAB, the CoM indicator will just display you wrong informations. I really don't know how I'm supposed to make more complex spaceplanes like this. And this is such a basic feature, I really don't understand why this isn't implemented yet. And this isn't beginner friendly either. Please fix that as soon as possible.

I like to deorbit my debris using a craft that has an AGU attached. A few versions back, I had no issues with this. But now targeting debris targets the root part of the debris, not the COM, and once the klaw is attached, I can't target the COM, like I can when attached to an asteroid. Am I missing something? Or is there a workaround? I'd gladly install (or even write, if I knew where to start) a plugin that adds the "target COM" ability to the right click menu, or changes the game's targeting behaviour to target vessels' COM by default, or treats debris as a singular part that forces COM to be targeted. Does anyone have suggestions for this issue?

I've been trying to launch my rocket to my space station, only to have my rocket to start spinning uncontrollably in Kerbin's lower atmosphere. I know it does this because my center of mass is to close to my center of thrust, but what can I add to my rocket to make it more... top heavy. Are there weights? I'd prefer to avoid mods at this moment. Thanks for your help in advance.

Applying a force to a part is easy Rigidbody.AddForce(part.vessel.velocityD.normalized, ForceMode.Force) However, if the force isn't direct directly in line of the vessel, it is pulled into one direction and starts spinning Therefore the question is, how to apply a force to the center of mass of a vessel?

Is there a easy way to get the center of mass of current vessel? I heard the camera will always focus on the center of mass, so i believe it's calculated every frame.

Hi everybody, I am actually snatch my hairs with a 6-seats capable shuttle design I am working on. It is clearly inspirated from the now well knew Dream Chaser, but it gives me so much problems that I surnamed it Doom Chaser. I worked on two different variants : The A is about endurance with about 3 km/s of dV available : And the B much more for aerodynamic performances test craft : In both case they are my first attempts to place a medium orbiter with enough lifting surface at the top of a launcher. All the others concept were placed in a booster/fuel tank-riding position and their lifting surface was just sufficient to ensure them to safely glide back to home. Here the situation is totally new to me, the CoL is far away from the CoM and CoT more important. The result is a lifting force too important to be countered by the vectored thrust, the whole shuttle flipping all the time once the dynamic speed becames sufficient to gives the orbiter wings and body enough lifting force : 42 m/s relative speed is still to low to give the orbiter enough lift. 50 m/s and the problem starts to appear. Logically the autopilot tries to counter it by max gimballing the engines and it gives some results. But as a simple computer it will not keep on gimballing the engines and will wait for new problematics information to come. About two seconds only after the lifting force is so important that event he thrust can't counters it anymore. I've tried a booster riding configuration too to bring the CoL closer to the CoM but the result is absolutely the same. Of course I could also place it in a fairing to erase that problem definitely but it will ask for a larger and costful launcher. Is anyone of you with more knowledges got ideas ? (I should have studied more seriously my manuals about aerodynamics some years ago...)

As someone who spends an aweful lot of time building aircraft, SSTO's and VTOL's, I am frequently annoyed by the balancing process of Center of lift, thrust and mass. The first two are to a large extent stationary (as in, by itself it doesn't move, unless flaps or hinges are being used), but the Center of Mass is inherently unstable as fuel drains from the craft's tanks, cargo is being added or dropped, tools are being loaded using KIS, et cetera. During the construction process, this means that I find myself frequently draining fuel tanks manually to see how the CoM moves about, so that when I'm actually flying the thing, it doesn't sneak behind the CoL and crashes the craft due to stalling. This is especially true when building VTOL's, where the CoM shouldn't move at all, or at least as little as possible. So what I would like to see implemented is the CoM button not as a On/Off state, but as a button that cycles through CoM view: off/current state/fully fueled/empty. Alternatively: Off/current state/fully fueled & empty (represented as two spheres with different colours or an F(ull)/E(mpty) mark on it. This would at least shave off valuable time for me, especially when the craft is made up out of 100 parts or more...

SS: http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/264960339434727751/B22DEC43B6D460DB95D85C09CC8505A341A6B3CD/ All mods are compatible with 1.1 and are: EVE, BetterBurnTime, HullCameraVDS, Kerbal Joint Reinforcement, TweakScale, Scatterer, SCANsat, Kerbal Engineer Redux, RasterPropMonitor, DMagic Orb. Science, Distant Object Enhancement, PlanetShine, RemoteTech