Falcon 9 Engine Grouping Problem (See me Devs)

[Kroslev Kerman]

Am trying to make a Falcon 9 which uses 3 to land because my Merlin(Vectors)dont have a good thrust to weight when i start going down towards a stock droneship or close to the KSC But evertime i do action groups it just does the entire Symetry but i want to do remove 6 engines out of action and 1 Vector isnt enough to lift it and i crash please do something devs!(Wopsy i cant move it to another discussion)

Edited August 28, 2018 by Kroslev Kerman
Grammar problem and some explosions

[Val]

Moved from Making History Discussion as it seems more appropriate here.

[Dafni]

25 minutes ago, Kroslev Kerman said:

Am trying to make a Falcon 9 which uses 3 to land because my Merlin(Vectors)dont have a good thrust to weight when i start going down towards a stock droneship or close to the KSC But evertime i do action groups it just does the entire Symetry but i want to do remove 6 engines out of action but it doesnt so help!(Wopsy i cant move it to another discussion)

If you want to action-group individual engines you can not attach them in symmetry. Attach them individually and then you can do it.

If you still want to have the neat perfect symmetry of the symmetry gizmo, one way would be to attach some Radial Attachment points in symmetry and then add the engines to those, but individually, without symmetry.

Or maybe you use those new engine plates? Do they come with 8 nodes? I never checked, but if yes, then just attach the engines one by one.

 

Hope this helps

 

Daf

[Reactordrone]

You can use the engine plate and set it up for a 8x1 and then put the engines on individually. Set up an action group to toggle the engines you want to turn off and you'll have a single switch to change from 9 to three engines.

Edited August 28, 2018 by Reactordrone

[Raptor42]

You can use mod Action Groups Extended that lets you select individual parts even with symmetry enabled

[swjr-swis]

On 8/28/2018 at 12:49 PM, Kroslev Kerman said:

Am trying to make a Falcon 9 which uses 3 to land because my Merlin(Vectors)dont have a good thrust to weight when i start going down towards a stock droneship or close to the KSC But evertime i do action groups it just does the entire Symetry but i want to do remove 6 engines out of action and 1 Vector isnt enough to lift it and i crash please do something devs!(Wopsy i cant move it to another discussion)

You could place them one by one as suggested by others... or divide the symmetry up a bit for more convenience. E.g.:

• 1x center.
• 2x 2-sided symmetry in +. (north-south, east-west)
• 1x 4-sided symmetry in x. (NNE, NNW, SSE, SSW)

Using the offset gizmo (set to snap and absolute) you can form a perfectly aligned ring of 8 vectors around the center one, and you only need to make 3 separate offset and settings adjustments instead of 8. To ensure the 4x symgroup is aligned exactly the same as the two 2x symgroups, rotate the rocket 45 degrees  so the 4x engines end up north-south-east-west, and then make the engine offset adjustments - that way, they will align exactly as if you had a single 8x symgroup.

Then you add the 4-sided symgroup and one of the 2-sided symgroups into a separate action group to toggle (*), leaving just the center vector and the other 2-sided symgroup active - 3 vectors to land with.

(*: with toggle instead of deactivate, you keep the emergency option of quick short bursts of full power in case you need extra braking power at the end of the trajectory.)

Quick video demo:

 

Edited August 29, 2018 by swjr-swis
clarification & video