Problem with jet powered rockets

[Therion_Prime]

I'm trying to build a SSTO rocket with 8 Jet engines as a first stage but they often refuse to work.

When I throttle up at liftoff, the throttle gets stuck almost every time.

Has somebody else experienced this problem?

Here's an image of my test rocket:

Edited June 1, 2013 by Therion_Prime

[itburnswhenipee]

Jet engines won't run on the fuel in that tank. You need the jet engine specific fuel tank-- I'm at work and can't look up the exact name, but it's the narrow, white tank with an orange logo on one side.

[tavert]

That's not exactly correct. The jet engines run on liquid fuel and intake air. You've added circular intakes to provide intake air, so you've got that covered. The large rocket tanks have both liquid fuel and oxidizer, so the oxidizer is dead weight that the jet engines can't use. You might be running out of electric charge, those new RGU probes need a bit more electricity than the smaller probes. Try some solar panels or an RTG, and maybe a battery for good measure.

[Therion_Prime]

No, it should run just fine with that tank. It does half of the time.

I figured out that if I turn the engines on two at a time, it works fine.

It seems that the game is overwhelmed when you turn them on all at once and stops working. May be a bug.

[Nooblet68]

Jet engines run on fuel alone; it's the rocket engines that need the oxidizer that's only in them tanks.

The problem is the fuel flow - connecting the tank to the engines with a fuel pipe should fix it.

[itburnswhenipee]

Really? Huh... I've never gotten air breathing engines to work with tanks containing oxidizer. Maybe there wasn't a proper path for fuel; it's been a while since I tried.

[Nooblet68]

No path for fuel or no air to the engines.

[Matticus88]

Looks like you don't have any power generation on that craft to keep the probe part powered up.

[RocketPilot573]

1- I don't see anything powering the probe, that's probably why the throttle is getting suck

2- Try putting fuel lines between the tank and the engines, that might help

3- Jet engines DO work with those fuel tanks, they just wont use the oxidizer

[Atanar]

All of you are on the wrong path. The thing is, that the air intakes do provide only a bit of intake air when you are standing vertical. If you turn a engine on the game gives you more intake for some reason (they suck air in maybe?). But if you activate all engines at the same time there isn't enough air in that timeframe so you get a flameout. Not starting all engines at once is indeed the only way to go safely.

Bug in my opinion, the game should calculate the air that you get before the air that you spend and not vice versa like it seems to do.

For the people who comment about the electrical power: The large probe can run 5 minutes on it's own power. He is talking about the liftoff.

For the guys who thing fuel is an issue: No, the Cubic Octagonal Struts are fuel-crossfeed-capable.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Atanar

[nerdboy64]

Right click on the engines and see where it says "Status: something." If it says "Nominal," the engines are fine and the problem is elsewhere. Otherwise, it'll say "No fuel," "No IntakeAir," etc.

[Therion_Prime]

Atanar is right. Seems to be a bug.

It works by starting the engines two or three at a time.

[Innuce]

It's not SSTO, but I made a heavy lifter using Jet Engines as the first stage. This way, I was able to use jet fuel until I detached the Jet Engines, then switch to rockets for the rest of the way.

It's really efficient, getting my craft with a huge payload over 19,000 meters before detaching the Jet Engines. Makes the job easier at that point to use the less-efficient rocket engines.

If you're looking for SSTO, I'd advise not using the radial air intakes, add more circular/ram intakes, use action keys to turn on/off your Jet Engines, and put some nuclear engines to get you the rest of the way to orbit (if the craft is light enough). If it's too heavy to get into orbit, I'd use the Aerospikes.

The funnest part of this game is the experimentation!

Here's my crazy contraption...

[Sir Nahme]

I built a copy and it works fine for me provided I don't let the probe power down before I ignite.

[Innuce]

At first I was afraid. I was terrified.

Kept thinking I could never live if they let Jebediah fly...

and then I spent so many nights, thinking what could all go wrong.

So I got on, and brought parachutes along!

So now we're back, from outer space!

I rode shotgun on the launch with my friend Bob in the far left place!

-Bill Kerman

Sung to the tune of "I Will Survive"?

[Sir Nahme]

Most certainly