[Is it ever desirable to start a mission with engines at half throttle?]

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It varies by rocket and starting TWR. In some cases, especially with smaller rockets, you may actually have to throttle down to maintain a good TWR during the ascent. I generally tweak thrust in the VAB instead of throttling because actual rocket engines rarely have throttle capability and we have such a small engine selection.

hmm. that makes sense. i'll try to remember that when I start doing bigger rockets. I'm just now hitting the max of the starting launch pad.

[Is it ever desirable to start a mission with engines at half throttle?]

forgive me if I'm wrong..

but I thought with the new atmosphere effects, and stuff like drag.. it was considered more effective to start at about 1/2 throttle? even going lower at times to avoid massive drag slowing you down and basically wasting fuel? until you reach about 20k or so, then bump it up to full or nearly? at least with the early tech rockets?

know I saw a video a chap made, in the tips/guides area. where he was able to get a rocket with all lvl 2 tech. into orbit. (11 fuel cans, 1 engine, 3 boosters.) I followed his advice, and being fairly new.. (I got the game back with Science was first brought in. played VERY little until release

anyway - you set the boosters to like 65%, leave throttle at 1/2.. I followed his advice, and managed to get that rocket into a 73/72 - ish orbit..

?