Ok, this is a really complicated question, but I'll do my best to make it clear.
I've built myself a plane with a downward facing cargo bay (called henceforth carrier). It's purpose is to carry a few probe cores, outfitted with parachutes, a small battery, and some science gear, and drop them into different biomes for data collection (called henceforth pods). The idea being I can record data and collect science from many biomes with fewer missions launched, and also very quickly, since the carrier pushes right up to the edge of mach 1, fully loaded.
So far so good. I fly off with one pod in the carriers belly, and an action group to detach the pod, deploy its chute, and turn off its hibernation all at once. I let it go at about 3,000m, everything looks peachy. I can't switch to the probe, since I'm flying in atmosphere, so I watch its altitude and speed from map view. It holds at about 175m/s all the way into the ground.
After much tinkering with drogue chutes, differing altitudes and states of probe hibernation, I decide that what needs to happen is I need my control to follow the pod when it detaches instead of the plane. That way I can see what's really happening with the parachutes, and once its landed I can switch back to the plane and keep flying. I had toyed a little with the Stratolauncher (stock), so I figured this would work well. I converted all my action groups into a staging setup, since that's how the Stratolauncher (stock), is set up, and I thought it would work. Same deal as before.
How do I get this to work? How can I designate to the editor that I'd like the staging to follow the probe pod out the belly, instead of the plane all the way? Or is there another solution I'm not seeing?
I'd include the .craft file of the carrier as it stands right now, but I'm not sure how to attach a .craft. I'd appreciate a concise explanation of that as well if you feel the need to see the plane.
Thank you!