Staging doesn't work when stages are rearranged

[MechaLynx]

I've had this problem several times in career now. I get contracts that want you to test X at Y conditions etc. and when that's a parachute or decoupler, the usual way to do it is to just place it somewhere (if it isn't functional to the craft) and just stage it when the conditions are met.

However, many times already, I've rearranged stages to satisfy the requirement of "staging" the part rather than just activating it and most every time it results in the part's stage not working at all. I got it with the tiny stack decoupler, placed it on the mk1 module and when the conditions where met, I moved its stage to the bottom, pressed space and nothing happened. Spamming space didn't help because it staged everything else but left that stage intact, resulting in a kerbal dying.

The same thing happened now when I tried to stage the mk16 chute - it remained intact while pressing space once did nothing and the next time it activated the next stage.

For many of these contracts it's important to be able to stage something whenever you need to, rather than as part of a sequence, since you can't always explicitly design craft just to make sure they're in some exact point and speed so you won't have to change the staging at all.

What am I doing wrong? I thought that perhaps putting the stage at the bottom of the list makes it the "current stage" somehow, so even if it isn't activated, the game just moves on to the next one, effectively skipping it. But this doesn't happen at launch (clearly) and it doesn't happen when I repeatedly swap stages on craft with only the parachutes left (I create an empty stage, place it at the bottom, stages properly - then do the same and place the chute stage at the bottom, again works properly).

edit - just tested it at the launch pad, same craft - placing the chute's stage at the bottom and pressing space stages it properly.

Edited May 9, 2015 by MechaLynx

[g.koster]

it is quite simple by rearanging the staging you reset all the staging so the first time you hit the space bar you activate the stage that you think is active

[MechaLynx]

it is quite simple by rearanging the staging you reset all the staging so the first time you hit the space bar you activate the stage that you think is active

So you're saying that whatever stage was previously active is the next one to be activated, whenever stages are re-arranged, no matter how they are re-arranged?

No offense, but the lack of punctuation in your sentence makes it hard to understand what you mean.

[g.koster]

This only become visible when doing parts testing. I had a test RT-10 booster ad a 10000meter high. I created a rocket with 3 rt-10 boosters for this started it by pressing space.

then moved one RT-10 up and ad 10001 meters i pressed space again. the staging didn't collaps but the contract was done.

[MechaLynx]

This only become visible when doing parts testing. I had a test RT-10 booster ad a 10000meter high. I created a rocket with 3 rt-10 boosters for this started it by pressing space.

then moved one RT-10 up and ad 10001 meters i pressed space again. the staging didn't collaps but the contract was done.

So the contract should be done even if the part doesn't activate? Because in both the cases I mention the contract wasn't done, which is why I'm wondering if I'm making a mistake or the game is messing up.

[Perry Apsis]

Try adding an empty stage below the one you're putting the part in.

[MechaLynx]

Try adding an empty stage below the one you're putting the part in.

I will try that next time for sure, though I've got a hunch it won't work. For now, I did one of those contracts again with pre-configured staging and it worked and I don't have any similar contracts planned.

[Rhomphaia]

move the stage to just above the currently active stage.

Or you can move the parachute itself into the bottom stage.