Asymmetrical flameouts

[Hcube]

According to SQUAD, asymmetrical flameouts would'nt be a thing anymore with the new aero, right ? did i miss something or is that also some 1.0.2 atmosphere weirdness ? I'm still getting a LOT (i mean it) of asymmetrical flameouts with rapiers.

(Has anyone managed to make the "merge" option for ships in the VAB work ? When i merge a craft into the current one i'm building, it is transparent/redlined just like a non-attached-yet part, buuuut i can't seem to attach it anywhere on the current craft, not radially nor on nodes. Is that a bug or a feature ? Does someone know a workaround ?

EDIT : Problem solved ! Thanks )

Edited May 23, 2015 by Hcube

[DeMatt]

I figured i would stick those 2 questions in one thread since they are fairly simple :

They're also not related to each other, which suggests to me that they should be in separate threads so they can be discussed separately.

Has anyone managed to make the "merge" option for ships in the VAB work ? When i merge a craft into the current one i'm building, it is transparent/redlined just like a non-attached-yet part, buuuut i can't seem to attach it anywhere on the current craft, not radially nor on nodes. Is that a bug or a feature ? Does someone know a workaround ? Thanks.

The rules for the merging-in craft are the same as for subassemblies: the root (=first chosen) part MUST have a free attachment node for it to attach to the destination.

According to SQUAD, asymmetrical flameouts would'nt be a thing anymore with the new aero, right ? did i miss something or is that also some 1.0.2 atmosphere weirdness ? I'm still getting a LOT (i mean it) of asymmetrical flameouts with rapiers.

Don't know where you got that idea... the only thing I can see in the patchnotes that has anything to do with flameouts is this:

- Air-breathing engines now drain fuel evenly from all tanks in a vessel.

And that won't prevent flameouts because it's "each engine grabs its resources from all the fuel tanks", not "engines share their resources evenly".

[Hcube]

They're also not related to each other, which suggests to me that they should be in separate threads so they can be discussed separately.

The rules for the merging-in craft are the same as for subassemblies: the root (=first chosen) part MUST have a free attachment node for it to attach to the destination.

Don't know where you got that idea... the only thing I can see in the patchnotes that has anything to do with flameouts is this:

- Air-breathing engines now drain fuel evenly from all tanks in a vessel.

And that won't prevent flameouts because it's "each engine grabs its resources from all the fuel tanks", not "engines share their resources evenly".

Thanks for your answer about the merging !

That resolves the dual-thread issue, i'll edit it out

I read in a past Tuesday devnotes about the 1.0 aerodynamics that since they are not a thing IRL, asymmetrical flameouts should'nt be a thing anymore in 1.0.

[Awaras]

Flameouts can be avoided by alternately placing intakes and engines - you place one intake, then one engine etc. For some reason, if you place all intakes first and then start placing engines, the first engine you place will 'hog' more of the air from the intakes, making the other engines flame out sooner.

There is also a mod that works around this bug:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/104704-1-0-2-Intake-Build-Aid

[basic.syntax]

Yes, its a problem. R.I.C. concurs in this thread: Assymmetric flameouts an issue again?

We got the impression intake air flows would be fixed along with fuel flows, based on this Squadcast, but perhaps it slipped through the cracks due to complications.

[Claw]

Asymmetric flameout is reduced, but not eliminated. To really eliminate it, the way resources flow would need to be reworked, which I suspect is unlikely to happen. Your best bet is to alternate the placement of intakes/engines. Intake, engine...intake, engine...etc.

As a side note, asymmetric flameout is a thing on realy high performance airplanes. Some airplanes (like the F-15) have a system that detects when one engine has a problem, and automatically adjusts the other. Also, the book "Skunk Works" details several asymmetric flameout stories that plagued the SR-71 flight testing.

That being said, I don't think asymmetric flameout adds to gameplay, considering that it's a side effect to the resource flow that is only marginally controllable by the user. I did build a sort of fix for this, but it's rather complex and can render planes in flight semi-broken if uninstalled. It's not been updated for 1.0. The intake build aid above is your other add-on option.

Cheers,

-Claw

Edited May 23, 2015 by Claw