Landing things in physics distance

[SanderB]

I've been attaching chutes and probe cores to drop tanks and dropping them early enough with enough time for them to land before disappearing beyond physics distance but every time I have to focus them in order for them not to crash. Is it possible to reliably land things in physics distance without focusing them?

[Phil deCube]

Have you considered the Stage Recovery mod? It handles that for you.

[OddFunction]

I've been attaching chutes and probe cores to drop tanks and dropping them early enough with enough time for them to land before disappearing beyond physics distance but every time I have to focus them in order for them not to crash. Is it possible to reliably land things in physics distance without focusing them?

Yes!

Have you considered the Stage Recovery mod? It handles that for you.

Yes it does!

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/86677-1-0-2-StageRecovery-Recover-Funds-from-Dropped-Stages-v1-5-6-%285-15-15%29

[Feradose]

Does StageRecovery land stuff too, instead of recovering? I'd like to land stuff that I know it _can_ land (no landing to chuteless ion probes on kerbin).

[OddFunction]

Does StageRecovery land stuff too, instead of recovering? I'd like to land stuff that I know it _can_ land (no landing to chuteless ion probes on kerbin).

To be honest I have no idea. I think its main purpose is to detect ejected parts, determine if there is a parachute, and if so to refund a percent of the amount spent on that part. So I'm guessing that no, it would not work like that, because it probably doesn't save the debris in memory longer than it takes to catalogue what’s there.

All this is 100% guess on my part; a test or two would straighten it out pretty quick

[Phil deCube]

No, Stage Recovery doesn't actually land anything. It pretty much works like mega_newblar says.

[Feradose]

It doesnt seem to land stuff.. It automatically recovers them. I guess the landing bit will be with another mod in the future. Did SanderB mean actual landing or recovering?

[OddFunction]

It doesnt seem to land stuff.. It automatically recovers them. I guess the landing bit will be with another mod in the future. Did SanderB mean actual landing or recovering?

When I first read this thread I thought he was asking for what stage recovery does. However after my second post I kind of realized maybe he was talking about the other method, the one where you just put parachutes on and switch vessel focus so the actual ship will land.

I unfortunately have no concrete knowledge on that. My guess that no, there is no way to accomplish what he wants. But I could be wrong.

[xcorps]

It looks like Stage Recovery does some parts checking and some math in the background. It appears to be a little lenient for recovery, but hey...it works. I've been using it for 3 days and I'm really happy with not having to try to micromanage spent stages.

[SanderB]

This is a video of what I'm trying to do (successfully in this instance). Sometimes droptanks will hit the ground too fast whereas they never do if I switch to them until they land and thats why this attempt had landing legs.

Stage recovery is fine but I prefer this method.