The Monopropellant Blues

[cwalrus]

YO!

So I can't seem to make a spaceship that is nicely maneuverable with RCS, unless I make it tiny. I'm trying to pick up asteroids with a somewhat sizable ship (let's say at least a 32 fuel tank with a skipper on it) - but even if I line it with Vernor engines it is kinda sluggish, and no matter what it seems to shake like a wet golden retriever when it should be holding still. What is that shaking thing?

Most importantly, i haven't been able to figure out a good, strong configuration for adjusting thrust and brakes with the RCS. (The H and N keys)

any pointers?

Thanks!

[Box of Stardust]

Asteroids are heeeaaavy. You'll need a lot of thrusters to get anywhere in terms of maneuvering, plus the center of mass of the entire system (vessel + asteroid) needs to be taken into account.

Remember that RCS thrusters are each a little individual point of applied force. Each point where they're at produces a torque on the center of mass, so you need to find a way to make those torques equal in the direction you want to go.

[Senormeens]

For the maneuverability make sure your RCS is balanced around the center of mass. too much RCS at one end and not the other will make your craft pivot around the center of mass, but if the ports, and thrust, are evenly spread, it should make translating the craft to be much easier.

With the asteroid make sure your thrust is lined up with the new center of mass after grabbing the asteroid. you can right click on your new space rock and select target center of mass, which will the put your thrust pointing through it.

For the shaking i don't know what could be causing that, i have never run into it before.

[Kryxal]

For asteroids, I tend to turn OFF the RCS modules at the front of a given rocket, they're less useful and MAY be poorly placed. I mostly use IJKL to choose just where I want to apply the thrust and think it through myself.