Tweakable RCS thrust

[p1t1o]

I'd like to be able to adjust RCS thrust in the VAB (personally I think it should be set in the VAB/SPH and not adjustable in-flight). There isn't much variation in thrusters available, only a few mod parts are anything other than 1.0 thrust. Given that craft with too much manouvering power can act strangely on SAS/MechJeb, I think this would be very useful.

[Rath]

Nice idea, good for when I want to use vernors on small probes.

[NoMrBond]

Best you can do in stock is toggle Precision Controls on with CapsLock so that the thrust amounts are greatly reduced, unless you hold the key down for a while (or whatever you've bound under OSX which doesn't let you use CapsLock)

On the mod side changing the thruster scale with TweakScale is another option with pretty fine control over your desired thrust level

[p1t1o]

Does anyone else find tweakscale a bit "cheaty" though? (In career mode anyway)

It essentially multiplies your variety of parts available by several times, only need to unlock one engine really (one fuel tank etc.)

[Rath]

More like three engines. Lvt-45 lv-909 mainsail (there is no heavy lift 1.25m engine,another thing very needed)

[klgraham1013]

Does anyone else find tweakscale a bit "cheaty" though? (In career mode anyway)

It essentially multiplies your variety of parts available by several times, only need to unlock one engine really (one fuel tank etc.)

Don't you still have to pay the multiplied price though? If everything scales properly, I don't have a problem with it.

Does not use tweak scale.

[p1t1o]

Don't you still have to pay the multiplied price though? If everything scales properly, I don't have a problem with it.

Does not use tweak scale.

Yeah, you do, but one of the things that I find drives me most in career games is *not* having the perfect parts all the time, and having to work to unlock them via research.

If you're sandboxing though, tweakscale is awesome.

[Snark]

Best you can do in stock is toggle Precision Controls on with CapsLock so that the thrust amounts are greatly reduced, unless you hold the key down for a while (or whatever you've bound under OSX which doesn't let you use CapsLock)

Actually, Precision Controls is way cooler than that for RCS-- activating it actually makes the RCS thrusters auto-adjust their strength for off-center CoM so that you get "correct" wobble-free lateral thrusting.

Detailed discussion here.

[Red Iron Crown]

RCS thrusters act through a moment arm, you can reduce their effective turning power by placing them closer to the CoM. Not that this is a bad idea, just a possible workaround.

[DocMoriarty]

Yeah tweakable thrusters would be nice. Also RCS-thrusters are usually not used to rotate, only to translate and thats why the above post is kinda pointless. Either tweakable or different sizes. I'd kinda prefer the latter and I'd prefer actually new 5-way RCS-thrusters because then you only need 2 instead of 3(!) or 4. They should come in strengths of 0.5kn, 1kn, 2kn, 4kn, 8kn or so. Currently it's really a problem for example to create dockable lightweight probes because their RCS setup weighs as much as the rest of the probe.

[Red Iron Crown]

Given that craft with too much manouvering power can act strangely on SAS/MechJeb, I think this would be very useful.

Also RCS-thrusters are usually not used to rotate, only to translate and thats why the above post is kinda pointless.

Seems to me like the OP is using them to rotate (or more precisely, cancel rotation), but I could be wrong. Don't assume that everyone uses things the way you do.

[DuoDex]

Best to use tweakables if you ask me, those can extend the functionality of lots of parts we already have if implemented properly.

[RidingTheFlow]

Nice idea, good for when I want to use vernors on small probes.

Tweakable thrust won't really help to make them better choice, since vernors are pretty heavy.

[stratvox]

That is really good to know... that is, that fine control accounts for CoM.