PSA: Engine exhausts are deadly now

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Watch out where you point them

[EladDv]

i have a feeling turboshafts are gonna be problematic now

[magnemoe]

i have a feeling turboshafts are gonna be problematic now

Looks like decoplers are redundant.

[EladDv]

Looks like decoplers are redundant.

i sense a new challenge brewing

[Norpo]

Looks like decoplers are redundant.

Holy cripes, they are, I just tested it out with 1.25m and 2.5m parts, and it seems like:

The explosions are near instant, and:

...They don't effect the upper part of the rocket, and:

It's VERY reliable.

Yes sirree, this will be a VERY useful trick to keep part counts down in early career mode. Explosive decoupling is no longer for the super-advanced (though I suspect 1.1 or a hotfix patch will change this, as really, it DOES kinda render 95% of decouplers totally useless)

[Redshift OTF]

i have a feeling turboshafts are gonna be problematic now

I don't think engine wash pushes objects now. That would kill all helicopters.

Also, part clipping seems to block all fuel flow to jet engines which is even more annoying.

[sal_vager]

The reverser jets don't cause damage because of the reversers, but if you like you can tweak engine damage with "exhaustDamageMultiplier" in the part.cfg

[Motokid600]

Explosions need a slash damage Squad.

[RocketBlam]

Actually, I just accidentally detached a lower stage (an SRB) before it was done burning. The thrust from the upper stage destroyed it before it could impact the ship. So yeah, the destruction is essentially instantaneous.

[sal_vager]

It drops off with distance, but at the distances most players stage at it's pretty hot.

[MaverickSawyer]

Hmmm.... A "fire in the hole" staging with zero'd throttle blows up the decoupler and the fuel tank below it... Gonna see if this is a decoupler or engine related issue. BRB.

EDIT: Yep, clearly related to engine ignition. Staged it, and the spent stage hung out beneath the upper stage, as usual. Then, started the engine and things promptly exploded.

Huh. Hotfix incoming?

Edited November 10, 2015 by MaverickSawyer

[NecroBones]

This would explain why the sepratrons have had a multiplier added that reduces their exhaust damage.

[NathanKell]

Exhaust damage now falls off by the inverse square of the distance. So stuff very near the engine will be cut through, whereas far-away stuff will survive.

[Goddess Bhavani]

Exhaust damage now falls off by the inverse square of the distance. So stuff very near the engine will be cut through, whereas far-away stuff will survive.

Has anyone done the classic Top Gear test to check if engine exhaust from the big new turbofan could destroy a Citroen 2CV?

[MaverickSawyer]

...

*runs off to the SPH*

[Pthigrivi]

Yeah noticed this right away. I... actually think its real and legit. I have no problem designing around this if I plan on saving lower stages.

[spikeyhat09]

only problem is you cant recover the spent stages for reusable programs.

useless for SpaceX analogues (or at least they will be )

[regex]

only problem is you cant recover the spent stages for reusable programs.

Pro-tip: Use seperatrons to separate your stages. Also, your upper stage doesn't need to ignite as soon as you separate the lower stage; put it in its own stage.

It's not like you have to worry about ullage or losing efficiency from coasting in stock.

[NecroBones]

Yep, just a new design consideration. I'm starting to like the sound of this.

[Hannu]

Pro-tip: Use seperatrons to separate your stages. Also, your upper stage doesn't need to ignite as soon as you separate the lower stage; put it in its own stage.

This is a good advice. It gives also much more realistic and better looking stagings if you keep about 1-2 second break between separation and ignition of next stage.

[igor_perusco]

a̶l̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶1̶.̶0̶ ̶"̶e̶n̶g̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶i̶v̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶o̶w̶e̶d̶"̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶r̶v̶e̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶ ̶p̶u̶r̶p̶o̶s̶e̶ this pretty much killed hotstaging

squad hates russian rockets i suppose..

edit: apparently i'm an idiot and that feature was removed

still the engine heat could use a nerf, an lv-30 can chew through several layers of heatshield instantly

Edited November 10, 2015 by igor_perusco

[Darth Lazarus]

a̶l̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶1̶.̶0̶ ̶"̶e̶n̶g̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶i̶v̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶o̶w̶e̶d̶"̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶r̶v̶e̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶ ̶p̶u̶r̶p̶o̶s̶e̶ this pretty much killed hotstaging

squad hates russian rockets i suppose..

edit: apparently i'm an idiot and that feature was removed

still the engine heat could use a nerf, an lv-30 can chew through several layers of heatshield instantly

Proton Rocket is USELESS now -.- i'm mostly happy about this little update (fuel flow fix for jetengines YAY), but this high engine exhaust heat is stupid and ridiculous. tried a hotstaging design with a heatshild ... did not work, nearly teh complete first stage was blown away ..

edit: an other thing i notcied after soem testrides on rockets and planes: using SAS is unstable, the craft tends to wiggle around the point of the SAS lock .... the more SAS and gimbal you havem the worse it becomes.

Edited November 10, 2015 by Darth Lazarus

[r_rolo1]

Exhaust damage now falls off by the inverse square of the distance. So stuff very near the engine will be cut through, whereas far-away stuff will survive.

Hum, Nathan ... stuff that falls with the inverse square of the distance gets infinite when the distance is zero Unless there is some detail that slipped by in this brief explanation of yours, that doesn't mean that every stage separation where the engine is activated at the same time than the decoupling will break stuff, since part distance is basically zero between the engine and the decoupler/docking port, no matter the exhaust damage the engine can actually do ?

Edited November 10, 2015 by r_rolo1

[Darth Lazarus]

and Sepratrons are deadly now at zero distance

edit:

There must be something wrong. I did a quick testing of all LF rocket engines. All engines, even Rapier in closed cycle mode, destroy the decoupler and stages below. no matter if the thrust is scaled down or not (!). Only exceptions are the LV-1, LV-1R , Ion and the monoprop engine. All other jet engines not tested.

maybe r_rolo1 is right and a mistake sneaked into the math of the engineexhaust heat?

Edited November 10, 2015 by Darth Lazarus

[Goddess Bhavani]

So separtrons can be used as blowtorches! Fun new unintended feature.