Exploding staging

[Rematog]

Prior to new update, I often had upper stages activate (at 100% thrust) in same "stage" (spacebar) as separator that released spent lower stage. Just launched for first time since update and "BOOM" biga bada (channeling a certain Gungan), but saw no damage to rocket.

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Is stage sep and rocket start on the same "stage" (spacebar) not a thing to do anymore?

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By the way, anyone know why I can't get a new paragraph with an "enter" on the keyboard in this forum? Used to be able to. That's why the lines. Edited November 12, 2015 by Rematog

[Just Jim]

I had the same thing happen. Made quite a bang, but no damage to the upper rocket either.

[r_rolo1]

Thrust damage was upped ( better said, it was made to follow a law more closely related with RL, a thing that makes that if you're close of a rocket nozzle, you're going to have a bad day ), so if you decouple and activate at the same time, the lower stage will most likely get damaged .

The best way to solve this is to either activate the engine in the upper stage after decoupling and gaining some distance ( like most rockets in RL do ) or simply hot stage ( aka decoupling and lighting the engine at the same time ) and forget about reusing the lower stage ( also a thing in RL )

Edited November 12, 2015 by r_rolo1

[Snark]

Yes, it's disconcerting but appears otherwise harmless. FWIW, I think it doesn't even damage the jettisoned stage much; when I do this, I see the intact jettisoned tank flying away, so I think that it's just the stack decoupler on the top of the spent stage that's going kablooie.

I think the real issue here is the game's lack of graded explosive F/X. If a component overheats and is destroyed, you get a massive camera-rattling, screen-filling fireball, regardless of whether the destroyed component was a tank full of tons of explosive rocket fuel or just a humble OX-STAT solar panel. I really wish they'd provide different levels of F/X so that you only get the fireball when it's something genuinely explosive. When something small and inert does (like a solar panel, or a spent decoupler), it should just be a brief sizzle and a puff of smoke. Would save a lot of player confusion (such as yours, in this post), and also make the real explosions more emotionally effective by not crying wolf all the time.

[Just Jim]

Thrust damage was upped ( better said, it was made to follow a law more closely related with RL, a thing that makes that if you're close of a rocket nozzle, you're going to have a bad day ), so if you decouple and activate at the same time, the lower stage will most likely get damaged .

The best way to solve this is to either activate the engine in the upper stage after decoupling and gaining some distance ( like most rockets in RL do ) or simply hot stage ( aka decoupling and lighting the engine at the same time ) and forget about reusing the lower stage ( also a thing in RL )

That makes sense!

[Rematog]

OK, thanks for all the replies.

[webward]

Uh, from what I've seen there does actually appear to be a bug... I've seen the "decoupler" explode on re-entry... like it's leaving some trace of itself on the bottom of the stage above it, my heatshield in this case.

[Streetwind]

Make sure you updated to build 1028 (see announcement forum), which clamped the maximum possible heat damage from infinity at zero distance to a more sane value... (though you may still want to wait for your engine to at least clear its shroud after staging).

[MaxwellsDemon]

I'm seeing this as well, though not with every decoupler... wondering if it's part-specific? I am on build 1028.