Is there a way to precisely control throttle level?

[delta wee]

I would like to be able to precisely control the throttle level on my rocket, instead of using the SHIFT and CTRL keys to control the throttle. Is there a way to do this, or a mod that does this? I want to do this because I want to precisely control the ascent profile of the rocket and compare different ascents.

[Reactordrone]

I guess you could use the engine thrust limiter by right clicking the engine and adjusting the slider to a specific percentage.

[Streetwind]

Yep, that. Nowadays in 1.1, you can pin the rightclick window of the engine to always stay open, so that makes it even easier.

[pincushionman]

10 hours ago, Reactordrone said:

I guess you could use the engine thrust limiter by right clicking the engine and adjusting the slider to a specific percentage.

That assumes you can get the kind of precision you're looking for with that slider. I haven't been able to, myself.

[FullMetalMachinist]

1 hour ago, pincushionman said:

That assumes you can get the kind of precision you're looking for with that slider. I haven't been able to, myself.

Well, the way I understand it, if you set the engine limiter to 50%, that turns the precision of the throttle (shift & ctrl) up. 

So a 50% limited engine with a 50% throttle will give you 25% of the max thrust. And a 10% limited engine with 50% throttle will be 5% of max thrust. That's pretty precise. 

[Geschosskopf]

You could probably do this with kOS by writing a script that lets you type in exact values for the throttle from the keyboard.

[bewing]

3 hours ago, FullMetalMachinist said:

Well, the way I understand it, if you set the engine limiter to 50%, that turns the precision of the throttle (shift & ctrl) up. 

So a 50% limited engine with a 50% throttle will give you 25% of the max thrust. And a 10% limited engine with 50% throttle will be 5% of max thrust. That's pretty precise. 

Yup, on one of my tugs I have a mainsail for docking maneuvers -- throttled to 3%, and I use 5% of max thrust. (I had to put the mainsail on for a contract.)

[pincushionman]

8 hours ago, FullMetalMachinist said:

Well, the way I understand it, if you set the engine limiter to 50%, that turns the precision of the throttle (shift & ctrl) up. 

So a 50% limited engine with a 50% throttle will give you 25% of the max thrust. And a 10% limited engine with 50% throttle will be 5% of max thrust. That's pretty precise. 

Oh, I see where you're going here. I had assumed you were talking about using the thrust limiter as the primary control since it at least shows a precise setting in percentage (you have to guess on the throttle).

Thing is, while you have fine control over your throttle, it is not necessarily precise, as you still have to deal with the visual feedback on the throttle.

Also, the OP wants to investigate ascent profiles, so you'd both have to constantly change the thrust limiter and spend a lot of time at settings where you haven't gained any precision by it. Totally not worth the effort.

OP, the best way to precisely control your throttle during ascent like that is MechJeb, or kOS. Plus, you really want to be going flat-out the whole way up. If you have to throttle back, you probably brought too much boom to the party.

[Corw]

Additionally, if you want to play from IVA, I think you can move throttle lever with mouse

[delta wee]

I think I'll probably have to make my own mod which let's you type in the exact thrust you want, limiting thrust on the engine still requires a mouse. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Geschosskopf]

19 minutes ago, delta wee said:

I think I'll probably have to make my own mod which let's you type in the exact thrust you want, limiting thrust on the engine still requires a mouse. Thanks for the suggestions.

Just use kOS.  Then all you have to write is a script for it, given that the mod already exists.

[delta wee]

On 5/16/2016 at 10:59 AM, Geschosskopf said:

Just use kOS.  Then all you have to write is a script for it, given that the mod already exists.

Is there a way to use kOS without increasing the mass of the ship? I'm building a very small rocket where even the small mass of the kOS component affects delta-v significantly.

[Superfluous J]

3 minutes ago, delta wee said:

Is there a way to use kOS without increasing the mass of the ship? I'm building a very small rocket where even the small mass of the kOS component affects delta-v significantly.

You can add the module to all command pods in a similar way to how we used to add KER to them (before that became a part of the mod).

Though the last time I used kOS I was dissuaded from it by the "let's make this like you're using 1960s technology!" aspect.

[Geschosskopf]

12 minutes ago, delta wee said:

Is there a way to use kOS without increasing the mass of the ship? I'm building a very small rocket where even the small mass of the kOS component affects delta-v significantly.

The top-end kOS processor is a tiny, radially attached thing smaller than a thermometer, weighs essentially nothing, and has gobs of RAM.  I recommend turning its light on and making that a distinctive color, so you can find the tiny thing on the side of your ship.