Separate control authority for each axis.

[Galane]

Where this would be most helpful is when using regular elevons forward of the center of lift. The authority has to be turned to negative numbers to make the pitch direction work properly, but then for roll they work backwards, so you can't use them for both.

Two ways to have settings for this.

1. A simple direction toggle for each axis so that one authority setting works for all yet axis mixing will still work.

2. A full authority amount+direction slider each for pitch, yaw and roll. That would allow for much finer tuning of flight control. Say you want a rudder to have a lot of yaw authority but just a small amount for roll, or angled canards on the nose to have lots of pitch authority but less for yaw and a bit in between for roll.

[Boris-Barboris]

44 minutes ago, Galane said:

The authority has to be turned to negative numbers to make the pitch direction work properly, but then for roll they work backwards, so you can't use them for both.

sounds like a bug

[DrLicor]

The pitch authority should switch (not noticeable in the SPH or VAB, just in flight when pitching up or down), the roll should stay the same. It doesn't matter for the roll authority where it's placed, in the front or the back, it will roll the same.

 

KSP might have some trouble with it sometimes, especially with swept wings. Your first option is indeed the most used one.

1 hour ago, Galane said:

1. A simple direction toggle for each axis so that one authority setting works for all yet axis mixing will still work.

 

Edited October 3, 2017 by DrLicor

[Galane]

It's like turning a mouse upside down to use it like a trackball. The horizontal axis will be reversed but vertical will still be correct. Rotate it 180 degrees to fix horizontal and vertical is reversed.

I do have a plane where I used elevons ahead of the COL and have to limit them to just pitch with reversed authority. If I enable roll too they work opposite the ones at the rear because the single authority slider can only reverse *all* active axes. If I don't slide the authority over to negative numbers, they respond by tilting UP to a pitch down control input - but roll will work correctly.

But during the process of improvements and alterations, I removed and replaced the wing assemblies, and in that version the elevons forward of COL operate like the canard parts and I don't have to invert authority. Something happened to alter them to the canard behavior.

[Spricigo]

I just just keep independent sets of control surfaces for each axis. So this part don't concern me.

May still be useful to me in some cases, like when a single reaction wheel is sufficient for two axis and excessive for the remaining one.

Overall I think that's a nice suggestion that I'd like to see implemented.