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newbie - radial decouplers


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Hello,

I'm new to the space program, I've built a few multi atage rockets and managed to almost get into the orbit of the mun.

The problem I'm having is that my rockets are way too wobbly and keeping my trajectory aligned to the east durng the early stages is very difficult.

My current rocket consists of a central tall 2 stage rocket with four more smaller rockets strapped on with radial decouplers. However the top set of radial decouplers don't seem to be fixed to the four smaller rockets.

When I launch I can see the central rocket swinging around freely with no contact witht the decouplers. How do I make sure the decouplers are fixed?

thanks,

baba

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What Karlus10 has said above is true. You only need one set of decouplers to attach any extras to your rocket. If you then want it to be more stable then you can use struts found on page 2 of the Structural and Aerodynamic tab. They'll break apart when you decouple so you don't need to worry about your boosters sticking to your rocket when the decouplers have been triggered.

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ok, so the decouplers are just there to allow you to separate the stages. If I just stick a 2nd rocket to the central rocket without using decouplers do the two fix to each other? Will have to try it when I get home....

About struts, do they cause problems when decopling? Do they get blown away when the decouplers blow?

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ah, that was my next question, about the struts and if they hinder decoupling.

I've been using decoplers to bolt things together. So, If I stick a solid stage booster to my central rocket without using decouplers, it'll just stick there? cool, so I only need decouplers if I want to dump that stage.

Doh!

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ok, I've got the couplers sussed but I'm not clear on basic construction it seems.

I have a lot of trouble with wobbly rockets and sometimes stages even fall off right there on the launch pad.

If I stick a booster stage on top of another one, it turns green and connects. What happens if I place one next to it though?

Do I have to use struts to bolt everything together?

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Boosters can be mounted radially so if you place one next to another part it should also turn green and allow you to connect - it's simply mounted on the side instead of underneath.

I'd only use struts when they're needed, the fewer parts the better the game will run while flying the machine.

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The 'wobbliness' issue often creates problems to new players. I found out myself that it's often better to not put a-lot of decouplers in the core structure, and make sure that upper stages are not heavier than the bottom ones. Try re-making Your rocket so that there's no more than one decoupler in the middle of Your rocket.

Also - could You provide a screenshot of the rocket in question? It would make it easier for us to give You useful tips, rather than trying to guess every possibility :)

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