re-rooting in flight

[Laie]

This is special needs and rather technical and can probably be hidden deep in the debug menu... but it should exist.

Situation: I've assembled a lander through docking, now it's rooted from the bottom up: the root part is on the tug that moves it; once the tug goes away the root part will be the heat shield, later the main engine, and so on ever upwards: every staging event creates a new vessel, with the root part being the one that was closest to the previous root.

This upsets the fuel flow priorities; but as these can be set in the field, the craft can be made to -basically- work. Delta-V calculations become pointless, though, and every new vessel starts with SAS disengaged. Depending on how well-behaved and stable the rocket is, the latter can still ruin everything.

Granted, this isn't an everyday situation to get into, but when it happens you really want a solution.

 

[swjr-swis]

4 minutes ago, Laie said:

Granted, this isn't an everyday situation to get into, but when it happens you really want a solution.

I encounter this with some regularity too. Not a bug, just how the part parenting system works... but it does come with consequences in flight, as you describe.

Perhaps rather than re-rooting manually, it could be alleviated a lot if we were able to assign 'root priority' in the editor, much like naming priority works these days. So when the craft separates, an automatic re-rooting takes place based on which part was assigned to be the next highest prio root.

[Geonovast]

I've been wanting this for a long time, for Konstruction! (You can't weld a docking port if it's the root part) and KIS/KAS (for moving multiple pieces at once, or for needing  to remove the root part)

[Laie]

19 minutes ago, swjr-swis said:

if we were able to assign 'root priority' in the editor

While better than nothing, this wouldn't be my preferred solution. If you run into a quirk of the game, it's preferable that a fix can be applied then and there rather than having to revert to the editor.

Cue the "Action Groups should be configurable in flight, too" chorus. Though that isn't as quirky as re-rooting, and easier to plan for.