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I'm trying to reach lightspeed by modifying existing parts so that it doesn't take forever and I don't run out of fuel. I've got the fuel part down, but I can't move the thrust above a fairly low level without the entire ship exploding upon liftoff. I've tried changing the values for drag and for mass, but I can't find anything that will allow me to increase the thrust more. Does anyone know what I could do?

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Use struts to spread the forces out over the whole rocket; this will help limit the amount of strain on any single part. It won't solve the problem if you have really insane thrust, but it'll help.

Also, relativity isn't modeled in KSP, nothing really happens at lightspeed, and in fact you can go way faster if you really start modding things.

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Chop the mass of the entire rocket way down and the same amount of thrust will do much much more (without tearing things off, either).

Other options are upping attachment strengths (I forget what the fields are, wiki has 'em) or using the negative thrust liquids broken physics.

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...also you shouldn't launch the rocket at maximum throttle. So many people do that :P

What's your reasoning?

For me, I find this helps too, rather than giving your ship a collosal jolt at lift off, giving it the shakes, or the twists, or even the wobbles, I normally light the initial SRB's, then once clear of the tower increase thrust from the Liquids gently, but quickly, so as to have a good speed for when the SRB's are jettisoned...

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This is true, start with barely enough thrust to just lift you off the ground and then slowly creep 'er up it should work better.

Otherwise, I've also found in my hideously gargantuan machines that if the engines can't support the weight of the rocket above, then I like to set deadweight boosters to the sides of the machine such that they are the only points of contact with the ground. After ignition of the main engines, I decouple and liftoff (This also negates the sticky launch pad bug, and is much closer to our earthly launch pads)

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If your rocket is tearing itself apart when you turn the throttle to maximum, it means you're using engines that're too powerful and/or have room to carry way more fuel, IMO. Liftoff TWR shouldn't ever get that high.

Then again, I haven't really explored the various mod packs. Perhaps they have engines that are far too frail for their thrust.

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Chop the mass of the entire rocket way down and the same amount of thrust will do much much more (without tearing things off, either).

Other options are upping attachment strengths (I forget what the fields are, wiki has 'em) or using the negative thrust liquids broken physics.

What is the broken physics about negative thrust?

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What is the broken physics about negative thrust?

Lots of things. No fuel consumption, no response to flight controls, a huge multiplier to thrust, etc. Try modding the stock LFE to have a negative minimum thrust and see for yourself. :P

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Lots of things. No fuel consumption, no response to flight controls, a huge multiplier to thrust, etc. Try modding the stock LFE to have a negative minimum thrust and see for yourself. :P

If I config edit an engine, all I can do is make my rocket stand on its head0.o

On a side note, as chairman of Diabolical Doodads, I am pleased to announce the new Leadboy Upside-Down Boosting Engine!

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I'm trying to reach lightspeed by modifying existing parts so that it doesn't take forever and I don't run out of fuel. I've got the fuel part down, but I can't move the thrust above a fairly low level without the entire ship exploding upon liftoff. I've tried changing the values for drag and for mass, but I can't find anything that will allow me to increase the thrust more. Does anyone know what I could do?

I don't know if anyone has suggested it yet put try using multipliable engine types, Use slower engines to get you off the ground and up to speed before engaging faster engines etc.

I know this is out side the confines of the game and maybe cheating ^_^

But I was trying to get t the sun. I tweaked the std liquid engines (liquidEngine1) to maxThrust = 550 and fuelConsumption = 0.008

at first I tried using a large rocket but I fell asleep, when I woke up it was spinning wildly in all directions and was only 350,000 km from Kearth, at 15,000 m/s. Also I found a bug as iI was unable to point the ship away from Kearth, even after I jettisoned the extra tanks I could only maintain control for a very short time until I reach 31,000 m/s then it became uncontrollable again.

I am attempting it again with three SAS systems under the command pod. so far i am currently at 42,000km from Kearth at 183,000 m/s, there is some wobbling but the extra SAS systems seem to be doing the trick for now.... ;D

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I don't know if anyone has suggested it yet put try using multipliable engine types, Use slower engines to get you off the ground and up to speed before engaging faster engines etc.

I know this is out side the confines of the game and maybe cheating ^_^

But I was trying to get t the sun. I tweaked the std liquid engines (liquidEngine1) to maxThrust = 550 and fuelConsumption = 0.008

at first I tried using a large rocket but I fell asleep, when I woke up it was spinning wildly in all directions and was only 350,000 km from Kearth, at 15,000 m/s. Also I found a bug as iI was unable to point the ship away from Kearth, even after I jettisoned the extra tanks I could only maintain control for a very short time until I reach 31,000 m/s then it became uncontrollable again.

I am attempting it again with three SAS systems under the command pod. so far i am currently at 42,000km from Kearth at 183,000 m/s, there is some wobbling but the extra SAS systems seem to be doing the trick for now.... ;D

its called the gravipocalypse. It claims many deep space ships with its unstoppable power. The Gravipocalypse can only be put off. Never overcome

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For me, I find this helps too, rather than giving your ship a collosal jolt at lift off, giving it the shakes, or the twists, or even the wobbles, I normally light the initial SRB's, then once clear of the tower increase thrust from the Liquids gently, but quickly, so as to have a good speed for when the SRB's are jettisoned...

^This

But if you ARE cheating, you may not need to, since you can edit the strength of the parts connection to other parts.

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its called the gravipocalypse. It claims many deep space ships with its unstoppable power. The Gravipocalypse can only be put off. Never overcome

Oh, the stories I could tell you about Gravipocalypse.... The stories....

[wakesupinmiddleofnightscreaming]BUCKY! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO![/wakesupinmiddleofnightscreaming]

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