Is it possible to turn down EVA JetPack thrust?

[drtedastro]

For some reason, I am having a terrible time trying to control my kerbals during EVA's. I have tried CAPS LOCK to see if that would give me 'fine' control for the thrust, but it does not seem to .

I am looking for some way to turn down the thrust that is being applied to the EVA jetpack, at least until I figure out how to fly it better.

Any modification that I can make to some parameter to drop power down to say 25% of what it is now.

thanks.

DrTedAstro

[HoY]

You could try pressing V to change the camera's follow method, depending on which your using EVA can be extremely terrible.

[Geschosskopf]

I thought the same thing when I did my 1st EVAs. But I was just over-controlling and also trying to go in too many directions at once. After making a total hash of my 1st few EVAs (I'm talking accidentally de-orbiting Kerbals, slamming into the target ship and sending it spinning wildly, and/or requiring like 20 minutes and 50% EVA fuel just to negotiate a 15m distance between 2 nearby ships), I eventually got the hang of it.

Now I do EVAs like I'm maneuvering a ship to dock. I do just a gentle love tap on a single direction control. Then I coast in that direction until I've gone far enough, then a single gentle love tap back the other way to stop. Then 1 tap in a new direction, and so on until I get where I'm going. Works like a champ and now EVAs to me are 2nd nature, no trouble, take no time, and barely use any fuel. Although like HoY said, camera angle is critical sometimes because you don't have 1st person POV. But just remember, the WASD keys move EVAing Kerbals relative to the direction you're looking, so you can't really change the angle much without throwing off your maneuvers.

And I'm quite happy for the EVA thrust being as high as it is. This lets me jetpack to the top of things on other planets, especially useful for when I forget to put a ladder on the lander .

[CalculusWarrior]

I agree with your analysis; the EVA pack does feel a little overpowered. I've lost count of how many solar panels I've lost from kerbals smashing into them However, when you try launching from Minmus with the pack and attempting to get into a stable orbit, you start to wish that it was a little more powerful.

Anyways, my suggestion is to practice with the jetpack more. Learn to just tap the keys lightly, and be very gentle with bringing your kerbal in, much like docking.

[drtedastro]

Thanks for the ideas. I am still 'heavy handed', but slowly getting there. I would still love the ability to knock down the power for when I am working around my stations, and then go full power if I want to do planet jumping. Maybe someone will chime in that knows where and which parameter can be 'tweaked'.. thanks to all.

[drtedastro]

Ok, so nobody has any ideas on how to turn down the power of the eta jetpacks????? come on, someone must know how to do this simple thing...????

[sal_vager]

No one has an idea because it is not possible, sorry.

[Skorpychan]

Stop pushing the button so much? Tap it carefully.

[Designer225]

No, sorry dude. You can't adjust the thrust level. The "fine" control only applies to spacecrafts, and Kerbals aren't spacecrafts.

What you do need to do is not to press the keys too long, and try to just tap, or you will wind off course. After all, this is challenging!

Edited July 11, 2013 by Designer225

[drtedastro]

The mod Hydropack RCS has the ability to limit the RCS burns to be a percentage of max available. this is actually a setting for what percentage you want to use. Would it be possible to create a mod that would be able to access the thrust setting via the ksp api or such?????

[Designer225]

I don't know. Until then, you have to use EVA jetpack fuel in bursts, not in periods.

[Gatos]

Oh hot damn, I was actually wondering that too, but then after reading this I noticed that the TweakableEverything mod allows you to tweak your Jet pack in EVA

No more dead solar panels or getting lost in space. (come to think of it it could be the space suite that I installed in TextureReplacer** but it's late and either way the point is that there's a way)

Also on a side note, one thing I found useful was to disable the auto rotate (the kerbals) when moving in EVA, it takes a bit of getting use too, but it gives you so much more control.

Just edit the line in the settings.cfg:

EVA_ROTATE_ON_MOVE = True change it to EVA_ROTATE_ON_MOVE = False

Now rotating them towards the doors with my left clicking is actually useful and using the mouse to move the camera just to check the surroundings but still having control is nice too,

no more bouncing off crew cabins

**This is the orange suit that I'm using that might be giving me thrust-control

[Haxliss]

one short tap gets you going at a slow pace, hold for a longer period for more speed.

Im only very new myself just on a week today but ive already taught myself to dock up to very large ships which requires finite control and precise speed and movements i probably took to the game faster than most people but when learning with eva's i find just tap and spin around and tap or hold thrusters to slow down or stop, keep at it man and you'll be flying around your space station at breakneck speeds soon enough or be able to stop in any location you want without too much trouble as demonstrated in this pose by old billy kerman here floating in line ahead of this station module i just sent up

[psyper]

tapping the keys rather than holding them down is the thrust limit on eva controls - you shouldn't be holding them down unless you're taking off from minmus or trying to reach a ladder from duna. just tap once will get you very slowly moving in that direction tap the opposite to stop - i find eva is too fine sometimes and have to double tap just to get my kerbal going where I need him to go.

Its like you're saying 'everytime I slam my foot on the brake pedal of my car the car just suddenly stops and I keep smacking my head on the windscreen - what I want is a control stick by the steering wheel where I can set how hard the brake is when I slam my foot down on the pedal' - just a light tap on the pedal is enough and you don't have the risk of having it set really low when all the cars in front of you stop and you really need to stop the car. right. now!

[EtherDragon]

What's the key for Fine Control on a ship's RCS? Is it SHIFT or CTRL? I wonder if the same key can give the EVA suit fine control...

[Taki117]

What's the key for Fine Control on a ship's RCS? Is it SHIFT or CTRL? I wonder if the same key can give the EVA suit fine control...

I believe Fine control is Caps Lock.

Check the wiki.

http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Key_Bindings

[CalculusWarrior]

I have tried using the Caps lock key for fine EVA control, but never measured much of a difference from the regular control.

[steve_v]

Install TweakableEverything, specifically 'TweakableEVA.dll'

Right-clicking your Kerbal will now show a nifty slider - I recommend 15% for general maneuvering

The brake pedal analogy is terrible, automobile brakes are analogue - the harder you press the pedal the more braking force is applied. 'Tapping" the brakes is a recipie for disaster, unless you intend to lose traction...

Edited December 15, 2014 by steve_v