Beginner troubles - rocket spins in atmosphere

[alkopop79]

I was checking the tutorial and everything seemed very clear. Except in the game things don't actually work as in the tutorial. I added ASAS to my rocket to make it fly upwards. In the tutorial video the ASAS is indicated in the menu (lower-left side of the screen, orange bars). I cannot in the name make the ASAS appear in the menu thus it would not work. When I launch the rocket, it starts yawning and pitching in the wrong direction and starts turning towards mother Earth... I'm using the demo and willing to pay for the full-version but only if I can manage to do a successful launch. So far I've spent more than an hour trying to figure out how to do it and no success. Any ideas what am I doing wrong???

[Johnno]

Did you turn it on? Press T, look for a white SAS icon top right of your navball.

ASAS also only uses control surfaces/capabilities to keep your rocket stable. Add winglets and an engine gimbal to give it more efficiency.

Without going to look the tutorial videos are likely outdated and might not match the demo.

[alkopop79]

Did you turn it on? Press T, look for a white SAS icon top right of your navball.

ASAS also only uses control surfaces/capabilities to keep your rocket stable. Add winglets and an engine gimbal to give it more efficiency.

Without going to look the tutorial videos are likely outdated and might not match the demo.

Thanks dude! Success! Just purchased KSB, thanks to you.

[Cheebsta]

Try a small less complicated rocket. Pitching and yawing from launch should not happen unless it's a really crap design or something with decent size/weight to it. But, typically, if the first thing is does is want to flip over and hit the ground, the rocket design is bad, and SAS/ASAS is not going to save you from that.

Also, I can't believe there wasn't a "no matter which way I try to steer it still smashes into the ground" kind of sentence in your post... You... are steering the rocket, right?

[SRV Ron]

Once you start adding side mounted stages, you start getting spin instability issues. It is caused by flexing at the joints. This can be countered somewhat by fins and struts. It will require some redesign if that spin is rapid, or learning how to make a gravity turn that stays on course when that spin is very slow. You can also use thrusters to stabilize spin but do so manually as the current ASAS setup will waste fuel like crazy while under power flight.

Worse case scenario for deep space missions, launch straight up with no gravity turn. Launch at dawn to visit the outer planets and at dusk for the inner ones. Shut down as soon as you hit escape velocity.

[sanity]

need a pic of rocket, t get a better idea of what the problem might be

[alkopop79]

I answered earlier but for some reason it hasn't appeared yet. I managed to turn on the ASAS and everything worked fine. Now I just need to figure out how to create a 2-stage spaceship.

[Cheebsta]

I just launched a rocket a couple hours ago consisting of 9 orange tanks, with mainsails, staged to drop 2 tanks at a time. It took about 8 minutes to build, uses only 12 struts, has only 2 of the tanks connected to the main tank, and goes to 34,000m before it falls over and/or makes a full rotation of spin with zero user input (apart from spacebar). No SAS/ASAS either. Some screens in the thread about asparagus staging. I've gone so far as to launch a rocket with 25 of the largest engines in the KW Rocketry mod just to see if it would explode on the pad... It's wobbly from being so heavy, and it steers like 17 tons of lead, but it flies to Eve.

Instability is caused mainly by bad design, and/or not keeping struts and fuel lines parallel to the rocket. If you start getting them on there crooked you start getting spin real quick.

This is also a very good point:

need a pic of rocket, t get a better idea of what the problem might be

[Skorpychan]

Add winglets, for a start.

[Cheebsta]

I answered earlier but for some reason it hasn't appeared yet. I managed to turn on the ASAS and everything worked fine. Now I just need to figure out how to create a 2-stage spaceship.

Both your replies just showed up for me, lol.

[alkopop79]

What I don't get is when I try to launch a spaceship the spacebar often triggers the parachute or the decoupler but not the engine. What am I doing wrong?

[BananaLee]

You'll need to ensure that your staging is set up correctly. On your bottom left, there will be tabs numbered 0 to some number or the other. Each of those tabs has some icons on it representing the 'fire up' of a respective object (e.g. decoupler, engine, etc.) and you'll need to arrange them correctly to ensure your parachute doesn't go off at the wrong time.

I've attached one of my rockets' staging setup to illustrate what I mean.

[Skorpychan]

You'll need to ensure that your staging is set up correctly. On your bottom left, there will be tabs numbered 0 to some number or the other. Each of those tabs has some icons on it representing the 'fire up' of a respective object (e.g. decoupler, engine, etc.) and you'll need to arrange them correctly to ensure your parachute doesn't go off at the wrong time.

I've attached one of my rockets' staging setup to illustrate what I mean.

To expand on that, they fire as a countdown. Higher numbers first.

[alkopop79]

To expand on that, they fire as a countdown. Higher numbers first.

Guys, thank you very much! I got the hang of it, managed to send the little fellas in space and orbit around the planet. Fantastic game, so glad I've found it! Thanks again1