The new (and improved??????) SAS system.

[ComradeGoat]

I don't use mechjeb at all and I'm enjoying the new system.

It's not lock on steady. It takes time to get it perfectly on the dot. It's not easy to do like it was before.

My advice, turn it off, maneuver into position, and turn it on. Once flipped on it wants to lock on because you haven't given it an input saying otherwise. Just remember to reset it when you want to move it.

Nope. From a stable heading in orbit, turn on SAS, throttle up, watch it start to pitch up all by itself. Keep correcting manually by tapping W every few seconds.

It's no way to fly.

[The Jedi Master]

SAS does not do a thing. Literally, it does NOTHING. I want my old SAS back!

[CaptRobau]

So far I like it. I don't have to turn SAS off everytime I want to make any sort of movement. It feels like I'm not fighting the system but rather flying it. Haven't tried out spaceplanes yet.

[Francesco]

SAS does not do a thing. Literally, it does NOTHING. I want my old SAS back!

the SAS module is now just a reaction wheel module. it won't stop rotation as it did before.

[astropapi1]

I have to keep rockets in their heading manually, and even the lightest off-center thing like an inline RCS port will make it turn away. What's wrong?

[KWilkiePJ]

I like it - it works now how I would expect it to. Its not an autopilot, and the old version was a RCS hog. the fact that it will not auto centre you anymore takes adjustment, but I find my ship with it on doesn't fight me anyway near as much as it used to on pure manual control, which works better IMHO. Loving the 0.21 update so far!!!

[Kadaster]

loving the new sas system. not having to turn sas off and on to change the trajectery works miracles, especially while preforming docking manouvers and landings. i have no clue why people have a problem with it. it works fine with me, way better then the old system.

[Mulbin]

On my larger rockets I now have more control with ASAS turned off. Turning it on veers me off course. Rocket wobble is even worse now.

I want a proper ASAS again, not this warmed over version of the old SAS.

[astropapi1]

I have no clue why people have a problem with it. it works fine with me, way better then the old system.

It doesn't mantain your heading because it doesn't use what is available. Engine gimbal, winglets, pod torque... It barely tries to keep you pointed straight.

For example, I made a small orbiter with an RTG at the side for power, and the whole rocket kept tipping over because of the "inmense off-center thrust".

[Dizzle]

Way to make an unbiased poll.

I voted that it works well anyway. Sure I have to do a small amount of work when I'm flying rockets, but the pleasure that flying stock has become more than makes up for it.

[AlexL]

Is it better? I don't know, it's different, and will take time to get used to, but the non rcs guzzling is rather nice, and the need for power to make reaction wheels work is something I think the game's needed for a while.

ASAS does not exist anymore, it's just SAS now, it will help you fly but isn't going to fly your craft for you.

SAS does work, you need to learn its capabilities

[gamowin]

I used to be able to simply press T and my massive rocket would hold its course towards Jool for the better part of an hour. The problem is that it has lots of off center probes and equipment. So now I must rely on the almighty Mechjeb to hold my position. Same thing with ion probes. I say that we should have a new part called the Flight Computer or something of that sort, and it would do just what the old ASAS did. The part would weigh more so it would be used only when it it really needed.

[GusTurbo]

I don't really understand why RCS guzzling would be a huge deal. There's not a lot of situations where you need to keep RCS on full-time. The problem of switching ASAS on and off was annoying perhaps, but it was a minor annoyance. Holding a heading was the only reason I used ASAS.

[dlmarti]

I used to be able to simply press T and my massive rocket would hold its course towards Jool for the better part of an hour. The problem is that it has lots of off center probes and equipment. So now I must rely on the almighty Mechjeb to hold my position. Same thing with ion probes. I say that we should have a new part called the Flight Computer or something of that sort, and it would do just what the old ASAS did. The part would weigh more so it would be used only when it it really needed.

yeah, the outer planets are unreachable now.

Can you imagine doing a 1 hour burn, constantly adjusting?

[astropapi1]

I mean, imagine doing an ion transfer out to Jool (I actually did that back in 0.20). Without Mechjeb, it's going to be a pain in the butt. Anybody got the cfg. file for the old ASAS?

[giltirn]

It's clear that SAS no longer holds the course of the spacecraft while under thrust, and constant manual adjustments are required. I have yet to hear whether this is intentional, however C7's blog states: "This allows you to pilot to a new stable course, and have the sas automatically "lock" back on to that position. However, the new controller is not designed to be a full autopilot. It will just help to maintain stable control.". The first sentence suggests that the SAS is intended to lock the heading, in which case it is not working. The second and third sentences however are massively ambiguous, and people keep throwing them around as 'proof' that C7 didn't intend the SAS to maintain a heading (although what use is it otherwise??). I can only hope C7 comes along and clears this up.

[mtsp]

I <3 KSP...but honestly...the new ASAS...well...it sucks

[DChurchill]

Ok I've changed my mind. The large ASAS module works great. Love it. My vote was based on that alone and I didn't even look at the The reaction wheels are total crap not what I was expecting. The inline advanced stabilizer almost ignores my input. With advanced inline stabilizer, wings and RCS installed, I could NOT keep it from following it's own course. Mashing 'S' to try to bring the nose up did next to nothing.

To everyone saying the new SAS is great, have you tried the smaller reaction wheels or just the large ASAS?

Edited July 25, 2013 by DChurchill
I was ungenerous about what was obviously a lot of work.

[Kimberly]

Ok I've changed my mind. The large ASAS module works great. Love it. My vote was based on that alone and I didn't even look at the The reaction wheels are total crap. The inline advanced stabilizer almost ignores my input. With advanced inline stabilizer, wings and RCS installed, I could NOT keep it from following it's own course. Mashing 'S' to try to bring the nose up did next to nothing.

To everyone saying the new SAS is great, have you tried the smaller reaction wheels or just the large ASAS?

The ASAS module now acts solely as a reaction wheel. The inline stabilizer is the actual SAS, and that's where the problem lies.

[RatBeer]

id prefer the old one when it comes to rockets. the new one cant even lock the heading

[eRe4s3r]

The SAS works actually great for flying around in atmosphere... but yeah, we need an additional thing that *hard* locks the current heading and not some point somewhere between 0 and infinite. Seems like Mechjeb remains absolutely vital for long burns in certain situations.

[DChurchill]

The ASAS module now acts solely as a reaction wheel. The inline stabilizer is the actual SAS, and that's where the problem lies.

You're talking about the small sized ones, right? The big one I can make hold a course. The small ones not even close. I have to constantly mash (not tap, MASH) buttons and even then it isn't what I'd call a stable launch. The nose is all over the place. I can see my RCS TRYING to bring the nose up even by itself when SAS is turned on. Nope. Not happening.

If this is really the way it's supposed to work, MechJeb can't get fixed for .21 fast enough. I can't believe that this is what was intended.

Edited July 25, 2013 by DChurchill

[DChurchill]

I put together a few rockets and flew around in lko and did not have any performance problems or sas problems. Is it the smaller unmanned rockets people are flipping out under sas?

Yes. Try it with a probe and reaction wheel instead of a capsule and large ASAS. I just docked 2 mk1-2 capsules with large ASAS with no problem.

Edited July 25, 2013 by DChurchill

[nmartin84]

I don't see a reason to use this thing anymore, I mean it really doesn't offer any benefits to me when flying the rocket. Just hit caps lock, tap tap tap <wsad> til you are in orbit.. or wait for mech jeb come out, SAS is a useless feature now.

Also i'll toss this in, people say that it's more realistic. But i'll mention this, the Apollo and space shuttle rockets all had computer systems that handled the launch. None of the astronauts handled steering the rocket during launch. So the use of SAS is a must if you ask me, but dumb it down to say 25% of the power it used previously to avoid the station breaking and extreme wobbles (may still have a little bit of a wobble with 25% power, but meh... think we can live with a tiny bit of wobble vs. a dead feature)

[SkyRender]

What's funny is, after a bit more testing, I have come to the conclusion that SAS/ASAS works just fine. You simply have to design craft that aren't poorly balanced for it to work right. To wit: if you have your engines shoved way to the rear of your center of mass, it's going to drift when doing a burn now. If your craft juts out in a non-aerodynamic fashion, it will have problems during lift-off. The old SAS/ASAS system allowed for bad design, while the new one is not so forgiving. That's the main difference.

Incidentally, if you want your ship to try to maintain a heading, try toggling SAS off and back on to give it a new "baseline".