Need help with steering issues.

[Dewm]

So I built a rocket (standard 2 stage nothing fancy) put SAS on it.. fins etc... but I can not get the steering down at all. I am new to the game (had it for around 4 days)

But when I go to use the Nav ball to steer I do real good under 14K but after that things just tumble and its almost impossible to steer.

But then I go and watch youtube videos and people just fly straight up into space like its emptying the trash.

I need tips please!

[painking]

Pictures of your craft make diagnosing the problem much easier. If you're using an unmanned probe body, you should be aware that they provide nowhere near as much torque as command pods that can be manned do, and are thus harder to turn. You may also have an uneven center of mass due to payload design or some such.

[UbioZur]

just a small warning on the video you can find, with the last update 0.21 (which is the version of the game you have, and the videos are not et all up to date), the SAS system is completly revamp. you don't need them (unless you need more torque if you have a pod. Command probe does not have SAS integrated however.

Also now using torque to control your ship, require electricity. if you run out, you cannot turn it unless you have rcs or control surfaces. (i believe that could be your problem so check the ressources on the top right of the screen while flying).

apart from the torque the ways to control your ships are:

- RCS: useful in space but require RCS fuel and thrusters

- Control surfaces: be sure you use either fins with control surface or canard. the tail fin for example does not control anything. it has to move when you press a key. They work great in dense atmosphere but not that much in high atmosphere.

- Thrust vectoring enabled engine: some engine just push you straight, some (most) will twist a bit to help you control the ship. Make sure you have the central engine with thrust vectoring on it.

If it's not the electricity your problem here is another possible issue:

no thrust vectoring engine and good fins-> in low atmosphere (lower than 14km) the fins does the control job and that is why you are controlling the ship perfectly, however, once you arrive at high altitude, the fins could not be enough to control the mass of your ship, and since your engine does not help, you can't control it.

as painking said, usually posting pictures of the ship will help us a lot as we can see what you have/need.

[Vanamonde]

That is a problem with your ship design rather than your steering skills. Either the thinner air at the higher altitude is allowing an existing problem to become evident, or the balance of the ship is shifting as you burn fuel. As Painking said, posting a picture will help people help you.

[Nurph]

It just so happens that Scott Manley just put up a video on pretty much this exact topic:

If you put fins on the rocket make sure to place them as low as possible. Having control surfaces above your center of mass makes for unstable rockets.