RCS Should Only Be Active On Current Stage And NEVER Fire Inside A Payload Fairing

[NeoMorph]

One thing that REALLY frustrates the hell out of me. A rocket is going to orbit and you go to use the RCS and then you see the RCS jets firing through the payload fairing. Surely the system should be that only the current stage RCS should fire or alternatively any control surface or RCS that is inside a fairing should have NO control or activity until the fairings are blown off?

I tend to have to manually disable the RCS on the upper stages that are hidden inside the fairing (well, using action groups that is). Wouldn't it be nice to have only the current stage RCS working by default and let you turn on the upper stages RCS only if needed. Inside a fairing, the RCS should stay off until the fairings are blown off.

[EvilotionCR2]

Or,RCS should use fuel only from the lower stage. Until it's depleted of course.

[T-Pilot395]

Fairings are by default not included in the game, so evilotion's idea is a better option.

[Francesco]

I think we should be able to use action groups for fuel/RCS tanks also, not just engines or thrusters, so that if you can't reach inside the fairing and click the red arrow, you can still toggle the resource flow from that tank with a 0-9 key.

[ASnogarD]

A better idea would be to designate all the parts of a craft attached to the top of a fairing mount as a payload and not part of the rest of the ship, and then right click on the fairing mount and disable / enable payload RCS (or Action Group it).

... this would require Squad to implement their own fairings, but I am pretty sure its something they were planning at some stage, despite how well current mods fill in this lack at the moment.

[NeoMorph]

Fairings are by default not included in the game, so evilotion's idea is a better option.

What about the fairings made up out of those square panels that are stock. The RCS still fires on parts that are hidden inside don't they?

[technicalfool]

Problem I see here, is that I frequently built interplanetary ships with a cruise stage for getting there, and an orbiter stage for slowing down/aerobraking once you're there. It would be a bit annoying if the only RCS thrusters that fired were on the rover or lander parked atop the orbiter stage.

I've actually not looked to see if RCS thrusters can be toggled with action groups, but if they can be, I'd guess that's what you could use.

[Psycix]

Yep, just action-group-toggle your payload's RCS thrusters.

[Beeman]

I imagine this will be something they fix when they get around to adding actual fairings to the game...which most likely won't be until they rework the aerodynamics and such.

The reason RCS fires even though you've got it buried beneath flat panels or mod fairings is because...the game doesn't know that those are fairings. There's no way for the game to recognize that your payload is enclosed like that, so it can't restrict the RCS from firing. At least, that's what I would guess. I really don't know, truth be told.

I mean, I don't know anything about it, really, but there could probably be a mod to fix this for the time being. Otherwise, just do as people suggest, use action groups to toggle your RCS(I didn't even know you could do that until just now >.>).

[Frederf]

It would be nice to have RCS thrusters to be activated via staging so you could put RCS components and not worry about them doing anything until their stage was activated. Action groups are perfectly usable (although I find some times I have to hit the group twice the first time) they aren't very convenient.

[Skyrunner27]

I am wondering why you have your RCS on before you leave the atmosphere. Before leaving the atmosphere certainly you could use the reaction wheel or winglets.