Parachutes in 0.23!

[spikeyhat09]

i dont know how many of you have noticed this yet, but in the new tweakables menu for parachutes, you can now set the height and air pressure in which the parachutes on your craft deploy. i find this extremely helpful, as the default 500 meter level makes descending take an eternity

[Shiftyeyesshady]

Its also helpful for planets with thinner atmosphere too.

[Palleas]

Yep! It was also shown during kerbalkon's streaming

[Xacktar]

This makes me want to stick a hundred parachutes on something and have them deploy ever 10m.

[FlamedSteak]

Okay that is cool, 500m was a death sentence if you came in over the mountains and forgot to put a drogue on.

[vexx32]

For many versions now, the stock parachutes have taken the height they deploy as height from terrain anyway, so I don't see any reason why descending over mountains would be a death sentence...

[jchad]

My parachutes are still ripping the Sci. Jr's off my capsules. Only took one loss of a full load of science from minmus to make me start strutting and moar chutes

[Stargate525]

For many versions now, the stock parachutes have taken the height they deploy as height from terrain anyway, so I don't see any reason why descending over mountains would be a death sentence...

Duna.

/10chars

[I_Killed_Jeb]

My parachutes are still ripping the Sci. Jr's off my capsules. Only took one loss of a full load of science from minmus to make me start strutting and moar chutes

putting chutes on the science modules themselves will likely alleviate this effect

[Murph]

putting chutes on the science modules themselves will likely alleviate this effect

It also helps to trigger the chutes as early as possible, to benefit from the semi-deployed drag on them.

[FlamedSteak]

Duna.

/10chars

I've hit the edges of mountains on Kerbin waiting for them to open, been splayed all over Laythe peaks too because they opened too late too slow in time.

[chuangatronic]

My parachutes seem to be breaking really often. I deploy at 500m at a velocity of roughly 80m/s and my radial parachutes rip off 50% of the time. Would setting the full deployment height higher alleviate this or just make it worse since entry speed is too high?

[Murph]

My parachutes seem to be breaking really often. I deploy at 500m at a velocity of roughly 80m/s and my radial parachutes rip off 50% of the time. Would setting the full deployment height higher alleviate this or just make it worse since entry speed is too high?

Trigger them much earlier (even in orbit), let them auto-deploy to semi-deployed as soon as the pressure rises a bit, then you get the semi-deployed drag, which can make a huge difference, if you give it a decent chance to work. Leaving it to the last moment before any form of deployment guarantees maximum shock load. The best way to figure out if the full deployment altitude makes it better or worse is to just play around with it and see what happens, to be honest.

[I_Killed_Jeb]

Along the lines of what Murph is saying, unless you're trying to avoid a water hazard or something, your best bet is to activate the parachutes as soon as you hit atmo. They'll automatically deploy at minimum pressure and give you further drag and deceleration, so that when they fully open the shock will be small

[Vanamonde]

My parachutes seem to be breaking really often.

Set their deployment altitudes in sets so that they don't all open at once, distributing the shock. It's similar to the function that drogues perform.

[bonyetty]

i dont know how many of you have noticed this yet, but in the new tweakables menu for parachutes, you can now set the height and air pressure in which the parachutes on your craft deploy. i find this extremely helpful, as the default 500 meter level makes descending take an eternity

http://i.imgur.com/hAgg3Rf.jpg

Er um won't it take even longer with it set at 900m

[Brotoro]

Is that the altitude for full deployment? And is the Min. Pressure the condition were the chutes will deploy in a reefed state (assuming you press the keys to deploy them at an altitude above that Min. Pressure?

I thought I heard that there would be a tweak able for how changing the rate at which the chutes fully deploy (to reduce the deployment shock). Did I miss-hear that, or was that something that was not implemented?

[PeteMcCartney]

Don't know if anyone else has had this but my chutes seem much more susceptible to breakage when under physical time warp.

I'm at 1x for partial and full deployment, but then have had them shear off unexpectedly when my patience fails and i give it a bit of 4x on the descent...

Might just have to strut them up but I'm sure it didn't happen in 0.22?

[Murph]

Don't know if anyone else has had this but my chutes seem much more susceptible to breakage when under physical time warp.

I'm at 1x for partial and full deployment, but then have had them shear off unexpectedly when my patience fails and i give it a bit of 4x on the descent...

Might just have to strut them up but I'm sure it didn't happen in 0.22?

Physics warp does make things more prone to failure. Parachutes are just one of those things. Large ships under heavy thrust or atmospheric manoeuvring is another case. There's a popup warning the first time you use warp to warn you about it, if memory serves.

Bottom line  don't mix physics warp with physics stress/force, it doesn't end well.

[FITorion]

Is that the altitude for full deployment? And is the Min. Pressure the condition were the chutes will deploy in a reefed state (assuming you press the keys to deploy them at an altitude above that Min. Pressure?

I thought I heard that there would be a tweak able for how changing the rate at which the chutes fully deploy (to reduce the deployment shock). Did I miss-hear that, or was that something that was not implemented?

the altitude is when they fully deploy. The min pressure is when they first open to the semi-deployed state. A lower number for min pressure means they open higher up. A low number for altitude means they fully open closer to the ground. High opening and low full opening would reduce the shock.

Although... I do want to try fully opening at like... 60km...

Edited December 20, 2013 by FITorion

[JiWint]

They also have added "wind",i've noticed that when you land with a capsule with a parachute,and when parachute is fully deployed,you swing to sides a little ,that's a great thing!

[boolybooly]

Don't know if anyone else has had this but my chutes seem much more susceptible to breakage when under physical time warp.

I'm at 1x for partial and full deployment, but then have had them shear off unexpectedly when my patience fails and i give it a bit of 4x on the descent...

Might just have to strut them up but I'm sure it didn't happen in 0.22?

It certainly did!

Its been advisable to have struts linking material bays and goo cans to chutes since 0.22, because either the bays rip off or the chutes do, also chute placement and attitude of craft can sometimes make a difference. Craft will rip apart at one attitude and deploy safely at another.

[Merinsan]

Don't know if anyone else has had this but my chutes seem much more susceptible to breakage when under physical time warp.

I'm at 1x for partial and full deployment, but then have had them shear off unexpectedly when my patience fails and i give it a bit of 4x on the descent...

Might just have to strut them up but I'm sure it didn't happen in 0.22?

I had this happen in 0.22 while landing something on Eve. Fortunately, there were 4 chutes and only 1 ripped off, so I still managed to land it.

Basically anytime you accelerate the physics this can happen - it depends on the lag, so the better your system and less complex the craft the more chance of survival.

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

They also have added "wind",i've noticed that when you land with a capsule with a parachute,and when parachute is fully deployed,you swing to sides a little ,that's a great thing!

It always did.

[Nobody]

One thing I have noticed is that the chutes break when you hit 0m/s.

Last night I was returning and decided to burn off the last of my fuel since I was coming in a little fast and was worried about the chutes ripping things apart. I didn't shut down the throttle after the chutes deployed and hit 0m/s a hundred meters above the ground so the chutes vanished and I slammed into the sea hard enough to destroy everything.