RCS - What is it good for?

[SlowThought]

HUH! Absolutely NOTHING! say it agaaaiiin.

At least so it seems to me. My craft seems harder to handle with it on, I was always coming home with tons of fuel, and leaving it off, saving that mass, has only seemed to help me.

As I progress to larger vehicles, does ASAS reach some limit where it can't do the job? Or does it just become painfully slow?

[going-to-the-MOON]

When you get to very large vehicles, RCS becomes very useful. The only way you can really move the craft without it is if you're firing the engines, in which case the gimbal is helping you. Also, it's nice for fine tuning maneuvers (ie. setting up an aerobrake into Jool).

[sardaukar11]

i dont knhow how could you dock two ships in orbit without RCS to translate the ship

[TMS]

HUH! Absolutely NOTHING! say it agaaaiiin.

At least so it seems to me. My craft seems harder to handle with it on, I was always coming home with tons of fuel, and leaving it off, saving that mass, has only seemed to help me.

As I progress to larger vehicles, does ASAS reach some limit where it can't do the job? Or does it just become painfully slow?

SAS is pretty much overpowered, so RCS isn't necessary even on large crafts. It does make large crafts turn and settle on their heading a little quicker though.

It's most useful (although not necessary for translation during docking, along with fine-tuning manoeuvres/intercepts (adjusting your main engine throttle limit can help replicate these functions).

Worth noting that pods now carry a small supply built-in, so that may be enough for your missions, if your craft is small enough and you're efficient at docking.