Hey! Eight engines consume as much as four engines with three fuel tanks?

[Olsson]

Hello I found a video on Kerbal Space Program and I played the demo, after playing the demo I got the game and I havn\'t actually gotten into orbit yet because I\'m testing things around. I noticed while making a 2-staged rocket that placing three max capacity fuel tanks and then eight engines around them consumes as much as four engines with the same fuel tanks.

Is this a bug, supposed to be like this, me being retarded or is there a mod to remedy this?

[Capt'n Skunky]

Welcome to the KSP Forums!

Happy Launching!

Arrr!

Capt\'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

[N3X15]

Hello I found a video on Kerbal Space Program and I played the demo, after playing the demo I got the game and I havn\'t actually gotten into orbit yet because I\'m testing things around. I noticed while making a 2-staged rocket that placing three max capacity fuel tanks and then eight engines around them consumes as much as four engines with the same fuel tanks.

Is this a bug, supposed to be like this, me being retarded or is there a mod to remedy this?

Do you have a .craft file demonstrating this?

[Joe Pinball]

I would suspect the 'outer' 4 engines arent actually receiving any fuel at all and are sitting there dry doing nothing. can you post your craft file or a pic so we can see it?

Joe 8)

[Olsson]

What\'s a craft file lol

EDIT: To joe: I actually get like 2000 meters more with the four extra engines though I always get the overheat halfway trough the fuel on both four and eight engines and besides that the duration is similiar.

[N3X15]

What\'s a craft file lol

EDIT: To joe: I actually get like 2000 meters more with the four extra engines though I always get the overheat halfway trough the fuel on both four and eight engines and besides that the duration is similiar.

When you save your ship, it\'s saved to Ships/SHIPNAME.craft

Attach that to a post.

[Olsson]

Pics: http://imgur.com/oeaks,b2Q4n

Ship:

[Kryten]

Those are solid fuel rockets-they act as their own fuel and engine, and don\'t drain from the fuel tanks.

[RC1062]

Welcome.

Beaten to it... Those are indeed SRBs, solid fuel rockets that have their own set amount of fuel and thrust.

[Olsson]

Welcome.

Beaten to it... Those are indeed SRBs, solid fuel rockets that have their own set amount of fuel and thrust.

Thanks to the two of you for answering so quickly!

Second question:

- Are there any plans for space-fueling or spacebases?

- Are there any plans for making re-entry earth heat so that you must have a proper alignment with the heatshield so you dont burn up?

- Plans on more shit, more rockets, parachutes, command modules, extra stuff? How fast does the updates in this game come with new stuff?

[Kryten]

Space stations, and quite possibly refuelling from them, are planned for the next major update (0.15). Re-entry heat is planned, probably within the next few updates. More parts, other than those to test new features, are intended to be added after the main features of the game are complete, near the end of the development cycle (although the devs may throw a few in now and then; e.g. the small tanks and engines in 0.14). The major update are planned for roughly 4 week intervals, but this is highly dependent on how much work actually needs to be done-the last major update, which involved large changes to the codebase, took nine weeks.

If you want to get more parts for the game, there is a very active modding community on the forum-take a look at \'Addon showcase\', and it\'s child fora.

[Hikaru]

I couldn\'t help myself and created this ... *thing* to prove you right/wrong. The answer became obvious once we saw an image of your ship, but it was still fun to fly. With 4 lfe\'s it takes roughly 47 secs to run out of fuel at full throttle; with 8 lfe\'s it takes ~22 seconds, roughly half of the time. I used a stopwatch to take the times, so it\'s probable it\'s a few seconds off - but on the plus side it\'s obvious one uses more fuel.

[Olsson]

I couldn\'t help myself and created this ... *thing* to prove you right/wrong. The answer became obvious once we saw an image of your ship, but it was still fun to fly. With 4 lfe\'s it takes roughly 47 secs to run out of fuel at full throttle; with 8 lfe\'s it takes ~22 seconds, roughly half of the time. I used a stopwatch to take the times, so it\'s probable it\'s a few seconds off - but on the plus side it\'s obvious one uses more fuel.

How can this be since each engine have their own source of fule (source above)? Kind of confused.

Also I don\'t understand the purpose of using LFE\'s now since they have 70 less thrust than the most powerful engine. How should one even use LFE?

[Capt'n Skunky]

LFE\'s can be throttled, SRBs can\'t. SRB\'s have a lot of thrust making them good for getting you off the pad and some initial inertia so when the LFE\'s take over, you don\'t have to push them as hard.

Arrr!

Capt\'n Skunky

[Kryten]

He was using LFEs in that test, the solid rockets in the picture were basically just something to hang the from. LFEs burn for much longer than SRBs, and provide much more impulse for their weight. They might seem better when you barely leave the launchpad, but these characteristics make SRB\'s far less efficient for e.g. orbital missions.

[Olsson]

He was using LFEs in that test, the solid rockets in the picture were basically just something to hang the from. LFEs burn for much longer than SRBs, and provide much more impulse for their weight. They might seem better when you barely leave the launchpad, but these characteristics make SRB\'s far less efficient for e.g. orbital missions.

So in total SRB\'s are shit. They have 70 less thrust than the best LFE, it isn\'t controllable and has only 0,2 less mass. All in all that would mean that SRB\'s are really bad and LFE\'s are better in every way wheter it would be landing on the moon, taking off from earth or the moon or flying around in space?

[Hikaru]

How can this be since each engine have their own source of fule (source above)? Kind of confused.

Also I don\'t understand the purpose of using LFE\'s now since they have 70 less thrust than the most powerful engine. How should one even use LFE?

Ah, my apologies for creating a confusing design. The fuel lines (the yellow colored strut like things) are taking fuel from the bottommost fuel tank and sending it to the 8 engines as if they were attached below the 3rd fuel tank.

Skunky is right about the LFE\'s - I normally use solid rocket boosters as the first stage of my ship, and all liquid fuel engines afterwards. Being able to throttle down is also important once you get into an orbit so you can have fuel to do things later.

This particular ship just uses the solid rocket boosters as attachment points for the liquid fuel engines. They aren\'t used at all. You probably shouldn\'t build ships like this >D

[Olsson]

Ah, my apologies for creating a confusing design. The fuel lines (the yellow colored strut like things) are taking fuel from the bottommost fuel tank and sending it to the 8 engines as if they were attached below the 3rd fuel tank.

Skunky is right about the LFE\'s - I normally use solid rocket boosters as the first stage of my ship, and all liquid fuel engines afterwards. Being able to throttle down is also important once you get into an orbit so you can have fuel to do things later.

This particular ship just uses the solid rocket boosters as attachment points for the liquid fuel engines. They aren\'t used at all. You probably shouldn\'t build ships like this >D

I don\'t understand why you would use SRB\'s they have 70 less thrust than LFE\'s.

[UmbralRaptor]

So in total SRB\'s are shit. They have 70 less thrust than the best LFE, it isn\'t controllable and has only 0,2 less mass. All in all that would mean that SRB\'s are really bad and LFE\'s are better in every way wheter it would be landing on the moon, taking off from earth or the moon or flying around in space?

Stock SRBs have a much better thrust to weight ratio, and... that\'s about it. Good mainly for getting short distances in a hurry, or challenging yourself with more limited designs.

For higher ?V and greater control, most of us use liquid engines for most flights. Mods can change this up, and there may be re-balancing in the future.

[Capt'n Skunky]

I don\'t understand why you would use SRB\'s they have 70 less thrust than LFE\'s.

Compare the weight/thrust ratio of an SRB vs an LFE and one LFT. Remember, you need to count both the engine and the fuel tank for LF power.

Cheers!

Capt\'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

[VincentMcConnell]

...For higher ?V...

How in the sam-hell did you make the symbol for Delta?

[UmbralRaptor]

How in the sam-hell did you make the symbol for Delta?

I added Greek language keyboard input:

With the key settings, I can toggle through several languages (and the US-Int layout for various characters like æ, ø, é, ¥, etc) rapidly.

[Misterspork]

Ok, here are the stats:

Stock SRB:

Short burn time

Very high thrust to weight ratio

Cannot be turned off(Or throttled in any way)

Stock Big LFE:

Liquid fuel has a very long burn time

Still relatively high thrust to weight

Can be throttled and turned off/on

Stock 'Medium' LFE:

Can be 'gimballed' or turned in order to increase stability and turn rate

All the same as the big LFE

A little bit less thrust

Stock 'Tiny' LFE:

Weaker gimbal than 'Medium'

Very small thrust

Pretty much only for landing on the moon

In summary: SRB\'s are for getting you out of the atmosphere really quickly

LFE\'s are for everything else.

I also HIGHLY recommend you check out some of the mods and addons in these forums.

They are really easy to install, just drag and drop.

They heavily increase the fun and possibilities.

[UmbralRaptor]

Stock 'Tiny' LFE:

I don\'t think it can be gimballed

Very small thrust

Pretty much only for landing on the moon

The LV-909 still has thrust vectoring, though the gimbal range is half that of the LV-T45.

[Misterspork]

The LV-909 still has thrust vectoring, though the gimbal range is half that of the LV-T45.

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