Fine throttle control

[E. F. Kranz]

Hey all.

I\'ve more or less perfected my HoveRover flight-capable rover design. It is sturdy, steady, and has a flight range (on the Mun) far greater than 50km, roving range of course is limited only to the amount of time you feel like putting into it.

One problem I\'m running into is the inability to control the throttle position precisely. I\'m certain that there is a thrust level at which the rover would hover perfectly, neither rising nor falling, but I can\'t find it. Instead, I\'m left watching my vertical rate and babying the throttle to maintain an altitude. CAPSLOCK for precise control seems to only affect directional controls, not the throttle.

Is there a solution to this, or is it simply a limitation of the game?

[semininja]

MechJeb has a setting for holding altitude; have you tried it? It\'s pretty effective...

[E. F. Kranz]

No, I haven\'t. It was recommended to me to solve another problem, and I looked into it. Feels too much like 'cheating,' to me. I suppose I\'ll need to get over it....

[RedDwarfIV]

If you tap the CTRL or SHIFT key rather than pushing it, you get a much smaller increment. I don\'t know if you knew this.

[Timmon26]

Remember that the weight of the vehicle is constantly lessening as you burn fuel. You\'ll need to keep throttling down slightly to hover at a given altitude.

[E. F. Kranz]

re: tapping - Yes, that\'s what I\'m doing. I\'d estimate even the 'tap' is an increment of 5-10%, though.

re: fuel weight - I knew that instinctively, but have not been taking it into account during flight.

Sounds like MechJeb is the solution, just takes all the fun out of it.

[White Owl]

Sounds like it\'s time to get yourself a joystick. Problem solved.

I know what you mean about not wanting to use MechJeb. I\'m sure it\'s a great program and tremendously useful for all sorts of things... but for me a large part of the fun in KSP comes from personally piloting all my vehicles. I don\'t want a program to do it for me.

[E. F. Kranz]

I\'ll be honest, White Owl. I actually went out and bought a joystick (or a keypad, or whatever the kids call them these days).

Truth is, I can\'t wrap my brain around it. In traditional flight using a joystick, your main axis is horizontally oriented. In KSP, it\'s vertical. Or maybe I\'m not describing it right.

Anyway, I have absolutely no idea why I can fly with a keyboard, but not a joystick.

[E. F. Kranz]

I wonder if the 'repeat delay' in Windows control panel / keyboard settings has any effect?

[White Owl]

I\'ll be honest, White Owl. I actually went out and bought a joystick (or a keypad, or whatever the kids call them these days).

Truth is, I can\'t wrap my brain around it. In traditional flight using a joystick, your main axis is horizontally oriented. In KSP, it\'s vertical. Or maybe I\'m not describing it right.

Anyway, I have absolutely no idea why I can fly with a keyboard, but not a joystick.

I know exactly what you mean. One tricky thing about using a joystick in KSP is you have to decide to assign either roll or yaw to lateral movement of the stick. Depending on what you\'re flying, and where, either roll or yaw will 'feel' more natural and correct. I started out flying my airplanes with rocket-style controls, but then switched to flying rockets with airplane-style controls. I would love to have an option to switch control schemes on the fly.

[E. F. Kranz]

Come to think of it, how useful would the MechJeb be in this situation?

I\'m typically maintaining an altitude of roughly 150m off the munar surface. Given the variations of the geology of the Mun, will this plugin be able to 'look ahead' and anticipate the delta-V requirements for maintaining an altitude over varied terrain?

I suspect not, as even as a human pilot, I find such tasks, well, taxing.

[semininja]

Come to think of it, how useful would the MechJeb be in this situation?

I\'m typically maintaining an altitude of roughly 150m off the munar surface. Given the variations of the geology of the Mun, will this plugin be able to 'look ahead' and anticipate the delta-V requirements for maintaining an altitude over varied terrain?

I suspect not, as even as a human pilot, I find such tasks, well, taxing.

Do you mean to keep a specific altitude above ground level or above \'sea level\' (0m on the altimeter)?

[E. F. Kranz]

The craft is designed for low-altitude munar observation. Its flight capabilities are intended to allow the pilot to easily move from feature to feature. Think of it as a munar helicopter.

So, while not specifically trying to hold any particular altitude above ground level (since I have no ground level radar), I would describe the intended flight characteristic as 'ground following,' primarily due to attempting to conserve energy. It flies nicely over ridges and down into craters, and I must admit that cruising through canyons is particularly fun.

[tncm]

It looks like a very stable craft, and gratz on getting it to the moon.

But regarding the precise throttle control I couldn\'t agree more. Sometimes you need to even out Ap Pa without RCS and it can be incredibly hard. I would love precise control on throttle too. Maybe pressing TAB will lock it much like CAPS for controls. TAB should also be assigned to RCS, unlike the current CAPS.

[Bluejayek]

it would be nice if there was another control that you could tap (that does not repeat) for 0.1 or 0.5% increments of throttle. For those of us who have a hate on for RCS thrusters but still want to do fine maneurvers like rendevous.