What is the point of solid fuel boosters?

[Saruso]

I really want to use them, as it is cheaper and used in real life and I want it to be as realistic as possible. But most of the times when I use them the ship flips at 4000 or 7000 depending on the ship. And when I see tutorials or videos of Pro-Kerbal players for learning how to use them these guys always attach liquid fuel tank+engine on the sides of the ship with fuel connector, and man..it makes every launch SO much easy. So after days of trying hard I've surrendered to the liquid fuel.
So what is the point of having them in the game, is it like a cheap-early game thing? Does anyone knows how to use them properly? And why anyone on youtube uses them??

[akingpa]

Use Solid fuel as your initial stages as they are quite difficult to steer. Jettison the empty solid fuel boosters to reduce weight once they have expended the fuel.

[Naiba]

They're real cheap. Crazy inefficient, but have a good thrust-to-weight ratio for getting your rockets off the ground for less money than adding an extra fueltank.

[Rogue]

Just useful for overcoming the early hurdles of getting off the ground and gaining that tiny bit of efficiency by not having to waste your LF engines early on.

[bpain87]

Throw some fins on them and your main rocket body, that will stop you from flipping.

[El Rushbo]

The cost is good since SRBs are cheap. Plus they are powerful. I find them best when used as a supplement to initial lifting stages.

[Walker Evans]

Also sometimes helps to reduce their maximum thrust.

[kafktastic]

As Walker (are you from Cbus?) says... reduce their maximum thrust.

[Walker Evans]

@kafktastic, nope, sorry. Don't know what Cbus is.

[Empiro]

They're a good way to cheaply increase your TWR, though in 1.0 they're not nearly as cheap as they were back in 0.90.

[Rickenbacker]

Like others have said, they're a cheap way to increase your thrust and get off the pad quicker. But don't ever use them on anything but the first stage - you'll only be carrying dead weight.

[ScruffyBamboo]

As an aside, the mod pack SpaceY has some pretty massive SRBs to add to your bigger rockets. Some even have basic gimballing to aid in controlling them. Plus, they look awesome.

[DCBenton]

They have been nerfed quite a lot in 1.0.x. The only advantage they have now is lower part count. When you can build rockets bigger than 30 parts, liquid boosters are the only real option. You will get a rocket with better fuel efficiency and better TWR, and the only drawback is that it will cost a tiny bit more.

[Patriot03]

Solid Rocket Boosters when used in the right situation, offer great advantages namely they're dirt cheap.

A rocket that can get to, and orbit Mun (and get back with a kerbal) using a SRB first stage costs me 14,000

A Liquid fuel rocket which can BARELY get into low kerbin orbit costs 15,000 (For me)

Here is a picture of My ace rocket, for the price I haven't been able to design a better rocket (This one is loaded to fly to the mun, orbit, then come back to kerbin with just enough fuel to burn retorograde to help re-entry) - Note I've done this several times, tried and tested. It works.

The nice thing about this rocket, is with its first stage as long as I hold "D" The thing performs a perfect gravity turn, It wouldn't flip over if I tried lol.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=447220582


Its designed after the real life "Ares" rocket class by NASA.

PS: The only mod used for this rocket, is that mid section second stage liquid fuel tank. You can make the same thing stock I just went and found a fuel tank mod for looks. - Its priced fairly and everything.

PPS: Depending on how much it is lifting, I limit its thrust to always produce 1.52 TWR. This lifts good, doesn't go too fast to burn up. yet its fast enough for a fun/stable trip.

[Patriot03]

Oh I forgot the main reason. Solid Rocket Boosters are just cool! Besides that I would agree they're most useful earlier on before you've unlocked larger, more powerful liquid engines. (At this point however, they can still be used as assistant boosters for the main stage for super heavy missions) - Some people have mentioned mods which add larger SRBs (Thank you btw, Ima probably get that) in this case they can be used even later on in the game.

[Nitojmg]

1. Puts some fins or cannards on the bottom of your rockets to prevent the flip-over.
2. SRB's are MASSIVELY powerfull, the y bring a good TWR at low cost. Special for those heavy first stages, The work better at pairs and you can detach them as they burn up all the fuel and loose weight rapidly so the less powerfull liquid engines kick in and get you to orbit. Another tip is: Put the SRB's as low as possible to low the center of gravity and prevent a rapid flip-over of your ship.