Is the launch pad really that weak?

[Kelderek]

I just used MechJeb's autopilot to do a parachute landing on the launch pad at the KSC. My 27t craft was level and landed at 7m/s on 8 of the large landing struts. No part of the ship hit the pad except for the landing struts and the result was the pad exploded and then blew up my ship killing all on board. Really?

Thankfully I had a quicksave from orbit that I could load up and try again, this time adding a little horizontal RCS push to ensure I land a few more meters north of the pad and hit the ground. It worked perfectly with a nice soft landing at 7m/s again - safe and sound, no explosions.

Anyone else had this experience with the launch pad acting like a Pinto's gas tank?

[Starwhip]

Yes. It's a problem.

They seem to have built the pad out of what they had on hand: Rocks and Solid Rocket fuel.

[Superfluous J]

I blew up the fully upgraded pad during a test firing (without launch clamps) of my Astro-glider 2. It was pretty awesome but that was in sandbox for fun. I would not have been that happy if it'd have happened in a career save.

[Kelderek]

This is what it feels like sometimes:

[cantab]

I bumped into a lamppost outside of level 2 Mission Control at about 3 m/s and the whole thing went kaboom. The building strength really is wonky.

I vaguely recall discussion that the buildings have a hidden "damage meter", to handle situations where they take several impacts one after another that individually wouldn't destroy the building. Wild mass guessing here, maybe when something slow bumps into the building and isn't destroyed itself the game wrongly treats it as repeatedly impacting the building, whereas a fast impact will be one hit and the impactor is destroyed.

[Alshain]

I bumped into a lamppost outside of level 2 Mission Control at about 3 m/s and the whole thing went kaboom. The building strength really is wonky.

I vaguely recall discussion that the buildings have a hidden "damage meter", to handle situations where they take several impacts one after another that individually wouldn't destroy the building. Wild mass guessing here, maybe when something slow bumps into the building and isn't destroyed itself the game wrongly treats it as repeatedly impacting the building, whereas a fast impact will be one hit and the impactor is destroyed.

I don't think that is the case. After the destructible buildings patch came out I watched streamers fire barrages of Solid Fuel missiles at the runway for 30 minutes and it never exploded. It isn't cumulative damage. It's speed and mass all in a single hit and if it doesn't destroy it, it resets immediately.

[mythbusters844]

This is what it feels like sometimes:

Describes it perfectly. It doesn't seem right when you drive a rover onto the launchpad at 2 m/s and then have it explode but smash a missile into it at Mach 3 and have it remain intact. I would definitely like it to see this annoying bug get fixed by making building destruction dependent on speed as well as weight.

[Kelderek]

I bumped into a lamppost outside of level 2 Mission Control at about 3 m/s and the whole thing went kaboom. The building strength really is wonky.

I vaguely recall discussion that the buildings have a hidden "damage meter", to handle situations where they take several impacts one after another that individually wouldn't destroy the building. Wild mass guessing here, maybe when something slow bumps into the building and isn't destroyed itself the game wrongly treats it as repeatedly impacting the building, whereas a fast impact will be one hit and the impactor is destroyed.

Do you mean like hit points? That might make sense if small hits accumulated over time, then one small hit might be enough to finish it off. But when I reverted to a quicksave prior to the landing the KSC pad displayed as needing no repair (I checked), so I don't see how there could have been any previously accumulated damage unless it counts as some form of un-repairable wear and tear.

[smjjames]

I've had it explode just by coming out of warp while having a really heavy rocket on it, and that's even with launch clamps. So yeah, the damage thing is kind of wierd.

[Rusty6899]

I had it explode when I forgot check my staging and the launch clamps released before my engines were burning.

Actually, that's probably not the game's fault.

[Slam_Jones]

I've had it collapse and explode when trying to move a mobile colony off of the pad. If all 8 wheels aren't touching at once, the whole thing goes boom :|

Edited March 12, 2015 by Slam_Jones

[StrandedonEarth]

I had it explode when I forgot check my staging and the launch clamps released before my engines were burning.

Actually, that's probably not the game's fault.

I've done that a few times. Hit "space" with the engines at half power (or completely off), hit max power as I touch the pad and launch in a blaze of glory as the pad explodes around me

[jake9039]

I think it might be like a mass per spot thing where if you have 200 tons all over the pad it won't break, but if you have it in a smaller spot, it will break.

[cicatrix]

7 m/s = 25.2 km/h = 15.6586 m/h. Seemingly not very fast, but fast enough.

Imagine you drive a heavy 26 ton truck into a concrete wall. So, I think it's somewhat realistic (well, somewhat). Holding a weight at start is one thing but holding an impact is quite another one.

[Van Disaster]

The runway is just as bad... landed 200t on it at a sink rate of about 1m/s, the runway explodes *after the plane is fully landed*. Has happened several times... usually the first time it's in scene since game start I think, though.