EVA Construction: near useless?

[chd]

I'm finding EVA construction to be near useless. Maybe there are tricks that aren't documented or hinted at anywhere, but if so I haven't stumbled across them yet.

Major problem: anytime I try to do any construction, sooner or later (almost always sooner) I move something a wrong way or across a bad spot or something, and suddenly everything explodes without warning. So, now I don't dare try to use it on anything I care at all about. Not useful. (I do have KJR installed, if that could be a factor.)

Minor problem: the engineer's effective range is too short. This becomes the sort of challenge that is 100% hassle, 0% fun. Would still use for emergencies, except for the point above.

Good idea. Needs a lot of fixing and adjustment before it's usable though.

Is this just me?

[king of nowhere]

first, the bug with stuff randomly exploding can easily be fixed by saving the game before performing eva construction. i believe even the more purists of "play it as it goes" would agree that reverting a bug is a legitimate use of the reload function.

second, i often forget to add some minor details. parachutes, solar panels, those kind of things. eva construction allows fixing that without having to launch the whole big ship again.

third, eva construction allows overcoming limitations. There's a guy who went to eve cavemen style, with 30 part limit on every launch, and he was able to do it by eva construction.

it can also be useful to add parts that would create aerodinamic problems during launch, like a big antenna that would stick out of the fairing.

It enables multipurposing your vehicles on the spot. There was a time i sent a spaceplane to land on atmospheric planets, and then i realized I could also fly in the atmosphere of neidon; I wouldn't land, and so I removed the wheels. I had tight margins on that mission, removing 750 kg made a difference.

 

the major bonus of eva construction, though, is when coupled with kerbalism or other mods with part breaking. because it allows fixing malfunctions along the way. The first large mission i played with kerbalism, months before that new release, i had to make sure to have multiple redundant wheels and engines on everything. After eva construction, I could get away with just two, and if a part breaks i can easily swap it; it saves hassle and complexity. and it feels very good to be able to fix stuff. also, i can discard the broken parts, reducing weight. 

I can also keep parts protected from malfunctions in inventory; instead of bringing 6 parachutes for the reentry capsule because some may get broken along the way, pack just one, inside the inventory, where it is protected from aging. Only install it as you approach atmosphere. Finally, I can move around docking ports and dock my ships in ways I didn't think to enable originally. This actually saved my first kerbalims mission, because at some point I realized i needed to protect myself from radiation by moving a shuttle in front of a cupola, and it was only possible because i could move a docking port in front of said cupola.

There's a lot of the more complex stuff I do that wouldn't be possible without eva construction.

 

eva construction simply doesn't fit your playstyle, but it's extremely useful

[GluttonyReaper]

I've not had any issues with things exploding yet, but as far as I can tell, it's not really made for "construction" per se, more augmentation? It's very fun using it to rectify mistakes on the fly, I particularly enjoyed passing around an SAS module across my Munar vehicles when I realized I hadn't installed any on my landers... 

[Kerbart]

The ability to add struts alone is worth it. No more wobbly docked additions!

[The Aziz]

I absolutely had the same experience with KJR, to the point when attaching parts were causing gravity to turn off. So I removed it, started using auto struts more (still bit wobbly but not gamebreaking) but no explosions. Apparently the mod doesn't like changes to craft tree when physics are turned on.

[royying]

EVA construction don't allow us detach broken solar panel and wheels, must repair it first, it is very stupid...

[DeadJohn]

On 10/23/2021 at 4:25 PM, chd said:

(I do have KJR installed, if that could be a factor.)

KJR is definitely a problem with KSP 1.11 and 1.12. The "Next" and "Continued" forks of KJR are both broken. Attaching parts can cause explosions, uncontrollable spinning due to phantom torque, and kraken acceleration that ruins orbits.

I haven't seen any indication that anyone's working on fixes for 1.12, so I suggest removing KJR. Try this instead:

• Save your game often, especially before starting EVA construction. Glitches can happen even without KJR.
• Use autostruts for large vessels.
• When autostruts aren't enough to stabilize a vessel, resort to manual strut attachment, or turn on unbreakable joints with alt-f12. There's no shame in "cheating" your way past game bugs.

 

 

 

[18Watt]

I use EVA construction constantly now.  I find it extremely useful.  In fact, it's among the most useful features of KSP to me.