Base shaking and drifting

[TheFlyingKerman]

Just a simple mining base as shown. It moves at 0.2 m/s for no reason. The tank module causes this, and only when the tank empty. I have tried different spring and damper settings for the legs. Any idea how to fix that?

[miklkit]

Well, verifying the files might cure it if you are on Steam.  That has helped me when this happens.  I have had planes that refuse to take off from the runway and instead just run off towards the black box way out there.

[Coyote Foxtrot]

Landed vessels are a bit iffy. A sure-fire way of keeping a base still is using a ground anchor with a docking port to dock the base to.

[miklkit]

The Parking Brake mod helps a lot too, but does not always stop that turning.

[TheFlyingKerman]

On 1/31/2023 at 1:09 AM, Coyote Foxtrot said:

Landed vessels are a bit iffy. A sure-fire way of keeping a base still is using a ground anchor with a docking port to dock the base to.

OK. I found that retracting the set of legs of the tank module close to the refinery module largely reduces the drift. Using the ground anchor would probably be the best solution. However the refinery module would be too heavy to move. Is it possible to attach the base to a ground anchor without moving it? (Last time I attached a gravity to scanner to one of my own rovers on Ike and the rover bounced).

[Coyote Foxtrot]

On 1/31/2023 at 9:42 PM, TheFlyingKerman said:

OK. I found that retracting the set of legs of the tank module close to the refinery module largely reduces the drift. Using the ground anchor would probably be the best solution. However the refinery module would be too heavy to move. Is it possible to attach the base to a ground anchor without moving it? (Last time I attached a gravity to scanner to one of my own rovers on Ike and the rover bounced).

You could try having a kerbal place a ground anchor and a grabber unit underneath the base and then precariously drop it on it. 

[DeadJohn]

@TheFlyingKermanI see that the front docking port, battery, and tank aren't stacked normally. Things look offset or surface-attached.

Did you build it that way on purpose? If yes, maybe part clipping is causing phantom forces and shaking your base.

Or did the base come undone by perhaps the same problem that's causing it to shake and drift?

[TheFlyingKerman]

On 2/3/2023 at 6:42 AM, DeadJohn said:

@TheFlyingKermanI see that the front docking port, battery, and tank aren't stacked normally. Things look offset or surface-attached.

Did you build it that way on purpose? If yes, maybe part clipping is causing phantom forces and shaking your base.

Or did the base come undone by perhaps the same problem that's causing it to shake and drift?

That offset is deliberate. I attached the docking port to a 1.25 fairing base, which in turn attach to the big fuel tank via inter-stage node. The small tank is attached to another inter-stage node, and offset down. There would be a fairing protecting the legs during transit, because I am sending it to Laythe.

I found that even a simple design like this shakes

On the other hand, I Alt-F12 the module to Laythe and there seemed to be no shaking :)

[Professor K]

I've found that a lot of things shake and drift on the runway. Does it do the same if you launch it to the launchpad?

[magnemoe]

I would recomend not using legs at all on bases, they are an constant source of frustration and is downright dangerous if you use time warp while mining as the weight balance will suddenly shift then you exit warp and the base might jump and fall over. 
I uses grinders as legs, yes you has to be a bit more careful then landing but you evade lots of frustration.