Are landing legs supposed to sink into the ground?

[Dspan_000]

I landed on Duna and saw that my landing legs sank into then group a bit. Not very much but right above the feet of the landing legs. Is this supposed to happen?

Edited May 28, 2015 by Dspan_000

[Xannari Ferrows]

That can happen 1 of 2 ways. Either the collision meshes are misaligned with the planetary graphical model, or the landing gear thinks it's a drill.

[Snark]

Not sure whether it's "supposed" to happen, but yeah, it's pretty common. Been doing that since forever.

It seems to be mainly just cosmetic, at least in my experience; I've never had a problem with any physical consequences such as a craft tipping or whatever.

[KerbMav]

I think it looks better that way instead of semi hovering above the ground texture. It looks like it really is landed and dug into the dust or whatever a bit.

[Reactordrone]

Damaged landing struts will also give a deep sink effect. They look ok in flight but on the ground the damaged strut will look deeply embedded in the ground.

[Laie]

In my experience, it's a hint that you put too much strain on the gear: either came down too fast or just don't have enough legs to hold the vessel. Sunk legs have a decent chance of being stuck to the ground, giving you some tilt when you lift off.

Putting on enough legs so the sinking won't happen means one heavy-duty leg for every 6-8t of weight (mind the local gravity). Properly holding up a lander on Eve or Tylo requires an insane number of legs. The stickyness usually isn't a problem, the sunk appearance merely cosmetic, so most people don't use "enough" legs and accept that they may sink in: you can get away with something like one leg per 15t or more until they break.

For the newbies among us: "breaking" doesn't mean that they fall off. It only means that their suspension becomes stuck in an mostly-extended state. As a landing gear, they still work as well (or badly) as any rigid structural piece.

If you don't mind the looks, airplane landing gear outperforms legs in every way: holds up near infinite weight, doesn't break, and doesn't stick to the ground.

Edited May 29, 2015 by Laie

[CaribouGone]

the micro-landing struts have always had this problem, as far as i know.

the other legs seem to work well enough for me, though.