I can't test this base on runway

[Carrot]

This is the design of my base.

I wanna put in on the highest level of runway to test 2 things:
1) Wondering if my solar arrays can support the operation of the mine.
2) Will those drills too long to push my base up (It may break coz my drills at the center)

It explodes once I tried launching it (due to the drop) is there anyway I can solve the problem and test my base before launching please? Thanks

Edited January 27, 2017 by Carrot

[Shadowmage]

17 minutes ago, Carrot said:

This is the design of my base.

 

I wanna put in on the highest level of runway to test 2 things:
1) Wondering if my solar arrays can support the operation of the mine.
2) Will those drills too long to push my base up (It may break coz my drills at the center)

It explodes once I tried launching it (due to the drop) is there anyway I can solve the problem and test my base before launching please? Thanks

Attach launch clamps to it.  Position it just above the floor of the SPH.  Launch, trigger clamps, it will fall ~0.25m or whatever height you set it at in the sph, which should.. hopefully.. not be enough to break everything.

Should work unless you have parts on there that are giving incorrect 'placement height' (unsure if the stock drills cause this problem or not, I know some mod parts can cause those problems).

[steuben]

Another option is to use hyperedit to reduce the gravity of kerbin down to <insert planet>'s gravity.

[Carrot]

1 hour ago, Shadowmage said:

Attach launch clamps to it.  Position it just above the floor of the SPH.  Launch, trigger clamps, it will fall ~0.25m or whatever height you set it at in the sph, which should.. hopefully.. not be enough to break everything.

Should work unless you have parts on there that are giving incorrect 'placement height' (unsure if the stock drills cause this problem or not, I know some mod parts can cause those problems).

Sadly I tried the launch clamps method and the Runway blow up too 

52 minutes ago, steuben said:

Another option is to use hyperedit to reduce the gravity of kerbin down to <insert planet>'s gravity.

Will try it out for sure! Thanks

[sardia]

1 hour ago, Carrot said:

Sadly I tried the launch clamps method and the Runway blow up too 

Will try it out for sure! Thanks

Just adjust the position of the station so that it touches the space plane hanger floor. That will reduce the drop distance when you launch. 

[Sharpy]

No need to use Hyperedit - stock gravity hack suffices (Alt+f12, cheats, gravity hack).

Launch the base once, let it explode while activating the hack, revert, launch again - the hack will be active from moment one.

 

I can already say gigantors placed this low will cause problems in the evening when they pivot and push at the ground. Move them two notches up so that when they turn tracking the Sun, they won't touch the ground.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Sharpy

[Snark]

Moving to Gameplay Questions.

[bewing]

If you use the debug menu, as Sharpy says, you don't even have to let it fall once. You can set the gravity nice and low from inside the SPH, then launch. When it settles gently to the runway, turn the gravity back up to full again. Or to the levels on the Mun, or whereever you want this station to go.

[MaxxQ]

This doesn't answer the main question, but I think you may need to move either your solar panels or your radiators.  The way they are positioned now, unless the sun is directly overhead (or close to that), you're not going to get a full charge from sunlight.  When the panels rotate to follow the sun, they're going to get partially blocked by the radiators.