Anyone know how to break (landing) legs?

[cyberKerb]

Reason: My Kerbal QA manager of product is wanting to check the quality of the last batch of stock landing legs.
Real Reason: Testing some game mechanics

Does someone have a reasonably reproducible way to 'break' stock landing legs while at the Launchpad / runway?
Clarification - by 'break', I mean having the status of broken and able to be repaired by a level2 Engineer, not *poof* 'break'. (KSP 1.4.3 with MH installed)

I've tried various drop tests and ramming  impact tests, but no luck.

Edited June 1, 2018 by wile1411

[qzgy]

I dont think I've ever seen landing legs "break" without going poof bang clatter clatter.....

[MechBFP]

25 minutes ago, wile1411 said:

Reason: My Kerbal QA manager of product is wanting to check the quality of the last batch of stock landing legs.
Real Reason: Testing some game mechanics

Does someone have a reasonably reproducible way to 'break' stock landing legs while at the Launchpad / runway?
Clarification - by 'break', I mean having the status of broken and able to be repaired by a level2 Engineer, not *poof* 'break'.

I've tried various drop tests and ramming  impact tests, but no luck.

Impossible. They either poof or they are fine.

[cyberKerb]

I remember when they would break and not be able to retract / extend. (cue 4year old reddit post)

But I don't know if that was actually ever removed or just made so it's hard to do. I take it's just no possible now?

2015 post image from stack exchange:

 

[qzgy]

6 hours ago, wile1411 said:

I take it's just no possible now?

I dont know particularly if its been removed as a feature, but I haven't seen it before...

[cyberKerb]

4 hours ago, qzgy said:

I dont know particularly if its been removed as a feature, but I haven't seen it before...

Found a post by Squad member @bewing to confirm my mad ramblings. Apparent they needed an engineer level 2 to repair..

 

Edited June 1, 2018 by wile1411
Moderator testing of post edit function

[qzgy]

1 minute ago, wile1411 said:

Found a post by Squad member @bewing to confirm my mad ramblings. Apparent they needed an engineer level 2 to repair.

 

Also found past me also never see it.

But maybe they are still a feature.

My best guess would be to drop test it Or apply steadily more and more weight to it. I'm not sure though.

[cyberKerb]

wiki EVA actions page mentions being able to repair legs too

Quote

Fix broken landing leg (Right-click on leg → Repair Leg). For this to succeed the leg must be only mildly damaged; a leg which has exploded or detached from the lander cannot be recovered.^{(Engineer level 2)}

 

So - anyone else got any additional ideas on breaking landing legs? 

All my drop tests results in a bounce of the vessel or an explosion of the legs. I just can't seem to find the sweet spot (if it exists in this version of KSP) for a leg to 'break'. Maybe I need to check with @SQUAD to confirm it's a thing.

I've tried just raw height with a Kerbodyne S3-7200 Tank (40t) with only 3 LT-1 Landing Struts. This just results in the usual bounce or *poof* depending on height.
I'll have another go tonight, but this time I'll try to drop it so the legs land at an angle. Rough guess of a theory: maybe they only break with lateral forces

Mad Theory: Could the fix for the exploding legs in 1.4.3 have killed the ability to 'damage' legs?  (I looked at the API for Landing legs and it seems to use the ModuleWheelDamage for damage stuff)

 

 

Edited June 1, 2018 by wile1411

[Deddly]

Moved Gameplay Question to Gameplay Questions

[bewing]

To damage them without destroying them, you have to bonk them from the side. They are "designed" to withstand forces on their feet.

And yes, this feature still exists, but sometimes tweaks in various parts of the code make it more or less difficult to get a leg into a slightly damaged state.

 

[cyberKerb]

2 hours ago, bewing said:

To damage them without destroying them, you have to bonk them from the side. They are "designed" to withstand forces on their feet.

And yes, this feature still exists, but sometimes tweaks in various parts of the code make it more or less difficult to get a leg into a slightly damaged state.

I found a way to break the balloon wheels with some repeatability: 
From the KSC launch pad, as you go down the ramp there is a little lip on the edge of the ramp (before the trenches on the side)
If I scrape the wheels with a little speed (~10m/s) against that lip -  I can pop the balloon wheels. This doesn't seems to work for other wheels though.

For Landing Legs:
Still no luck on breaking Landing legs. I've got a zorb of legs at all sorts of angles around an overpower reaction wheel and capsule, but nothing is breaking.

Is there a cfg edit I can make to help in this manner?
Maybe the ModuleWheelDamage section of the landing leg? Or would it be more around the  breakingForce / crashTolerance numbers?

I tried changing some of the number after a little research about their purpose, but no luck / wrong numbers hasn't caused any effect.

[bewing]

2 minutes ago, wile1411 said:

Is there a cfg edit I can make to help in this manner?

Yeah -- it's exactly the same as for wheels. ModuleWheelDamage. With status=1 for damaged, and 2=broken, or something like that.

 

[Duck McFuddle]

Probably just try to replicate a really crappy mun landing... I mean that's when they would usually break.

[cyberKerb]

On ‎6‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 11:04 PM, Duck McFuddle said:

Probably just try to replicate a really crappy mun landing... I mean that's when they would usually break.

I tried mostly around the KSC with the legs mounted horizontally at the front of a rover and trying to sideswipe buildings with the legs extended while doing +20m/s. No luck on all tests for breakage other than the vehicle or legs exploding.

[nasa legolas]

ok you have to fly sideways elon musk style and play the deja vu song while doing it

On 11 de junio de 2018 at 11:04 PM, wile1411 said:

I tried mostly around the KSC with the legs mounted horizontally at the front of a rover and trying to sideswipe buildings with the legs extended while doing +20m/s. No luck on all tests for breakage other than the vehicle or legs exploding.

ok so try flying near the ground and hit something by the side with them

[cyberKerb]

21 hours ago, nasa legolas said:

ok you have to fly sideways elon musk style and play the deja vu song while doing it

ok so try flying near the ground and hit something by the side with them

Yeah - I don't think it's possible with the current version. I can force it using a plugin and code to set a leg to "broken" - but that's all I've managed in the 1.4 era. I've tried many a test with legs set to various different angles and run then into buildings. I've also dragged them at various speed with different massed vehicles and all I've found is that they blowup in a poof of dust before they get a broken status.

[nasa legolas]

ok i did it, so you try to do an apollo landing and hit the ground at 10m/s(with the landing leg please) and try to land-ish safely.

i did it in 1.4.3

Edited July 1, 2018 by nasa legolas