Is everything more breakable?

[NewtSoup]

Ok. I've not played for a while and KSP has gone through a few new releases.

I was playing with some space plane ideas but they kept on breaking up if I pitched up too hard.  It was most spectacular.  Anyway I was getting annoyed so I went with a config I knew would work ( very over engineered but I like over engineered. Nobody can call me "subtle") That got into orbit just fine.. but re-entry was a bit of a thing.. agian .. Broke up.

Seems to me that the latest KSP has a much less forgiving model for aerodynamic stresses.  

Or is it just me being heavy handed on the controls?

[AngrybobH]

If you have the "parts failures for high G" thing ticked in the settings you can turn that off or try @linuxgurugamer's version of KJR. It works on KSP 1.4.5. I did notice things were a little bit stretchier and bendier when 1.4.0 dropped but I've been using KJR and that fixed it to my liking.

link

https://github.com/linuxgurugamer/Kerbal-Joint-Reinforcement/releases/tag/3.3.3.2

 

[NewtSoup]

Ok so it isn't just me.  Things are indeed stretchier and bendier and breakier.  Which I'm fine with now I know  It's "Don't worry folks, it's all part of the show". ( guess the movie quote )

Edited September 24, 2018 by NewtSoup

[Sharpy]

OTOH, you have the autostrut, which is dragless, weightless, costless, and much stronger than standard struts. Use it. A couple autostruts can make a craft nearly unbreakable, where in 1.2 or so you would either have it fly to pieces or never reach orbit due to the drag and load of the number of struts to keep it whole.

[swjr-swis]

1 hour ago, NewtSoup said:

Don't worry folks, it's all part of the show". ( guess the movie quote )

The Rocketeer? I think a couple others too, but seems the most fitting here.

 

Autostruts definitely help. Be mindful of how you use them though, and try to take advantage of part symmetries whenever possible - parts attached in symmetry will generate autostruts in symmetry too. Symmetry at both start and endpoints of autostruts create lattices... which can add to structural strength exponentially.

Edited September 24, 2018 by swjr-swis
typing... it's a skill.

[Aeroboi]

@NewtSoup You can also go to main menu > settings > general settings and checkbox "Advanced Tweakables"

Then use autostrut to strengthen all the joints. You do this by right clicking any part of the vessel and press "autostrut"
It then toggles between 3 modes. "Heaviest Part", "Root Part" and "Grandparent Part"
A orange lines will show where a part is then strutted to when toggling through these options.

Using Heaviest part is useful to select for a part that is far away from the heaviest part so that the vessel is stiffened over the whole length.
So a cockpit on one end could be autostrutted to "heaviest part" that is then connected to a largest fuel tank or heaviest engine on the other side of the craft.
Consequently autostrutting "root part" on the other side of the craft where engines are (away from the root part which is usually the cockpit) will stiffen it also.
Using both Root and Heaviest part on boosters, drop tanks or side mounted hardware will make them unwobbly.

Using Grandparent part is best used to any part directly attached within a stack. Or, any part that is directly sidemounted to that stack. That means any part within a serial stage (all the parts on the main fuselage of a rocket or plane)
Also grandparent radially attached parts like decouplers and the tanks or parts directly attached to that decoupler but usually not the other parts within that sidemounted stage. These are better used as "Heaviest" or "Root" to stiffen that parallel segment.

Never use Heaviest or Root autostrut on vessels you intend to dock as the struts will then change to the root or heaviest part of the other vessel and physics problems may occur. Only use grandparent autostrut on such vessels.

Edited September 24, 2018 by Aeroboi

[NewtSoup]

Right.. I tried to reply to this earlier but my phone did "a thing" and the message went away.  

Yeah I learned all about auto struts the hard way.  I had a rocket that kept falling apart for no apparent reason and the auto-struts were the cause.  What I'd done was use a LOT of them ( every part ) and set every strut to "heaviest part" which was one of the large orange fuel tanks.  As the tank emptied at around 70km it became light enough that it was no longer the heaviest part and other parts started a competition for the heavyweight title.  This caused rapid vibration and almost immediate Catastrophic Unplanned Rapid Deconstruction ( C.R.U.D. ) as the struts tried to make up their minds which component they were going to attach to.

Lesson Learned - Grandparent or Root are the only way to fly, unless you're flying an asteroid of course in which case heaviest part is probably relatively safe.

I have the tweakables turned on because I like to govern the fuel flow in my craft.

Thanks for all the advice.  I'm sure I'll be ok now.  I'm fine with everything being stretchier and bendier now that I know it's probably intentional.  Just hope it doesn't cause the "Heart of Kerbin" to fall apart.  One day soon I will get back to that.  I had a PC issue ( bad linux upgrade ) and lost all the video that I'd recorded for it so It will be just pictures now.