Do AutoStruts add weight to a craft?

[KerbalChamp2006]

Hello i was just wondering since normal struts have weight do autostruts also have weight?

[bewing]

No. Autostruts are free, massless, and dragless.

 

[KerbalChamp2006]

Ok thank you

[vossiewulf]

10 hours ago, KerbalChamp2006 said:

Ok thank you

Just one problem, autostruts have been known for as long as they've been around to be highly krakenating. It is much better to use the Kerbal Joint Reinforcement mod and never have to think about wiggly rockets ever again. And easiest way to get that installed is to use CKAN and select KJR from the list of available mods and hit the install button.

[Spricigo]

8 hours ago, vossiewulf said:

Just one problem, autostruts have been known for as long as they've been around to be highly krakenating. 

Not really.  The problem "with autostruts" is that it allows some obviously flawed  design ideas. Like when the craft is composed by hundreds of parts and everything is linked to a single probecore.

Just avoid such ideas and you will be fine.

 

 

[vossiewulf]

14 minutes ago, Spricigo said:

Not really.  The problem "with autostruts" is that it allows some obviously flawed  design ideas. Like when the craft is composed by hundreds of parts and everything is linked to a single probecore.

Just avoid such ideas and you will be fine.

 

 

I used autostruts in one game for a period of time, and had horrible problems with space stations going kraken, especially when releasing large orbital-built ships. I strongly suggest anyone who builds big to stay away from autostruts and stick with KJR.

[Bej Kerman]

19 minutes ago, vossiewulf said:

41 minutes ago, Spricigo said:

Not really.  The problem "with autostruts" is that it allows some obviously flawed  design ideas. Like when the craft is composed by hundreds of parts and everything is linked to a single probecore.

Just avoid such ideas and you will be fine.

 

 

I used autostruts in one game for a period of time, and had horrible problems with space stations going kraken, especially when releasing large orbital-built ships. I strongly suggest anyone who builds big to stay away from autostruts and stick with KJR.

Try using grandparent instead of heaviest part. Grandparent leads to much less wobbly links. I'd strongly suggest anyone just make sure to use autostruts instead of mods to keep craft shareable between stock installs.

[vossiewulf]

1 hour ago, Bej Kerman said:

Try using grandparent instead of heaviest part. Grandparent leads to much less wobbly links. I'd strongly suggest anyone just make sure to use autostruts instead of mods to keep craft shareable between stock installs.

It goes without saying that if stock compatibility is important to you then you should use the stock functionality. For those who aren't concerned with that and play modded installs, I stand by that KJR is a better and simpler solution.

[AHHans]

My 0.05€: the risk from autostruts is mostly when they flip around. Autostruts to "heaviest" will change their target e.g. when you use up the fuel in a tank that used to be the heaviest part and at some point another part becomes he heaviest. Similarly autostruts to "root" will change when you (un)dock and another part becomes the new root part of the combined/separated vessel. Such a sudden redistribution of mechanical stresses can tear the vessel apart.

I usually set autostrut to "grandparent" on essentially all the parts of my vessels and didn't have a negative effect that I remember.

Edited July 9, 2020 by AHHans
fixed typo

[KerbalChamp2006]

1 minute ago, AHHans said:

My 0.05€: the risk from autostruts is mostly when they flip around. Autostruts to "heaviest" will change their target e.g. when you use up the fuel in a tank that used to be the heaviest part and at some point another part becomes he heaviest. Similarly autostruts to "root" will change when you (un)dock and another part becomes the new root part of the combined/separated vessel. Such a sudden redistribution of mechanical stresses can tear the vessel apart.

I usually set autostrut to "grandparent" on essentially all the parts of my vessels and didn't have a negative that I remember.

Thanks for the advice.

[Klapaucius]

3 hours ago, vossiewulf said:

I used autostruts in one game for a period of time, and had horrible problems with space stations going kraken, especially when releasing large orbital-built ships. I strongly suggest anyone who builds big to stay away from autostruts and stick with KJR.

I find for space stations that simply using rigid attachment generally achieves the same result without the Kraken.

Autostruts are great for airplanes. They get rid of unwanted flex while still allowing enough give for planes to land without shattering.  Rigid attachment makes them too inflexible and thus brittle.

[Spricigo]

2 hours ago, vossiewulf said:

I used autostruts in one game for a period of time, and had horrible problems with space stations going kraken, especially when releasing large orbital-built ships. I strongly suggest anyone who builds big to stay away from autostruts and stick with KJR.

Meanwhile I use it everywhere, since  it was introduced and never had a problem.  More than a few times used it in massive crafts of a heavily modded game. It just happens that instead of finding a fix , I skipped the only issue by not designing kraken offerings.

I guess whatever works for each one of us is fine.

 

23 minutes ago, AHHans said:

My 0.05€: the risk from autostruts is mostly when they flip around.

Mostly yes. But some arrangements of multiple heavy parts struted to a light part* are also kraken offerings (it just don't happens so often in typical play)

 

*Who didn't had a probecore as root?

[Spricigo]

13 minutes ago, Klapaucius said:

I find for space stations that simply using rigid attachment generally achieves the same result without the Kraken.

For the station yes, for the ship leaving the station not quite so. Stll, there is a range of solutions  for wobbly large ships.