Feature Request - Anchors

[dvp]

In low-ish gravity environments, and heck, even on Kerbin, it seems like the ground is awfully slippery. This was true in KSP1 as well. (Rovers spinning out and flipping over, spaceships landing and then proceeding to slide down the inside of a crater, Kerbals bumping into a ship and sending it flying.)

My obviously-SWAG is that this is a combination of physics krakens (no way Jed should be able to knock over a 50t Mun Rover) and maybe not modeling friction at all?

Adding some combination of tent stakes and anchors to the tech tree that "stick" a spaceship to the ground and keep it from wiggling around (Turn it into terrain from the perspective of the physics engine?) would be a nice QoL enhancement, and would probably cut down on "bug" reports from frustrated players as well.

[Cailean_556]

That was what the Ground Anchor in KSP1 was for - to lock a base/craft to the ground. I was hoping that wouldn't be needed in KSP2. At present though it seems like it might be...

I don't even pretend to understand why the surfaces of planets are/have to be slippery but I would like the game to recognise that wheels that are not in motion - on a craft that is not under load - as well as the landing struts - on a craft that is also not under load - should not move/slide/invoke the Kraken's tentacles.

By under load, I mean on a significant angle which, based on the craft's weight, would cause it to slide/roll/tilt downward OR (for rovers/ground vehicles) when power is applied to the wheels.

[DonLabs]

friction force is coefficient of friction multiplied by the normal force. (Fk=Uk M g) . So if coefficient of friction remains the same on another body (if the materials are similar like a certain type of rock), but the gravity is lower, then the normal force will be lower and hence the friction force will be lower. Normal force is gravity multiplied by mass and acts normal to the surface (perpendicular to the surface). So on a slope the normal force will be gravity multiplied by mass multiplied by the Cosine of the angle of the slope.  Fk=Uk M g Cos (Theta). So smaller gravity means slippery slopes especially when the gravity is very small like some moons in Kerbin system.

[steveman0]

41 minutes ago, DonLabs said:

friction force is coefficient of friction multiplied by the normal force. (Fk=Uk M g) . So if coefficient of friction remains the same on another body (if the materials are similar like a certain type of rock), but the gravity is lower, then the normal force will be lower and hence the friction force will be lower. Normal force is gravity multiplied by mass and acts normal to the surface (perpendicular to the surface). So on a slope the normal force will be gravity multiplied by mass multiplied by the Cosine of the angle of the slope.  Fk=Uk M g Cos (Theta). So smaller gravity means slippery slopes especially when the gravity is very small like some moons in Kerbin system.

This is making the rather substantial assumption that you have a simple surface to surface contact that you can continue to slide over. Realistically, if the legs of the craft were sliding on a dry, gravel surface, the legs would begin to dig into the surface/become covered in rocks increasing the friction until firmly planted. I would go so far as to say they would be designed to do this. From this point of view, the landing legs themselves should function as a kind of anchor if the craft shifts more than a short distance.