For Pete's sake, can i get some consistency

[Conarr]

Squad, listen, I don't mind my stuff blowing up. Happens all the time. I don't mind it blowing up for no reason. That happens too. But when my stuff blows up, I want to be the one to fix it. Strap on more struts, or chew an extra bit of gum and jam it in the cracks MacGyver style, or something!

My rocket tonight exploded! Was I upset about the structural failure between the blah, blah blah and the rock-o-max what's it? No. Calm as a cucumber. I went into the VAB and right back out by accident - button happy. So I launched it again while I was there, thinking I'd actually pay attention to the parts that failed this time. Guess what? It flew perfectly the second time.

What?! How can I engineer when I change nothing, NOTHING, not even thinking happy thoughts, and the second launch went perfectly. But some miracle cure of the VAB air conditioning or whatever fixes my junk. That's not fair Squad! No! I want to fix my dumb engineering mistakes. FIX IT!

Sheesh! Makes a guy insane I tell you.

[Sir Nahme]

So it was pilot error instead of engineering error? Can't blame squad for that

[Hyomoto]

There's possible explanations for this. I've had rockets that blow up depending on how much throttle I give them, or when I perform staging, or how high into the atmosphere. I'm not really sure, but if I'm above terminal velocities I imagine the drag is much higher and putting additional stress on the rocket.

[Brotoro]

Not everything wiggles and wobbles (pardon my technical jargon) the same each time, so your on-the-edge joint will not always fail.

[HoY]

To the reverse effect of this, if you find that one of your rockets is blowing up every single launch and you know it works from past experience, try restarting the game. For some reason it works. Had this happen to an undersized load on a nova launcher Many times. Quick restart of the whole game and it launched without a problem

[Conarr]

There's possible explanations for this. I've had rockets that blow up depending on how much throttle I give them, or when I perform staging, or how high into the atmosphere. I'm not really sure, but if I'm above terminal velocities I imagine the drag is much higher and putting additional stress on the rocket.

Oh, don't go applying reason to my completely irrational rant. No room for that sort of thing!

[Fiddlestyx]

Maybe it was sabotage and the saboteur wasn't there the second time. I'm sure by now someone on Kerbal is tired of Jeb's antics.

[leax256]

to fix all randome explosions, 90% of your ship must be struts.

[Conarr]

to fix all randome explosions, 90% of your ship must be struts.

I've actually had struts explode

[DarthJazno]

Oh, don't go applying reason to my completely irrational rant. No room for that sort of thing!

Indeed. Let him rant. We are just lucky he didn't use all caps.

[lobsterbark]

There are several possible reasons for this. There used to be a bug where a craft that was launched would not always be constructed exactly the same way it was in the vab/sph, but I heard that there are rare cases in which this can still happen. Also, with the way PhysX works, if your computer is having issues keeping a good framerate, then it will round some things, which will sometimes cause parts to be slightly out of place. Maybe your anti-virus was doing something the first time, and slowed down ksp a bit? Or it could just pilot error.

[Hyomoto]

Damned it all, I've failed!

[M5000]

I have had weird issues with this before.

First time out of the VAB/SPH? Fine. No structural failures.

Mess up while flying and hit "restart"? All hell breaks loose sometimes.

Like, I was testing a mobile rover lab concept on the SPH.

Right out of the SPH? Totally fine worked like a champ.

Restart flight after crashing in a stress test? The rover explodes and sends parts flying away at 700m/s.

I changed. Nothing.

[Conarr]

Or it could just pilot error.

Nah, I have a steady hands and nerves of aluminum. So you see, it can't be my piloting. And Physical laws are constant, even in KSP, so that's out. My laptop is uber, scratch that one. I think Fiddle is right, totally sabotaged. You should form a committee and launch an investigation. I'm thinking it might have been HoY. He was pretty quick to comment and point the finger at other reasonable possibilities.

Oh and for the darth guy that didn't read and commented about my rant in caps ... here you go! PAY ATTENTION!

Edited May 22, 2013 by Conarr

[CalculusWarrior]

I have had weird issues with this before.

First time out of the VAB/SPH? Fine. No structural failures.

Mess up while flying and hit "restart"? All hell breaks loose sometimes.

Like, I was testing a mobile rover lab concept on the SPH.

Right out of the SPH? Totally fine worked like a champ.

Restart flight after crashing in a stress test? The rover explodes and sends parts flying away at 700m/s.

I changed. Nothing.

Restart Flight is weeeeird. I've seen it resurrect dead kerbals and return the entire universe to the way it was before--only there are subtle differences...like unstable rockets.

[AmpsterMan]

Um... I think OP was being a little facetious.

That being said, I've noticed this phenomenon myself, my solution has been tip build spacecraft with safety margins.

[sadron]

I load them with struts so they don't thrust up into each other.

[Conarr]

Um... I think OP was being a little facetious.

That being said, I've noticed this phenomenon myself, my solution has been tip build spacecraft with safety margins.

Shhhh! You weren't supposed to tell anyone!

The situation really did happen, and yes, I was totally being silly. It was late at night and I had to get "just one more launch and then bed". That turned into another hour and a half.

[Rage097]

Okay i'll give ya'll two solutions to this problem.

1. The game still has bugs, just say the Kraken ate your ship.

2. Unless you are a robot, you can never do things exactly the same. this means that even the slightest diffence you make in your ship/piloting can make it explode whereas if you COULD do it the same as before it would not.

In short, No. You cannot get consistency.

[Richy teh space man]

To the reverse effect of this, if you find that one of your rockets is blowing up every single launch and you know it works from past experience, try restarting the game. For some reason it works. Had this happen to an undersized load on a nova launcher Many times. Quick restart of the whole game and it launched without a problem

This

Sometimes the game does glitch for weird reasons..

[Conarr]

Okay i'll give ya'll two solutions to this problem.

1. The game still has bugs, just say the Kraken ate your ship.

2. Unless you are a robot, you can never do things exactly the same. this means that even the slightest diffence you make in your ship/piloting can make it explode whereas if you COULD do it the same as before it would not.

1. Stupid Kraken, I thought it was dead.

2. I used MechJeb for this particular launch

... and ...

3. It was late at night, I'd had a few beers and I was just being silly. Nothing like LUI (Launching under the Influence) to make a wacky game even more interesting

In short, No. You cannot get consistency.

But, but ....

[AnalogAddict]

I believe that "Restart Flight" phases one into an identical timeline in KSP, one where Jeb is actually the Kraken and your ships are randomly missing every other strut. Not to mention rocket motors randomly explode. Also I think that 1=/=1 in this universe... or at least in its physics.

[The Jedi Master]

Shhhh! You weren't supposed to tell anyone!

The situation really did happen, and yes, I was totally being silly. It was late at night and I had to get "just one more launch and then bed". That turned into another hour and a half.

KSP tends to do that to you.

I've never had this happen before, but I would guess pilot error. Just fly it like you did the time it worked, and it'll be fine.

[Jarod645]

The situation really did happen, and yes, I was totally being silly. It was late at night and I had to get "just one more launch and then bed". That turned into another hour and a half.

The story of KSP, and every other addicting game.

"Just five more minutes, and then I'll be off."

*ONE HOUR LATER...*

[Conarr]

The story of KSP, and every other addicting game.

"Just five more minutes, and then I'll be off."

*ONE HOUR LATER...*

I know right?! Just one more launch and I can rest. Well that one exploded, but I know how to fix it! Won't take but a second. That didn't work. Maybe ... hello 2AM