Why building rockets with rubber?

[haltux]

Hello all KSP fans,

I am myself a huge fan of KSP but please let me rant a little bit. Sorry.

I am fed up with the feeling of having rockets and space stations made of rubber.

Fact: there is no way to apply a significant torque to any part of a rigid object in space by applying a force at a given point of this object. Not sure whether my english is ok here so I can rephrase it: if you push an object in space you don't bend it, you move it or you turn it.

There is absolutely no reason (except collisions of course...) why any rocket or station should bend or dismantle in space. We should be able to build space station as big as we want, to build rocket as long as we want without worrying about their integrity as long as we managed to bring them to space. We should not have to use several docking ports or quantum struts, this is nonsense.

I think I can go even further in this direction : rockets sould be completely rigid objects, not sets of objects linked with springs. This spring model is (I guess) complex, unrealistic, brings nothing to the gameplay, and most likely increase the risk of bugs (explainable spinning or wobbling...).

I would be more than happy to get your opinion and the opinions of the dev on this point.

[Sapphire]

I believe the issue with this is that the problem is caused by the game's engine, which Squad doesn't make.

[sal_vager]

Actually there are many reasons, and if you'd taken a look around the forums you'd have seen a few already.

Structures can bend in space if an uneven force is applied, such as from misaligned engines, as the parts further from the center of thrust have their own mass and inertia.

Attachment nodes are as stiff as the Unity game engine currently allows, until Unity makes them more rigid they will still flex.

ASAS will over-correct and cause oscillations, making your station harlem shake to pieces.

You cannot have the multi-part craft that help make KSP the fun game it is and still expect absolute rigidity, not currently anyway though that will change in the future, so use struts to reinforce your craft.

Just because you don't see the reasons why craft wobble doesn't mean they don't exist

Also, closing for now, this subject is getting somewhat stale.