How to make bases that don't lag.

[ronny]

I've come to realize that with the Kerbal attachment system (here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25563-0-20-KAS-v0-3-1-Kerbal-Attachment-System ), you can have bases consisting of single lone parts not connected to any other parts.

Just make a crane, and drop lots of lone parts (tanks, crew cans, etc), and place the stuff with the crane. Transfer fuel with the KAS system, so no need for docking ports on the fuel tanks. But check if the crew cans have doors before placing them about. Because I didn't, lol.

Alternatively you can land a launch platform and pick up the stuff directly from that with your crane and build a huge base in no-time (well, it takes time if you're paranoid about making the crane too low like I am, leading to me having three consecutive failed crane designs, two that fell over and one that got stuck on the platform, lol).

Then drag the platform 10 kilometers away, and build another base. With only lone parts that are not connected to docking ports or landing legs you can build way bigger bases.

[Smorfty]

Won't they still make you lag though?

[rryy]

I came up with a similar idea where you can have one base section built. Once that gets filled up, you can move 2.3 km away outside of the physics range of that craft and build another section. Then, you can put some small "pylons" connecting the two base sections using KAS, using a rover or something to move them into place.

[Yuming]

I prefer to make bases like "Compounds". I have some utilities in one spot, some in another spot 2.5km away, a habitation module 2.5 km away from that, and a return vehicle station 2.5km from that, so it makes a large square. I then deposit rovers around the center of the square for transport.

[ronny]

于明八, Excellent idea! I'll steal that. Have one huge rover bus that the compounds share.

Smorfty, yes, but they can be way bigger before they lag noticeably.

rryy, KAS only reaches 50 meters at a time I think, so I wonder how many parts it would take to reach 2.3km.

[ASnogarD]

Begs the question...

What is less lag prone , 1 large structure or a number of smaller structures even if the sum of all the structures equal the same number of parts as the large structure ?

I would guess a few smaller structures... I think the lag is a effect of the parts tree getting too long with large craft / stations / bases , so each physics cycle is harder to calculate than doing small craft / stations / bases as the parts tree is smaller and easier to get through.

It is a guess though.

[ronny]

ASnogarD, My guess is that the joints themselves are the processor demanding tasks. Because by themselves the parts are just particles in a physics sense.

[Festivefire]

Won't they still make you lag though?

not as much, but yeah. KSP tends to run quicker when several entities are consolidated into one, for instance, if you had a laggy space station, you would increase lag by about 2x if you undocked all the modules. if you hook them to gether with kas, as well as using a crane to move them, lag is less, and lag is also less likely to destroy your base using a crane than landing via skycrane.

[ronny]

Festivefire, you say space stations lag less if you add joints? (when two objects dock you add a joint) Seems very counter-intuitive?

[Festivefire]

Festivefire, you say space stations lag less if you add joints? (when two objects dock you add a joint) Seems very counter-intuitive?

it makes less entities, as it all loads as one.

[ASnogarD]

ASnogarD, My guess is that the joints themselves are the processor demanding tasks. Because by themselves the parts are just particles in a physics sense.

Not sure really as each individual part is subject to collision and pathing, thats why you can snap off a solar panel or break a kethane detector on a rover, each bit is calculated as a separate collision mesh.

Least thats how I see it especially when you collide with craft with lots of parts, the parts go flying off.