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How does one manage to break these?


bigdad84

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Well, they can break by colliding with things or hitting the ground too hard. I'm not sure if Kerbals can repair them or not. They could have been damaged in flight or if you had a bit of a rough landing when you ejected the probe.

If they are indeed "Broken", it would be nice if they added a "Broken" texture to them. Maybe a few cracks or something. Just icing on the cake for details :)

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Would anyone like to verify this by controlled experiment?

I've had it happen enough times to know what causes it. It's always Kerbals hitting them whilst in EVA, something dropping on them, or them being dropped on something. On a more unwinnable side, it could be just collision errors when going too fast or dropping out of warp, causing parts to jitter and "slam" into things without visible notification.

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I had a rover roll over accident on the Mun; I managed to SAS torque it back on its wheels, but the solar panels on the side that it rolled onto ended up broken from the collision. Not snapped off, mind you, just showing "broken" on the right-click menu and they apparently generate no electricity now. It doesn't take much of an impact to break those things.

-- Steve

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These solar panels are perfectly attached to the "Science platform" yet somehow "broken"? This is the only one on this side, and every single one on the opposite side is broken?

Ok, and? What exactly is your question? Do you think that it's a bug, are you just saying that they don't visually appear broken or are you asking us to explain physics to you to let you know what you did to break them?

Did you drop it?

Did you land hard?

Did you walk over it with a kerbal?

Did you run over it with a rover?

Was it deployed with all panels in working order and then suddenly they broke?

Did you quicksave/quickload after deploying it?

Did you timewarp?

Did you toggle gravity?

Did you swap to it after having been outside of its render range?

There's no way for us to tell you how *you* broke them unless you give us more details.

Would anyone like to verify this by controlled experiment?

What exactly is there to test? If the solar panels can break independent of eachother and without being knocked off the structure they're attached to? The answer would be yes, 100% confirmed.

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The flat solar panel can break without falling off or exploding.... I have had to replace no end of my duna rovers for this reason. Anytime they rolled over I seemed to have about a 50% chance of failure on each panel fitted.

Alacrity

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I've never heard of parts breaking without them breaking off or exploding. Can you confirm this is a non-functioning part in situ?

Wheels can break and remain in situ: unlike solar panels, they show a damage model. I appears the game mechanic has been extended to solar panels, but the extra mesh hasn't been included.

Kerbals can repair broken wheels. I wonder if that is true for panels?

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Panels cannot be fixed :(

*Snip*

Try dropping out to space center and then loading back in. This used to fix the OX-STATs if they were 'broken'. They're REALLY fragile, though, and break at the slightest touch. Of anything. At all. A kerbal walking on it will break it.

Edited by Tiron
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I did that to a rover once, had a couple of those on its back and rolled the vehicle down some hill on duna...broke the solar panels. Didn't even realize it for about a whole minute...that's how long it took my battery to die T_T

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Alright, I put together a science rig to see if i could answer some of the questions.

XIwXrlt.jpg

The first test on the beam (going left to right) dropped a payload onto a ring of solar panels. Upon checking the results, all of the panels were broken.

The second test dropped a probe core with a solar panel on the bottom. The panel exploded, so it definitely broke it.

The third test consisted of an inline orange engine firing downward at a panel. The panel refused to break, and simply displayed the message 'blocked by structural beam'.

The fourth consisted of a sepratron firing downward at a panel. The panel didn't break, and displayed the message 'blocked by structural beam'.

(Note: I'm not certain if the 'blocked' message overrides the 'broken' message, however the broken panels from test 1 were blocked, so I suspect that 'broken' overrides.)

The fifth test consisted of a large solid booster firing downward onto a panel. The panel did not break. During previous testing, this test also gave me a pretty cool image.

khH99xp.png

For the last test, Jeb got out of his capsule and walked across the line of solar panels. Walking did not break them. When he jumped on them, however, every panel broke.

I conclude that physical damage (with the exception of walking) can and will break panels, but engine exhaust will not.

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