Mass and part count of struts

[rodion]

Hi, struts are 50 kg each and each strut counts as 1 part (so far as I know), so in the interests of efficiency, help me out with this hypothetical scenario: if I decouple 2 spacecraft that are linked by struts, does the mass of the struts get set to 0 kg after detachment, or get applied to one of the craft, or something else? (Assuming the middle case, does the way the struts are attached in the VAB/SPH determine which craft retains the mass?)

Also, the nodes that the struts were attached to remain on the craft after separation. Assuming I had 4 struts to begin with, does this then make the functional part count of the scene owing to strut nodes after separation (assume the two craft are still in the same scene together) 8, 4, or some other number? If you know anything about this it would really help me out, thanks.

[Blue]

As far as I can remember, struts count for 0 mass in gameplay, and only read a mass in the part editor pages because the description requires them to, somehow.

They also cause no aero-drag.

[rodion]

As far as I can remember, struts count for 0 mass in gameplay, and only read a mass in the part editor pages because the description requires them to, somehow.

Oh, that's very handy, if slightly weird. Makes me feel less fretful about how much stuff I'm potentially dragging up with me to space, especially things that have awkward structural properties. Thanks for the info.

[Dunbaratu]

I can't answer the mass question, but I do know that when a strut between two parts of the vessel breaks because the vessel has decoupled or staged the parts, the one that retains the strut nub connected to it is the "from" end of the strut, not the "to" end of the strut. (When you built in in the VAB, it's the part you clicked on first not the one you clicked on second).

However, I have seen slightly buggy behavior out of this sometimes where the strut nubs become individual bits of debris (each nub tracked separately in the tracking center) and float away. I can't remember now what causes that but it has something to do with the exact way the parts were connected.