Strutting issue I am having.

[SSSPutnik]

My Kerbals are using struts, but having a lot of issues placing them. When they try to tie two tanks together in a stack, they usually get the initial attachment to 'stick' (IE you see the retainer and have a waving end you can stick to something else).

The problem I get is when the engineer tries to attach to the next tank, most of the time the end never wants to stick to the next tank. (Or if they do, the ends seem buried inside the tank and you cant really see them or tell if they are attached).

The QA guys are going nuts and turnover in the strutting division is reaching really high levels with morale at an all time low.

Is there a consultant we can call in who knows all things strutty? Any other engineers who know what they are doing? Any tips appreciated.

Edited November 14, 2013 by SSSPutnik
Answered

[Virindi]

Try doing it the other way around. That is, if you were attaching the top one first try doing the bottom one first, or whatever.

[SSSPutnik]

Unsure if the union will let them work upside down, but will ask them. At this stage anything that will work !

[soranno]

Recently I have enjoyed success putting a girder segment in vertically where the tanks meet, and then strut from the girder to the tanks on both sides

[allmhuran]

This is often a result of the strut not having a clear line of sight from the first point of attachment to the target point.

in the game, "cylindrical" tanks aren't actually cylinders, they are made of polygons. As such, they have vertices all around the face of the "curved" edge. When attempting to draw out a strut from one such "cylinder" to another, the strut may actually intersect one of those vertices. In which case the strut will both start and end on the source part.

Try attaching the strut so that it's origin point is facing at least partly towards the target, such that in order to get from source to target the strut is extending away from the source part rather than across it.

If you are trying to strut between tanks attached vertically, then the problem is that the faces are coplanar and so the strut has no line of sight to the target face. Add something that gives the strut some angle to work with, like a small girder segment, cubic octagonal strut, structural pylon, etc.

Edited November 12, 2013 by allmhuran

[SSSPutnik]

OK that makes a lot of sense, I knew the objects were composed of angles, the coplanar explanation makes it easy to understand what's happening.

I'll add attachment points then. Cheers.

[SSSPutnik]

How do I mark as answered?

[allmhuran]

In the quick reply box look at the bottom right and hit the "go advanced" button. Then you can edit the title.

[SSSPutnik]

Thanks to those with useful tips.