a way of having huge planitary bases with no lag

[ratrace24]

well, in the current and previous versions of KSP it has been impossible to built large bases due to the fact that the engine is always calculating the physics of each part when you get closer than 2km or so and thus generating enormous amounts of lag with any large base, my idea to reduce the lag is to make it so that the base sections can be "anchored" into the ground and therefore in the engines eyes a solid structure like the buildings at the KSP space port which dont need any physics calculations as they are a part of the world in the eyes of the engine.

the way that i think this could work would be to have a popup when you land on the planet saying "would you like to anchor your structure" after you click yes the structure becomes a solid structure and part of the planet like the KSP space port buildings and when you want to move them or destroy them you click "unanchor structure" which would make the structure physics enabled once again.

i have read the comments and saw that whaffle has a great idea for how this could actually be implemented.

"I'm not sure if this would be feasible, but it would be cool if the physics for the anchor parts would continue to check for stresses while the rest of the craft (now stationary structure) would be off-loaded from the physics engine. That way, if something smacks into your base with enough force, the anchors could break and the craft would become physics-enabled once more. That would make it harder to do 'exploity' things with permanent bases, as they would not be totally indestructible and wouldn't be "stackable" because of the need for anchor parts to be near the ground. I suppose the docking port mechanics on anchored bases would need to be worked out also."

i would love to see reply's from anybody that thinks this is a good idea as i would like a developer to see this.

Edited December 10, 2013 by ratrace24

[liamthom]

if it would be part of the planet, you would not be able to destroy it. there is also a possibility of exploiting, like a gigantic piller to the skys.

[ratrace24]

yes, i suppose. the idea would have to be worked on and have some limitations but i do think that this has some real potential

[hawkinator]

It makes a lot of sense, actually. And furthermore, it would be possible to implement this (I think) with a plugin. Currently, we have a plugin called KerbTown, which adds buildings as static structures. But, it is only designed to make static structures that were created as static structures. What I think would be genius would be a plugin that could take your ship and weld it all together (like part welder), and then place it as a static structure. (could cause glitches if anything is nearby, since it would disappear as vehicle and reappear as a structure, but I think it could work)

[Nuke]

id love to be able to permanently anchor a base to the ground, and make the whole thing a static welded entity of sorts.

[Force21]

If something crashes into the anchored structure, instead of physics quickly being enabled on it, the whole thing could just blow up. It'll save processing power, and its makes sense cause you wouldnt want to crash into the structure anyway

[ZingidyZongxxx]

I like the idea, but it would need some limits to work properly. For example, you can only anchor something if it's landed and timewarpable (totally a word now). Seems like a good idea though.

[TimMartland]

Sounds good in theory! Might end up with people using indestructible, immovable bases to do cheatsy exploity stuff, but with refinement might be something to think about.

[Ernest3.14]

But landed parts already don't have physics, right? Like, they're on rails.

[hawkinator]

No, whenever your within 2.5km of any vessel (lander, base, rover, space station, etc.), landed or otherwise, the game actively processes physics for that vessel. Any vessel within 2.5km is loaded and fully subject to the laws of physics.

[Ekku Zakku]

I love this idea, and I think it'll work pretty well. Remember, there was talk not too long ago about KSC buildings being destructible; I wonder if the same system, when it's done, could be implemented for bases. As for using it to pillar into the sky, perhaps only rooted parts or parts under a certain height above the ground are taken out of physics, so parts built upwards actually would have physics (and would require a good base and strong supports to be built to any decent height).

Overall, I think it could work =3

[tetryds]

why not put the landed stoped ships into the "time warp" state but with no timewarp?

someone could try that on a plugin

[ratrace24]

sounds good, but i would rather it be a built in thing

[Deadpangod3]

I hope this is added!

I see danny2462 building a bridge from Kerbin to the mun.

[CreepyD]

I've been waiting for something like this for ages, it would be great if made.

A whole wealth of base building stuff and mods could open up!

[Wheffle]

This would be awesome. I was thinking there could be an anchor part that would allow a craft to become stationary on the surface.

I'm not sure if this would be feasible, but it would be cool if the physics for the anchor parts would continue to check for stresses while the rest of the craft (now stationary structure) would be off-loaded from the physics engine. That way, if something smacks into your base with enough force, the anchors could break and the craft would become physics-enabled once more. That would make it harder to do 'exploity' things with permanent bases, as they would not be totally indestructible and wouldn't be "stackable" because of the need for anchor parts to be near the ground. I suppose the docking port mechanics on anchored bases would need to be worked out also.

Anyway, just a thought. Again, I don't know how the engine works exactly, so I don't know if this would be possible.

[ratrace24]

thats a brilliant idea, im sure that it would be possible

[KASASpace]

Wait! I JUST GOT AN EPIPHANY! OR AN IDEA! WHATEVER!

This could be applied to a lot of things, maybe reduce the range of physics to 500 m?

Also, maybe you could have this used on stations? Like so:

Say you launched a space station into orbit. Say there were a minimum of 45 parts (not counting struts or fuel lines) on each. When docked, you can right click a command pod or probe and rename it to whatever and select the option "become structure."

A warning thing could pop up, explaining it. Then the ship would be on rails, and would have to be in orbit with no decay (over 70km for Kerbin at the moment).

A special module would be required. Most parts would not undergo physics but could function, like transferring fuel or electricity. Only open docking ports would have physics on at all times when within 2.5 kilometers. When something hits greater than 1 m/s, all parts in the blast radius of 5m would be taken out of physics. If they would effect there neighboring parts, they are taken out too. If a part is shot off into the black, then it gets set on rails and is called debris. Kerbals could transfer because only hit boxes would be checked by the engine. There you go. And also a limit to size, like 1000 parts or something.