How do you feel about part clipping?

[XyllyX]

Some say it's cheating (It technically is), but still maintain that parts are stock, no matter how much times someone may have clipped an engine or two to produce twice the amount of power in the same form factor, and for some, it simply makes parts look great.

And now I can't play without it.

I didn't do anything spectacular with the parts in order to give it more power, if anything made it heaver. The clipping tanks at the back are just fuselage parts with no fuel, and I have no hidden wings or anything. I only used clipping to make it look nice, however, I have been guilty of sticking extra invisible wings to generate more lift on some other planes.

So what's your opinion on parts clipping? Do you use it?

Do you use it for power, or aesthetics?

[electronicfox]

I dont see any problem. Clipping 2 rockets together might make a more powerful engine, but at the cost of double fuel consumption and weight.

[Red Iron Crown]

There's a range of part clipping. Clipping one fuel tank inside another to double its capacity feels cheaty to me, clipping the edges of an engine (not the nozzle) to make an engine cluster does not. But that's just me, I don't care a whole lot about aesthetics.

Basically, if part clipping increases your enjoyment of the game, go ahead and don't let anyone tell you you're having fun the wrong way.

[SSSPutnik]

Its naughty.

[JiWint]

I tried to clip some tanks. The result wasn't very nice,it was rotating by itself.

23.5 fixed TOO much stuff

[Scarecrow88]

Most of the time I only use clipping to improve how something looks.

[r4pt0r]

There's a range of part clipping. Clipping one fuel tank inside another to double its capacity feels cheaty to me, clipping the edges of an engine (not the nozzle) to make an engine cluster does not. But that's just me, I don't care a whole lot about aesthetics. -snip

i agree with that. it would help make things look nicer, but until the devs add a no clip button to the vab, its just cheaters exploiting the debug menu. take volume into consideration. 2 gallons of water cannot fit into 1 gallon of water.

but if you do feel free, its your game. but its just like minecraft with creative mode and undermines and invalidates any acheivement of yours i see.

[blizzy78]

I use it very sparingly, mostly to get attachment nodes where they normally aren't. Cubic Octagonal Struts to the rescue!

[xrayfishx]

Building in KSP has limitations that don't exist irl. You can't edit a part to suit your needs. Also, sometimes you have to put parts in right order, otherwise it won't attach (most commonly if you add wings so that it's slightly behind the fuel tank, then the engine needs to be clipped there if you detach it). I use clipping as long as it is fairly realistic.

[electronicfox]

i agree with that. it would help make things look nicer, but until the devs add a no clip button to the vab, its just cheaters exploiting the debug menu. take volume into consideration. 2 gallons of water cannot fit into 1 gallon of water.

but if you do feel free, its your game. but its just like minecraft with creative mode and undermines and invalidates any acheivement of yours i see.

Could you not compress the water (using some kind of extremely strong compressiony thing, and then a very strong container to hold it)? Clipping fuel tanks are a no-no to me. That does seem very cheaty. Clipping engines are fine though. But that my opinion, I'm not gonna tell someone theyre having fun the wrong way (Thats also pointed at people condemning uses of mods, I'll use mods if I want to).

[Red Iron Crown]

Most liquids barely compress at all. Water at the bottom of the ocean has almost exactly the same density as surface water, despite the tremendous pressure it's under.

[Kasuha]

I used to think clipping is cheating but then I realized that in KSP you move mass, not volume. You can't hide mass by clipping.

Good reasons to not use clipping are:

- clipping makes refueling quite a nightmare (unless you use mods for it), so if you want it to be easy to refuel, don't use clipping on parts containing fuel

- clipping makes your craft harder to decompose and understand, so it is good idea to avoid clipping if you want it to have educational value

But if you don't need to refuel and don't want others to learn from your designs, I see no problems with clipping at all.

[Thomas988]

I feel part clipping is sort of cheaty. I try and make what I can given the way KSP works in the VAB/SPH. It just seems to make for a little bit more of a challenge when making rockets and stuff.

[Boosterspice]

I think it is okay to use clipping. In real life, adjustments to specific parts can be made. Limited, of course, but nonetheless. I use clipping to fit parts together, at least those which normally don't fit. Also, isn't Ubizor welding just organised clipping? (of sorts)?

[SSSPutnik]

Water is one of the least compressible fluids.

[Moar Boosters]

I don't use the cheat menu for clipping, but you can get away with quite a bit without it. Some parts clip better than others. If you do too much your craft becomes vunerable to random explosions.

[Tidus Klein]

Building in KSP has limitations that don't exist irl. You can't edit a part to suit your needs. Also, sometimes you have to put parts in right order, otherwise it won't attach (most commonly if you add wings so that it's slightly behind the fuel tank, then the engine needs to be clipped there if you detach it). I use clipping as long as it is fairly realistic.

Ya same here..... I just can't live with my self knowing that my creation borks physics.

[Jouni]

I feel that part clipping is a trade-off, where you gain performance but lose aesthetics. I don't use it, because visible part clipping looks ugly to me.

[Seret]

It's definitely an exploit, but whether you consider using exploits to be cheating is a personal call. It doesn't really confer any advantage, so the only reason to do it is aesthetic. I don't generally use it myself, but I'm not going to look down my nose at someone who does.

AIUI kraken drive does exploit clipping bugs though, which is clearly pretty cheaty as it circumvents the core difficulty mechanic of the game. But again, it's a single player game so if people find fiddling with these exploits entertaining then all the best to them.

[cantab]

I used to think clipping is cheating but then I realized that in KSP you move mass, not volume. You can't hide mass by clipping.

Until you come to turn your ship. Then you're moving moment of inertia, and getting a more compact rocket makes that easier.

[Joonatan1998]

I use part clipping that:

1. I can do without the debug menu

2. It is realistic, so no fuel tanks inside other tanks, but clipping structural parts is ok.

[XyllyX]

I feel that part clipping is a trade-off, where you gain performance but lose aesthetics. I don't use it, because visible part clipping looks ugly to me.

But that's the reason I use it, mainly to make it look nice.

I can put empty fuselage parts on my jets as well as tail connectors to curve out the shape, otherwise my stock non-clipped jets come out all blocky.

Edited April 9, 2014 by XyllyX

[GusTurbo]

I use clipping to make cool looking rockets. I couldn't do what I do without it.

[Kasuha]

Until you come to turn your ship. Then you're moving moment of inertia, and getting a more compact rocket makes that easier.

You're so very right, I did not think about that effect.

But again, turning a ship in KSP can be so much pain because of how flexible part joints are that I almost think it's working around major annoyance rather than cheating. I never used it, though.

[XyllyX]

You're so very right, I did not think about that effect.

But again, turning a ship in KSP can be so much pain because of how flexible part joints are that I almost think it's working around major annoyance rather than cheating. I never used it, though.

It's an addiction, you should probably know when to stop yourself if you're clipping wings inside wings or engines inside engines though.

As long as I can make something that looks nice, I'm alright.