The Guardian of Eeloo is getting to be a problem

[Camaron]

So, here's the deal. I'm orbiting low over Eeloo, preparing to try my landing - with a proven craft, I might add. A craft that, with minor variances, has landed on Dres, Moho, and both Kerbin moons.

So, I go to try and undock the ship to head in for my landing, when the Kraken decides to strike, immediately ripping my ship apart. I have F5/F9'd at least ten different times, trying different things, but to no avail.

I would love any tips onto how to solve this, and/or why it has never affected this ship before.

Here's a frame-by-frame of the carnage.

Dang! I was excited, too. Due to the amount of time investment needed to intercept Eeloo, I've never come here before. And now my ship is magically self-destructing, and that's sad.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Camaron

[Scotius]

Looks like the destruction starts with solar panels. Probably some of them are clipping into each other, and phantom forces are tearing everything apart. If you have panels on action group button, you can try folding them immediately after save loads. But if your ship breaks immediately, you might have to use save editing to fold panels off-screen.

[Geschosskopf]

Damn, that's rotten luck. But it looks cool

[Camaron]

I'm afraid it probably isn't the solar. Not only can I fold and unfold them normally up to the point where I undock, but also, previous versions of the craft (using the exact same solar wings) don't do this behavior either. I've also undocked with the ship folded up and SAS off. Still shreds.

Maybe it is though. maybe its such a borderline case that it doesn't cause issues except in the "perfect storm" circumstance. Mybe nine in a row is barely ok - ten crosses the line. I don't know yet. Come to think of it, the to row might be colliding.

One constant here is that the battery always snaps off the ship and remains stuck to the docking point.

I've had similar oscillating implosions occur to a number of ships of radically different designs and sizes since the update. I believe some part of the physics update is responsible. I just never had Gravidon III do it before, and that makes me sad. This craft and it's brethren have been proving exceptionally capable among Ion landers up to this point.

I'll review it's many variations and see if there isn't some critical difference between them that may have destabilized the latest model. Come to think of it, I think my Dres landing had one freak-out as well (albeit much less catastrophic), and its the same version. Could be some clues in that.

In the past, struts are usually the solution to this physics bug, but struts could really hurt the performance of a lightweight like this one.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Camaron

[Camaron]

I'm gonna go ahead and eat my words - I believe the solar panes WERE related to my my problem. I've rebuilt a new ship, named Kruphix IV, instead of Gravidon IV (after MTG's "God of Horizons". I never liked the "Gravidon" name anyway.)

Among a number of other improvements, the solar panels have been mounted to a wider beam and the singles have been spaced out. I haven't tested extensively, but in my several attempts to provoke the kraken undocking this new craft, both in space and on the ground, it has remained rock-solid and exhibits no instabilities.

[Zylark]

Why so many solar panels on a simple lander - you know apart from the "it looks cool!" factor?

It's not as if you need that much juice on such a small craft. It just adds weight (not a good thing for a lander) and parts (not a good thing for your frame-rate). I see the mothership of the previous iteration got a science-lab that do need quite a bit of power, so wouldn't the sensible thing be to keep the majority of the solar panels on that?

From experience, I've found that most ships do just fine with two six-cell solar-panels for keeping the batteries stocked up if only needing juice for maneuvering and such. The more power-hungry applications such as Science-Lab, Ion drive and everything Kethane related is the only things I've found that warrants large solar-panel surfaces and plenty of battery-storage.

So I tend to keep things simple, keep parts count as low as possible - and knock on wood, no Kraken yet

[KeithStone]

Why so many solar panels on a simple lander - you know apart from the "it looks cool!" factor?

It's not as if you need that much juice on such a small craft. It just adds weight (not a good thing for a lander) and parts (not a good thing for your frame-rate). I see the mothership of the previous iteration got a science-lab that do need quite a bit of power, so wouldn't the sensible thing be to keep the majority of the solar panels on that?

From experience, I've found that most ships do just fine with two six-cell solar-panels for keeping the batteries stocked up if only needing juice for maneuvering and such. The more power-hungry applications such as Science-Lab, Ion drive and everything Kethane related is the only things I've found that warrants large solar-panel surfaces and plenty of battery-storage.

So I tend to keep things simple, keep parts count as low as possible - and knock on wood, no Kraken yet

Looks pretty heavily ion powered to me. Though with that many ion engines and xenon tanks, I'm wondering what the transfer stage is for? Do the ions bring it all the way home?

[Zylark]

Looks pretty heavily ion powered to me.

I am blind, blind I tell you. I play the game by touching the screen...