Better part collision system!

[quasarrgames]

The welding mod seems really awesome, but there's just one flaw i see with it. If you crash your welded ship, there's just one teeny explosion, and not the ripping-apart, multiple-explodey goodness that makes KSP crashes so awesome. This is especially let-downish during space battles, as i really like to see missiles rip through the hull of a ship and leave it as nothing more than a twisted wreck.

What if, instead of having the part system where every single part is just glued to another one, the entire ship was just treated as one part. when the ship collided with something else at over 7m/s or something like that, the ship would become un-welded for a short period of time, and the individual parts would bend and break as they would normally. then, when the ship senses that it is not colliding with anything, it could re-weld itself in its current position.

What do you think? I have no idea if this would work , or even if it makes sense outside of my mind.

Just an idea

[MartGonzo]

Part combining does seem like a good idea for various reasons, not least of which is better physics performance.

It would require some very clever coding though I think, as instead of working out the drag on each part during atmospheric flight, the computer would have to work out an overall drag model for the ship pre-launch.