Cradles anger the Kraken

[d4goxn]

I've seen a few instances of glitchiness with the cradles, when used as a foundation for base construction. Now, I have a quicksave with a good test ready to go, which will reliably demonstrate a couple scenarios of various levels of tragedy. We are landing a supply drop between these two rigs.

The rig on the left (logistics module) has a cradle for a foundation, but it is actually resting on stabilisers. The cradle is about 20cm above the ground.

The rig on the right (power module) was supposed to rest on stabilisers, but due to a design oversight, actually rests on its cradle.

When the supply drop approaches 2km from the base, all hell breaks loose. Over 90% of the parts on the base explode, and the surviving parts are supported above the ground by the ghosts of their peers.

Decoupling the bases from each other greatly reduces the damage to the logistics base, sitting on stabilisers, but the power base is still almost completely destroyed. Switching to the base does not trigger any strangeness, and the physics jump is slight. Ground tether is active.

Recommendations for other players

As I said, I've been observing the weird ground behaviour in KSP quite a bit. If you are building ground bases, then I will share my personal recommendations:

• Consider going to the asteroids first, before the moons. The lack of gravity and special ground logic around an asteroid makes for a poor Kraken habitat.

• Keep all heavy parts above the highest point of terrain under the entire base. I believe this minimises the jump when loading. Ground tether alone does not cut it. This means building everything on landing legs, the higher the better.

• Build squat structures. More pyramid shaped than rocket shaped. The physics kick can torque a vessel violently upon loading, toppling all but the most stable structures.

• Planet side bases are experimental and dangerous; plan accordingly. Don't put all your expensive stuff in one location, and build geographically distributed redundant backup facilities ASAP. A "meteor" could take out a 2km bubble of tender young civilisation in an instant.

What about the crew?

Fortunately, they have a quartermaster on staff, in the logistics module, and a pilot. If they could somehow be convinced to refill the vehicles' tanks, then, in theory, the crew could escape to orbit. It is dubious, however, that the quartermaster could file the appropriate paperwork, when the requisition is for an emergency, not for work.

Failing that, they do have a supplies crate, and the means to refill it. They could survive here until they go crazy, mining away, waiting for a relief that can never come...

[BobPalmer]

Have you tried ground tethering? your MKS modules should have this (and I see some MKS bits on that base)