Why Things Explode: Sparks

[Caraamon]

I noticed a lot of people talking about how stuff explodes seemingly at random, and I have yet to see this in the answers.</s>

The sparks coming off your pinpoint cutting beam are more than decoration, they can cause things to explode too.

To avoid this, remember that the sparks come off at a 90 degree angle from the face of a flat surface you're cutting. I haven't yet tested how this interacts with rounded cut points like on pipes, but it's been true for every flat surface I've seen.

So not only pay attention to where your beam goes and what's behind the thing you're cutting, also pay attention to which surface you're hitting.

Good luck Cutters.

I'm getting serious inconsistent results in testing, so I can't confidently say this is right anymore.

[The Yeen Queen]

No. They can't.

[SympliKrazi]

in the real world, sure. in HSSB, they are just graphics. explosions are caused by damaging the integrity of a fuel tank/cryo tank/reactor, either by collision in general or due to violent decompression or or using the grapple hook and bang things around while moving them or by the cutting tool.

Sometimes, just moving the cutting tool while in the middle of a cut will cause a fuel tank to go off if you're cutting near it.
fuel injectors on Atlas type ships seem to be especially volatile.
oh yeah, incorrect placement of demo charges too.

for the player, sparks are a visual effect nothing more.

[Caraamon]

I'm starting to think the big javelin fuel tank has a wierd "hitbox" and that's what I've been seeing.

[Takovacs]

There's a bug/glitch that if you cut and things are *in your vision* to your right that fuel tanks and coolant tanks they'll explode. Devs liked it and didn't fix it. On these, you won't see the beam intersect the fuel barrel.

Only applies to things containing fuel and coolant, won't happen to a reactor.

There are also some pretty rare occasions where the cutting beam won't stick to what it intersects, instead jumping to cut fuel barrels.

Apart from the second example it's pretty consistent

[Caraamon]

Originally posted by Takovacs:

There's a bug/glitch that if you cut and things are *in your vision* to your right that fuel tanks and coolant tanks they'll explode. Devs liked it and didn't fix it. On these, you won't see the beam intersect the fuel barrel.

That could very well be it. I frequently did some contorting to line up cuts that wouldn't have anything explosive behind them... huh.

[SympliKrazi]

Originally posted by Takovacs:

There's a bug/glitch....

Ah... i could never quite put my finger on what it was that triggered it, since it's a rare thing and then, when something explodes in your face, you tend to avoid the thing, and find a different approach, or at least i did.

Originally posted by Caraamon:

I'm starting to think the big javelin fuel tank has a wierd "hitbox" and that's what I've been seeing.

Best and safest way to remove that central fuel tank for the Javelin chassis, seems to be to clear out the reactor room first so there's plenty of workspace at the rear of the bay, then from there cut that aluminum square surrounding the fuel tank(just at the back of the ship, not the whole cube). And then the fuel tank can be grabbed by the fuel clamp and yanked out towards the rear of the bay, either with a tether or directly using the grapple if you already have the upgrades that can handle the weight.
just be careful to grab it close to the center of the tank, so it slides out without chaninge it's angle, because it's possible to grab the tank near the outer wall and change the angle of the tank and getting it stuck inside the frame work.

TLDR
here's a link to a short vid that shows the procedure. The only thing I would do different is use the slicer instead of the pinpoint cut.
https://youtu.be/L-rE8yXO7As?si=BW4ak3OxzGVxJzT2