> need one that won't turn to a hail of debris and a crater

They have these. At their permanent launch sites. This is a test site. That the rocket reached max Q suggests this isn’t a problem needing solving right now.

It most certainly didn’t reach its planned max q, not with 6 motors out and the rest with nozzles dented by rocks at ground escape velocity.

> most certainly didn’t reach its planned max q

One usually throttles down around max Q, so it's unclear from outside.

> rest with nozzles dented by rocks at ground escape velocity

Now we're speculating beyond the data. (Actually, we have counterfactual data: it reached max Q. That doesn't happen if you have mis-shaped nozzles causing flow separation.)

Earlier you seemed to imply that you could achieve max Q with six engines out by not throttling down as much. Why does the same not apply to overcoming possibly dented engine nozzles?

It reached some max Q. I’m not convinced it reached the absolute Q value they hoped for.

I think it is a bit premature to assert that the launch pad caused the engine failures.