Madrias

Well, now I'm in a bit of a dilemma. Sure, I could run the MK4, which would be an improvement on the failings of the MK3 I smashed up, but I could also try to build something new...

I wanted something slim, but had room for two Kerbals so I could have a pilot and an engineer in case I blew up a tire somehow. Also, I've just now realized something the MK4 will have that I currently don't have on the MK3. I don't have any lights installed on this monstrosity, so if I had to do a stage in the night, I'd be in a right and proper mess.

Stage 4 scared the heck out of me. I actually rolled it going over what I'll 'affectionately' call speed bumps while heading down a hill. Thankfully, I buried two small reaction wheels in there (one set to SAS only, the other to Normal) so I was able to complete the one-and-a-half into a two-roll-wheel-landing and keep going with just a 180 spin as a save. No damage, but it made me a bit more cautious through the rest of the stage, that's for sure. Edit: Stage 5 claimed some damage. Broke both solar panels (one completely, the other still attached but non-functioning), and smashed part of my rear wing. Had to put my second SAS wheel back to Normal to roll the vehicle back onto all six wheels, but was able to finish the run. Note to my future self: Do Not climb Mount Insanity. It isn't worth it. Edit 2: Stage 6 binned it. Turtled, broken the entire rear wing, but the bloody support strut I used to hold all of it is also in the way, so I can't use SAS to roll out of it. Well, time to go back to the drawing board, fix my mistakes, and try again.

Noticed they chewed up electricity rather rapidly, but I've not noticed any jittery behavior on landings or rapid terrain changes. I used to hate these wheels in 1.0.5, but now, I think they may be my favorite ones. As for weight, I actually think my craft is a bit light for them, but they're behaving well enough that I'm feeling confident. Which may actually prove to be my undoing as I prepare for the next stage.

Figured I had to show off the beast. Forgive the hasty nature (leaving the HUD open, being on the move, etc) but I was partly into stage 3 and figured, if I wasn't going to crash right away, I'd get a quick picture of the car I've been working with. Currently codenamed as the Flying Dustbuster (specifically, MK3, because MK1 and MK2 used mod wheels that ate it at the last terrain seam before the flag at the end of the first stage), this is a no-engines, no-frills racing buggy. Yes, I have flaps that are currently functional, because I'm using them to act as air-brakes when I'm not actively holding W. It's a safety feature. As for why I have all 6 fuel cells and the solar panels open for monitoring... Because I needed something to look at besides my nav-ball, the terrain, and the sky. Plus, it's useful to know just how much power I'm drawing, given that the 4 onboard RTG's aren't able to do anything once it starts climbing hills.

That sheer cliff in Stage 3 is... Actually quite fun. Thankfully, I can't travel fast enough to get overly surprised going up the hill, so I was able to make it down okay by riding the brakes. I'm going to definitely have to enter this rally, because this is a lot of fun. Won't have the fastest time, I know that, but... I'm enjoying the challenges the world is throwing at me.

Oh, I don't believe in using mods that drive for you. Tweakscale and Firespitter make up the majority of my current design. Just I've driven about halfway to Kerbin's North Pole, so I know mountain driving in KSP. And no, it's not easy. After two good crashes in Stage 1, I gave up using trim to maintain a set amount of power to the wheels, because I couldn't slow down in time for large jumps or annoying terrain seams. Though I'll admit, the TR-2L handles terrain seams better than most of the mod wheels I was using. Still a lot of fun. Once I inevitably crash-and-burn, I'll go back to the Spaceplane Hangar and get some pictures of the beast for the other half of this thread, where we're supposed to show off our mighty mean machines.

Okay, my testing vehicle's made it through Stage 2... Surprisingly, first try, but... I've made some long drives on Kerbin before, so I know what to watch out for. However, I'm using, at least to me, the unknown quantity, the TR-2L wheels. Last time I used them was back in 1.0.5, when they had so much sideways grip that they'd roll any rover at 10 m/s easily. As for my craft, it's... well, it's a little ridiculous. 6 wheeled, all electric racing buggy, though I am using fuel cells because otherwise it'd look like a porcupine covered in RTG's.

Hmm... Don't count me in just yet, but I'm certainly highly interested. Though I'd have to definitely count in as modded.

@lo-fi Thank you for all the hard work you've put into this mod, and for all the time you spent on trying to make the tracks work with the broken Unity update.

I'll have to consider that. I've slowly been adding in mods to my dev-kit, just making sure not to outright break anything just yet. Already run in x64 because some of my mod lists get insane, and I've always had it in mind to put Kerbal Joint Reinforcement into play at some time to see if it helps me cut down on my over-use of struts.

That's pretty much what I've been trying to do. Might need to drag in a few mods from older versions (just parts, no plugins) because I'm struggling with creative designs for my massive land-ships. Of course, while my goal is inevitably to discover any bugs I can in my limited capacity, I am also comparing between KSP 1.2.x wheels and the new wheel system. And the first thing I've noticed is that these seem to handle terrain seams so much more gracefully than I've ever seen stock handle. Seriously, stuff that'd flip rovers, rip wheels off, or cause tire damage just makes the suspension bounce politely as it goes over a bump. It's the same kind of testing I used to do for this mod, to throw a hint of random at it and see what happens.

Also, any chance of an interior for the hot-rod pickup? I've found myself liking to use that one because being bare-frame out back gives me the ability to put literally anything on the back of the truck and have it not look weird.

Ah. Fair enough, not a big deal. I suppose all it really needs is a paint-job and it'd be close enough.

Well, I think a few pages back, I did mention a hearse, but also mentioned there was no rush to it.

Someone hit this man with a slaughterfish, please?

19, actually, by just counting folders. I haven't been using 1.2 that much. I've been using 1.0.5 too much.

Hmm... Can you test the heavy-handed method and see if that works? Sometimes the best tool to smash a bug is a rocket-powered sledgehammer. As for hearing you can add as many wheels as you want to a vehicle, well... I'll hold off on my statement until you bring me into the testing team officially again, but you can bet I'm going to try and break something. I may not be doing much with my 1.2 install yet, but it does exist and is very, very lightly modded. Kinda my essentials, but nothing dramatic. I am glad to see progress, though.

Interesting to see some progress in an environment I recognize. And yeah, bump stops = orbital vessel cannon is... Well, that'd be amusing, but highly counter-productive... Although, if you could harness that, scale it back massively, and bind it to an action-group for a small "Jump" feature... That could be cool. Although I'd love to see that reserved for walking legs. Just one of my crazy ideas.

Take a break if you have to, Lo-Fi. I'm sure most of us can understand, and those who can't understand the frustration, well, my advice to them is to try it themselves. To be fair, 1.2 seems to have fixed a lot of the wheel issues from 1.1, although... It has other issues. Namely, performance. Sure, I want this mod back, but that's why I've kept 1.0.5, because it's before they broke the wheel system. And while it pales in comparison to the work you're having to do to the mod to fix the completely crap-tastic mess that is the 1.1+ wheel system, I've taken up a personal journey in 1.0.5 to convert as many of the wheels there as I can to KF compatible. Which is also a bit of a head-scratcher, though I've managed a couple so far. It's actually giving me a mild insight into the difficulty of modding, although nowhere near as terrifyingly difficult as this has to be. Though I'll admit, it does bug me a bit that people keep begging for it to be fixed, because I know that can be demoralizing. Give Lo-Fi and company a break, because this is a result of everyone begging for Unity 5. Well, you've got Unity 5. Enjoy that. You were warned it'd break all the wheel mods, and yet you still wanted Unity 5 because 64-bit. Well, how's that working for ya? All the RAM in the world, and not a wheel to roll on.

My generalized hitching layout is more like trucks and trailers, to be fair. I put a swivel somewhere near the rear wheel/ set of wheels and run that back to my trailing units. Seems to work rather well for me, by playing off of inherent stability. I'm not swiveling behind the drive unit, thereby when I turn left, I don't buck the first car to the right and then yank it to the left, it just follows me. I know, not very train-like, but it's been functional for me.

I keep forgetting that things that work in an analogue fashion don't always translate well to what limitations you have to work with. What I do is come up with crazy ideas and hope they're practical. If it spawns something useful, I take that as a win in my book.

I tend to set the traction control and friction control to Override, but I don't mind a hint of 'slippery' because a hint more Friction seems to cure that. My mind treats the Friction slider like choosing my tires. I can use a lower Friction to give the car a more arcade drifty feel, or a higher friction to give a more aggressive, sticky racing tire feel. Haven't tried the LP5000 yet, but my testing vehicle was the F-150 because I found it to be the least likely to roll in 1.1, and in 1.2, it made a great testing platform. To be fair, I like the slightly slippery feel, because I'd rather slide and spin instead of having the old problem KSP stock wheels had before they all got broken in 1.1, which was grip-rolling at low speeds.

Well, I'm just crazy enough to have done it, but I dropped this into KSP 1.2, forgot about the fact that there's settings stuff to mess with, but found out something awesome: It works! And it doesn't appear to need the settings changes anymore, because this was a fresh install of 1.2. And... I dare say it works better than before. I can put wheels on cars that would otherwise have made the wheels inoperable (like the Land Rover wheels on the F-150. Yes, they used to be lightly problematic, but not anymore) and promptly go driving all over the KSC without a problem.

Idea, and not sure if it's possible, or even practical: What if you set the suspension up with the equivalent of progressive rate springs? The idea being that to briefly bottom out the suspension would require so much force it'd shear the wheel off of the craft instead. So the idea would be that at most normal weights and loads, the spring force would be minimal, just enough to give it suspension, but the closer you get to full compression, the higher the spring's force would be, pushing against the forces trying to smash the bump stops. End result would be, if you set the upper limits aggressively enough, an appearance of 'bottoming out' (hitting the maximum compression limit for the current amount of weight against the force applied to the sprin, versus actually running out of suspension travel), and wheels that still work. As said, not sure if it's possible, practical, or whether you guys have a better idea in mind. I just think of strange things at times.