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The Elcano Challenge : Ground-based circumnavigation


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Guess who had a silly idea? Me! Since any description I can come up with right now will make me sounds insane, here's a visual:

dhk1Dtl.png

Bartrick Kerman decided to take his Ore tanker out to Vall, as well as trainee engineer Suella Kerman, who is taking the advanced lessons of long-term mission sustainability. What better task than a circumnavigation as a testing ground?

This also works out perfectly since I have some mining to do here anyway.

I'll be starting the mission report later tonight, but possibly tomorrow since I have the tendency to randomly fall asleep.

EDIT: You can find it here.

Edited by Xannari Ferrows
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Much like pants, I come bringing two legs for you to enjoy! Even though one of them was terrible!

I seem not to be able to find album 2... am I missing something, please?

I fear you have discovered something I also discovered; if a rover's on Minmus it it is going to roll and you've just got to design around it. Still, at least it's inside replacement-sending range.

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Legs 3 and 4 should be visible as Imgur galleries in that last post of mine, one above the other. If they aren't, let me know.

But rolling has been happening a lot, yeah. Next time the rover explodes, its' replacement will get upgraded wheels and a roll cage.

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aRGTgtZ.png

It's finally done. The ESME-01 has drawn a (not-so-straight) line around the Mun. (And over 300 kilometers of that in the dark. :cool:)

YqMGi52.png

The required proof of purchase

Thank you, Fengist, for creating the Elcano challenge! :)

The completion post is here. As per your requirements, the whole thread documents the journey from the moment the crew hit the gas at the start flag. (There is an Epilogue to be put up, to get the crew back to Kerbin).

Additional credits: to Gechosskopf for the encouragement throughout, and to Daishi for drawing up a Universal Storage radiator to help tamp down the heating rates on the Universal Storage fuel cell when it started hitting 700 degrees on Leg 2. And to Coyote Kisses, Garbage, and Within Temptation for some driving music to keep me occupied.

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I've made a lot of progress on my boat-rover circumnavigation. Most of it you can see in my mission report, but I thought this particular picture was really awesome. Gave me a sense of how big but how cool this challenge is (the Cockroach is at the bottom of the pic).

It's physically a large picture, but I made it a .jpg. So hopefully it'll be easy on the bandwidth (69kb).

VVE9P3T.jpg

Cheers,

~Claw

Edited by Claw
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What about adding in the planets and moons of the fantastic KerbolPlus mod?

I'm thinking about doing a Pergas Elcano Challenge myself.

Extra planets is one type of mod that's pretty much out of bounds for this challenge. Mainly because these mods are pretty uncommon and nextly because I'd have no way to make a badge for them. But, you're free to drive around them and create a post about it. I suppose I could add a list at the bottom but there'd be no badge.

- - - Updated - - -

Gilly Circumnavigation.

https://youtu.be/aAvs7I6dTuI

Stock parts only.

(I wanted to use the Persistent Trails plugin to watch my path, but messed up with it  toggled it before decoupling so nothing recorded :( )

Well done Teilnehmer! Our first Gilly circumnavigator. Though I have to admit that with the low gravity it looked more like you were flying than driving. But, I'll let it slide. I'll have you a badge in a few days.

- - - Updated - - -

It's finally done. The ESME-01 has drawn a (not-so-straight) line around the Mun. (And over 300 kilometers of that in the dark. :cool:)

Thank you, Fengist, for creating the Elcano challenge! :)

Congrats B-STRK! Welcome to the exclusive list of circumnavigators. I know the Mun isn't exactly an easy one to drive around. One minute you're cruising along and the next minute you're on you're roof. Enjoyed all the dialogue and glad you enjoyed the challenge.

Edited by Fengist
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Well done Teilnehmer! Our first Gilly circumnavigator. Though I have to admit that with the low gravity it looked more like you were flying than driving. But, I'll let it slide. I'll have you a badge in a few days.

Given Gilly's microscopic gravity and lumpy surface, I'm not surprised - and with 3 ions for downforce but only one for forward momentum, it'd be hard to think the vessel was trying to get away from the surface. I admit, though, personally I prefer a forwards-thrust that only works when touched down.

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I'm giving this a shot as well. I've got 2 "rovers" heading to Moho - one is the entrant, one is a refuel/support vessel that happens to have wheels. I sent a copy of the rover to Minmus for trials and contract clearing, and a copy of the ground support vessel to the Mun for testing and clearing out biomes. The Mun ground support rover has cleared the northern canyon and is heading to the polar wastes on its way to the Munolith on the other side. Unfortunately my ground support rover tops at about 15 m/s, so lots of hours ahead to complete the circumnavigation - I included a Mobile Lab and ISRU on the support rover so it at least makes science. For Moho, I plan to leapfrog this ahead of the main rover to scout and refuel, and leave it as a "space station".

Moho/Minmus Rover

http://i.imgur.com/RvaahE4.png

http://i.imgur.com/LYKirHx.png

Moho/Mun Support Rover

http://i.imgur.com/fwXQ390.png

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Question: Hypothetically, if someone had such a gamebreaking experience, and were forced to lose all of their progress, would editing up a slightly different vehicle be allowed? If said person were using a vehicle that was built with precision [hard to replicate], would a slight change to the platform of the vehicle also be allowed?

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Mun circumnavigation thread:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/128950-Project-Aphrodite-Elcano-Challenge?p=2085351&posted=1#post2085351

@damerell - Well, they get retracted before driving, obviously. Right now, I am doing F5/F9 frequently as I learn the limitations of this vehicle. So far, it seems reasonably safe at 15m/s @ 4x warp. While it is taking along an ISRU module, I don't plan on thrusting unless the way is simply impassible (might have to do that to enter the crater at the north pole). I am thinking the saddle-mounted ore tanks might be useful for CoM shifting on high slopes. It seems like right after disabling the brakes, the first few seconds the wheels don't behave quite right, and it is easy to rip off the front end. I also forgot a fuelcell on this design, which is a big oversight for night driving. If I get further along and something non-fatally bad happens, I might send a new rover to break the monotony a bit instead of reloading.

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Question: Hypothetically, if someone had such a gamebreaking experience, and were forced to lose all of their progress, would editing up a slightly different vehicle be allowed? If said person were using a vehicle that was built with precision [hard to replicate], would a slight change to the platform of the vehicle also be allowed?

Not to step on Fengist's toes, but I think what your asking is within the rules. Specifically, noted below:

6. You may use replacement vehicles. If you read of my circumnavigation of Eve, you'll see why I allow this. Game mechanics are not kind to ground vehicles. Your crew must be transferred to any replacement vehicle and it must be very similar to the original. I understand this is a learning process... trust me on that... and I'll allow some design changes.

That rule sounds like what you're asking about. Running into some sort of problem that requires some design changes, so long as it's very similar to the original.


On a separate note, I've finished my run and will be (hopefully) posting my last bit in the mission report today. :)

Cheers,

~Claw

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Darn this challenge. :mad: I can't let it go, and I can't get any further.

The Dawn Racer isn't strong enough to compete with ground bugs (at full speed). I need to create another vehicle. Possibly a hybrid electric wheel/jet propulsion thing.

I want to put ISRU on it but the converter and other 2.5m parts are just so large and unwieldy.

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I want to put ISRU on it but the converter and other 2.5m parts are just so large and unwieldy.

Yeah. This right here just about kills any thoughts I have on making something similar for pure ground transit (even non Kerbin). It's just soooo unwieldy to build a long range rover with this stuff on it.

The extended leg setup I have on the Cockroach turned out to be fairly sturdy, but only because I was using the small landing gear bays. For a previous ground challenge (drive to the North Pole), I had built a small jeep looking thing capable of surviving a crash at 4x warp and full speed (about 23 m/s). You can see a picture of it in my Elcano Kerbin mission report (or spoiler below). It mostly consists of modular girders and the rover wheels. The wheels are actually pretty sturdy from a "blowing up" standpoint, but tend to break treads a lot. Especially under warp.

The internal core has been pulled for the picture. This is from an old KSP version, where I was using probe cores for torque and battery (they were no small torque wheels in that version).

fniGFUf.jpg

Cheers,

~Claw

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I'm currently attempting this challenge, and have had quite the experience already. I'll start a write-up maybe today?, to try to include all of the high and low points. (Software glitches, hardware glitches, sightseeing gone a bit wrong.)

I started out with one rover, but decided that i should also attempt it with a smaller, faster rover controlled by MJ's rover autopilot and a pair of female kerbals the computer randomly assigned. (I haven't found a way to run them both at once, which i'll admit was my original intention.) As of right now, we're both met up on the west coast of the main continent, and after a short trip will perform our first water crossing. The small rover's top speed on water is 42m/s, however the larger, older rover was undertested and has a top speed of just 4.8m/s.

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