Why are the wheels all so big???

[Zero266]

Making small kerbal rovers is always more like making a monster truck dune buggy with how big the wheels are in comparison to the kerbals them selves. Might be nice if we could downscale the wheels a little or get some smaller rover wheels..

[klgraham1013]

I can agree with this.

[MechBFP]

Oh boy, wait till you see the RoveMax Model XL3. 

[Zero266]

Ive seen it, ive used it. It is cool. My problem is the ones you might use to make a kerbal car or mun excursion rover are still massive when side by side with a kerbal. Most tires dont come up to my knees.

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/File:Rover-wheel-compare.png

just crazy

 

[katateochi]

 

I know which one I'd rather drive!

Ok sure, the two with large wheels are SciFi (and one is just nuts), but:
I'm pretty sure our current RL rovers only have small wheels because we can't afford the weight costs of larger wheels. But once (if) we get to a point of doing serious off world work (mining, construction, long range land based exploration), you can bet the wheel size is going to go up.  If you got heavy things to move over rough terrain, you're gonna need big wheels, there's a reason all heavy construction/agricultural machinery has large wheels.

10 minutes ago, Zero266 said:

Most tires dont come up to my knees.

Cars sure. but most cars can't off road too well. What I climb into most days has wheels larger than me

[Xavven]

1 hour ago, Zero266 said:

Ive seen it, ive used it. It is cool. My problem is the ones you might use to make a kerbal car or mun excursion rover are still massive when side by side with a kerbal. Most tires dont come up to my knees.

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/File:Rover-wheel-compare.png

just crazy

 

My tires don't come up to my knees either but they're designed for paved roads. My car would suck on a place like Duna or Eve.

[GluttonyReaper]

I find the MH rover wheels fit the 'not too big, not too small' niche quite nicely.

1 hour ago, Zero266 said:

Most tires dont come up to my knees.

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/File:Rover-wheel-compare.png

I think part of the problem is that humans are long and thin (we're like over 50% leg), as opposed to kerbals which... aren't. You can see in that picture that the smallest rover wheels are like a third the height of a kerbal, which isn't that far off.

That said, it would be nice to have different variations of rover wheels at those sizes - I'd quite like to see a wheel like the grey medium wheel, but as small as the smallest rover wheel.

[The Aziz]

Kerbals are quite small - what are they, 1.2m or something? So here's one thing. Second, is that RL rovers aren't the size of a dog like someone could think. They are MASSIVE. And these are just robotic rovers, imagine if they were meant to carry a crew.

[Kerbart]

Tall wheels make traversing over rough terrain easier. Planetary surfaces tend to be rough terrain. Hence...

”But Kerbart, wouldn’t tracks even be better suited for rough terrain?”

why yes, but weight and power restrictions make them by far less attractive.

[Xavven]

1 hour ago, The Aziz said:

Kerbals are quite small - what are they, 1.2m or something? So here's one thing. Second, is that RL rovers aren't the size of a dog like someone could think. They are MASSIVE. And these are just robotic rovers, imagine if they were meant to carry a crew.

Along those lines of thinking, even though kerbals are small, the rocks a rover might encounter aren't going to be automatically small too. Having big tires helps get through them without issue.

[Zero266]

Kerbals are small yes...

Kerbin is also small,

The kerbal system is also small,

Is it too much to ask for some small wheels?

Yes curiosity is big, like a car, hence the current smallest rover wheels, Spirit and Oppy were both smaller and the Sojourner rover was even smaller. I dont think it is wrong to say we need smaller wheels in game. I do appreciate the rough terrain explanation. I would appreciate it more if the planets in game actually had terrain.

 

[Snark]

I like the Making History wheels for when I need something small. Nice and compact, plus they fold up for convenient stowage.

Anything smaller than those would be too small for me to conveniently use.

What I wish is that the larger wheels (okay, not the RoveMax) could fold up like that, too. Would make transporting much more convenient.

The hinges in Breaking Ground may offer some options there, but haven't had the time yet to experiment with them much in that role.

[Zero266]

So i love the making history wheels, it is nice that they fold... ... but... if they were a tiny little bit smaller or folded a tiny little bit more compact that would be perfect. When folded they still stick out sideways almost as much as when deployed. It would be nice to have more folding wheels. Breaking ground helps a lot... for anyone with a good computer(thankfully i have a good computer).

[Geonovast]

Personally I'd rather see some more options filling this massive gap.

The size difference between the TR-2L and XL3 is extreme.  I'm not opposed to smaller wheels, I likely wouldn't use them as I almost never use the Model S2, but we need more options on the other end too.

[Guest]

With Breaking Ground it'd be nice to have just plain wheels of various sizes you can stick on a rotor. Maybe with a bit of bounce on them to simulate the tyre...

[purpleivan]

9 hours ago, Geonovast said:

Personally I'd rather see some more options filling this massive gap.

The size difference between the TR-2L and XL3 is extreme.  I'm not opposed to smaller wheels, I likely wouldn't use them as I almost never use the Model S2, but we need more options on the other end too.

I was about to post exactly this point. I've lost count of the number of times I've been making some kind of large transporter, realised the TR-2L was too small, grabbed an XL3 and thought "oh no... not that big".

Something with double the radius of the TR-2L and in a similar form factor (i.e. without the hulking great suspension assembly of the XL3) would be very useful.