It has been more then 4 years ego, but I dit it.

Triop · January 28, 2023

It has been a long time ago, but now I want to plan a trip from west to east all around kerbin . :cool:

Edited January 28, 2023 by Triop

Triop · January 28, 2023

Thinking about it, i tink the best route should be this: By car and boat, both flown in.

Ok, the plan is coming together, the yellow lines are where the boat should pick up th car and bringing it across the kand.

Triop · January 28, 2023

Ok, i'm getting somewhere... the yellow lines is the boat that needs to get my car across..., BUT the boat can't make it all the way so it has to go back OR I send another boat from the base, but that would be cheating no ?

JadeOfMaar · January 28, 2023

2 hours ago, Triop said:

BUT the boat can't make it all the way

Once upon a time I faced this exact design problem and thought about how I could reasonably mod my way through it. My answer: a wind sail that generates constant, tiny thrust and (purely for underlying functions' sake) runs on solar and lasts for 1 or 2 hours after sunset. Alternatively: go nuclear electric like submarines go. (I know or expect you don't use mods. Just thought I'd share what came to mind for me. I like your challenge postings.)

...The sail idea might be something @ColdJ would run away with.

QF9E · January 28, 2023

Build a rover that is able to drive on the sea floor?

JadeOfMaar · January 28, 2023

59 minutes ago, QF9E said:

Build a rover that is able to drive on the sea floor?

Triop's going to need more W's than anyone else. (There's a mod for holding the W key)

Triop · January 28, 2023

1 hour ago, QF9E said:

Build a rover that is able to drive on the sea floor?

I've heard about this before, I might even have tried it before...

Can it be done without mods ?

I need to test this, thanks, it's a very good idea.

Just now, JadeOfMaar said:

Triop's going to need more W's than anyone else. (There's a mod for holding the W key)

I use a toothpick to hold the 'W' key down... :joy:

JadeOfMaar · January 28, 2023

1 minute ago, Triop said:

Can it be done without mods ?

Yep. It's a submarine with wheels. Have a blast.

A toothpick! gg

Triop · January 28, 2023

I just found a better solution... :cool:

QF9E · January 28, 2023

3 hours ago, Triop said:

I've heard about this before, I might even have tried it before...

Can it be done without mods ?

Yes, I tried it myself before posting. You can use ore as ballast, as ore is denser than water. You need quite a bit of it, as rover wheels (at least the large rubbery black ones that I tried) provide quite a bit of buoyancy.

Mine was slow as hell, though, and it had serious problems going uphill because it was so heavy.

Triop · January 28, 2023

I think I will go for the option of using a plane or a boat to get me across the water...

ColdJ · January 29, 2023

On 1/28/2023 at 6:31 PM, JadeOfMaar said:

...The sail idea might be something @ColdJ would run away with.

I did a pseudo sail prototype for myself a while back but I haven't developed it further and haven't been playing or modding for 3 months now.

16 hours ago, Triop said:

I think I will go for the option of using a plane or a boat to get me across the water...

If DLC is allowed then you can make an aquatic car that is pushed by 2 electric ducted fans, using Breaking Ground. You can even have hydrofoils using elevons in order for it to go faster over the water. Using 2 fans so you can balance the torque so it doesn't want to roll over.

Edited January 29, 2023 by ColdJ

Icky · February 1, 2023

On 10/28/2022 at 1:20 PM, Icky said:

In 2021 i started my rover kerbin run and got most of the way around and just got burned out by it, did other things, and kind of forgot about it for a while. with the recent ksp2 reveal i decided i wanted to finish this before ksp2 comes out. when i started, this new thread wasnt here and the old rules of the challenge didnt have the specifics regarding thrust/control while airborne. my rover DOES use control surfaces and prop power in the air (but it wont actually maintain flight, the longest jumps are maybe 10 seconds) so if this run doesnt count then so be it, ill leave that up to the powers that be to decide. ill probably do it again in ksp2 anyway lol. i just want to finish this run. so ill quote my old post with its updates up to this point and continue underneath.

ok first leg of 2022 done.

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so immediately i noticed something changed in the wheel physics since i played last year. even just barely moving the wheels are super jittery and the rover bounces all over the place. i turned the spring rate down from 3 (max) to about half and that calmed it down. eventually i dialed it back to 0.6 and it seems ok now, but not perfect. it'll still be a little weird sometimes.

into the desert!

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saw my first cactus of the trip (i think). and since i recently found out theres supposed to be a temple in the desert i figured i might give it a visit if it wasnt too far out of the way. also had one or two hard landings.

getting close!

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right after i set off from the ruins i found this weird purple crystal. ill have to come back with a scan arm and see what it is.

MISSION SUCCESS!

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Final mission time just over 9 days, but it took nearly two years lol. i plan to do it again in ksp2. hopefully with better wheel physics and a smoother surface.

final water crossing

way point in view! 100-ish km to go!

KSC spotted!

final set of waypoints. the only real deviation i took from the original route outline was going north over the mountains at the very end instead of south.

i stuck to the land as much as possible, but the rover was capable of doing the water crossings albeit slowly. the route i used is in the post somewhere.

On 2/1/2021 at 7:52 PM, Icky said:

day one down. many many more to go. ill just keep updating this post. after driving to the north pole from ksc i wanted to build a rover with better suspension. i had good success with using hinges to make control arms. when i was building for this challenge i knew i would need to do a few water crossings with it so i stuck a couple small props on top. upon testing i found they would get me upwards of 80m/s on land all on their own, and do it using a LOT less power! so i ditched the powered wheels in favor of medium landing gear which could take much more abuse. with some fine tuning of the landing gear's suspension settings and the hinge settings i got a rover that will comfortably cruise at 80m/s across kerbins terrain and soak up bumps and jumps with ease. with added rudder for steering (steering at that speed with the wheels is too sensitive) and ailerons so it wont nose over on jumps, it ends up looking like a plane without wings, but i assure you it wont fly in its current configuration. it will descend at around 10m/s. heres the first few minutes of the trip. setting off, planting the flag:

this is the route ill be taking:

day 1:

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day 2:

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got around to my first water crossing, which is i think the longest at around 57km. at 14.3m/s it should take just over an hour. luckily its mostly hands off, just small corrections every now and then.

day.....idk...something. theyre getting a bit blurred now. you can see the mission time.

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got all the water crossings done. i discovered i could back the power on the motors down to 5-10% so its just stupid efficient now. i found with sas on its pretty much hands off, it stays level enough off jumps that i dont worry about the landings. i just correct the heading occasionally. its easy to forget im doing nearly 200mph!

over half way!

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almost jumped clean over this ridge! managed to set it down just at the top. kinda hard to tell from the picture i guess, but that water is a couple hundred meters DOWN the mountain.