My rovers don't rove

[kodemunkey]

It seems that they just slip and slide all over the place on the Mun and Duna (the less said about Minmus the better) am i designing them wrong or has something changed?

[SuperWeegee4000]

You either need Ruggedized Vehicular Wheels or a heavier rover. Traction is important, especially on low-gravity, non-atmospheric bodies.

[FITorion]

In order to get good performance in low gravity you have to either make them really really heavy or put an SAS on them and get good at switching between docking and regular mode to adjust where the SAS is pointing.

[SkyRender]

Unfortunately rover suspension got tweaked to be more suitable for heavy rovers now. Hopefully at some point we'll get the ability to adjust rover suspension stiffness so we can accommodate all styles of rovers and not just mega-sized ones.

[MrPopcup]

Make sure you build the rover wide. the wider, the more stable you will have, also make sure you bring the Center of Mass CLOSER to the ground and don't forget SAS module, so your rover won't tend to jump really high, remember to switch to docking mode!

Some Pictures on minmus ( Which is the hardest place to rove.. after gilly.. ).

Here my wide and low CoM rover, it can reach up-to 25m/s and won't bounce or even 'think' to slide !

And in this picture Reaching 23m/s.

I hope I helped you, if so, replay to me!

Edited August 27, 2013 by MrPopcup

[rryy]

Right-click on the wheels and click "Disable Motor" and then re-enable it. Even if it says it is enabled, sometimes it thinks it is disabled and doesn't work.

[Hailedbean]

Make sure you build the rover wide. the wider, the more stable you will have, also make sure you bring the Center of Mass CLOSER to the ground and don't forget SAS module, so your rover won't tend to jump really high, remember to switch to docking mode!

Some Pictures on minmus ( Which is the hardest place to rove.. after gilly.. ).

Here my wide and low CoM rover, it can reach up-to 25m/s and won't bounce or even 'think' to slide !

And in this picture Reaching 23m/s.

I hope I helped you, if so, replay to me!

Gonna try that when I get off work, does having the ASAS Horizontal work better?

[MrPopcup]

I just Stick it in there, you can't put it vertical but if you put cubic thing horizontally, but no, I don't think it works better, it's the same thing.

now this rover works 2000% better on other celestial bodies, minmus has a really low gravity and this rover performs really well, I tested on Duna and Mun, also laythe!

you just set back, throttle up and then find yourself in other location..

Edited August 27, 2013 by MrPopcup

[capi3101]

Only other thing I might suggest over MrPopcup's design is to encase the critical hardware in impact resistant parts. Take my Hellhound 7 rover for example:

The critical parts - namely the probe core and the RTGs - have structural panels above and below it, with modular girders on the side (there's a Reaction Wheel at the heart of the Hound, BTW). Panels and girders have an impact resistance of 80 m/s, which is way faster than what you're reasonably going to be able to drive (without some kind of JATO assistance or falling down a cliff anyway). Benefit: if your rover does rollover on you, you can upright it again as opposed to the whole thing instantaneously blowing up and becoming a worthless pile of debris...

Docking mode controls for rovers help tremendously; on Minmus, you have to drive that way (even the Hound, which weighs four tonnes, will flip over on Minmus if the controls are left in staging mode). You can also remap your translation keys. I dunno know IJKL will work or not; I've never tried it.

One other thing you can do is provide your rover with some constant downthrust while you're driving it to give you traction. Downforce for rovers is one of those instances where I've actually heard people finding a useful application for ion thrusters. Just a thought.

[kodemunkey]

Thanks, are the ruggedised wheels a particular mod?

[rryy]

Thanks, are the ruggedised wheels a particular mod?

No, they are in the stock game. You may not have noticed them because they may be on the last page in the Utilities section.

[capi3101]

I will say that generally the ruggedized wheels are designed for heavier rovers. The 'Hound is four tonnes all told and they work well with it. I used ruggedized wheels on a previous design, the Hellrider 7, which weighed only about 1.5 tonnes. They proved to be a bit powerful; on the other hand, I put the 'riders through a hell of a lot of abuse and most of the time they kept themselves intact. Still, for a lighter rover there's nothing wrong with the big bouncy looking kind (I want to say Mk-2s, but don't quote me on that).