Darren9

Thanks for taking the time to do this. Being totally new to Blender/anything 3D I can now create pretty much exactly the shapes I wanted to.

The nuclear spider thing is actually quite small, it's only 1/2m parts and weighs about 5 tons (half of that is the 8 wheels). But it's all mod parts and some of those I've modded further, so it's a modded mod craft, probably could be considered a bit overpowered so I've not put it on the scoreboard but it can do 8 mins. I was hoping I wouldn't be dealing with time paradoxes and finishing before you started. You need to complete a run to get a time though - Good Luck

If you want to go really big it needs to be on dead flat ground with low gravity. The biggest one piece-docked basses I've seen have been on the Minmus ice flats. I tried it on the Mun and it ended in tears. If the base is long and heavy enough (or high enough gravity) to bend over the uneven terrain it takes off and/or flies apart on load/reload or switching craft in and out of render-range. I ran into problems quite soon on rough ground.

There's some released in a mod pack as "Suspensatron" on Spaceport, but they're Damned Robotics parts with the "JointSpring" value changed (from 0 which is totally stiff to the 5 to 30 range) in the part.cfg and also a "rescaleFactor" to make them a bit smaller. They can soak up some big hits I think after seeing your video I'm going to try with a heavier one with truck wheels that can drift. The Omni-wheels are too easy.

They're a one piece 500 thrust jet engine from the mk4-fuselage-system/

1000 thrusts only gets me to 270m/s, that's probably the fastest I'll ever go.

Quantum struts can help, turn off, move wing, turn back on to hold folding wings in various positions with struts.Damned robotics is Mechjeb servo's, I was expecting them to stay. Not that it's such a great cost to keep the old DLL to have them.

The rings look a bit small, I could get a helicopter through because the rotors don't collide but it looks like anything with a conventional wing isn't going to fit. Beyond that I'm also a low skill pilot. There is a mod pack that has single part 10 or 20 meter hollow rings Here, it seems perfect for this sort of challenge.

Is there a reason not to use a DEMV MK1? If you're prepared to scratch the paintwork it can reverse into and drive out of a MK4 cargo-bay, with the back section removed it can easily carry/deploy a huge dish with two hinges to raise/lower it through 90*. The crew can sleep in the cab, just tell them they're going camping. I added solar power and a ton of metalwork for the aesthetics/elegance. You could add a docking port to the rear but isn't it easier to tie cargo down with winches?

The seats are the command pod from Bobcats DEMV Mk3 EX

The "Servo Configuration" box that pops up in the VAB/SPH when you use the robotics parts. It has "Group Name" and "Keys", you need to put the keys in.

Have you assigned a key/letter in the VAB/SPH? You can use the same keys for every servo, they're still controlled separately with the mouse buttons.

That's happened to me, it loaded after about 5 mins and now it loads the same speed as other parts. No idea what could cause that.

I had to modify my mod craft, it now has one stock part (probe core) and ridiculously light and powerful nuclear-electric-propeller propulsion. I was able to run it up a mountain and sustain a reasonably high speed. 23:17 and a 15 min 2000m bonus is below 10 mins - I didn't think it would be possible. I'm going to have to try and do it with a stock one but I don't think I'll manage. Tosh's trolley wheels never dig in and skate like a hovercraft and suspensatrons give massive suspension travel. I'm just not convinced you could call it a rover

Did you go most of the way in the water? I'm not sure that's in the spirit of a rover challenge, even though it may not explicitly break a rule. To include boats needs a remake. You can burn down the dead flat water at ridiculous speed, the same as you could fly. The rough terrain is part of it.

Yeah, I do agree with that, I should of put "No vertical thrust/force of any sort". This challenge was me thinking what I'd design and then, yeah, I didn't consider vertical engines because I wouldn't use one, or landing gears, I expect there's some more as well. I hope no one makes it into the negative time zone.

It's the same as using one to fly just the other way up , I know you can just put an engine on and get the same effect but it does say in the original challenge "No horizontal lift parts please, vertical only", if it has a lift rating in the game and it's not placed vertically I didn't want it allowed. If you allow a bit of down-force from a wing then why not a bit of up-force, you can be stuck to the ground and not have to deal with impacts from jumping or so light from lift that you glide half the way across by adding a couple of very light parts. At least with an engine to provide the force there's a reasonable cost in extra weight and some fuel.I didn't consider at all making a stock rover with the landing gear either, the 15 min stock bonus was judged mainly on the rover wheels poor impact and overspeed damage. But you can and they're fast, I don't think you need Lift/drag wings as well.

It's fast but you have some horizontal lift parts in there saik0, I'm not sure if pointing them slightly down counts - they're still producing force in a horizontal direction. It does say in the challenge they can be vertical only.

Nice designs, and a 15.07 - just 7 seconds from the highest medal. Are you going to stop there Chrisd875? I'll start a scoreboard. I'm not sure about lift engines, the no horizontal lift parts was supposed to stop people countering gravity. Surviving the hard impacts with only one or two parts breaking off is part of the challenge.

Does this mean (as the only entrant) I've won a challenge? I started another one that no one except me may enter, that'll be two I've won

A while back I decided I needed kethane refuelling operations at Jool, sent a satellite and scanned Tylo and then sent a surface mining rover and tanker shuttle to take the fuel up to ships in orbit. All ready after three long treks to Tylo. When I deployed the kethane drill it pointed upwards - I didn't test it on Kerbin, I thought I new enough about kethane mining. It made me swear out loud

It's a race, from the start to the finish, and it's quite short (if you cruise across on the flat ground at 50m/s it takes 50 mins) The mission clock starts when you leave the launchpad/runway area and to end the race touch a wheel in the water in the yellow zone on the opposite coast (slow down and touch the water, not fly into it and explode at 150m/s). There's a few route choices, the flat ground near the coast is easiest/fastest and high ground slows you down with harder terrain but gives a slightly shorter route. There's additional time bonus for tackling a mountain, go above 1000m vertical height for a 5 min time reduction, above 1500m for a further 5 min time reduction and above 2000m for a further 5 min time reduction. It's well within range of a basic jet engine with one barrel of fuel so augmenting wheel drive with more serious power is highly encouraged, but, the stock wheels are, well, not so good. If you have a 100% stock vehicle take a 15 min time reduction - my experience is you'll be stopping to fix some punctures It's a rover race so no horizontal lift parts please, vertical only for steering/stability. It's hard to tell the difference between driving and flying at the speeds that can be achieved. Claim a medal below 50 mins - Plastic completion badge below 40 mins - Bronze Cup below 30 mins - Silver Cup below 20 mins - Gold Cup below 15 mins - Platinum/Crystal model of Jeb himself below 10 mins - Wait, what? Show me! I'll start a scoreboard if you go faster than me, or in fact, if anyone competes at all. I'm expecting to run down the flat ground at around 130m/s with mod parts at the moment (probably 20 mins). Can that be beat by a stock rover over the high mountains claiming 30min time reduction? It seems possible. (if you want to be on a scoreboard include some evidence, especially if you want time reduction bonus) Last and most important - It's not a race, just have fun! (It is a race really though) The Fastest so Far Chrisd857 - [stock] - 15:07

Sometimes you just can't have negative, this may be one of those occasions Photons travel at the speed of light because they have no mass, isn't that the rule? Anything without mass moves at the speed of light, anything with mass will move slower than the speed of light, something with negative mass? Can only move faster than the speed of light? I think that breaks the universe - it doesn't seem surprising that unity can't deal with it

I did it with the chopper, six hours and forty minutes with most of it at 80-90m/s. I had to drop down to 50m/s on the hills and rough bits especially when it was dark and I went around all the mountains. It's a long ride, the prospect of doing it again with more weight to carry isn't very appealing at the moment. I think that's quite a fast time though.