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The Elcano Challenge : Ground-based circumnavigation

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Wooks

Wooks

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i think when submitting a challenge, one should consider the purpose of that challenge: Is it fun? Is it educational? Would taking part of it improve my KSP skills somehow?

One of the definitions of challenge is: A test of one's abilities or resources in a demanding but stimulating undertaking. This, my dear friend, is a challenge. A really hard one.

Frankly, this seems simply like a test of endurance for...nothing. There's no real skill involved other than the ability to not get a sore butt from sitting all day and a sore index finger from holding down W.

Allow me to take (light) offense on this one, I circumnavigated Kerbin by land an it was one of the most interesting and educational missions I've ever undertaken on KSP, by far my favorite. Many people don't understand that patience and endurance are skills, not everyone is prepared to commit to large scale challenges.

And certainly there is way more than holding down W.

Unless you ask my youtube subscribers, that was one of the most repeated jokes :D

This challenge has many hidden facets that you might not be aware of: basic planning and organizing skills, navigational skills, creative engineering, emergency management (broken parts, missing crew, power and energy failures, etc), enough to keep you busy for a couple weeks.

I'm sorry for being so forward, i realize you put good thought into it from how you wrote the intro, i just think this challenge is more a chore than an accomplishment.

I'd personally hate ksp after finishing that journey.

Don't apologize for speaking your mind, its okay to have doubts when facing challenges that appear to be mindnumbling or unsurmountable.

I did it, it IS and accomplishment, and I encourage anyone willing to commit to it to go AND DO IT.

Edited by Wooks
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DaPatman

DaPatman

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I won't be making a thread for it, since I don't feel I could adequately narrate the mission, but I do have pictures of the first part of my journey, in which I cross the Lesser Flats:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Next time: I decide whether to continue with one solar panel missing, send a replacement rover, or install KIS and bring a replacement panel.

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Fengist

Fengist

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I won't be making a thread for it, since I don't feel I could adequately narrate the mission, but I do have pictures of the first part of my journey, in which I cross the Lesser Flats:

Next time: I decide whether to continue with one solar panel missing, send a replacement rover, or install KIS and bring a replacement panel.

Charge!

You narrated those images just fine. Trust me on this. Compared to some of the mission reports in that forum, yours is a gem.

And now you see why for my adventure on Eve, I packed 2 KAS containers full of goodies and repair parts. Even my lovely, well-tested, beat-to-death on Kerbin design, failed miserably on Eve.

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Fengist

Fengist

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Alright, I'm starting my entry. First, I'll give you a prelude of the vehicle and what it can do.

You almost have a jet powered motorcycle there. I just have 2 questions. What orbital body are you going to attempt and um... what happens when you run out of jet fuel. I don't see any solar power or TEG's

Oh, and if that's a tweaked IR piston underneath, I STRONGLY advise you to look at the OP and jump to the link of me doing a Mun walk. I had huge issues with mine getting misaligned and I think I know why. It's in the latest post in that thread.

Actually, I just updated the OP with a warning that covers the problems I had.

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Slam_Jones

Slam_Jones

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You almost have a jet powered motorcycle there. I just have 2 questions. What orbital body are you going to attempt and um... what happens when you run out of jet fuel. I don't see any solar power or TEG's

Oh, and if that's a tweaked IR piston underneath, I STRONGLY advise you to look at the OP and jump to the link of me doing a Mun walk. I had huge issues with mine getting misaligned and I think I know why. It's in the latest post in that thread.

Actually, I just updated the OP with a warning that covers the problems I had.

Well, to answer your questions:

I will be circumnavigating Kerbin, going westward from KSC, and

I will driving solely using Jet power. The electric wheels will be in Neutral, as it were, except on steep hills as needed. Once out of fuel, I'll send out a jet to land nearby and refuel it using KAS.

As for quicksaves, I do them every 20 minutes, and only when I'm completely stopped. Water is smooth enough I don't need to save on it, as unless I mess up, it's all good.

And my rule on quicksave is only every 20 minutes, or when I repair a wheel. If I break more than a repairable wheel, I go back to the last quicksave.

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Fengist

Fengist

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Well, to answer your questions:

I will be circumnavigating Kerbin, going westward from KSC, and

I will driving solely using Jet power. The electric wheels will be in Neutral, as it were, except on steep hills as needed. Once out of fuel, I'll send out a jet to land nearby and refuel it using KAS.

As for quicksaves, I do them every 20 minutes, and only when I'm completely stopped. Water is smooth enough I don't need to save on it, as unless I mess up, it's all good.

And my rule on quicksave is only every 20 minutes, or when I repair a wheel. If I break more than a repairable wheel, I go back to the last quicksave.

Sounds like a plan. Good luck and keep us updated! I linked your first post to the explorers list in the OP. Make sure to post in the thread when you update it or I may not see it.

- - - Updated - - -

I just realize I'm teetering on the edge of disqualifying myself. While mods are allowed, I made my own 90 degree structural part for the 'joints' due to the complete lack of them in available mods. Making 'knees' and 'hips' without 90 degree turns requires a good bit of part bending. It's purely structural, no batteries, fuel... etc. but...

Have a look at my Mun walker link in the OP. It's the white parts at the knees and one at the hip joint. What do you guys think?

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Slam_Jones

Slam_Jones

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Sounds like a plan. Good luck and keep us updated! I linked your first post to the explorers list in the OP. Make sure to post in the thread when you update it or I may not see it.

-snippity snip-

Part One of my journey has been completed! I've uploaded the pics and posted them in my post on Page 3, including a "storyline" of sorts. BTW, the album's aren't showing up (on my browser at least) correctly inside the spoiler, so let me know if they do/do not work for everyone else. If they're totally screwed up, I'll post em in another format.

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Darren9

Darren9

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Part One of my journey has been completed! I've uploaded the pics and posted them in my post on Page 3, including a "storyline" of sorts. BTW, the album's aren't showing up (on my browser at least) correctly inside the spoiler, so let me know if they do/do not work for everyone else. If they're totally screwed up, I'll post em in another format.
I had to click the link at the bottom and view it on imgur when I looked earlier. I was surprised to see such a narrow design, looks like it'll tip over quite easily :)
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Wooks

Wooks

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Part One of my journey has been completed! I've uploaded the pics and posted them in my post on Page 3, including a "storyline" of sorts. BTW, the album's aren't showing up (on my browser at least) correctly inside the spoiler, so let me know if they do/do not work for everyone else. If they're totally screwed up, I'll post em in another format.

Dude! Dude! Open a thread in "Live from Mission Control" with this, marvelous!: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/forums/53-Live-from-Mission-Control%21

One of the most wonderful things about circumnavigations is discovering all the weird and fantastic terrain features that are otherwise invisible for the player, I was surprised by that weird feature you fell into not far away from the KSC, haven't seen that one before, super cool!

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Slam_Jones

Slam_Jones

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Dude! Dude! Open a thread in "Live from Mission Control" with this, marvelous!: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/forums/53-Live-from-Mission-Control%21

One of the most wonderful things about circumnavigations is discovering all the weird and fantastic terrain features that are otherwise invisible for the player, I was surprised by that weird feature you fell into not far away from the KSC, haven't seen that one before, super cool!

Well, I've taken your advice and created a thread for my challenge attempt. I'll be updating both my post on here and the thread as needed.

I had to click the link at the bottom and view it on imgur when I looked earlier. I was surprised to see such a narrow design, looks like it'll tip over quite easily :)

It's actually quite stable, given the right input. It's got enough SAS to keep it flat thru corners, even at full speed. The only problem comes when I catch too much air off a dune and crash :\

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Wooks

Wooks

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Part Two of my journey has been completed!!! It went a lot smoother than the first segment, and Landin and Jeb are both loving the trip!

Check out the thread and my post on page 3 to see how far I've gotten. :)

Can't wait, update it already!

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Fengist

Fengist

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Part Two of my journey has been completed!!! It went a lot smoother than the first segment, and Landin and Jeb are both loving the trip!

Check out the thread and my post on page 3 to see how far I've gotten. :)

- Broken Tires: 13

- Quickloads: 11

- Refuels: 4

- Naps: 2

You forgot snacks consumed ;) Glad you're enjoying it.

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Slam_Jones

Slam_Jones

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- Broken Tires: 13

- Quickloads: 11

- Refuels: 4

- Naps: 2

You forgot snacks consumed ;) Glad you're enjoying it.

Heh, I'm actually using TAC-LS, so I might be able to provide some numbers on food and water consumed after the next leg :)

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Jean Deaux

Jean Deaux

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MinMus circumnavigation completed. I video capture the "exciting" parts of this two day journey on a polar land trek around this planet. The rover is the Ark III, as a homage for an old land rover from way back... the

. My Ark III is powered by a quad core nuclear reactor for nearly unlimited power supply. Much thanks to Mechjeb for allowing the cruise control while I laid back in the lounge area of the rover and played Space Invaders on the large screen plasma.

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Fengist

Fengist

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MinMus circumnavigation completed. I video capture the "exciting" parts of this two day journey on a polar land trek around this planet. The rover is the Ark III, as a homage for an old land rover from way back... the
. My Ark III is powered by a quad core nuclear reactor for nearly unlimited power supply. Much thanks to Mechjeb for allowing the cruise control while I laid back in the lounge area of the rover and played Space Invaders on the large screen plasma.

Well done. Welcome to the elite group of ground circumnavigators! So, was 3m/s your top speed for that whole trip?

And wow, I actually remember watching that show on TV...

And did you recognize Jonathan Harris from that episode. He was Dr. Smith on Lost In Space.

Edited by Fengist
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Jean Deaux

Jean Deaux

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Well done. Welcome to the elite group of ground circumnavigators! So, was 3m/s your top speed for that whole trip?

And wow, I actually remember watching that show on TV...

And did you recognize Jonathan Harris from that episode. He was Dr. Smith on Lost In Space.

For the majority of the trip, yes. I did open it up to 5 m/s at the flat lake beds, but even that got pretty wobbly and down right scary at times.

And yes, I do recognize Harris from the "original" Lost in Space.

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Fengist

Fengist

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For the majority of the trip, yes. I did open it up to 5 m/s at the flat lake beds, but even that got pretty wobbly and down right scary at times.

And yes, I do recognize Harris from the "original" Lost in Space.

Yea.... Minmus has it's own set of driving challenges... like trying not to fly off it.

And take care what you admit to knowing... you're showing your age :)

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Kanil

Kanil

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I believe the intakes have a crash tolerance of 100m/s, so that's the limit on this design. The E/F/G models can do 190, but that's really just because their engines won't push them any faster in the thick atmosphere. Things on water behave odd and only check for collision when they enter/exit the water, so keeping your intakes underwater the entire time allows them to float your craft without destroying them at any speed. However once you time warp, you occasionally get physics hiccups where they breach the surface and are instantly destroyed... with the rest of your craft shortly following. Still haven't figured out a way around that, although I have some ideas (but they'd make refueling a lot harder than it already is.)

Edit:

-- I found this informative when designing the craft. It's a little dated, but explains how to avoid horrible death well enough. Edited by Kanil
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