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The Elcano Challenge : Ground-based circumnavigation


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Congrats to Claw, the infamous mod, for completing his circumnavigation of Kerbin. I'm sure you got some ideas for additions to your plugin along the way. Funny itsn't it? When you push the envelope, you discover exactly where the envelope is flawed.

Oh my gods. What am I infamous for??

And yeah, I tried really hard no to get distracted by bugs on this challenge. Sometimes it's hard to put things aside and just play!

Again, sorry it's taken me a bit to get around to this. Between trying to learn to mod and work my free time has seemed to vanish.

Yes. Making add-ons seems to do that. :P

Thanks for updating the board. I feel like I can officially add the badge now! :D

Cheers,

~Claw

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I decided to tackle one of Kerbin's newer moons - VUY-519 - or "Tato" as it is known to Frodin Kermin.

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Circumnavigation took a respectable 16 minutes. I think I could shave a little off that but I was wary of catching "air". The ion engine running on low power kept the stock rover fixed to the surface. Propulsion and steering was via RCS.

Nice challenge!

Update...

Dang! Just realised I forgot the start/finish flag. Will the parked craft do as well? I could repeat the journey if needed....Never mind, found you can't plant flags on these bodies.

Edited by Foxster
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Well, I'll give this a shot. Just building the vehicle now. Will post my progress.

Day one: 120 km or so. All is well. Grabbed some science while I'm at it.

Here's the rig:

9.3m x 9.5m x 98 metres in size

Mass: 27 tonnes (pretty light for it's size)

Power: Solar, Fuel cells (large) x4, batteries (400 unit x4). Total power capacity: 3700 units

Fuel: Liquid fuel and Oxidizer for the Fuel cells

Propulsion: Large tracks (Kerbal Foundries) and electric propeller (Firespitter)

Floatation: Buoyancy Blister (Maritime Pack) under CG and Firespitter nose floats (x2) in the front. It's enough to keep it from sinking, but it floats like a submarine. :P

Top speed (land): 49 m/s on smooth ground, 35 m/s on rougher terrain, 4 m/s in water (take a nap)

Maximun inclination before traction loss: 47 degrees

Crew: Two (Scientist and Engineer. Pilot was deemed not needed for this challenge)

She's a beast.

screenshot1.png

Edited by GDJ
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I kind of want to attempt this with a kOS script I've been writing, but I think it will need to improve the script by quite a bit. Might actually be the best way to improve it, through field testing! I'm considering Dres, since I've never been there, or Eeloo. Though I do have a mobile base on the way to Duna, but if you hit a bump at more than 10 m/s the whole thing explodes, so I probably won't try it with that.

I'll let you guys know if I end up deciding on anything, and I'll document as much as I can, should I decide to try this. It looks like "fun" if you enjoy driving around a planet :P

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Well, I'll give this a shot. Just building the vehicle now. Will post my progress.

Day one: 120 km or so. All is well. Grabbed some science while I'm at it.

Here's the rig:

9.3m x 9.5m x 98 metres in size

Mass: 27 tonnes (pretty light for it's size)

Power: Solar, Fuel cells (large) x4, batteries (400 unit x4). Total power capacity: 3700 units

Fuel: Liquid fuel and Oxidizer for the Fuel cells

Propulsion: Large tracks (Kerbal Foundries) and electric propeller (Firespitter)

Floatation: Buoyancy Blister (Maritime Pack) under CG and Firespitter nose floats (x2) in the front. It's enough to keep it from sinking, but it floats like a submarine. :P

Top speed (land): 49 m/s on smooth ground, 35 m/s on rougher terrain, 4 m/s in water (take a nap)

Maximun inclination before traction loss: 47 degrees

Crew: Two (Scientist and Engineer. Pilot was deemed not needed for this challenge)

She's a beast.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e216/Max_Payne_0001/The%20Elcano%20Challenge/screenshot1.png

Good looking rover, I like the treads!

Is the water speed limit imposed by the thrust you can generate, or is 5m/s where stuff starts coming off? My amphibious rover has to be quite careful on entry and exit lest pieces (or kerbals) become useless debris. I've gotten up to 10m/s on a barebones model with no pontoons floating on structural panels but it gets dangerous going fast.

In any case, I've had this urge to try actually building a submarine or submersible, I'd love to see yours in the water.

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G'day guys, I'm preparing for this challenge. (Good planning is half the fun eh?). I'd like to plot the path of the rover (or particular points) on a map. Could anyone recommend a good mod for this?

(I recall once seeing a mod with a part you add which logs long/lat over time, but I couldn't find it again). Other data such as alt. would be handy too.

Cheers

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Thanks!

It's the maximum speed in water. Lots of draggy parts. Parts don't fall off so far.......unless I hit the water at 10 m/s. I try to slide in at 2 m/s. Safer that way.

Unfortunately I've run into a snag. The Rover is fine, but the landing struts are having some difficulty in handling the mass of the Rover (I lift it up when I quit the game. Less issues with saves that way) and they kinda break. I have an engineer to repair them, but he/she is not a high enough level to repair them!

OOPS! :(

So, I have to start again, but I have the markers where I went, so it's not a total loss. I managed to squeeze in a extra 10 km for a total of 130.

I also need to use the Maritime Pack spotlights (they show a bug's butt at 10 km. I kid you not. They are that bright! :D). The stock one's just don't cut it ( I used 12 and they still don't shine the ground very well.)

I have to do some more training, find a engineer that can do the job, or get creative.

Actually I'll ask Kerbalfoundaries if they know a code I can insert so I can have a parking brake.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks !

I've updated the main post. Day 2, I'm 50km away from my starting point.

Pretty good for Eeloo! How's the gravity treating you?

Edited by GDJ
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I'm still working on my Kerbin run with both rovers. MechJeb autopilot needs some lessons in subtlety. Ive had to F9 a few times to recover from total vehicle destruction. I've had 2 recoverable rollovers where not a thing broke off, but for the most part when it catches a mystery glitch in the terrain, the autopiloted rover is a total loss. I'd replace it, but i have a job and a house, and will never finish if i do it that way! I haven't used any magic jiggery-pokery on it to make it better, just reloaded after mishaps.

I may upgrade the fragile rover using KIS if that's possible. Seems like that'd be more in the spirit of the challenge.

Manning ASET's Explorer rover myself has been masterful this whole time, and it makes my drive quite tolerable indeed.

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If you don't have much time try driving on landing gear with some small thrusters (maybe good modification if your craft breaks again)

To everyone trying Eeloo good luck and as I finished it like 1.5 weeks ago I have some information: don't quicksave while in air if it is a small hop, before the physics load you will be 2 meters deep and then ejected violently; furthermore I had 8 checkpoints of 165.7 km, so multiply 165.7 by 8 and you will know how far you have to drive, it took me like 24 hours

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tried doing this...... but as im not a patient man.... i also built my craft, blazing fast (for a ground based unit). STOCK btw

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http://imgur.com/a/GTy6j#0

im taking a 'safe' speed of roughly 110-130m/s on medium terrain (on 25-30% throttle), recommended 40-60 on highly uneven terrain like mountain, 80m/s limit for uneven

on perfectly even terrain, 150-180m/s is achievable, 200m/s is also achieveable but unsafe.

on average, i cover about 10km per 3 to 5 minutes

now i also found a bug that really makes this craft scarier than it should be.

on some terrain, above 40m/s i think. braking actually accelerates you, and this accurs REALLY often, and the effect are somewhat stronger than the engine power itself. this makes it hard to actually slow down, but once you have slowed down enough, it works fine, excellent actually.

Edited by Koolkei
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Challenge accepted!

I decided to use a small and agile rover made mostly of structural parts. It can go quite fast and it seemed good when i tested it on Kerbin, however i greatly underestimated how little traction those rockomax yellowheels have on low-G worlds like Duna. I can still go fast but climbing hills and slowing down is problematic :/ .

Still, going so fast that the wheels pop, jumping over the dunes and /or loosing control and blowing up is quite entertaining :).

Transfer to Duna:

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Had to rework my rig. I've officially given up on trying to build an amphibious craft and I'll work out a long convoluted path around Kerbin via the ground.

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Had to rework my rig. I've officially given up on trying to build an amphibious craft and I'll work out a long convoluted path around Kerbin via the ground.

You can go over the poles, although unless you want to scale a huge wall, you will have to go around.

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Good looking rover, I like the treads!

Is the water speed limit imposed by the thrust you can generate, or is 5m/s where stuff starts coming off? My amphibious rover has to be quite careful on entry and exit lest pieces (or kerbals) become useless debris. I've gotten up to 10m/s on a barebones model with no pontoons floating on structural panels but it gets dangerous going fast.

In any case, I've had this urge to try actually building a submarine or submersible, I'd love to see yours in the water.

To my knowledge, the speed at which you can enter water is based on the crash tolerances of the parts. The maximum speed you can achieve on water is 125 m/s. At that point, things begin to break regardless of crash tolerances.

And if you're interested in boats guys, my mod is open for this challenge. Click the image in my sig. I'd actually like to see if someone could make with my parts pack.

- - - Updated - - -

now is a amphibious vehicle allowed? i want to try building one if so :D

Of course.

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Here is my submission to the Elcano : Gilly challenge! Please have a look and if it is acceptable then PM me or +rep so I can know. Thanks! http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/130363-Gilly-Circumnavigation-Flying-without-wings%21?p=2114377#post2114377

I have one question. At any point, from the moment you left the sph or vab and began the attempt in which you landed, planted a flag and drove back to that flag, did you use hyperedit?

If so, it's invalid.

Hyperedit is fine for testing. But once you begin, if you fail and wish to pick up where you left off, you must do it the old fashioned way.

Is that what I'm reading in your log?

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