Somethings odd with rover wheels

[katateochi]

Anyone else finding that rover wheels are behaving a bit oddly? a) they seem much weaker (particularly the TR-2L ruggedized wheel) they lock steering above certain speeds c) wheel twitch after repairing has got worse, d) brakes don't seem to work as well.

In 0.90 I build a really tough little rover, so tough I took it up the mountain (behind the island runway) and let it just roll down and it pretty much took it (a few bits broke off, but the wheels remained intact, even while rolling over at 40m/s). It's key was being very small and light so the load on the wheels was minimal (also most of the rover was protected by the wheels).

(original 0.90.0 version, on minmus)

It ended it's tumble down the mountain in a 40m/s roll in which a few bit's broke off (head lights, a battery, couple science bits, one of it's roll bars), but none of the wheels broke, it was still very drive-able afterwards.

(0.90.0 version on Kerbin)

I loaded the craft from 0.90.0 and found it wasn't working anything like as well. So I re-made it from scratch (in case there was some issue with a 0.90 craft file), but the problems remain. The main issue is the wheels are extremely weak now. I went over this little bump at about 20m/s and one of the wheels broke (it used to be able to jump that fine).

(remade 1.0 version)

The other issue is that the steering locks out completely at around 35m/s. Steering has always been reduced at higher speeds but this is a complete (and sudden) lock, let the speed drop off while trying to steer and the second it drops below 35m/s it will suddenly be able to turn hard again. 35m/s isn't a constant for all rovers, with the same type of wheels a slightly longer wheel base rover locked it's steering at around 40, so I'm not sure what the logic behind the lock is. If this is a "safety feature" I really don't like it, if I want to drive dangerously that's my prerogative! With SAS and RCS thrusters to help keep it pushed down this one used to be able to corner ok at 40-45m/s without turning over, it couldn't turn hard at those speeds, but it was enough to adjust course to avoid hitting things.

RCS was key to this rover for down-thrust, acceleration and braking. It used to have 3 of the small roundified tanks and that would last it quite a while. The new version uses it's RCS in no time at all. Have RCS consumption rates changed?

The other odd thing I'm finding is that when a wheel does break and you stop to repair it, the rover goes into spasms after the wheel is fixed, fix several wheels and the darn thing starts driving around in circles on it's own like a demented cat chasing it's tail. switch away to another craft, or manage to board it and instantly the twitching stops.

I generally only use the rear wheels as brakes on rovers, especially small ones like this. I also have forward facing RCS to help slow down from high speed, but the wheel brakes used to be enough to stop it from low speeds. In 1.0 I've been finding the brakes are really poor, even if I've adjusted the braking torque to max. That coupled with increased RCS consumption rates (limiting how often RCS brakes can be used) and not being able to adjust course at all at high speeds has kind of diminished rover joy for me.

I know, rovers aren't meant to be driven at 40-50m/s in real life. BUT in real life there is an awful lot more scenery whipping past which gives an increased sense of speed. In KSP the terrain is rather sparse so I feel trading that off against having unrealistic speeds is ok. So if these are the result of changes to make rovers more "realistic" I'm rather disappointed by that.

Anyone experiencing these things? Are they by design or are they a knock-on effect of all the other changes in 1.0?

[Tex]

Honestly, actually, I haven't been having many of the same problems. I'm not sure exactly what, but it may be that I have a tad less experience with really putting rover wheels through their paces in regards to impact tolerance. I actually have been developing a hummer-style offroad Kerbin rover for a road trip and am finding that the ruggedized wheels can stand up to most of what I'm putting them through. Though I don't think I do any jumps at 20 m/s like that, because I know there won't really be a situation where that happens to my rover.

And as for steering slowing down- I'm not quite sure if it actually does slow your turn speed when you're going that fast, for me the sudden flipping makes it hard to tell how fast the wheels actually turned...