First Challenge Ever Taken: Munar Ground-Based Circumnavigation

[cy-one]

Still editing this thread...

... might also be my longest topic-title ever, actually surprised I didn't hit the limit with that... Anyway.

It's been a while since I last played KSP, somewhere around the time before 0.90 hit, didn't play that version (no particular reason, just wasn't feeling KSP'y). Had already planned to play a bit again, but couldn't get all my "Wanna have"-mods together, so I took even more time... Watched a little bit of EnterElysium's new KSP-series, started putting my mods together and while doing that, stumbled across the Elcano Challenge.

Which... well, hits the nail. I really can't count how often I build some kind of rover, just to hyperedit onto Mun and drive around. And hey, there's actually a challenge to be taken, so why the heck not?

I present, the Munar Circumnavigator MK1 - yep, names are totally my strength.

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The McMun I (can't be bothered to write the full name every time) is actually not the Mk I. I experimented quite a lot with free-hanging/spinning dual-wheel suspensions (similar to some NASA rovers), but that didn't come to fruition. I also experimented with some IR-gimmicks, but in the end... McMun I is actually completely stock, if we ignore the fact I used Tweakscale for some parts.

The driver has a nice panorama cockpit, followed by the crew's cabin (I really hope that's large enough...). Behind that, wedged between to batteries, are two ore drills and a small ISRU. Then there is the Ore tank, some fuel cells and some actual LFO-tanks (just the small ones). And of course, another reaction wheel for those pesky jumps that are bound to happen.

Oh, forgot one mod. MechJeb is installed for smooth cruise control.

We'll see how well the MacMun I does in the first tests.

Edited May 8, 2015 by cy-one

[cy-one]

Okay, scrap that.

Tests showed the McMun I loves doing wheelies. It actually loves it so badly that the entire back-end disassembles itself if you just look at the throttle.

McMun II was designed to be a little more... "homey" with two Lander Cans instead of one Hitchhiker. It was also the first McMun to be armored (to protect against those nasty jumps)

McMun III was just a larger version of McMun I, with two additional Ore-tanks at the front to act as counterweight... Didn't help, the McMun III also loved doing wheelies of doom.

McMun IV never really saw the light of day because of a bug/missing feature in IR-Sequencer, or because I was too dumb to figure it out. Designed to walk across the surface of Mun.

(above mentioned vehicles have been added to the slideshow in the opening post)

Weeell... The Munar Circumnavigator Mark V, also nicknamed the "Mun-ster Truck" (not my idea, honestly!)

I thought, the biggest issue on Mun - or one of them - are all the small bumps in the terrain, once you pick up some speed. And what better to negate uneven terrain if not large wheels? After some fiddling around (there was actually a smaller version that used 1x1 plates), I ended up with this design.

The length of the vehicle combined with KSP's wobble actually helps in this case. The chassis deforms a little, meaning usually all 4 wheels have contact with the ground. Two large SAS-wheels in the center house the batteries and help control the craft, both while steering and jumping. To smaller SAS-units at the back and at the front are added for ... actually more speed. This craft also likes wheelies, but a lot less than it's predecessors. 9 Ion drives at the back will hopefully help accelerate the craft past 20 m/s (the point where wheelies happen with this craft). That is yet untested, though.

With the exception of IR-Rotatrons to make the wheels actually work as wheels, this craft is stock.

The Mun-ster Truck

- 1 Kerbal

- 7.6m Height

- 11.5m Width

- 21.1m Length

- 197 Parts

- 28.2 tons of pure awesomeness

Disclaimer: Do not drive on the KSC-runway, it will explode!

Edited May 8, 2015 by cy-one

[cy-one]

Day One, 50km: Leaving the crater.

I landed the Mun-ster Truck in one of the large, Kerbin-facing craters. Getting out of it was actually quite a challenge.

While I will not use the ion thrusters to accelerate beyond 20m/s, they came quite handy when climbing the very steep cliffs surrounding the larger craters.

Distance from landing zone: 48.68 km - Distance travelled: Probably a lot more.

Some of the craters caused the truck to drift sideways a lot more than it was going forwards.

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