Green Thunder {Elcano Challenge}

[Tex]

Such praise! Thanks a million, guys! I'm just doing what needed to be done I always thought I was a little crazy... Maybe I'm finally getting a chance to let my kerbal instincts take over my designs!

[Tex]

Entry 3

May 20, 2015

When you see an explosion, what's the first thing you think of?

If it's failure, you might be a pessimist. Or you may or may not have just lost four Kerbals in a glitch...

BUT

Before I transcend into that part of tonight's drama, I've decided to show off how my truck transporter, Green Lightning, works!

So I did an overview of the transporter's flight plan in the last entry, but now I have pictures to describe how it works.

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Here's a rundown:

The Green Lightning transporter will take off from the runway at KSC. It takes off much quicker now due to the added engines, and cruises at a comfortable 120 m/s or so. It flies quite unsteadily but it's a lot better than driving a truck to each new location! After it flies to the LZ, it will then take a nosedive straight to a location beside the last broken-down truck it has to be the replacement of. At 400m up, the parachutes open and slow the plane until it's dropping fairly horizontally. It slows to roughly 12-13 m/s down and then lands on the ground, brakes on. It won't go anywhere after that! But after that, the plane is staged and the sections drop away, plopping the payload down on the ground safely. Then, the truck will shove the rear section of the plane away and drive up to where the crew will transfer. As they did when the plane landed!

Or rather, didn't, because the first landing attempt I made ended in glitchery. Not like the glitchery above, thankfully.

By the way, this is not part of the glitch, the glitch happened moments later. THIS happened when I attempted to slide under the wing and ended up destroying the living quarters... whoops... No, the glitch crashed my game somehow and I had to restart that leg of the journey, thus saving the hitchhiker pod. Yay!

The not-yay part came when I got all loaded up and everything.

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So the journey started off okay enough, the only part that was alarming was the steepness of the hill I was climbing. I mean jeez, check out the third picture!

Unfortunately... please refer to the picture at the start of today's entry. That's what ultimately ended the next part of my circumnavigation, rather prematurely.

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*crash* *bang* *clatter* *BOOOOOOM*

If anyone can explain how just pure metal can explode like that, please lemme know...

I mean, I'm assuming it was due to the ridiculous amount of part clipping I used to make my truck as good-looking as I think it is that basically amplifies any real damage the truck would take, and more likely than not the very same cause of the glitch that caused me to destroy the Astronaut Complex at the very beginning. Well, the omen came true! My crew, unfortunately, has perished. Just take a look at the debris field...

But no matter!

I'm revising my plans for circumnavigation, and have decided to reduce the amount of traveling I do. I will hereby forego visiting the anomaly I was attempting to travel to, and just go on to visit KSC 2 before going around the pole and coming back to the KSC. My truck is dead, but I shall resume the journey tomorrow!

[Tex]

I'd like to take a quick post and thank whomever created Kerbal Space Program Maps that have been helping me plan my route. The site of the Green Thunder III accident occured at:

1.1646

-78.5303

[Tex]

Entry 4

May 21, 2015

Special edition: The Extremely Short Entry!

I say this because things took a very frustrating turn, causing me enormous distress.

So, first off, I had to send out a new crew to replace those that perished in the Green Thunder III disaster. I sent out a new truck to the site of the second milestone flag, a sort of checkpoint, and was intending to set a new, much less dangerous route. Here's the proof:

So things were off and running! For literally four or so minutes.

I decided to go around the mountain and make for the northern ice cap, so I can shift over to the next continent and possibly visit KSC 2, forgoing many other anomalies such as the one in the mountains I was originally visiting. And in the process, managed to confirm what I already know is an extremely frustrating bug with the wheel colliders.

When you go downhill under certain circumstances, the wheels will lose traction. The rover will literally skid sideways, and though attempting to steer can have some minor effect in correcting your vehicle's course, it more often than not will result in over-correcting the skid and tumbling the rover, likely destroying it. Well, my truck is strong enough to survive rolls, and the wheels themselves make it out intact, but they keep. Snapping. Off.

Luckily, I have a workaround, one that I was avoiding using.

I developed a tactic for reducing the stress put on poppable rover wheels by using small landing gear to bear the main weight of the vehicle, and because the landing gear is nigh indestructible, they can support an enormous weight while still giving the job of keeping the rover tipping over to the actual rover wheels. If placed properly, the landing gear's steering can aid the rover's steering, or better yet the rover can steer independently of the landing gear. It's a clever solution to a very annoying problem, and I only abandoned the problem when I modified my wheels. Now, though, it appears I'll have to use the trick to combat the stupid traction glitch.

*sigh* Don't think for a second I'm giving up, though! I WILL circumnavigate this planet in a truck!

[Overland]

These steep hills look bloody horrible for a train! 4408 II suffers if she has to run both generators for too long up a hill nowhere near as bad as any of them.. I wonder is that KAS attachment anchor any good for attaching to terrain and winching up? I know some of the KAS parts happily live on the ground.. could you experiment with the winch in that way to absail green thunder?

its one of my hopes with 4408 II... they do require a bit of power though to use..id say it might work well on your truck

one thing. . half track? might help

Kerbal industries should work well..

id be using tracks if they wernt so anti-train.. but your having traction problems I dont have.. plus.. theres plenty of actual prototypes..

kerbal industries make a good set

Edited May 24, 2015 by Overland

[Geschosskopf]

@Maximus97:

Have you ever heard of Claw's Stock Bug Fix Modules? One of them fixes the problem with rover wheel traction and braking you've been having.

@Overland:

In previous versions of KAS, the winches could fire grappling hooks out ahead of vehicles, allowing them to be winched up hills. The 1.x version of KAS has changed a lot of things, however, so I don't know if this is still possible.

NOTE: If using this technique, it helps to have the winches mounted on Infernal Robotics pivots so you can adjust elevation and shoot to the desired range. It also helps to have 2 winches so the vehicle can hang by one while shooting the other further up the hill.

[Tex]

@Maximus97:Have you ever heard of Claw's Stock Bug Fix Modules? One of them fixes the problem with rover wheel traction and braking you've been having.

Oh my, really?! Can the prophecy be true?!

I will check it out! Thanks a million!

[ExplorerKlatt]

@Maximus97:

Have you ever heard of Claw's Stock Bug Fix Modules? One of them fixes the problem with rover wheel traction and braking you've been having.

@Overland:

In previous versions of KAS, the winches could fire grappling hooks out ahead of vehicles, allowing them to be winched up hills. The 1.x version of KAS has changed a lot of things, however, so I don't know if this is still possible.

NOTE: If using this technique, it helps to have the winches mounted on Infernal Robotics pivots so you can adjust elevation and shoot to the desired range. It also helps to have 2 winches so the vehicle can hang by one while shooting the other further up the hill.

The KAS winches still work for pulling up hill, it's just really slow; like 4 or 5 m/s slow.

[Tex]

Entry 1

May 24, 2015

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to take two!

So basically I decided that, what with the stupid traction glitches and the anxiety that comes with driving a truck down and up steep slopes (I'm from a multigeneration trucking family, so you can trust me on that...) that it was basically time to start over.

I think I've detailed it before in previous replies to this thread, but this is my basic new approach to the thing: Instead of going to visit all of the anomalies, I'm taking a much safer and simpler path through the flatter parts of Kerbin's topography. I'm heading straight north to the ice cap before swinging west and dipping south to visit KSC2 before heading back up to the pole and going around and down again to complete the circumnavigation. Honestly the path won't look very circumnavigate-y when I'm done, but regardless of whether or not it counts I'm doing it anyway, for fun.

So! On to the pictures of the brand new journey!

And literally right off the bat things are so much better than they were last time. I had one problem when I encountered the traction glitch again, and another scary game crash from the Kraken, but I've used only two trucks to make it to two new milestones. That's a win in my books.

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And here's proof that I'm heading in a new direction. Quality looks terrible... But it's enough to show where I'm off to!

And best of all, I managed to make it another entire milestone with no problems!

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And here's the proof of that one too:

So yup! Two milestones down on (basically) one truck! Things are definitely looking better, and I'm looking forward to the new sights I'll be able to see now that I don't have to continually rescue myself. Roll on!

[Geschosskopf]

Hammer down, Maximus! The coops are all closed and the bears are all still off dealing with that wreck from a few days ago .

Did the stock bug fix help at all?

[RocketPilot573]

BTW, that traction glitch only occurs with the "ruggedized" wheels. The orange wheels are far safer.

[Tex]

Hammer down, Maximus! The coops are all closed and the bears are all still off dealing with that wreck from a few days ago . Did the stock bug fix help at all?

Negatory, rubber duck, though I might've installed it incorrectly. I instead went with my workaround with small landing gear and it appears to be working like a charm. I'll keep tinkering if I need any further help, thanks a million!

BTW, that traction glitch only occurs with the "ruggedized" wheels. The orange wheels are far safer.

Aha, I'll remember that for future rover designs!

[Overland]

I use this very same bug fix collection of moduals for 4408 II.. the braking one is good it lets me adjust the braking torque on the fly to each wheel.. might be helpful for yourself with adjusting green thunder IIs braking ratios.. although yeah the wheels im using I guess dont suffer from the glitch.. I DID use them at first actually but they never seemed to well.. stay on.. they seemed to flex too easy and snap off even modified when attached to a rail on the side of the locomotive..

the orange stock ones do look odd.. but if your using anything like gimp graphics editor.. you can dye them black like I have and they make a pretty passable wheel for a truck.. if you like I could email you the white wall texture I use?.. they do tend to pop easier though stock so dont forget to adjust accordingly the settings

[Tex]

Thanks, Overland! Though I do think I'll stick with the modded ruggedized wheels I'm using for now, though in future designs I will definitely look into using a wider variety of styles. Already I'm getting ready to release a line of trucks, so that'll be exciting!

[Mister Dilsby]

Bugged wheels? Argh! I suppose if I do this challenge it will have to be in a hovercraft.

[Tex]

Bugged wheels? Argh! I suppose if I do this challenge it will have to be in a hovercraft.

Ahhh... Sorry, but the rules say you have to be in contact with the ground. Landing gear is fine (see Starwhip's craft!) but I use the ruggedized wheels for their power.

[Mister Dilsby]

Ahhh... Sorry, but the rules say you have to be in contact with the ground.

I'll drag something along then

[Geschosskopf]

I'll drag something along then

I recommend a Kerbal on a long KAS cable. The cable will give you some slack and thus leeway in how closely you have to maintain altitude, and Kerbals have the highest impact tolerance of all parts. So then you just need to keep your speed low enough that the Kerbal stays down instead of streamering horizontally behind you

But all in all, I recommend boating instead of rovering. No bumps in the road to glitch on

[Tex]

Entry 2

May 29, 2015

Roll on, big mama!

(That's an American country song, one of my favorites to listen to while driving this thing around.)

So! It's been like, forever since I last posted. And honestly that's my fault... I've actually done this section of the mission days ago but was too lazy to go through the parts to put the images and the report and all that jazz here on the forum. My bad! Sorry!

But anyway, things have been progressing smoothly. I don't seem to have taken any more pictures from map mode regarding the path I'm taking, which is actually taking shape now that I'm on to milestone... Sheesh, milestone four by now!

Here's a few images from the mission so far!

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Lotta ground's been covered in that last installment, and I plan on doing so much more. Thanks for sticking with me and my forum procrastinator-y-ness!

[Geschosskopf]

Keep on truckin' . Your pics also remind me of a song, Junior Brown's "I'm All Fired Up"

https://youtu.be/n_2FOwjoSPI