Mun Elcano Run [Over 520 km covered!]

[cubinator]

MUN ELCANO RUN

This is an attempt of mine to go around the Mun by ground.

Summary of past events (bolded numeral indicated which chapter is summarized):

Spoiler

I. I have decided to go all the way around the Mun by ground. I designed a rover to do so, however it is rather unwieldy to transport. I built a rocket (two rockets? Duct-taped to each other? ... When Werhner was shown the blueprint he sighed and said "whatever it takes...Did I really say that in the speech? Oh well, do what you need to do.") The rocket(s?) always seemed to have something that went wrong, be it flipping out in the air, losing a wheel on the rover somehow, running out of fuel, or not violating conservation of momentum (dammit game, I thought you weren't that good a physics simulator)...Anyways, it took hours to get it to the Mun's surface intact. But it's there now!

II. After landing, I had to drive out of the craters I was in. This also took some significant hassle as the wheels weren't working right. After I got the settings just right, the drive was fairly easy and I covered over 30 km before quitting that day.

III. After I got out of the cratered region I landed in, the driving was very easy for many dozens of kilometers. But all good things come to an end, so I arrived at the Farside Crater. I managed to get down the slope just fine, but it was a little nerve-racking, especially in the dusk. I stopped 90 km from my initial flag (This value is shorter than the actual distance covered, because KSP shows direct distance, not that relative to the surface. At that kind of distance, one would have to take into account the curvature of the Mun to get an accurate measurement, but it's close enough for me).

IV. I've managed to get all the way through the Farside Crater without much trouble, all systems are still running smoothly.

V: I kept driving eastward, and ended just over the edge of the Kerbin-facing side of the Mun.

VI: I ran into a bunch of craters which slowed progress, but I managed to get pretty far anyways.

VII: I got Jeb on board and drove out of the crater he was in.

VIII: More driving, falling into craters, quicksaving.

IX: More driving and falling into craters and breaking things, like another RTG, up until I arrived at the terminator where the sun is shining so I will finally be able to see where I am going without having to squint at the map view and the horizon.

X: More driving, now happily in sunlight.

XI: More driving, with some nostalgic music.

CHAPTER I: TO DRIVE AROUND THE MUN, ONE NEEDS TO BRING A CAR TO THE MUN

The rover was designed to be simple, durable, reliable, and stable. It was tested around KSC and works pretty well, at least in Kerbin's high gravity. I expect it to be able to keep going day and night, and it has proven itself able to go up some pretty steep hills (namely, the side edge of the end of the runway). The only drawback to it is that it's simply awful to transport. I had to build a really awkward rocket to get it to the Mun, and it took a really long time to get it just right. It didn't quite have enough delta-V, it always decided to RUD when separated from the rover, and the rover's engines were pointed towards the crew module, which cancelled out the thrust because PHYSICS. Here is the rocket as I first designed it:

And here is the rocket which actually made it:

Landing:

 

In the process of getting a rover to the Mun in working order, Jeb was stranded. This is not a problem, as I'll just drive the functional rover to his location and pick him up. The rover is currently landed on the Mun, I will post pics of it later when I start the driving. 

Edited May 28, 2016 by cubinator

[cubinator]

CHAPTER II: GETTING OUT OF THIS STUPID HOLE

So, as shown in the previous chapter, the rover was safely placed on the Mun's surface after much hassle. However, it landed in a rather heavily cratered region, from which it had to get out of. Furthermore, it kept having this issue where it wouldn't get hardly any traction when going downhill, but did just fine uphill. I managed to fix this by tweaking the brake parameters, I guess. I also disabled the back wheels' motors because they didn't really add to the speed and they kept making it do wheelies when going uphill. After that was fixed, I ran into a terrain glitch where I fell straight through the Mun and came out the other side at over 50 km/s. I changed my terrain detail setting from 'low' to 'high' and the problem was fixed, as well as making things a little prettier. By the time all those problems had been taken care of, I had reached a downhill slope at the edge of a particularly big, old crater. I had some fun catching some air (vacuum? There's definitely no air here) and even doing a few totally intentional flips, at the cost of only an RTG. I still have three left, and the batteries aren't drained when I run everything, including lights so I should be ok. I finally managed to get out of that cratered region though! It took me about an hour to go 32 km in in-game time. This means it should take me 40 hours to get around the Mun (right? I think that math was correct...), not including the countless quickloads I'll certainly have to do. 

 

[cubinator]

CHAPTER III: THAT WAS EASY...BUT NOT FOR LONG

Now that I'm out of the hole I was in, it was time to make my way towards the next hole I was to endure, and a much bigger one at that: The Farside Crater. Until then it was smooth driving, with one huge hill to climb and descend, and gentle slopes the rest of the way there. I was travelling at 20 m/s for the most part, sometimes getting up to 30 downhill. That means I was going 3 times the speed of the Mun's rotation, so the sun got low in the sky fast. I turned on the lights for more, well, light. After a calm period of straight driving, going between two craters, and driving a little more, I had reached the nemesis of the day. The slope into the Farside Crater was intimidating in height and steepness, but I had to press on. Furthermore, the sun had almost set here so visibility was poor. I slowly, carefully guided the rover into the massive depression. After a while, I had cleared the worst of the crater wall and could continue carefully. There were more, smaller craters ahead which I had to maneuver around. I ended my day at ~90 km from my original flag, and planted a new one for measuring my progress once the old one is out of range.

 

Overall I went much faster than last time I drove, mostly because the rover wasn't giving me trouble. I'll probably try not to exceed 15 m/s next time, because I'll be driving in all-out night. The screenshots probably won't be as interesting for a while, so I'll mostly post map view ones showing my distance from the second flag.

[cubinator]

CHAPTER IV: THROUGH THE FARSIDE CRATER

The Farside Crater, although intimidating at first glance, was actually not too bad. I managed to get all the way to the other side and only had to quickload twice. There were some unexpected events, such as me accidentally driving straight into a crater, falling some 50 m, and not breaking anything , but unfortunately amidst all the chaos I was unable to press the screenshot button so you will have to take my word for that . I got to the end and climbed the wall of the mare without too much trouble, and although the EVA report indicates that I am still inside the Farside Crater biome I consider myself to be at it's edge.

 

[cubinator]

CHAPTER V: ON THE NEAR SIDE OF THE MUN

Today I made about 100 km of progress, and it was fairly easy. Now that I think of it, I didn't have to do a single quickload! I drove around a crater and into several others without breaking much, and now I am officially on the Kerbin-facing side of the Mun! I am also within 100 km of Jeb's wreckage so it shows up as a purple marker.

That's all for now! Next time I expect to reach Jeb's broken rover with this functional one, and bring him aboard.

[cubinator]

CHAPTER VI: CRATERS ARE ANNOYING

So, there were a lot of craters on the way to Jeb. I ran into them and broke things several times, requiring several quickloads. The rover struggled along, but slowly made progress.

Next up: Jeb gets his ride.

[cubinator]

CHAPTER VII: HI JEB!

I got Jeb on board and out of the crater he landed in, that's about it.

Now all I have to do is drive all the way around the rest of the Mun! Only 3/4ish to go!

Edited March 6, 2016 by cubinator
wrong album

[Tex]

Exemplary work so far, can't wait to see how it turns out.

[JT531]

This feels like I'm reading The Martian, but on the Mun with kerbals.

[cubinator]

12 hours ago, JT531 said:

This feels like I'm reading The Martian, but on the Mun with kerbals.

"Sol 31: So...I drove over another cliff today...nothing too bad, just three broken tires and one of the RTGs exploded. I've still got plenty of ketchup for the potatoes, so I think I'll be fine for a while. Oh, wait, I just said that I'll be fine, so something's probably about to explode. Gotta go!"

[cubinator]

Gee, uh...getting a lot of likes lately...hmm...guess I should post more here...

CHAPTER VIII: 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

Here are some pics that I forgot to post earlier. It was pretty much the usual...Drove around a couple of craters and into many more, quicksaved a few times and may have quickloaded a few times too...nothing too exciting.

I'm going to avoid the mare this time instead of driving right through it. I'm also coming up on the sunlit side quickly, so soon I will be able to look ahead to find craters instead of checking whether or not I'm falling!

Edited March 27, 2016 by cubinator
Eight eights

[cubinator]

CHAPTER IX: SUNRISE!

Roman numerals are cool and all, but they start to get weird at this point. Maybe I'll post the next chapter number in binary. Anyways, Jeb and Tanlina have seen the last of the darkness for a while, although it seems that the sun has set at the landing site, so they'll be seeing another sunset and the rover will have to go through more accidental cliff jumping eventually. *sigh* I really should have had the foresight to land on the morning side of the Mun...

I guess I should just be glad to be in the sunlight again, at least for a while. Next time: More driving, and probably much less falling into craters, because now I can see the craters! Yay sunlight!

[cubinator]

CHAPTER 101: "I CAN SEE! I CAN SEE! I CAN SEEEEEE!!!!"

Yes, Mr. Square, we can all see now. 

I kept trudging on eastward today, far enough to plant another flag. I didn't go as far as I do sometimes, though, because it got pretty dull. Tanlina and Jeb seemed to be having fun though.

Maybe next time I'll go on longer.

[Ultimate Steve]

This must have taken a lot of persistence. I tried driving around Kerbin once. Made it about 70km before I got bored and used it as a missile target.

I'm not completely sure, but I think that ten in binary is 1010, not 101.

Great job, though! Every rover I send to the Mun just slips and slides and never gains any traction. Can't wait for 1.1.

[cubinator]

1 minute ago, Ultimate Steve said:

This must have taken a lot of persistence. I tried driving around Kerbin once. Made it about 70km before I got bored and used it as a missile target.

I'm not completely sure, but I think that ten in binary is 1010, not 101.

Great job, though! Every rover I send to the Mun just slips and slides and never gains any traction. Can't wait for 1.1.

It feels dull sometimes (like today) but a lot of the time it's actually quite nice watching the boulders and craters gently gliding by. When you're just watching stuff move along as you rove smoothly, or when you're zooming down a hill at almost 40 m/s, when you stop to quicksave you might just check map view and find you've made a big chunk of progress! That's always a nice feeling.

Yes, ten in binary is 1010. 

Oh, my rover does a lot of slipping and sliding. Don't you know why I get all those crazy flips?

[Ultimate Steve]

Yeah, just my rover actually never got anywhere on the mun. It just wouldn't move faster that 7 m/s. Although, I do know the feeling of progress (and of zooming down a hill at 40+m/s). I had both when I was doing my laythe rover. It was really hard to control moving down that huge dune, but I'm really glad I only had to drive that one 30km. Best of luck to you, finishing this!

[cubinator]

3 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Yeah, just my rover actually never got anywhere on the mun. It just wouldn't move faster that 7 m/s. Although, I do know the feeling of progress (and of zooming down a hill at 40+m/s). I had both when I was doing my laythe rover. It was really hard to control moving down that huge dune, but I'm really glad I only had to drive that one 30km. Best of luck to you, finishing this!

Thanks! It will take a while, but eventually it will be done and I can delete that extra 1.0.5 install!

[cubinator]

CHAPTER 2² + 7: DIRE, DIRE DUST

So, after a short (doublethink) hiatus, I decided to drive a bit further. I'll definitely need further pestering to get to the end of this, though. Excerpt from the mission transcript:

 

DD HH MM SS

03 02 12 49 PLT     Hey, check out what I found.

03 02 12 55 SCI     What?

03 02 12 57 PLT     The command seat computer has KTunes on it, looks like there's a bunch of songs.

03 02 13 05 SCI     Oh, cool! - Why don't you put something on. That'd make ... a whole lot more interesting.

03 02 13 31 PLT     - - called "Slide Theme".

03 02 14 24 SCI     Sounds pretty fitting the way this thing drives. (Laughter)

03 02 14 28 PLT     It sure slides around ... it? (Laughter) - - Oops, clicked on something. "Dire Dire Docks"?

03 02 14 40 SCI     That's actually quite calming.

03 02 16 21 PLT     I like it. Surprisingly fitting driving music.

 

Listening to Dire Dire Docks actually gave a really nice feeling to driving on the ironically dry Mun. I didn't make a spectacular amount of progress yesterday, but if I keep going I'll finish eventually, right? It's not like it requires a lifelong devotion. Pics:

Please try to pester me to continue, otherwise I won't finish, and I'd feel really bad about ditching another Elcano attempt (even though the last one was due to a glitch and not my fault). This is still my 1.0.5 stock install btw, not 1.1.2. I had some trouble with frequent BSODs after switching to 16-gig RAM, so I'm back to my old 4 gigs now and I figured my modded 1.1.2 install would take forever to load so I might as well just do this. I hope I won't need to blow the dust off this thread again, as I'll be having plenty of free time soon with summer approaching.

[Just Jim]

12 hours ago, cubinator said:

Please try to pester me to continue, otherwise I won't finish, and I'd feel really bad about ditching another Elcano attempt (even though the last one was due to a glitch and not my fault). This is still my 1.0.5 stock install btw, not 1.1.2. I had some trouble with frequent BSODs after switching to 16-gig RAM, so I'm back to my old 4 gigs now and I figured my modded 1.1.2 install would take forever to load so I might as well just do this. I hope I won't need to blow the dust off this thread again, as I'll be having plenty of free time soon with summer approaching.

I think I can pester you..... I've now made it 1350km!  And I'm daring you to keep up!!!  You can't let me win!  

Seriously, even if you take breaks, you've gone to far to completely stop now.  
And I have to say, you've got more guts than I do... I'm scared to death to drive on the Mun at night!

[thomj084]

Good God! This is amazing Keep it up, man!

[cubinator]

4 hours ago, Just Jim said:

I think I can pester you..... I've now made it 1350km!  And I'm daring you to keep up!!!  You can't let me win!  

Seriously, even if you take breaks, you've gone to far to completely stop now.  
And I have to say, you've got more guts than I do... I'm scared to death to drive on the Mun at night!

You've made it much further than me, I'm not sure if I can keep up! But I see you're taking a much more meandering path than I am, and stopping to plant flags much more often.

Challenge Accepted.

P.S. Do you have a mission report?

Edited May 28, 2016 by cubinator
removed extra quote

[Just Jim]

37 minutes ago, cubinator said:

You've made it much further than me, I'm not sure if I can keep up! But I see you're taking a much more meandering path than I am, and stopping to plant flags much more often.

Challenge Accepted.

P.S. Do you have a mission report?

Awesome!  Glad you're onboard!!!   

I'm currently writing this up in my Emiko Station story, but haven't done an official Elcano mission report yet, sorry.  I was waiting until I finished.
I am wandering a lot. The idea is to not just circumnavigate, but also hit as many landmarks and biomes as possible, and all the Easter eggs as well. And my flags are set every 22km, so I can track my distance.

In a nutshell, I started at a base aprox. 40km east of East Crater and headed west thru East Crater to Northwest Crater.  From there I headed north thru the Northern Basin to the Polar Crater, and then the North Pole.  But I didn't quite get to the pole, the landscape was just too rugged, and I stopped at about 83 degrees north.  From there I headed back south thru Farside Canyon to Farside Crater, and then turned west again thru East Farside Canyon to East Farside Crater.  

I am currently south of East Farside Crater, and heading towards the south pole.