Suggestion to build a rover?

[ARS]

Hi, guys. I'm still new to KSP. I'm following tutorial and now I'm interested to make a rover, but I don't know what I had to do to make a proper one. All that my rover can do is just running around in the KSC and just that. Any suggestion to make a good rover that have any functional value? or suggestion what I'm supposed to do with it?

[Snark]

Welcome to the forums! 

45 minutes ago, ARS said:

Hi, guys. I'm still new to KSP. I'm following tutorial and now I'm interested to make a rover, but I don't know what I had to do to make a proper one. All that my rover can do is just running around in the KSC and just that. Any suggestion to make a good rover that have any functional value? or suggestion what I'm supposed to do with it?

Moving to Gameplay Questions.

As it currently stands, there's not a lot of reason why you need to make a rover-- at least, the game doesn't give you one.  The main reason to make a rover is if you just really want to because you like 'em.

There are occasionally some niche uses for them-- for example, a contract that requires getting science data from three or four points that are spaced just a few kilometers apart; a rover can be handy for that.  Or if you're building a base, they may be useful as "fuel trucks" for refueling ships that land nearby.  Just a couple of examples.

But by and large, there's very little the game gives you that has to be done with a rover, and an awful lot of the things that can be done with a rover are faster and easier to do with a "hopper" that makes brief suborbital jumps.  And using them for long-distance travel requires extraordinary patience-- covering hundreds of kilometers will take you hours of driving, during which you're basically just watching kilometer after kilometer of nearly-identical terrain scroll past you.

That's not to say they're useless.  As you can probably tell from what I've written here, I'm not really a rover guy myself ... but there are plenty of KSP players who are, and who have done all kinds of incredible things with rovers, including challenges for circumnavigating various planets and so forth, and clearly have a lot of fun doing so.

Basically, the question of "why a rover?" boils down to "because you want to," so the "what" and the "how" of the rover will depend on why you want to, and what it is that you hope to accomplish.

[Sharpy]

Collect science at all KSC locations.

Every area is a new "biome" and many have sub-biomes, especially after facility upgrades.

Equip your rover with all science parts you have. Ride the rover to a building, rightclick every experimental part, perform the measurement.

If you can go EVA already (got Astronaut Complex upgrade), then you have the scientist exit and "take data" and "restore" the resettable ones. If you don't, just 'recover vessel', redeploy it and ride to another part of KSC.

 

Unless you mean sending it to the Mun or whatever... - your question is skimpy on details on what you intend.

[magnemoe]

Rovers has some uses, first is science on mun or heavier gravity bodies. On Eve its the far simplest way to sample science from multiple biomes. 
Second is landing at bases, it can be hard to land accurate and its nice to have an rover to take kerbals between lander and base.
Last is just messing around with, driving an fast rover on Mun is fun. 

The launchpad and the rails leading up to it is nice for testing rovers destructively. 

 

[LN400]

A few things to consider when building a rover:

How are you going to get it to the destination? This sounds like Captain Obvious speaking but it is easy to build a cool looking rover only to find it's a nightmare to send anywhere.

Low gravity planets vs high gravity ones vs tractions. A rover that works wonders on Mun might be too light weight for Minmus so it keeps sliding around or it gets airborne after hitting a bump, breaking on landing. That Minmus rover might break down under its own weight elsewhere. Consider which wheels you can use on the destination planet/moon. A rover with a mass of 1 ton weights 9.81 kN on Kerbin but only 0.490 kN on Minmus. If you want a 9.81 kN weight on the rover on Minmus then the rover would need a mass of 20 tons and a weight of more than 196 kN on Kerbin.

How to place the command module? If you plan on having only 1 command module on the entire rocket+rover then having the module upright works for the rocket but is less optimal for the rover, where flipping it 90* makes navigation a lot easier. Just remember to test it on Kerbin first to make sure you flipped the module the right way. Or, have 2 modules, one for the rocket and one for the rover.

[ARS]

Uuuh... I see. Thanks for the advice. By the way, is there any way to make a rover less prone to flip? My usual problem is always rover flipping whenever I'm trying to stop. I tried to use landing legs as additional brakes but it seems not really effective T T

[LN400]

To avoid the rover flipping over, the 1.25m reaction wheel is plentyful on a medium sized rover on Mun. A tiny rover can get away with a smaller reaction wheel. Alternatively you can use RSC but this is less than optimal as you need to spend fuel and once that is depleted you have a problem on your hand.

Set the brakes on the rear wheels. You can do this in the VAB (possible in the field but I don't remember).

If you are going at more than say 5 m/s on Mun on flat terrain, engaging the SAS and brakes are usually enough. Downhill you might use the reaction wheel to raise the front wheels while stepping on the brakes on the rear wheels.

Don't turn and brake when going fast or downhill. Be careful that both rear wheels touch the ground. If only one wheel touches the ground then the rover can easily tumble out of control.

Use uphill to help slowing down, if available. Even a small hill can do the trick. Keep an eye out for these and watch the speed closely.

[Signo]

On planets with an atmosphere you can use aerodynamics too. Kinda like a plane but reversed.

[ARS]

I see. Thank you! It looks like my new rover is more stable than before!