The Kerbal Dakar 2017 entry vehicles thread

[katateochi]

4 hours ago, regex said:

Or is everyone competing in the custom-scripted, heavily clipped little jet-powered monsters category?

I'm definitely entering one in the "heavily clipped little jet-powered monsters category" (just pure stock parts without any custom scripting). But I'm also entering one in the pure stock electric/fuel cell category (which after testing the jet powered one feels like taking the sit-on lawnmower out for a spin).

56 minutes ago, Majorjim! said:

 I am sure only in elec mode do I have a chance of being competitive.

see you on the track!  

One the subject of jet powered rovers. I remember seeing somewhere in the other thread @Triop saying that flying was not permitted (which I totally agree with), but at what point does hitting a jump in a jet powered rover become flying?  Should we say that if you clear the ground by more than a few meters jets should be cut (or blocked with flaps etc)? 

[Azimech]

1 minute ago, katateochi said:

I'm definitely entering one in the "heavily clipped little jet-powered monsters category" (just pure stock parts without any custom scripting). But I'm also entering one in the pure stock electric/fuel cell category (which after testing the jet powered one feels like taking the sit-on lawnmower out for a spin).

see you on the track!  

One the subject of jet powered rovers. I remember seeing somewhere in the other thread @Triop saying that flying was not permitted (which I totally agree with), but at what point does hitting a jump in a jet powered rover become flying?  Should we say that if you clear the ground by more than a few meters jets should be cut (or blocked with flaps etc)? 

I wrote about that in the other topic that we need a clear definition.

Airplane/drone: controlled flight above terrain.

Jumping car/rover/truck: uncontrolled flight above terrain.

Basically what I would do is ban the use of moving control surfaces (except boost flaps/airbrakes) and reaction wheels (like I've done with my race track). But that's just my opinion.

1 hour ago, Draconiator said:

I WAS thinking a hybrid...a single Juno for the smoother sections and switching it off for the more hilly ones.

The power is very welcome during a hill climb.

[DoctorDavinci]

From what I understood from the conversation I had with @Triop is that powered flight is a no go

If your wheels leave the ground for an apreciable amount of time then you are not allowed to have thrust applied to your vehicle ... whether you throttle down to 0 (paying attention to spool down time in the case of Juno's) or by using boost flap tech

This what was said:

Spoiler

Lego City Customs

Triop here: 1:19, You use full throttle on your jet engines while off the ground. I would not mind if it was a few meters, but this looks like flying to me. Not sure how to resolve this...What do you think ? I love the jump btw, reminds me of ski jumping, lol.

 

Doctor Davinci

the engine are always at full throttle ... notice the boost flaps at the back that open and close which block the thrustthe Juno's are the only engine that you can do this with ... and regardless if they are blocked or not you will see the smoke trails from the engines as the flaps only block the thrust transform but not the particles

 

Lego City Customs

Ok, nifty, allowed.

 

You can find the conversation here in the comments of the video:

 

[Triop]

4 hours ago, Azimech said:

I do feel some things are missing in the rules ... terrain detail for example. I drive with max detail and scatter objects because I think it is fun. But ... terrain at a lower level might be easier. Maybe there should be different categories for those as well or everyone sticks to one detail setting.

Same with the jets category. Majorjim probably has a very light and small vehicle with a single jet. My BX has two jets and 8 wheels, my Star Racer YKR has 6 jets and 16 wheels plus a whole bunch of landing gears to protect the front, rear and bottom. There's big difference with being able to jump and land 200 meters with 50m/s while my BX will crash & burn if I try that.

As for categories, there are so many different styles of rovers being designed including mods, that it will be impossible, e.g. If you are the only one driving a electric trike with juno's and flaps and modded wheels, you probably will be the only one in that categorie.

What I will do (for the ones that finish all 7 stages) is make a leaderboard that shows your stage times + total time + vehicle info.

Off course some people want to be the fastest, but don't expect a gold medal.

To me everyone who can finish these 7 stages with a homebrew vehicle and drivingskills is a hero.

 

 

"We choose to go to the moon. drive around a mountain ... and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"

[Draconiator]

1 minute ago, Triop said:

As for categories, there are so many different styles of rovers being designed including mods, that it will be impossible, e.g. If you are the only one driving a electric trike with juno's and flaps and modded wheels, you probably will be the only one in that categorie.

What I will do (for the ones that finish all 7 stages) is make a leaderboard that shows your stage times + total time + vehicle info.

Off course some people want to be the fastest, but don't expect a gold medal.

To me everyone who can finish these 7 stages with a homebrew vehicle and drivingskills is a hero.

 

 

"We choose to go to the moon. drive around a mountain ... and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"

I nearly finished it...a steep descent on the 6th stage got me.   I'm going to take the Juno off and try again if that's not allowed.

[GDJ]

Bah! You all and your silly jacked up trucks!

To feel real performance, you must be close to the road, drive a car that only weighs 0.631 tonnes, can accelerate from 0 to 31 m/s at under 5 seconds, and can take corners at 6g's.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Triop said:

What I will do (for the ones that finish all 7 stages) is make a leaderboard that shows your stage times + total time + vehicle info.

That's fair and sounds good enough for comparison. Apologies for any shiptoasting and thanks for the explanations.

[Draconiator]

HAAAA, I GOT IT!

Prop is from KAX, the helicopter tail rotor, 14kn of thrust at full throttle.  nowhere near the power of the Juno but it really, REALLY helps.

[Draconiator]

And as expected I COMPLETELY shattered my personal stage 1 record.

 

 

[DoctorDavinci]

So me gots a new paint job ... And those brain buckets are looking pretty shnazzy as well

[Triop]

32 minutes ago, Draconiator said:

 I'm going to take the Juno off and try again if that's not allowed.

Are you cheating ???

To everyone:

Remember: when you crash going for the challenge, even it's the last stage, you are out.* unless you can repair on site, but that is not what I mean.

All stage times you did won't count anymore and you will have to start again at stage 1 (mens erger je niet, ludo).

 

Off course you can cheat, in fact, everybody can hit F5 and cheat. But you will not get the feeling you achieved something by yourself.

We    don't    care.

 

Edited December 21, 2016 by Triop

[SpannerMonkey(smce)]

6 minutes ago, DoctorDavinci said:

So me gots a new paint job ... And those brain buckets are looking pretty shnazzy as well

Very smart buddy very smart indeed those stock parts actually look cool, amazing

 

 

 

[Thor Wotansen]

6 minutes ago, Triop said:

Are you cheating ???

To everyone:

Remember: when you crash going for the challenge, even it's the last stage, you are out.* unless you can repair on site, but that is not what I mean.

All stage times you did won't count anymore and you will have to start again at stage 1 (mens erger je niet, ludo).

 

Off course you can cheat, in fact, everybody can hit F5 and cheat. But you will not get the feeling you achieved something by yourself.

We    don't    care.

 

So should I take this to mean that the same rover must traverse all 7 stages in one continuous span of time rather than each stage being it's own event, as it were?  I have been under the impression that one could establish a save with a fresh rover at each flag and each stage could then be run with the same level of equipment.

[Triop]

Just now, Thor Wotansen said:

So should I take this to mean that the same rover must traverse all 7 stages in one continuous span of time rather than each stage being it's own event, as it were?  I have been under the impression that one could establish a save with a fresh rover at each flag and each stage could then be run with the same level of equipment.

No, you can pauze/save after finishing a stage.

It's like the real Dakar, do a stage, work on your car (not replacing it), wait for daylight, start the next stage and burn rubber !

Since it's a game and not real life you can decide when to start your next stage. But when you crash beyond repair you are out, just as in the real Dakar.

Let me re-spam this:

 

[Thor Wotansen]

Ok, got it, so no fresh rovers, just repairs/refuels.

[Triop]

Just now, Thor Wotansen said:

Ok, got it, so no fresh rovers, just repairs/refuels.

Yes, and I can't believe I just wrote 3 lines to explain this while you only need 10 words...

[Azimech]

12 minutes ago, Triop said:

Let me re-spam this:

 

Sir Spamsalot :-P

1 hour ago, Triop said:

As for categories, there are so many different styles of rovers being designed including mods, that it will be impossible, e.g. If you are the only one driving a electric trike with juno's and flaps and modded wheels, you probably will be the only one in that categorie.

What I will do (for the ones that finish all 7 stages) is make a leaderboard that shows your stage times + total time + vehicle info.

Off course some people want to be the fastest, but don't expect a gold medal.

To me everyone who can finish these 7 stages with a homebrew vehicle and drivingskills is a hero.

 

 

"We choose to go to the moon. drive around a mountain ... and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"

Okay, but what about terrain detail? That's independent of mods of mods or propulsion method but it probably has a profound effect on driver load. I haven't tested the track with medium or low ... I'll let you know what my findings are.

[Triop]

3 minutes ago, Azimech said:

Sir Spamsalot :-P

Hey, itsmythreadicandowhatiwant

 

7 minutes ago, Azimech said:

Okay, but what about terrain detail? That's independent of mods of mods or propulsion method but it probably has a profound effect on driver load. I haven't tested the track with medium or low ... I'll let you know what my findings are.

What about terrain detail?

If you are going for time use the fastest.

It's all about being smart, find routes, best propulsion, how many fuel/batteries, terrain detail....

[Draconiator]

So, here is me and I am admitting my brain has been farting...I forgot I had an ELECTRIC PROP LOL, it has 8KN at full throttle. 

[Azimech]

26 minutes ago, Triop said:

Hey, itsmythreadicandowhatiwant

 

What about terrain detail?

If you are going for time use the fastest.

It's all about being smart, find routes, best propulsion, how many fuel/batteries, terrain detail....

 

I just did a run with terrain detail on low. I spent 14 minutes reaching ... the second flag. The difference is gigantic, compared with high, low detail is like driving a pool table. It's really like a different game. You can go full speed, full throttle for 90% of the time. And not fun at all.

[Triop]

4 hours ago, Azimech said:

I think Triop should decide. A lot of people are in favour of space tech to control their car's behaviour, others are not. I won't use SAS or kOS because I feel it will make me a better builder and driver and I like to look at real vehicles. Others might say having jet engines in a car has got nothing to do with reality and they're also right, and my opinion is I need the acceleration & speed to make it at least a little bit interesting. So I think it depends on how many people will want to join and if the extra work of creating sub categories is worth it.

Why would someone make a car that does not flip over, does not run out of fuel and enter this challenge ?

It's about the experience on the field, everybody can hold a "W" key for an hour and win this using mods (I prefer a toothpick to hold the key cause lazy)....

Everybody can send in there times when the challenge starts on 1st Jan. But I think most people would be more interested in the photos and the storys then the times...

9 minutes ago, Azimech said:

 

I just did a run with terrain detail on low. I spent 14 minutes reaching ... the second flag. The difference is gigantic, compared with high, low detail is like driving a pool table. It's really like a different game. You can go full speed, full throttle for 90% of the time. And not fun at all.

Most people have a computer that can't even handle high detail, but man, we have fun !

Challenge yourself, build a scrapper and hope you can drag it 7 stages, that will bring back your fun.

[Azimech]

11 minutes ago, Triop said:

Why would someone make a car that does not flip over, does not run out of fuel and enter this challenge ?

It's about the experience on the field, everybody can hold a "W" key for an hour and win this using mods (I prefer a toothpick to hold the key cause lazy)....

Everybody can send in there times when the challenge starts on 1st Jan. But I think most people would be more interested in the photos and the storys then the times...

Photo's .... yes ... I've placed a lot of markers on my route, mostly light poles, some warn where I need to go slow. Found a mountain road to drive me past a washboard valley. Great scenery.

So I did the driving again with terrain at default. It's better than terrain at low but still incredibly bland, uninspiring and frankly, a lot easier than terrain at high settings.

Edited December 21, 2016 by Azimech

[Triop]

8 minutes ago, Azimech said:

Photo's .... yes ... I've placed a lot of markers on my route, mostly light poles, some warn where I need to go slow. Found a mountain road to drive me past a washboard valley. Great scenery.

So I did the driving again with terrain at default. It's better than terrain at low but still incredibly bland, uninspiring and frankly, a lot easier than terrain at high settings.

I want to use these... I like the Idea of having a "bivak" on every stage.

 

Edited December 21, 2016 by Triop

[DoctorDavinci]

2 hours ago, SpannerMonkey(smce) said:

Very smart buddy very smart indeed those stock parts actually look cool, amazing

Thanx, I ended up just downloading Paint.net and edited the stock part .dds files ... I wanted a camo paint job and when I thought about it I figured I had no choice but to go with CADPat seeing as I am Canadian

I made a KSP v1.2.2 install just for the Dakar so it doesn't matter if I edit the stock textures since this install is for the Dakar KSC Edition and the many Dakar races to follow ... Gonna VTOL my rides to the start of the KSC2/Pyramids edition

Edited December 21, 2016 by DoctorDavinci

[katateochi]

1 hour ago, Azimech said:

So I did the driving again with terrain at default. It's better than terrain at low but still incredibly bland, uninspiring and frankly, a lot easier than terrain at high settings.

I think default should be the ....er default. Just to make it so most folk's machines can hack it and enable us all to be on the same terrain. The high settings terrain is more challenging but tbh I think default is good enough.  It still has plenty of rover ending terrain, but also has areas where you can really floor it (which I think makes it more fun).