Mechjeb Rover Autopilot vs Bon Voyage

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

I'd like to get my rovers on autopilot so that I can do other things while they go for hours to their destination. At the same time, I don't want to be in a situation where I learn that my rover took damage tipping on its side. I have VesselMover to correct this, but if it's in pieces it's no good.

 - What's worse, there may be tourists that can't EVA out of there. 

 

I have Mechjeb installed already, and I'm aware of a "Rover Autopilot" feature. However, I recently learned about a new mod named "Bon Voyage" that's supposed to pilot my rovers safely while I do other things. My question here is which one should I use to autopilot rovers? MechJeb rover autopilot (the module's going on there regardless for the "getting from Kerbin to target" phase) or Bon Voyage. 

 - also, how do timewarps affect their performance? I recall that, when I tried using timewarp on my rovers, it started bouncing and going out of control. 

 

[Cazzojake]

I believe the Rover Autopilot is designed if you are using that craft, as for Bon Voyage its simulated meaning you can set a destination and then the rover will get there over time. I mostly use Bon Voyage for long distance and haven't experienced any game breaking bugs (the Kraken, disappearing rover, etc) but the only thing I did experience is the mod struggling to find a path for the rover. 

[Rocket In My Pocket]

I don't use either, but as I understand it MechJeb actually "drives" your rover, and you'd still need to be in control of it, as the active craft for it to move.

Bon Voyage on the other hand, does the moving behind the scenes, it basically just teleports your rover from point A to point B over a certain period of time depending on the speed of the rover.

Edited November 26, 2018 by Rocket In My Pocket

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

16 minutes ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

I don't use either, but as I understand it MechJeb actually "drives" your rover, and you'd still need to be in control of it, as the active craft for it to move.

Bon Voyage on the other hand, does the moving behind the scenes, it basically just teleports your rover from point A to point B over a certain period of time depending on the speed of the rover.

It can get quite boring just sitting there seeing a rover go at ~5 m/s (I decided as a rule-of-thumb to have a 7.5 m/s rover speed limit for safety and energy efficiency reasons), and I heard that there's still a chance my rover can tip over and break using the MechJeb driver.

 

If I get Bon Voyage, I can sit back and relax (or get to work planning my next mission/work on an ongoing operation) while my rover gets safely to its destination. On the other hand, have there been any cases where the rover tipped over while running on Bon Voyage? Don't be afraid to come forward if it happened to one of your vehicles.

 - if there are no cases, what's a good general speed limit to set the rover to?

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

Cazzojake, you know where I could find any tutorials for Bon Voyage (in English)? The only good one I found on YouTube was in Russian.

[maja]

8 minutes ago, Mars-Bound Hokie said:

Cazzojake, you know where I could find any tutorials for Bon Voyage (in English)? The only good one I found on YouTube was in Russian.

In the BonVoyage wiki https://github.com/jarosm/KSP-BonVoyage/wiki

 

30 minutes ago, Mars-Bound Hokie said:

On the other hand, have there been any cases where the rover tipped over while running on Bon Voyage? Don't be afraid to come forward if it happened to one of your vehicles.

 - if there are no cases, what's a good general speed limit to set the rover to?

I implemented rover rotation to the latest version of BonVoyage, which means, that when you visit a moving rover or a rover in the destination, that BV tries to rotate it perpendiculary to the terrain. There are sometimes issues, because rotation is dependent on the orientation of a root part, but you can finetune it or disable it completly. Everything is in the aformentioned wiki.

Regarding the travel speed of a rover, it depends on more factors. EC consumption of wheels on the rover, EC production (solar panels, reactors, bateries etc.), if it's manned or unmanned and if there is currently day or night where the rover rides. If you are using CommNet or RemoteTech, then unmanned rovers also needs a working connection to KSC or Command Control vessel.

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

I've hit a snag here. I hit the "Download" button on this website (https://spacedock.info/mod/950/BonVoyage), but nothing showed up when I tried hitting the "Bon Voyage Control Panel" button, nothing happened. Anybody know where I can find Bon Voyage compatible with Version 1.4.5.2243?

[linuxgurugamer]

2 minutes ago, Mars-Bound Hokie said:

I've hit a snag here. I hit the "Download" button on this website (https://spacedock.info/mod/950/BonVoyage), but nothing showed up when I tried hitting the "Bon Voyage Control Panel" button, nothing happened. Anybody know where I can find Bon Voyage compatible with Version 1.4.5.2243?

Click on the Changrlog, will show you previous releases 

[4x4cheesecake]

@Mars-Bound Hokie Can also be related to a bug (which was reported recently) where the control panel doesn't show up after decoupling the rover from a craft and the rover wasn't the root part. Switch to the KSC and back to the rover to work around this issue.

[maja]

16 minutes ago, Mars-Bound Hokie said:

I've hit a snag here. I hit the "Download" button on this website (https://spacedock.info/mod/950/BonVoyage), but nothing showed up when I tried hitting the "Bon Voyage Control Panel" button, nothing happened. Anybody know where I can find Bon Voyage compatible with Version 1.4.5.2243?

The latest version isn't compatible with 1.4.5. I just checked it. As linuxguru wrote, you can find compatible version (for 1.4.x) on the Change log tab or on GitHub.

[Foxster]

If you are going to use a mod to move a rover whilst you go do something else then why bother with the journey in the first place? Why not use a rocket-powered hopper craft or just move the rover with VesselMover? 

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

4 minutes ago, Foxster said:

If you are going to use a mod to move a rover whilst you go do something else then why bother with the journey in the first place? Why not use a rocket-powered hopper craft or just move the rover with VesselMover? 

Several reasons, @Foxster

• Even if I was on a really small moon (which, so far, I have not gone on yet) the hopper craft is a waste of resources, design time, and money. Additionally, most of the time, it's dead weight.
  • Besides, that may work for small rovers, but not so much for larger ones.
  • On small moons, the hopper craft can be a pain to land without all the bouncing.
• VesselMover will take too long, and I mostly use it to re-orient tipped rovers.
• (Assuming Bon Voyage works right), I can relax and have faith that my Kerbalnauts can safely go up and down hilly terrain without any problems.
• Duh, science and ore mining.

[Vanamonde]

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