The Official Kerbal Dakar 2020

[Pds314]

6 hours ago, DoctorDavinci said:

The only real solid rule about the Kerbal Dakar is you must drive across the ground

Jumps, airtime etc... is all allowed

Basically don't fly the course and you're good

Most of the time if airborne my props are generating drag, not thrust. But I definitely can't just tell them to do nothing every time it hits a tiny convex piece of terrain. I'm not flying. The vehicle can't sustain powered flight rightside up, but I'm definitely not guaranteed never to generate forward lift in a jump over some steep ridge.

 

6 hours ago, DoctorDavinci said:

Well as long as you don't fly the course you should be good

The general rule in regards to jet engine powered cars in the Dakar is that if you become airborne then you must shut down your engine or use Boost Flaps to block the thrust .... Basically no thrust or any force from engines is allowed while in the air

What if it's a prop? I mean, increasing the angle from my prop in mid air is borderline suicidal unless the goal is just to get back to the ground ASAP, since it causes the vehicle to nosedive, but at the same time, thrust or "lift" could vary from large negative values to slight positive ones during jumps.

 

Also a lot of the time I literally can't react to a jump in time to prevent it from continuing to accelerate mid-air via... some mechanism (like brake key??)

Edited January 5, 2020 by Pds314

[purpleivan]

@DoctorDavinci here's my entry for stage 4, which was the most straight forward stage so far, although without any really big hills to climb, probably not The Goat's strongest performance.

My time was 11:41

The start at 33:00

After clearing the first big hills.

Going to take the flatter route to the left (even though this vehicle is a hill climber).

Not far to go now, just 9km.

Less than 4km... getting close now Val.

Flying over the finish line flag at 45m/s at 44:41

Here's the additonal pics of the journey.

Spoiler

Heading away from the start

Getting some big air.

Storming round the side of a hill.

Catching more air.

Ooo... and more air.

Hello tree.

I think that's the finish line ahead.

 

 

[DoctorDavinci]

3 hours ago, Pds314 said:

Most of the time if airborne my props are generating drag, not thrust. But I definitely can't just tell them to do nothing every time it hits a tiny convex piece of terrain. I'm not flying. The vehicle can't sustain powered flight rightside up, but I'm definitely not guaranteed never to generate forward lift in a jump over some steep ridge.

 

What if it's a prop? I mean, increasing the angle from my prop in mid air is borderline suicidal unless the goal is just to get back to the ground ASAP, since it causes the vehicle to nosedive, but at the same time, thrust or "lift" could vary from large negative values to slight positive ones during jumps.

 

Also a lot of the time I literally can't react to a jump in time to prevent it from continuing to accelerate mid-air via... some mechanism (like brake key??)

I'm just going off the rules as created by @Triop for the original Kerbal Dakar 2017

I actually created the Boost Flap Controller mod to control the thrust via boost flaps for the 2017 Dakar (now in OrX K with added functionality to control DLC turbofans etc.... via deploy)

There is a caveat to the no flying deal as mentioned which is what is reasonable for someone to react to, however outright flying isn't allowed as decreed by our esteemed challenge creator (not me ... I'm just a surrogate host, I don't make the rules)

This no flying rule is one of the reasons I put Total Air Time as one of the recorded details in the OrX K scoreboard (whenever your craft is not touching the ground that stat has the amount of time you were in the air added to it for each leg of a race)

In the end the Dakar is mostly about just finishing the race .... use your own judgement on whether you are flying or not but just remember that the Dakar is a race across the ground, not through the air 

Jumps are good, epic airtime is good ... just no powered flight

Edited January 5, 2020 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

Now that OrX K is fixed I was able to get down to tuning Bill's Big Bad Beaver

Made a number of modifications and can manage well over 300 kph on a relatively flat surface ... the hard part was setting up the suspension to take the torture of the terrain

And then there was setting up the aerodynamics to keep her on the ground since she likes to be in the air

 

Set up the Boost Flaps and made sure my paint job looks good from behind

 

Then double checked my fuel (don't want to run out of gas ... paint job looks good from here too)

 

And then an epic crash and burn ... I guess I need to slow down for some of those rough patches

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by DoctorDavinci

[Castille7]

I was planning to add some updates yesterday but I didn't realize how much a challenge this course was. It's not an easy one, my finger hurts and my hand is cramping. I've done many restarts because my Buggy isn't handling the landings after a jump very well. The jumps are nice and level but the bounce is too much. Overall this is a little embarrassing not to make it to the First Stage yet after so many attempts but yet so much fun. I'm catching a lot of air on those jumps and the course is a lot of fun so I'll be continuing the race.

On another note, I've been changing the Buggy's Design so that it can rollover and right itself up after a small roll and that worked.....once..haha. I've tried adding some landing gear to help roll it over when it's upside down but these little tweaks in the design are not really paying off, their too time consuming in a race and often they were getting destroyed. Also it may be better to have a wider Vehicle because we know wider is better.....in the RL but this could sacrifice the looks. Whatever works is the best design to go with. In all this...... and my Buggy is struggling 

 

Here's a tip, I am taking my start photo at 25 seconds. This is giving me enough time to launch and stop at the starting line then go at 25 sec. This is keeping me from taking so many photos for my start photo and keeping things honest. The photo is also showing the roll cage design tweaks I added recently. The curved cage has worked a few times and now I will see if these landing gear work if the time comes around to try them.

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Castille7

[DoctorDavinci]

10 minutes ago, Castille7 said:

I was planning to add some updates yesterday but I didn't realize how much a challenge this course was. It's not an easy one, my finger hurts and my hand is cramping. I've done many restarts because my Buggy isn't handling the landings after a jump very well. The jumps are nice and level but the bounce is too much. Overall this is a little embarrassing not to make it to the First Stage yet after so many attempts but yet so much fun. I'm catching a lot of air on those jumps and the course is a lot of fun so I'll be continuing the race.

On another note, I've been changing the Buggy's Design so that it can rollover and right itself up after a small roll and that worked.....once..haha. I've tried adding some landing gear to help roll it over when it's upside down but these little tweaks in the design are not really paying off, their too time consuming in a race and often they were getting destroyed. Also it may be better to have a wider Vehicle because we know wider is better.....in the RL but this could sacrifice the looks. Whatever works is the best design to go with. In all this...... and my Buggy is struggling 

 

Here's a tip, I am taking my start photo at 25 seconds. This is giving me enough time to launch stop at the starting line then go at 25 sec. This is keeping me from taking so many photos for my start photo and keeping things honest. The photo is also showing the roll cage design tweaks I added recently. The curved cage has worked a few times and now I will see if these landing gear work if the time comes around to try them.

 

 

 

Setting up your suspension is key to being able to land hard and fast ... try lowering your spring strength and raising the damper strength (enable advanced tweakables to get at these settings)

Bill's Big Bad Beaver has the springs set to 0.85 on the front and 1.1 on the rear with damper strengths running from 1.35 on the rear and 1.25 on the front ... after doing this my landings became much softer (I may even increase the dampers so the suspension is a bit more spongy)

Friction control is a good thing to look at too ... I made my wheels somewhat slippy so I am able to take a turn on the ground at very high speeds (although this can cause an issue with braking as evidenced earlier in this thread)

Edited January 5, 2020 by DoctorDavinci

[Castille7]

1 hour ago, DoctorDavinci said:

 

Setting up your suspension is key to being able to land hard and fast ... try lowering your spring strength and raising the damper strength (enable advanced tweakables to get at these settings)

Bill's Big Bad Beaver has the springs set to 0.85 on the front and 1.1 on the rear with damper strengths running from 1.35 on the rear and 1.25 on the front ... after doing this my landings became much softer (I may even increase the dampers so the suspension is a bit more spongy)

Friction control is a good thing to look at too ... I made my wheels somewhat slippy so I am able to take a turn on the ground at very high speeds (although this can cause an issue with braking as evidenced earlier in this thread)

I like this, I did have plans to start settings on the Springs and Damper next. The Friction and Traction was my first go to and the balance. I've often had many troubles with a vehicle jumping with good balance. It seems I got lucky with this Buggy so far. I'll make these adjustments to the springs and damper and see how it goes and give more updates. Maybe this evening I'll make it to stage 1....

[DoctorDavinci]

3 hours ago, Castille7 said:

Maybe this evening I'll make it to stage 1....

I hear you on that one ... trying to go fast without big explosions was very difficult while running Stage 1

I managed to finally finish it without any damage ... I had to let go of the under 7 minute goal as now I realize that all the added fuel to do the whole course really changed how Bill's Big Bad Beaver performs (she's twice as heavy as when I did pull off under 7 minutes)

Anyways, so on to my entry for Stage 1 ......

I found it convenient that I set up an automatic screenshot deal in OrX Kontinuum since it allowed me to confirm that my math is right ... also the speedometer I put in was quite handy as it is easier to see than the speed on the navball and is also conveniently in kph (can be switched to mph at the click of a button )

Starting the challenge ... I started moving at 2 minutes on the mission clock exactly

 

Finish

 

For those who are observant you will notice a 2 second discrepancy with my time as calculated by OrX K vs using the mission clock and doing the math ... This falls right in line with when the finish screenshot is taken which is  2 seconds after the stage times are recorded (to allow for data to be processed and passed to the scoreboard)

And for those of you who would like to see exactly how I achieved this time, I made a video (it got a bit hairy in parts)

 

[Castille7]

Stage 1 Complete @DoctorDavinci Time: 13.08

Start Time .25
Finish Time 13.33

Edited January 7, 2020 by Castille7

[purpleivan]

15 hours ago, DoctorDavinci said:

I hear you on that one ... trying to go fast without big explosions was very difficult while running Stage 1

I managed to finally finish it without any damage ... I had to let go of the under 7 minute goal as now I realize that all the added fuel to do the whole course really changed how Bill's Big Bad Beaver performs (she's twice as heavy as when I did pull off under 7 minutes)

Anyways, so on to my entry for Stage 1 ......

I found it convenient that I set up an automatic screenshot deal in OrX Kontinuum since it allowed me to confirm that my math is right ... also the speedometer I put in was quite handy as it is easier to see than the speed on the navball and is also conveniently in kph (can be switched to mph at the click of a button )

Starting the challenge ... I started moving at 2 minutes on the mission clock exactly

 

A couple years ago I made a 7:54 time in Velocirover, which was similarly hairy.

The ground action in the video starts at 10 minutes in, after delivering the thing by rocket from the KSC.

 

[Triop]

Good news, I'm coming home this wednesday, my medication are working better then they expected.

I'm looking forward to have a go at this rally.

See you guys soon !

 

[ChaoticPheonix]

2 hours ago, Triop said:

Good news, I'm coming home this wednesday, my medication are working better then they expected.

I'm looking forward to have a go at this rally.

See you guys soon !

 

Good to hear, that's awesome!

[purpleivan]

Final call for @DoctorDavinci for my stage 5 time.

Val left the start flag at 29:00

Hitting the first hillside.

Val is having a ball on this last stage.

Almost halfway now.

Just one rise to climb now.

Airfield's in sight now.

But where's that flag

The marker is getting closer (just to the left of the rear left wheel), but can't see it sticking out of the ground.

Now the marker's gone.

Looks like the desert swallowed it and Val drove over the top of it.

Val would be happy if the time at the point the buried flag disappeared from view, as she drove over the top 39:12, as her finishing time. That would give her a stage time of 10:12.

Well that's it from Val and The Goat for this Dakar... she's already thinking about what kind of ride to put together for next year.

A few other pics from the stage.

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2020 by purpleivan

[Castille7]

 

Stage 2 Complete @DoctorDavinci Time: 12:34

Stage 2 Start Time: 2:00

Stage 2 Finish Time: 14:34

 

Kinda zoomed past it....haha

Heads up, face your Vehicle from the front when you near the sign so you can get a picture closer then what I did.....aaah!!

[DoctorDavinci]

24 minutes ago, Castille7 said:

 

Stage 2 Complete @DoctorDavinci Time: 12:34

Stage 2 Start Time: 2:00

Stage 2 Finish Time: 14:34

 

Kinda zoomed past it....haha

Heads up, face your Vehicle from the front when you near the sign so you can get a picture closer then what I did.....aaah!!

 

Unless anyone has any objections I'll let it slide that you are still traveling at over 33 m/s and that you're 135 meters or so from the flag

 

Edited January 7, 2020 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

So I found Stage 2 to be not as rough as Stage 1 ... probably just the line I chose to take though

Seems that there is quite a bit of flat stretch to go all out on ... just got to be careful and pick your lines since doing 300 kph into a slight incline can have the effect of hitting a brick wall

Anyways, Here's my my Stage 2 report

START

 

FINISH

 

TIME: 8 minutes, 16.55 seconds

And as a bonus I recorded it for those who would like to see the route I took

 

[Castille7]

Stage 3 Complete @DoctorDavinci Time: 11.58

Start Time: .50

Finish Time: 12.08

 

[klond]

 Got a new RTG flown in and installed last night so we're good to go (spawned new car).  Listening to clips from Daryl's House while driving.

Stage 3 complete.  22:54 (23:17-0:23)

Spoiler

Start - one driver only this time.  3rd attempt cuz that first large basin has some BS quicksand that killed me twice.

Took a cool jump and got squirely on the landing.  Lost headlights.

 Some kickass hangtime.

 So of course I rolled it.  Lost part of a letter.

 It's not Jeb it's Jeo.  Still sounds pretty Kerbal to me.  Long lost sibling?

 Sick air.  3rd time this run!  Still pretty low speed compared to some of yall.

 So of course I rolled it again.  Sign makes a nice rollcage bit.  It slid down the hill tho.

Then I blew the front RTG off again hitting an approach.  I even stiffened up the front springs on fly to help, but no.

Final

 

 

[Castille7]

On 1/6/2020 at 6:15 PM, DoctorDavinci said:

Unless anyone has any objections I'll let it slide that you are still traveling at over 33 m/s and that you're 135 meters or so from the flag

 

My apologies for not seeing that in the rules. "Must be at a complete stop" I'll do that for the remaining stages.

Also will everyone be able to run these stages again for better times or is this a one shot deal?

[DoctorDavinci]

9 minutes ago, Castille7 said:

Also will everyone be able to run these stages again for better times or is this a one shot deal?

Now that would be an @Triopquestion  ... if you want to restart from the beginning then I'll update the scores but you must restart from the beginning

[Castille7]

1 hour ago, DoctorDavinci said:

Now that would be an @Triopquestion  ... if you want to restart from the beginning then I'll update the scores but you must restart from the beginning

This would give everyone an opportunity to get their best times. I think this could also be something that would make this challenge a long term thing. I'm really not sure how soon I will be able to run this race a second or third time but others may be interested in trying this and using other vehicle designs.

[Triop]

Hi all, I do have the stages KRT files (Races mod) if you want to time your stages.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/87iqk5eqmemfp2v/DakarStage1.krt?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d3on9bhnnj5g69n/DakarStage2.krt?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/69cknd9uqcu7txv/DakarStage3.krt?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/k1n9m43pit7qw37/DakarStage4.krt?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a8rnlxo7jdwchae/DakarStage5.krt?dl=0

I just got back from the hospital and I have some other priorities right now, but I hope to drive the stages myself pretty soon.

I suggest using these Races mod stages in combination with the flags or you won't be able to find each stage finish gate.

I have not read all the posts made here yet because I have a lot of problems with focusing right now.

But I'm glad you are enjoying the rally.

See you soon !

 

[klond]

 Fun section!  I re-installed OrX - started fine, but timer didn't stop at the end

Stage 4 complete - 26:55 (28:51-1:56)

Spoiler

On first attempt a rolled and car left me stranded..

Start

 This is what I get for trying to keep a low center of gravity..  Managing electrical power wasn't too taxing on this leg.

 Easy cruise.  Did some kind of mid-air barrel roll, but no way to prove it.  Had to change undergarments.  Careful on that last descent yall.

 Finish.  Pic don't show the flag tho.

 

[Castille7]

Stage 4 Completed @DoctorDavinci

Start Time: :50
Finish Time: 14:57
Section Finished Time: 14.07

One of the most challenging Sections of the Track thus far. I can't imagine how many crashes and restarts I've done. Although it's been very challenging it's also been equally as fun. There are so many jumps that look so cool and so many flips and rolls that somehow turned out ok to continue on, just can't say enough about why I am enjoying this Race and glad that I've given it a try.

My time isn't great but I'm glad I made it to the end of this section. Tip: Find a good route to run on this one and just keep learning how to run it best. (It seems navigation plays a big part here)

 

Start Attempt 85......lol

 

Passed up the darn Flag here, even ran over the thing once......lol

 

Some of the Adventure Photos

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Timing was a little better here but I broke the flag and couldn't get a picture with the Flag showing Stage 4

 

Crash after crash after flippin' crash and still so fun!

 

Edited January 18, 2020 by Castille7

[Castille7]

KERBAL DAKAR 2020 COMPLETE! @DoctorDavinci

Stage 5 Complete

Start Time: :50
Finish Time: 12:42
Section Finished Time: 11:92