Rovers

[kpdavatar]

Career mode what I have learned with rovers
Rover v1 old low tech unlocked
vs
Rover v2 new all tech unlocked

My frist Rovers was simple
I have them on the Mun and Minmus.
Still a noob just starting to leave Kerbins gravity to orbit Sun.

Rover v1 Front
Rover v2 Back

Rover v2 More Batteries, Lights
Always use landing gear to keep in place
and they help JUMP to complete science while flying below altitude.

Communications Retractable

Rover v2 Retractable because I rolled over so many times with Rover v1

Solar Retractable

Rover v2 There are some surface solar as well as retratable, again ROLL overs.

Hydraulics

Rover v2 hydraulics. Did I mention rovers flip over! Hydraulics flip them back.

Scanning arm

Rover v2 Large Scanning Arm tucked in tight because of ROLL overs.

Ramming speed

Rover v1 go BOOM.
Rover v2 on side no damage.

Advanced Inline Stabilizer

Rover v2 has Advanced Inline Stabilizer so I can spin it back up.

Rover v2 winner!

[king of nowhere]

yes. you can have simple rovers, complex rovers, cheap rovers, expensive rovers, manned rovers, rovers for mining. you can even strap on rockets on your rover and move from mun to minmus to other places.

but there is one thing they all have in common. they will capsize. in low gravity, they will capsize. a good rover must be able to deal with it.

[kpdavatar]

3 days each 14 hours work done.

Time to really test Rover v2.

Rover v2 on Mun  and  found stuff!

Edited July 20, 2020 by kpdavatar

[Xavven]

My rovers are built like go-carts with a roll-cage, and the roll cage is attached to a hinge on one side. If I roll over accidentally, the whole "roof" of the car flips open like a clamshell, flipping the rover back onto its wheels.

But the most important thing I learned about rovers is that they aren't very good in low gravity environments, but only because I'm impatient and want to go 30 m/s everywhere. On places like the Mun, I just build hoppers with 3000+ dV.  On higher gravity areas like Eve, that's where rovers shine IMO.

Edited July 21, 2020 by Xavven

[Draco T stand-up guy]

On 7/19/2020 at 3:13 AM, king of nowhere said:

but there is one thing they all have in common. they will capsize. in low gravity, they will capsize. a good rover must be able to deal with it.

I've been learning to do barrel rolls in mine

Doesn't always work

[king of nowhere]

With mine, I strapped landing struts all around it, so it can bounce harmlessly on the ground. it's surprisingly effective: those struts are rated for 12 m/s of maximum impact speed, but most rover accidents involve glancing the ground rather than falling straight on it, and so the struts can take much more punishment.