Rovers! Post your pictures here!

[Kerminator K-100]

Its hard to believe no one has a made a thread for this, but I guess I start one.

Post pictures of your rovers, mobile bases, and inventive designs!

I love building rovers, as with rovers you really get to see the planet and explore. They also present a unique challenge as it is difficult to get them to where they need to be. New ways to land rovers are also welcome to be shown. If you have any tips for how to build rovers just share them below to.

Helpful links

Spoiler

How to make custom interiors

 

I'll start this thread with a new design of my own. Presenting: The Tiny rover!

Its a small 20 part rover that I invented while designing stowable rovers for my career game. It uses a cubic strut as the chassis and is built up of batteries. In the pictures you may notice some small batteries but there are removed in the final version as they are not stock and I wanted to make this accessible to everyone.

Because of its low mass and small part count, it can be taken apart and placed in a Seq-24 storage container, then rebuilt on the surface of the planet or moon you are visiting.

In terms of performance, it can travel at a comfortable speed of 9.4 m/s but a bit of pushing will put it at 10.6 m/s. It has poor handling and either doesn't turn quickly enough or turns too far, but its great stability makes up for its poor turning.

As I said before, it does have very good stability. On very sharp turns it will hold itself up, and is very hard to flip. It also can stop very quickly. I tested by having it go at 10 m/s then activated the brakes. It did flip slightly but I was able to push it upright. One warning, if you push it upright it likes to try to run so I would be careful doing that.

(it didn't flip after this, just stayed like this until I pushed it upright)

In terms of batteries, it has about 700 units of EC and its small solar panel is capable of slowing the EC loss to a trickle. Very few rechargings will be needed. It also has 2 thermometers and a barometer but you can switch those out. Later versions now have an antenna. If you want more science or are traveling to Jool or beyond, you may want to replace the solar panel with an RTG.

 

Craft specs:

Top speed: 10.6 m/s

Mass: (not sure yet, I'll look it up in a bit)

Parts: 20

Class: Rover

Handling: Poor - Medium

Stability: Great

 

Download here: https://kerbalx.com/Kerminator/Tiny-Rover

Edited May 8, 2021 by Kerminator K-100

[Stormpilot]

Thank you for making this. Time to go make a rover to add to this thread!

[ColdJ]

I have unicycle, does that count?

[Kerminator K-100]

8 hours ago, ColdJ said:

I have unicycle, does that count?

Yeah that would work as an inventive design. I'd like to see how you made a Unicycle in KSP.

[ColdJ]

38 minutes ago, Kerminator K-100 said:

Yeah that would work as an inventive design. I'd like to see how you made a Unicycle in KSP.

Cool, I haven't got a pic to hand but I think I could upload the craft file to Kerbal X, pretty sure it is all stock. give a few.

3 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

Cool, I haven't got a pic to hand but I think I could upload the craft file to Kerbal X, pretty sure it is all stock. give a few.

@Kerminator K-100 It has been awhile since I road this. it uses reaction whells to stay upright and you can lean steer it as I recall. If you fall over it is powerful enough to just stand itself back upright.

https://kerbalx.com/ColdJ/Uni-cycle

[ColdJ]

Also I believe if you are gentle and can keep your point of view you can climb the KSC stairwells with it.

[Kerminator K-100]

14 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

@Kerminator K-100 It has been awhile since I road this. it uses reaction whells to stay upright and you can lean steer it as I recall. If you fall over it is powerful enough to just stand itself back upright.

Thanks! I'll give it a try as soon as I can!

 

I made another Microver!

This one is the Mun Unmanned New-Ground and Exploration Rover, also called MUNER.

Its about half a ton and 19 parts, making ideal for low cost unmanned missions. Tests on Kerbin showed that it was incredibly stable and could drive at about 12 m/s. Also the reaction wheel in the probe make it easy to flip back over.

It also has very good hill climbing. I was able to climb this slope with no problems except the handling problem I'll mention later.

The circle on the right is landing craft and the one on the left is the rover

It does have a few handling issues. On the Mun, the gravity is weak enough that the reaction wheel can cause some issues. I had to turn it off, or the rover would flip over and destroy itself.

Here it is climbing the mountain

Craft specs

Top Speed: 10 m/s on Kerbin, 6 m/s on the Mun

Mass: 0.38 tons

Parts: 19

Handling: Good

Stability: Great

Download: https://kerbalx.com/Kerminator/MUNER

[ColdJ]

I took my unicycle for a spin. Had been a while. It really takes finesse. SAS on straight away. You basically just lean in the direction you want to go. No accelerator needed.

[Klapaucius]

It is kind of a rover:

https://kerbalx.com/Klapaucius/Rattler-Traction-Engine

Edited April 28, 2021 by Klapaucius

[ffx]

5 hours ago, Klapaucius said:

It is kind of a rover:

https://kerbalx.com/Klapaucius/Rattler-Traction-Engine

Edited 5 hours ago by Klapaucius

very cool olso it is a rover

 

[Kerminator K-100]

19 hours ago, Klapaucius said:

It is kind of a rover:

 

Thats pretty cool! I'll have to try that out later, along with the unicycle from before

[Kerminator K-100]

@ColdJ and @Klapaucius, I gave your rovers a try

The Unicycle was tons of fun to mess around with. It was really hard to control but I got the hang of it after a while. I was able to drive for a few seconds without SAS but then crashed pretty quickly.

The tractor was really cool looking but I couldn't figure out how to make it drive. I tried toggling all the action groups and pressing buttons but nothing worked

EDIT: After looking at the Kerbal x page I feel dumb. I really should have done that.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Kerminator K-100

[Klapaucius]

54 minutes ago, Kerminator K-100 said:

EDIT: After looking at the Kerbal x page I feel dumb. I really should have done that.

It always helps to read the instruction manual 

Thanks for giving it a go.  Were the instructions clear?  There is a lot there, so I was not sure if it all made sense...

[Kerminator K-100]

1 minute ago, Klapaucius said:

Thanks for giving it a go.  Were the instructions clear?  There is a lot there, so I was not sure if it all made sense...

Yeah they were clear. I was able to figure it out and the tractor drove around

[ColdJ]

9 hours ago, Kerminator K-100 said:

The Unicycle was tons of fun to mess around with. It was really hard to control but I got the hang of it after a while. I was able to drive for a few seconds without SAS but then crashed pretty quickly.

I have never been able to control it without SAS.

[Guest]

Some brilliant creativity shown here, great work guys.

[Kerminator K-100]

6 hours ago, FruitGoose said:

Some brilliant creativity shown here, great work guys.

Thanks!

[ColdJ]

Hi. I made a stripped down chair for you if you would like to try it. Just battery and ability to attach, slightly weirdly I was able to control the chair back to my kerbal when he fell out. Don't know why. Anyhow I will put the config in the second spoiler if you are interested. Pics of the electric wheelchair in the first.
 

Spoiler

 

 

Next part only look if you want.

Spoiler

 

Go into Squad/Parts/Command/externalCommandSeat

Create a new text document, rename it FunSeat.cfg .Open it.

Copy and paste the next bit in and save and your good to go, will show up in the usual place in game. If you use it I hope you have fun.

 

PART
{
    name = FunSEAT
    module = Part
    author = NovaSilisko, ColdJ
    mesh = model.mu
    node_stack_top = 0.0, 0.1287344, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 0
    node_stack_bottom = 0.0, -0.1287344, 0.0, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0, 0
    node_attach = 0.0, -0.1287344, 0.0, 0.0, -1.0, 0.0, 0
    scale = 1
    rescaleFactor = 1
    Buoyancy = 0.4
    TechRequired = fieldScience
    entryCost = 8100
    cost = 200
    category = Pods
    subcategory = 0
    title = Fun Seat
    manufacturer = Kerlington Model Rockets in conjunction with ColdJ
    description = The Fun Seat
    attachRules = 1,1,1,1,0
    mass = 0.0001
    dragModelType = default
    maximum_drag = 0.05
    minimum_drag = 0.05
    angularDrag = 1
    crashTolerance = 6
    breakingForce = 20
    breakingTorque = 20
    maxTemp = 1200 // = 2900
    vesselType = Rover
    CrewCapacity = 1
    bulkheadProfiles = srf
    tags = Fun command chair
    MODULE
    {
        name = KerbalSeat
        seatPivotName = seatPivot
        ejectDirection = 0.0, 0.1, 0.1
        ejectionForceMax = 100.0
        ejectionForcePercentage = 0.0
        ejectionForceDirection = 0.0, 1.0, 0.0
    }
    RESOURCE
    {
        name = ElectricCharge
        amount = 200
        maxAmount = 200
    }

        MODULE

        {

            name = ModuleCommand

            minimumCrew = 0
        
        
        }

}

 

 

[Misguided Kerbal]

I made these rovers a while ago, but they're all still in service and completely functional.

 

I present to you.. the Prospector-class rover!

It fits a bit awkwardly onto my 3.75-ish launcher, mostly because of the 2.5m upper stage that doesn't want to accommodate the landing platform.

Other than that though, it's quite easy to launch.

Powered by a few RTGs, the thing is quite easy to drive around. Since this was made in my Sandbox save, it doesn't really have much except for a scanning arm.

Contemplating the meaning of life

 

It also has a twin on Minmus, but it's much harder to drive there:

 

 

[Kerminator K-100]

17 hours ago, ColdJ said:

Hi. I made a stripped down chair for you if you would like to try it. Just battery and ability to attach, slightly weirdly I was able to control the chair back to my kerbal when he fell out. Don't know why. Anyhow I will put the config in the second spoiler if you are interested. Pics of the electric wheelchair in the first.

I'll have to give that a try, maybe my next crewed Mun mission? Although I don't have RTGs yet in my career save

Also @Misguided Kerbal what rover wheels are you using? Is it just Restock?

Those rovers look really cool!

[Misguided Kerbal]

2 hours ago, Kerminator K-100 said:

Also @Misguided Kerbal what rover wheels are you using? Is it just Restock?

Yep, it's just the standard restock wheels.

2 hours ago, Kerminator K-100 said:

Those rovers look really cool!

Thanks!

 

[Kerminator K-100]

Got a fresh new one for you guys to use when you have a serious contract to complete or need to take business execs on a KSC tour. Also to celebrate this thread getting TOTM!

Presenting the Party Bus!

A four wheeled, 15 light, 6 seat ride of PARTY for the whole family

Bask in the warm glow of your GPU as the lights strobe on and off because its PARTY TIME!

Listen to the sick beats pounding through the craft (or maybe that's just my GPU breaking, this thing has really bad FPS)

Take high powered business exec whose choice of investment decides the fate of the KSC on epic joyrides and wake up the nerds people who want to sleep. Who cares about sleep! We've got epic beats and flashy lights!

Specs for nerds. Just buy it already!

This craft gets about 10 m/s on a level slope and is very low to the ground.

It weighs about a ton and is 33 parts.

With 1600 units of EC, you can blast your favorite tunes all night long, or until your PC gives up!

Top speed: 10 - 16 m/s

Mass: 1.03 tonnes

Parts: 33

Handling: Okay

Stability: Stable

Download: https://kerbalx.com/Kerminator/The-party-bus

Edited May 2, 2021 by Kerminator K-100

[king of nowhere]

those are small, real-looking rovers, meant to be landed on a surface and drive around there.

I like to have multipurpose rovers that work as spaceships, land under their own power and take off again, carry around a crew for long term missions and can drive long distances without being boring.

My dancing porcupine rover is the first large rover i conceived, and my first large project (as in, a ship that i spent several days optimizing). but still to this day i haven't found anything better to cover the wide array of tasks that rover can accomplish. at most, i made different versions of it

https://kerbalx.com/king_of_nowhere/dancing-porcupine-the-indestructible-rocket-car

50 tons fully loaded, 8 ruggedized wheels to propel it over 30 m/s, 3500 m/s of deltaV with enough thrust to lift off from Duna, isru capability, panoramic interior view. It can't land on tylo, but I made a version with more rockets to do just that. it doesn't have enough deltaV to leave tylo's orbit, though, so it needs a support ship for it. it also needs a support ship to reach moho, due to the high deltaV required. bodies with thicker atmosphere, on the other hand, are completely off limits, this vehicle is not the slightest bit aerodinamic.

it gets its name from its special armor of landing struts, that allow it to bounce over the ground harmlessly. it is almost indestructible at upwards to 30 m/s, and very effective - though not guaranteed - up to 40 m/s. above that speed, breaking stuff is likely. recent updates have made the ruggedized wheels more vulnerable to direct impacts, so an updated version of the rover includes landing struts on the bottom too, to be deployed quickly when you start losing control.

I pushed it to 100 m/s once on tylo and survived to tell the tale. Actually "pushed to 100 m/s" is not particularly accurate, what happened is that i was going downhill, and i started to go faster than the brakes could stop me, and past a certain speed even touching the brakes could send me tumbling to my death, and then i just had to keep driving and hope to keep the rover upright until i reached the end of the slope. I reached 120 m/s going downhill on vall, but it ended with explosion. to showcase the armor's effectiveness, the rover lost some pieces but the crew survived and the rover was still capable of moving afterwards (linked video).

of course, being optimized for so many functions, dancing porcupine has many weaknesses. the main one is that its mass make it sluggish, it accelerates and brakes slowly, it has a hard time going uphill. i fixed that last issue by adding the option to turn the rockets backwards, of course it is an expensive option. it also uses up crazy amounts of electricity. going uphill on tylo and vall was a real chore. and, being asymmetric, its flight is not particularly stable. taking off from tylo required 3000 m/s, partly because of the low thrust, and partly because it kept fighting against the controls.

 

I'd also like to mention my newest rover, dubbed Stool, which I'm using on a mission to locate all the green monoliths. it's not as fancy as dancing porcupine, but it has its highlights

the rover is based on a wide platform with rockets and wheels with a command pod docked on it. having ruggedized wheels, it also reaches 30-40 m/s on flat ground, with a wide base for stability. It doesn't have a porcupine armor (couldn't afford the weight this time), but it has strong reaction wheels, to keep pointing in the right direction. they proved surprisingly effective; i've done 70 m/s going downhill on Ike and lived to tell the tale, a feat dancing porcupine could not replicate. being only powered up by two rtgs, it must be used conservatively.

it weights a bit above 10 tons with full tanks.

it is powered by 4 sparks and 4 cubs, giving it plenty of thrust for Moho. the engine pack was designed for the additional challenge of kerbalism; that mod, among other things, introduces a small chance of malfunction for every engine every time it is turned on. A long mission exploring many planets can expect something to break up, and this design can keep going after losing an engine. using a couple of terriers would have been more efficient for isp, but a single malfunction would have compromised the mission.

stool has 2000 m/s, just enough to land on moho and return to orbit. it also lands and take off from duna, but just like dancing porcupine, it is not aerodinamic enough to handle the thick atmospheres; i have other landers for those. life support on something so small could not efficiently cover interplanetary travel, so i didn't try to make it capable of independent operation. it has supplies for one month, which is enough to explore gilly while the mothership is parked around eve. it also has redundant life support, electricity and communication, again because with kerbalism stuff breaks up. it does not have a backup parachute, a design mistake i didn't realize at the time. well, i hope the parachute holds long enough.

i also did not try to add isru, because kerbalism makes it much, much harder.

I called it stool because, well, the image is self-explanatory.

the command pod can be detached and reattached elsewhere, this lets me save some weight on the overall mission - especially important here because, between life support and radiation shielding, that pod is heavy.

[Kerminator K-100]

@king of nowhere those are some really cool rovers! I like the idea of having the rovers be able to fly around, normally my rovers just drive around. I really like the armor on the dancing porcupine, it also has a great name.

[Kerminator K-100]

If you'd like to know how to make custom interiors, I'll help you out a bit in this post.

You can make a catwalk by placing the smallest structural panel in a line and clipping the big ladders into the wall

This either makes a nice walkway, a balcony, or an industrial catwalk.

Here's Jeb enjoying the view.

And you can also make an engine room for a huge rover, or a base, by using the large convertatrons as the engines and the catwalk as a walkway.