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The starry heavens above me, a sturdy rover enclosing me 3; blast from the past


king of nowhere

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This is going to be my third report of this series, dedicated to rover circumnavigations. What? You've been looking, and there is no second installment? That's true, because my second rover circumnavigation - of Wal - is still halfway. It's going very slowly, because it turns out Wal is a lot uglier than I anticipated. Meanwhile, I got an idea and I wanted to at least start it.

The idea was to run a circumnavigation of Polta, another OPM moon of Urlum. Back when I landed there in the A'Tuin mission (chapter 9.5), I really liked Polta. I went as far as calling it my new favourite solid body. So, perfect place to circumnavigate. But I couldn't do it in that mission because it was inside a radiation belt.

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Here exploring it with the rover I had for that mission, the Horseshoe

For the occasion, I also wanted to bring back from retirement my old first rover, the Dancing Porcupine

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So called for its strut armor devised to protect it from the consequences of reckless driving in low gravity, this rover was my first major accomplishment in this game, and I did drive it for thousands of kilometers - especially in my Jool 5 science challenge. I'm still very fond of this rover, and it still offers a fun driving experience.

As I adopted kerbalism to make the game more difficult, I tried to adapt this rover, but I couldn't. Dancing Porcupine is made to be self-sufficient in a long trip. Once you add in the requirements for food, decent housings for the crew, and replaceable spare parts, the whole concept couldn't hold. I would need to couple it with a mothership, but that defies the whole purpose of this rover. Also, Dancing Porcupine relies on its rockets to climb steep inclines, because it has low wheel power; and without the easy ISRU offered by stock, this function just couldn't be sustained.

Now I'll get a chance to drive again on that moon I like so much, using this rover I like so much. Or at least, I will get a chance once I finish my current Wal circumnavigation (which will probably get its own report eventually).

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Part 1: Pit stop amid the rings of Sarnus

Dancing Porcupine doesn't have enough fuel to reach Polta in one go, so I decide to stop for refueling in the tiny moonlets of Sarnus.

Turns out, Dancing Porcupine didn't have enough fuel for that either; I had to pull off some tricks to barely manage it.

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About to land on Ovok

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Part 2: The rover that went to circumnavigate Polta and ended up circumnavigating Ovok instead

Since I'm already there with a rover, and I need to get to another biome for refueling, and this moon is so small, I decided I may as well run an Elcano on Ovok too.

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  On 8/27/2022 at 6:37 AM, king of nowhere said:

Since I'm already there with a rover, and I need to get to another biome for refueling, and this moon is so small, I decided I may as well run an Elcano on Ovok too.

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Nice!  Once again, I really like your use of the Cupola!  Ovok looks every bit as frustrating as Gilly, but then it would also be every bit as rewarding once you finish.

I've added a leaderboard section to the Elcano challenge for mod planet entries.  I would call it a work in progress.  I think we have a similar idea on doing that, simply having a single category for mod planets, and stating the planet (or moon) circumnavigated next to each entry.

My memory isn't perfect- I only recall you having an entry for Slate, and now Ovok.  (With another one coming soon!).  If I have missed one, please let me know.  

I have not started working on a badge yet.  I'm thinking the badge would be similar to the other badges, but perhaps with a '?' question mark or 'X' in the center.  I'm open to additional ideas regarding the badge, if you have any thoughts I'd love to hear them.

I think you are the first player to submit an Elcano entry for a mod planet.  Those entries have always been welcome, but we just have never had a leaderboard for it.  Now that a leaderboard is in place, I find myself wondering why I didn't do that sooner.

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  On 8/29/2022 at 3:20 AM, 18Watt said:

My memory isn't perfect- I only recall you having an entry for Slate, and now Ovok.  (With another one coming soon!).  If I have missed one, please let me know.  

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slate and ovok are the ones I completed.

On Wal I recently crossed the halfway line, but it will still take months.

In this continuity I'm planning to also do Hale (again, since I'm already here and it's small and it's got good sightseeing) and eventually Polta. but those will take a while, because I'm still running my main kerbalism rss grand tour, and I just couldn't resist picking up also the speedrun challenge.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Part 3: Through sleet and Hale

Having just circumnavigated Ovok, I can't skip Hale.

The terrain is a lot harder, but the view is even better.

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  • 3 months later...

Part 4: Updating the armor

I put this mission in undetermined hiatus four months ago for a critical problem: the porcupine armor has been made ineffective by the update that introduced EVA repair kits. That update also made wheels a lot more frail. As I started the circumnavigation of Polta, I kept suffering accidents. The mission was too impractical, the very purpose of driving Dancing Porcupine was defied.

After completing the other missions I had running, I turned back to this one and devised a way to protect the wheels. I am finally ready to actually circumnavigate Polta.

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before

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after

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  • 2 weeks later...

Part 5: Going to Polta (again)

The trip from Kerbin to Polta, with refueling at Pol. Pretty straightforward.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Part 6: The ups and downs of Polta

From equator to north pole, Polta is a swirling patchwork of gentle hills and plains.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Part 7: Swallowed by the polthole

Polta has a massive sinkhole in the north pole, just like Moho. Having rockets, I went down it all the way.

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Part 8: Getting away from the north pole

The land is so difficult here, it deserves a special chapter.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Part 9: From north to south pole

Exactly as the title says. The land is mostly highlands of average difficulty, with some stretch at lower elevation.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Part 10: My rover will go on

Dancing Porcupine finishes the circumnavigation of Polta. I decide to also circumnavigate Priax.

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Part 11: Introducing Priax

Starting the circumnavigation of Priax, to the north pole.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Part 12: Craters

The circumnavigation continues, stumbling upon a truly gigantic crater and some smaller, but still noteworthy ones.

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At over 12 km from top to bottom, this is by far the biggest cliff in the OPM system that I am aware of. I'd like to give it an impressive name, but I run out of them on Wal

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  • 4 weeks later...

Part 13: Ravines

The circumnavigation of Priax is eventually completed.

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Next stop: Tal

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  • 2 weeks later...

Part 14: You must be this Tal to move forward

Dancing Porcupine travels to Tal, the sub-moon of Wal, to complete the circumnavigation of the moons of Urlum

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Tal, in all its glossy charm

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  • 3 weeks later...

Part 15: The obstacle course

Beginning the Tal circumnavigation. Boulders create collisions, and avoiding them is hard in the low gravity.

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Part 16: Let me out of this Talhole!

Dancing Porcupine descends into the Talhole.

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The mouth of the Talhole seen from inside. Unlike other holes, it's almost perfectly rectangular

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Part 17: The north pole of Tal

Poles always have interesting terrain.

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  • 1 month later...

Part 18: The rest of Tal

The circumnavigation of Tal is completed.

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The circle of flags as Dancing Porcupine is about to leave

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Part 19: Homecoming

While an Elcano challenge does not require returning the kerbals home, I did it anyway.

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Rather, I returned to Minmus. From there it's just a matter of sending up some shuttle to carry back the crew

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And that's the end of Dancing Porcupine. My dear old rover. I ended up driving it more than I imagined. It's slow and sluggish compared to other rovers, carrying around that giant fuel tank does have drawbacks. But having a single rover than can take off and go on another world is very cool. Not to mention the crash survivability. Who knows, maybe in another year or two I will bring it out of retirement again.

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