The Elcano Challenge: Ground-Based Circumnavigation (5th)

[damerell]

Vall caused me to write "why does the landscape have stretch marks?" and "Here I hit a chunk of very bland landscape" - but also that it was a pleasure to rove on.

[Mr. Kerbin]

On 10/29/2023 at 1:11 PM, damerell said:

You may send replacement vehicles. Game mechanics are not kind to ground vehicles.

• Your crew must be transferred to any replacement vehicle and it must be very similar to the original.  I understand this is a learning process, and will allow some design changes.

@damerell Is it okay if my rover blew up, then teleport the rover back? (It is the same rover, and the 4 died.) It exploded because I accidentally used timewarp when (accidentally) jumping off the side of a hill?

[damerell]

19 hours ago, Mr. Kerbin said:

@damerell Is it okay if my rover blew up, then teleport the rover back? (It is the same rover, and the 4 died.) It exploded because I accidentally used timewarp when (accidentally) jumping off the side of a hill?

The normal procedure is either to load a quicksave or ship a new rover, but no, not to teleport a rover with eg the Alt-F12 menu.

[Mr. Kerbin]

Just now, damerell said:

The normal procedure is either to load a quicksave or ship a new rover, but no, not to teleport a rover with eg the Alt-F12 menu.

Got it.

[Royale37]

Hello! 

It says you are disqualified from stock if you have ANY mods. I have visual mods - parallax(with collisions turned off), volumetric clouds, and restock(which is just a reskin) - I also have stockalike station parts  expansion redux but don't use any of the parts on this rover. Do I still only qualify for modded?

Thanks! 

Edited October 31 by Royale37

[Royale37]

On 10/29/2023 at 4:11 PM, damerell said:

This challenge is simple. So simple, it's easy.

No.

Well, here's my go at it. See my post above for the mods I used.

Thanks 

[damerell]

On 10/30/2024 at 1:28 PM, Royale37 said:

It says you are disqualified from stock if you have ANY mods. I have visual mods - parallax(with collisions turned off), volumetric clouds, and restock(which is just a reskin) - I also have stockalike station parts  expansion redux but don't use any of the parts on this rover. Do I still only qualify for modded?

You qualify for Stock Craft, the middle category, if I understand what restock does correctly.

(There's an argument that the challenge should distinguish between visual mods like the ones you list and assistance mods like KER or MechJeb - let alone ones used only to document your position - but I'm not going to fiddle with it now, we've come a long way with the existing categories.)

Thanks for the submission. I'm on holiday with dodgy internet but I'll review it as soon as I can.

Edited November 2 by damerell

[Royale37]

18 hours ago, damerell said:

You qualify for Stock Craft, the middle category, if I understand what restock does correctly.

(There's an argument that the challenge should distinguish between visual mods like the ones you list and assistance mods like KER or MechJeb - let alone ones used only to document your position - but I'm not going to fiddle with it now, we've come a long way with the existing categories.)

Thanks for the submission. I'm on holiday with dodgy internet but I'll review it as soon as I can.

Just looked back and saw it actually does use one long truss from SSPERX, the XXL truss. However, this truss is as long as 2 XL trusses, which are from the stock game, and weighs as much as 2 of them as well.  If I changed the craft so that it uses 2 XL trusses, would it still be okay to count it as stock craft, since it would technically make no difference to the physical vehicle?

Take your time and have a good holiday.

Cheers! 

Edited November 3 by Royale37

[damerell]

On 11/3/2024 at 1:48 AM, Royale37 said:

Just looked back and saw it actually does use one long truss from SSPERX, the XXL truss. However, this truss is as long as 2 XL trusses, which are from the stock game, and weighs as much as 2 of them as well.  If I changed the craft so that it uses 2 XL trusses, would it still be okay to count it as stock craft, since it would technically make no difference to the physical vehicle?

Well, you would have to run all the way around Minmus again (as in, I'm afraid I'm not recategorising it because the craft _could_ have been different)... but I wouldn't bother if I were you. The categories for this challenge are a bit odd; I guess they were copied from the conventional sort of challenge that's about going as fast as possible or using as little fuel as possible, but the main difficulty in Elcano has very little to do with whether or not you have modded parts available [1], it's about good rover design, roving technique, and persistence.

[1] Except the Kerbal Foundries wheels... but if I was setting up the challenge today, I certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from using _those_.

Edited November 9 by damerell

[damerell]

https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1gr7pbf/has_anyone_ever_circumnavigated_kerbin_just_by/

Ah, sweet summer children.

(I replied telling the thread about the challenge, and if you're here as a result, hello! We look forward to seeing your rovers...)