"Landmaster" Community Rover Project

[UltraVires]

If any of you have ever seen a little known 70's SciFi movie called "Damnation Alley" then you'll already know about this awesome vehicle! For those of you that have not seen it before, this is the Landmaster:

Here is some footage of the real vehicle in action.. this is not a model, they built a life-size vehicle for the movie!

The Landmaster features a unique "TriStar" Wheel design. The wheels themselves move as normal but the whole wheel assembly itself can move or "walk" over an obstruction too big for the wheels to drive over by themselves. Also by locking the wheel assemblies, the vehicle can in effect "swim" in water as well!

That's right boys and girls, since rovers are now a stock part of the game, I think it's time Jeb had something really cool to drive!

This project aims to bring a variety of KSP modders on a volunteer basis to model and build this massive vehicle one part at a time. I am not a modder myself, but I do have drive, imagination, and most importantly... spare time!

Available Parts:

Body and Command Pod: Cryocasm

"TriStar" Wheels: Devogen

IVA: Open

Weapons: Open

Note on Weapons: I know some people have issues with weapons being in KSP. So the weapons for the Landmaster are not necessary for the mod, but would be nice as an optional "extra" for those players who enjoy that sort of thing

Edited April 26, 2013 by UltraVires

[Mekan1k]

I love this idea! Honestly, it looks brilliant!

But how would it get onto another planet?

[skeligandrew]

By a dropship of course

[Semni]

This reminds me of the old Landmaster that was made for Rigs of Rods.

[Devo]

By a dropship of course

being worked on

[skeligandrew]

Wow what are the chances of that image being the same one you've been working on

[ahappydude]

Wow, thats beatiful made, how did you make the animations so smooth?

[Devo]

Wow, thats beatiful made, how did you make the animations so smooth?

Keyframes are your friend And parent/childs are also. Think of a human skeleton, and everytime you move a piece that is connected to the next piece, make sure they share the same point of origin so that

they rotate on the same angle.

@Ultravires, have been working on a prototype of this rover, I think I got a system worked out for the rotating wheel hubs, as per usual will need a tester for it I have i think maybe one more day on the actual rover wheels, they are really tricky to get right, but im learning anyway.

Im at the point of the broken tyres and repair etc, this thing will have 12 tyres on it, so thats 12 points of damage..

wondering if we should leave damage out maybe, as this thing will be slamming wheels down everytime it rotates.... hmmm

[UltraVires]

Keyframes are your friend And parent/childs are also. Think of a human skeleton, and everytime you move a piece that is connected to the next piece, make sure they share the same point of origin so that

they rotate on the same angle.

@Ultravires, have been working on a prototype of this rover, I think I got a system worked out for the rotating wheel hubs, as per usual will need a tester for it I have i think maybe one more day on the actual rover wheels, they are really tricky to get right, but im learning anyway.

Im at the point of the broken tyres and repair etc, this thing will have 12 tyres on it, so thats 12 points of damage..

wondering if we should leave damage out maybe, as this thing will be slamming wheels down everytime it rotates.... hmmm

Taking damage out of the equation does sound like a good idea... I can just see it now, you push forward, and every tire on it goes flat... LOL Although I was just thinking they're aren't any actual rocks in KSP to drive over... hmmm. Still looks cool tho! (and maybe one day ground scatter will have collision meshes) I'm ready for a test drive whenever you are!

[ahappydude]

Thanks for that info devo Good things to keep in mind when animating

[RychschaX]

I immediately thought of Starfox....looks good though