Rovers: What to start with?

[Skorpychan]

Poking through the stock parts, I can't find anything satisfactory in size and shape for a munar rover chassis. Lots of struts and girders, but nothing solid and boxy.

What's recommended for something to carry 1-3 kerbals across the mun in style?

Edited June 25, 2013 by Skorpychan

[stupid_chris]

When I wanna do a large rover, I usually go with a base made out of structural panels. They hold on quite well to each other. I also seen people combining the stock rover body with panels, it does a great job

[Skorpychan]

I have trouble getting the 2*2 panels to stick together on edge, though. Is there a trick to it?

[stupid_chris]

Not really, it can be tricky but it's not too hard to do. It's easier to do if you are on the angled attachment method (the octogon symmetry thingy) rather than the other one, else just be careful and it should align.

[capi3101]

Haven't built a multi-Kerbal rover myself yet; so far I've just made simple rovers based on RoveMates with the small probe chassis for control purposes. I don't know if you can attach those to one another or not; might be worth a try.

[nhnifong]

There's a solid and boxy part made exactly for this purpose in the structural tab. It's called "rover body" or something. did you miss it?

That said, I don't use it much, I like to consume the inner space of my rover with useful parts like tanks, or the ASAS part.

[Skorpychan]

The 'rover body' is too small to fit any sort of crew compartment on and have anywhere to place the wheels. I tried sticking wheels directly on the crew compartment, and they came apart in the middle, fell over, and exploded.

I can't have things exploding on the mun. Not when the debris might make orbit.

[Guest]

Tip: Don't use the smallest octagonal or box struts on your rovers; if they are jolted those parts will set up what appears to be some sort of catastrophic vibration and randomly explode parts. This has happened on all of my tiny rovers built with those parts almost without exception.

For my latest tiny Munar rover design I went with the small wide I-beam. I suggest you use a combination of struts/beams depending on the intended size/mass of your rover. Also, as has been said, try the rover body. It's a bit thick for my tastes but IIRC it does come with some battery power included.

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

A pair of the rectangular wing connectors gives a nice wide surface that's very lightweight.

[Skorpychan]

I'll give that a shot, then.

Further questions, while I have a thread open:

- Rover transport. How do I get them nice and compact so they don't destabilise an ascent stage?

- Is it practical to push rovers and landers up into orbit separately from the crew, and dock them up later?

[Aragosnat]

For the panels. You will need to have the angel snap set to circle as the hex would try to attach to the green attachment circle.

[NoMrBond]

Most of the time I just start with a (round) battery under a 2x2 structural panel with an OKTO core on top, even if it going to have a control seat, being able to remote the rover is always handy

Gives plenty of space and attachment options (both the battery and probe core are surface attachable), and you can get the wheelbase far enough apart on the edges that it doesn't flip over to readily (plus it's only 3 parts for the whole base).

[Tank Buddy]

Here, in a more recent version, I added more seats. This was empty in the middle because of the delivery method, below a lander:

[NoMrBond]

The RollKage-1EF is becoming a favorite starter though

[EmissionGeneration]

Always think outside of the Square, even though they might seem like bland Stock Parts, with enough imagination, you can add to it's creation using those Parts. This Chasis of this Buggy is 100% Stock Parts, and only Mod on it is Kerbal Attachment and Mechjeb. If you wanted something large, then simple use the Stock Rover Body and add onto it using Truss' or Winglets ect. At times it can be time consuming, and alot of testing can be needed, but thats part of the fun of KSP!!!

EDIT:

There is also the larger Version which uses Truss' and Panels for the Chasis.

Edited June 25, 2013 by EmissionGeneration