Help with Larger Rovers?

[SpaceSmith]

Hi there,

So I havent played KSP in a while, just a bit every update for the past few. Now I am slightly getting more interested in it and plan to do a day by day progression of missions. So last friday, I got a man into a 100k orbit around Kerbin, then I landed one on the Mun and made it back to Kerbin safely (I have made orbits, before, and even landed, but I believe this was my first succesful manual non mech jeb land and return ). I also planted a flag on the Mun. My next mission was to get a Rover onto the mun, so I took the base it gives you, added 4 small wheels, lights, and a comms dish and solar panels and was on my way. Landed, quite bad due to my RCS running out on my lander, but got the rover down. Started driving, next thing I know, I flipped her, couldnt go above like 5km/h.

So basically I am asking, what are some rover building tips?? And on top of that, if you make a heavier rover, what are tips to get it into space? I am bad at building lifters for heavier loads (I really try to avoid the rockomax tanks/ mainsails if I can)?

Thanks,

Casey.

[satcharna]

Did you drive it in docking mode? It helps with the spinning and flipping by removing pod torque. Also, try disabling the rear wheel motors.

And, as in real life, you can't turn very well at high speeds. If your rover i is unstable, you'll need to slow down before turning. Try going for a low center of mass, it helps stabilise your creation.

[Flixxbeatz]

As for building large rovers and mobile bases, I recommend to build it in a way that it becomes an integral part of a rocket for easy construction of the lifting booster below, like this:

But it also depends on how you big your rover would be. Also, you must build it first on the SPH for fine-tuning and symmetry, then move it to VAB for the booster. Oh - and the CoM must be exactly at the center of the mobile base (especially if you're planning to land it on its own power)

And if you don't like using mainsails, you can always go clustering (they're much easier to do now).

[bsalis]

Be mindful that large heavy rovers using the big wheels tend to be a bit fragile. Best for shuffling around small area.

If you want to explore you probably want something smaller.

[chrischambers]

also I have this issue, that you have to reminder that as you clumb into space, the rover will become top heavy and will start to pull the ship down, so make so that you get it into space before you start your turn,

[entaran]

that just means you're turning too fast chris sorry. Follow your prograde marker, stay a little bit BEHIND it, you can turn no probs.

Large rovers require heavy strutting of the wheels and wheel connections. They twist all over the place and snap off frequently.

[Evrion]

I have a rover at my Mun base right now that is actually quite stable, I've had to do some careful steering a few times while over 15 m/s where I was tipping over trying to turn on a slope though.

I have two of the 4x4 panels set together length-wise. Then above those in the corners and in the middle the little struts. On those struts I have the rover wheels that look like they are filled with air, 6 of them, three per side. This means the Rover wheels are attached above the main frame of the rover. Then underneath is where I have the batteries and remote control module. All this gives low center of gravity with a wide wheel base.

On top of the rover I have things that can't go underneath, like the command seats for Kerbals.

[SpaceSmith]

Thanks for the replies guys! I will try this and see what I come up with! I have to land a Kerbal on the Mun again however, deleted my flag by accident

[Khrissetti]

Also, put a probe body and a landing leg to act as a Robot Wars-style 'self righting mechanism' if it flips.

http://robotwars.wikia.com/wiki/Self-righting_mechanism

[capi3101]

Might also consider a toroidal fuel tank and a pair of 24-77s aimed upwards; I use that for the self-righting mechanism (landing leg didn't work the first time I tried it out). If you go the thruster route, make sure and go easy on the throttle...

[Rickenbacker]

Also, if you're doing a Kethane mining rover, make sure its fuel tanks feed into the first stage to be dropped. That way the rover's fuel tanks will empty first, avoiding some top-heaviness. Plus you want the tanks empty so your Kethane converter can fill them with fuel later .

[Rickenbacker]

Also, if you're doing a Kethane mining rover, make sure its fuel tanks feed into the first stage to be dropped. That way the rover's fuel tanks will empty first, avoiding some top-heaviness. Plus you want the tanks empty so your Kethane converter can fill them with fuel later .

I had a rover flip over, and had some success using the kerbal attachment system to right it. The rover had a winch, and I had a Kerbal manually attach the claw from the winch off to the side, then pulled the vehicle upright with the winch. Worked like a charm!

[PPR]

The big problem I see with your rover lander is that it's very top heavy. Any of the following might help:

1) Attach a pair of rovers on the side of your lander (I don't recommend this, because your design looks heavy enough without doubling it). This keeps your lander balanced.

2) Use a sky-crane (a fuel tank on the top with radially mounted engines). This will work well only if your rover is well-balanced. I'd also recommend using RCS thrusters to keep your orientation because these can be hard to steer.

3) Attach a pair of engines on the side of your rover. This may make it unstable at launch, but if you attach a series of radially-mounted boosters in pairs on each side, it might work. (Again, RCS.)

4) Build your rover in smaller parts which can be attached with docking ports.

5) (This is sort of a cheat) Leave the engine on the bottom separated from the rover by a decoupler. After you decouple, cycle to the engine using the [] keys and end the mission for the engine. Then go to the tracking station and select the rover, which will gently drop to the ground.