So I have been Rovering

[entaran]

This is my primary use for rovers:

Yes, that's a crane truck. And I've made WAY bigger ones but this one is great fun

[entaran]

To give some context to the above pictures. The smaller thing is infact a base identical to the one behind it that I loaded into from tracking station and it exploded leaving only Jeb as a survivor (Bill & Bob died). I then landed a crane rover and picked it up, after planting a memorial flag and drove 140 km south-ish at about 14-16 m/s (comfortable given the crane setup) faster and it'd bounce everywhere rather than sit solidly in the little area I made for it to push backwards against.

Hardest part was getting that thing on the surface with a skycrane and decoupler but it was fun and gave me a reason to save Jeb!

Rest of my kethane base is enroute now... which is why I drove 140km ... to the best kethane deposit "near" there.

[Piggius_Max]

I agree with you : I drive rovers during 5 min then give up !

I think what I need is a purpose to drive !

more easter eggs and land marks would fill this gap with EASE. Also resources, but add a tonne of landmarks and rovers become the new *thing*.

[BubbaWilkins]

Aside from my VTOL, it's just easier to land near an object or destination and than take a rover/buggy up close. Helicopters are fun too, but obviously limited in usage due to lack of atmosphere.

[Tw1]

Rovers are best mixed with timewarp,IMHO. And a goal to reach.

A big rover expedition can be quite the adventure!

[joppiesaus]

3 kerbals, but two capsules... JEB!

[Commander Zoom]

What it comes down to is that rovers are, in the real world, the only thing we have practical examples and experience with. There's a lot of plans for aerial vehicles of various sorts, to fly on Mars and other worlds, but not one has gotten off the drawing board yet. And once we build it, we've got to get it there...

In KSP, stuff that flies is often easier to build, and no harder to deliver, than a rover. (Especially when you start letting mod parts in.) As well as faster and, due to the distressing tendency of many rovers to flip if they encounter so much as a lane marker dot, safer. So why not?

[kantastisk]

So far the game consists of learning how to build, transport and control the vehicles you build. I don't think the campaign will have you touring entire moons in a rover. But I do agree there could be more to purpose to rovering. Anyway, I'm about to get into the rover business. Any tips for a beginner?

[Lazro]

Most rovers could theoretically rove around forever, while a lander can only fly up and touchdown so many times. The relative slowness is acknowledged, but physics acceleration, "trimming" the rover to always move forward slowly, and the fact that you can indeed have other windows open over KSP makes rover exploration viable.

[Geschosskopf]

Any tips for a beginner?

Well, if you're committed to the idea, then you're too far gone to save

But, several things:

1. ALWAYS include some sort of probe brain on the rover, correctly oriented to the direction of travel. That way you can bring it to the Kerbals which is generally faster than having the Kerbals go hunt it down.

2. ALWAYS make the probe brain of the rover easily accessible. You've got to remove it and save the rest of the vehicle as a subassembly to attach to the rocket you need to move it, THEN put the probe brain back in the rover. But you also have to make sure the rover's brain is protected from flips and crashes (see below).

3. ALWAYS include a parking brake. This is creating an action group that has the brake function on it. The default B key is the service brakes, only on while you're holding down the B key, so your rover rolls away as soon as you get out of it. With the action group, OTOH, once you hit it, the parking brakes stay on forever, whether you're in the vehicle or not, until you get back in and release them.

4. ALWAYS create an action group that toggles steering on all wheels except the front. MUCH safer to turn while traveling at more than idle speed this way. But with the toggle, if you have to back and fill in a tight place, you can turn the steering for the other wheels back on as needed, then turn it off again.

5. Always have some way of putting the rover back rightside up. This can be Kerbals, even on high-gravity worlds, or lander legs on top if the thing is unmanned.

6. Do EXTENSIVE crash testing on Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus before sending the rover further afield. Drop the thing from varying heights, run it into obstacles, intentionally flip it over in the most spectacular ways you can imagine. The object is to make sure it won't break. The reason for doing the same tests on Mun and Minmus is because their lower gravity will make things more interesting. Besides, you also need to test the traction on low-gravity worlds. Just remember, if the thing is unmanned, there's nobody to change a tire should it go flat, or manually flip it back over, so you have to be much more careful with unmanned rovers.

7. During all the above, you should be mulling over how you're going to land the rover on its wheels at the target world. So be sure to build the rover so you can use whatever method you've decided on, and test the mechanism on Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus.

8. If you plan on driving to easter eggs, be sure to include the GPS unit that comes with the MapSat mod.

9. By now you've probably got some monstrosity of a rover. Now you have to build a rocket to carry it to the target. Design and test that extensively on Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus.

10. OK, now you're ready to go. Fly the rover to the target, land it successfully, drive 300m to the easter egg you landed on, plant a flag, take a picture, and drive back to the lander. Get back in the lander and go home, leaving the rover sitting there. 2 or 3 days of R&D all for 5 minutes of actual use.

11. Go back tot he VAB and design a flying machine that works on the target.

[Kerbol Prime]

I have rovers for vanity really. Sure they don't have any use but nothing in the game has use. That is, if you don't have a goal for them. I put rovers around for "science", even though I couldn't care less the scientific data. An example of a rover I actually use would be close-range ones such as my crew shuttle for ferrying crew around KSC.

[kantastisk]

That's actually useful advice. Thanks buddy!