Safe (average) speed for rovers?

[Guest Aaack]

Hey Guys!

So, I've made two rovers, a classic buggy á la Apollo program and something that looks more like a train on wheels.

I put both of them on the Mün, the buggy has the "Apollo" wheels (RoveMax M1) and the train has the TR-2L wheels (8).

Heres a pic of both...

Now, they act VERY different, the buggy skids like if it had the wheels made of ice on a glass surface. However it's so sturdy it survived most of the crashes. The motors are slow to pickup speed and consumes a ton of electricity. It acts as if it were huge instead of a regular sized rover.

The Train is so temperamental i had to disable the motors of 4 wheels to make it less responsive and prone to wheelie. Goes really fast but at 25 m/s the wheels break (actually the motors I believe, they stop responding, in spite of having the wheels intact physically).

In both cases I had to lock the steering in all but the front wheels to control high speeds better.

So my question to you is: what is your safe speed for rovers?

In my case, buggy 20 m/s and Train 15 m/s

[Themohawkninja]

It's dependent on gravity/terrain if you ask me. On Kerbin: Under 20 m/s. On the Mun: 10, and on Vall: Under 8, as it's very hilly.

[Enigma179]

I usually use pretty small minimalistic rovers, but on the Mun I can safely maintain control in a straight line on gentle slopes up to 15 or so m/s, but once I get beyond that I slam the brakes because once I hit 18 or so, and I'm downhill, I'm not stopping. Then again I'm also the kind of person who loves to drift on the Mun with wide skidding turns.

Tip for smaller rovers; put yourself in docking mode when driving if you haven't rebound rover controls; translation controls only work with RCS so if it's not activated you can use WASD without having to worry about your rover trying to do a barrel roll (depending on the placement of the pod, on small ones my pod usually faces up).

[Brotoro]

Depends on the terrain and the rover design.. On some terrain I can cruise along at over 30 m/s. On other terrain, I would not go over 10 m/s.

[Rocket Farmer]

On kerbal mine won't go above 20-22 m/s

On the moon I often run 30+ m/s. I have asas on it to lock it while I go airborne so I don't drift sideways while in the air (as over 40 on the moon you get great hang time).

On Moho I found out 60 m/s is max velocity before I pop a tire.

My rover is a medium sized empty rcs can with a 3x strut sticking out in either direction. I have 2 more 3x struts angled down 30 degrees from the ends of those struts with the medium tires on it. It makes it light, wide, low and very fast when you get a good downhill ramp. After cracking 40 you can keep that momentum for a very long time.

[Tw1]

It also varies on your design. Some things are fine at 30m/s, some things tip with a slight turn at 10, with the same gravity.

[Guest Aaack]

My experience is only on the Mün, curiously the tests I've made on Kerbal are terrible, I can't go faster than 10 m/s or else Iĺl crash and burn.

I like the idea of the dock controls, never tried!

BTW my rovers are just rovers, they dont have RCSs ASAS or any other system, I may have to add some I think!

[Sathurn]

In action groups, disable front brakes, by removing them form the brakes group. that way you can at-least apply your brakes to slow down.

[Rocket Farmer]

I don't actually use rcs, it was just the right size for my middle an a nice place in my design to store it on the flight out. It's empty when I drop my rover.

I mount the asas on the front facing forwards so it gives me stability at high speeds. I have skidded out a couple of time but only ever at 40 m/s+ and fairly rough ground (read the poor rover is spending more time in the air than on the ground). The kerbal in the chair always seems to have a great time though).

[Guest Aaack]

Oh, Well the flip over issue is exclusive of the big rover, as the control module is stupidly heavy, I solved it by projecting 2 ibeams in front for the last couple of wheels, basically moved the mass center backwards

[Robbii6]

The rover wheels have a limited speed they can go on flat ground. they wont go above that set speed, even on other bodies i believe, unless you are going down hill

[Guest Aaack]

LOL The buggy has a decoupler there, Ill add an ASAS too, just for fun (and prolly a couple of extra electricity generators)

[Guest Aaack]

Yes I've noticed that, on flat ground I get around 20 m/s, down hill is fun... until you burn your motors lol

[Cheebsta]

Now, they act VERY different, the buggy skids like if it had the wheels made of ice on a glass surface. However it's so sturdy it survived most of the crashes. The motors are slow to pickup speed and consumes a ton of electricity. It acts as if it were huge instead of a regular sized rover.

This is most likely just because of its light weight. I'd guess its coming up off the ground ever so slightly, causing the "ice effect" and slow acceleration due to lack of traction.

[Guest Aaack]

Ha! Now you say it that way you're probably right, that would explain also the constant skidding effect, luckily the gravity center of that thing is so low it rarely tumbles, so far i had epic rolls at 20 m/s and both the pilot and the rover survived.

[Decho]

With my most successful rover I was crusing around on the moon at 45-49 m/s, I doubt that will be possible with the new terrain in .21 though...

[magnemoe]

In action groups, disable front brakes, by removing them form the brakes group. that way you can at-least apply your brakes to slow down.

I tend to remove power on back wheels if using the new wheels, they have so good grip they can easy flip the rover accelerating under low g, at least if you forgot to go to docking mode.

The same apply to braking and front wheels, if you remove it the acceleration or braking will stop then it tilt up.

[magnemoe]

LOL The buggy has a decoupler there, Ill add an ASAS too, just for fun (and prolly a couple of extra electricity generators)

ASAS is nice as it keep your rover level if you jump. Use the small kspx ones on the small struts.

[Whackjob]

The best speed I've ever done on the Mun is 42m/s. It's only thanks to ASAS that it lived through that. It was unmanned, and it was one of my recovery rovers, so even if I flipped it, I knew I could right it.

#EDIT: No chance of ever doing THAT again, when the new Mun comes

Edited July 20, 2013 by Whackjob

[Benie]

As most people say, it all has to do with the design/gravity/terrain. I got one that can go to near 60m/s on Laythe and Duna, before the front wheels pop.

[Guest Aaack]

Man reading those speeds... now I want to do a dragster for the Mun! but first I need to lift my base without my rocket go boom

[Whackjob]

Man reading those speeds... now I want to do a dragster for the Mun! but first I need to lift my base without my rocket go boom

if Rocket.GoBoom == true (

struts = struts + 1

)

else (

boosters = boosters + 1

);

[Guest Aaack]

LOL Whack...

I've opened another thread to try to deal with that issue, sadly it's not so simple.

[PhsycoTimmay]

Sadly, I do not have any pictures do to a system recovery...

However (And I will rebuild this and post pictures if anyone questions me) By using 4 of the small orange rocket motors aimed directly at the ground with another 2 rocket motors for high speed, I was able to design a buggy capable of 50+ m/s with absolutely no way of wrecking it Anywhere..

It was sexy..

Once again, if you want to see it I'll rebuild tonight after work and post some pics

[Guest Aaack]

But but... you were using the wheels as landing gear, right?