Attaching Rovers Underneath

[davidpsummers]

One common way to attach a rover is to put a decoupler on the top, put it under a lander, and drop it onto the surface. However, I want a small manned rover and I need that space for the seats. If I attach it end on, it not only takes up more vertical space, but I'm not sure it won't flip upside down when a drop it.

Is there anyway to attack it underneath using struts? I tried, but the struts will only connect to parts that are already connected together.

[colonel0sanders]

One thing I'll do sometimes is put some micro struts in the middle of the rover, and put one seat on each side of those, and then attach the decoupler to the strut. Hard to describe I guess, Lemme see if I can hunt down a picture

[munseeker]

I also prefer rovers under the lander. I usually just make the rover longer so that there is space in the middle for the docking port. This also helps a little against flipping the rover when you break too hard.

Edited August 1, 2014 by munseeker

[LethalDose]

Where are you going with the rover? On some planets/moons you can just use RCS to flip them over, or make sure they land appropriately. I've also dropped rovers from beneath the lander on Duna by decoupling and activating parachutes in the same stage during decent. Worked great, so long as I did it low enough the rover did fly out of physics range.

[Alshain]

Make sure your using the Clamp O Tron Jr. No need to waste that space on the big ones.

[merendel]

You can put a stack of cubic struts in the center of the rover or even just attach the decoupler to an RTG in the center as shown here. nice thing about useing an RTG is your going to need a power sorce for the rover anyway. This is a 2 man design but you could always put a single seat in front of the RTG if desired.

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[Tripzter]

One major thing to consider is you cannot thrust if there is an object beneath the thruster. The thruster simply stops working. Personally i've had better luck with attaching rovers on top and then using side landers for the last whatever meters..

[Vanamonde]

This is a how-to kind of a discussion, and so it has been moved to Gameplay Questions.

[merendel]

True you cant attach the lander to a thruster directly. I assumed it was a given that if you wanted to hang a rover under a lander you needed to design the lander with at least 2 thrusters attached radially around the center line of the craft.

[Wanderfound]

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One common way to attach a rover is to put a decoupler on the top, put it under a lander, and drop it onto the surface. However, I want a small manned rover and I need that space for the seats. If I attach it end on, it not only takes up more vertical space, but I'm not sure it won't flip upside down when a drop it.

Is there anyway to attack it underneath using struts? I tried, but the struts will only connect to parts that are already connected together.

Put girders on top of the decouplers to give yourself more room.

If you do the vertical thing, the trick is to lower the landing gear on the drop side before decoupling.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Wanderfound

[micha]

I just attached the seats and other bits sideways on the rover, decoupled, pulled it out from under my lander, and used KAS to move the seats etc on top. I'll dig out my pics this weekend.

[MarvinKitFox]

Just make sure your rover design is self-righting.

how, you ask?

Several torque units, on an action group so you can enable/disable as needed.

Just switch on the gyro's, do a 180 loop, and switch them off again.

No more worries about being set down right, or flipping when cornering too quickly.

[davidpsummers]

I'm in career mode, but I think I can buy microstruts.

[davidpsummers]

Where are you going with the rover? On some planets/moons you can just use RCS to flip them over, or make sure they land appropriately. I've also dropped rovers from beneath the lander on Duna by decoupling and activating parachutes in the same stage during decent. Worked great, so long as I did it low enough the rover did fly out of physics range.

Duna, do you think that is small enough?

[davidpsummers]

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Put girders on top of the decouplers to give yourself more room.

If you do the vertical thing, the trick is to lower the landing gear on the drop side before decoupling.

Ah, that's a good tip, as is merendel's the one about the RTG