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How do YOU land large rovers?


LABHOUSE

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Well... everything shown so far is either heavy or very heavy rover territory. Medium (imo) would be a single crew rover with a reasonable amount of fuel, power, parts, science, etc. Small is anything that is either unmanned and lightweight or bare-bones 1 crew stuff.

In a way, if it requires finnicky building and landing assistance, it's pretty much certainly heavy/large ;)

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Landed one med sized rover. Due to it being fairly useless since rovers drive horribly i havent bothered landing another one.

I used the side method though. Killed all the horizontal velocity with the main rocket, then touched off the butt rocket and went down to drop the rocket to the side.

The only addition i'd do is add legs next to the white rockets.

1073152_10151540762676725_607232590_o.jpg

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Usually with a frame like this, with rockets some fuel tanks on top instead of parachutes if it's a vacuum landing.

Second pic is an earlier prototype but you get the idea.

http://i.imgur.com/tlKJS8il.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/xIjZqA1l.png

Not really that complicated, but it's an awesome idea!

Is the rover connected with the frame over the docking port at the bottom? Have you got more screenshots?

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Not really that complicated, but it's an awesome idea!

Is the rover connected with the frame over the docking port at the bottom? Have you got more screenshots?

There's a decoupler on the frame that's attached to one of the structural panels on the bottom of the rover. It's made so the entire frame drops down a few iches when it decouples, allowing the rover to clear the frame and drive out.

Often I'll put legs on the frame to take the initial impact of landing then fold up, since landing on wheels tends to damage them.

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When I've seen that you've answered this thread I already thought "I bet it's an SSTO made with SP+."

So, you use your planes to drive around and collect samples?

:cool:

Actually, what I usually do is make an orbital laboratory / fuel depot with a lightweight attached lander and pop down to a new biome whenever I feel like I need some science points. Like a lot of folks, I messed around with rovers for a bit but then decided that they were more hassle than they were worth.

Once you've got the knack of reliably setting down landers, it's always easier to fly.

A small spaceplane can make a decent rover if you use B9's powered landing gear or stick an Ion thruster on the back, though.

On a largely unrelated note: seen my entry for the fuel tanker challenge?

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90337-Economic-Fuel-to-Oribit/page5?p=1361984#post1361984

Edited by Wanderfound
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Incidentally, one thing I did that made rover driving far more fun: set up a controller for them. Maybe it's just me being used to console driving games over the years, but a long drive's just more comfortable with the controller than the keyboard, and coupled with putting the camera in chase view the steering feels more immediate.

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Some of my large "rovers"...

These actually docked on Munar surface and formed a base:

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And here are some mostly LLL based "base rovers":

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Each is a spaceship as well, they all landed on own propulsion and used wheels(or tracks) to touchdown.

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Some of my large "rovers"...

These actually docked on Munar surface and formed a base:

http://imgur.com/a/0Iz9x

And here are some mostly LLL based "base rovers":

http://imgur.com/a/Xdzng

http://imgur.com/a/nXJj0

http://imgur.com/a/m2fvC

Each is a spaceship as well, they all landed on own propulsion and used wheels(or tracks) to touchdown.

Is every part of those.. "Base rovers" from LLL? And are you using TAC Life Support? I ask because of the greenhouses^^

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I build a generic structure which I can alter based on the landing profile. The example below has quite a few radial parachutes and 24-77's so it can land decently on a lot of planets. If I need more horse power to break I have a rockomax tank and poodle engine that are mounted to the back and jettison close to landing. At that point I use the RCS to orient it for a proper landing. Here's an example from an older post of mine.

nr4rfNl.png

2aZKduy.jpg

Edited by sumrex
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The largest rover I've ever landed was this little monster, no infinite fuel, no gravity hacks, all stock. After landing on Kerbin I did it in Duna, much easier thanks to the lower gravity. No how I manage to send the pyramid to Duna is another story...

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Is every part of those.. "Base rovers" from LLL? And are you using TAC Life Support? I ask because of the greenhouses^^

No, they are all from the same save and i didnt use any life support in that one. They are there because they look nifty and so i can pretend to use lifesupport. :)

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