My World Record Attempt - Circumnavigation of Kerbin with a Cart!

[Thobewill10]

Wow. Looking at this map, the old Kerbin had such crappy terrain.

I\'m not sure where this map came from, but Kerbin never looked like that. The water was always way brighter, and the land was a much brighter green. I think it was 0.10 that changed the terrain, removed the palm trees, and added areas that weren\'t green. Prior to that, everything was a bright green--nowhere near that dark, and there were no whitecaps.

[zombiphylax]

You and TheUnlogicalOne finding the other KSC elsewhere on Kerbin have inspired me:

I\'m transporting that SSV to another KSC and launching from another space center for my first time. I\'ll let you know how long it takes before I crash and give up.

[Randox]

I\'m waiting for the part where you use a plane mod to do low altitude flybys to scout out the terrain and path find for you (and also fly out snacks to the pilots).

Actually, that\'s what I\'d want for exploring. A plane that can retract its wings like landing gear to drive around once its landed, and then put the wings back for take off. Would need a much bigger cart though, or some sort of landing gear mod/plug in to handle the size.

[NovaSilisko]

You and TheUnlogicalOne finding the other KSC elsewhere on Kerbin have inspired me:

I\'m transporting that SSV to another KSC and launching from another space center for my first time. I\'ll let you know how long it takes before I crash and give up.

Tip: You can quicksave while underway and the game will resume as if you were at a standstill. Helps to just spam quicksave as you drive along at high speed.

[zombiphylax]

That\'s good to know! I also found out you can three-finger-salute if you crash, close the KSP process, and it\'ll go to your last auto-save with craft and crew in tact when you relaunch KSP. Now the hard part is staying away from large mountains and not getting bored by traveling the world at 30 m/s (though 67 mph is pretty good for a shuttle crawler!)...

[SteevyT]

Here is my shuttle rover thingy. Turns out it can go a good 70m/s comfortably on somewhat flat ground. (Just don\'t try to turn at all)

I\'m not actually attempting this, just showing what my lander thing is since someone was asking for a better cart. The MechJeb capsule can be replaced with a regular capsule no problem making it all stock aside from the cart mod.

[zombiphylax]

70m/s, I envy you.

[xzbobzx]

Damn now I want ksp even more :L

It\'s sad my parents don\'t trust anything when it comes to online payment.

[AlternNocturn]

I built a half-rover half-jet plane thing using the Cart and the C7 pack that can travel at around 70 m/s on the ground, and if I tilt the craft up while going fast enough I can take off and glide with it, and if I turn on the engine it can even fly, with a max speed of around 100 m/s. That little bugger is fast, but it still takes a monumental amount of time to even go anywhere, which is why I launch it into space, select my landing site, then drop down using the gliding features of the rover to safely land. No parachute needed. I might consider doing a circumnavigation with this craft. Moderately sized bodies of water should be no problem for this vehicle.

[Tim_Barrett]

Tip: You can quicksave while underway and the game will resume as if you were at a standstill. Helps to just spam quicksave as you drive along at high speed.

*Note, as long as you are on the ground.

[SteevyT]

70m/s, I envy you.

Do you want to know something even more impressive?

Set the MechJeb to surface, pick a heading, set the pitch to 25º and you can walk away and let it glide itself in for a landing if the ground is flat.

[RC1062]

Phoxtane are you still going? I quite like your map so I hope you update!

[Sabactus]

I just started again. Headed at 150 degrees at 62 m/s

[samstarman5]

I\'m making this attempt as well.

This is the Armadillo

Utilizes the MechJeb Cmd Module, the Cart, and an 'Ion engine' mod. I\'m not sure where I got the Ion Engine Battery and Solar Panel mod from. I usually consider it cheating but on the Cart I rationalize it as there are solar power and battery power cars so this keeps with the spirit of the challenge I think.

Currently 30 mins out side of KSC

I\'m sure nobody wants to live along where you travel, anyway. So a little radiation isn\'t going to hurt.

[Sabactus]

I\'m sure nobody wants to live along where you travel, anyway. So a little radiation isn\'t going to hurt.

Ignore the trail of charred black glass left behind the vehicle. Its perfectly safe!

[Randox]

A thought for anyone else. I am currently deploying landers to the Mun, and as luck would have it, each one is carry 6 SAS units (from the lander mod) each eith 6 torque, and a small ASAS unit from I think Nova Punch (I only have a couple parts from that installed). With ASAS on, it can cruise fairly safely on the Mun at 50-60 m/s, and can even do 70 fairly well if you aim right. It gets ridiculous at about 90+. Kerbin is a lot flatter than the Mun, and I figure it could easuly reach the same speeds.

It\'s worth noting I am using a controller though, which makes it a lot easier to make corrections (sometimes its still leaning when it gets airborne, or ends up upside down). Coupled with an ion engine for a non depleting turbo boost, and you have a nice ride. I might try it out on Kerbin later myself.

[Sabactus]

A thought for anyone else. I am currently deploying landers to the Mun, and as luck would have it, each one is carry 6 SAS units (from the lander mod) each eith 6 torque, and a small ASAS unit from I think Nova Punch (I only have a couple parts from that installed). With ASAS on, it can cruise fairly safely on the Mun at 50-60 m/s, and can even do 70 fairly well if you aim right. It gets ridiculous at about 90+. Kerbin is a lot flatter than the Mun, and I figure it could easuly reach the same speeds.

It\'s worth noting I am using a controller though, which makes it a lot easier to make corrections (sometimes its still leaning when it gets airborne, or ends up upside down). Coupled with an ion engine for a non depleting turbo boost, and you have a nice ride. I might try it out on Kerbin later myself.

Using just the cart and the cmd capsule from the Munar Institute of Technology pack all you have to do is turn on the SAS and toggle precision controls and you can hit 150+ on the Mun. You get some real Dukes of Hazard jumps to, I meant like 2km long jumps. Just while airborne level the cart out and make sure wheels are aligned to your direction of travel and she lands like a feather. My screen shot shows 145m/s but I\'ve gotten it up to 180m/s before.

[Randox]

Wow. I\'m not sure how you managed to get that on the surface though.

[Sabactus]

I have a small decoupler mounted on top of it and then mounted that to a kinda A frame that I used as a lander. Landed on the Mun hit the decouple button and the rover dropped onto the surface.

Done traveling for the night. Current location: Waypoint 4

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=9636.msg144482#msg144482

[Corax]

Since when did this become a challenge thread? S:|

You didn\'t really think announcing a world record attempt wouldn\'t draw competitors like flies, did you?

I guess on the internets there\'s always that percentage that doesn\'t get the meaning of 'my' in the title of a thread... maybe you\'d be better off doing things like this as a blog with moderated comments

Post a link here if you will – I\'d like to follow the journey.

[AD-Edge]

Haha this is epic.

I plan on doing the same thing now, even though it will take days... Then once completed, get the same vehicle to the Mun and drive all the way around the equator there as well.

This should be done for every planet added in future as well (Mars will be a nice challenge)

Either way, time to start developing a decent little vehicle!

Look forward to seeing your progress.

[witeken]

Lol, firstly, I thought: cool, circumnavigation. Now when I take a look at Kerbin. It\'s pretty, err... long, to traval around Kerbin aloung the beach and come back at the KSC....

[zombiphylax]

By the way, don\'t spam with autosave if you are still within a few hundred kilometers of the KSC, or it\'ll warp you back to the launch pad...

[Caleb1]

Good luck man I hope you find alot of cool things. =P

[AD-Edge]

Ive now designed and tested my own little vehicle to attempt such a trip -

The Delta Jumper MkII:

The booster really helps, and I can fly/glide/jump it for relatively long distances.

The only issue I forsee is that I only have one tank of fuel, which wouldnt be enough to make a decent amount of impact on a round-the-planet-trip.

So my plan is to wait for 0.15 and the ability to dock and transfer fuel. That way I can launch a series of smaller ships with extra fuel out to particular areas around Kerbin to serve as waypoints and fueling stations. This way I can also do a more \'around the equator\' trip for some parts, like the one area where youd need to be able to jump over to a couple of islands, instead of heading up north to the polar region and then back down again. Theres only one area where Id have to do that with this vehicle by the looks, since the ocean is too vast to fly over in that one particular spot.

*Edit* Just checked out the planet again, looks like it will be possible for a very direct/equator run with my vehicle. With one big ocean-jump right at the end to get back to the continent where the KSP base is located. w00t!

Any progress though Phoxtane?? Looks like youll be the first to achieve this.