LIVESTREAM VIEWER CHALLENGE: KSC Rover Rally · 5:44pm Mar 30th, 2020
Those of you who watch my game livestreams know I recently put a rover on the mun. (And then wrecked it. Twice. But that's not important right now.)
I've also been watching a lot of racing videos on YouTube (yes, including marble racing, but mostly stuff like FailRace or Achievement Hunter's GTA videos).
So I thought: wouldn't it be cool to try to combine the two?
Unfortunately, Kerbal Space Program's functionality pretty much limits racing to time trials. So here's what I'm going to do.
THE TRACK:
Starting at the launch point on KSC's runway, drive down the runway, turning right at the SPH Water Tower to drive in front of the Space Plane Hangar's doors. Slight turn left past the Mission Control building to go between that and the VAB, off the pavement just past the VAB's tank farm, then hard right to cross the Crawlerway. (This is the only substantially rough-road bit, with the only other slopes being the berms the KSC buildings and runway are built on.) From the Crawlerway cross-country to the easternmost dish of the Tracking Station, around the outer perimeter of the Tracking Station complex, then straight cross-country to the outer perimeter of the R&D complex. Right turn to drive between R&D and the Astronaut Complex, large left curve in front of the KSC flagpole, drive between the Astronaut Complex and the SPH, right turn to drive between the SPH tank farm and the water tower, then onto the runway for the sprint to the finish line (the end of the runway pavement).
RULES:
NOTE: ALL BUILDS MUST USE NON-MODDED PARTS. Making History parts are OK; Breaking Ground, warn me first (not that BG should be a factor)
1) Each rover must contain:
(a) seating or crew capacity of at least TWO kerbals
(b) the ability to generate and store electricity (solar cells, fuel cells, RTGs)
(c) at least one each of: goo canister, Science Jr., thermometer, barometer, seismometer, science storage unit.
(d) Wheels. Duh.
2) MAXIMUM WEIGHT: 4 TONS.
3) Kris (me) will drive each rover around the KSC course three times. After each successful attempt, the next attempt will be more aggressive. The fastest successful time of the three will be the recorded time for that design. Rovers which do not finish will have NO time recorded (so no, you don't get credit for partially completing the course).
4) This is a ROVER time trial. Rockets are permissible to provide propulsion, but the vehicle MUST roll along the surface and will be driven as such. NO FLYING.
5) When submitting build, please NAME the build "(number)_(your name)_(rover name)". Example: "42_TwilightSparkle_Bookmobile." This will make it MUCH easier for me to find and track your build. Any one-digit or two-digit number will do, with the warning that Kris may change it if someone else chose the number first.
6) Maximum of three (3) submissions per contestant. (Kris intends to drive three of his own designs.)
7) COOLNESS COUNTS (a little). Depending on how cool or artistic the final build is, Kris will deduct between 1 and 20 seconds from that build's final time (cooler = faster). This score is ARBITRARY and cannot be appealed. To be fair, and also because Kris is very poor at artistic expression in sandbox games, Kris's "cool score" for all of HIS builds will be ZERO, i. e. no time shaved off his laps.
8) PLEASE provide detailed driving instructions for any rover that requires more controls than WASD and brakes.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: Saturday night, April 4. (Late submissions may or may not be run as bonus material on subsequent Mondays, time allowing.)
Please submit builds via Dropbox. (I will need BOTH the CRAFT and LOADMETA files.) I would prefer the rovers to be built in the SPH and not the VAB for ease of finding/placing the rovers.)
THE RALLY BEGINS MONDAY, APRIL 6, 7 PM CENTRAL, https://twitch.tv/redneckgaijin .
Four tons aww i'll have to really work on weight reduction but ok