Hey, most stuff of this caliber typically comes with a teaser, generating more upvotes for the person through it and the final build. It also gives some people to look forward to. But no. Let's just post it without warning.

Going into this, I had a few reasons to start this big task. First off, I've been relatively minor about what types of things I build, if anything at all. Most stuff I say is out of my caliber and is too much of an investment that I don't think would ever get done. This is supposed to prove myself wrong: I CAN complete a project if I care enough.

The project also was to teach me new types of building techniques (i.e. refine bar designing and also smooth blending together of parts). That went... ehhh. Probably never gonna use those techniques in the future, but good to practice them.

The project first entered my brain during a talk with a friend about Astroneer, where he said his computer isn't quite powerful enough to run it smoothly and thus probably won't get to try out the rocket rover configuration in the game. It crossed my mind that perhaps me - someone who actually has the 3D model to look at while building - could recreate it in game, even if it was a monumental task.

You know a good technique to get stuff done? Have someone waiting on you for it, and then you'll be more inclined to finish it. Nothing is a worse feeling than letting another person down who was looking forwards to it. That was another motivator. There's also that it feels terrible to stop a project so close to completion, which said feeling pushed me towards the end.

Credits to @SpartanSR91 for giving it a test drive during its few phases and adjusting its suspension to a suitable feel. This is the first time I've ever worked with suspension, so the suspension of the build felt wonky anytime I tried to work it, so having someone like him who's much more experienced when it comes to suspension is very helpful. If someone's also good with suspension, feel free to fix it and post your version.

I ALSO did not account for how many parts this was gonna be, leaving it at a monster part count; the highest part build I've ever made by a longshot. My friend said it ran okay for his end, and that's probably because it has no drag calculations. So I think so long as your computer is decent, you SHOULD be okay to run it.

It's top speed is ~120km/h forwards and ~60km/h backwards, with the engine getting incrementally weaker as it approaches that top speed.

It's immune to collision damage as the third pic shows, and it's also a little bit oversized compared to everything else. However, it only has 100 health per part. No, I am not adding extra health to 2.5k parts. It's a space exploration rover, not an armored personnel carrier. You do it yourself.

The second pic is to show the suspension is NOT decorative and is in fact functional.

I had actually intended to attach moar parts to it (i.e. rover seat, rockets, paver, drill, RTG, hydrazine fuel canisters), but given it's already at 2500 parts, I'll just-... nah. Maybe if I feel like it, I'll make parts to stick to it. Likely not, tho.