Got to say I enjoy roaming around in the SRV much more than flying in space, partially because the mechanics feel more authentic compared to the more generic flight system. At least for me. Also the SRV is really well made and looks great and feels just nice to drive in.
There are some things that I'd love to see, because I think it might improve handling and make some things bit more fun I hope.
NAVIGATION
- I use the mouse wheel for throttle and it works good, but I'd wish you had more steps options. Continuous is rather useless and 10% steps are good for fast travel, but it would be nice to have bit more option there.
- Please, add a "throttle to zero" key to the SRV, just like you have it with the ships, because using an actual throttle stick you know where it's on zero, but with the mouse you need to hold breaks and scroll down until it's on zero... I mostly even cruise around with HUD off (for which there's still no dedicated key bind
).
- I have an issue when using the wheel to throttle; the first up scroll does not do anything, need to scroll up twice to get the SRV moving. I don't know if that's an issue on my end, though (I might need to report it in the tracker, but I put it here also).
- I'd like to try a stick control system that works differently aerial and on ground. I'd like to steer with Roll on ground, but have the Roll for actual rolling when in air. So if I drive I steer by tilting the stick to the side, but if I lift off, at a certain height the stick switches to flight controls and I roll with tilting the stick.
- In addition to the first and last points above. I'd love to be able to use the stick Pitch on ground to slowly accelerate. What I mean is that for instance the wheel (in 10% increments) is good for fast driving, where you have the full range (0-100%) of speed, but in addition to that, for fine driving on risky terrain, I'd like to use the Pitch to have a fully fluid range of speed 0-20%, so for racing I'd scroll wheel and for slow high risk maneuvers around rocks I'd have very responsive and controllable movement with the stick.
Of course, as explained in the point above, in the air the Pitch would actually pitch.
- It seems you can't Yaw in the air with the SRV. I wonder why, because if you get launched up and drift sideways, it would be useful to turn the vehicle slowly so you land with the nose forward and can drive, instead of bouncing around uncontrollably when you hit the ground with the side.
- I also wonder why there's no thrust down with the SRV. Especially on low gravity planets it is important to counter uncontrollable bouncing by pressing the SRV into the ground with downward thrust to regain control.
- I like that the driving with the SRV does not exactly work as modern cars, but that they're always powered and the spin rate is actively controlled by the throttle, not gas/break. I like that a lot, but I'd like to be able to unlock wheels and let the SRV roll (silently). I think I tried assist off, but not sure if it works like that, if yes than apology and if not than this should somehow be a feature.
SRV TURRET
- The FOV in turret mode is quite narrow, which I understand, because you're using a camera, but the HUD is also very large and has a blurry pixelation going on. It would be nice if the turret HUD would scale with the adjusted main FOV (while the actual turret FOV can remain as it is).
- Can you zoom with the turret? If not than it should be an option.
- A search light for the turret would be nice, so you can look around in the darkness.
- I need to stow and power on the turret manually (as you do with the ships). Why do I need to see the crosshair all the time?
SHIP REMOTE CONTROL
I'd love to access basic functions of my own ship from the SRV, such as:
- opening and closing the SRV hangar doors
- turning on/off the ship lights
- powering on off the shields
- I also would like to completely power down the ship (all lights off, no radar signature) and keep it on land for that time being (no auto take off).
I was in a situation once where the ship landed, but had rocks under the hangar and I couldn't enter the ship. I tried to blast the rocks away with the repeaters, but hit the shields. So I thought it would be cool if I could close the hangar (to not damage internals with rock debris) and power down the shields and deal with the situation.
I know I can dismiss the ship and let it land elsewhere, but that would take time and would be somewhat un-emergent. I just want to see a problem, find a logical solution to it (it is logical to blast away random rocks, since you can do that to gather materials) and execute it and feel rewarded because the game rewards logic and improvisation (*cough* need more of this in Elite *cough*).
GRAPPLING HOOK (and Larger/Complex Rock Formations)
I hope that you guys aren't done with planetary surfaces development yet, because there's stuff to do still. I drove around yesterday and you always find same rocks on all or most planets. I'd love to find gigantic rocks sticking out of the sand, with holes in them (for caves) and metals to be found in the walls and ceiling (hence search light for turret). Imagine you could use a grappling hook to get in higher located caves.
It would work like that:
- You assign the hook gun to a fire group and use it accordingly in the turret mode.
- Use the search light to see where you shoot it.
- The hook rewind is controlled by the throttle directly. So if you drive forward the rope is being drawn in, drive backward and it extends. All you need to do is drive slowly into the wall and the SRV will just begin to "wall drive".
- To disengage the rope you hold down the grappling hook fire key and there's a bar that raises in the HUD and gives you time to let go (if held accidentally), so when the bar is filled the rope disengages from the hook and rewinds back into the vehicle.
- The hook and the rope (in case lost or damaged) can be crafted like ammo for the repeater.
I haven't been on too many planets/moons, but most have smooth edges. I'd like to see Great Canyon like cliffs, with gigantic abysses and as said, large rocks with holes in them (because I assume your engine can't have actual under terrain caves, so give us holes in large rocks).
PLANETARY LANDING
The landing is a bit messed up for me. I tried landing on a flat sand surface with shields off, while the alignment was indicated as "ok". I tried several times, very slowly... hull down to 70%... I know I should use the shield, but being able, or not able, to just sit the ship down on flat sand without taking massive damage is kind of absurd.
I understand that terrain can be complicated on uninhabited planets (lots rocks lying around). Now think of Star Wars and the laser cannon the Millennium Falcon had under the ship. When I land and activate the landing gear, it would be cool if you could access a ship mounted turret (same repeater as on the SRV) with the middle panel and be able to clear the landing area off small rocks (how fun and awesome would be that!). So the problem that landing on a rock with one foot, that realistically could bring structural damage to the chassis, could be met. Right now you're blind and depend on luck and shields.
Besides, even with shields you often scratch them with good alignment, while the AI landing the ship never does, even if it has rocks under it.
There are some things that I'd love to see, because I think it might improve handling and make some things bit more fun I hope.
NAVIGATION
- I use the mouse wheel for throttle and it works good, but I'd wish you had more steps options. Continuous is rather useless and 10% steps are good for fast travel, but it would be nice to have bit more option there.
- Please, add a "throttle to zero" key to the SRV, just like you have it with the ships, because using an actual throttle stick you know where it's on zero, but with the mouse you need to hold breaks and scroll down until it's on zero... I mostly even cruise around with HUD off (for which there's still no dedicated key bind
).- I have an issue when using the wheel to throttle; the first up scroll does not do anything, need to scroll up twice to get the SRV moving. I don't know if that's an issue on my end, though (I might need to report it in the tracker, but I put it here also).
- I'd like to try a stick control system that works differently aerial and on ground. I'd like to steer with Roll on ground, but have the Roll for actual rolling when in air. So if I drive I steer by tilting the stick to the side, but if I lift off, at a certain height the stick switches to flight controls and I roll with tilting the stick.
- In addition to the first and last points above. I'd love to be able to use the stick Pitch on ground to slowly accelerate. What I mean is that for instance the wheel (in 10% increments) is good for fast driving, where you have the full range (0-100%) of speed, but in addition to that, for fine driving on risky terrain, I'd like to use the Pitch to have a fully fluid range of speed 0-20%, so for racing I'd scroll wheel and for slow high risk maneuvers around rocks I'd have very responsive and controllable movement with the stick.
Of course, as explained in the point above, in the air the Pitch would actually pitch.
- It seems you can't Yaw in the air with the SRV. I wonder why, because if you get launched up and drift sideways, it would be useful to turn the vehicle slowly so you land with the nose forward and can drive, instead of bouncing around uncontrollably when you hit the ground with the side.
- I also wonder why there's no thrust down with the SRV. Especially on low gravity planets it is important to counter uncontrollable bouncing by pressing the SRV into the ground with downward thrust to regain control.
- I like that the driving with the SRV does not exactly work as modern cars, but that they're always powered and the spin rate is actively controlled by the throttle, not gas/break. I like that a lot, but I'd like to be able to unlock wheels and let the SRV roll (silently). I think I tried assist off, but not sure if it works like that, if yes than apology and if not than this should somehow be a feature.
SRV TURRET
- The FOV in turret mode is quite narrow, which I understand, because you're using a camera, but the HUD is also very large and has a blurry pixelation going on. It would be nice if the turret HUD would scale with the adjusted main FOV (while the actual turret FOV can remain as it is).
- Can you zoom with the turret? If not than it should be an option.
- A search light for the turret would be nice, so you can look around in the darkness.
- I need to stow and power on the turret manually (as you do with the ships). Why do I need to see the crosshair all the time?
SHIP REMOTE CONTROL
I'd love to access basic functions of my own ship from the SRV, such as:
- opening and closing the SRV hangar doors
- turning on/off the ship lights
- powering on off the shields
- I also would like to completely power down the ship (all lights off, no radar signature) and keep it on land for that time being (no auto take off).
I was in a situation once where the ship landed, but had rocks under the hangar and I couldn't enter the ship. I tried to blast the rocks away with the repeaters, but hit the shields. So I thought it would be cool if I could close the hangar (to not damage internals with rock debris) and power down the shields and deal with the situation.
I know I can dismiss the ship and let it land elsewhere, but that would take time and would be somewhat un-emergent. I just want to see a problem, find a logical solution to it (it is logical to blast away random rocks, since you can do that to gather materials) and execute it and feel rewarded because the game rewards logic and improvisation (*cough* need more of this in Elite *cough*).
GRAPPLING HOOK (and Larger/Complex Rock Formations)
I hope that you guys aren't done with planetary surfaces development yet, because there's stuff to do still. I drove around yesterday and you always find same rocks on all or most planets. I'd love to find gigantic rocks sticking out of the sand, with holes in them (for caves) and metals to be found in the walls and ceiling (hence search light for turret). Imagine you could use a grappling hook to get in higher located caves.
It would work like that:
- You assign the hook gun to a fire group and use it accordingly in the turret mode.
- Use the search light to see where you shoot it.
- The hook rewind is controlled by the throttle directly. So if you drive forward the rope is being drawn in, drive backward and it extends. All you need to do is drive slowly into the wall and the SRV will just begin to "wall drive".
- To disengage the rope you hold down the grappling hook fire key and there's a bar that raises in the HUD and gives you time to let go (if held accidentally), so when the bar is filled the rope disengages from the hook and rewinds back into the vehicle.
- The hook and the rope (in case lost or damaged) can be crafted like ammo for the repeater.
I haven't been on too many planets/moons, but most have smooth edges. I'd like to see Great Canyon like cliffs, with gigantic abysses and as said, large rocks with holes in them (because I assume your engine can't have actual under terrain caves, so give us holes in large rocks).
PLANETARY LANDING
The landing is a bit messed up for me. I tried landing on a flat sand surface with shields off, while the alignment was indicated as "ok". I tried several times, very slowly... hull down to 70%... I know I should use the shield, but being able, or not able, to just sit the ship down on flat sand without taking massive damage is kind of absurd.
I understand that terrain can be complicated on uninhabited planets (lots rocks lying around). Now think of Star Wars and the laser cannon the Millennium Falcon had under the ship. When I land and activate the landing gear, it would be cool if you could access a ship mounted turret (same repeater as on the SRV) with the middle panel and be able to clear the landing area off small rocks (how fun and awesome would be that!). So the problem that landing on a rock with one foot, that realistically could bring structural damage to the chassis, could be met. Right now you're blind and depend on luck and shields.
Besides, even with shields you often scratch them with good alignment, while the AI landing the ship never does, even if it has rocks under it.
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