Do we need more than one class of SRV?

[Starbreaker]

Two legs instead of 6 wheels.

Gonna be damn slow.

In other games you had travel modes like in Heavy Gear and autorun for PlanetSide MAX units.

 

[lysan]

I would like to see other versions of the SRV, maybe one that could carry more cargo, one that could drill and mine on the surface.
However what I really would like to see are new types of S?V.

I like some of the concept art we saw in the yearbook, a big heavy one would be nice.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Karlos Ploryman]

... some towable cargo carts to break that 2t limitation that hampers planetary salvage.

repped, I love this idea... some kind of sledge, where containers would be magnetically attached... The gameplay around it would require skill - loading containers on the sledge...

Karlos

 

[Snarfbuckle]

In other games you had travel modes like in Heavy Gear and autorun for PlanetSide MAX units.

I would still be sceptical to legs since they are incredibly inferior on machines for transportation not to mention leg damage.

- Heavy G worlds will be hell on servos
- 1 busted leg joint compared to 1 of 6 wheels damaged

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

How about an adapted weapon less "fighter" used for rapid surface exploration? Flying a fighter near the surface is a blast but not much reason to do so at the moment. FD could reuse the work already put into the fighters to reduce development effort. Minimum distance from ship would be a bit of a pain though so being able to fly it near the surface only and being able to dismiss the ship would be good, recalling it when something is found, docking and then using a wheeled/tracked SRV for whatever is required. I.e. the recon fighter is just that, no weapons, no cargo space, no ability to scan data points. Just a very fast wave scanner platform, probably with a rather high thirst for fuel.

 

[Karlos Ploryman]

NPC controlled SRV-type vehicles

Hi,

I think we need something new to use / watch being used...

I think at least in the vicinity of outposts and bases, there should be some NPC activity in land-based vehicles.


Sometimes I can find a landed police ship (vipers, eagles) on random locations on planets. It would be refreshing to see that cop roaming around in a SRV - investigating something at a crash site or different POI.


We should get something new to shoot at / interact with SRVs, not just rocks, skimmers and turrets...

Karlos

 

[Makaan]

Weren't we actually meant to get different types across horizons?

I'm just waiting for military combat vehicles tbh

And dedicated exploration vehicles...

 

[Straga]

Different kinds of SRVs would make the two slot SRV bay alot more useful.
As an explorer I would use two different kinds, maybe one better on high G planets like the Scarab and the other better low G planets like a slower tracked vehicle that can't go flying when you ramp off a rock.

 

[Starbreaker]

I would still be sceptical to legs since they are incredibly inferior on machines for transportation not to mention leg damage.

- Heavy G worlds will be hell on servos
- 1 busted leg joint compared to 1 of 6 wheels damaged

Spoiler

 

[sb413197]

Yes we do.

The Scarab SRV is very much a "jack of all trades" vehicle. It can do many things, but none of them well.

I'd like to see, at the very least, three more types of SRVs:

• Exploration SRV - Can gather surface samples from worlds, and return them for sale in the Bubble. Ideally paired with a dedicated storage module, rather treating them as one cargo unit each. Unshielded and unarmed.
• Military SRV - No wave scanner or cargo space. More powerful shields, armor, and weapons
• Cargo SRV - Trades weapons and shields for more cargo space. Useful for scavengers and miners. Ideally paired with a deployable mining platform.

This is a good start for sure. I would like the exploration SRV to keep a prospecting laser and drive faster too. I would love a cargo SRV for meta alloy collection.

Also, I want a class 6 SRV bay to be able to deploy a mech instead of 6 SRVs. Because mechs rule.

 

[S3B4ST13N]

A modular-based SRV might be nice.

Exchange the weapon systems on the SRV for additional cargo space.
Remove the weapon systems and the cargo space for a fast moving scout.
Remove the wheels and replace them with low-flight engines for canyon exploration and such.
etc

 

[Iskariot]

We have three classes of fighters from a much more recent update, each with multiple subvariants, but for rolling about on planetary surfaces, it's the Scarab and the Scarab only.

This is kind of baffling to me. About the only reason it would make sense from a meta standpoint is if there was a monopoly of some kind on SRV manufacture, and there's NWIH. If it was a Federation monopoly, the Empire would ignore it, if it was an Empire monopoly, the Federation would ignore it, if it was an Alliance monopoly, they'd BOTH ignore it.

There should be more classes of SRV in this game.

At the very least I could see the following

A SRV with higher speed at the cost of shields, armor and weapons
A SRV with lower speed, but more torque in the engine and comparable to the Scarab in other ways
A SRV with lower speed but more powerful shields, armor and weapons
A SRV with lower speed, comparable shields, armor and weapons, but a 6 ton cargo capacity.
A SRV with lower speed, comparable shields, very limited armor and weapons, and a greatly increased thruster capacity.

Finally, the big one:

A SRV designed for low gravy envornments and specifically restributes its weight to be bottom-heavy and stable so you don't go head over heels every time you go over a rock on a .0006 radius moon.


While you could do all this with Engineering upgrades, that doesn't really address the meta problem. More than one company should be competing to provide SRV solutions, and should be trying to fill niches. The Scarab is a perfect jack of all trades SRV, but customers would want specialized SRVs too and there's no plausible reason alternatives that diversified into more specialized fields such as mining, high grav performance, low grav performance, thrusters, and armaments, wouldn't be developed since there's a clear market for such things.

And at the end of the day, it's just a g dune buggy with thrusters, life support and an airtight driver's compartment. Don't tell me competitors wouldn't get in on that when we have a competitive market for starships, a thing much more labor and materials intensive to design, assemble and service.

There should pragmatically be about 4,000 more Ship types too, but that's forgivable because making stuff under license is always cheaper than designing it yourself. But for SRVs, the financial barrier to enter the market is so low that NWIH there should only be one model on the market right now.

Imagine someone doing a surface landing with a 2 bay vehicle hangar. He could get one Scarab speced for stability and thruster performance for low G worlds, and one specced for durability and torque for high G worlds. Or swap one out and have a base raider. Or whatever. Or a cargo hauler and a tank. Or whatever. It would mean an actual use for that second SRV rather than just backup after the first one gets blown up, and would make multibay hangars much more useful.

Just food for thought. Personally I've always thought it was weird that Horizons didn't release with multiple SRV classes. It just doesn't fit the meta of such a massively diverse universe.

We currently have a light reconnaissance SRV.

I would like to see added the following:

1. a heavy assault SRV.
2. a mining SRV: for that to work we need planetary mining and I think we very much need that added to the game.
3. a skimmer type SRV so pesky rough terrain is less of a problem
4. a cargo SRV. With room for at leas 8 tonnes. I would eventually like to be able to transport goods to bases that have no landing pads.

For the future:

5. amphibious/submersible SRV