SRV stability

[meusmc]

Lol...so I bought I hanger and an SRV at Colonia before I headed off to the deep again, and I played around with it a little while still in the Colonia system, to make sure I didn't kill myself later on. THEN, I head off and end up playing around on some airless moon with the a Grand Canyon on it, and that is when I learn that ED doesn't have a dynamic that keeps the SRV glued to the ground like Mass Effect does. Yes, yes, I know. Why would it, this is supposed to be a near-realistic game in terms of physics and what not.

I find myself tumbling in .1 g down a 1.2 kilometer deep canyon, end over end. All I can see are space/rock/space/rock until I finally come to a rest on my wheels close to the bottom. If it had been a high gravity world I'd have been boned. Lesson to the story? Don't play stupid games in your buggy when you're trying to go down a canyon wall, or gravity will reach out and say hello. Also, it isn't very hard to tip these guys if you aren't paying attention.

 

[Major Klutz]

The SRV does have downward thrusters to help keep you on the ground in low gravity but only to a point.
I usually turn that off by turning off drive assist so I can drive faster.

On low G and icy worlds, you have less traction and it's easier to slip and slide.
On higher G worlds you stick to the ground better but land harder and you can't jump as high.

The SRVs vertical thrusters not only allow you to jump over obstacles but can slow your fall and adjust your attitude in the air to stop you from tumbling.
Your SRV will take much less damage from a fall if you land on your wheels.

 

[meusmc]

Honestly, even though I knew about the thrusters, I was suffering too much from the “deer in the headlights” syndrome to even think about trying to save myself. I just watched while I bounced to possible demise.

 

[Aura Lorell]

While in the air you also have pitch and roll control and you can adjust your position or change direction. I don't know how those behave with drive assist on, I've never driven with that. If you use a HOTAS, adjusting roll/pitch is more natural and easier than when using the keyboard.

 

[GunnerBill]

The SRV does have downward thrusters to help keep you on the ground in low gravity but only to a point.
I usually turn that off by turning off drive assist so I can drive faster.

On low G and icy worlds, you have less traction and it's easier to slip and slide.
On higher G worlds you stick to the ground better but land harder and you can't jump as high.

The SRVs vertical thrusters not only allow you to jump over obstacles but can slow your fall and adjust your attitude in the air to stop you from tumbling.
Your SRV will take much less damage from a fall if you land on your wheels.

Honestly, even though I knew about the thrusters, I was suffering too much from the “deer in the headlights” syndrome to even think about trying to save myself. I just watched while I bounced to possible demise.

While in the air you also have pitch and roll control and you can adjust your position or change direction. I don't know how those behave with drive assist on, I've never driven with that. If you use a HOTAS, adjusting roll/pitch is more natural and easier than when using the keyboard.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

All great advice guys, but really all you need to do is scream louder and louder!!


AAaarrrrgrgrgrghhhhhhhhhhhhh AAAAAARRGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

AAAARRGGHHGHGRHRGRHGRGHGRHGRGRGRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!


As you fall to your inevitable doom.

 

[meusmc]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

All great advice guys, but really all you need to do is scream louder and louder!!


AAaarrrrgrgrgrghhhhhhhhhhhhh AAAAAARRGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

AAAARRGGHHGHGRHRGRHGRGHGRHGRGRGRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!


As you fall to your inevitable doom.

This.

 

[iain666]

I much prefer driving on higher gravity planets. At low g I just end up spinning all over the place when I try and go fast on any thing but the smoothest surfaces, at 2g I can floor it and zoom along provided I avoid the bigger rocks which is easier to do because the SRV is glued to the ground and I can steer it accurately at speed without any slightly sharp turn becoming a 180+ degree spin...

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Yes, drive assist off and use the thrusters.
You can fly pretty far with those.
You can also repair your srv while free falling as I understand it.

 

[FluffyBob]

The great thing about SRV's and crashing is that if you do 'splode your scarab you will just re-spawn safely in your ship. Sure if you are thousands of light years out that sucks but otherwise the replacement cost is negligible. Sometimes the best way to enjoy an impressive cliff is to huck yourself off of it.

 

[GunnerBill]

I personally think the SRV driving mechanic is perfection and as good a bit of driving programming as you could get. It feels realistic to me whilst also being good fun, right from those lo-G spin-outs to that high-G bolted down feeling.

My favourite conditions are on worlds in the 1.2 - 1.6 G range where the stability of the SRV is good but you can still use the dynamics and power to really gun it through the terrain.

 

[Alec Turner]

Yes, drive assist off and use the thrusters.
You can fly pretty far with those.
You can also repair your srv while free falling as I understand it.

As far as I know Drive Assist only affects the throttle setting. With Assist on your throttle setting is basically your desired speed (a bit like "cruise control" on a modern car) whereas with it off your throttle is basically your accelarator peddle. I've never really understood the need for this distinction and always fly with Drive Assist off. And yes, you can repair in mid-air, fast forward to 4:50 in the video linked below.

While in the air you also have pitch and roll control and you can adjust your position or change direction. I don't know how those behave with drive assist on, I've never driven with that. If you use a HOTAS, adjusting roll/pitch is more natural and easier than when using the keyboard.

Using pitch/roll in mid air in order to roll yourself back around to facing fowards again is one of the ultimate skills to master when it comes to SRV driving (or "fliving" as I prefer to call it). I attempted to write a short guide on how to do this (and other things) for an SRV race some time back ...

The-Buckyball-Fllight-Academy

I personally think the SRV driving mechanic is perfection and as good a bit of driving programming as you could get. It feels realistic to me whilst also being good fun, right from those lo-G spin-outs to the high bolted down feeling.

Hear hear - I personally adore drfliving the SRV, it's perhaps the most challenging and ultimately rewarding skill there is to learn in the game (with the possible exception of flying with Flight Assist turned off).

This is possibly my single best SRV racing run ever (done as part of the recent Buckyball "Festival of Racing" event). And no, I didn't win (no matter how good you are at something in this game, there's always a few people who are a LOT better) - still very pleased with it tho.

Apologies for the poor light levels.

[video=youtube_share;iKBf255Sbjs]https://youtu.be/iKBf255Sbjs[/video]

 

[GunnerBill]

As far as I know Drive Assist only affects the throttle setting. With Assist on your throttle setting is basically your desired speed (a bit like "cruise control" on a modern car) whereas with it off your throttle is basically your accelarator peddle. I've never really understood the need for this distinction and always fly with Drive Assist off. And yes, you can repair in mid-air, fast forward to 4:50 in the video linked below.


Using pitch/roll in mid air in order to roll yourself back around to facing fowards again is one of the ultimate skills to master when it comes to SRV driving (or "fliving" as I prefer to call it). I attempted to write a short guide on how to do this (and other things) for an SRV race some time back ...

The-Buckyball-Fllight-Academy



Hear hear - I personally adore drfliving the SRV, it's perhaps the most challenging and ultimately rewarding skill there is to learn in the game (with the possible exception of flying with Flight Assist turned off).

This is possibly my single best SRV racing run ever (done as part of the recent Buckyball "Festival of Racing" event). And no, I didn't win (no matter how good you are at something in this game, there's always a few people who are a LOT better) - still very pleased with it tho.

Apologies for the poor light levels.

https://youtu.be/iKBf255Sbjs

Incredible vid!

+1 for calmly repairing the SRV whilst skimming across the surface - practice makes perfect right?

 

[Alec Turner]

Incredible vid!

+1 for calmly repairing the SRV whilst skimming across the surface - practice makes perfect right?

Thanks And yeah, lots and LOTS of practice. I've basically halved the time it takes me to do that journey in the last 6 months (and I wasn't terrible 6 months ago).

 

[GunnerBill]

Thanks And yeah, lots and LOTS of practice. I've basically halved the time it takes me to do that journey in the last 6 months (and I wasn't terrible 6 months ago).

I'm guessing that (from your) video it's quicker to fly/thrust and land only when gravity forces you to? This being because on the ground you can only go as fast as your wheels, but with no air resistance you maintain that speed and add to it with the thrusters???

 

[Alec Turner]

I'm guessing that (from your) video it's quicker to fly/thrust and land only when gravity forces you to? This being because on the ground you can only go as fast as your wheels, but with no air resistance you maintain that speed and add to it with the thrusters???

Exactly so. Ground speed is limited to somewhere around 35m/s but in the air, by tilting forwards and boosting, you can get up to over 80m/s (actually, some people can get much MUCH faster than that). It builds up gradually so the secret to really picking up speed is consistency over time. The other reason to keep off the ground is because it reduces your chance of spinning out. Basically you want to come down with enough force (and enough boost in reserve) to bounce you straight back into the air as fast as possible. It helps if you can catch the leading edge of a bump (or the back lip of a crater) to give you an extra boost up. The absolute worst thing that can happen is that you come down too gently, don't get enough bounce back up, find yourself skimming along the surface at 80m/s, and then discover that you have no boost left to regain more altitude. Basically you need time and height in order to pull of the pitch/roll/pitch manoeuvre needed to re-orient the SRV so it's exactly facing the direction of travel before you next make contact with the ground.

 

[GunnerBill]

Exactly so. Ground speed is limited to somewhere around 35m/s but in the air, by tilting forwards and boosting, you can get up to over 80m/s (actually, some people can get much MUCH faster than that). It builds up gradually so the secret to really picking up speed is consistency over time. The other reason to keep off the ground is because it reduces your chance of spinning out. Basically you want to come down with enough force (and enough boost in reserve) to bounce you straight back into the air as fast as possible. It helps if you can catch the leading edge of a bump (or the back lip of a crater) to give you an extra boost up. The absolute worst thing that can happen is that you come down too gently, don't get enough bounce back up, find yourself skimming along the surface at 80m/s, and then discover that you have no boost left to regain more altitude. Basically you need time and height in order to pull of the pitch/roll/pitch manoeuvre needed to re-orient the SRV so it's exactly facing the direction of travel before you next make contact with the ground.

I found my driving has evolved naturally in much the same direction your video shows but with a bit more caution as I am far aware with only the single SRV. When I get back I'm going to give this racing thing a real go.

For some reason I find 'kissing' that perfect slope to launch you back up again very satisfying

How long before we can engineer SRV's?

 

[Whiterose]

Every time I am in my SRV I have to play dead ants by boosting up and flipping the SRV so I land on my roof. Its good practise to get the handling just right.

 

[Alec Turner]

For some reason I find 'kissing' that perfect slope to launch you back up again very satisfying

Oh Yes! [yesnod] Fast forward to 1:13

[video=youtube_share;yQivaH0EWfc]https://youtu.be/yQivaH0EWfc[/video]