How to re-locate ship from SRV?

57thStIncident · Oct 18, 2017

I know this isn't purely an exploration topic but I've found when hunting materials in the SRV that after I get ~3 hills away from my ship its little green box is off my scanner and I tend to get lost while sniffing for materials and end up needing to use 'Recall Ship' to find it again.

While this approach hasn't caused me any real trouble yet, it just doesn't seem right to me, I'm thinking that there should be some other way to find my way back.

Are there some other tricks that other CMDR's are using to better navigate the rather landmark-less planet-scapes?

Flaffenbam · Oct 18, 2017

The problem isn't that you are losing the ship, or the ship going out of your sensor range. Once you travel a certain distance from your ship, around 2km if I remember right, your ship takes off and waits for recall.

Major Klutz · Oct 18, 2017

You can note your coordinates (latitude/longitude) to get back to where you were.
But your ship is automatically dismissed if you move too far away.
So even if you could find your way back to where you parked, it would be gone and you'd need to recall anyway.

You should see a ship dismissed or ship departing notice in your info panel when it happens.

57thStIncident · Oct 19, 2017

Thanks for your helpful answers...I'll have to look for those messages next time.

Flaffenbam said:
The problem isn't that you are losing the ship, or the ship going out of your sensor range. Once you travel a certain distance from your ship, around 2km if I remember right, your ship takes off and waits for recall.

Why would they do such a thing? And I'm bothering to shut down a bunch of modules that are (slowly) burning fuel that I figure won't be needed since I'm not on board...

Major Klutz said:
You can note your coordinates (latitude/longitude) to get back to where you were.
But your ship is automatically dismissed if you move too far away.
So even if you could find your way back to where you parked, it would be gone and you'd need to recall anyway.

You should see a ship dismissed or ship departing notice in your info panel when it happens.

Using the coordinates is a good idea, that should have occurred to me.

I found the need to recall very odd, considering I have adequate comms for the ship to find me when recalled that communication wasn't good enough to have some sort of longer-range directional indicator.

Follow up questions:

Is the ship ever in much or any danger from these dismissed/recall flights? Will it ever damage itself from landing?
Does the ship burn any fuel when I'm not logged in (e.g. I log out of game from menu and ship is left floating in space) -- is it truly pointless to shut down modules other than powerplant+life support? (if I do this, consumption shows only 0.03/hr, IIRC). Would fuel continue to be spent if I didn't return to the game for weeks?

Vistitor010100 said:
yes this can be scary when 1st starting out..
... whew that was a welcome sight

I know, right?

iain666 · Oct 19, 2017

57thStIncident said:
Is the ship ever in much or any danger from these dismissed/recall flights? Will it ever damage itself from landing?

Does the ship burn any fuel when I'm not logged in (e.g. I log out of game from menu and ship is left floating in space) -- is it truly pointless to shut down modules other than powerplant+life support? (if I do this, consumption shows only 0.03/hr, IIRC). Would fuel continue to be spent if I didn't return to the game for weeks?

1 - it can be. If you have enough power to have everything on all at once then it should be grand. If you don't then you need to make sure you set your priorities right or the auto pilot can get confused and end up turning off the thrusters...

2 - Ships don't burn fuel when you're not logged in. I'm not sure if it burns fuel when you're not on it but in game in your SRV. I'd guess not but I can't be certain - I've never landed and spent hours in my SRV in a system I was marginal to jump out of which would really be the only time I'd see it without actively looking.

Major Klutz · Oct 19, 2017

It may have something to do with the game engine and not being able to track objects too far away. Or just a convenience thing so you don't have to drive back.

Your ship can be in danger from NPCs and other players when it's sitting on the surface unattended.
I have had my ship attacked by an NPC when I was out in my SRV. I was nearby and saw missiles hit the ship. I had to re-board quickly and bug out.
So it's safer to dismiss your ship when you aren't on board.

When your ship is dismissed, it doesn't exist anywhere that any player or NPC can get to it and AFAIK, it doesn't use fuel or emergency oxygen when dismissed.

The only time I worry about dismissing my ship is on high gravity planets. Autopilot doesn't fly well in high G and your ship is likely to hit the ground hard when you recall on something over 6G

Flaffenbam · Oct 19, 2017

I don't know the reasoning behind it but, if nothing else, it more than likely faster to recall your ship than drive the X number of kms back to the ship.

With regards to whether your ship is in danger, I have heard stories of Commanders having their ships blown up by NPCs when they have triggered a security response while in their SRV. If I am planning to be out in the SRV for a while I send my ship away myself.

Manticore · Oct 19, 2017

Flaffenbam said:
I don't know the reasoning behind it but, if nothing else, it more than likely faster to recall your ship than drive the X number of kms back to the ship.

With regards to whether your ship is in danger, I have heard stories of Commanders having their ships blown up by NPCs when they have triggered a security response while in their SRV. If I am planning to be out in the SRV for a while I send my ship away myself.

Agreed..... and yes; that recall ship thingy.

Fly safe!

Whiterose · Oct 19, 2017

57thStIncident said:
Follow up questions:

Is the ship ever in much or any danger from these dismissed/recall flights? Will it ever damage itself from landing?

Does the ship burn any fuel when I'm not logged in (e.g. I log out of game from menu and ship is left floating in space) -- is it truly pointless to shut down modules other than powerplant+life support? (if I do this, consumption shows only 0.03/hr, IIRC). Would fuel continue to be spent if I didn't return to the game for weeks?

I know, right?

1. I have had the ship try and land on top of me in my SRV, which was interesting.

ITZC0ATL · Oct 19, 2017

Whiterose said:
1. I have had the ship try and land on top of me in my SRV, which was interesting.

You mean you parked your SRV below where the ship was landing?

JetsonRING · Oct 19, 2017

57thStIncident said:
I know this isn't purely an exploration topic but I've found when hunting materials in the SRV that after I get ~3 hills away from my ship its little green box is off my scanner and I tend to get lost while sniffing for materials and end up needing to use 'Recall Ship' to find it again.
While this approach hasn't caused me any real trouble yet, it just doesn't seem right to me, I'm thinking that there should be some other way to find my way back.
Are there some other tricks that other CMDR's are using to better navigate the rather landmark-less planet-scapes?

Some advice:
If you leave your ship it is subject to possible, in fact probable destruction on the ground by NPCs.
Always DISMISS THE SHIP as you drive away from it, your ship will take off and disappear into SC. Later, when you RECALL THE SHIP it will return and land nearby so you can easily drive to it. The is done in Panel #4 where the SRV and SLF controls are. o7

57thStIncident · Oct 20, 2017

JetsonRING said:
Always DISMISS THE SHIP as you drive away from it

I have since encountered an excellent other reason to dismiss the ship -- the ship also blocks the SRV's wave scanner in that direction.

Alphamale1956 · Oct 11, 2020

Why can't they just give a Map function? I really expected my Ship Global or System Map keys to produce a surface map with your ship's location, your SRV's , and your base's location (if any) marked. Maybe that's too simple

varonica · Oct 11, 2020

Alphamale1956 said:
Why can't they just give a Map function? I really expected my Ship Global or System Map keys to produce a surface map with your ship's location, your SRV's , and your base's location (if any) marked. Maybe that's too simple

You can always see your ship as a little green square, you just point at it and drive in that direction. The OP's problem is that he has traveled to far away and the ship has departed, we know that because he can use the recall button, if the ship was still landed the recall button wouldn't be available.

LordFerret · Oct 11, 2020

I saw the post date Oct 18 at a glance and thought for a moment that I was having a stroke or something... today is only the 11th. Then I notice the year on double-take. Holy necro Batman.

You win.

Alphamale1956 · Oct 11, 2020

varonica said:
You can always see your ship as a little green square, you just point at it and drive in that direction. The OP's problem is that he has traveled to far away and the ship has departed, we know that because he can use the recall button, if the ship was still landed the recall button wouldn't be available.

The problem was that my ship had descended into the storage bay and I could not recall it. I was at a base trying out my SRV. That didn't end well, because the base didn't seem to like my loitering, and so when I tried to force the issue looking for another way into the bay where my ship was, loitering then turned into fines being thrown at me. what is that? Then to top it all off, my SRV gets stuck next to a ramp. The wheel was jammed into a corner. So now I'm damaging the base and I've turned into a terrorist and the entire base begins to blast away. I'm dead. Having a map for the SRV is BASIC. It's not a huge demand but it's BASIC and would not have been a big deal to make.

Para Handy · Oct 11, 2020

......... sorry, I had misremembered where to request ....

Sapyx · Oct 12, 2020

Plus, you don't need a map, because once you request docking, you can drive into any of the SRV hangars, and your ship will teleport to that landing pad. You don't need to remember where you parked, your ship will find you.

varonica · Oct 12, 2020

Alphamale1956 said:
The problem was that my ship had descended into the storage bay and I could not recall it.

I think you can still recall it, you just have to get far enough away from the base, I did that once myself to try it out.

Para Handy · Oct 12, 2020

Alphamale1956 said:
The problem was that my ship had descended into the storage bay and I could not recall it. ...

You just request docking from the planetary outpost in your left hand UI (as for spaceports)

Then follow the space-compass to the open hangar entrance -

enter and then you are told you can transfer to ship (via middle UI):

Sorry for me forgetting that you use the left hand UI for request docking from the SRV - I thought I remembered it being in the middle UI in the SRV - where recall ship appears if you are far enough away from the settlement.

(Edited to use thumbnails instead of larger images.)