Scorpion is a joke.

It's almost like the Scorpion is optimised for killing other SRVs. It seems designed to hit larger targets with heavier weapons, rather than accurately hitting small targets.

Enemy deploys Scarabs to slaughter your troops, you deploy the Scorpion to counter the Scarabs.

But then the problem is, in my experience, SRV-on-SRV combat is an extreme rarity outside of pre-arranged PvP, and maybe some wars in Community Goal systems where enough humans are concentrated together enough to make those situations likely.

So if that's what it's best at (combat-wise, at least), it doesn't seem like a very big niche.

Unless they're planning on adding in NPC-controlled SRVs, an MIA feature which has been a big gap in surface-side gameplay since day one of Horizons. They did advertise for a ground-vehicle AI programmer for Elite a couple of years ago, so it's likely been worked on to some degree, amd it would add a lot to the amount of life at surface starports and POIs, as well as the additional strategy and challenge around conflict zones.

However, given the complexity of driving pathfinding on endlessly variable terrain and gravity, and performance issues they've had getting simple on-foot NPCs to navigate settlements, I wouldn't hold my breath...
 
A friend & I did some A-B testing with a scarab & a Scorpion earlier. I really like the Scarab, have done since it was introduced & while I'm no stuntman I know how to make the most of it. My friend has never liked the scarab, feeling it was too twitchy, too hard to use effectively in turret view and has generally avoided using an SRV as a result.

I tried the Scorpion, it's slow, not that agile, lacks a wave scanner and not that exciting to drive. It has big defence & offence compared to the scarab, but I don't really care about that stuff so for me, the Scarab wins in every area except for the Scorpion sounding cool & being a new toy to play with.

My friend thought the Scorpion was more stable, easier to control, harder to roll, easier to recover, generally easier to get to where you want to be then stay alive. They don't drive fast so speed & manoeuvrability aren't a factor for them (in the same way armour & firepower aren't for me), they found that all things considered, they could get the job done (whatever the job) more easily in the Scorpion.

I like that; Choice. One does not make the other obsolete, horses for courses.

As far as the Scorpion's gun is concerned I can hit a barn door with it so it's good enough imo.
I would probably be in your friend’s camp, as I use pedals to steer the scarab and t tends to be a bit skittish. I’ll probably use the scorpion for most ground based mission running stuff plus maybe the guardian ruins.
 
Well I've used the Scorpion SRV now and I have to say I love it for combat ops. The jitter goes away after a few seconds of firing (I'm not going to argue whether this is realistic or not) and I've had no problem eliminating enemy troops. None.

The missile launcher is a lot of fun. Only downsides for it right now are that you never get ammo reloads (not reloading like other ammo when ship docks at a station) and if you accidentally fire it anywhere, you trigger hostile reactions (even if it's streaking off into the nothingness). So be careful you don't accidentally fire it... like I did in both situations.

This thing is also a beast in anti-ship combat. I've shot down DBXs bringing in extra scavengers. I also did a test fire on my Corvette (2300 Mj shields, with high resistances). Going from full Wep capacitor to empty (at which point, with four pips, the gun could continue to fire, just at a slower rate) I took my shields down to 83%. I've never had my shields go down that fast, save when in space CZ and have 5 or more ships on me.

If they decide to improve the initial jitter, great! But I'm a big fan of the Scorpion now. Still going to use Scarabs often, as they have other uses. :)
 
In these years players provided a lot of suggestions on what type of srv they wanted to see in the game and the scorpion is nothing similar to what was suggested (tranporter with more cargo space, a hovering type, mining dedicated).
 
In these years players provided a lot of suggestions on what type of srv they wanted to see in the game and the scorpion is nothing similar to what was suggested (tranporter with more cargo space, a hovering type, mining dedicated).

Yes well, it doesn't matter what Frontier does there is always a vocal minority ready to foot stamp and say I didn't want this.

PP
Multi-crew
Engineers
CQC
Horizons
Odyssey

To name but a few.
 
In these years players provided a lot of suggestions on what type of srv they wanted to see in the game and the scorpion is nothing similar to what was suggested (tranporter with more cargo space, a hovering type, mining dedicated).
Scarab has become that, at least a bit. FD Doubled the cargo space with the last patch.
 
Only drove it an evening, but I like its handling due to its mass. Not flimsy stuff like the old one. The jump range I lose is well worth it. Weapons? What weapons? The interior is nice, and those brakes are like running into a wall :alien:
 
They need to have a 2 vehicle bay so you can store a Scarab and a Scorpion in a #4 slot the way you can store 2 fighters in a #6 slot.
 
Until u guys give Scorp gun same spread as Scarab - it's worthless
Every other game I play does the exact opposite - the first shot is your most accurate, with the spread increasing due to recoil (you know, like real life). I've never heard of a "reverse recoil" gun that gets better aim the longer it's fired. I suppose one might be able to offer some scientific explanation why a hot barrel is more accurate than a cold one (not my field, so I'm just making this up), but not to the extent of videos I've seen of this Scorpion.
 
Every other game I play does the exact opposite - the first shot is your most accurate, with the spread increasing due to recoil (you know, like real life). I've never heard of a "reverse recoil" gun that gets better aim the longer it's fired. I suppose one might be able to offer some scientific explanation why a hot barrel is more accurate than a cold one (not my field, so I'm just making this up), but not to the extent of videos I've seen of this Scorpion.
BF2142, the best online shooter after UT99, did it for one of its LMGs. Best gun in the damn game is you ask me.
 
BF2142, the best online shooter after UT99, did it for one of its LMGs. Best gun in the damn game is you ask me.
There's a few more examples, recent one being Deep Rock Galactic where's there more than one weapon with this behaviour.

Off topic, but did you prefer BF2142 over BF2 because of the futuristic theme?
 
There's a few more examples, recent one being Deep Rock Galactic where's there more than one weapon with this behaviour.

Off topic, but did you prefer BF2142 over BF2 because of the futuristic theme?
You just can't beat hover tanks, mechs and flying fortressess.
 
Unless they're planning on adding in NPC-controlled SRVs,

And? Imagine you kill these NPC SRVs, what next? What will you do with troops?
If you can switch weapons on foot, you cant switch SRV just like that.
So it's literally useless for even multicrew play with friends.
 
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