A plea for returning fun to SRVs

crispience

C
FDEV: Please, Please, Please, make Exo data be saved to your ship once you board it. We have suffered long enough!

The fact that SRV destruction causes lost data has completely destroyed all fun from using SRVs while exploring out in the black, killed the utility of multi-SRV bays, and is single-handedly responsible for me quitting Elite Dangerous, and is the single reason that I can't even bring myself to return, much as I would like to.

I want to explore out in the black and have fun in my SRV while doing it. I want to explore, gather data, store it safely on my ship and then go out to have some SRV fun climbing mountains, jumping off of them, surfing down sheer crater edges, etc. With 4 SRV bays in my Krait, the worst I'd be risking is an infrequent long trip to a carrier to resupply.

But the complete loss of all Exo data in an SRV accident is such a stupid and punishing penalty that it completely prohibits any risk-taking and destroys all fun from SRVs (and for me, all fun from this game).
 

DjVortex

DjVortex
Drive more carefully?

I have only have my SRV destroyed one single time, during entire 2 years I have been playing the game. And that happened at a Guardian site when one of those columns suddenly rose from the ground, pinning my SRV between it and a wall, and there was absolutely nothing I could do. (I didn't even get mad. It was actually kind of cool. Still had to return to the bubble to get a new one, but it wasn't that bad.)
 

VR andysonofbob

VR andysonofbob
Yeah, but sometimes you just want to fool about! And those SRVs do have a tendency to explode. They do when I drive them anyway!

I'm pretty sure not having the data uploaded automatically to the ship's database is an FDev oversight. IRL, syncing and making backup is automatic and practically default, right? TBH that's why I do think it genuinely is an oversight, it's so automatic IRL, the devs probably didn't even think about it. Esp as mats and loot is transfered automatically etc.
 

hurikhan77

hurikhan77
crispience said:
go out to have some SRV fun climbing mountains, jumping off of them, surfing down sheer crater edges, etc
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I've never lost my SRV due to such actions. But at least I do not jump off cliffs blindly. If the risk is high, I first put a premium hull repair onto it, then during "flight" align with the ground as best as possible, using the boosters to reduce falling speed. If the fun is in destroying the SRV, then the penalty is justified.

Usually I try to keep my SRV in the "air" for as long as possible, using ground topology to do high and far jumps, or jumping from mountain to mountain. I've never lost the SRV once. Sometimes I ended up landing with 10% hull left, but then you should accept that the risk you've just taken will cost some materials for repairs.

But yes, data should be transferred to the ship once you've boarded, I can agree with that. But still, I never got into that situation despite taking risks and making my SRV fly.

Ian Doncaster said:
Especially since you don't lose standard exploration data if the SRV explodes
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Or this should be changed: If you die in the SRV, you'd also lose standard exploration data. Then it's at least consistent.

Which brings me to another question: Why do we have no list for stored bio data, neither in the SRV nor in the ship? While the payout isn't exactly known at discovery time, we would at least have an indicator that X amount of data is stored. This would also make it clear where the data is stored, and how/why you can lose it.
 

aRJay

aRJay
In addition to the suggestion of using (your) carriers Vista at least weakly to minimise the risk, consider doing Exo on foot from a really small ship that way you won’t get distracted playing in the SRV that you haven’t brought along.

The price is known at the time you find stuff, that is where some of the third party tools get their info from but it isn’t revealed to us in the game. The only data we know we have stored is the encoded stuff for engineering etc.

I do like the idea of the suit uploading data to the SRV/ship when you board it and the SRV doing the same when you board the ship, but how does the data reach the Vista office unless it automatically downloads to the suit when you disembark which gets us back to the original problem. Of course it isn’t like the data is safe on your ship I have lost a chunk recently to prove that.
 

crispience

C
The most fun I've had in this game is careening down a 20km near-vertical crater edge or mountainside, bouncing, tumbling, doing repairs in midair wihle upside-down and finally rolling out safe. Like doing a mogul run skiing.

With exo data to be lost, I would never again take such risks. No more SRV fun. It breaks my heart because SRV driving is one of the most fun driving experiences I've had in any game.

Carrier isn't really a solution. I want to be a solitary lonely small ship out in the black for a year, 20,000 LY from the nearest help. That's what I've planned for, and engineered my ship for. I don't want to drag along a support city -- may as well just stay in the bubble.
 

Greasetrap42

Greasetrap42
I totally get what the OP is saying if they are exploring without a fleet carrier. In a general exploration & exobiology ship. I 100% agree.

Interesting to note that having a fleet carrier I use a small medium range ship dedicated for exobiology, and cash in at Vista Genomics regularly. Although I have an SRV on board I stopped using it for exobiology a long time ago.
 

hurikhan77

hurikhan77
aRJay said:
The price is known at the time you find stuff, that is where some of the third party tools get their info from
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Yes, but no. The base price is known. The bonus is not because someone else could turn in the same data before you. That's what I meant with "isn't exactly known".
aRJay said:
but how does the data reach the Vista office unless it automatically downloads to the suit when you disembark which gets us back to the original problem
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Good point. The way it currently works is perfectly explained by this. I didn't think of the suit to store the data.

crispience said:
The most fun I've had in this game is careening down a 20km near-vertical crater edge
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Also, I get the fun point of SRV diving and such (I do it myself from time to time) but you reported having 4 bays, so after the 3rd lost SRV there's no more fun in risking the SRV anyways, isn't it? So potentially losing your exo data is just another risk you take. You can avoid it by not taking any such risks if you have high value exo data, or your accept taking that risk. You seem to like risk, so this is some extra bonus risk, isn't it? In the end, it's only credits. If you are far out, it's potentially more than just credits (e.g., first discoveries), but that's the risk. At least, after losing your 4th SRV, there will be no more risk of losing exo data. ;)

You could also take the risk of diving your ship with high boost through canyons and wouldn't complain you lose exploration data that way, would you? 🙃
 

crispience

C
hurikhan77 said:
Also, I get the fun point of SRV diving and such (I do it myself from time to time) but you reported having 4 bays, so after the 3rd lost SRV there's no more fun in risking the SRV anyways, isn't it? So potentially losing your exo data is just another risk you take. You can avoid it by not taking any such risks if you have high value exo data, or your accept taking that risk. You seem to like risk, so this is some extra bonus risk, isn't it? In the end, it's only credits. If you are far out, it's potentially more than just credits (e.g., first discoveries), but that's the risk. At least, after losing your 4th SRV, there will be no more risk of losing exo data.
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Before Odyssey, there was never any risk to having fun in your SRV. If it blew up, you just couldn't have fun anymore. You never lost data. With 4 SRVs, you could go wild 3 times and if/when you are down to one, you took it more careful. But you never risked losing data.


hurikhan77 said:
;)

You could also take the risk of diving your ship with high boost through canyons and wouldn't complain you lose exploration data that way, would you? 🙃
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My Krait also has a Flight Hanger with some fast ship-launched fighters for canyon fun. Same deal. No risk of losing data.
[Wait.... do you also lose your exo data if your SLF blows up ???]
 

aRJay

aRJay
hurikhan77 said:
Yes, but no. The base price is known. The bonus is not because someone else could turn in the same data before you. That's what I meant with "isn't exactly known".
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I have never yet noticed a bio where I was first to sample it, known because of first footfall, didn’t get the bonus because someone sold it first. But I am sure it could happen.

hurikhan77 said:
Good point. The way it currently works is perfectly explained by this. I didn't think of the suit to store the data.
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Well it can’t be the SRV because I haven’t fitted one in my sampling ship, and it cannot be the ship or the data wouldn’t be lost when you blow up in the SRV.

hurikhan77 said:
Also, I get the fun point of SRV diving and such (I do it myself from time to time) but you reported having 4 bays, so after the 3rd lost SRV there's no more fun in risking the SRV anyways, isn't it? So potentially losing your exo data is just another risk you take. You can avoid it by not taking any such risks if you have high value exo data, or your accept taking that risk. You seem to like risk, so this is some extra bonus risk, isn't it? In the end, it's only credits. If you are far out, it's potentially more than just credits (e.g., first discoveries), but that's the risk. At least, after losing your 4th SRV, there will be no more risk of losing exo data. ;)

You could also take the risk of diving your ship with high boost through canyons and wouldn't complain you lose exploration data that way, would you? 🙃
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Of course we would.
 

Fizzatron

Fizzatron
Ship exploration data is kept on the ship so it stands to reason that it doesn't disappear when an SRV pops. If that were the case for exobiology too I think that would be fine, though I would also be fine with losing exobiology info gathered by an outing in the SRV before it has docked with the ship. So in a similar way that you can fill and empty your backpack onfoot, exobiology data should be uploaded to the ship when the SRV docks. That way there is some risk but if someone wants to just putz around in their SRV then they can do that too, after recalling the ship and 'uploading' the data for safety.
 

aRJay

aRJay
Well the last lot of Exo data I lost had to have been on me as I was in a different ship in a different suit and there was no SRV or hanger on board.
 

crispience

C
I think Exo data should be stored on your person (like it currently is) until you get to your ship. If you die (on foot or in SRV) before you get to your ship, your exo data is lost.

But once you get to your ship, it should be handled the same as all your other exploration data: it transfers between ships and is lost when your ship explodes, but is otherwise safe.

Once you get to your ship, you should be able to jump into an SRV (or on foot), dismiss your ship, and have zero worries about losing any data. This is how things were before Odyssey.

When you're out in the black for months on end, it is stressful handling your ship and you treat it with kid gloves. Dismissing your ship and goofing around in an SRV is pretty much a necessity. Otherwise it is all grind and no play.

This seems like a fairly simple change that would bring the fun back for explorers.
 
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