can we improve the srv combat?

[Zornbringer]

i recently got back into elite and actually sticked with it for quite a while. i unlocked an engineer which i have never done before and right now i'm unlocking the guardian fsd booster. this actually brings me to this topic.

you'll have to kill some drones with your srv. it's not the first time i notice this, in fact i hesitate to do any planetary missions because of it. it's the srv combat. it's just awful. aiming and driving with the gamepad is effectively impossible for me. so i bind it to mouse and keyboard. this however makes the driving way too sensitive. now add gravity factors, uneven ground and bad collision detection and you have yourself an awful time. i also get motion sickness when i drive in turret mode with kb+m. there's something going on with the screen that's not happening when you use a gamepad only.

would it be too much to ask for better auto-aim for the srv? perhaps get rid of the turret mode for combat altogether? it's inconceivable to me how anyone can properly control the vehicle while at the same time use the turret to aim. let alone have fun doing it.

i want to throw this question out here as well: how often do you guys engage in srv combat? is it fun for you? do you have suggestions how i can improve using the gamepad? i'd like to stick to the gamepad, because it's more fun to drive this way.

 

[Factabulous]

Bizarre: I use a hotas for space, gamepad for srv. Gamepad is great for srv, just takes a bit of practice

 

[Taifu]

Bob the Builder says "Yes, We, will be putting it to tender.".

 

[Abysinth]

Firstly, to solve the problem of the drones at the guardian site, simply fit point defence to the top of your ship and land close by the ruins.

Secondly, I have the T.16000 hotas, I use the throttle for speed, the twist to control the turret rotation, the push/pull on the stick to control elevation on the turret and left/right on the stick to control the steering on the SRV. It was hard at first, but now I am OK at it and I can take out drones by controlling the turrent whilst driving the SRV toward the target data port / canisters / what ever.

It's not easy, it's hard and I was very slow at first and mode lots of mistakes but, like I said, I am better now. note, I have never used a game pad.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I can't imagine doing combat in the SRV with just a controller.

I do combat with a steering wheel, mouse, and pedals. Works awesomely. Wheel and pedals control the vehicle and mouse controls the turret.

 

[varonica]

I can't imagine doing combat in the SRV with just a controller.

I do combat with a steering wheel, mouse, and pedals. Works awesomely. Wheel and pedals control the vehicle and mouse controls the turret.

I used to play Desert Combat in a tank, mouse controls turret, keboard controls direction, you just have to get used to driving in the direction you aren't looking, having said that....COMBAT IN AN SRV? LOL!

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I used to play Desert Combat in a tank, mouse controls turret, keboard controls direction, you just have to get used to driving in the direction you aren't looking, having said that....COMBAT IN AN SRV? LOL!

Yeah, it can be a nightmare driving in one direction while looking in another.

But sometimes you just need to do combat in the SRV.

 

[metatheurgist]

Works good with a HOTAS. Or bring a buddy and they can shoot the sentinels for you from a ship.

 

[myothershipisacobraiv]

driving while turreting can take a good bit of practice.

when you fight the drones, stop, put all pips to guns and then shields, and unload into them. you can move laterally a bit so they'll miss you with their little particle launchers, but don't do it if it makes you miss your shots. when they launch a missle, come to a complete stop and tank the missiles on your shields with 4 pips.

the trick is just good pip management and bursting them down fast enough. avoid as much driving while turreting because it's finicky and also because movement will cause the missiles to mess you up.

my thoughts on SRV: I don't like it. pretty much at all. I hate the way it sounds and I think the noise it makes takes all the fun out of driving it at high speed. I also hate the way it handles. it doesn't feel bouncy and fun and instead just feels slippery and boring. and what I don't like most of all is that, these airless planets you're on, they should give you this feeling of vastness. a barren expanse. but I don't get that feeling. maybe the planets are too empty. maybe the terrain isn't varied enough. I don't know what it is. but it underwhelms.

that said, I do like finding stuff on planets and I like driving around bases.

 

[Kzak]

The lazy way of dealing with Sentinels is to make the them appear in the first place by using your SRV, then returning to your ship and blasting the Sentinels with dumbfire missiles, which have a huge AoE effect. Then return in your SRV and pick up the pieces you want.

 

[Frank]

I use a gamepad for SRV combat. You really want an easy-to-reach button for swapping between driving and turret modes. This is especially useful for using the Guardian Ruins as cover from the Sentinels. You might even want to consider assigning a footswitch to that task

The one good thing about PVP duelling in SRVs is that you're sure you're on a level playing field, but you're right in saying that there does seem to be something lacking in the combat fun department. I know that vehicle combat can be fun because they've managed it in HALO. If it were me, instead of turret mode, I'd have had a third-person-view HALO-like you-pick-the-direction-and-we'll-let-the-AI-sort-it-out mode

 

[Zornbringer]

i actually beat the drones. that's not my main concern here. the issue was more with the srv controls and also the drone rockets which just frustrated me, because they make you bounce all around the place. i was trying to hide under some structures but even there i got hit and thrown around the place which was just extremely frustrating.

the entire situation irritated me. first i didn't find the four pillars, then i didn't shoot them enough. there was no indication for me as to when they were charged or not. it took a while until i realized just how long i would have to shoot them. then, after hours of failing, messing up the driving controls, getting motion sickness, i finally charged all six pillars, dropped the relic... but then i must've made a wrong key bind. i wasn't able to scan the damn thing. it said to me i had to switch modes which i did, but the scanner didn't work. probably bound the key to two functions which broke the scanning function. unfortunately i made the mistake of charging the two big pillars last, so two additional drones spawned, shooting rockets at me from afar while i was trying to figure out what controls i messed up. my srv already at 25% hull the entire time. in distress, motion sickness, i ultimately exploded.

i did bring two srv's luckily. today the second try. i'm not mad that this is hard. it gives a significant upgrade. i'm just very frustrated by the controls. the rockets infuriate me the most, because it's a low gravity planet and you just fly around, red-out from negative g's. then you constantly switch from driving with the gamepad to driving and aiming with the kb+mouse. it's just a huge struggle that could be prevented if the srv controls weren't so awful.

 

[M00ka]

i actually beat the drones. that's not my main concern here. the issue was more with the srv controls and also the drone rockets which just frustrated me, because they make you bounce all around the place. i was trying to hide under some structures but even there i got hit and thrown around the place which was just extremely frustrating.

the entire situation irritated me. first i didn't find the four pillars, then i didn't shoot them enough. there was no indication for me as to when they were charged or not. it took a while until i realized just how long i would have to shoot them. then, after hours of failing, messing up the driving controls, getting motion sickness, i finally charged all six pillars, dropped the relic... but then i must've made a wrong key bind. i wasn't able to scan the damn thing. it said to me i had to switch modes which i did, but the scanner didn't work. probably bound the key to two functions which broke the scanning function. unfortunately i made the mistake of charging the two big pillars last, so two additional drones spawned, shooting rockets at me from afar while i was trying to figure out what controls i messed up. my srv already at 25% hull the entire time. in distress, motion sickness, i ultimately exploded.

i did bring two srv's luckily. today the second try. i'm not mad that this is hard. it gives a significant upgrade. i'm just very frustrated by the controls. the rockets infuriate me the most, because it's a low gravity planet and you just fly around, red-out from negative g's. then you constantly switch from driving with the gamepad to driving and aiming with the kb+mouse. it's just a huge struggle that could be prevented if the srv controls weren't so awful.

If you apply the handbrake to your SRV you don't bounce around nearly as much !

 

[Factabulous]

my srv already at 25% hull the entire time. in distress, motion sickness, i ultimately exploded.

Most guides say to have mats with you for repair. After a few runs you'll be able to avoid damage, though will probably still want mats for refueling / rearming the SRV.

it's just a huge struggle that could be prevented if the srv controls weren't so awful.

Or just practice. The first time it's stressful, but after 50 or so I can say it's now easy to handle anything that happens at those sites And don't be afraid to mess with your keybinds if they don't make sense to you. Once you get used to how the sentinels spawn and using the terrain for sniping / handbrake for stability then it becomes more fun. PDCs on the top of your ship are also very useful

 

[CMDR Carbo]

I agree that SRV combat could be better.
I have given up on driving and shooting in turret mode at the same time on the guardian sites, mainly because the driving part is so bad on these structures and you get the SRV stuck on every nook.
So like some mentioned, I just use pip management extensively to tank the shots and missiles and move arround, and inbetween switch to turret mode to take the drones out one at the time.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

i recently got back into elite and actually sticked with it for quite a while. i unlocked an engineer which i have never done before and right now i'm unlocking the guardian fsd booster. this actually brings me to this topic.

you'll have to kill some drones with your srv. it's not the first time i notice this, in fact i hesitate to do any planetary missions because of it. it's the srv combat. it's just awful. aiming and driving with the gamepad is effectively impossible for me. so i bind it to mouse and keyboard. this however makes the driving way too sensitive. now add gravity factors, uneven ground and bad collision detection and you have yourself an awful time. i also get motion sickness when i drive in turret mode with kb+m. there's something going on with the screen that's not happening when you use a gamepad only.

would it be too much to ask for better auto-aim for the srv? perhaps get rid of the turret mode for combat altogether? it's inconceivable to me how anyone can properly control the vehicle while at the same time use the turret to aim. let alone have fun doing it.

i want to throw this question out here as well: how often do you guys engage in srv combat? is it fun for you? do you have suggestions how i can improve using the gamepad? i'd like to stick to the gamepad, because it's more fun to drive this way.

When using the SRV, I drive it like a tank, as in - from the turret. I use twin sticks but you could emulate the control schema I use on your gamepad using the thumb ministicks. Essentially I use one stick for throttle on back and forward axis, steering on left and right axis, the other stick is used for the turret with back and forward axis controlling turret pitch and left right axis controlling turret yaw. Where I use the trigger on each joystick for primary/secondary fire buttons, you could use the trigger buttons on the controller for the primary and secondary fires. I use an analogue thumbstick on one of my sticks for the thrusters, but you could set your bindings up with the D-pad being used for thrusters (pitch and roll) with a button, maybe one of the bumper buttons, being used for the "boost" vertical thrusters. That still leaves you the four main buttons (A,B,X&B / Triangle, Square, Circle, Cross) for lights, night vision, cargo scoop, targetting. If you delve into the mirky waters of combo button presses there is still scope for accessing other funcitons like comms, recall ship, left/right panel etc.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

Oh - for guardian sites, its best to use a small ship like a dolphin or a diamond back that can land in a small gap near the site, and equip it with point defence turrets. The point defense turrets provide screening cover shooting down the sentinels missiles, then you just need to be savvy and use the terrain and buildings to provide cover. The sentinels shots are slow moving, so unless you are nose to nose with one, you can dodge them. I usually pop out of cover, shoot the sentinel some, keep shooting as the rounds travel towards me and duck back into cover behind a part of the structure and let the shots harmlessly shoot my now vacated firing position, once they have cleared I return to firing position or travel to next bit of cover.