[GUIDE] Horizons SRV Guide *** NO SPOILERS ***

ALL SPOILERS ARE TAGGED

This is a guide for the SRV, not all of Horizons.
SRV : SURFACE RECON VEHICLE, or Buggy as we call it :)
Some of the following will be subject to change as the Beta develops.
Please ask me to add/amend/edit/delete stuff as it demands :)


The following will be filled in during the next few days, then added to as needed

PURCHASING AND FITTING THE SRV
Actually very simple, your ship should automatically come with the "Planetary Approach Suite" , if you have purchased Horizons.
Then you fit as many "Planetary Vehicle Hangars" as you can or wish (currently class 2 holds 1 SRV, class 4 holds 2 SRVs and class 6 holds 4 SRVs)
Then you purchase the Scarab SRV(in future we will have more SRV options) for your "Vehicle Bay" slot/slots
Horizons Fittings.jpg


SRV KEY BINDINGS
This is just an example and for my X52-Pro
In the first screenshot, there are 2 titles missing relating to ROLL when your SRV is off the ground (as of Beta 3)
SRV binding 1.jpg
SRV binding 2.jpg
SRV binding 3.jpg
SRV binding 4.jpg
SRV binding 5.jpg


DEPLOYING and BOARDING SHIP
Landed on planet
1.jpg

New UI (as well as left middle and right UI, we now have a lower one)
choose SRV tab
choose DEPLOY
2.jpg

Move your SRV away from your ship then face it and go to UI and choose DISMISS SHIP and watch your ship take off(and enter SC) :D
3.jpg

There she goes
4.jpg

Up , up & away
5.jpg


This bit is where you go exploring the planet/moon with your SRV, material hunting, racing, finding wrecks and generally making a nuisance of yourself :D

Now time to board our ship.....
choose the SRV UI
choose SRV tab
choose RECALL SHIP
6.jpg

Approach your ship and go towards the yellow dotted square hoops in the middle of your ship(under it).
The position of this might be different on your ship as I am demonstrating this on an Asp Explorer
7.jpg

Slowly approach, then when the BOARD SHIP light(lower right of screenshot) comes on, put handbrakes on
8.jpg

choose the SRV UI
choose SRV tab
choose BOARD SHIP
9.jpg



PIP SETTINGS
Best settings for racing/normal driving/scavenging is SYS * ENG **** WEP * , this allows max. acceleration, with a pip to weapons
ENG pips only affects acceleration, not top speed. Using drive ASSIST, though, does reduce your top speed by about 20% (I drive with ASSIST off)
Having 4 pips to ENG also allows longer "flights" with your vertical thrusters , and also ENG recovers quicker
For combat you might want WEP *** or WEP ****


TERRAIN RADAR AND THE MYSTERIOUS BLUE CIRCLE
The blue circle on the rader denotes there is an item of interest in it somewhere, like a wreck or installation , but you still have to find it :)
Here is a quick example :

Fly between 2 and 10 K high , set radar sensor to max range, and fly about till you see a blue circle on your radar.

We found 2 (can you spot the 2nd one?)
lets go to the one in the NW corner of our radar
1.jpg

Once you turned and the circle is directly above you, decrease sensor sensitivity by 1 click
2.jpg

now you get this, same again decrease sensitivity, go towards it till edge is nearly at center of radar
3.jpg

and again
4.jpg

and again
5.jpg

Now land, what we know is that there is something in there for us to find. You can land in the center of the circle to be closet to it, I just like parking on the edge and looking forward :)
EDIT : Beta 5 change note = Adjusted the radar circle offset so that POIs are less likely to be spawned towards the centre
Note the bearing before getting in to your buggy. The reason(other than sense) is because my Asp ejects my buggy at 180 degrees from the front, so I have to turn to point towards the area of interest

As soon as I get pointing in the right direction, I see some big goings on in my sensor ! If you landed in the middle of your blue circle, just do a 360 whilst watching your scanner(be sure to dismiss your ship first to stop it from interfering).
6.jpg

After 1 K look what I found !!!
7.jpg

Now I stopped right on the edge of the exclusion zone for this defence turret installation :) So, now I guess we kill the sentrys and inspect the turret ? or whatever you want to do :)
p.s. this could also be part of a mission you have to do
have fun :)

8.jpg

ADDENDUM : I found 2 more things about the circles 1) I think they have a timeout and disappear after a certain time(either a glitch or a timeout as it happened twice to me) 2) If you land bang in the centre you will be right on top of the wreck !!!!!!


MATERIALS LIST , RARITY and BASIC RECIPE REQUIREMENTS
The following is only my experience as of Beta 3
All ingredients required for planetside SRV operation(basic refill,basic rearm and basic repair) are in the COMMON category
COMMON
CARBON
CHROMIUM
GERMANIUM
IRON
MANGANESE
NICKEL
PHOSPHORUS
SULPHUR
VANADIUM
ZINC
RARE
ANTIMONY
ARSENIC
CADMIUM
MERCURY
MOLYBDENUM
NIOBIUM
POLONIUM
RUTHENIUM
SELENIUM
TECHNETIUM
TELLERIUM
TIN
TUNGSTEN
YTTRIUM
ZIRCONIUM


HOW TO USE THE SCANNER
The Scanner sits just above your Radar, and that item is what allows you to find wrecks, materials, ships, installations, excavation sites and anything else ground based.
With use and experience you will get very good with the scanner and recognise what you are approaching a long time before you see it, hence choosing to ignore it,or go towards it.
When scanning you do not need to use your Radar.

The following explains how you can tell if you're approaching wrecks/ship/installations or materials
Each class of item in the Scanner has it's own signature, but in general if you get a blip in the lower half of the Scanner it is a material, the top half is everything else. Combos do happen(blips in top half and bottom half) when you are seeing a wreck and loot, for example, in the same direction.

Find a signal and turn towards it.
Once you turn towards your signal and start approaching you will see wide curved lines. Keep these centered in your scanner as you approach it or you might lose your signal or confuse it with another.
The position of these lines, and their numbers, determine what you are approaching.

This screenshot shows 2 wide curved lines in the bottom half of the scanner.
1.jpg

We are a bit closer as the lines are not as wide
2.jpg

and closer
3.jpg

even closer, and narrower
4.jpg

Stop in front of the Material item(or stone), put handbrakes on. The arrow shows a grey diamond saying that item is selectable
5.jpg

select it , now you see this one is called an OUTCROP
6.jpg

Fire at it till it blows up.
TIP : If you are positioned correctly , you do not need to go to turret view(hence saving time)
Arrows point to what is left behind, flying through the air, after destroying the OUTCROP
7.jpg

Highlight one of the materials.
TIP : It can also be done form the left UI in CONTACTS.
8.jpg

Open CARGO SCOOP.
TIP : It can be left open all the time, it never interferes with your driving
9.jpg

You picked it up !!!
9a.jpg

Now select the others and pick them up, remember you can only carry 300 of these so eventually you will have to get rid of some of them.


SCANNER IMAGE TYPES
By no means complete, and I would recommend you NOT looking if you haven't explored yet. It is more fun to find it yourself :)
This is a collection of scanner signals I found, on how to use it or what they mean look above to "HOW TO USE THE SCANNER"
The following are to show the variations you get on your scanner(the curved item above your radar)
I haven't even mentioned the noises the scanner makes depending on what you find and how far away it is !

Concise version
Dvy7Eyo.jpg


Automated Mining Extractor
far away, the signal is very wide
automated mining extractor 1.jpg

as you approach the signal gets narrower
automated mining extractor 2.jpg

even narrower when you get there
automated mining extractor 3.jpg

Bronzite Chondrite
bronzite chondrite.jpg

Cargo Rack
cargo rack.jpg

Data Point


far away
data point 1.jpg

closer
data point 2.jpg

found it !
data point 3.jpg

Mesosiderite

far away, the signal is very wide
mesosiderite 1.jpg

closer
mesosiderite 2.jpg

Metallic Meteorite

metallic meteorite.jpg

Outcrop type 1

far away, the signal is very wide
outcrop A 1.jpg

closer
outcrop A 2.jpg

there !
outcrop A 3.jpg

Outcrop type 2
far away, the signal is very wide
outcrop B 1.jpg

found it
outcrop B 2.jpg

Wreck + Cannisters
Wreck and canisters.jpg

Wreck + Cannisters + Guarded
Wreck guarded and loot 1.jpg
Wreck guarded and loot 2.jpg

Wreck
Wreck unguarded.jpg

Defence Turret
defence turret.jpg


CARGO UI AND SYNTHESISING
NOTE : CARGO has changed to INVENTORY

Materials you have picked up
1.jpg

Make your potions here :D
First 3 are for the SRV , the rest are for your ship
2.jpg


The following are only for REFUEL, REPAIR & RESTOCK AMMO (each has basic, standard & premium)
These are the only 3 that you need to keep an eye on when in the SRV
3.jpg

4.jpg

5.jpg

6.jpg

7.jpg

8.jpg

9.jpg

9a.jpg

9b.jpg


GENERAL ADVICE/TIPS
  • --------DRIVING---------
  • COMPASS !!! Always make note of the direction you want to go to, that way no matter what, accident or detour, you will get back on track
  • Thrusters : ALWAYS HAVE YOUR FINGER READY TO USE THEM, incase you make a silly jump and need a gentle landing
  • Thrusters : They are for landing gently when you are in a hurry, it works wonders on your hull % when you only use it for that
  • Thrusters : Use them to make long jumps on low gravity worlds, not good for your hull % if you miss your landing :D
  • Shields are only for combat, rough driving will damage your hull
  • Your SRV(currently we only have the Scarab) will do 31 with ASSIST ON, but 38 with ASSIST OFF
  • Handbrake is your friend !
  • 45 degree, or steeper, slopes are doable, but in high G bodies you need a run up and constant speed, or you slide back down
  • Unless on the flats, keep throttle to 70% or less
  • Switch shields off when driving as it increases your range by 25% !!!
  • --------MATERIALS---------
  • Material hunting is much faster on the flats, you can't go very fast on rough ground
  • You can only carry 300 materials in your SRV
  • Materials can be scooped up at any speed, forwards or backwards
  • Use left UI(CONTACTS tab) to choose which materials to scoop
  • Rocks that have materials in it stand out from ordinary rocks
  • You do NOT need to stock up on stuff to go exploring(except maybe 1 refuel) as materials are abundant
  • Jettisoned materials are lost, cannot be picked up again(they disappear)
  • Boarding ship with your SRV shouldn't repair, restock ammo or refuel. Currently(Beta 3) it seems to repair !?!?!
  • There are LOTS of wrecks and materials on ALL bodies, no need to panic :)
  • -----------FUEL & REFUELING-----------
  • Beta 3 : One tank of fuel can last more than 2 hours(possibly up to 5 hours with good module management)
  • In one SRV fuel tank's worth of driving, I have picked up between between 2 and 10 refuel material, after many journeys
  • Stock on at least 1 refuel, to allow you to find materials without stress :)
  • On running out of fuel, you have 60 seconds to live(In the Scarab, might change for other SRVs in future) :D
  • Synthesizing fuel(if you have the materials) takes less than 10 secs to navigate to in the menus, so 60 seconds is more than enough time
  • ---------TERRAIN----------
  • Terrain radar zoom is very useful in an SRV
  • 2K is the magic number. At this distance materials vanish and your radar starts picking up signals
  • Places to drive to : Flats on top of canyons, in canyons , small and large craters and fly through canyons in your ship
  • ---------SHIP------------
  • Read the next line, your ship is vulnerable if you are in your buggy
  • BETA 5 patch note = Add support for vacant ship death, and for parking a buggy without a parent ship. Landed ship is now killable except during the vehicle swap process, when it can be damaged but not killed
  • 2K is the magic number. At this distance your ship will dismiss itself
  • As of BETA 4 = POIs are now visible from your ship, except the small ones. For those you have to use your buggy(SRV)
  • When recalling your ship from your SRV, it usually lands anywhere within 1K of you, sometimes right next to you !
  • A good way to decide where to land your ship for your SRV adventures is from orbit, get to the right place on planet, then get closer and look again around 25K to decide your landing spot, near features you want to drive to
  • You can now transfer cargo from your SRV to your ship without boarding
  • ---------MISC------------
  • Using mouse bindings for the turret actually works really well, and you aim faster
  • Take 2 or more SRVs on your deep space exploration, because when it is destroyed you cannot replace it if you are 20000 LYs from the bubble !
  • If you have more than 1 SRV, when deploying it , it is automatically restocked with the materials you found last time
  • Shut unused SRV modules to get better fuel mileage


SCREENSHOTS
Sorry about the dimensions, I have a triple monitor setup :(
(zoom in for a closer look)

Silence
silence.jpg

Floating rocks !
1.jpg

When my own shadow suddenly came in to view, I scared the bejesus out of myself
2.jpg

3.jpg

4.jpg

Dropping my ship off at the top of a canyon so I can go off on a jolly :)
5.jpg

In the bottom of the canyon, even further from my ship
6.jpg
 
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@dognosh: The materials you find on planets aren't really stored in your SRV. It's like a personal stash that moves with you regardless of what ship you switch to i.e. no problem with attempting to store a ship and being told by the game that you need to empty the cargo first. Some materials are SRV specific and others are ship specific.
 
thanks all :)

@dognosh: The materials you find on planets aren't really stored in your SRV. It's like a personal stash that moves with you regardless of what ship you switch to i.e. no problem with attempting to store a ship and being told by the game that you need to empty the cargo first. Some materials are SRV specific and others are ship specific.

Love feedback of all kinds :)
What I currently know is which ever buggy you pick to deploy, all your previous materials you found is automatically loaded on to it, correct ?
Or is there a way to deploy a buggy and keep the materials bay empty(keeping all materials on ship) ?
thanks :)
 
I think of the materials as if they are stored in a backpack that your commander is carrying. So the materials move with you whatever vehicle you are in.
There is a limit of 300 materials and currently you are not warned when you hit that limit while scooping in your SRV. So if you can't seem to scoop a material check first that your cargo scoop is deployed, then check the number of materials you have. You can eject the excess materials and they won't show up on the ground - they simply disappear.
 
I think of the materials as if they are stored in a backpack that your commander is carrying. So the materials move with you whatever vehicle you are in.
There is a limit of 300 materials and currently you are not warned when you hit that limit while scooping in your SRV. So if you can't seem to scoop a material check first that your cargo scoop is deployed, then check the number of materials you have. You can eject the excess materials and they won't show up on the ground - they simply disappear.

I've already got all of that in the tips section, but thanks for explaining :)
 
Would like to add your up to 300 worth of materials stay's with your commander from ship to ship reguardless of if you have SRV.
So your commander seems to have luggage now :)

 
Great guide.

Only thing I would add is that an SRV can actually run nearly five hours on a single tank if you manage your power use wisely and don't drive like a maniac. Four hours isn't unreasonable if you're you're searching for specific contacts on your wave scanner. On my survey missions, where I'm harvesting anything I come across, I usually get about three hours of use.
 
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Great guide.

Only thing I would add is that an SRV can actually run nearly five hours on a single tank if you manage your power use wisely and don't drive like a maniac. Four hours isn't unreasonable if you're you're searching for specific contacts on your wave scanner. On my survey missions, where I'm harvesting anything I come across, I usually get about three hours of use.

Yes I get over 2 now, but only stated my experience and my driving style and the lowest amount :)
I will add your point in the guide :)
 
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