The SRV is so primitive... how about a hovercraft?

[IndigoWyrd]

There is no artificial gravity (or anti-gravity) in this game and a hovercraft requires an atmosphere to operate....

We already have the perfect asset, and it works in no atmosphere - it's called a Skimmer.

It really couldn't be that hard to put one under player control, and it would be crazy fun.

Or let's really mix things up - let us hijack existing skimmers from our SRV's via the data link scanner and use and abuse them as we see fit.

I can see the missions already: "Hijack a skimmer belonging to [%faction_name%] and take out the power generator."
This way it looks more like a malfunction, we don't get popped for crimes, unless our SRV's are discovered, or we botch the hack.

 

[Puerility]

Soooo boredom causes insanity? Sounds about right.

And insanity produces fun.

 

[insanephoton]

If hovercraft are so great how come we don't see them used more in real life? In reality they aren't that great, except for some niche roles. You complain about the SRVs handling, but if you want slippy slidey 'why the hell doesn't this thing go where I want it to' handling. get your self a hovercraft. They aren't even good at rough terrain. They are great at coping with soft ground and bodies of liquid, but unfortunately we can't land on anything with those features yet.

 

[M00ka]

Just a quick question: Since one of the primary roles of the SRV is to harvest mats on the surface, how does everyone envisage doing that in a skimmer or ship? Mini-limpets, short range tractor beam or just taking the skimmer or ship to zero ground level (and risking a lot of damage in the process).

Me, I would like a mini skimmer as part of the SRV arsenal, something you can deploy to fly ahead to scout out something, or to get a visual on places that the SRV can't get to. I would also like to see the SRV far more customizable, the player chooses what he wants to add to turn the vehicle into a miner, hauler or attacker depending on the situation (proviso, the changes can only be carried out when the SRV is in the ship). For example, you are happily hooning over the surface, come up upon a restricted area with a bunch of nasty skimmers. You retreat a bit, recall your ship, change the loadout on the SRV to provide more weapons, more armour or something (hell even a small missile launcher just for the luz), clear the skimmers and then if you have to go, race back to the ship, get rid of the weapons package and install the cargo package which lets you pick up and transport 8 containers or something.

 

[insanephoton]

Just a quick question: Since one of the primary roles of the SRV is to harvest mats on the surface, how does everyone envisage doing that in a skimmer or ship? Mini-limpets, short range tractor beam or just taking the skimmer or ship to zero ground level (and risking a lot of damage in the process).

Me, I would like a mini skimmer as part of the SRV arsenal, something you can deploy to fly ahead to scout out something, or to get a visual on places that the SRV can't get to. I would also like to see the SRV far more customizable, the player chooses what he wants to add to turn the vehicle into a miner, hauler or attacker depending on the situation (proviso, the changes can only be carried out when the SRV is in the ship). For example, you are happily hooning over the surface, come up upon a restricted area with a bunch of nasty skimmers. You retreat a bit, recall your ship, change the loadout on the SRV to provide more weapons, more armour or something (hell even a small missile launcher just for the luz), clear the skimmers and then if you have to go, race back to the ship, get rid of the weapons package and install the cargo package which lets you pick up and transport 8 containers or something.

I've scooped canisters from the ground in a ship several times. The main difficulties are that you can't always target them until you're pretty much next to them, and there is usually some wreckage or something in the way.

 

[Shinji Ikari]

Just a quick question: Since one of the primary roles of the SRV is to harvest mats on the surface, how does everyone envisage doing that in a skimmer or ship? Mini-limpets, short range tractor beam or just taking the skimmer or ship to zero ground level (and risking a lot of damage in the process).

Me, I would like a mini skimmer as part of the SRV arsenal, something you can deploy to fly ahead to scout out something, or to get a visual on places that the SRV can't get to. I would also like to see the SRV far more customizable, the player chooses what he wants to add to turn the vehicle into a miner, hauler or attacker depending on the situation (proviso, the changes can only be carried out when the SRV is in the ship). For example, you are happily hooning over the surface, come up upon a restricted area with a bunch of nasty skimmers. You retreat a bit, recall your ship, change the loadout on the SRV to provide more weapons, more armour or something (hell even a small missile launcher just for the luz), clear the skimmers and then if you have to go, race back to the ship, get rid of the weapons package and install the cargo package which lets you pick up and transport 8 containers or something.

I don’t know where you got that idea that hovercrafts aren’t able to land.

If hovercraft are so great how come we don't see them used more in real life? In reality they aren't that great, except for some niche roles. You complain about the SRVs handling, but if you want slippy slidey 'why the hell doesn't this thing go where I want it to' handling. get your self a hovercraft. They aren't even good at rough terrain. They are great at coping with soft ground and bodies of liquid, but unfortunately we can't land on anything with those features yet.

Maybe because current hovercraft technology is stagnant and it is 2017?

 

[Hadarmil]

ehh my hovertank is full of space loaches.


And real life hovercrafts are pretty niche vehicles. Like all multipurpose they are not as good as dedicated vehicles and there's not a lot of need for them. But no one here wants to see ballooncrafts in Elite, just big manned skimmers.

 

[Taimaru]

I like the way the SRV handles as it's fun trying to control it (easy is boring) so if there is a need for a better controlled (or easier to drive/fly) land vehicle I think it should be a a new different one and leave the SRV the way it is.

 

[Darshyne]

Every tech in this game is primitive beside FTL travel :
-combat are ww2 style
-No auto pilot
-No market browser
-can't use instrument when jumping
-Can't mark location on planets
-etc...

 

[Hadarmil]

Every tech in this game is primitive beside FTL travel :
-combat are ww2 style
-No auto pilot
-No market browser
-can't use instrument when jumping
-Can't mark location on planets
-etc...

-Modern fighter combat is already pretty much fire and forget. Dogfights are a lot of fun though and the yaw limit has been debated to death.
-We have a docking computer. The whole point of the game is flying a ship...
-Yup. Might be nice.
-In witchspace we are basically outside of known reality, so better not fiddle with stuff. And it's a loading screen - much better than most elevators.
-I guess we'll see it in 2018, fingers crossed.
-etc etc etc...

Sci fi is always some mix of old and new tech...just enough for it to be fun for 21st century apes.

 

[BigF]

If we went for authentic combat realisum then the game would have never made it to the inital beta let alone Alpha.

The distances alone would make stuff unplayable. Kills could be solutioned from hundreds of km's, youd never even need to see the ememy.
Then when you did make a kill the explosions would be more of a puff of gas and a big chunk of wreckage.

I'll in that instance keep WW2 combat with frikin lasers.

I do think some kind of launchable drone to scope stuff out with telepresence would be great.

They could then make things like scan missions much harder more sneak in and out stuff with major consequences if you get caught etc.

 

[nathanc213]

I like driving around in the SRV but i do think it needs a few changes, the first should be lower the damage taken from rocks and the second is increase the grip so it doesn't spin out every 5 seconds (the SRV has thrusters why not reverse them and make them run at a small percentage of their normal thrust so that they keep us planted on the ground).

One thing i would like to be able to deploy though is a Goliath.

 

[Coccolino]

I just find ridiculous to make kilometers and kilometers at 10 m/s hitting stones and rough terrain when I could just hover in a dedicated scoop/scan flying thing going 100 m/s and reaching signals 10 times faster.

 

[Ravnik]

Maybe its me, but one thing i love about the SRV is the sound the wheels make when going through the dust / dirt whatever. I hope this is improved when they start improving the planets, maybe a 'crunching' sound as you go through the ice on ice moons etc. Just an immersion thing for me.

 

[Edith_The_Hutt]

Stick 4 SRV thrusters either side of a bike, tune down the output to accommodate for the much lower mass and voila. Less health as the pilot is exposed, forwards firing weapons only as it's a bike and more fuel usage as it has to hover but faster speeds and no fall damage.
Oh and no cargo obv.

You forgot the need for a massive afterburner on the back to allow you to make awesome canyon jumps.

Otherwise: I approve.

 

[bootsam]

I must be a sicko as I quite like the srv.

 

[zimms]

I guess SRVs are cheaper.

We have helicopters, why do we still use cars?

 

[BigF]

The big issue is the inconsistency of the dammage gained from hitting rocks.

i did a test a while back on a .9 g world that was fairly flat and had the full range of rocks from big to small. Setting the speed to sensible and taking each type head on between the front wheels gives vastly different results on damage and being chucked into a different direction.

sometimes a really big rock hit head on does nothing and some time the same rock can damage the hull as much as 5%. Oddly its the smaller stuff that seems on test to do the most.

I also noticed using the external cam that some of these Chassis killers didnt even reach the chassis on my through the middle tests.


In the real world I can chuck a 2 tonne Landrover down a rock and bolder hill and only get muddy and scratched chassis parts, its only when I try and head on a bolder or somthing finds the propshaft that stuff gets oily and ugly.
By the same model an SRV in the real world with its massive ground clearance compaired to the Landy should walk over anything the Landrover could do, and thats with out thrusters and canyon jumping. Just give me a lightweight series 1 and a spacesuit.

I wonder if its just the SrV needs some more realistic balancing from FD.

 

[Shinji Ikari]

I guess SRVs are cheaper.

We have helicopters, why do we still use cars?

Well I mean, our commanders can buy billion credit ships and we also have the skimmers so I don't think that's a reasonable thing.

 

[Lily from anim.o.v.e]

If hovercraft are so great how come we don't see them used more in real life? In reality they aren't that great, except for some niche roles. You complain about the SRVs handling, but if you want slippy slidey 'why the hell doesn't this thing go where I want it to' handling. get your self a hovercraft. They aren't even good at rough terrain. They are great at coping with soft ground and bodies of liquid, but unfortunately we can't land on anything with those features yet.

because they require a lot fuel, and our current technolgy isnt efficient for this. because most areas on earth are havign a fine infrastructure or also woods, where they won't work well. But on those empty rubbelled plains with a few hills we see in Elite they oeuld be perfectly doing their job there.