If they're in the ship and the autopilot starts doing something screwy, it's reasonable to expect the player to intervene and take control. If they're out in the SRV or on foot, however, they can't do that. Any screw up by the autopilot can destroy the ship without the player necessarily being able to stop it, short of force-quitting the game. Even using 'Dismiss' is potentially risky because if the AI is already behaving strangely it might just boost the ship directly into the regolith.
Making the ship immune to all damage during a recall is obviously silly and exploitable; but making it immune to terrain damage prevents this kind of mishap without being open to exploitation - other players can still pew pew to their hearts' content.
Signed, an explorer who just watched his AspX ram its bum end onto a planet and start pirouetting. At least I managed to force quit after losing only 14% of the hull.
Making the ship immune to all damage during a recall is obviously silly and exploitable; but making it immune to terrain damage prevents this kind of mishap without being open to exploitation - other players can still pew pew to their hearts' content.
Signed, an explorer who just watched his AspX ram its bum end onto a planet and start pirouetting. At least I managed to force quit after losing only 14% of the hull.