Hello all! Pretty new to the game and found something I think may (or may not) be a good addition to the game. I also suppose it is rather easy to implement although I am not programmer by any means. So I am currently playing vanilla solo and learning the game and eventually built my first HV with a harvester module and was very disappointed. I was expecting it to make life easier by harvesting stones, plants and trees only to find out it only harvests trees. Overall I really don't think it does justice to the module and makes harvesting HVs rather useless. Maybe it is done for balancing reasons and what not but I would love to see the module do more than just cutting down trees. The reason behind it is that I didn't find myself in need of THAT many logs which I could easily gather by hand and the amount I got still lasts me to this day. So essentially I built an HV with a harvester module for 5 mins of tree hunting.
Actually it WAS ...quite some time ago... a function of the Harvester module to harvest surface Rocks as well. By design it is ment that surface Rock collection is only necessary at the beginning phase of the game and therefore the ability to pick up stones from surface Rocks with the Harvest Module/Drill Module are not 'required'. This decission of the Devs led to much contorversy among the Play-Testers. Non the less - the function stays like that right now.
Ah trees... great source of bio-fuel, which in turn is a cheap and easy way to power just about anything. I usually collect my logs several hundred at a time. The lawn mower attachment is also good for grinding up random critters for food and fun.
Well... I ran into a situation when I needed a few copper to get off the damned planet I was on and wanted to use the HV. Anyway I see the situation. Although I believe additional functionality in this case doesn't deduct from the experience. And in my personal opinion only enhances it.
It should be able to harvest plants as well. Currently just gives xp for destroying the plant. The damn thing looks like a combine harvester and yet the one thing it cant actually do is harvest!
While you may not see a need in early game for a harvester HV, in later game you'll see that you need tons of wood to keep your ammo supply up, and having a dedicated harvester of trees will be worth it. I can't grow enough plant fiber to meet my needs, I still go to the planet and harvest trees by the hundreds...
Allowing it to harvest grow plot plants would be great too. It would finally let me make my biofuel superfarm!
Hover combines must become a thing. They'd be the perfect tool for both harvesting large space gardens and foraging on planets.