But... why? Aside from being slower than walking, they're just shy of useless as far as I can tell. I was actually rather hopeful to be able to load an HV with a drill on it, lift it into space, detach and drill some asteroid... but noooooo.... can't use the drill in space. Gonna have to call this an oversight on the dev team here. I know, I know, modify the .yaml file, but this really should be a "vanilla" feature so there's at least SOME purpose to loosing an HV in zero-g.
Why can HV's be used in space? It's because of the any to any docking. You can now dock a HV to a SV, but you can't then dock that SV to a CV since the SV already has a vessel docked to it. It's a game limitation they can't remove at this time. So because of that limitation it's 100% necessary for HV's to work in space. This needs to be simply so that you can undock that HV from the SV in space and be able to easily dock that HV to your CV. Why don't HV drills work in space? Simply because if they did then you would have basically zero reason to use the super expensive CV drills if a much cheaper HV drill did the same thing. So no oversight at all. 100% intentional.
Except... you'd still need that super-expensive CV to jump to other systems when the handful of asteroids with ore are depleted, especially if the next nearest planet with orbital resources is further away than an SV Warp Drive can reach. CV 'roid mining is something of an art, as the size of CV's and their orientation can make it challenging to aim or locate all the resources on a particular asteroid. I've made more than a few that simple ingest the entire asteroid, as this is simpler than searching out ore pockets. After all, crushed stone is still ore, just in an very inefficient form.
Not necessarily. Asteroids can be set to regenerate. Custom scenarios can be used as well. Either way, the reason I stated IS the reason they are deactivated. Same way that CV drills are deactivated if on planet. It's an intentional move. I'm not saying I agree with it. I'm just sharing the facts with you on why it is the way it is. You asked and I answered. None of it is an oversight at all. You are free to change it in the config.ecf file if you wish. I've done so.
They can regenerate indeed, but if the system you're in contains Iron, Silicon and Copper, and you Neodymium, no amount of regeneration is going to spawn in something that doesn't spawn in that system, necessitating a move to another system.
I'd suggest making a very small, specific CV for mining, and dock that one to your main warp-able CV. Use the smallest parts and pieces you can, it can easily be a T1 CV as well. Sure it seems a bit huge for just a mining vessel (when a much smaller HV could do the job)... but... thats space for you And HVs moving in space was intentional only in the sense of needing to be able to move them from docked to docked as krazzy explained.
Well, I'm going to continue to disagree with the reasoning here. As I mentioned, there are plenty of reasons to want to leave a system - lack of resources, bad neighborhood, air-quality - sea not purple enough, you name it, and those kinds of moves typically do require the use of a large, expensive CV. I just see more opportunity for enhanced gameplay by allowing HV's, especially HV drills, to function in space. You could still construct a mining CV, complete with laser drills AND deploy an HV equipped with a drill. I've build something similar for use on planets in the past, where the HV is "captive" on the CV, that is, it operates within a "track" on the CV and simply slides forward and backward, to drill holes in the sides of mountains, in which I've constructed bases. The CV creates a nice, stable platform, as HV's tend to like to tunnel downward when drilling, rather than staying on a horizontal plane. But similar things could be done in space - a side door on a CV opens up, the HV fires up, detaches from "docked", fires up a drill, eats a 'roid, fills up with materials that are then transferred to the CV for refining, and mining can become a team activity this way, with CV pilots at the helm, mining crews in HV's, and a couple SV pilots on guard duty.
Unfortunately the developers don't agree with you, and what they say is ultimately what goes. They have already said this is unlikely to change. We've all asked for such things many times ever since we first got vessel drills in the game. I still firmly believe drills belong on SV's instead of CV's in space, but the developers don't agree. Luckily, in your case, you have the power to change it yourself. And that IS what you are going to have to do if you absolutely want HV drills to function in space. You are going to have to be the one to modify the config file. I can almost 100% guarantee you that the developers are never going to make that change. We aren't trying to rain on your parade here. We are just being realistic with you based on what we've been told over the years.
I never use a HV in space and no need to use it - there is no logic to fly in space - its a ground vehicile! Can make a super cheap CV if i need to mine so desperate and disassemble it after that - even "from pocket"
Ok, so I did find one, singular use for a Space HV: an Inventory Relay for salvaging Wreckage. I've built quite a few "Cargo HV's" which are little more than 5x5x15(-3) slabs of cargo extenders, a cargo controller and a WiFi device and core* on a few large hover pads and a couple ground repulsors, with a cockpit in the least obtrusive place. But they come in handy for moving large amounts of cargo, or, for pushing out a cargo bay from a larger ship and loading up with free stuff. Other than that... I'm hard pressed to find any use for them yet. I haven't tested HV turrets to see if they can fire in space, but I suppose if they work, you could use them as either siege equipment or decoys/barricades but.. meh.
Why aren't Drills attachable to SV's? which seems like the most easiest and logical option than lugging a hv around that can barely move.
Drills are heavy, bulky, and if you're using one, they need to feed into something. There's no Harvest box for SV's either, so any drilling would only produce chunks you'd have to pick up by hand. Ultimately it's because the SV was not meant to be used as a mining platform. They make good air combat craft, scout vehicles, and short-range transports. Kind of like asking why there are no bulldozers in NASCAR.
I really don't like HV's now becoming some kinda of psuedo-SV in zero g, it makes the entire concept of classes of entities more muddied and confusing. a Hover Vehicle is now more than hover, and effectively is a ultra-short-range SV.
Except in terms of performance, even the smallest SV will run circles around an HV in space. Additionally, under normal circumstances, an HV cannot achieve orbit on its own, making some manner of SV necessary for getting it there in the first place. Add to that the efficiency of a mining HV is still dwarfed by that of a CV, and space-operating HV's are still quite limited in scope. But you are free to dislike them in this role and may continue to not use them this way - that's all you.
Oddly, I remember transporting my HV's in and on CV's before Everything But CV-to-BA to Everything But CV-to-BA docking, which meant traveling through space.. but I'm thinking this is more related to being able to Undock them, which I don't believe you could do before... Though I will say, I have built at least two space-based bases that use "captive" HV's as a means of getting from one place to another, and they're quite interesting, fun, and look plain neat. What is a "Captive HV"? In this case, this is a small HV that travels along a glass tube. Since the HV cannot leave the tube (short of the tube being broken or removed, it is "captive".
TBH - I don't see why there has to be a distinction between SV/HV and BA/CV (other than BA can embed in terrain and cant be moving). Coming to this from SE I found the type specific starting block to be an oddity. Even more of an oddity when I realised this actually lock you into a very specific vehicle type. The only distinction there is small block or large block and even then it is possible to include both large and small in a single ship or base. I would actually WANT to build a hybrid SV/HV with lift thruster as well as hover engines (and how about fold-away wings? ). Hell why stop there - give it enough thrust to get to orbit and a warp drive? This pretty much describes most of my 'ground' vehicles in SE - they start out as ground crawlers and slowly get upgraded to multi-role all environment ships with warp drives to get between the planets as well.
For many years SE seperated Space Station and Large Ships for the same reasons that Empyrion does with BA and CV. Space stations in SE were fixed in place and could clip through asteroids. Ships could not. Seperate mechanics govern HV movement compared to SV. They can't share the same type without a complete rewrite.
