Guide/Hover Vessel

Basics

Basic stuff you need (minimum):

• 1x Hover Vessel Starter
• 1x File:Cockpit (SV).png Cockpit (of any kind)
• 1x File:Generator (SV,GV).png Generator
• 1x File:Fuel tank (gv,SV).png Fuel Tank
• 4x File:Thruster GV Directional.png Thrusters (of any kind)
• 1x File:RCS (GV).png RCS (HV)

Recommended additions:

• 1x File:OxygenTank (SV,GV).png Oxygen Tank

Recommended additions for explorers

• 1x File:Fridge (SV,GV).png Fridge (SV,HV)
• 1x-2x Cargo Box
• 1x File:Oxygen Station SV.png Oxygen Station
• 1x Small Constructor

Tip: Unlike for Small Vessels, it's possible to add a  turret to a Hover Vessel! It will autonomously take on NPCs and Drones while the pilot is digging or looting POIs.

Important piloting advice

Hover Vessels are NOT all terrain vehicles. Although they..

• ...CAN climb rough terrain or a steep hills with some piloting experience or by making use of the hover vessel features like jumping, moving sideways instead of taking the hill head-on and adding more hover engines. But they are NOT laid out for hill climbing excursions! Experienced pilots can easily reach the top of a mountain, but this won’t be a smooth ride! Expect some bumps and scratches on the fresh new paintjob ;-)
• ...CAN cross smaller trenches and terrain ditches. They can NOT fly over a canyon and even in less hilly terrain, there is a chance they will flip over or stall if not carefully piloted in these areas.

THREE GOLDEN RULES:

1. Don't drive a HV as you would pilot a SV!
2. Drive a Hover Vessel like you would drive a car in real life - and expect it to crash if undertaking too risky maneuvers!
3. If piloting a HV, it is a good idea, to search for gaps in a mountain range or trenched terrain. Preferably use lakes, rivers, shorelines and open terrain instead!

Tips & Best Practice

As with any vessel or base in Empyrion Galactic Survival, there’s no “ultimate design”. But there are some rules, that should be followed to improve handling and usability of a Hover Vessel.

• 1. When having placed the starter block, put the cockpit right above the core block: the hover engine needs to be as forefront as possible to minimize bumping issues when climbing steep hills.

Tip: Even if one cannot see the hover engine on the starter-block, it is always sitting directly below the core block!

• 2. Build the front like a shovel. Don’t add a lot of cube blocks on the lower front of the cockpit to minimize bumps when climbing hills.

• 3. A hover vessel should look more like a pyramid or a lying rectangle when looked at from the back/front to minimize tipping over at steep ramps or uneven terrain.

Tip: Building high “boxes” or “Pencils” vessels, this might result in tipping over more frequently (like in real life).

• 3. Adding additional hover engines will improve the suspension and reduce bumping-issues (blue line).

Tip: 
*Heavy vessel + more hover engines = less ground-bumps when going fast on uneven terrain or when jumping/moving downhill.
*Additional hover engines also help when trying to climb or sliding down a hill by stabilizing the maximum flight height, because 'terrain bumping" is a result of drops in the maximum flight height!

• 4. Hover vessels have a max 3m flight level. Make use of it! There are only a few obstacles, like stone towers, that are higher than 3m. A higher flight level will also help when trying to climb steep hills.

SPACE = rise the flight level gradually to a max of 3m 
C = lower the flight level gradually 

• 5. If the Hover Vessel tipped over, hit SHIFT once and the vessel will roll back to standard position! The hover vessel needs a RCS equipped to use this feature!

• 6. Hit SHIFT+Space to do a quite HIGH jump. This will help with some obstacles and when climbing hills.

• 7. For getting a Hover Vessel to move, ONLY a minimum of 4 thrusters are needed (6 are minimum needed for SVs): Front, back, left, right.

Tip: 
*Directional Thrusters are sufficient for movement! 
*Add more or other types of thrusters (like in the picture above) for additional thrust. This won’t increase the maximum speed on a planet, though (40 mph) 

 

Hover Vessel - Q&A

Q: The turrets of my hover vessel won’t shoot at enemies

A: Either use “T” and enter the turret for a few seconds or remove and rebuild the turret. This is a known issue that the devs are working to improve.

Q: The turrets of my hover vessel won’t shoot at nearby enemies but still trying to kill old targets.

A: Use T and enter the turret. Shoot at the nearest enemy OR try to get out of reach (~200-300m should loose target lock). This is a known issue that the devs are working to improve.

Q: Does my suit O2 get used when sitting in the cockpit?

A: There are 4 modes: (neither of them are bugs, but intended to work like this)

When sitting in a cockpit with..

• .. helmet on: you will use the suits O2
• .. helmet off: you will use the suits O2 as well (think of the suit releases O2 to fill the cockpit)
• .. helmet off and the HV (or SV) has an oxygen tank equipped with some bottles added: you are using the vessel O2 tanks oxygen, not your suits O2.
• .. helmet on and the HV (or SV) has an oxygen tank equipped with some bottles added: you are using the O2 of your suit.

Q: Is there any way to see how much O2 my ship has (aside from looking into the O2 tanks)?

'A: Hit P. The console menu displays the remaining O2 in the lower right corner. One O2 tank can hold 400 units of oxygen (Two oxygen bottles)