Bqr1s
commented
2 weeks ago That very limited range is the inherent feature of Vanilla transport pods. And mod does not just change Vanilla things, unless it is really needed. But maybe they could use ship position instead of surface tile position - that will make whole tropical/equatorial region of the planet pods-reachable. So how well do they work now when launched from surface to the ship - what is their maximum range (different from maximum range on surface or not?) and are they usable around ship surface tile or around ship actual location in this case?
It's a long standing issue that trasport pods are practically unusuable on spaceships when the ship is in orbit. Why? Because the pods have limited range even when in orbit. Shuttles, unlike pods, when flying from an orbiting ship to planet's surface get infinite (or at least extremely large) range which allows them to fly virtually anywhere on the planet. This makes sense as it's easier to travel from space to surface and you only need the fuel to land. This should be the case as well with transport pods, but it isn't. Trasport pods not only have the exact same puny range in space, they also don't respect ship's position in orbit for their range. So they always have a starting point tied to ship's "tile" on the planet, like the ship was landed there. This makes transport pods unusuable and not viable.
Just using shuttles is not a solution, it's a workaround to the problem that must be fixed. Sometimes you need a disposable transport pod to do something instead of an expensive shuttle (shock troops for base assault, unmanned resource delivery to planetside, gifts). I beg you to fix this issue and make transport pods finally viable to use from space.