In a recent AMA on the Elite Dangerous Odyssey forums, Frontier provided details about combat in the upcoming expansion. Players will be able to run over and crash into other players with SRVs, and while ships won’t be able to lock onto players on foot, players on foot will be able to lock onto ships. Additionally, ship-launched fighters can be used in ground combat areas, but won’t be able to target players on foot, and SRVs won’t be engineerable in Odyssey.
Frontier has released a new AMA on the official forums regarding Elite Dangerous Odyssey. The AMA focused mostly on combat, specifically ships and SRVs. Some interesting details emerged from the AMA, although there were no major revelations. A poll conducted earlier on YouTube showed that 50% of respondents wanted exploration-focused content in Odyssey, while 21% wanted combat and 20% were interested in scavenging.
Regarding SRVs, players will be able to run over other players and crash into them while in a ship. However, ship weapons won’t be able to lock onto players on foot due to their small size. On the other hand, players on foot will be able to lock onto ships with certain handheld weapons. Frontier stated that ship versus ship combat doesn’t need rebalancing as they believe it is currently in a healthy state. However, there was no specification as to whether this referred to PvE, PvP, or both.
Ship-launched fighters will be usable in ground combat areas, but they won’t be able to target players on foot. Ships will be able to deploy SRVs, but they won’t have any anti-personnel vehicle bombs or related missiles. Players will not be able to enter on-foot combat by being dropped from a ship; instead, ships will need to be fully landed before players can disembark. In addition, SRVs will not be engineerable in Odyssey, with the focus of engineering being on suits and weapons. However, it remains uncertain whether there will be new SRV variants.
Frontier emphasized that players will have the freedom to engage in combat in various forms, such as a commander in an Alliance Crusader having multi-crew teammates deploying in a ship-launched fighter and an SRV. The video concludes with an invitation for viewers to share their thoughts on the AMA information in the comments section.