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Lightweight, all-terrain wheeled vehicle designed for exploring planetary surfaces. Equipped with a turret-mounted, dual-plasma repeater weapon.

— In-Game Description

The Scarab is a Surface Recon Vehicle manufactured by Vodel. It is used by pilots to traverse the surfaces of terrestrial planets and moons, enter Settlements, and retrieve commodities and materials that ships are too cumbersome to reach. The Scarab is a low-cost and swift ground craft most commonly carried by explorers, and it is also popular among racing and stunt enthusiasts, but it is less suited for combat-intensive situations than the Scorpion.

Overview[]

Mobility[]

Gas-Vents-and-SRV

Gas vents and an SRV

The Scarab is capable of impressive speeds; it can clock up to 38 meters per second on flat terrain (~136.8kph or ~85mph) and still drive comfortably at 10-20m/s on rougher terrain. It's also quite agile in terms of general mobility. Gravity also affects how fast the Scarab can move.

The Scarab is also outfitted with booster jets that allow it to glide for short periods in low-gravity, or to help right itself and perform other maneuvers. These jets also provide additional downforce in low gravity, to keep the vehicle (somewhat) grounded on worlds where it might otherwise be stuck airborne for minutes at a time.

Sensors[]

Night Vision SRV Krait MkII

Night Vision and Krait MkII

Like most other ground targets like Skimmers, the Scarab is a small, low-profile target that is difficult for ships to lock on to at longer ranges. NPC ships can (and will) engage SRVs at certain outposts if that outpost is attacked by the SRV.

As far as its own sensors go, the Scarab has a 1C sensor that can detect (and scan) ships out to around 1-3 kilometers (depending upon the ship's size and thermal signature), and Skimmers and other ground threats out to around 600m. It's also equipped with a Data Link Scanner for interacting with scannable items, and the Wave Scanner module; a unidirectional, long-range, forward facing scanner that detects a variety of vehicles and points of interest. The Scarab features three-mode headlights (off, dipped, and full) and brake lights. When attempting to avoid detection from other players, turning off headlights is advised. Night Vision can be used on the dark side of planets and moons.

Weapons and Defences[]

Combat-wise it is outfitted with a fairly strong, rapidly-recovering shield, and a plasma repeater turret. The Scarab is reasonably tough compared to the armaments of common Skimmers or light Defense Platforms, but it is unlikely to be able to survive against starship-mounted weaponry for long, especially railguns or missiles. It should also be noted that the Scarab's shield does not offer protection against hard impacts with terrain features, nor does it protect against many kinds of explosions (such as the Stinger-2's suicide blast).

The Scarab's plasma repeater turret fires 498rpm (8.3/s), dealing 1.2 kinetic damage per shot, has a maximum range of 800 meters, a falloff start range of 200m, and a maximum capacity of 2,000 rounds. The turret is fairly inaccurate unless manually controlled; the crosshair will shakily 'walk' around the target in a clockwise direction. Assuming manual control of the turret makes it far more accurate, and is strongly recommended for engaging fast-moving targets like Skimmers at shorter ranges, as the turret operates much like a gimbal-mounted weapon when operated from the driver's seat. The plasma repeaters are technically capable of destroying smaller ships, but this requires sustained fire and a relatively stationary target; it can take over 500 shots (a quarter of the Scarab's reserve) to destroy even a humble Eagle MkII.

It is also worth noting that the turret controls may feel somewhat stiff by default; it can be worth temporarily reducing or disabling the relevant Deadzone values under Controls to make the turret more responsive to minor input adjustments.

Cargo[]

The Scarab also comes equipped with a Cargo Hatch and a Class 2 Cargo Rack, giving it 4 tonnes of cargo space for transporting cargo canisters or similar items. It also has a storage compartment for munitions for Handheld Weapons and Consumables, allowing it to be used as a mobile supply station during On Foot activities.

Controls[]

SRV-Scarab-Driving-Planet

SRV Scarab driving on a planet

There are two drive modes for the Scarab: Drive Assist Off and Drive Assist On. Drive Assist On sets the SRV to your desired speed. It's quite like cruise control. Drive Assist Off lets you control the SRV similar to driving a real car.[1]

Drive Assist is primarily useful for maintaining a steady speed and direction whilst operating the turret manually. The SRV can still be steered and operated via standard inputs with drive assist disabled, but it can be more fiddly to juggle all of the various controls such as aiming, power assignment, and so on.

Outfitting[]

Main article: Outfitting

Unlike ships, the Scarab SRV cannot be modified. Its default loadout is listed below.

Category System Rating Class
Small Hardpoint SRV Dual Repeater 1 G
Bulkheads Hull Structure N/A N/A
Reactor Bay Power Plant E 0
Environment Control Life Support E 0
Power Coupling Power Distributor E 0
Sensor Suite Sensors C 1
Fuel Store Fuel Tank [x0.45] C 0
Internal Compartments Shield Generator C 0
Data Link Scanner I 0
Wave Scanner H 1
Cargo Rack [x4] E 2

Notes[]

  • The Scarab was added in Elite Dangerous: Horizons Planetary Landings (2.0) on December 15, 2015.
  • To assist with manoeuvring on low-gravity planets, the SRV thrusters produce downforce, resulting in artificially higher gravity than actual gravity. On planets with gravity less than 1G, the SRV's effective gravity is the average of 1G and the actual value[2]. For example, on a 0.2G world the effective gravity will be 0.6G. The lowest possible effective gravity is therefore slightly above 0.5G. On planets above 1G, downforce is not used and the actual gravity value applies.
  • Whilst the Scarab's canopy is listed as a subsystem, the canopy has no weight or integrity and so cannot be broken by incoming damage or impacts.
  • The Scarab's turret was designed by 3D Artist Aaron Khachik.[3]
  • The Scarab's cargo capacity was increased from 2 tonnes to 4 in Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Update 9.[4]

Trivia[]

  • Over 92,322,972,771 meters were driven in Scarab SRVs as of March 4, 2018.[5]

See Also[]

Videos[]

Gallery[]

References[]

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