Stationeers: Let's give the controversial Rovers a whirl, shall we.

Rovers are not actually in the game, but they're not removed either, so let's drive them a bit by spawning them in.
Thanks to (what translates to) "PretzelFigov" xD on Steam for the inspiration: steamcommunity...
To spawn then, press [F3] for console, then type either (or both) of these:
thing spawn ItemKitRoverMKI 1
thing spawn ItemKitRoverFrame 1
To complete construction, you'll need: Steel sheets, plastic sheets, glass sheets. POWERFUL batteries. Empty canister (waste), oxygen canister (up to 3).
Important: Use [Alt] to control things with mouse cursor, e.g. turn Rover on. You need to be in the left seat to drive.
Also: Save and edit world.xml: Set the "Indestructable" tag to true because else storms would damage them.
RocketWerkz will redo the terrain system this year (It will be finite and not so samey and will have more high res voxels.), and since the terrain was (at least one of) the reason(s) the Rovers were removed, there's hope they'll have a comeback soon after - but as this video shows, they need some work, so ... I guess it'll take. Maybe Nuclear Power (Which will definitely come!) will even be before that.
Hm, interesting, here's yet another new post about Rovers. It's suggested one of the reasons the Rovers were removed is they were not completed: steamcommunity...

[@dansiegel995]

The rovers have always of course been fairly pointless. However, IIRC from your news videos, the devas are heading towards giving us missions. That is where their need I believe will come into play. Also, if they prevent us in the future of putting mining belts and mining packs in suit storage(storage inside storage which makes storage infinite), then you WOULD need rovers for long duration mining trips. Also, if you could eat and drink in the Cargo Rover, it would then be perfect for multi-day excursions. Yeah, the power usage is tough, but remember you are in Europa. Try it on Venus or mars and I bet it will perform much better. Nevertheless, you have enough cargo slots on the rovers to bring extra batteries. As far as storm damage, they used to have garages which would protect the rovers. Regarding storms, you certainly should be able to survive one storm which would be SEVERAL days away from the base, but they need to have some type of repair device that you can install in your garage (requires atmo so it would be nearly impractical to make a portable repair base), so that you can damage the rover but repair it easily while at home base. I'm sure rovers are all aligning with other future content hopefully coming in the next 12 months. The problem with these survival games is no purpose, no objectives- and TBH, I've grown tired on sandbox survival games with no objectives or goals set by the game itself. That's why the teraformming mod is so popular, a daunting endgame objective to give you a reason to make the megabase.

[@ec-norsemanzero-drake7031]

I want my flyable modular shuttles!!!

[@fluffy6818]

I need my customizable 32 mile long railgun!

[@BigfootMSR]

Just a couple points you didn't show off. What happens when you deconstruct a rover. Last I checked, you didn't get any materials back. And in a multiplayer environment, they wont move, at all.

[@OwnerOfTheCosmos]

Huh, didn't know that was something to consider, but I just tested, and indeed: Deconstructing both (One Hand Drill action each.) dropped the gas canisters, the batteries, and the (type of) kit that had been used to make them. Tried to remake the cargo Rover with that then: It was asking for materials again - materials I had not gotten back! ---- Multiplayer: Had tons of bad sync issues that had been worked on and improved a lot, but I guess since the Rovers aren't officially in the game, those changes were never also considered for them.

[@romandeniskin8818]

I was lucky to found a cargo rover on Lulan back then when Lulan was a thing. It was very useful for scavenging runs. Because, Lulan.

[@dan7rex]

Before they removed the Mk1 from the game, I tried to use it on the Moon. It was awful to drive. The rover had no grip, and it was like driving on ice. Also, as you showed, it's annoying to get them out when they fall into a hole.

[@friedec3622]

Rover is kinda not needed. Since all your mining problem is solved by deep mining ore. Unless the devs make trading and end game mining a bit lot harder. Example, trading with outpost NPC base where you need to go there by rover, or mining sites where certain ore is much more abundant there.

[@OwnerOfTheCosmos]

Deep Miners are likely to change: This year brings a new terrain system that is finite with reasons to travel, and they said a few times that Deep Miners will probably change. discord.com/channels/276525882049429515/276525882049429515/1110823817720365096 "special spots where deep miners work better, maybe veins where only certain stuff can be extracted. To encourage smaller outposts" Or this: discord.com/channels/276525882049429515/276525882049429515/1131872702253256774 " deep miner to require finding particular locations, for certain ore ratios etc"

[@MakarovFox]

i hope they come back and are like the rockets that you build like modular whit more fuel or more cargo and those things

[@LavenThaRaven]

Tbh for the rover battery I'd rather have a charging station and batteries dedicated to the rover cause the others should be for things that are smaller not big bulky things just looks funny especially when it drains them quick

[@OwnerOfTheCosmos]

Hm. That sounds about right. I hope they'll rework the Rovers somewhat (if they ever come back, which I assume they will), e.g. because you can enter them without an airlock, but you can find a breathable atmosphere inside. And why not have a place for a Station Battery? The large Rover could even allow the placement of a big one. Then we drive back to the garage, and if we're close enough to a charging spot, an elastic cable thingy will snap into place to charge the batteries.

[@AnonNopleb]

Nice, about time someone proved them haters wrong. Rovers always worked for me in Singleplayer since I picked up this game 2 years ago. Did you know that it is possible to mount almost all portables to the rover? Alas, I guess the world wasn't ready for the portable AC + portable hydroponics rover build...

[@OwnerOfTheCosmos]

Well, even in Stationeers land, not everybody knows how to do tricks like spawning rovers, or even just to use a different version (e.g. Beta) of a Steam game, even though it's so simple. So, the Rovers not being available in a normal way means ... they're not available. Also, they're somewhat dysfunctional, not just regarding driving: Deconstructing them doesn't give you the materials back.

[@AnonNopleb]

@@OwnerOfTheCosmos It doesn't really bother me that they don't give you the materials back, after all reconstructing them give them their full health back and the materials are not really expensive compared to the original component cost of the kits when they were in the game. Also, storm damage gives an incentive to create a garage for the rover

[@PanicOregon]

That dial is not actually speed, that's RPM. I don't understand why they're using that.

[@wriker36]

I did all this but my rover won't move. pressing w or s and it just sits there. a and d do steer but it won't move? Any ideas why? I'm sitting in the left seat by the way.

[@OwnerOfTheCosmos]

Have you pressed [Left Alt] to get the mouse pointer and then clicked to turn the power on? (I don't know where exactly, it's in the video.)

[@wriker36]

@@OwnerOfTheCosmos Yeah you explained it perfectly well in your video it just didn't work for my system. Weird. I can steer but it won't move. Just don't know what else I can try? Might be just buggy for me? Ha ha, see what I did there... 'buggy'? Thanks, great video btw.

[@LabelsAreMeaningless]

The view needs to be closer to the windshield. Yes many would want 3rd person but I'd simply just prefer focus to be on the windshield and not on your own knees and hands (especially since your hands aren't even on a steering mechanism). The smaller one had a better view. Leave the colors and cutsie alone. Maybe they could have alternatives for people but many like that while most things are technical and serious in the game, they also have some fun and colorful things. Both have value.

[@OwnerOfTheCosmos]

Closer to windshield: That would work, since we can just widen the FOV with hotkeys if need be. - The flashlight should definitely move with the view=head, guess they just forgot that. I see your valid point about the colors and cutesy, but I think that the priorities speak against it: Top priority is money that RocketWerkz are still bleeding on Stationeers. Its graphics are clearly inferior anyway to high end games these days, so that's a negative point - but its graphics are basically all procedural, the world isn't a baked jungle but what you make it to be. So, since everything has meaning and is modular, such rather tech oriented graphics can easily be forgiven (if not even be appreciated). The human characters though do not have that bonus, and someone coming from the outside doesn't know yet how deep and technical Stationeers is, so they are likely to think something like: "Inferior cutesy imitator wants big bucks? - Nah." They clash with the idea of a high tech simulation. But let's say ... ... let's say that people would rather buy it BECAUSE of those graphics. Which in my opinion really don't fit the tech stuff. Then they buy it, find that the game is nothing like those cute colorful appearances for the most part, and they might even refund it because of clashing expectations.

[@andrewcurtin7003]

Tbh, i want like a smaller rover. Lke almost like a segway type scale, just cause i have to wander around a bunch to find nickle/lead and it just is a slog to walk back.

[@GokouZWAR]

TLDR - they’re pointless. You never have to travel far from your base and they are horrible on terrain. Why waste resources making one is beyond me.

[@OwnerOfTheCosmos]

Once the terrain refactor is done (this year), which gives us finite and diverse terrain with reasons to travel, that'll hopefully change.

[@videonmode8649]

I think you mentioned recently that the devs are going to change how metal/mineral resources are done. Will they generate the map so that more common resources spawn closer and the others that are used in higher tiers further away? Is there even a point to travel once you get a deep miner since that harvests endless resources?

[@johnthehumanist2333]

NONSENSE!🤣 This map is not good for land vehicles,too rocky/jagged! DO NOT blame tools when tools are used wrongly! This highlights a problem with stationeers,it needs modular/prefab ships, a MKII shuttle would be better for this map,even better with a teleporter as shown in some in game load screens. RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB!