The only aspect of the whole game I enjoy is exploring but I agree, it's basically another grinding mechanic without risk or content
Confessions of a Frustrated Explorer
- Thread starter MrDudeGuy
- Start date
I have OCD in that I record every system and what I have found in that system using pen and paper. I agree there is not much risk at the moment, apart from lack of concentration. There are surprises sometimes, but after a while there is no more wow. As for skill, probably not once you have mastered the galaxy map, but the same can be said for most things in life. We need more objects, more surprises.
The other "problem" I see is the size of the Galaxy....even the best of methods that could make happy everybody, the most challenging, lots of variety, etc...is doomed to become a grind due to the sheer number of stars that will ensure infinite repetition of said method...no matter what...exploration will always get tiresome like any task that you could repeat 400,000,000,000 times...
Sorry, I just don't understand this.
What exactly does the way "Mass Effect" made you look for resources teach anyone about Science and Astronomy in a "useful, fun, and profitable way."?
Sweep mouse over planet graphic to find things you need, almost exactly like removing the foil on a scratchcard.
Not useful, exploring now is not profitable, slowing it down without a re-balance of the rewards will only make it worse, and certainly not "Fun" in any dictionary definition I can find - and I'm one of those people out there doing it!
And if that's not what you meant, please explain in more detail as I can't think of a more relevant example of a puzzle mini game that could be used in this instance.
Any mini game will, no matter how well designed it is, become a pain in the ass by repetition.
Every video game is a mini-game writ large. So by that logic, ED will become a pain the ass if we play it enough. The current scanning mechanic is actually a mini-game too, but it is so simplistic and so similar to everything else you do in the game that you didn't even notice it...
The the key to creating a good set of mini-games is that they
1) involve enough player skill for the person playing them to feel like they accomplished something,
2) that they blend together in a way that feels organic and creates a compelling "reward cycle",
3) and most importantly, that they tie into the the larger structure of the game.
If a mini-game feels tacked on or feels too arbitrary and out of any kind of context, then it suddenly feels like busy work rather the actually game itself.
You might be interested in this program I'm writing, which is about 60% feature complete at this time....
It'll be free btw
....
You might be interested in this program I'm writing, which is about 60% feature complete at this time....
It'll be free btw
View attachment 39194
Me wanna! Me wanna!! Mine!! Mine!! Mine!!!...when?? when??? when???....how?? how?? how???
I am currently using EDDiscovery...it's good at keeping the track, also lets me write notes...but nothing like this!!
Repped...
also, off topic...need a thread as soon as you are ready to Launch!
I kind of feel like everything should be optional and on the table at once, including the current gameplay. People should be able to play however they want imo. Special scanners and other tools could be gated by faction, power, or pilot rank though.
I'll post a thread about it when it's ready - and thanks btw.
I've been doing stints up to 4:30am to get things working the way I want them to
Next step is to get planets being recorded like the stars now are. (All the info is input manually, star and planet counts will be via clicking the relevant icons. Earth-like and other notables will be highlights in the table, and there will be a database query page from which you can "get a list of all earth-likes" or "which systems had Life in them" or, "which systems had black holes" etc. Oh and there will be a facility to import any notes you've taken in EDDiscovery - it'll try and match the notes with the systems in the Captain's Log database. Oh, and there is a "Scan all netlogs and import to Database" facility already working - so if you still have the verbose netlogs from previous exploration jaunts, they'll all get imported into a database which is independent from that - and you can create as many databases as you want).
Back on topic.
NO to nerfing the ADS - why make Exploration more tedious?
Others here have made some excellent points as to why the ADS should not be nerfed - I back those up wholeheartedly.
I've been doing stints up to 4:30am to get things working the way I want them to
Next step is to get planets being recorded like the stars now are. (All the info is input manually, star and planet counts will be via clicking the relevant icons. Earth-like and other notables will be highlights in the table, and there will be a database query page from which you can "get a list of all earth-likes" or "which systems had Life in them" or, "which systems had black holes" etc. Oh and there will be a facility to import any notes you've taken in EDDiscovery - it'll try and match the notes with the systems in the Captain's Log database. Oh, and there is a "Scan all netlogs and import to Database" facility already working - so if you still have the verbose netlogs from previous exploration jaunts, they'll all get imported into a database which is independent from that - and you can create as many databases as you want).
Back on topic.
NO to nerfing the ADS - why make Exploration more tedious?
Others here have made some excellent points as to why the ADS should not be nerfed - I back those up wholeheartedly.
You might be interested in this program I'm writing, which is about 60% feature complete at this time....
It'll be free btw
Looks like a great tool for us OCD explorers! Back to work now... 61%.... 62%...
Heh.
Coffee's good. Mars Bars not so much - I'm off the carbs.
On-topic:
As others have pointed out, Exploration hasn't been fully fleshed out yet. The ADS is plausible for many reasons - a lot of what we know about our galaxy comes from observation utilising many different technologies, some involving visual (optical telescopes), non-visual (radio telescopes), space probes, and even discovering new planets by working out their orbits from existing orbits.
We have the Frameshift Drive in 3300 - why can't the ADS be based on a subset of that technology (Detecting gravitational disturbances in a system). Why can't the ADS have the feature of using all the current tech. we have today plus new tech we won't invent until the 3300's?
No, I utterly disagree that the ADS should be nerfed. Each to their own. If YOU want to make Exploration more of a task that satisfies you - feel free to NOT use the ADS.
If you think explorers using the ADS have the advantage over you - well, see there's this little matter of there being 400 BILLION stars in the ED galaxy. There's PLENTY to go around.
Gravitational disturbances that lead to full color map ? Not likely. We can't even detect gravity waves from the the biggest and fastest mass rate changes in the universe. Let alone a single nearby planet. Gathering enough photons to produce color resolution at those distances takes several minutes per planet irl. It has to be some other tech as yet not known by science.
That's my point though. ED is a science-fiction game. ED is sci-fi.
In 3300 we have the FSD. We have death-laserbeams. And so on...
We don't have a lot of the tech. in ED now, but perhaps in the future...
This sort of argument has never worked for those new to the game, unable to take off/land, and asking why there isn't some automated way to land just built-in to the ships because it's 3300 for crissakes. Why should this sort of argument be valid now? The take-home message is that FD wants this game to be "hard" where hard means you have to do even the most repetitive thing (like landing) yourself with all sorts of detrimental elements put in place if you screw up (fines, being fired upon by station, etc). So why shouldn't exploring a system require more leg work, effort, whatever, in other words, be "hard"?
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The ADS is not built in as standard equipment either.
The docking computer isn't built in - you're correct. But it is available for a fee.
The ADS is available for a fee too - albeit a very expensive fee.
So your argument is moot.
I've always liked that sci-fi combines technology so advanced it might as well be magic along with the mundane (which soon becomes outdated). I loved those stories from the 60s where our hero with his super-duper intergalactic drive took out his pocket slide rule when he needed to calculate something... Sci-fi should contain such inconsistencies to remind us it is fiction