Collection of Powerplay Changes of Interest to Explorers

[drkaii]

I finally went through the entire changelog and noted all the changes that are of interest to explorers. Here you go:


· Power specific ship modules added
· Power specific goods and actions added

· Fuel transfer drones added

· Mission system overhaul

· Missions scaling up based on rank
· Added Founders and Elite ranked missions
· More mission variants added​

· Add select nav target functionality to system map
· Loan ceiling scales based on player's highest Elite rank
· Allow any general purpose slot on any ship to contain a fuel tank module
· Added rank up messages and animations to inbox



General Tweaks/Fixes

· Fix ring scaling on stars in system map
· Galaxy map camera now caches its current position for retrieval on returning to the galaxy map
· Fix planet popping on approach
· Stop the system info popup preventing clicking the system itself
· The minimum value of the lighting curves for stars has been altered so that it scales from a universal base value with star temperature
· Fix missing black hole effect in certain systems - such as Phua Aub SO-Z
· Reset current target contact when pressing the "select next route system" key
· Changed WING RANGE to EXCEEDS WING for nav panel system buttons
· One suspected cause for driver micro-stutters addressed
· Made the stars and planets wait until they are ready to render, this will fix planets showing up as white for a short time after entering the game
· Jovian texture replaced wrong default terrestrial texture, schematic height params for this planet type slightly raised for better definition
· Fix repeat exploration scans cancelling previous scans
· Fix rings becoming invisible when entering or exiting supercruise
· Added rank progress bars
· Improvements to engine effects overhaul
· Optimisation for partial name search in galaxy map
· Fixed not being able to supercruise through a completely invisible ring
· Fix for cartography data being fetched but requested in the previous page refresh
· When targeting a Point of Interest, show the second detail as the name of the body it's around rather than the type of body. Also show minor faction names instead of major faction
· Added support for warming up shaders - a likely issue causing the big stalls approaching planets
· If stellar surface tessellation fails then make sure we try again on the next frame
· Updates to ring fog systemPopup message to go with the inbox message when the player gains a Pilots Federation rank



Audio:

· PowerPlay interface and PowerPlay Galaxy-map audio added.
· Supercruise engines are improved and have subtle 'judder' when overshooting a planet.
· Improved mix on hyperspace tunnel whispers and flybys.#
· StellarAmbient/Music in System/GalaxyMap tweaked.
· Volume tweak to ambiences in the system map.
· Improved target indicator sound to be less piercing at high volume.
· Improved audibility on heat alarms.
· Reversed the FSD cool-down sound as before it sounded too much like a prelude to a big event.
· Improved audibility of mass lock, safe to disengage and speed warning sound.
· Improved navigating the system map audio when using mouse.
· Improved growl and orientation noises on the Asp, improved boost sound.
· Fixed some silly clicks on fuelscoop.
· Reverbs use less memory.


Other changes not in the list:

-2 new ships - Diamondback Scout and Imperial Courier
-Galnet news feed directly from your ship
-Appears the statistics now have separated level 2 and 3 detailed scans out

 

[Allitnil]

Thanks for putting this together.

Does anyone know if there are any exploration related module improvements or perks from any of the powers in the beta? Is there a general list of such perks?

 

[Dommarraa]

One of the powers gives double value for exploration data. However, you need to be a total grinder to get to that level. I am not at all sure that you would keep that high a rank while out in the black for a few weeks, so may be of no use whatsoever

 

[Katejina]

· Improved growl and orientation noises on the Asp, improved boost sound.

Ooooh, I love how aggressive my Asp sounds already. This should be fun!

 

[Varrag]

Thanks for the effort, OP. Personally, I find that only these two things may have some limited value.

· Add select nav target functionality to system map
· Allow any general purpose slot on any ship to contain a fuel tank module

Rest are minor tweaks and... ah, yes, them power specific modules (are we going to get super FSD or faster scanners...?). According to what appears to be generally VERY grindy design of PP, those will most likely stay well beyound my scope.

 

[Thoris]

If you haven't looked at how the two new ships fit into the "explorer ship hierarchy", here's my take on it (sorted by jump range). I haven't included the top two ships, the Anaconda and the Asp, since they cost vastly more than all of these and their position in the hierarchy hasn't changed. This list is intended more for the intermediate explorer

Type-6 Transporter (29,5 ly jump range, costs 4.977.330 cr)

Hauler (27,54 ly, 2.066.897 cr)

Diamonback Scout (27,5 ly, 4.061.180 cr) *

Imperial Courier (27,16 ly, 4.874.264 cr) *

Adder (26,1 ly, 2.463.997 cr)

Cobra Mk III (25,93 ly, 3.972.155 cr)


Obviously the loadouts may still be tweaked, for example with better fuel scoops.

* Subject to change since still in beta. Also, the courier reportedly has heat problems when scooping, likely a bug but maybe not.

 

[Ziljan]

The Diamondback is the slowest scooping ship in the game next to the sidewinder because it is the only one with an undersized scoop by design. So it's moderate range isn't really an asset for exploring purposes. Especially since the biggest challenge for a starting explorer is finding a spot that hasn't been tagged already. Also it doesn't have as many important component slots as the adder or the cobra. So it can't slot enough repair models and scanners. I would put it dead last on the list.

Sorry this should have been said first but: thank you OP!

 

[Galten75]

Great list, thanks!

Also general GalNet news can be read out in deep space. Alway nice to keep up with current events back in civ space.

// G

 

[Viking2010]

I also noticed in the beta that they appear to have fixed the Level 2 and Level 3 scans information which is good!

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I finally went through the entire changelog and noted all the changes that are of interest to explorers. Here you go:
· Galaxy map camera now caches its current position for retrieval on returning to the galaxy map
· Fix planet popping on approach
· Fix repeat exploration scans cancelling previous scans
· Added support for warming up shaders - a likely issue causing the big stalls approaching planets

Thanks for the summarising. These four will make things much nicer, I think. Especially the first, with my "pick a direction and plot 50-100 LY at a time" approach.

 

[Whiterose]

Think I will buy me a courier next time I go out....

 

[drkaii]

Great list, thanks!

Also general GalNet news can be read out in deep space. Alway nice to keep up with current events back in civ space.

// G

Oh yeah, weird it got missed out of the features list

I also noticed in the beta that they appear to have fixed the Level 2 and Level 3 scans information which is good!

Awesome!

 

[Thalkran]

Of note is also the reputation decay system. Can't wait to lose most of my rep every time I take a lengthy exploration trip.

 

[Varrag]

Of note is also the reputation decay system. Can't wait to lose most of my rep every time I take a lengthy exploration trip.

Or when you go to vacation. Seriously, that's probably the most... silly thing I've seen in PP prototype. I hope they'll get rid of it.

 

[Ziljan]

· The minimum value of the lighting curves for stars has been altered so that it scales from a universal base value with star temperature

I wonder does this mean that the stars will be brighter overall? And if so does that also mean that there will more stars in the sky when we are far from the parent star's corona? That would be awesome if it's true.

 

[CMDR DoubleSkulls]

One of the powers gives double value for exploration data. However, you need to be a total grinder to get to that level. I am not at all sure that you would keep that high a rank while out in the black for a few weeks, so may be of no use whatsoever

I looked at that too and I'm just struggling to see how it would work. Its a top 5 reward. So won't you need to grind hard to get there? Probably working for weeks? Once you've achieved it you can then sell all your data...

 

[Galten75]

I looked at that too and I'm just struggling to see how it would work. Its a top 5 reward. So won't you need to grind hard to get there? Probably working for weeks? Once you've achieved it you can then sell all your data...

That is exactly the problem. You need to grind PP-objectives to get to highest rank with that power. But the rank will degenerate over time (currently unknown how much though). So lets say you been out for 4 weeks prior 1.3. You then need get your rank from 1 to 5 with PP shipping/fighting. Sell you data. Get out and explore again only to lose your rank during that time and need to grind for a while again, hopefully not from rank 1 again.

// G

 

[matemaster]

Yesterday I bought myself ASP, fitted it for exploring and headed to the void. My plan is to scan many worthy objects like neutron stars, blackholes, earthlike worlds then return and work on PP rank until I get the 200% bonus and sell the data

 

[drkaii]

I wonder does this mean that the stars will be brighter overall? And if so does that also mean that there will more stars in the sky when we are far from the parent star's corona? That would be awesome if it's true.

It sounds like this means that, unlike right now - where all stars look the same once you are really far away from them - stars will all look different when you are really far from them. So a class O hypergiant at 1,000,000ls will look different to a brown dwarf at 10,000ls, where as right now they look identical apart from the colour.

So no, I don't think it applies to the skybox at all, just stars within the current system. But I think it sounds awesome. I've always hated the fact that all stars are the same once you get far enough away from them.

 

[domaq]

It sounds like this means that, unlike right now - where all stars look the same once you are really far away from them - stars will all look different when you are really far from them. So a class O hypergiant at 1,000,000ls will look different to a brown dwarf at 10,000ls, where as right now they look identical apart from the colour.

So no, I don't think it applies to the skybox at all, just stars within the current system. But I think it sounds awesome. I've always hated the fact that all stars are the same once you get far enough away from them.

On my MacBook, some large stars are already so bright, I have sunglasses sitting next to my keyboard...
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