Hey all; I'm currently on my way back from my second Sagittarius trip, as I promised a close friend I'd escort him and keep him sane on the way out. I'm currently hammering my home as quickly as I can through what is going to be a roughly 30 hour flight on a direct course back and my goodness but it's exhausting and repetitive. In between rest and recuperation breaks, I spotted threads on the main forums raising the same concerns, so I thought I'd post the ideas that have come into my head as I honk scoop jump honk scoop jump my way home... and see what people here think. I expect they, or something similar have come up before many times, but it gives me a break from staring at the corona of stars for a moment!
Onboard Record Keeping:
A simple one, and one often asked for, but firstly there should be an accessible page aboard your own craft which lists the total of each type of discovery you've made; that is
F Class Stars = 1000
O Class Stars = 1001
etc. This should list all available discovery types so people have a goal to explore for; "Hmm, I've not claimed my own Black Hole yet, out I go again". There should also be a second page listing all the data you've gathered but not reported so far, to encourage people to feel like their progress along the way isn't pointless. And from this we get...
Advanced Honking:
Upon completing an Advanced Discovery Scan, as well as listing the total number of objects found, it should also state "Number of Objects of Interest: X". What are these? Each type of object, F class star etc should be checked against the player's recorded data for the following (as a rough idea)
* Minimum/Maximum size
* Lowest/Highest gravity
* Lowest/Highest temperature etc
I'd love for elevation/depth below surface to be taken into account, but I've no idea if the data is easily mined for this from planetary surfaces. But you get the idea. Upon initial honk it checks your records against the system and if it spots a record is broken, it says "Objects of Interest: 1" etc. It doesn't tell you where or what it is though, but it would let you know that something in the system is worth going and having a closer look at. Ideally if the idea was implemented, the previous marked discoveries would be updated into your records, that is anything with your name on previously would seed the initial records.
It would also allow much easier cross checking of inter-player achievements and if when you returned you had an outright record, there should be a big cash bonus, and perhaps an automated comment in Galnet about "Enormous new Earth Like discovered at..."
Also you could set your own "Interest" objects by type, so if you're looking for Earth Likes you could toggle them on, and again, it wouldn't say where one is, or if that's the "object of interest" or something else, but when honked, it registers a hit...
Discovery Data Return Drones:
One thing that's particularly frustrating about exploring is that on the way back, or just persuading yourself to go further is a huge emotional investment and rather stressful; because you don't know if you'll make it, or how much it's worth, or if you're abandoning your trip just short of something amazing... it's just horrible uncertainty and pressure.
So how about there's a unit, like the SRV hangar but for drones that fly back with your data? Make it weigh something so there's a small sacrifice in jump range, and it leaves the high stakes all or nothing style of exploration viable. Maybe even give it a limited amount of drones to carry. But also give it a timer for the drones to get back, so the "race for data" remains in game; say that on purchase you dedicate a receiving Station (making it a fixed point) then the return time is distance to that station from drone launch, divided by your ships jump range. That way the data would still take approximately the time it would take you to physically turn around and return it, but it doesn't mean you have to abandon your own pushing further; make it a very expensive add on, maybe even up to the insurance cost of your ship to further compensate for the ease it brings, so it's not just a no-brainer like auto repair units and doesn't make exploring too easy. But it would provide a sense of reducing the fear and tedium of exploring, and frankly would make the gameplay both more fun and consistent with how the other Elite mechanisms work with their obvious progression.
Thoughts, folks?
Onboard Record Keeping:
A simple one, and one often asked for, but firstly there should be an accessible page aboard your own craft which lists the total of each type of discovery you've made; that is
F Class Stars = 1000
O Class Stars = 1001
etc. This should list all available discovery types so people have a goal to explore for; "Hmm, I've not claimed my own Black Hole yet, out I go again". There should also be a second page listing all the data you've gathered but not reported so far, to encourage people to feel like their progress along the way isn't pointless. And from this we get...
Advanced Honking:
Upon completing an Advanced Discovery Scan, as well as listing the total number of objects found, it should also state "Number of Objects of Interest: X". What are these? Each type of object, F class star etc should be checked against the player's recorded data for the following (as a rough idea)
* Minimum/Maximum size
* Lowest/Highest gravity
* Lowest/Highest temperature etc
I'd love for elevation/depth below surface to be taken into account, but I've no idea if the data is easily mined for this from planetary surfaces. But you get the idea. Upon initial honk it checks your records against the system and if it spots a record is broken, it says "Objects of Interest: 1" etc. It doesn't tell you where or what it is though, but it would let you know that something in the system is worth going and having a closer look at. Ideally if the idea was implemented, the previous marked discoveries would be updated into your records, that is anything with your name on previously would seed the initial records.
It would also allow much easier cross checking of inter-player achievements and if when you returned you had an outright record, there should be a big cash bonus, and perhaps an automated comment in Galnet about "Enormous new Earth Like discovered at..."
Also you could set your own "Interest" objects by type, so if you're looking for Earth Likes you could toggle them on, and again, it wouldn't say where one is, or if that's the "object of interest" or something else, but when honked, it registers a hit...
Discovery Data Return Drones:
One thing that's particularly frustrating about exploring is that on the way back, or just persuading yourself to go further is a huge emotional investment and rather stressful; because you don't know if you'll make it, or how much it's worth, or if you're abandoning your trip just short of something amazing... it's just horrible uncertainty and pressure.
So how about there's a unit, like the SRV hangar but for drones that fly back with your data? Make it weigh something so there's a small sacrifice in jump range, and it leaves the high stakes all or nothing style of exploration viable. Maybe even give it a limited amount of drones to carry. But also give it a timer for the drones to get back, so the "race for data" remains in game; say that on purchase you dedicate a receiving Station (making it a fixed point) then the return time is distance to that station from drone launch, divided by your ships jump range. That way the data would still take approximately the time it would take you to physically turn around and return it, but it doesn't mean you have to abandon your own pushing further; make it a very expensive add on, maybe even up to the insurance cost of your ship to further compensate for the ease it brings, so it's not just a no-brainer like auto repair units and doesn't make exploring too easy. But it would provide a sense of reducing the fear and tedium of exploring, and frankly would make the gameplay both more fun and consistent with how the other Elite mechanisms work with their obvious progression.
Thoughts, folks?
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