Well, I gave it a good go...Honest!
- Thread starter DanTheMan
- Start date
I took an iClipper to Sag-A and back last summer so I could see it for myself, but I don't think I'll be making a return trip anytime soon. It kinda got interesting near the core. The starfield was super-dense and routing my trip near the core took some actual calculation and trial-and-error to get it to calculate. Blackholes are pretty cool the first half-a-dozen times, but they too grow mundane. Sag-A was pretty cool though, especially seeing it for the first time. I'd say it's worth making the trip, if only to see it for yourself 
Exploration is certainly not for everyone and that's fine. If you read the diaries of Robert Falcon Scott or Ernest Shackleton, when they describe their journeys south to the pole you will read the word "monotonous" rather a lot. Scott famously wrote in his diary "God , this is an awful place" and that was before he knew he was going to die there.
Exploration in real life and in ED is not the glamorous past time people take it for. It takes a certain mind set. One that is intrigued by simple things like a high metal content planet that's really close to another ringed one and both are 9ls from the main star. If you are an explorer, you want to see it, land on it and look up and see the ringed planet really close, with a huge star filling your view. If you are not an explorer, you probably wouldn't even bother to scan them.
Scott knew he didn't have enough food to get to the next depot on his way back from the pole, he and his team were starving while on quarter rations. They were frostbitten and tired but even then, on a sunny day, they spent the day looking at and collecting rocks on a nearby mountain instead of continuing for another 11 miles which would have probably saved their lives.
I think exploration in Elite is done pretty well.
Exploration in real life and in ED is not the glamorous past time people take it for. It takes a certain mind set. One that is intrigued by simple things like a high metal content planet that's really close to another ringed one and both are 9ls from the main star. If you are an explorer, you want to see it, land on it and look up and see the ringed planet really close, with a huge star filling your view. If you are not an explorer, you probably wouldn't even bother to scan them.
Scott knew he didn't have enough food to get to the next depot on his way back from the pole, he and his team were starving while on quarter rations. They were frostbitten and tired but even then, on a sunny day, they spent the day looking at and collecting rocks on a nearby mountain instead of continuing for another 11 miles which would have probably saved their lives.
I think exploration in Elite is done pretty well.
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Sorry but this computer game does not compare in the least to actual exploration like that.
I disagree. Although I will admit your chances of getting frostbite are negligible playing Elite, I am not the only one tempted to exclaim "god this is an awful place" while trying to pick a route through the sparse space between outer galactic arms. I am not the only one to hover the self destruct button stuck in the Abyss. There is plenty of monotony on the occasions where M class after M glass and millions of balls of ice are all you see for 3000LY. You also get to see lots of rocks. However, you can also get to the pole, climb a glacier or be left for months on an ice floe. I don't think you can shoot horses though.
I think it's been done OK. Could be a lot more interesting. Accretion disks, meteors and comets, auroras, moving storm layers on gas giants, thicker nebulas when you're inside it (plus lightshafts inside), more photo realistic nebulas, achievements for first landing... Just a few things that could add up to the exploration as a whole.
I think it's been done OK. Could be a lot more interesting. Accretion disks, meteors and comets, auroras, moving storm layers on gas giants, thicker nebulas when you're inside it (plus lightshafts inside), more photo realistic nebulas, achievements for first landing... Just a few things that could add up to the exploration as a whole.
More interesting things as Insomnia mentions above could really help, although there are still things to be found out there, these I've found on this latest trip alone:
2 class M stars touching each other
Arriving at Star A when flying through the centre of Star B exiting hyperspace
Multiple black holes in the same system
7 water worlds all in the same system within 500LS of each other (I was hoping they'd all be ELW).
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Your tolerance for A-B trading amazes me, I can't do more than a few runs before getting distracted, because even if I'm nowhere near home base I can still buy a ship & do some pew pew.
When you're out exploring there are no distractions, you have to commit to your target and grind through it when you're bored.
On my final run up to explorer elite I covered 10kLys in one session because I was focussed on my target. I broke it down into manageable chunks & just hit my hourly & daily targets one by one until it was done.
You can do this Dan
I think you have the nub of it there Malc'
In the other 3 progression ladders you get instant feedback on progress so there is a continual drip-feed of success to spur you on.
In exploring there is only Arrive Honk-Scan-leave-rinse-repeat. If there was an indicator that told you "if you managed to turn your data in right now your progress would be "X"" then you would see that the monotony is chipping away at your goal.
As you get no progress indication it is all work and delayed gratification (which I do not find pleasurable). My character trait(s) are clearly the issue here, but it doesn't make me a bad person ;-)
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I like exploring but I also like gameplay, progression plus "money and shiney things".
I just need three things from FD to get back into exploring:
1) faster scanning or at least based on the value of the object i.e. objects that are not valuable take 2-3 seconds to scan and valuable objects 10-20 seconds. OR....add in "orbital scan" for WAY more detailed scan and way more money (maybe even have interesting things to "discover" with this scan.
2) more interesting things to discover in space (anomalies etc etc)
3) The ability to NOT lose data on ship loss, I know they didn't want people going 20k out then self destructing to get back quick, but surely a MUCH system to ensure that didn't happen would have been better than what is currently in? Just make Self destructing a FULL shipe cost rebuy? that would be better would it not? Commanders in a situation where a bug means they need to self destruct can just get a permission ticket from FD and the rebuy is refunded.
With the 3rd option FD could add Dangerous anomalies, rips in the fabric of time and space and I wouldn't worry about losing millions in data. I'd still lose a bit from a ship loss but not a huge amount.
I just need three things from FD to get back into exploring:
1) faster scanning or at least based on the value of the object i.e. objects that are not valuable take 2-3 seconds to scan and valuable objects 10-20 seconds. OR....add in "orbital scan" for WAY more detailed scan and way more money (maybe even have interesting things to "discover" with this scan.
2) more interesting things to discover in space (anomalies etc etc)
3) The ability to NOT lose data on ship loss, I know they didn't want people going 20k out then self destructing to get back quick, but surely a MUCH system to ensure that didn't happen would have been better than what is currently in? Just make Self destructing a FULL shipe cost rebuy? that would be better would it not? Commanders in a situation where a bug means they need to self destruct can just get a permission ticket from FD and the rebuy is refunded.
With the 3rd option FD could add Dangerous anomalies, rips in the fabric of time and space and I wouldn't worry about losing millions in data. I'd still lose a bit from a ship loss but not a huge amount.
When I did my second trip, i did a rough calculation of how long i needed to stay out based on my first trip. When I was ready to come back, I suddenly had an uneasy feeling about whether I had enough data, so I stayed out for 25% more time. I then came back and rubbed my hands as the millions were cashed in. Finally, after the last page, I checked my status: 99%! Would you believe it? I was extremely disappointed, as you can imagine, so I tabbed to Google to see if I could find something interesting to cheer me up. Later on, when I tabbed back to ED, I suddenly got the blue message on the screen from the Pilots Federation. They must have been having their lunch earlier. That cheered me up.
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I like the threat of losing your data and having to nurse it all the way back.
And FD is going to add Dangerous anomalies if MB is to be believed. Threat is fun when you stand to lose millions of data,
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Good point., well presented.
You've got to feel sorry for those guys that spend months out there, and then, when they come back, they get blown up by griefers before they can cash in their data.
Gotta agree with this, not knowing what potential progress you are making kills my enthusiasm and I usually return home.
I normally agree with you Ziggy but on this count I just cannot, that will kill ED for me flat, and with NMS around the corner and if it's as good as I think it could be (still a doubt so I havn't pre ordered it) then I'll have to close the door on ED.
Combat is not for everyone, Mining is not for everyone, trading is not for everyone, and so on and so forth.
You just realized that exploring is not for YOU and that is just perfectly ok.
Right now, I really don't do much, I tool a bit around, however I am waiting for my legs to get life in this world. However I do like to fly around and just look at the
planets and moons. I really enjoy the landscape in ED.
You just realized that exploring is not for YOU and that is just perfectly ok.
Right now, I really don't do much, I tool a bit around, however I am waiting for my legs to get life in this world. However I do like to fly around and just look at the
planets and moons. I really enjoy the landscape in ED.
Most people seem to equalize Exploring = Range.
Stop going 10-20K LY out.
Take an Economic route a mere 500 LY out from the bubble and a LOT of systems are completely unexplored.
There are no greater treasures of exploration to find just because you fly FURTHER out from the bubble.
Stop going 10-20K LY out.
Take an Economic route a mere 500 LY out from the bubble and a LOT of systems are completely unexplored.
There are no greater treasures of exploration to find just because you fly FURTHER out from the bubble.
I concur. Exploring is whatever you want to do, so me go the other side of the galaxy, some explore their neighbourhood. No rules, no right and wrong, and some really hate exploring, again, no right or wrong, just human nature and difference, for example some people even like Justin Bieber as a musician.....
Those are Thargoids, not humans.
I've seen 2 stars touching, but I think they were different classes (and unfortunately, they were both spherical. I would have liked to have seen some stretching/distortion)
Done that more than once.
Seen that more than once.
I once found a WW trinary - all terraformable (one may even have been a ELW)