Come on, I never said it did, but I and others would like to get involved in this story outside of the codes and ciphers sphere. There is plenty the Frontier could and should do, missions, discoveries, unexpected encounters and much more that could engage more of the community. All many of us want is to be involved, we can't just conjure up an interest in the code and cipher side of things if that doesn't appeal to us, but that should not mean we are excluded either.
Why Elite's riddles and story do not work for me
- Thread starter KiDra
- Start date
Come on, I never said it did, but I and others would like to get involved in this story outside of the codes and ciphers sphere. There is plenty the Frontier could and should do, missions, discoveries, unexpected encounters and much more that could engage more of the community. All many of us want is to be involved, we can't just conjure up an interest in the code and cipher side of things if that doesn't appeal to us, but that should not mean we are excluded either.
Many?
The alien wreck was designed as a teaser for the next season; a cliffhanger for the next 'episode'. We 'solved' it when FD gave us a CG to generate clues, so it was hardly unexpectedly early for them. And the wreck had been there for months, apparently.
But it's not very helpful feedback. I'm genuinely interested to know what someone who *doesn't* like this type of puzzle would like to be able to do in-game to be able to help progress the storyline.
Can you imagine the outrage from the player base if FD spent resources at present designing a bunch of essentially one-use mini-games?
Oh, I agree. I'd love there to be something that I could spend my (limited) time on to help progress the storyline. I'm not sure what that would be though, which is why I'm not asking them to change anything right now.
There's a storyline to this game ... ????
I believe they have done; we just haven't solved them yet. We still have not 'solved' the barnacles according to FD and the answer to the Rift mystery has been in the game since its release.
Deleted member 38366
D
Agreed, I never liked having to solely rely on External Sources and having to use technical Analysis Software to solve something that should be 100.0% solvable using in-Game Tools provided.
But the very moment I learned it all came from the Teaser Videos, Video & Audio Analysis Software - and (most importantly) visiting the Site clearly demonstrated that the Ship Scanners were never supposed to find them (Visual pickup only), I knew all I had to know.
Another "Central Planning" pseudo-Discovery, one which was scheduled to occur in a few months.
So for as long as we aren't allowed to make such Discoveries the real way and utilizing only Ship Equipment and Scanners, that entire "Story" is utterly irrelevant to me.
Wake me up when
- our Discovery Scanners actually display "Unknown Anomaly detected" so at least we know we got a Planet worth investigating further
- our Ship Equipment learns to Analyze Data that we find on such a Planet
- the Result permits us to solve any puzzles/riddles using onboard or in-game Equipment
I have no use for "Central Planning" pseudo-Stories and "Discoveries". I want a realistic chance to do actual Exploration with actual Discoveries, not one pinned on a scheduled timeline.
I'll hence leave those fake and artificially planted Events for others to have fun with, I simply don't "roll over" when I'm told or some Central Planner decided the time is right. I don't work that way.
PS.
On the positive side - if anything - I was proven right once again.
When something is supposed to be discovered, someone will throw a "Spawn = Enabled" switch on a Server, plant Teasers in Videos, place GALnet articles or downright pinpoint Fingers right here in the Forum.
For me that means : No Action Required, saved me tons of wasted hours chasing non-existent ghosts.
After all, it'll appear and come all by itself when FDev decides so. The sole benefit of Central-Planning. However, obviously this doesn't have anything to do with actual Exploration or actual Discovery.
So whenever I venture into the black, I do so fully knowing there's nothing out there to be found. Brings peace of mind and surely makes carrying Cargo Racks and even the SRV somewhat optional.
But the very moment I learned it all came from the Teaser Videos, Video & Audio Analysis Software - and (most importantly) visiting the Site clearly demonstrated that the Ship Scanners were never supposed to find them (Visual pickup only), I knew all I had to know.
Another "Central Planning" pseudo-Discovery, one which was scheduled to occur in a few months.
So for as long as we aren't allowed to make such Discoveries the real way and utilizing only Ship Equipment and Scanners, that entire "Story" is utterly irrelevant to me.
Wake me up when
- our Discovery Scanners actually display "Unknown Anomaly detected" so at least we know we got a Planet worth investigating further
- our Ship Equipment learns to Analyze Data that we find on such a Planet
- the Result permits us to solve any puzzles/riddles using onboard or in-game Equipment
I have no use for "Central Planning" pseudo-Stories and "Discoveries". I want a realistic chance to do actual Exploration with actual Discoveries, not one pinned on a scheduled timeline.
I'll hence leave those fake and artificially planted Events for others to have fun with, I simply don't "roll over" when I'm told or some Central Planner decided the time is right. I don't work that way.
PS.
On the positive side - if anything - I was proven right once again.
When something is supposed to be discovered, someone will throw a "Spawn = Enabled" switch on a Server, plant Teasers in Videos, place GALnet articles or downright pinpoint Fingers right here in the Forum.
For me that means : No Action Required, saved me tons of wasted hours chasing non-existent ghosts.
After all, it'll appear and come all by itself when FDev decides so. The sole benefit of Central-Planning. However, obviously this doesn't have anything to do with actual Exploration or actual Discovery.
So whenever I venture into the black, I do so fully knowing there's nothing out there to be found. Brings peace of mind and surely makes carrying Cargo Racks and even the SRV somewhat optional.
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Oh, I see.
If exploring was less of a search for the needle in the haystack... Frontier once talked about surface scanners where we have to circle the planet etc.
I think it all would be so much more interesting if we had a proper science station or similar where riddles can be analyzed and solved, proper scanners that give hint on which planet holds something one we are close enough.
I would love exploring, but I am not going to just jump from system to system and drive around on planets to find something by chance.
It is nice the ship wreck was there for months and I suspect there is more to be found, but we must be able to find things without relying on pure luck or hints dropped for us. Having a scanner that scans a planet's surface, then reveals rough locations of points of interest (ship wrecks, ruins, rare minerals etc.) is still more than enough of a haystack search considering how big the galaxy is.
The Galmap plays into usability here as well. Remove the arbitrary limit of 1k LY routes, save and pre-plan more many routes, let us type in coordinates including planet surface coordinates and it will be so much better to go on exploring in groups.
The alien/ancient ruins just confirmed to me again that there is too little actual work to do ingame from a ship station level and too little happening at POIs.
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I'd love to see something like this
Mission plan would go like this for example
Your rating with a faction goes up, "Ok cmdr, time to play with the big boys now... provide us with 50 000 cr to show you're willing to get your hands dirty.. and we'll give you a mission"
Success results in 1/2 a system/ planetary address, do another mission even more dangerous, you get the other half.
Goto the address, fight off a couple of NPCs pickup the reward (grade 5 materials like polonium for example)
well done cmdr
And for the record , I read the cannon thread, and follow all this alien stuff every day.. even contibute to it from time to time
Bill
I know the guy you responded to with this mentioned puzzles but we sorely need something other than constant puzzles.
As I said earlier, missions, discoveries, unexpected encounters, new signal sources and much more are needed. For me and others this isn't 'if not this puzzle what puzzle' it is much more 'what about us non puzzle brigade that want to be involved in the alien storyline?'.
I don't know enough to understand all of them either. But a broad spread of puzzle types ensure that once in a while I can contribute. And bearing in mind that the final solution for several mysteries involved literally flying over a landscape looking for 'weird stuff'. I think there is scope for everyone to be involved to a degree.
And people seem to always focus on the most prominent mysteries and cite them. There's other stuff out there that applies to other skill sets, still waiting to be solved.
Ultimately the 'big mysteries' are not going to be solved from start to finish by one person. I don't see that as a bad thing. That way we can all try and contribute to the solution and each share satisfaction. A plot-line that can be blazed through by one person would just amplify the complaints that i'm hearing here: That not enough people are involved.
Three different crash sites, each with its own black box that plays an audio file with distortion preventing you from hearing the whole message. The first message has enough audio to locate the second site, with partial audio that is completed when you visit the second site that leads you to the third site. There you can resolve all three messages completely and gain the clue that both directs you to the final location (say, a small abandoned settlement) and, if you reverse the numbers, gives you the access code to open the door.
Inside you must navigate the interior by following clues that can be found scrawled on the walls. If you reach the final room, there's a data point with the final message, providing you with the answers to the narrative and instructions.
Next to the data point is 2t of mission cargo and you're instructed to take it to a location on another planet. You're warned that it's dangerous (+, ++ or +++ or threat 0,1, etc). Let's say this is threat 2. So you're attacked by ships when you arrive at the location.
Destroying those ships drops a third cargo cannister. Each has a different name. The star system you need to go to is deciphered by removing the non unique letters in the three names. The non unique letters spell "two b". Clever players will go straight to planet 2b. If not, they'll find the final destination by checking each planet.
On the approach to the planet a mission uss spawns (not randomly). In that location, you find an abandoned ship (cue space walking for future seasons). The final artefact is here. It has a strange symbol on it.
Taking this back to the contact who sent you on the narrative leads them to believe it belongs at the alien site. They suggest you use your SRV to take it there and investigate. You're told to do this and return with your findings.
The symbol matches one of the artefacts at the site. On approach, with the matching artefact in the SRV, the artefact activates and data is collected by your sensor.
You give this to the contact, they're amazed and thank you for your contribution to their scientific endeavour and reward you.
They'll get back to you when they have more information (next stage triggered when the next big reveal is uncovered by the community etc).
What I'm wondering is how you would like those things to work? They all have problems. Discoveries, unexpected encounters, signal sources all have a random element to them (which people will complain about: grinding to find the ones they need to progress). If they're *not* random then it's effectively a treasure trail (which is just a set of puzzles). I wouldn't mind it if you had to go searching for particular types of mission on the bulletin board (e.g. a suspicious looking courier mission) or having to search various locations for the thing you're after (e.g. we know it's in Sol but not which station).
I'm sure that the devs are keen to hear suggestions for how -- within the confines of what the game supports -- they can make the storyline appeal to a more diverse set of players. But the majority of what I hear is "I don't like it", then when challenged to describe what they *would* like the answer is always "I don't know" or "That's not my job". Criticism is *always* welcome, as long as it's constructive.
That's exactly the kind of thing that would get me interested and what I was expecting from this game (sorry can't rep you again apparently).
Thanks
I thought that up as I went along but there are three or four basic puzzle ideas that require logic, following instructions and some basic number manipulation. They're just examples though. But, critically, they're all solvable in game.
Obviously, this all needs development time. So maybe it's not possible for FD to do.
So basically a set of fetch quests with puzzle elements. I have no problem with that, and I actually feel like (door entry codes and other things not yet supported by the game) this is something that would be eminently doable. Some people would have a problem with it, as it would be the same for everyone which breaks immersion. This could be mitigated by making the destinations and contacts unique to each player (there are plenty to choose from!), so you aren't going to run into other players doing the exact same set of missions.
Success on the mission triggering the next one (when ready) is also a good idea. This would make people feel like they're involved, even though it's really just a facade. I guess that progress on the storyline could be triggered when a particular number of players have completed the mission set. I like that, I think it's a good suggestion.