For the sake of their sanity Fdev please. Throw Explorers a bone with this update.

Be patient, my padawan. They still haven't shown the best of 2.3, yet.

You know, I really hate when Developers say that.
So what, until now they've been showing us cr@p?.That doesn't say much for what they think of their players if they show off their worst, yet hide the good stuff for a "surprise"
I find it very condescending
 
Holy cow batman!

You must be the only person in the universe who doesn't know why NMS failed....

Yeah, seriously. No Man's Sky is the prime example of WHY Frontier should be actively developing and marketing exploration in Elite. NMS sold incredibly well with pre-orders because it was a space exploration game, it only failed because 1) it was marketed with many, many lies, and 2) it failed to meet it's expectations. Frontier could tap into the market potential if they would just bother to develop the exploration side of the game. It would give them a huge market edge which would set them strongly apart from other space games like Star Citizen and more Elite inspired games.
 
I'm not an explorer, but what about the Formaldine Rift discoveries? Those really did appear to have been around just waiting to be discovered, no?

I often wonder about this kind of stuff, though.... just how much of it is already seeded and 'ready' and how much is, as you say, 'flicked on' at an opportune time.



So, here's your challenge.

Draw a line between Reorte and Reidquet, extend it to the edge of the galaxy. Now follow it until the stars thin out - then keep going! What's out there? No idea, but they thought the Thargoids were trouble...

Hint - in 2 years, we are as clueless as day one. Let's see how you go, tbough, maybe you'll crack it...

Now, those "discoveries" were placed there, by hand, and we were pretty much given a co-ordinate to go to. in a CG. They were nof there waiting to be found all along. Then, when someone stumbled upon a settlement, by blind luck... The game crashed to desktop. They didn't fix it for over a month. We are still missing a settlement, and we have a huge planet to eyeball - it's estimated to be about 10000 man hours of work to scour the surface with our eyeballs.

Come, help us!


Z....
 
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I'm not an explorer, but what about the Formaldine Rift discoveries? Those really did appear to have been around just waiting to be discovered, no?

I often wonder about this kind of stuff, though.... just how much of it is already seeded and 'ready' and how much is, as you say, 'flicked on' at an opportune time.

It's not the content, it's the TOOLS....or lack thereof. You have to eyeball countless planets in order to find the good stuff!

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The other point is that exploration content shouldn't just be all this scripted stuff (cool as that is). We need more procedurally generated content as well. Weird ancient ruins utterly unconnected to The Guardians or The Thargoids, for example......or weird geological features that you can name if you find them first.
 
You know, I would just settle for ADS and DSS being rolled into one module. Because surely this could be a start? Module proliferation is out of control.

Sure there are eleventy other things that would encourage back out into the black, but can we just please get the module situation under control?
 
How hard is it to replace the MK1?

You have a energy spectrum display window above the right UI. It shows the amplitude of energy from low to high in log. db micro volts. Display is overloaded from a star when scooping. It shows other energy sources as the ship moves away from a star and closer to POI or anything.

The code needed is partly already there as ships relative distance to all stellar bodies is known in all respects!

A discovery tool that is interactive and a simple foundation to flesh out.

Please start with this pseudo real time graph of relative distances to all system bodies and add from there.

The " Anomaly Has Been Placed In Your Nav Panel " is nothing to build upon.

A player could note that when alien 'whatever' is near, frequency X is high. Or NPC X says frequency X should be watched out for.

Compared to the combat mechanics in the game this should be simple.
 
You know, I would just settle for ADS and DSS being rolled into one module. Because surely this could be a start? Module proliferation is out of control.

Sure there are eleventy other things that would encourage back out into the black, but can we just please get the module situation under control?


No, because balance. It's ok to smash the balance balancing act with engineers for combat, with mega shields, mega weapons and huge power and magic spells - but, hell no, explorers can't have a DSS and ADS in one, that would ruin the balance!

Z...
 
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I can find it for you - it's in the Conflux, seriously, I wasn't kidding, the more eyballs, the quicker we find it.

Z...

Oh okay, but nobody knows which planet. Misread your post :p (sorry, I just started to get interested in the plot, didn't even know what it was about an hour ago).
 
Oh okay, but nobody knows which planet. Misread your post :p (sorry, I just started to get interested in the plot, didn't even know what it was about an hour ago).

Pru Aescs TY-J a64-1 is the system - yes, we know the planet (the third from the main star), but it's a BIG planet. We don't know the co-ordinates of the missing base/settlement, and it seems we missed the super secret galnet post with the hidden message that's coded in hex, which was encoded using hieroglyphics that were then encrypted into a message about blue cheese from Naan, that needs a photo-spectro-analyser to aimed at the exact right pixel on your screen to find.

So, instead, we have to use the eyeball MKI to visually scan the planet at an altitude of about 10km, with detail settings set so low that the surface looks like yoghurt, as this is the most efficient way of seeing bases against the surface of the planet, as it seems that optical technology to develop telescopes has been lost in a major war a few centuries ago.

Seriously, though, if you are interested, this is the thread, read the first page to catch up, and then the last 3 pages to get right up to speed on where everyone is.

You'll want a fast ship - my AspX has A rated L5 modded dirty drives, and cruises at about 380, boosts to about 550.

Z...
 
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A cute panda should be tormented with feet tickling anytime someone says "the new camera" as "added exploration content/gameplay".

Taking pictures is not gameplay, its not a game mechanic, its not even game content, for fart's sake. Same as the vast majority of the other "added exploration bameplay" things that basically amount to sightseeing, like geysers, fumaroles, etc etc. Tell me again what is the gameplay part of geysers and fumaroles? I like that they're there, just like all the other eye candy, but they're just part of the world, they're not exploration gameplay/content.

What explorers want is things to DO; things to interact with, something that involves actually doing something rather than just looking a it, mechanics to finding stuff other than just using the eyes, you know maybe scanners having some kind of gameplay involved to locate and pinpoint things.

People should do nothing but exploration for a month or two, then come back here and tell us stories about geysers, cameras, and SLF's lol being exploration content.

That's real exploration gameplay buddy. What you are asking for isn't "Exploration". Explorers go out to discover new things, see amazing sights, and most importantly document said discoveries. True explorers aren't in it for the fame or money. They are in it because what's out there calls to them. Lighten up and drive into a geyser, use your SRV to jump across a very large canyon, waste 3 SLFs in a very misty canyon. Id suggest to you maybe find a friend who also likes to explore and meet up from time to time as you venture toward the same places.
 
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That's real exploration gameplay buddy. What you are asking for isn't "Exploration". Explorers go out to discover new things, see amazing sights, and most importantly document said discoveries. True explorers aren't in it for the fame or money. They are in it because what's out there calls to them. Lighten up and drive into a geyser, use your SRV to jump across a very large canyon, waste 3 SLFs in a very misty canyon. Id suggest to you maybe find a friend who also likes to explore and meet up from time to time as you venture toward the same places.

I'm kind of confused by your reply... Askavir makes an excellent point of the sort of things we want - to discover stuff using built in game mechanics that are interesting and challenging. I don't want the geysers, or fungal tree toe growths in Teh Myst Canyons™ of Aeo Aescies PT-Y LT-D 1229 4A-1 to appear as a blue circle when I get within 1000Ls either, I want an interesting way to find them with in game tools. Heat maps, energy wave style scanners, IR/UV/insert type of spectral imaging here, radio astronomy - whatever... I don't care which, but something. I don't need to fly 65k LY from Sol to race SLF's and SRV's through canyons...

Z...
 
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I'm kind of confused by your reply... Askavir makes an excellent point of the sort of things we want - to discover stuff using game built in game mechanics that are interesting and challenging. I don't want the geysers, or fungal tree toe growths in Teh Myst Canyons™ of Aeo Aescies PT-Y LT-D 1229 4A-1 to appear as a blue circle when I get within 1000Ls either, I want an interesting way to find them with in game tools. Heat maps, energy wave style scanners, IR/UV/insert type of spectral imaging here, radio astronomy - whatever... I don't care which, but something. I don't need to fly 65k LY form Sol to race SLF's and SRV's through canyons...

Z...

Quite right, Zeeman. Take the alien mysteries. You should have all the tools needed to solve the puzzles without ever leaving the game. Sure it might put Canonn Research Group out of work, but......;).
 
That's real exploration gameplay buddy. What you are asking for isn't "Exploration". Explorers go out to discover new things, see amazing sights, and most importantly document said discoveries. True explorers aren't in it for the fame or money. They are in it because what's out there calls to them. Lighten up and drive into a geyser, use your SRV to jump across a very large canyon, waste 3 SLFs in a very misty canyon. Id suggest to you maybe find a friend who also likes to explore and meet up from time to time as you venture toward the same places.
Here you're spot on: "Explorers go out to discover new things, see amazing sights, and most importantly document said discoveries"
This however is not a list of activities that fit that description: "Lighten up and drive into a geyser, use your SRV to jump across a very large canyon, waste 3 SLFs in a very misty canyon."

That's not exploring that's faffing about.

If faffing about was a profession in Elite, I'd be an Elite Faffer, so I know what I'm talking about. It's enjoyable for a while, but not exploring.
 
Here you're spot on: "Explorers go out to discover new things, see amazing sights, and most importantly document said discoveries"
This however is not a list of activities that fit that description: "Lighten up and drive into a geyser, use your SRV to jump across a very large canyon, waste 3 SLFs in a very misty canyon."

That's not exploring that's faffing about.

If faffing about was a profession in Elite, I'd be an Elite Faffer, so I know what I'm talking about. It's enjoyable for a while, but not exploring.

Actually... We should get FD to change the Elite Exploration moniker, to Elite Faffing. It'd be more accurate.

While we're at it, a truly amusing addition to the bobble head line up would be a sextant and a telescope. I'd buy both. Seriously.

Z...
 

Lestat

Banned
If I were a full time exploration player I would be absolutely losing my mind right now. An entire year goes by and you guys get diddle and squat. It doesn't matter what the focus of the update it. In this case multi crew. Each update should bring a little something for everyone. A new ship is great for everyone. You can fly it yourself or just murder anyone else doing so. You can't really go wrong adding a new ship. They were hyping up unshown features on the stream so it either means they are going to blow our minds with Comets or something. Or whatever they had up their sleeve simply wasn't impressive enough to show on stream. I hope I am horribly wrong but it seems more likely to be the latter. Exploration is already a major disappointment it doesn't need any more neglect. I took a trip out to Sag A while back and was so underwhelmed by it all I killed myself right there on the spot. Cursing all the time I wasted. For me the exploration aspect wore itself thin so fast that despite my best attitude going into this jump fest I came away with pure distaste for it all (albeit with some sick screenshots). I genuinely don't understand how you explorers tolerate such a boring galaxy. In between Jumps all I would think about is "Gee a Comet or two would really liven this experience up." Maybe even make it tolerable. Nope just same looking star to same looking star rinse and repeat until you hit a nebula then putz around in the SRV until you decide to get moving again.

One long range trip was enough to drive me mad. I know you super explorers are a special breed of crazy. But it must be wearing thin by now even for you lunatics.

There a reason why I have dual accounts when I feel like Insanity coming on. I switch to my other account. So I can be Sane again.

But remember we don't have to deal with hell and craziness of the bubble.
 
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Actually... We should get FD to change the Elite Exploration moniker, to Elite Faffing. It'd be more accurate.

While we're at it, a truly amusing addition to the bobble head line up would be a sextant and a telescope. I'd buy both. Seriously.

Z...

I'd buy this bobblehead...
6i1p04.jpg
 

Jex =TE=

Banned
Fer a minute there I thought ye were on about the time when dev flew a freighter which was carrying a clue in a certain location...thats the one who got ganked along with several other explorers before the message could be delivered? Those are, yet again a part of the canon in that a small group of super intelligent geniuses and oxford professors solve puzzles with out of game resources and role play threads.

I actually helped search a little arount heart and soul nebula at the time...after a dev turned up which was the apparent content, I lost all interest and moved several nebula over. If anything else has been found, then I have no idea either what it was or how relevant it is to every other explorer in every other part of the universe.

Maybe its just me, but I dont consider anything thats connected with the joke of a background story to be exploration content or gameplay...thats something else played by a select few while the rest of us read about it when theres nothing else to read.

Actual content fer actual exploration...the formidine rift stuff is fer publicity and einsteins with the only actual content Im aware of being a scripted event. By all means if Im wrong, then point out what can be discovered outside the rift which is a comparatively tiny portion of the 400 billion other systems ^

There was a time I used to think along the lines of a major discovery could so easily have been missed, even after an entire system gets scanned. One could scan every ball of rock, but without spending hours eyeballing every single rock, one could well have flown right past something without the faintest clue. The mk1 eyeball needs a serious buff methinks...but it does make one wonder ^

The glaring issue with a scripted story line (that nobody wanted might I add as every always screamed "ED isn't a scripted game!!") is that the story line is scripted. It's a story - it's not exploration content in it's own right like what NMS tried to do, it's a timed, scripted event that's bug ridden and also waiting on the next "chapter" by the devs.

So this is what I think when I read on the forums about these "Stories" and why I never bother with them.

1) The story and things around it look fun but it's going to stop at some point as we wait for FD to add in the next part. Sorry, add the entire story in at once I don't want to be waiting around for a month or 2 whilst they add the next part? How do you know they added it or didn't add it? How long are you going to be looking for clues that simply aren't in the game because FD haven't put them in yet? No thanks - waiting for a story is not being IN a story.

2) As you said, you need Phd's in just about every science and maths to understand these puzzles. Not familiar with a certain topic of the puzzle tough luck. Any ingame tools to help you, nope. Who's this aimed at again?

3) Bugs - ED is full of them so good luck trying to solve a puzzle that can't be solved because of bugs. I don't have time to waste on poor coding and we've heard that the latest puzzle can't be solved because of bugs. If you're going to inject a story into your game you'd better make sure you play test it first. Imagine trying to solve something for an entire month only for FD to say "ooops we had a bug?", "Oh really, ooops, here's a slap around the face!" LOL

4) Now I don't know about you but I haven't covered the interior of my house in tin foil and used cardboard boxes to make shapes and pretend consoles where I put my laptop and phone under so I have an In Character reason for using my laptop as my "intergaltic web connector" and my phone as my "Galactic communicator". On top of this, I didn't go out and buy a space suit so when I "face time" (or skype) with my other roleplay friends and we're all dressed up (in more tinfoil) I can talk about the puzzles and we can log into the "intergalactic web connector" and all use that to work things out.

;)

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LOL I'd give you rep for this if I could.


BTW,

NMS is the real reason the Thargoids invaded.... :p

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My cynical nature tells me that it doesn't exist until they are ready for you to see it. I find it doubtful that things are just laying around when suddenly things pop up after people have pretty much fully explored the areas already. What went on in Pleiades as an example. It was pretty much the first major stop for a lot of explorers, including myself, but no one found anything until they decided to post story info? There are systems outside of the bubble that have permits with no way to earn them, could it be possible that's where things are hiding? If so, what's the point. Hey, you haven't found stuff yet, but it's locked so don't worry? Then again, if they do have stuff like the abandoned sites in the Rift sitting there waiting, how are we expected to just stumble upon it when even when we're given information it still takes people quite a while to find it. Much like finding not only needles, but specific looking hay in the haystack.

Might as well not be there if we're seriously expected to explore every inch of every planet in hopes of finding something. I'd like to make the assumption that the likelihood of people doing that regularly is zero. If this is really how exploration was meant to be, I don't get it... We have drives that can manipulate space itself and scanners that can find celestial bodies at an infinite range, but nothing to help find sites, treasures, or similar curiosities other than cryptic hints and coordinates that are only thrown when we aren't finding it? I don't consider that Exploration content, I feel it's just developer injected lore to advance the story toward new things, like Thargoids, that just happens to need Explorers to discuss and search these things out. Even if it wasn't, 99% of Exploration is still jump, honk, detail scan, MAYBE catch a couple screenshots, and move on. Some people enjoy it, but I know I sure don't, I need a bit more than that and the near 0% chance I'll find something special or even interesting.

I'll just point out again that around these forums, scripted story's were a massive no. How many times did people here scream out "if you want a story go play Mass Effect!! Elite doesn't DO THAT!!"

ED was always heralded as you're the pilot, there's the galaxy off you go.

I happen to disagree with that view point but I think it's worth highlighting the hyspocrisy around here as everyone hates on stuff other suggest UNTIL FDev decide they want it then suddenly it's mana handed down by the gods.
 
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