exploring still sucks.

[Comrade Napoleon]

I have done my trip to Sag A, and I found out long range exploring is not really me. Long range. I was abot to go mad eventually.
But I understand why other Cmdr's enjoy it and I read of of Cmdr Erimus's journals, great reading btw.
Explorin needs a little bit of love, the scanners could be used for so much more, if the can put in a USS, they can put in a comet, or a distant nova (nobody will notice it was a fake sun exploding) it could be more interesting.
I strongly support Buff for exploring.

Cheers Cmdr's

 

[Strangepork]

I started playing about 2yrs ago . mostly done a bit of everything. played mostly everyday! my previous exploration was only 3000lys and got so tedious I returned to the bubble, before engineers were introduced.
decided to do the grind for Palin about a month ago. so of I jumped into the black. what did I find in the countless systems I have explored. nothing of interest, just the same as my previous experience.
while exploring, do I still play everyday! NO. (lesson FDEVS) spice things up! if you want to keep us interested then exploration needs some LOVE!
playtime now about once a week, because it is so (redacted) boring. I cant be bothered, doing jump scans etc. so mundane.

seeing as I have had no sightings of the alien ships, how about sending some after me. 3mths+ since they were added. paid for and as far as I can tell, I got nothing for my cash!

not concerning beta's. tested only, not played beta for more than a hr.

VR, even crappy DK2 VR makes it all, make sense.

 

[cheesenbiscuits]

I think it's important to remember that all these planets are unique.
I'm hoping FD plan to increase the diversity in the stellar forge in season 3.
Just comparing ED's Sol with reality,shows they're way off the true diversity in the universe.
Hopefully the community could handle a dedicated push in exploration.
Multi crew seems to put a line under combat for a while.

 

[fademist]

I think it's important to remember that all these planets are unique.
I'm hoping FD plan to increase the diversity in the stellar forge in season 3.
Just comparing ED's Sol with reality shows they're way off the true diversity in the universe.
Hopefully the community could handle a dedicated push in exploration.
Multi crew seems to put a line under combat for a while.

dont forget the limitations that they have to accomplish that

 

[lysan]

I think you are missing the point. I fully accept that there is an absolute ton of content for explorers. There is just zero ways to meaningfully interact with any of it. I jump into a system, I honk, I look at the system map and see nine ice planets. Why should I explore these ice planets. Is there any reason to explore them. Most of the time I ignore them and go to the next system. Give me a reason to scan the whole system including asteroid belts.

Give me a deeper surface scanner that highlights possible interesting areas worth exploring instead of using pot luck.

You can't scan for large mineral deposits, you can't setup a mining outpost, you can't explore wreaks and go inside to find modules or other valuables. Just honk and jump, jump and honk, even pressing J become a repetitive task, because a navigator NPC crewman is not an option even though it was in the DDF.

 

[NascentChemist]

I want to defend exploration, as it's something I've really enjoyed. It's the first thing I did in Elite: got a Cobra, grade A FSD, and ADS/DSS. Went on a nebula tour long enough to hit that 5,000ly milestone. By the time I got back, I had the cash to keep my Cobra and buy an Asp. (I also returned with under a minute of life support. I like turning everything off to get that frosted window. Didn't realize that my O2 counter wasn't replenishing. )

On the other hand, I can't imagine going on a long trip (ie Beagle Point/Sag A*) without getting a second account. Perhaps multi-crew will be enough to stave off the space-madness, but that seems counter to the spirit of long exploration hauls. I'm not sure if that speaks to a paucity of good game mechanics, or the fact that most players (myself included) are just too mercurial to commit to one activity for long periods of time.

 

[sb413197]

I wouldn't mind seeing Dyson spheres, alien civilizations, various interstellar Star Trek style anomalies, etc etc.

I would be happy though if they JUST DONT NERF EXPLORATION MISSIONS. Please leave them alone!!!!

 

[Mengy]

I wouldn't mind seeing Dyson spheres, alien civilizations, various interstellar Star Trek style anomalies, etc etc.

I would be happy though if they JUST DONT NERF EXPLORATION MISSIONS. Please leave them alone!!!!

They can't nerf exploration missions, because they haven't implemented any exploration missions yet. Hopefully someday.

As for Dyson Spheres and anomalies, we really need better exploration mechanics first before they go adding exotic stuff like that into the game. Geysers, fumeroles, fungal life, and alien ruins have all truly showcased the dire need for better exploration mechanics. Without those first, any new content will be relegated to the very small group of tireless devout diehards who can spend dozens of hours searching with only their eyes, or possibly using quirks of the game engine to measure asset load times for hunting again. Hardly ideal from a gameplay perspective, and certainly not good game design, as it prevents most of the playerbase from participating in exploration at all.

Build the foundation first, then start framing the house, painting the walls, and decorating the rooms. When you buy a living room set before the foundation is ever finished, then that furniture simply goes to waste rotting out in the weather where no one wants to use it. Like the OP says, a half finished foundation without a house on it just sucks.

 

[Jaiotu]

I wouldn't mind seeing Dyson spheres, alien civilizations, various interstellar Star Trek style anomalies, etc etc.

I would be happy though if they JUST DONT NERF EXPLORATION MISSIONS. Please leave them alone!!!!

I think you mean Passenger missions ... which should never have counted toward exploration rank to begin with.

 

[Ignition]

Exploration needs mechanics.

Honk and wait to scan are not enough, unless you expect the game to be played on a phone.

 

[smiths121]

I think you mean Passenger missions ... which should never have counted toward exploration rank to begin with.

Lol I am glad they do, there is no way I would get Elite in Eploration without them! The OP's 3000LY seems like a really long way to me!

Simon

 

[Qohen Leth]

Lol I am glad they do, there is no way I would get Elite in Eploration without them! The OP's 3000LY seems like a really long way to me!

Simon

Not sure I get the point of an easy Elite rank. Given that they're not even hard, just long, according to your comment we might as well be all elite from day one, heh?

 

[Leper Messiah]

I'm an explorer, the complete lack of meaningful content and mechanics for exploring has meant I hardly play the game anymore.

 

[TERMINATRIXXX]

If you dislike it > don't do it!
There are many other things to do.

 

[Jex =TE=]

I've never considered "exploring" to be about distance. You can fly all the way to Beagle Point end never do any real exploration. Likewise you can visit "unexplored" systems right in the bubble and still do lots of exploration. There are still planets and stars inside the bubble that haven't got a "first discovery" tag on them. I don't think that simply because something is "near the bubble" that it doesn't count as exploration. I also would contend that enigmas and mysteries are very much an exploration game mechanic (at least until they are found, at which point they become a sight-seeing/riddle-solving thing).

The Search for Jaques station was very much a thing. CMDR Cly simply short-circuited it by being overly clever

At the same time though, a lot of people don't consider exploring to be looking at stuff.

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

Pretty sure Kirk wouldn't be out there to just look at the 5 things in the galaxy they've put in.

 

[IamMe]

I don't know does it sucks cos i didn't tried it, i don't find it interesting to search copy/paste dirt piles by lowering graphic settings.

 

[Jex =TE=]

I think you mean Passenger missions ... which should never have counted toward exploration rank to begin with.

That's like calling the Isle Of Wight ferry captain an explorer...

 

[Kaltern]

Yes, I didn't buy the game to imagine what I find.

Braben keeps banging on about how there are still 'things to find' - and I'm sure there probably is. But, I notice that we didn't find the Ruins until we were literally told to - and then (because we found it too early), they were not 'turned on'. And then the whole thing became a debacle that ultimately ended up with me quitting Canonn, and the game, because the sheer amount of effort me and a LOT of other people put in to the 'puzzles' turned out to be a momumental waste of time.

This does not fill me with hope regarding finding anything else in the galaxy.

We need breadcrumbs, clues, trails, anything that might give us a reason to explore more. Yes, this game looks g gorgeous through VR, but not many of us have that, and visuals alone are not going to be enough to make us WANT to explore. I'm not asking for big arrows next to a planet saying 'Aliens Here!' - but why can't we perhaps find abandoned/destroyed ships or stations that would suggest something was once in a system. And then we hunt on planets for more clues... and then we learn more, by ourselves, without having some NPC pop up in our chatbox urging us to find more - I don't NEED monetary rewards to make me want to discover new things. I want to FEEL like I'm doing it purely for myself.

Imagine how much better the Ruins puzzles might have been, if we didn't have those messages keep popping up in our chat, and we just discovered everything ourselves? Wouldn't that have been MUCH more satisfying? Assuming it wasn't broken of course.

We don't LIKE to be forced to imagine there might be stuff out there. But we don't want to be lead by the nose either. Subtle clues and gentle direction - that's all we need as explorers. Nothing makes someone's soul burn more, than when they find a POI on a planet, in the middle of nowhere, and it isn't just another crashed skimmer or SRV, but is something else... something that has a message, with a clue as to where it may have come from.

 

[Mengy]

If you dislike it > don't do it!
There are many other things to do.

Yep, I’m already doing this, which is why I’m playing other games more lately, lol!

We need breadcrumbs, clues, trails, anything that might give us a reason to explore more … We don't LIKE to be forced to imagine there might be stuff out there. But we don't want to be lead by the nose either. Subtle clues and gentle direction - that's all we need as explorers.

Yep, the exploration mechanics that we all keep asking for would enable this. With better tools explorers could actually find things on their own rather than requiring CG’s or Engineers to tell us where to go, rather than Frontier flipping a switch and now our ships tell us “yep, this planet has an alien ruin on it!” simply by jumping into a system. That’s not engaging or interactive gameplay, it’s handholding, it’s easy and simple, and it’s not what we have been asking for. I believe that either Frontier doesn’t understand exploration or they just don’t want to bother developing for it, but obviously it’s just not a priority for them.

 

[Enderby]

This game...