verminstar
Banned
This forum...
One thread Im answering...just this one...cos thats all I got left...
One thread Im answering...just this one...cos thats all I got left...
exploring still sucks.
- Thread starter Kingston@#
- Start date
Classic!
If you dislike it > don't do it!
There are many other things to do.
Until 2.3 drops with the amazing stuff that we haven't seen yet ( /s) I'll continue with Freecell, Spider Solitaire and Hearts.
Maybe we should compile a list of exploration POI in a thread as food for thought for Fdev to view. (although its probably already been done at some point)
At the moment its the same stuff over and over again, a fleshed out variety of discoverable items throughout the galaxy could add something.
1.Comets.
2.Rogue planets
3.dyson spheres
4.Dr. Frank Poole corpes
5.etc
I really like the idea of treasure worlds... exceptionally rare worlds that net 1 billion+ in discovery data rewards. maybe 5 of these within the entire galaxy.
Pirate caches/loot scattered randomly around the galaxy again with 100 million+ rewards.
Rare but high reward discoveries that give incentive to explore. Maybe a trail of well hidden clues that help you find them.
At the moment its the same stuff over and over again, a fleshed out variety of discoverable items throughout the galaxy could add something.
1.Comets.
2.Rogue planets
3.dyson spheres
4.Dr. Frank Poole corpes
5.etc
I really like the idea of treasure worlds... exceptionally rare worlds that net 1 billion+ in discovery data rewards. maybe 5 of these within the entire galaxy.
Pirate caches/loot scattered randomly around the galaxy again with 100 million+ rewards.
Rare but high reward discoveries that give incentive to explore. Maybe a trail of well hidden clues that help you find them.
Nothing against the occasional chained exploration mission, or some 'tip offs', but FD really need to provide the tools to discover these things on our own.
Even with just the existing things to discover, I'll bet that stellar forge has created some planets with some wild crazy geyser activity that no one will ever see simply because the galaxy is too vast, and the current method of discovery is the mk1 eyeball from low orbit. Many people aren't willing to do that for long(if at all), and even for those who are, it's extremely inefficient, to the point where so much will still be missed.
Just imagine now if there was a DSS module add-on that allowed you to scan for seismic activity? How many more explorers would now be scanning planets for hot-spots, and then travelling down to see them once found.
then add in mineral density scanners
and radio frequency scanners
So much could be done.
Nothing against the occasional chained exploration mission, or some 'tip offs', but FD really need to provide the tools to discover these things on our own.
Even with just the existing things to discover, I'll bet that stellar forge has created some planets with some wild crazy geyser activity that no one will ever see simply because the galaxy is too vast, and the current method of discovery is the mk1 eyeball from low orbit. Many people aren't willing to do that for long(if at all), and even for those who are, it's extremely inefficient, to the point where so much will still be missed.
Just imagine now if there was a DSS module add-on that allowed you to scan for seismic activity? How many more explorers would now be scanning planets for hot-spots, and then travelling down to see them once found.
then add in mineral density scanners
and radio frequency scanners
So much could be done.
oh definitely, Honk and eyeball isnt very year 3300 INHO.
Id love mini games while im performing spectrographic scans of the surface of objects, depending on how well i perform the minigame more or less is revealed.
Given Sandro's comments at Pax it doesnt appear on the face of it that there will be any mechanics for explorers any time soon. However Im hopefuly for more planets, maybe in 2.4 and then in season 3.0 so that should help scratch the itch.
Edit: Sandro did mention "science reports" during the 2.2 Beta, but not heard anything since.
Edit: Sandro did mention "science reports" during the 2.2 Beta, but not heard anything since.
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I noticed that too. Sandro seemed very dismissive of exploration development, like a “yeah that would be nice but we aren’t planning anything like that right now” kind of response. When it came to questions about Frontier Store content or combat stuff he would get excited and say quite a bit, but when exploration came up he ran past it quickly and had nothing at all to say.
Not surprising, but yeah disappointing.
Maybe that's because he needs to keep in under wraps for the big reveal!
...yeah, that must be it.
verminstar
Banned
Maybe that's because he needs to keep in under wraps for the big reveal!
...yeah, that must be it.
Big reveal? Probably rainbow tracer rounds fer the pew pew chosen...
Second post of the day...Im on a roll here ^
The problem with exploring and expecting it to be exciting is that generally it shouldn't be. There is a quote in one of the Discworld novels about an area being so full of lost civilisations and ancient ruins that an explorer couldn't help tripping over them - I'm not quite sure that's what we want, it would be a bit silly.
Sure, have some interesting things to find but these should in general be pretty sparsely populated. Less exotic but interesting objects like comets and stuff could also spice things up and be more frequent - but again don't want to do too much of that or it'll get dull.
What we really could do with though is some more interesting exploration and mapping mechanics and ways of sensibly giving hints as to where some of the aforementioned sparse stuff might be. That would make it more fun as a general thing to do and that's probably what we need more than just more specific content everywhere.
Sure, have some interesting things to find but these should in general be pretty sparsely populated. Less exotic but interesting objects like comets and stuff could also spice things up and be more frequent - but again don't want to do too much of that or it'll get dull.
What we really could do with though is some more interesting exploration and mapping mechanics and ways of sensibly giving hints as to where some of the aforementioned sparse stuff might be. That would make it more fun as a general thing to do and that's probably what we need more than just more specific content everywhere.
Having new mechanics for scanning is all well and good but you still need stuff to scan
I don't disagree. Updates since launch have added a lot of good things including throwing a few bones to explorers. Horizons was a big thing of course. It what I'd like to see is a more complex set of exploration related mechanics. Probable involving more types of scientific data to scan/collect, perhaps using special scanner types that allowed/required some interaction beyond point and shoot. My mind always goes to Mass Effect 2 and the planet scanner. I'm not saying FD should implement that exact mechanic for scanning, but just that in general I liked the fact that it felt like I was doing something and interacting with the mass effect scanner so perhaps some additional mechanics and data types could be added that have an explorer more to do and also more value from exploring which is still a low credits per hour activity.
Also, I'd love to see caves in airless worlds that could be explored by SRV. Especially if caves high a higher chance of containing either valuable loot or data to scan/obtain.
Also, I'd love to see caves in airless worlds that could be explored by SRV. Especially if caves high a higher chance of containing either valuable loot or data to scan/obtain.
I don't know whether I'm alone on this but I'd really like them to adjust the lighting a bit to make things look more realistic. Space Engine has a really great lighting engine, proper contrasts and exposure adjustment (one of the things that annoys me in Elite is you can always see the Milky Way in the background even if you're looking directly at a star. It just doesn't look like any real depictions of space).
Probably just me being OCD and wanting things to look like they do in real life. But this is a beautiful example of what one lone Russian dude was able to make in terms of realistic space depiction in a game engine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1O3XCsGnC8
Probably just me being OCD and wanting things to look like they do in real life. But this is a beautiful example of what one lone Russian dude was able to make in terms of realistic space depiction in a game engine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1O3XCsGnC8
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Not saying I don't want new stuff to find, but we already have stuff to scan.Having new mechanics for scanning is all well and good but you still need stuff to scan
- Seismic scanner: reveals hot-spots likely to have geyser/fumarole activity
- Mineral scanner: reveals mineral density maps (though I suppose we don't really have this yet, as mineral deposits are sparse without concentrated areas)
- Radio/electromagnetic scanner: Reveals POI's like hidden outposts, crashed ships/satellites, etc.
Again, I absolutely want more stuff to find. But the current need for exploration tools is still there.
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Plus the completely wasted asteroid belts (which I've filtered out from my system scan from the day the filters were implemented)...
What the hell is the point in astroids that are absolutely devoid of mineral reserves and have no redeeming qualities whatsoever?
They should deffo be mineable. Scan them for reserves... trace elements of micro materials or full blown commodity elements like rings... the prospect likely candidates.
Oh and rings... They are a homogenous mass. More detailed zoning would be nice...
Also when is ground mining coming? Scan for subsurface deposits using a combination of DSS and those prospectors we already have would be nice...
Then make this data saleable to other commanders for a pretty penny and mining "rights"
these would see an uptick in prospecting explorers at least.
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I don't really care WHAT they count towards (if anything), I'm elite probably 5 times over in exploration...I just don't want to see the payouts reduced. The big payouts encouraged me to travel out into the black and check out all kinds of cool stuff and have grand exploration adventures, knowing I would also make a pretty penny and have some specific goals.
Sandro has recently said explicitly that this lighting model was purposefully implemented because flying in the dark/blind is not much fun for players. They seem particularly proud of the feature where darkness suddenly springs into light on the "dark" side of planets.
So I very much doubt any changes are forthcoming.
Personally, I miss the darkness and flying blind on dark sides of planets, pulling up at the last minute when my ship's feeble forward lights reflected off a looming surface.
Nice, good ideas. This would be great and make exploration more of an active process vs jump honk scan jump repeat.