Cost was the reason.
The bad design, in this case, isn't so much the scanner (though I find it a bit simplistic) as the economy. Module prices don't increase, but rewards and money supply are run away trains.
Explorers : would you consider giving up on the infinite honk for...?
- Thread starter Godsailsaqueen
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Cost was the reason.
The bad design, in this case, isn't so much the scanner (though I find it a bit simplistic) as the economy. Module prices don't increase, but rewards and money supply are run away trains.
Short version - detail scan everything, have a good look around and actually investigate things close up.
As it stands, those that just look for ELWs/WWs and similar high-value atmospheric targets are cutting themselves off from the current surface exploration aspects (assuming they have Horizons).
When we finally get atmospheric planetary exploration then such high value targets will almost certainly have more to offer in terms of near body activities.
Maybe when geological and other scans are added these will also improve the near-body activities around atmospheric worlds even without sub-orbital/surface based activities.
![[Diplomacy] Carnegie](https://d2aefvhu2f0gi9.cloudfront.net/data/avatars/m/123/123809.jpg?1553527149){kind=avatar}
By which you mean shooting rocks and taking selfies.
Exploration to me is simply going somewhere you haven't been before and there's no 'proper' way to do that.
"I used to be an explorer like you. Then I took a beige arrow in the knee..."
For anyone who doesn't get the reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKx6EPimxPI
i call that being lost. [smile]
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That is why I refer to my latest "exploration" trip as a survey mission. Exploring is an adventure. Surveying is a job. I expect to be paid for my efforts
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Exploration for the purpose of surveying and gathering data to sell then? With a little bit of sight-seeing perhaps?
That is very different to how I explore. Whilst the game world / galaxy currently supports my idea of exploration (for the most part), the in-game tools do not.
Personally, I feel exploration tool / mechanics need to be expanded to account for the full variety and splendor of the galaxy Frontier have created. There are so many wonderful and unusual places to discover, places that are almost unique. Yet the only way to find those things currently is to just keeping flying and eye-balling.
I don't disagree with your idea of exploration, and it is certainly very much a big part of what the game is all about, and certainly something I want to see expanded upon a great deal. But it is only a single aspect of exploration.
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I'm not even sure I should call myself an "explorer" (Elite rank is meaningless like pretty much any other rank too). May be 'cherry-picker' or 'color-hunting snapper' would be the better term, but making money is my least concern. I've got more money than I ever could spend with my current way of playing...
Some people explore just to take screenshots. That's a valid way to explore, and isn't that different to a landscape photographer, some of those photographers go to great lengths to visit places that have never been seen before, and find new things to see. In that sense, they are very much an "explorer".
The galaxy is diverse enough to support this approach, and numerous expeditions have been founded upon visiting such places. I don't think cherry-picking makes you any less of an explorer.
The idea however that exploration should only involve credit gathering and detailed scans - is a very narrow vision, when considering what the immensity and variety of the galaxy actually has to offer.
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So true! But I doubt (as in "can't believe") rlsg had this in mind with his post...
I'm not saying that is what rlsg was getting at. I think he wants to expand upon exploration as much as anyone.
My point was more that, in terms of in-game mechanics, that is the only type of exploration that Elite currently directly supports.
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That's very much how I explore in Elite (though not much lately). Which is very much how I use Space Engine too (much more lately!). Simply flying around space sightseeing and taking pictures. Elite just makes it more fun by adding a simulated spaceship and flight dynamics and actual game mechanics, but then of course one of the reasons I just fly around sightseeing in Elite is because the exploration mechanics are so incredibly anemic. If the Stellar Forge was as robust a galaxy generator as Space Engine is I'd be in simulated heaven, but I'd also love to have more to do while exploring in Elite from an action/decision point of view. Hopefully the upcoming core changes accomplish that.
I explore in hope to find rare sights. Not even for the screenshots, just to find them. Like recently I found a dwarf with two planets between rings. Definitely not an everyday sight. Love such finds.
Yep that's what I do too.
There needs to be more to do with and find on planets - that's where the real gains come from.
Yep, screenshots was just an example. The objective to find the rare sights was my main point. A lot of explorers play in this way.
Well you can "land" the camera on the surfaces. But it's always a rather underwhelming experience. I really haven't used it that much.
Some very talented people manage to capture some pretty epic scenery though..
[video=youtube_share;KjTZBm3fzKc]https://youtu.be/KjTZBm3fzKc[/video]
Such is the beauty of Elite, as your vids attest. I understand exploration for credits just as much, did it myself when I was after Anaconda and I liked exploration as a means for making money far more than passengers, though those would be more efficient. The more sights and finds we get in Elite, the more explorers we'll get, too.
I believe that making the finding of POIs, such as geysers, on planetary bodies easier using a surveying scanner from orbit, with the addition of planetary location bookmarks and/or adding the ability to set a target using lat/long co-ordinates to assist landing at a particular place would greatly increase the number of players who would bother to visit planets and moons and urvey them, rather than merely "honk, scoop and jump".
The reward for a modicum of effort would be finding interesting places and resources (as well as monetary rewards).
The current effort for finding persistent POIs and interesting sites is massive and way outstrips the reward for most people. (Those who find flying for hours 10Km above the surface eyeballing enjoyable may disagree.
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My point was there is "more to exploring than DS/SS" (which is currently the credit gathering aspects) and I believe these parts do not need to be substantially changed. Those canvasing for substantial change in these areas seem to want to make the DS part more difficult and take longer in general (or make cherry picking quicker and easier at long range - if you know what to look for).
The bits that really need improving and expanding on are the near body aspects, but I believe I have already covered this.
I believe that making the finding of POIs, such as geysers, on planetary bodies easier using a surveying scanner from orbit, with the addition of planetary location bookmarks and/or adding the ability to set a target using lat/long co-ordinates to assist landing at a particular place would greatly increase the number of players who would bother to visit planets and moons and urvey them, rather than merely "honk, scoop and jump".
The reward for a modicum of effort would be finding interesting places and resources (as well as monetary rewards).
The current effort for finding persistent POIs and interesting sites is massive and way outstrips the reward for most people. (Those who find flying for hours 10Km above the surface eyeballing enjoyable may disagree.
Agreed. This could also be a chance to make big ships (well, Anaconda) worth more in exploration as such additions could demand more scanners. Right now I see no real reason to get out of AspX, it can fit everything I want to carry.
NASA currently processes some of their photos using colors to show different elevations, heat, and material composition (among others). We should have scanners for getting this info. For example:
"Landing Accuracy On Mars: A Historical Perspective (Mars Elevation Map)"
Ganymede Global Geological Map And Global Image Mosaic
"Landing Accuracy On Mars: A Historical Perspective (Mars Elevation Map)"
Ganymede Global Geological Map And Global Image Mosaic
Actually, I can only see an anaconda being more useful if combined with multi crew *and* with an exploration version of a launchable fighter as a reconasance craft. I.e. The anaconda is a base for a multi-crew survey team and hence has to be bigger.
For an individual I'd see the asp as a fine single (or dual) crew survey craft.