Frontier, my time is valuable

[Agony_Aunt]

OP - I haven't done one of these in a good few weeks, but whenever i did them they did appear within a minute.

From reading about complaints like this, there seems to be a difference depending on how you approach the target and fly around it. One person said if you look for where ships are spawning in the area and point your ship there the signal source will appear. I don't do that, i just fly around the planet, fairly close, at a speed of around 100-300k/s, and they spawn.

I do agree that FD could do with looking at the spawn algorithm though, as some people do seem to have problems. I don't see why the signal source just doesn't appear as soon as you are close.

Probably one of those areas where RNG is overused. There is no need for RNG here, you have the mission, you have determined the location, let there be spawn!

 

[Skeloton]

I do agree that FD could do with looking at the spawn algorithm though, as some people do seem to have problems. I don't see why the signal source just doesn't appear as soon as you are close.

Probably one of those areas where RNG is overused. There is no need for RNG here, you have the mission, you have determined the location, let there be spawn!

They could make the discovery scanner discover them, even if you don't get it the first time you can keep honking to get it to spawn.

 

[JesusOnEez]

From reading about complaints like this, there seems to be a difference depending on how you approach the target and fly around it. One person said if you look for where ships are spawning in the area and point your ship there the signal source will appear. I don't do that, i just fly around the planet, fairly close, at a speed of around 100-300k/s, and they spawn.

This is pretty much how I used to do it and got very varied spawn times...10 minutes not uncommon, giving up and going elsewhere not uncommon either. I found it didn't make much difference whether I slowly flew around the planet, or just waited when the info panel on the bottom left stated I was at my target destination (rather than 'Deep Space') and just stopped.

 

[Cmdr Eratosthenes]

Why is absolutely woeful gameplay/design so consistently defended by certain people on this forum ?

 

[Stigbob]

Why is absolutely woeful gameplay/design so consistently defended by certain people on this forum ?

Probably the same reason some posters do nothing but complain, yet inexplicably carry on doing the things they claim they don't like. People just have different preferences and approaches.

 

[El Grillo]

Absolutely OP, this is utterly terrible game design.

Some day maybe Frontier devs will play another game and realise that for the past few decades video games have had missions/quests which actually send you to a location, or at most, make you follow a series of breadcrumbs to get to the mission location, and then at that location they have actual things! Not just blank, empty space with a couple of ships in it! Like, actual structures and pirate bases and environmental art assets! You know, so that the players don't get utterly bored out of their skulls due to the mind-numbing repetitiveness of what they are looking at on their screens (in this case, endless patches of blank space/identical patches of planetary rings, with basically nothing in them and no meaningful variety whatsoever in what the player encounters).

..some day...

 

[OnTheMinute]

I just spent 30 minutes waiting for a salvage mission signal source to appear in Bhotega before I gave up. I had an hour and a half to play this evening. A third wasted.

Can you please make these poxy things appear once you're in proximity to the target body? At most a minute or so. There's simply no gameplay need for a random number generated wait period...what am I supposed to do in game in the meantime for crying out loud? I can only listen to Galnet so many times.

/rant

Not sure if this has any effect on it or not but when I’m having trouble I drop down from supercruise into reg space and wait until my cool down is done and I jump back into supercruise. I’ve never had it not pop up within 30secinds with this technique

 

[Abomination]

Would be fun if the pilot receiving the mission would get the mission target's exact location on the scanner and doesn't need to WAIT for it....
...while at the same time, other players could see it too if they were in close proximity, or even get a message from an opposing faction with a vague hint about the whereabouts of the target.. and steal it for better profits

 

[Canoe]

"We don't want to waste your time.. " If ever there was a schism between intention and reality, it would be within Elite Dangerous.

 

[Dbrn47]

Why is absolutely woeful gameplay/design so consistently defended by certain people on this forum ?

Some people will like the game no matter what is done to it in the same way that some people will hate it. Two extremes, both unhelpful.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

what am I supposed to do in game in the meantime for crying out loud? I can only listen to Galnet so many times.

/rant

These things can also be read, often contain knowledge or entertainment. They're not just for leveling a wobbly table.

 

[Eros]

Maybe they should give it the Michael bay treatment and have random explosions every 5 seconds to make people feel like they are getting their money's worth...

While both extremes of these cases are unhelpful as Dbrn47 pointed out... much of both of these extremes can be dealt with in a couple of ways...

1) Get over yourself
2) No really get over yourself.

If your time is so valuable... what are you playing a game for? Go and earn those big bucks man! (Alternatively if you only have a matter of days to live, sorry, though arguably the point still stands)

Truth is, you choose to play, you paid the one off fee... IF you have had 60 hours of gameplay or of some form of enjoyable activity, thats cost you £1 / hr which is pretty cheap. SOooo yeah... tell me again how the EULA of ED said that FDev have to make sure they keep you happy at all times? If you feel your time is too valuable to play Elite, then thats fine, go and do something else with your time... be under no illusion that FDev somehow have to steer the development of their intellectual property in order to make you feel better... they don't, and shouldn't.

If people didn't have this attitude that they are some how gods who can do no wrong or feel that every idea of thing that came out of their mouths was anything but right, the world in general would be a much better and greater place. But no we have endless rants about

"X is too boring" "X is to hard" "X is to easy" "Oh you changed a red strip in a cockpit to a black strip, i hate you all" "X is broken (but actually i just don't want to have my fav cheat/exploit removed" "Why can't we have X" *sigh* its like being back at school!

 

[damon8r351]

I just spent 30 minutes waiting for a salvage mission signal source to appear in Bhotega before I gave up. I had an hour and a half to play this evening. A third wasted.

Can you please make these poxy things appear once you're in proximity to the target body? At most a minute or so. There's simply no gameplay need for a random number generated wait period...what am I supposed to do in game in the meantime for crying out loud? I can only listen to Galnet so many times.

/rant

Just a question, how were you trying to find the signal source? I have very little trouble finding these. I'll turn on orbital lines, and when I get to the planet it's supposed to be around, I flip the ship so the orbital line the planet rides on is situated straight up and down and divides the screen in half. Then orbit the planet with it above my ship outside the orbital cruise zone, gradually increasing the size of the orbit until the signal source appears. I think 3 orbits is the max I've ever needed to get one to appear. The only thing I dislike is when these are near gas giants because it takes longer to orbit.

 

[Dbrn47]

Just a question, how were you trying to find the signal source? I have very little trouble finding these. I'll turn on orbital lines, and when I get to the planet it's supposed to be around, I flip the ship so the orbital line the planet rides on is situated straight up and down and divides the screen in half. Then orbit the planet with it above my ship outside the orbital cruise zone, gradually increasing the size of the orbit until the signal source appears. I think 3 orbits is the max I've ever needed to get one to appear. The only thing I dislike is when these are near gas giants because it takes longer to orbit.

No reason to go down the path of 'you might be doing it wrong'. All you need to do is be in the planet's area of influence and it has a chance to spawn. They can either spawn as soon as you get there or X amount of time later. There are no other conditions. Even assassination missions with specific times can have the target spawn in SC or in a USS before the given time span. The only other thing that may stop it is trying to be cheeky at 30km/s, while anecdotal, they seem to have added code to severely decrease spawn chance there. Most 'tricks' you see are people creating patterns in their own minds because it's human nature to recognize them, even if they aren't actually there.

 

[Hexcaliber]

You are exactly right, but get ready for all the basement dwelling trolls who can't understand why 30 minutes is valuable to you and you can just spend hours in a game waiting for something the RNG spawn.

Why waste time when you can direct childish insults at anyone who does not share your opinion, amirite?

Few people like to waste 30 minutes of game time doing absolutely nothing, however, some people with limited play time avoid activities that may have a delay. The entire game does not have to be designed around the instant gratification some in these forums imagine they are entitled to.

 

[damon8r351]

No reason to go down the path of 'you might be doing it wrong'. All you need to do is be in the planet's area of influence and it has a chance to spawn. They can either spawn as soon as you get there or X amount of time later. There are no other conditions. Even assassination missions with specific times can have the target spawn in SC or in a USS before the given time span.

Maybe so, maybe not, I just know this method has yet to fail me and I've been on station, at most, 5 minutes for these types of missions. Feel free to do it however it works best for you though.

Also, the assassination targets appearing before their appointed time is a well known bug, and one of the rare ones where it actually benefits the gamer. I've actually seen this pointed out by a developer at least once in response to someone having a problem with these.

 

[Skeloton]

Why waste time when you can direct childish insults at anyone who does not share your opinion, amirite? Few people like to waste 30 minutes of game time doing absolutely nothing, however, some people with limited play time avoid activities that may have a delay. The entire game does not have to be designed around the instant gratification some in these forums imagine they are entitled to.

To be fair, both side are flinging their faeces at each other like primates.

Ontopic, no one is asking for instant gratification. Saying so is missing their points or purposely misconstruing them. There are a bunch of things that can improve the game, not just to speed it up but to make it less passive and more active. When people are suggesting that you put youtube or a stream or Netflix on another monitor or in the background, there is something very wrong.

 

[Dbrn47]

The entire game does not have to be designed around the instant gratification some in these forums imagine they are entitled to.

Right, because having things be where they are supposed to be, where we know them to be, instead of having them randomly spawn after X amount of minutes would be designing around instant gratification. Forget about time, how about sense? If we're going to be simulating some sort of search, how about actually doing that search instead of relying on random spawn? Is it really such a terrible thing to ask for mechanics that are engaging and make sense or should we just be satisfied with the lazy way out?

 

[Hexcaliber]

To be fair, both side are flinging their faeces at each other like primates.

Ontopic, no one is asking for instant gratification. Saying so is missing their points or purposely misconstruing them. There are a bunch of things that can improve the game, not just to speed it up but to make it less passive and more active. When people are suggesting that you put youtube or a stream or Netflix on another monitor or in the background, there is something very wrong.

There are many activities that can be undertaken with limited time, cargo runs, hopping into a couple of local USS, engineer a couple of new modules, jump into a res site or conflict zone, mining, even simply stopping in to chat with friends, if you find them too passive do them in open. Who decides speeding other activities up would improve the game, it's not some universally accepted truth. There is value in having to work for some rewards, undertaking activities that may take a little longer, not everyone sitting down to play is limited to 30 minutes to an hour.

With so much that can be done with limited time, why is this even up for debate, why should anything need speeding up, why, because some people imagine the entire game should be designed around their wants.

 

[Dbrn47]

There are many activities that can be undertaken with limited time, cargo runs, hopping into a couple of local USS, engineer a couple of new modules, jump into a res site or conflict zone, mining, even simply stopping in to chat with friends, if you find them too passive do them in open. Who decides speeding other activities up would improve the game, it's not some universally accepted truth. There is value in having to work for some rewards, undertaking activities that may take little longer, not everyone sitting down to play is limited to 30 minutes to an hour.

With so much that can be done with limited time, why is this even up for debate, why should anything need speeding up, why, because some people imagine the entire game should be designed around their wants.

Did you even read the post you quoted, because you sure didn't respond to it.