News Chapter Four - Exploration Reveal
Is this a generic background, or will it vary, depending on where you are (aiming)?
I ask this, because of readability of the scanner interface, which in the latter case shouldn't be a problem in the Rift, but certainly would be near Sag A*
This all sounds amazing, so a sincere [up] to the Devs from me 
My initial questions though would be: -
How will this deal with artefacts like Voyager I & II, New Horizons etc ?? Will they show up on the initial scan ?? How will that work
Similarly, how will this handle Mega Ships and Generation Ships, some of which are external to the system itself and take a little skill to find "blind"
Personally, I'd like the skill factor to remain if at all possible. I'd not like Exploration to be a totally easy occupation, with Elite being a mundane, easy thing to achieve. Other than that, I'm feeling quite excited for the Beta and the Update
My initial questions though would be: -
How will this deal with artefacts like Voyager I & II, New Horizons etc ?? Will they show up on the initial scan ?? How will that work
Similarly, how will this handle Mega Ships and Generation Ships, some of which are external to the system itself and take a little skill to find "blind"
Personally, I'd like the skill factor to remain if at all possible. I'd not like Exploration to be a totally easy occupation, with Elite being a mundane, easy thing to achieve. Other than that, I'm feeling quite excited for the Beta and the Update
100 probes sounds decent, but I hope you don't mean "100 probes worth of materials, to be synthesized one by one".
100 probes will be gone after a handful of systems...
Sounds very interesting, thank you Will for the info and thanks to everybody for the great work.
I can see how some could perceive it this way. But it really depends on what your goals are.
If you're just trying to get every system you visit fully mapped, for the sake of having them mapped, then yes, this would make exploring a grind.
But for me this new proposal (at least how i envision it based on the current info) will improve the gameplay dramatically, simply because I'm not repeatedly scanning everything over and over.
For me it will be:
- Start system scan
- do new exploration search...
- ooh, shiny!
- go examine said shiny (fumaroles, ship wreckage, resource hotspot, hidden base, alien thingy, etc.)
- that was fun... lets look around some more (head back to step 2)
Here I end up doing a bunch of cool stuff between those thousands of exploration searches you're referring to.
The current ADS honk doesn't reveal anything besides a list of planets. Not much there compelling me to visit them unless I'm looking for a specific type of body.
So no, I'm not currently worried that it's going to be a grind, because the new method exposes so much more gameplay.
Hi Adam, this is a lot of cool stuff but a question please. This all scanning process happens in space. Is there also additional gameplay and new scan processes for the srv? Some reason to land on planets and increase the planetary data reward?
It's definitely a step in the right direction, but what you've posted here solves only two problems of the many for exploration: the boredom of super-cruise and multi-crew exploration in space.
The boredom issue is huge, so before I say anything else - THANK YOU - super-cruise is hands down the primary 'feature' that sucks the life out of this game. It has a great purpose in general usage, but the old system for scanning made it extremely tedious. So, again, thanks for dealing with that!
The multi-crew functionality is helpful for those of us who buddy up in exploration - though most prefer their own ships. Perhaps this change will see more crewed up ships rather than wings.
Now then...what you haven't addressed:
USSs forced spawn is good...but USSs are inherently bland and uninteresting in the black. Are there plans to expand USS types and gameplay in the black?
Surface mapping sounds neato and I dig the idea...but like USSs, gameplay on surfaces is largely non-existent except in guardian and thargoid systems. Are there any plans to make lava geysers or other natural features findable and/or interactable? Right now, there isn't any reason to take an SRV into the black except to mine more materials for your self-sustenance.
Adding in multi-crew for scanning is - again - a neat feature I like, but what about multi-crew SRV? Part of the problem taking folks into the black on a single ship is there isn't anything for them to do besides...well before, nothing, now it's scanning. Are there any plans (for Q4) to allow multiple SRVs to be deployed by crew members?
Looking forward to more news.
The boredom issue is huge, so before I say anything else - THANK YOU - super-cruise is hands down the primary 'feature' that sucks the life out of this game. It has a great purpose in general usage, but the old system for scanning made it extremely tedious. So, again, thanks for dealing with that!
The multi-crew functionality is helpful for those of us who buddy up in exploration - though most prefer their own ships. Perhaps this change will see more crewed up ships rather than wings.
Now then...what you haven't addressed:
USSs forced spawn is good...but USSs are inherently bland and uninteresting in the black. Are there plans to expand USS types and gameplay in the black?
Surface mapping sounds neato and I dig the idea...but like USSs, gameplay on surfaces is largely non-existent except in guardian and thargoid systems. Are there any plans to make lava geysers or other natural features findable and/or interactable? Right now, there isn't any reason to take an SRV into the black except to mine more materials for your self-sustenance.
Adding in multi-crew for scanning is - again - a neat feature I like, but what about multi-crew SRV? Part of the problem taking folks into the black on a single ship is there isn't anything for them to do besides...well before, nothing, now it's scanning. Are there any plans (for Q4) to allow multiple SRVs to be deployed by crew members?
Looking forward to more news.
This is a lot of work. It will be good for slow, meticulous exploration, but it will end the quick and dirty exploration you do when you are actually traveling somewhere like Sag A or Beagle Point. You can come in, honk the system, check the map for interesting planets, and then fly to those which are interesting. Here you will see nothing on honking the system, though you will apparently get the honk credits for the whole system. That means you will have to meticulously scan the system in a time-consuming mini-game in order to even see if there are any planets worth detailed scanning, and then the detail scanning/mapping will require even more detailed mini-game with probes you will have to synthesize. It will certainly make the exploration game more involved, but it will also make it much harder to do. You may be out of the frying pan of flying to planet to detail scan them, but you end up in the fire of trying to find them in the first place and then playing baseball trying to pitch these probes just right. The plus side is that if you are trying to make it back from Beagle Point, you can skip exploring altogether. Right now, even though I am trying to make it back to the Bubble, I detail scan all water worlds, earth-likes, metal-rich bodies, and ammonia worlds. What you don't see, you won't be tempted by, and this new game will be too involved for a fly-by, and so you weill just jump jump jump to get to where you are going in order not to spend months and months getting back.
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Good stuff, even a bit overwhelming at first!
My question is: most systems are really not that interesting, so right now explorations is about finding those one in a 1000 locations. I.e. the question is whether that electromagnetic scan will reveal us ELWs, tight orbits, odd gas giants, giant rings... shiny stuff, or we have to go through the full process in each system...?
My question is: most systems are really not that interesting, so right now explorations is about finding those one in a 1000 locations. I.e. the question is whether that electromagnetic scan will reveal us ELWs, tight orbits, odd gas giants, giant rings... shiny stuff, or we have to go through the full process in each system...?
Or colonia.
Systems with planetary bases will generally always have a nav beacon but the OP also says that mission targets are still distinguishable (blue). As they spawn with all other USS on arrival, there could be a way to filter for mission signals yet?
So far this is good. Similar to what I had envisioned. A scanner with telemetry and data and some form of method of "hunting" for the hidden objects in a solar system. I'll post my thorough constructive critisism in a bit. So far I'd have to see it in action but I do like the concept! /high fives to FD
Guys, in the bubble you can already drop at a nav beacon and scan it to get a complete map of the system and/or to get the location of a mission's signal source.
Just read the OP and some pages of reactions.
It all sounds vety cool and much more scientificy, I like it from an explorer point of view.
However, having to find all bodies in a system could become very tedious, imagine you strike a couple systems right after each other with 60+ bodies, ugh.
Especially for cargo haulers and mission runners this system will become a pain in the butt when you hop from one system to another and most of them are new to you.
I'll have to see more of it though to express my final opinion but this is what came to mind.
It all sounds vety cool and much more scientificy, I like it from an explorer point of view.
However, having to find all bodies in a system could become very tedious, imagine you strike a couple systems right after each other with 60+ bodies, ugh.
Especially for cargo haulers and mission runners this system will become a pain in the butt when you hop from one system to another and most of them are new to you.
I'll have to see more of it though to express my final opinion but this is what came to mind.
I hope the probes will show areas with geysers/volcanos and the like.
QUESTION
1)Will "first mapped" be available in the core systems eg SOL, ACHENAR, LAVE, LEESTI, and the rest of the populated "bubble" , or will it only apply to uninhabited systems?
NOTE: I think it would be a bit daft to see Earth or the Moon first mapped by a CMDR
2) Is the plan that all systems with a NAV beacon will not be able to get a "First mapped" tag. As these are obviously mapped out fully if there is a beacon in them.
1)Will "first mapped" be available in the core systems eg SOL, ACHENAR, LAVE, LEESTI, and the rest of the populated "bubble" , or will it only apply to uninhabited systems?
NOTE: I think it would be a bit daft to see Earth or the Moon first mapped by a CMDR
2) Is the plan that all systems with a NAV beacon will not be able to get a "First mapped" tag. As these are obviously mapped out fully if there is a beacon in them.
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