This is what worries me too, they've changed a well established system and now there's the possibility we've traded the current grind for a slower one that looks cooler.
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News Chapter Four - Exploration Reveal
This is what worries me too, they've changed a well established system and now there's the possibility we've traded the current grind for a slower one that looks cooler.
Yeah, we need more things to find for sure, though in a distribution and variety that makes sense the further you get from the bubble
Weapons hot, warm thoughts, prepare for rebuy.
![[VR] Frank_G](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/59/59394.jpg?1553527111){kind=avatar}
I totally agree. I would also recommend some "wild space" regions, that are extremely dangerous to travel through, with phenomena and environmental... surprises.
Choir of angels.
Like many here have suggested the new method of exploration is going to be a real timesink.
Year is 3304 and we have space ships with all sorts of scanners and tehcnology and have to discover new worlds like Columbus did in the past.
Please do not remove the current function of initial honk.
Year is 3304 and we have space ships with all sorts of scanners and tehcnology and have to discover new worlds like Columbus did in the past.
Please do not remove the current function of initial honk.
Weapons hot, warm thoughts, prepare for rebuy.
Perhaps people should stop being a skinflint and reduce their cargo capacity if it is so threatening to them.
Frontier how about having the option to select a prob and send a return to ship function ? or be collectable with collector limpets.
As for Surface Scanning, FDev needs to apply the KISS principle.
"Skill Shots" sounds cool. But, after doing it for even the 3rd or 4th time, it sounds it would get horrifically tedious. Not good. A better idea is deploying X number of probes that'll automatically network together for surface analysis. The number of probes needed depending on body type and size.
"Skill Shots" sounds cool. But, after doing it for even the 3rd or 4th time, it sounds it would get horrifically tedious. Not good. A better idea is deploying X number of probes that'll automatically network together for surface analysis. The number of probes needed depending on body type and size.
I really do welcome these proposals, they sound like an excellent expansion of the exploration abilities of players. I'm especially impressed by the thought that people would be aggrieved at having to go back to base and purchase new modules so an upgrade to the existing scanners is what occurs. I, personally, would like a little more information on planetary points of interest (POI'S) once the micro-probes have been fired and all the data collected, I wouldn't like to be in the position of having discovered 20 POI'S on a planet, going down and investigating them all and moving from crashed satellite to narcotics cache. This to me is defeating the good intentions of reducing the planetary grind of flying over the surface as without a little knowledge we're going to have to go down and do that anyway. Please let me be able to separate the wrecks from the Braintrees.
"To map rings around a planet you need to hit each ring with a single probe."
Will this also apply to asteroid belts around stars? These are currently ignored, as they have no "first discovered" and no financial reward.
Will this also apply to asteroid belts around stars? These are currently ignored, as they have no "first discovered" and no financial reward.
Got to love this community. Spend years *DEMANDING* Frontier make fundamental changes to some of the game's less spectacular mechanics then, when they comply, moan about it & demand they revert back to the original mechanics.....you know, the ones everyone said were broken. No wonder I don't come to the forums as often as I used to.
Great info, thanks for the update. I can't wait to try it out.
I didn't read the whole thread, so I don't know if it's been proposed already: because I, too, am concerned about the increase in time spent scanning with the new system, how about a compromise: with the initial honk please create the whole map so that we can see if there are any ELW, or other interesting bodies, and the new system to be used to get the DSS info, like mass, composition, etc.
If this can't be done, please have it so that when we "discover" gas giants, to get their moons info, too. This will reduce the scanning time significally.
Great change on the USSs!
I hope the micro-probes are like the AFMU ammo, and not require cargo mass, which will interfere with the jump range and load out.
Really looking forward to the beta!
I didn't read the whole thread, so I don't know if it's been proposed already: because I, too, am concerned about the increase in time spent scanning with the new system, how about a compromise: with the initial honk please create the whole map so that we can see if there are any ELW, or other interesting bodies, and the new system to be used to get the DSS info, like mass, composition, etc.
If this can't be done, please have it so that when we "discover" gas giants, to get their moons info, too. This will reduce the scanning time significally.
Great change on the USSs!
I hope the micro-probes are like the AFMU ammo, and not require cargo mass, which will interfere with the jump range and load out.
Really looking forward to the beta!
TL;DR: AWESOME! Love the proposals and can't wait to try the beta. Really excited about these changes. Some more detailed comments/questions below.
EDIT: Also, thank you VERY much for the update. It's really great to get some communications from FDev about upcoming features even if the details may yet be tweaked.
OT: JEEZ people, FDev specifically requested NO DISCUSSIONS but only targeted replies to their proposals! This thread would have been at least 50% smaller without the (often, not always) useless replies and snide jibes at each other. 71 pages to read through before I get to add my own opinionated 2Cr... I am definitely in the wrong timezone!
...wow! I must say this goes a long way beyond what I was expecting and hoping for. This sounds awesome, can't wait to see it in action so that I can get a better impression of how it all works and hangs together.
Yes, it does sound as if exploration will be majorly slowed down, but I think that's a good thing. It means that explorers will really be mapping systems instead of just being space tourists and honk-jumping. There's little more annoying than being in pristine territory, finally hitting the jackpot by finding an ELW orbiting a GG, and then see it's already tagged when nothing else in the surrounding 50LY is.
Modules
* Hmm, I get the sentiment of wanting to include everybody in the update and hence not requiring new modules, but most other new gameplay elements also required people to go back for outfitting or to engage with the new content. I still don't have any engineered modules, for example..
It would be nice if there were advanced versions of the new modules available; such as a combined scanner, or utility-mounted versions etc.
Having said that, you've obviously put a lot of thought into reworking the existing modules so that nobody has -less- functionality than what they currently have if they are far out in the depth of space. The ADS is effectively now the ADS+DSS. So even if somebody has neither an SRV nor a mining laser onboard to synth replacement probes, while they can't take advantage of the new gameplay, but they can continue the existing one. So well done!
Sharing System Information
* There should be a way to share system information with other people.
This will be important for any organised expeditions which wants to have meetups on planets and/or share interesting discoveries without spending too much extra time.
Way back in the day there was a proposal for explorers to be able to drop (micro) nav beacons. Maybe this idea could be resurrected? If so, they'd obviously also need to be synthesisable.
The other alternative would be to broadcast nav information to anybody in the system but that makes it difficult to coordinate with multiple instances of Commanders. Obviously also the navbeacon/broadcast would only be able to share the information about the system that has been discovered so far.
Discovery Scanner
I think there should be a fall-off in resolution, once you're too far away from a body or group of bodies you might be able to detect that something is there, but you'd need to get closer to resolve details. Based on body mass of course. So you should -always- be able to resolve all stars within a system no matter the distance, but might have to approach closer before details on planets can be resolved.
I also think not the full information of the current DSS should be revealed.
The ADS should only indicate -what- resources are present and whether there might be any anomalies, but you'd need to send at least one DSS probe (or get closer for an old-skool DSS scan) to get the resource abundancies and confirm any anomalies and indicate their types.
Surface Scanner
* Performing the detailed DSS probing should only indicate hot-spots for resources and narrow down search areas for anomalies. In both cases it should'nt exactly pin-point the spots, but indicate search zones. People can then either try to eyeball the search zone from their ships (but don't fade out the zone on the radar), or land and use the SRV's wave scanner to find them spot.
It might also be interesting if you could get micro-probes into orbit around planets (high skill level required) instead of having them impact and then being able to either recall them or scoop them.
VR
* Please please pretty pretty please ensure this is well-tested for VR users as well.
Based on the sample screenshots, I'm concerned about the small text resolution. Also, will this be a full-screen overlay like the System/Galaxy Map, or more like the side-panel popups / station menu?
EDIT: Also, thank you VERY much for the update. It's really great to get some communications from FDev about upcoming features even if the details may yet be tweaked.
OT: JEEZ people, FDev specifically requested NO DISCUSSIONS but only targeted replies to their proposals! This thread would have been at least 50% smaller without the (often, not always) useless replies and snide jibes at each other. 71 pages to read through before I get to add my own opinionated 2Cr... I am definitely in the wrong timezone!
...wow! I must say this goes a long way beyond what I was expecting and hoping for. This sounds awesome, can't wait to see it in action so that I can get a better impression of how it all works and hangs together.
Yes, it does sound as if exploration will be majorly slowed down, but I think that's a good thing. It means that explorers will really be mapping systems instead of just being space tourists and honk-jumping. There's little more annoying than being in pristine territory, finally hitting the jackpot by finding an ELW orbiting a GG, and then see it's already tagged when nothing else in the surrounding 50LY is.
Modules
* Hmm, I get the sentiment of wanting to include everybody in the update and hence not requiring new modules, but most other new gameplay elements also required people to go back for outfitting or to engage with the new content. I still don't have any engineered modules, for example..
It would be nice if there were advanced versions of the new modules available; such as a combined scanner, or utility-mounted versions etc.
Having said that, you've obviously put a lot of thought into reworking the existing modules so that nobody has -less- functionality than what they currently have if they are far out in the depth of space. The ADS is effectively now the ADS+DSS. So even if somebody has neither an SRV nor a mining laser onboard to synth replacement probes, while they can't take advantage of the new gameplay, but they can continue the existing one. So well done!
Sharing System Information
* There should be a way to share system information with other people.
This will be important for any organised expeditions which wants to have meetups on planets and/or share interesting discoveries without spending too much extra time.
Way back in the day there was a proposal for explorers to be able to drop (micro) nav beacons. Maybe this idea could be resurrected? If so, they'd obviously also need to be synthesisable.
The other alternative would be to broadcast nav information to anybody in the system but that makes it difficult to coordinate with multiple instances of Commanders. Obviously also the navbeacon/broadcast would only be able to share the information about the system that has been discovered so far.
Discovery Scanner
* If I read this correctly, the ADS is now basically the DSS as well and will provide "First Discovery" tags for all bodies (no matter how far) in a system?
I think there should be a fall-off in resolution, once you're too far away from a body or group of bodies you might be able to detect that something is there, but you'd need to get closer to resolve details. Based on body mass of course. So you should -always- be able to resolve all stars within a system no matter the distance, but might have to approach closer before details on planets can be resolved.
I also think not the full information of the current DSS should be revealed.
The ADS should only indicate -what- resources are present and whether there might be any anomalies, but you'd need to send at least one DSS probe (or get closer for an old-skool DSS scan) to get the resource abundancies and confirm any anomalies and indicate their types.
Surface Scanner
* Synthesis of micro-probes had better not rely on Bubble-materials like the Heat Sinks! PLEASE only require natural resources, ideally ones which can also be found in rings. Easier for the smaller ships to take a mining laser than an SRV bay.
* Performing the detailed DSS probing should only indicate hot-spots for resources and narrow down search areas for anomalies. In both cases it should'nt exactly pin-point the spots, but indicate search zones. People can then either try to eyeball the search zone from their ships (but don't fade out the zone on the radar), or land and use the SRV's wave scanner to find them spot.
It might also be interesting if you could get micro-probes into orbit around planets (high skill level required) instead of having them impact and then being able to either recall them or scoop them.
Ah, nvm then..
VR
* Please please pretty pretty please ensure this is well-tested for VR users as well.
Based on the sample screenshots, I'm concerned about the small text resolution. Also, will this be a full-screen overlay like the System/Galaxy Map, or more like the side-panel popups / station menu?
So basically have it be no more skill based than the current honk mechanism. No thanks.
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I know exactly what you mean, I for one love the proposals in the OP.
But then I see on reddit a bunch of people screaming that they want it to stay the same...
the new system sounds much more engaging and will actually get me into exploring... I love the Idea of exploring a map to remove the "fog of war"... not just have the whole map explored once you fart.
if exploring takes longer.. so what!... exploring is supposed to be about the journey, not the destination IMO.
the people that are complaining on reddit strike me as the type that would type "blacksheepwall" the moment they started a map in Star Craft
Fdev... this time, please don't listen to your community... listening to your community is what is ruining your game IMO... (crime and punishment, current supercruise mechanic, ship timers... even though I was on the pro ship timers team at the time, etc).
I have come to realize that I know how to play games... not make them.... same way as I know how to drive cars & bikes... not manufacture them...
Overall really good. But 2 points / questions.
1) If I jump into a system and it's 50 ice planets that I'm not interested in, is there a quick way to know that this system isn't interesting to me, so I can move on?
2) It sounds like this is going to be used to discover the best places to mine in rings. Does this mean that the RES sites are going away? If so is there some other way to find pirate to kill?
1) If I jump into a system and it's 50 ice planets that I'm not interested in, is there a quick way to know that this system isn't interesting to me, so I can move on?
2) It sounds like this is going to be used to discover the best places to mine in rings. Does this mean that the RES sites are going away? If so is there some other way to find pirate to kill?
I can certainly see areas where the proposed system might be able to be further refined & improved, but that is part of what Beta Testing is for. I look forward to testing it & making suggestions.
Nobody is against the new mechanics, probing planets and finding (half) static uss both on planets and space sounds awesome. Point is that they're de facto removing the convenience of the old honk mechanics and shoving the new probing system down our throats, which will probably be way slower, for achieving the same exact things we already did before.
It's all a big speculation right now and it will stay this way until we see it with our own eyes how this system actually works
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