News Chapter Four - Exploration Reveal
Please FDevs. Don't make this game even more tedious and time consuming than it already is. Keep the ADS as it is and add all the "pewpew the planet" you want to make happy those who enjoy shooting everything which moves as a plus. And never forget, Explorers want to discover. So add content. True content.
So you are still propagating a rumor without any evidence, proof or link?
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They're actually making it less tedious and speeding up the process of scanning. It will however be more attention consuming.
This has yet to be seen, so there's no “actually” about it. What we know for certain is that they're slowing down the process for decision-making and removing agency from a number of related activities.
The same amount of attention will be required as now since it's fairly obvious that the interaction is pretty much exactly the same: align thing with thing and then adjust slider to receive bacon — at most, the order is switched around a bit. If the surface scanning procedure actually does turn out to be faster, then that just means that attention needs to be maintained for a shorter period of time.
Funnily enough, if they removed the slider part, it truly would be a bit more attention consuming since you'd have to start deducing things by cross-references different information sources.
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Would you mind explaining how it speeds up the process?
Right for the scanning process. I am not sure for the ADS.
Why always forcing the players to play the game the way FD want ? Keep both mechanics together. The player who only wants to scout a system without exploring it thoroughly at that moment would be able to transmit to other players a potentially interesting system. Or come back himself later.
Isn't there room enough for Scouts and every-nook-and-cranny Explorers in this game ? Room in depth or room in width ?
Any new exploring mechanic will eventually become repetitive and boring. The point of Exploration is not how you explore. The point of Exploration is Discovery ! Don't miss it !
Would be cool to have true Exploration ships in this game, with all the scientific hardware needed to explore thoroughly a body. The current ships would then be some sort of Scouts. An ExploConda with 20 Scientific Internals ...
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We're just not going to ever agree on that.
It removes the travel time, by apparently giving the zoomable surface scanner infinite range. The current scan time is between 35-15 seconds. The current travel times before scanning kicks in are are between 0 seconds and >30 minutes. Clearly the largest portion of the scan is travel time, so this has the ability to dramatically speed up the scanning process, assuming scan times don't (dramatically) increase. However in order enjoy these speed gains, you now need to actively participate in the scanning process.
Please check out my thread in the suggestion forum where I suggest exactly this^^^ as a compromise:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...d-All-Compromises-Exploration-Scanner-Edition
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I agree 100%.
Although I do find twiddling knobs in the incoming space binoculars to the very opposite of making exploration interesting. Still have (very) little hopes there's at least something more than just this in terms of new gameplay and content, or IMO it's yet another completely wasted year.
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I would just like a new UI that controls all the different UI's, because there is also the mining UI. I would also like an excito-meter gauge, that would measure all the new and exciting stuff that we will discover.
On a serious note.. looking back at the past of all the exciting stuff and how they turned out in reallity.. well lets just say that personally, the way that the new scanners and probes will be implemented, will be the least of my concerns.
But hey.. dont let me ruin this exciting feedback thread.. as you were.
On a serious note.. looking back at the past of all the exciting stuff and how they turned out in reallity.. well lets just say that personally, the way that the new scanners and probes will be implemented, will be the least of my concerns.
But hey.. dont let me ruin this exciting feedback thread.. as you were.
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Imho it's true that the current mechanic is way too much rewarding in terms of data collected. But if we are going to make it more sophisticated, the reward must also be way more interesting. For instance the materials. With the actual DSS you know there is ...some... let's say Polonium on that precise body. I wish, with the new mechanic, that I will find a real entire mine of Polonium and not sparse meteorites or outcrops, sprayed on large regions. Same thing for other discover-able items. Derelicts, hidden bases, etc... More challenging? More rewarding!
I'd be down with that, but I feel that they'd also have to go back and increase the amount of material requirements for things to balance it. I mean, they wouldn't have to, but I'm sure they would, game too easy and all that.
That's just it: the active participation portion of surface scanning will be minimally different from its current incarnation and will still involve going through the same motions. All that's cut out is time. You don't have to think about it particularly hard or particularly long to see how little it changes anything.
Before, you had to spend a couple of seconds to slew the direction marker around to align with a signature, and then continuously adjust it as you get closer (in space). With the new system, you have to spend a couple of seconds to slew the target marker around to align with the signature, and then continuously adjust it as you get closer (in the survey interface). If you don't actively participate in the former, you'll end up not getting any data — it'll just take a while before you fail to get it. If you don't actively participate in the latter, you'll end up not getting any data — it'll just be a lot more immediate.
Again, as has been pointed out many times now: this is just a different UI layer on top of the exact same interactions and mechanics that are already in place, with a time wall being erected to hinder decision-making and the agency it affords (for exploration as well as for other activities), but with a time reduction for those who are just in it for the cash.
With that in mind, you also don't have to think about it particularly long or particularly hard to figure out why some people would prefer a change that reduces choice (and the thinking that comes with it) while also increasing money earning speed…
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The art guys did indicate that Q4 planetary tech improvements would give players an immediate visual guide as to where materials would be on planetary surfaces. Hopefully that plan is still in the offing. Heat maps would be nice too, though.
Well, I hope that's still coming then. I had forgotten about the plans they had for that.
Yikes. The finger pointing... "You're just out for credits!" "No you are!" I didn't think I'd see both sides hop to that argument, but at least there's finally an agreement on something. I'm going to need to farm up some credits for some more of those Onionhead Cracklins. (Sounds more relevant than the usual popcorn meme.)
Mmmhhyes... anyway since the mats traders, who feels in need of any material? I am discarding Ytrium, Arsenic and Thermic Alloys all the time... MY point refers more to some sort of aesthetic and realistic stuff. Mines, deposits... not boulders ! Come on FDevs !
Wow, the debate continues. Oh well, I have said my peace about what kind of compromise system I would like to see, as well as what other exploration mechanics I would like in the game, & that is where I will leave it.
I do hope that we are given many more ways in which we can interact with USS's & PoI's, beyond the "shoot & scoop". SRV's should be fitted with scanning tools that allow them to obtain valuable data on a variety of organic & geological PoI's (transient & persistent). It would also be nice to have less destructive ways of obtaining geological & organic samples to take back to the bubble. Though maybe we won't get that until "space legs"?
What I am now also curious about is, for instance, how multi-crew exploration payouts will work for crew members. Surely they wouldn't get access to the full payout until the primary exploration vessel returns safely? What about first discovered/mapped? I would assume only the pilot can claim those?
I am also hoping that changes to exploration mechanics will allow for the design of much more engaging versions of current missions-like salvage & surface scan. I guess we shall see.
I do hope that we are given many more ways in which we can interact with USS's & PoI's, beyond the "shoot & scoop". SRV's should be fitted with scanning tools that allow them to obtain valuable data on a variety of organic & geological PoI's (transient & persistent). It would also be nice to have less destructive ways of obtaining geological & organic samples to take back to the bubble. Though maybe we won't get that until "space legs"?
What I am now also curious about is, for instance, how multi-crew exploration payouts will work for crew members. Surely they wouldn't get access to the full payout until the primary exploration vessel returns safely? What about first discovered/mapped? I would assume only the pilot can claim those?
I am also hoping that changes to exploration mechanics will allow for the design of much more engaging versions of current missions-like salvage & surface scan. I guess we shall see.
“Agreement” would probably be the wrong label. After all, one side is arguing for a
…although I guess that there is some agreement about the new mechanic that yields new sources of income, with the main exception being people who don't care and for whom it therefore makes no difference either way.