I have read the proposal in the OP and a number (not all sorry) or the threads, comments and conversations in this thread. i could summarise my feelings as thus.
The current mechanics for "exploration" are bare bones and so any attention FD show are a good sign. The proposal described is laking detail to understand how it would be an improvement, the fact a proposal is being discussed is positive. However, the various pros and cons around the proposal suggest FD are proposing a solution to a situation that they may not understand the outcome us players are looking for. Conversely as players we are not providing a great set of requirements we would like to see delivered.
For FD to deliver any solution we as players need to agree a few points, otherwise there is nothing to change.
In the elite galaxy, are the current mechanics, tools and processes providing the best possible gaming experience? Unless the everyone playing the game is Yes, then something needs to change.
Putting aside how it might change for now, what are we looking for?
The proposal as presented looks to try and provide deeper mechanisms for interrogating the systems and bodies we explore, although possibly they introduce more "grind" to what we are already familiar with. I raised the question in a separate thread some time ago when considering what a better exploration mechanic might look like (
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...vs-Discovery?p=6062404&viewfull=1#post6062404) its not an easy problem to solve for a number of reasons.
Some things I would like to see considered:
- What would happen if exploration and its associated data was abstracted from the extrinsic driver of credits? Currently any change to the mechanics of exploring will be weighed against the changes in credits per hour that exploring brings by a portion of the player base.
- How can any new mechanic maintain the current levels of serendipitous discovery we can achieve given the results of the ASD infinite "honk"
- Could the grades of discovery scanner be used to reveal differing levels of detail in exploration? Maybe the basic discovery scanner exposes the current level of detail at the honk, but to get material information, first discovered tag, detailed surface maps we need to invest in higher cost modules.
- Could the idea of the energy signal be used as a filter to what is displayed by the "honk". Given I have a basic discovery scanner when i Honk a system I only see system bodies of a specific energy profile revealed in the system map. I f I want to see more I need to go to the new view/mini game.
- Could some smart graphical effect be bought to bear on the system map, when honking with a basic scanner the bodies revealed in the system map are low fidelity/blurry until i enter the new scanning view to resolve greater detail.
- Currently the honking mechanism reveals detailed information in many ways, is all this information interesting to all types of explorers, could some of the information be revealed by new module types? At the honk currently we get system layout, we can visually identify body class, we can identify body type by audio AND we can determine material value from the materials listing.different player types might only be interested in 1 or 2 of those data sets, others might like to collect all. could that information be split across module variants and minigame variants so more play styles might benefit?
I would love to see exploration improve with mechanics that add depth, skill and reward to the process of discovery, and richness to the scope of the possible discovery. I would not like to see more mechanics, processes and tasks to complete in order to reveal what we already see.
