News Chapter Four - Exploration Reveal

[Ziggy Stardust]

If traveling under this new system becomes a chore, I don't know whether I'm going to try it all the way out to Beagle Point.

Right now, I parked myself 12 KLY away from the Bubble where I'll wonder around until Q4 hits. Then I'm going to make my way back home. By the end of that journey I should have a fairly good idea whether traveling is indeed a chore. A beta is only good to test out the technical stuff, it doesn't reveal the longevity of a feature. If it's too convoluted to figure out systems, I'll pass the new mechanism entirely which will turn traveling into: Honk, scoop, (possible cherry pick?) jump, without distractions along the way. Which is funny, since the Doofus Yogurts on this board have been telling me I am that kind of explorer, just because I like to see system maps.

Oh irony, you fickle beast.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

If traveling under this new system becomes a chore, I don't know whether I'm going to try it all the way out to Beagle Point.

Right now, I parked myself 12 KLY away from the Bubble where I'll wonder around until Q4 hits. Then I'm going to make my way back home. By the end of that journey I should have a fairly good idea whether traveling is indeed a chore. A beta is only good to test out the technical stuff, it doesn't reveal the longevity of a feature. If it's too convoluted to figure out systems, I'll pass the new mechanism entirely which will turn traveling into: Honk, scoop, (possible cherry pick?) jump, without distractions along the way. Which is funny, since the Doofus Yogurts on this board have been telling me I am that kind of explorer, just because I like to see system maps.

Oh irony, you fickle beast.

Travelling will be no different to what it is now. It's what you do between travelling that will be different. If you want to get to a specific area fast, then it will be no different to now. But if you want to explore every system, then the time I expect will be different depending on what you want to do there and how many planetoids are in the system.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Travelling will be no different to what it is now. It's what you do between travelling that will be different. If you want to get to a specific area fast, then it will be no different to now. But if you want to explore every system, then the time I expect will be different depending on what you want to do there and how many planetoids are in the system.

You don't know it won't be different. If I set off to a destination 15 KLY away, I know I'll be distracted along the way by checking out system maps. This remains to be seen in the new system, since the mechanism that distracts me may take too long a time when I'm traveling. Which will change traveling a great deal for me.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

You don't know it won't be different. If I set off to a destination 15 KLY away, I know I'll be distracted along the way by checking out system maps. This remains to be seen in the new system, since the mechanism that distracts me may take too long a time when I'm traveling. Which will change traveling a great deal for me.

You talked about travelling, not exploring.

Travelling is jump, scoop (if you have a fuel Scoop), jump and a honk if you can be bothered. Travelling will be no different. Exploring systems though will be different.

As to it taking too long while you are travelling, well if it is fun, interesting and engaging then I fail to see how it can take too long.

I am enrolled onto the DW2 expedition, I will be doing a mixture of travelling and exploration. Some systems I won't bother scanning, some I will, some I will investigate more with the probes if anything interesting is indicated.

Sometimes I may just travel to the next rendevous point and then explore around that area instead of inbetween.

But at the end of the day, if your travel time is longer, but there is much more fun during that travel time because the mechanics are more interesting and engaging to use, does it really matter?

 

[WR3ND]

You talked about travelling, not exploring.

...

No, he talked about exploring while traveling without map mini-games getting in the way.

I have a feeling I'm going to miss that a lot in the game as well. Traveling will likely be much more of a chore instead of an excitement to find and explore interesting systems along the way, based on what I've heard from the OP.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

No, he talked about exploring while traveling without mini-map games getting in the way.

No, not on the post I initially replied to. But I talked about the above anyway. So your reply was irrelevant.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

You talked about travelling, not exploring.

The act of traveling becomes a chore if I have to do it without distractions along the way.

Think about a long train journey with and without a book. Both involve the train journey, but they are experienced differently. They will be different journeys.

As to it taking too long while you are travelling, well if it is fun, interesting and engaging then I fail to see how it can take too long.

I am enrolled onto the DW2 expedition, I will be doing a mixture of travelling and exploration. Some systems I won't bother scanning, some I will, some I will investigate more with the probes if anything interesting is indicated.

Sometimes I may just travel to the next rendevous point and then explore around that area instead of inbetween.

But at the end of the day, if your travel time is longer, but there is much more fun during that travel time because the mechanics are more interesting and engaging to use, does it really matter?

That's the point, will the new mechanism give me quick pointers whether a system is worthwhile spending time on.

I was very careful framing my post. I am talking about worries, not certainties. Read the first sentence of the initial post you replied to again.

If it's a chore, traveling will become a chore. If it's not, it's not.

 

[WR3ND]

No, not on the post I initially replied to. But I talked about the above anyway. So your reply was irrelevant.

So, he must have been complaining about the extra time distracting systems take away from his travels or something.

Good thing we won't have to worry about that now. [knocked out]

 

[Han Zulu]

I'm not too worried. If the system extends exploration time too much, there will be a lot of voices heard in the weeks after 3.3 release, and FDev would have to improve it.

I have personally done over 21,000 scans in total in the game. 14,000 in past year alone, and of those close to 7000 undiscovered. Right now, a honk takes about 5-10 seconds. That's more to 20 hours in honk time alone. If the time to honk increases, it will be felt over time. If it doubled, it would be an extra 20 hours just in honking, and if we consider about 1,000 ly travel / hour, it's a 20,000 ly lost travel distance. I don't mind lost travel at the expanse of honking as long as it increases the benefit, reward, enjoyment of exploration, but if it doesn't, I'm sure I won't be the only one raising the issue when Q4 is out.

Right now, I'm just leaving it until it's released and we can experience it.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

So can we agree that the 'travelers' will be disadvantaged while the 'explorers' being supported by the new mechanics?

No we can't agree, since we know too little about the new mechanics. Plus I have no idea what you mean by 'travelers' and 'explorers'.

 

[WR3ND]

...

Seeing new stuff (like interesting system arrangements and world properties) is probably the main component to exploration, honestly. You find new things with your senses and interpret them with your mind. Map mini-games have little to do with that, but perhaps more to do with cataloging... or something? Both would be nice options, but not as replacements for each other in the game.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

The act of traveling becomes a chore if I have to do it without distractions along the way.

Think about a long train journey with and without a book. Both involve the train journey, but they are experienced differently. They will be different journeys.


That's the point, will the new mechanism give me quick pointers whether a system is worthwhile spending time on.

I was very careful framing my post. I am talking about worries, not certainties. Read the first sentence of the initial post you replied to again.

If it's a chore, traveling will become a chore. If it's not, it's not.

We just do not know. All we can do is wait. We all have uncertainties, but one thing is for sure is that we will all have to adapt our playstyle which is not necessarily a bad thing.

If we go by the hatefu... I mean blessed 17 then it could very well be a positive change. We have some feedback that has been overwhelmingly postive from a wide area of the community. All we can do is hope we agree with them when we try it out. But if you go looking for issues deliberatly and ignore the positives, you won't like it no matter how good the system is.

Try to keep an open mind and don't try to break the system. See how you can adapt the way you play the game to make the changes better for you instead of being ultra rigid and have it ruin your time in the game.

 

[WR3ND]

We just do not know. All we can do is wait. ...

Or we can read the OP and interpret how that is likely to impact our styles of play, if it is, and respond accordingly so that hopefully Frontier can resolve some of these issues.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

We just do not know. All we can do is wait. We all have uncertainties, but one thing is for sure is that we will all have to adapt our playstyle which is not necessarily a bad thing.

If we go by the hatefu... I mean blessed 17 then it could very well be a positive change. We have some feedback that has been overwhelmingly postive from a wide area of the community. All we can do is hope we agree with them when we try it out. But if you go looking for issues deliberatly and ignore the positives, you won't like it no matter how good the system is.

Try to keep an open mind and don't try to break the system. See how you can adapt the way you play the game to make the changes better for you instead of being ultra rigid and have it ruin your time in the game.

I don't mind altering the way I get around or explore. I have been reinventing that part of the game for 3 years, since it's about the only thing I do. From full system scans, to hunting the heaviest proc gen BHs, smallest landable planets to looking for pretty skyboxes to checking out weird systems.

I am allowed to be worried aren't I?

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

I don't mind altering the way I get around or explore. I have been reinventing that part of the game for 3 years, since it's about the only thing I do. From full system scans, to hunting the heaviest proc gen BHs, smallest landable planets to looking for pretty skyboxes to checking out weird systems.

I am allowed to be worried aren't I?

Of course. Even I am worried too. But as I said, it pays to try to keep an open mind and don't try to break it and make it boring. We can all make mechanics boring within games easily. Just try to make sure you don't do so subconsciously.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Or we can read the OP and interpret how that is likely to impact our styles of play, if it is, and respond accordingly so that hopefully Frontier can resolve some of these issues.

Unless there is no issue as we may have interpreted it incorrectly and there is nothing for FDev to respond to and there is no issue, or FDev may decide that is not how they want exploration to be like and feel that it should take longer. At the end of the day it is up to FDev. Doesn't matter what we want personally, we either adapt the way we play to the new mechanics or we uninstall if we can't cope with it. But I doubt many will be.

 

[WR3ND]

...

No one is saying it isn't up to them. I'm just providing feedback based on what I know so far, and so far, it seems there are significant gameplay issues with these new mechanics that I hope Frontier is able to resolve. Yes, I'd much rather not uninstall a game I've been playing for many years, and put many hundred USD and thousands of hours into. That'd just be silly.

I'm not responding to this thread on a whim.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

No one is saying it isn't up to them. I'm just providing feedback based on what I know so far, and so far, it seems there are significant gameplay issues with these new mechanics that I hope Frontier is able to resolve. Yes, I'd much rather not uninstall a game I've been playing for many years, and put many hundred USD and thousands of hours into. That'd just be silly.

I'm not responding to this thread on a whim.

Except that we cannot really see if there are any gameplay issues at all until we see it in action. A few static screens and a very basic description shows us very little at all.

 

[Mengy]

The act of traveling becomes a chore if I have to do it without distractions along the way.
...
That's the point, will the new mechanism give me quick pointers whether a system is worthwhile spending time on.

This is my greatest worry about exploration in 3.3 too.

The greatest feature of the honk was that it allowed a traveler to quickly look for interesting things to explore along the way, thereby enticing some exploration while traveling. The current 3.3 proposed changes by Frontier do not provide for this at all, and if we lose this feature then it will be a terrible travesty.

My worry is that Frontier has designed the new mechanics with only full system explorers in mind and not travelers. I hope I am very much mistaken.


We really need to see this in action and play test it to find the answer.

 

[WR3ND]

This is my greatest worry about exploration in 3.3 too.

The greatest feature of the honk was that it allowed a traveler to quickly look for interesting things to explore along the way, thereby enticing some exploration while traveling. The current 3.3 proposed changes by Frontier do not provide for this at all, and if we lose this feature then it will be a terrible travesty.

My worry is that Frontier has designed the new mechanics with only full system explorers in mind and not travelers. I hope I am very much mistaken.


We really need to see this in action and play test it to find the answer.

+1

And rather ironically, I mostly "travel" to find interesting systems along the way. The joy of that out of the black: "Whoa, this system looks cool. Going to have fun flying around and checking this out."

Definitely going to suck major space probes if that isn't really much of a thing anymore, obfuscated through a map mini-game.

Spoiler: I like going exploring in a Vulture; I'm definitely not in it for the "travel." I'm in it for the exploration.