∞ probes?

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I see the technical issue of non horizons players... that was asked during the previous livestream and Adam was clearly unprepared to answer... so I see the technical issue here... as I said... add an Option which is automatically ON (unlimited) and when you don't like it (like me) you just switch the toggle to OFF...

Or what's the problem with the handwave of the DSS passively collecting required materials from space as you fly along? Space isn't entirely empty - there is always some bits of gas and dust in space - it's not a complete 100% vacuum devoid of anything after all. :)
 
HANDWAVE LORE:

"Planetary Mapping Probes are made from materials which are constantly and passively collected by the DSS module, as you fly through space, which as we all know isn't completely empty but does contain trace gases and dust"

Kind of a similar idea to the fuel scoop - ish.

Nice one... as I said before I would be happy also with a probes scoop process, but something that requires my presence in the game... didn't we just want to say Goodbye to placeholders???
 
Thats not much of an argument. Just because someone doesnt have something, doesnt mean you should be able to do it anyway. With that logic it is unfair I need scanners too. The real question is what gear should be 'minimally required' for exploration, and just two scanners seems... flimsy for proper exploration. No trader has just one or two cargo racks. No combat ship has just one or two combat-related modules. No mining ship has just one or two required modules. I think 'four' is a very decent 'absolute minimum for medium-high end gameplay'. Refinery/lasers/collector/prospector/specialty weapons. Armor/weapons/SCB/chaff/heatsink/shield. Endless cargoracks. :p ADS/DSS/Fuel scoop/SRV.

Explorers wouldnt be unduly punished.

FDev's stated goal when the exploration changes were first announced a couple of months back was that explorers wouldn't need to return to the bubble. They're upholding that statement :)
 
The infinite probes thing jarred a bit when I first heard it but after five minutes of trying to come up with a rationalisation I just gave up and accepted it as a gameplay decision.

(FWIW the best retcon I could come up with was that when we enter a ring system our cargo or fuel scoops can be used to hoover up some of the larger bits of floating detritus in the dust, which contains enough trace metals and minerals to synthesise microprobes. Whenever probes run out, fly through a ring for sixty seconds. I guess FD could put something like this into the game -- it doesn't involve SRVs or mining lasers so it wouldn't require Horizons or a trip back to civilisation to re-equip -- but it would be a lot of effort to fill a gap in the lore. And it would require the probes to be made of a particular substance that's only found in the dust but not in the asteroids, which would add a brand new level of confusion to the whole materials / ores thing. Best leave it alone.)

As for the probes themselves, I though the visuals and the speed were just about right. They reminded me of photon torpedoes. I thought they were conducting Spock's funeral when they fired the first one. The fading effect on the "tail" seemed a bit off, but that might be a difficult effect to pull off and the graphics might not be optimised yet. They certainly looked better than the "comet tails" ships have when nearby in supercruise; they've always seemed very artificial to me.
 
Can't we just have an option to have them unlimited or not so everyone is happy instead of arguing???

Here there are simply different opinions there's no wrong or right.

Introduce an option and everyone is happy...

No. Unfortunately "an option for every controversial mechanic" is not suitable.
Do you have an idea, how many different game mechanics are there that would benefit from options?
And each and every option must be maintained, tested and functional with future additions.
The game code would be unmanageable soon.

I am afraid, at some point game developers have to make a call and decide, how they want their game to evolve.
"Just make it an option" sounds like a great compromise everybody can be happy with.
It's not.
 
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Can't we just have an option to have them unlimited or not so everyone is happy instead of arguing???

Here there are simply different opinions there's no wrong or right.

Introduce an option and everyone is happy...

Cant you just Roleplay driving around on a planet, shooting some rocks and collecting stuffs to keep yourself happy.

Why should FDev waste development time on this really miniscule requirement?

Remember FDev can’t please all of the players all of the time!
 
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No. Unfortunately "an option for every controversial mechanic" is not suitable.
Do you have an idea, how many different game mechanics are there that would benefit from options?
And each and every option must be maintained, tested and functional with future additions.
The game code would be unmanageable soon.

I am afraid, at some point game developers have to make a call and decide, how they want their game to evolve.
"Just make it an option" sounds like a great compromise everybody can be happy with.
It's not.

A lot of games got EASY MEDIUM and HARD option. This would be pretty the same... Make exploration harder or easier... based on your personal game style.
 
What I take from all of this is that they didn't want to bother having to develop the re-arm or synthesis mechanic, in order to end up with virtually unlimited probes but with an actual menu limit to give verisimilitude. So they just went ahead and made then infinite.

Which is totally fine.

You know what it would not have been fine? Calling them telepresence probes or something equally stupid, and also wasting some time on cheesy animations of probes materializing from thin air, just for Adam Woods to be able to say on steam how the game has a strong foundation in science and that the probe concept was built on known scientific principles.
 
I don't like the idea of infinite anything, and would prefer a less gamey solution.
However there's already a whole slew of little inconsistencies that one more is of small consequence to me now.
 
good decision for me

making it so probes required synthesis and thus surface prospecting would have added an additional grind to a game that has plenty of that and i feel it would have taken away from what has been/will be a brilliant update to exploration. The general feeling from the game is that there's too much grind & not enough game-play, they have added game-play why stifle it with additional grind for the sake of it

it needs to feel like a game not a choir
 
Would love to see, at some point in the future, to be able to stack several DSS modules, and fire away 16 probes at the same time... Of course, with the limitation that if you do that, you are 1) Speeding up the planetary mapping a lot, but... 2) You are wasting module slots to do so. :)

A bit like how you choose to build a mining vessel... lots of limpet collectors = less cargospace.

Oh well... I am very, very happy with what I've seen today. :)
 
What I take from all of this is that they didn't want to bother having to develop the re-arm or synthesis mechanic, in order to end up with virtually unlimited probes but with an actual menu limit to give verisimilitude. So they just went ahead and made then infinite.

Which is totally fine.

You know what it would not have been fine? Calling them telepresence probes or something equally stupid, and also wasting some time on cheesy animations of probes materializing from thin air, just for Adam Woods to be able to say on steam how the game has a strong foundation in science and that the probe concept was built on known scientific principles.

Yeah. Compromises for gameplay's sake are totally fine, just don't make any ludicrous lore explanation, just ignore the question and accept that it is gameplay. I'd honestly have no issue with the whole telepresence thing if they'd just said "look, this is just to make the gameplay more feasible, hot-joining possible etc, lore-wise you are actually sitting in the other ship" and that would be 100% fine.
 
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