![[Diplomacy] Carnegie](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/123/123809.jpg?1553527149){kind=avatar}
Which makes it all the more unfortunate that FDev chose to remove the ADS, rather than allowing it to exist alongside the FSS.
the FSS, watching paint dry....
- Thread starter S~P
- Start date
- Status
Which makes it all the more unfortunate that FDev chose to remove the ADS, rather than allowing it to exist alongside the FSS.
By 'always win' I mean that if you arrive in a system with, say, fumeroles tg hen you're going to find the fumeroles. It's impossible to fail the two minigames you need to play to have the POI show up.
There's no skill, knowledge or experience required, so maybe it's more like Pokemon - you'll 'catch' something, but it won't always be what you're looking for.
Yes, I know what you mean Cmdr.
This is where we differ though. Not every planet (or star system) is a candidate. Identifying candidates can be I believe a knowledge/experience exercise. (Don't forget I'm talking about fumeroles, about as basic as it gets).
Last edited:
Nope I enjoy it. Setting it up was an utter nightmare but I enjoy the process of using it.
The System map tells you whether a planet has volcanism.
I'll accept that braintrees and Guardian ruins require more specialist knowledge, but if you simply scan/probe everything in a system, the you'll be given everything in the system without having to apply any thought to the process.
That's surveying, not exploration, in my book.
Basically, the new process is even more of a 'god honk' than the old one.
The new system needs some investment in time. It took me 3 hrs to get the new exploration flow going. As I am currently in Colonia, I am looking at a long way back to the bubble (to help defending it). I just had to work out the new mechanism.
Working with almost standaard key mapping, noticed there was no axis assigned for tuning, I found that a turning on my thruster works very nicely for this. Now my flow is very intuitive, after 1 hr of struggle and then 2 hrs of gradual building up the routine on my return flight.
I keep my mode on analyses, so no need to switch modes. I enter and honk while I scoop, then if there are bodies found, wait till I get out of the refuelling zone, thrttle back and start the frequecy analyser. I immediatly see if there are signals in the water/earthlike range, if not, I switch te analyser off and jump to next system. If there are, I tune to the ELW or WW signal and search for the matching spot. This takes about 1 min. After this, I jump to the next system.
So far, I like the new mechanism, it is faster too because there is no need to fly to the bodies, unless you want to map the surface, but that is another story.
Working with almost standaard key mapping, noticed there was no axis assigned for tuning, I found that a turning on my thruster works very nicely for this. Now my flow is very intuitive, after 1 hr of struggle and then 2 hrs of gradual building up the routine on my return flight.
I keep my mode on analyses, so no need to switch modes. I enter and honk while I scoop, then if there are bodies found, wait till I get out of the refuelling zone, thrttle back and start the frequecy analyser. I immediatly see if there are signals in the water/earthlike range, if not, I switch te analyser off and jump to next system. If there are, I tune to the ELW or WW signal and search for the matching spot. This takes about 1 min. After this, I jump to the next system.
So far, I like the new mechanism, it is faster too because there is no need to fly to the bodies, unless you want to map the surface, but that is another story.
I agree with that definition.
God honk? If you like but it's not a God survey and definitely unrealistic to expect a God game expansion.
I see quite a bit to get your teeth into now though (as you say, largely with biologicals at this point).
I agree, that this is probably the most critical issue. That is probably what FDev realized, but could find an appropriate fail condition. Therefore went with unlimited probes and some arbitrary efficiency target.
On the other hand I am not sure, if ED would really work, if you could fail one of the two minigames. But it could be like the hacking minigames both in the latest Deus Ex games or Alien: Isolation. Both were simple, but the possilbe fail state, its correspondent repercussions and the limited time window, made them exciting. Neither DSS nor FSS mechanics are exciting. Just a bit trail and error - considered pretty bad mechanic in games design -, no risk, thus little to no reward. So the new mechanics boil down (unfortunately) to busywork. The only reason it can be considered good is, the old mechanics were even less engaging, therefore worse, and USSs were completely random in appearance. Basically it could not get worse and now it is a bit better.
Surveying is a good description of the new process.
What would people prefer ?.
An actual mechanic that would qualify as 'game' by definition.
I was worried that exploration was going to be too complex but after finally getting my bindings right I'm quickly finding out that its actually dead simple. In fact the main thought that keeps occurring is that its a hell of a lot of effort for FDev to have gone to to arrive at a result which at its core is so simplistic and requires so little thought you can almost do it with your eyes closed.
Definitely an improvement on the original place-holder mechanic but honestly that's not saying much, you'd think that with all the effort they put into it, developing entirely different view-modes and eye-candy they could have come up with something a little less underwhelming.
Definitely an improvement on the original place-holder mechanic but honestly that's not saying much, you'd think that with all the effort they put into it, developing entirely different view-modes and eye-candy they could have come up with something a little less underwhelming.
The fss used for signal sources only and the DSS added to old exploration. Keep the credit buffs.
EDIT: more better, add the wildlife thargoid guardian raxxla anomaly detectors to the fss too. As someone amazingly pointed out, geological features are already stated on the system map there’s no need to god mod this information when you can just go read it.
Last edited:
to everyone saying "they should just throw it (FSS) over the exisiting HUD - its easy"! - as someone who dabbles in some coding - no its not. Sure ,in theory..it might be..but to do it in a way it actually works along with everything else already there? Gimme a break.
Nothing is easy. And basic things we take for granted take hours, days and months of work to get functioning right.
If they went with a seperate screen they had their reasons. Something would have had to be compromised to implement the "easy" alternative all you experts are crying for and they decided "No".
Thats not to say i wouldnt like it - i would.
Nothing is easy. And basic things we take for granted take hours, days and months of work to get functioning right.
If they went with a seperate screen they had their reasons. Something would have had to be compromised to implement the "easy" alternative all you experts are crying for and they decided "No".
Thats not to say i wouldnt like it - i would.
Last edited:
The new system as it is in 3.3. Anything is an improvement to the old place holder. But all this ranting for and against the mechanics is a moot point, FD have made the decision, it seems there are more players in support of it than against it so there is no reason at all for FD to change or amend it.
How dare you. With your common sense and logic.
This is the FORUMS.
We only use Hyperbole here.
Get out.
You forgot to put the exclamation point there at the end.
I spend five hours exploring yesterday. I found tons of fumeroles, geysers and gas vents, of which I found none in the previous years. I even found bark mound, my first own discovery of life. It was awesome, and I spend almost no time doing nothing. Compared with the old system, where you mostly did nothing and virtually never found anything, this is an infinite improvement.
There finally is exploration gameplay, and I cant wait to get home from work early!
There finally is exploration gameplay, and I cant wait to get home from work early!
The way I'd put it is "buy fruit and veg at Agricultural to sell at industrial", "make sure your target has cargo before you deploy hatch breaker" and "find me x tons of x missions", are not in of themselves complex ideas .. but it's the complex environment that gives the meaning. I think you do want mechanics to be simple on the surface, for non-career users to make use of but with something to drill into .. and someone already mentioned above how they're filtering for planet types off the frequency scale.
Using the FSS smartly in the game environment is what's going to count but it's the usual thing when a new mechanic is introduced, there's a high focus on it. As that focus fades and it's viewed on the same level as every other mechanic, that's when I think FSS will win. Some complexity to it but not so complex you need to be an expert to get any use out of it.
Got you covered!
- Status