Frontier, the absence of a Universal Limpet Controller undermines your own good work

[TheSynopticVision]

A gameplay anecdote: yesterday I was flying around with my all-purpose Asp, which is equipped with a Collector Limpet controller, to snag the materials I find in USSs and various places. During my travels, I see a new contact, one of the many new kinds of installations and megaships you've put in the Bubble. I decide to stop and take a look. The asset itself is impressive. I scan it with the Datalink Scanner. It highlights the cargo hatches and the data points I could break/hack. Except, I cannot, because I lack the two different kinds of limpet controllers required (Hatch Breaker and Recon). Oh well, I leave without interacting with the megaship. About half hour later, I find a new distress signal. I drop in, and there's a stranded ship needing fuel. I'd like to help it, but I cannot, because i lack the Fuel Limpet controller.

I suppose the same could happen with someone meeting a Thargoid (which can be interacted with by means of Research Limpets) or a damaged ship in needs to repair (Repair Limpet).

The moral of the story is: you've worked hard to introduce new assets and new scenarios for us to interact with. But more often than not we will not interact with them, because we don't have the tools for it. Could I have flown over to the nearest station and bought the three kinds of limpet controllers I needed? Sure. But (even assuming that the station had them in stock) that would've taken me quite a bit of extra time, between going there, outfitting it, and then coming back to put back in my Asp the modules I regularly want.

Now, before someone says "well, but I do". Good for you. There's also people who go to Beagle point in a Sidewinder. But I think it is a pretty uncontroversial opinion that the game should, on average, help you perform the actions you want without extra and unnecessary hoops to jump into, especially for new or inexperienced players who aren't even aware of the 8 different kinds of limpet controllers they might need to equip. They are just too many.

We need a Universal Limpet Controller.

 

[Vandaahl]

Sry, it was about the controller
Yes indeed, I agree.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Yes, I was surprised its not part of 3.3. It locks almost everyone out of many encounters and events.

 

[M00ka]

A gameplay anecdote: yesterday I was flying around with my all-purpose Asp, which is equipped with a Collector Limpet controller, to snag the materials I find in USSs and various places. During my travels, I see a new contact, one of the many new kinds of installations and megaships you've put in the Bubble. I decide to stop and take a look. The asset itself is impressive. I scan it with the Datalink Scanner. It highlights the cargo hatches and the data points I could break/hack. Except, I cannot, because I lack the two different kinds of limpet controllers required (Hatch Breaker and Recon). Oh well, I leave without interacting with the megaship. About half hour later, I find a new distress signal. I drop in, and there's a stranded ship needing fuel. I'd like to help it, but I cannot, because i lack the Fuel Limpet controller.

I suppose the same could happen with someone meeting a Thargoid (which can be interacted with by means of Research Limpets) or a damaged ship in needs to repair (Repair Limpet).

The moral of the story is: you've worked hard to introduce new assets and new scenarios for us to interact with. But more often than not we will not interact with them, because we don't have the tools for it. Could I have flown over to the nearest station and bought the three kinds of limpet controllers I needed? Sure. But (even assuming that the station had them in stock) that would've taken me quite a bit of extra time, between going there, outfitting it, and then coming back to put back in my Asp the modules I regularly want.

Now, before someone says "well, but I do". Good for you. There's also people who go to Beagle point in a Sidewinder. But I think it is a pretty uncontroversial opinion that the game should, on average, help you perform the actions you want without extra and unnecessary hoops to jump into, especially for new or inexperienced players who aren't even aware of the 8 different kinds of limpet controllers they might need to equip. They are just too many.

We need a Universal Limpet Controller.

Yes I agree that something needs to be done about the proliferation of limpet controllers but have you thought on how this Universal Controller would work? How would we select what we want the limpet to do, or should there now be dedicated limpets that are pre-programmed with their basic task - the new controller just updates the limpet with the targeting information?

 

[Ozram]

Yes I agree that something needs to be done about the proliferation of limpet controllers but have you thought on how this Universal Controller would work? How would we select what we want the limpet to do, or should there now be dedicated limpets that are pre-programmed with their basic task - the new controller just updates the limpet with the targeting information?

Actually not a bad idea. Perhaps what needs variation is the type of limpets one uses, rather than the limpet controller. IOW one would stock up cargo space with a variety of limpet types. Limpet synthesis would let you choose what type of limpet you wish to synthesise first.

 

[Lestat]

I am looking at it way. We can't ask our ships to do it all. We as PEOPLE have to make a DECISION. We can't have an Easy mode.

On the day we play we have to make our choice. Not have a game make it for us because we are lazy to do so.

 

[GormDeGamle]

+1 to the OP!
It's a good suggestion to fix one of the aspects of the game that became too complicated over time.

 

[Muetdhiver]

Adding either a universal controller or limpets control racks like for slfs should be high up on fdev priority list.

And recon limpet and hatch breakers should be merged as hacking limpets.

And people should stop conflating inconveniance with difficulty.

 

[TheSynopticVision]

I am looking at it way. We can't ask our ships to do it all. We as PEOPLE have to make a DECISION. We can't have an Easy mode.

On the day we play we have to make our choice. Not have a game make it for us because we are lazy to do so.

I knew that someone sooner or later would come up with "easy mode".

No, this is no easy mode. Have you ever seen an FPS whose "Hard Mode" entailed that you needed to manually reload your assault rifle's magazine bullet by bullet? Have you ever seen a football game whose "Hard Mode" entailed that you had to tie your own shoelaces before entering the field? Have you ever seen a Tomb Rider-like adventure game whose "Hard Mode" entailed that you had to put bandaids on your fingers, cut from all the climbing you do on rocky mountainsides?

Some things make the game harder (mostly NPC's AI and obstacles/puzzles to solve) some things make the game deeper (wider range of customisation of your avatar/possible gameplay choices). Others simply make the game more annoying. We already have a LOT of outfitting choices between different ships, loadouts, and engineering levels. We really do not need the hassle to think ahead which one of 8 kinds of limpets we need to equip.

 

[testmate]

An old, but very good idea, OP, and urgently needed.

At least some of the limpet controllers could be merged to a kind of "smart" universal controller, for example:

limpet fired without targeting something: collector; cargo hatch targeted: hatch breaker; friendly (damaged) ship targeted: repair/decontaminate; alien targeted: science; fuel tank targeted (I know, not possible atm ;-) ): refuel
...and so on. If that is too much easy-mode, well, perhaps as mentioned above only combine SOME tasks

 

[Phil JMac]

I think the idea I like best was to move limpet controllers to hardpoints

 

[Vardaugas]

Could be done by giving the limpet controller a set of "script" slots, number depending on size and rating, which then can be filled with the purposes current limpet controllers have. Then you set a fire group for the "scripts" that define how your limpet gets programmed.

 

[Watcher]

A gameplay anecdote: yesterday I was flying around with my all-purpose Asp, which is equipped with a Collector Limpet controller, to snag the materials I find in USSs and various places. During my travels, I see a new contact, one of the many new kinds of installations and megaships you've put in the Bubble. I decide to stop and take a look. The asset itself is impressive. I scan it with the Datalink Scanner. It highlights the cargo hatches and the data points I could break/hack. Except, I cannot, because I lack the two different kinds of limpet controllers required (Hatch Breaker and Recon). Oh well, I leave without interacting with the megaship. About half hour later, I find a new distress signal. I drop in, and there's a stranded ship needing fuel. I'd like to help it, but I cannot, because i lack the Fuel Limpet controller.

I suppose the same could happen with someone meeting a Thargoid (which can be interacted with by means of Research Limpets) or a damaged ship in needs to repair (Repair Limpet).

The moral of the story is: you've worked hard to introduce new assets and new scenarios for us to interact with. But more often than not we will not interact with them, because we don't have the tools for it. Could I have flown over to the nearest station and bought the three kinds of limpet controllers I needed? Sure. But (even assuming that the station had them in stock) that would've taken me quite a bit of extra time, between going there, outfitting it, and then coming back to put back in my Asp the modules I regularly want.

Now, before someone says "well, but I do". Good for you. There's also people who go to Beagle point in a Sidewinder. But I think it is a pretty uncontroversial opinion that the game should, on average, help you perform the actions you want without extra and unnecessary hoops to jump into, especially for new or inexperienced players who aren't even aware of the 8 different kinds of limpet controllers they might need to equip. They are just too many.

We need a Universal Limpet Controller.

Yes, I completely agree with you.
I've been saying the same thing for a while..

I don't think we have to get rid of specialised controllers, have the universal one able to do everything but be worse than a dedicated controller - that way you can interact with all the content but can still specialise in a given area and operate far more effectively with that specific content.
I also say make limpets ammo and have controllers provide ammo capacity on top of specific limpet type capabilities. This then means you can do things like repair or refuel without having to also have a cargo bay with space for limpets.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Actually not a bad idea. Perhaps what needs variation is the type of limpets one uses, rather than the limpet controller. IOW one would stock up cargo space with a variety of limpet types. Limpet synthesis would let you choose what type of limpet you wish to synthesise first.

It'd work well for the "a bunch of collectors for materials and synth the others if it comes up" situation but I think it would be very inconvenient for miners who would need to guess before they set off what collector/prospector balance they needed.

I wonder if there might also be underlying problems with a single module having multiple fire modes. Certainly I can imagine issues with a module controlling both prospectors and collectors at once regardless of how it does it.

Perhaps a solution would be to merge some of the limpet types.
- collectors => stay on their own
- prospector, recon, research => merged to "analysis limpet" and acts based on what it hits
- hatchbreaker => stay on their own (or alternatively have recon here instead as "hacking limpet", or alternatively make hatchbreaking another "analysis" task)
- fuel transfer, repair, decon => merged to "support limpet" and acts based on the target state - decontamination if needed, then fuel transfer if on fumes, then repair, then fuel transfer to the main tank

Then we're back to four limpet types (or maybe only three) which means there's still a bit of a choice and compromise over which to take, but it doesn't require an Anaconda to take one of everything if you want.

 

[zimms]

I absolutely agree that this is a must have feature by now.

I really, really hope we won't have to wait until "4.0" for it.

 

[Backelaer]

+1 for both the op and an accurate rebuttal.

 

[Factabulous]

FDev have said they want a ULC, so one day. The other issue is we don't want more Fire Groups for the 5+ types of limpets - maybe another control to select limpet type would work.

(And completely agree with OP - I made that trip to a starport to buy the required controller so I could see a new scenario a couple of time, but it was a pain, and not worthwhile: the whole idea behind randomly finding scenarios is undermined by the need for specific equipment to actually interact.)

 

[Muetdhiver]

FDev have said they want a ULC, so one day. The other issue is we don't want more Fire Groups for the 5+ types of limpets - maybe another control to select limpet type would work.

(And completely agree with OP - I made that trip to a starport to buy the required controller so I could see a new scenario a couple of time, but it was a pain, and not worthwhile: the whole idea behind randomly finding scenarios is undermined by the need for specific equipment to actually interact.)

Most limpets would work fine on a context sensitive basis : fire a limpet at an asteroid ? Well, prospect it then. Fire the same limpet at a thargoid ? take a sample then. Hatch ? Break it. Terminal ? Hack it.

etc... In fact, it would work fine if there where only two modes : collector / all other functions based on context.

 

[sp0q]

+1.

 

[Wolf Starslayer]

+1. Almost everyone agrees except FD...