Hey CMDR's
I feel bad to add to this threadnaught, but thought I'd throw in my 2 cents anyways..
I think the system has some interesting concepts behind it regarding the frequency scanning etc, it's just a bit much of a enclosed 'mini-game' which constantly pulls you out of the canopy.
I initially found it fun to learn and use, and it 'feels' good/responsive in itself - until about the 30th time and a few 60+ stellar body system scans later, I found my self wondering what am I doing, am I playing Elite or poke the dots? :S
It's also quite click/adjustment intensive, which can be a bit of a strain on the fingers after a while.
These type of mini-games often feels 'engaging' at first is due to the age old slot-machine mechanics, where you get little plings and pop-up rewards, waiting for that small jackpot. The novelty usually wears off and becomes quite mind-numbing and gimmicky.
From a sci-fi'ish standpoint one would immediately wonder why tasks such as this has not been computerized/automated.
Cause gamification', right, ok. I definitely agree the player should have some form of interaction, even if minimal.
It's tough tho, since FSS does provide a focused way to present info like which planets to surface scan, locations detected etc. I like the idea of narrowing down your scan efforts to a few planets of interest.
Somewhat the same goes for the trick-shot DSS, firing an infinite supply of ludicrous-speed surface probes - fun, but feels quite gamey, and not very sciency. At least the mode still keeps you in the same world space, and intermitted by some regular cruise flight. I find it allright, it's something to do and not too often.
Another issue I noticed was that the constant spinning around (often at odd angles) in FSS view using VR can induce some nausea, and I usually never get motion-sick, but it's a _lot of spinning!
I feel like exploration in Elite could be SO much more involved, with large dedicated exploration modules, from your small 1 slot basic scanner to 6-7A slot sensor arrays, or bin-style Science module for analysing SRV collected soil samples etc - make it play into exploration ship builds.
Right now it mostly seems like 'exploration builds' devolves into stripping down your ship, flying with empty hardpoints - when we could be deploying high-powered sensor arrays or other neat gadgets, just sayin'
It doesn't really make sense to me that the tiniest fighter craft can provide the same exploration data value as let's say a full blown science vessel pimped out with ultra expensive state-of-the-art exploration gear.
I mean, we got lord knows how many weapon modules, 8+ modules for mining (awesome!) - but only 1 dedicated module for exploration, the DSS (and the SRV i suppose).
I really hope exploration will continue to see more love down the line, since there is a LOT of space to explore still!
Anyways, enough ramble, fly safe and have fun!