Bring back the old honk method and supplement it with the DDS and probes

I was hopeful when the new exploration mechanic was released. However, after traveling over 100,000 light years I have discovered there is very little to actually find. What there is to find it’s all copy and paste and very predictable, such as practically all O stars with a landable planet will have pumpkins, Nebulas will have bark etc.

Basically the new system is only good for quickly getting your name on planets because there is very little to actually find. You basically play zoom simulator (which requires no skill) to see the same ordinary planets in the system. In other words, frontier has managed to turn exploration into a grind.

I recommend that you allow players to at least see what planets are in the system after a honk, like before, but keep the DDS/probes to do a detailed scan. The current system is soul crushing after a short time.
 
Welcome to the argument ;)

There have been a number of threads requesting the ADS be reinstated as an optional module, while leaving the FSS as it currently operates.

If you want to avoid an awful lot of pointless bickering I'd suggest making it clear that you don't want the FSS to be removed, just appended to. Unless you DO want the FSS removed, in which case there'll be screams and explosions and all kinds of unpleasant shenanigans :D
 
Welcome to the argument ;)

There have been a number of threads requesting the ADS be reinstated as an optional module, while leaving the FSS as it currently operates.

If you want to avoid an awful lot of pointless bickering I'd suggest making it clear that you don't want the FSS to be removed, just appended to. Unless you DO want the FSS removed, in which case there'll be screams and explosions and all kinds of unpleasant shenanigans :D


I did not realize they were other post, I guess I should have looked LOL. Just for clarity I don’t want the FSS removed.
 
Basically the new system is only good for quickly getting your name on planets because there is very little to actually find. You basically play zoom simulator (which requires no skill) to see the same ordinary planets in the system. In other words, frontier has managed to turn exploration into a grind.
While i agree that FSS facilitates and makes epxloration(in everyone's own definition of this word) faster than before.
I gave FSS a chance and to be honest it's a good extension of what we had previously, not having to move over to distant worlds within one star system.
However this has been implemented such that certain playstyles have become unavailable.
Players willing to leave their names in systems only if those were interesting for example.
Also those who want to find extraordinary systems for screenshots or simply vistas have to put even more time into the game to even hope to find anything out of the ordinary.

While FSS has all the functionalities, it does it in such way that it hinders certain playergroups' experience. Not to mention there being only one exploration dedicated module, that being the probe scanner. Every ship has a top notch exploration tool from day one. Whereas previously one had to spend time and credits and module slots to dedicate their ship to exploration.
With the 3.3 update being an explorer i not really a choice rather than it is a default role.
Not to mention there are no other exploration tools to allow different playstyles which saddens me even more.

I hope, once again, that requests don't fall on deaf ears and we work something out.
 
I was hopeful when the new exploration mechanic was released. However, after traveling over 100,000 light years I have discovered there is very little to actually find. What there is to find it’s all copy and paste and very predictable, such as practically all O stars with a landable planet will have pumpkins, Nebulas will have bark etc.

Basically the new system is only good for quickly getting your name on planets because there is very little to actually find. You basically play zoom simulator (which requires no skill) to see the same ordinary planets in the system. In other words, frontier has managed to turn exploration into a grind.

I recommend that you allow players to at least see what planets are in the system after a honk, like before, but keep the DDS/probes to do a detailed scan. The current system is soul crushing after a short time.
You can see what planets are in a system after a honk when looking in the FSS. No need to zoom into them. But if you mean having the map added after a honk, then that is a massive no from me. It would destroy the mechanic for me which I enjoy. And that has nothing to do with tags or credits. I just enjoy finding stuff myself.
 
If you want to avoid an awful lot of pointless bickering I'd suggest making it clear that you don't want the FSS to be removed, just appended to. Unless you DO want the FSS removed, in which case there'll be screams and explosions and all kinds of unpleasant shenanigans :D



^^^
This.

I've been looking forward to exploring this galaxy since the Kickstarter, but that abomination of an exploration "mechanic," the ADS, was so utterly unappealing, so terribly tedious, and so soul-crushingly sickening, at least as far as I was concerned, that I would Buckyball it back to the Bubble after a week or two out of sheer ennui. The ADS completely spoils a system for exploration, at least as far as I'm concerned, leaving behind nothing but a grind for "discovered by" tags, credits, or trivia... none of which I care about. I don't want even a trace of that monstrosity aboard my exploration ships. It's bad enough that I can't opt out of getting spoilers about systems that have been previously explored by others.

The FSS lets me explore systems by flying through a system to discover planets visually, and then getting information about them by flying close to them. It lets me choose the level of information I want, without giving me any unwanted information. I can just use the honk to tell me at least tell me if there's something in the system at all, but not what's in it, so I can be surprised by what I find. I can glance at the spectrum in the FSS, to let me know if there's potentially any binary+ gas giants in the system (and "money making" planets, of course ;) ), I can do a quick pan to confirm the presence of binary+ gas giants, or a slightly slower pan to get an overview of the orbital heirarchy of the system. It can even use it to spot, at a distance, conditions that are likely to create transient orbital alignments like eclipses, planets likely to to have interesting geography for scenic vistas and interesting screen shots, and a slew of phenomenon that the ADS would never show... assuming Frontier ever fixes a certain VR bug, of course. :(

And, of course, I can use it like a "minigame" if I so desire.

TLDR: I can use it to tell if a system is worth exploring the way I prefer to explore, containing the kinds of things I'm most interested in, without the risk spoiling the rest of system in the process.

I've been out exploring since the Beyond Chapter 4 Beta, and I'm currently in no hurry to return, so the FSS suits me. Frontier admitted that they were well aware that the removal of the ADS would remove a certain style of exploration, which the FSS is ill suited for, which is why I don't care if they add it back in as an optional module. As long as I don't have to use it, it's all good.

(edited several times because the old forum reflexes completely screwed up the quotes)
 
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Unless you DO want the FSS removed, in which case there'll be screams and explosions and all kinds of unpleasant shenanigans :D
Very ironically, considering my love of the FSS, I actually DO want it removed - as in, made an optional module. My compact fighter Viper having an exploration space telescope built in breaks my immersion. Move the FSS out and replace it with a "one autopilot to rule them all" built in, keeping the new size 1 slots for exploration modules (FSS, ADS, DSS, VOR, etc) for those who want them.

As for signal sources, I personally think these should only be a mystery in uninhabited systems. Surely there is a space version of Waze in 3305. Forcing everyone to have and use the FSS solely for USS in the Bubble (unless you stop at a nav beacon) feels like unnecessary, unrealistic grind for grind's sake.

All that said, I'm not overly upset about it all - I can live with the system as it is.
 
Very ironically, considering my love of the FSS, I actually DO want it removed - as in, made an optional module. My compact fighter Viper having an exploration space telescope built in breaks my immersion. Move the FSS out and replace it with a "one autopilot to rule them all" built in, keeping the new size 1 slots for exploration modules (FSS, ADS, DSS, VOR, etc) for those who want them.

As for signal sources, I personally think these should only be a mystery in uninhabited systems. Surely there is a space version of Waze in 3305. Forcing everyone to have and use the FSS solely for USS in the Bubble (unless you stop at a nav beacon) feels like unnecessary, unrealistic grind for grind's sake.

All that said, I'm not overly upset about it all - I can live with the system as it is.

I'm sure the FSS sounded great on paper: 'Unify the discovery process for planetary bodies and USSs'. In practice it didn't work out so well. The USSs are all crammed into one corner of the spectrum and you have to resolve them to find out what type they are - I'm sure mats farmers would have been much happier if they were laid out across the whole spectrum so you could see at a glance what was in the system. Having that functionality available as a free module and a separate optional planetary-FSS would have given explorers a tool that they can choose to fit or not. I don't think anybody would have been unhappy with that.
 
^^^
This.

I've been looking forward to exploring this galaxy since the Kickstarter, but that abomination of an exploration "mechanic," the ADS, was so utterly unappealing, so terribly tedious, and so soul-crushingly sickening, at least as far as I was concerned, that I would Buckyball it back to the Bubble after a week or two out of sheer ennui. The ADS completely spoils a system for exploration, at least as far as I'm concerned, leaving behind nothing but a grind for "discovered by" tags, credits, or trivia... none of which I care about. I don't want even a trace of that monstrosity aboard my exploration ships. It's bad enough that I can't opt out of getting spoilers about systems that have been previously explored by others.

The FSS lets me explore systems by flying through a system to discover planets visually, and then getting information about them by flying close to them. It lets me choose the level of information I want, without giving me any unwanted information. I can just use the honk to tell me at least tell me if there's something in the system at all, but not what's in it, so I can be surprised by what I find. I can glance at the spectrum in the FSS, to let me know if there's potentially any binary+ gas giants in the system (and "money making" planets, of course ;) ), I can do a quick pan to confirm the presence of binary+ gas giants, or a slightly slower pan to get an overview of the orbital heirarchy of the system. It can even use it to spot, at a distance, conditions that are likely to create transient orbital alignments like eclipses, planets likely to to have interesting geography for scenic vistas and interesting screen shots, and a slew of phenomenon that the ADS would never show... assuming Frontier ever fixes a certain VR bug, of course. :(

And, of course, I can use it like a "minigame" if I so desire.

TLDR: I can use it to tell if a system is worth exploring the way I prefer to explore, containing the kinds of things I'm most interested in, without the risk spoiling the rest of system in the process.

I've been out exploring since the Beyond Chapter 4 Beta, and I'm currently in no hurry to return, so the FSS suits me. Frontier admitted that they were well aware that the removal of the ADS would remove a certain style of exploration, which the FSS is ill suited for, which is why I don't care if they add it back in as an optional module. As long as I don't have to use it, it's all good.

(edited several times because the old forum reflexes completely screwed up the quotes)

I think FDev massively underestimated the number of playstyles the FSS would be incompatible with. Certainly the way I used to explore is totally different from people like Ziggy who are looking for specific layouts, which again is different from the GGGG-hunters.

I'm actually exploring a lot like you now - a scan of the FSS spectrum to see what's in the system, then parallax to actually find the bodies. I find it works well in single-star systems, but in complex layouts there's no way to determine which body an interesting object is orbiting without using the tune-n-zoom functionality to find it - which is (for me) irritating and unnecessarily time-consuming. It's also useless for bodies that have orbits with high inclinations and those around the barycenter of multiple stars. That could be somewhat addressed by allowing the spectrum to be filtered by range - eg, setting it to show only the spectrum at 15-25 kLy would indicate what is orbiting a star 20 kLy away.
 
I think FDev massively underestimated the number of playstyles the FSS would be incompatible with. Certainly the way I used to explore is totally different from people like Ziggy who are looking for specific layouts, which again is different from the GGGG-hunters.

I'm actually exploring a lot like you now - a scan of the FSS spectrum to see what's in the system, then parallax to actually find the bodies. I find it works well in single-star systems, but in complex layouts there's no way to determine which body an interesting object is orbiting without using the tune-n-zoom functionality to find it - which is (for me) irritating and unnecessarily time-consuming. It's also useless for bodies that have orbits with high inclinations and those around the barycenter of multiple stars. That could be somewhat addressed by allowing the spectrum to be filtered by range - eg, setting it to show only the spectrum at 15-25 kLy would indicate what is orbiting a star 20 kLy away.

Glad to hear your back out in the Black, and giving parallax a try. I quite enjoy it, especially in VR.

I somewhat agree with you on the “tune and zoom function”. I don’t mind the tune, because I like analyzing the sensor readings, but I rarely ever bother with the zoom... primarily because those sensor readings give me a pretty good hint about what I’ll see. I’ve got a slider on my HOTAS that I’ve programmed to rapidly set the tuner to what I consider to be the three most information rich bands of the scanner.

Now, if only they would fix those persistent VR bugs...
 
You can see what planets are in a system after a honk when looking in the FSS. No need to zoom into them. But if you mean having the map added after a honk, then that is a massive no from me. It would destroy the mechanic for me which I enjoy. And that has nothing to do with tags or credits. I just enjoy finding stuff myself.
Subjective argument.
I, along with many others had 'the mechanic' that they enjoyed when the map on honk was removed... and an 'optional' map module would return that gameplay making it better!
 
Subjective argument.
I, along with many others had 'the mechanic' that they enjoyed when the map on honk was removed... and an 'optional' map module would return that gameplay making it better!
As you know, I am not against an optional module of some kind, but the original post did not specify.

Surely my subjecting feelings on something is as important as anyone elses. Or am I not allowed to voice those, but you and others that feel differently do.
 
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As you know, I am not against an optional module of some kind, but the original post did not specify.
I know, well, I think I know,
If I went to a station and fitted a Map module, it wouldn't affect your game, but it would allow me to Explore the way I used to... though I must say that I have already broken my playstyle by leaving dregs I promised I never would... (but that's another story)
 
As I understand it from other posts, the old "honk" mechanic is still there, with the monetary awards.
The only changes being, the ADS becoming standard equipment, and [optional] use of the FSS, if you still want to explore the old way. What am I missing? You can't just do a flyby with a DSS installed and have to always use probes?
 
As I understand it from other posts, the old "honk" mechanic is still there, with the monetary awards.
The only changes being, the ADS becoming standard equipment, and [optional] use of the FSS, if you still want to explore the old way. What am I missing? You can't just do a flyby with a DSS installed and have to always use probes?

In unexplored systems the honk doesn't work - so the only way to find a body is by using the FSS or parallax. This breaks a number of gameplay styles and severely hamstrings a number of others.
 
I've been looking forward to exploring this galaxy after the Chapter Four exploration update, but that abomination of an exploration "mechanic," the FSS, is so utterly unappealing, so terribly tedious, and so soul-crushingly sickening, at least as far as I was concerned, that I would Buckyball it back to the Bubble after DW2 out of sheer ennui. The FSS completely spoils a system for exploration, at least as far as I'm concerned, leaving behind nothing but a shower of "discovered by" tags, credits, or trivia... none of which I care about. I don't want even a trace of that monstrosity aboard my exploration ships. It's bad enough that I can't opt out of getting pin-pointed surface locations from the DSS.

The ADS used to let me explore systems by flying through a system to discover planets visually, and then getting information about them by flying close to them. It let me choose the level of information I wanted, without giving me any unwanted information. I can just use the honk to tell me at least tell me if there's something in the system at all, but not certainty about what's in it, so I can still be surprised by what I find. I could glance at how the bodies really looked in the system map, to let me know if there are potentially any binary+ gas giants in the system (and "money making" planets, of course ;) ), I could do a quick glance to confirm the presence of rare orbital alignments, or a slightly slower scan to get an overview of the visuals of the bodies in the system. I could even use it to spot, at a distance, conditions that are likely to create rare orbital alignments like trojans, planets likely to to have interesting geography for scenic vistas and interesting screen shots, and a slew of phenomena that the FSS would never show without wasting lots time on the utterly unappealing, terribly tedious, soul-crushingly sickening FSS minigame... oh, and I hear it used to work fine in VR. (I only got a VR headset recently, so I don't have personal experience with this.)

And, of course, I could have still foregone it for parallax or ditch the infinite range version if I so desired.

TLDR: I could use it to tell if a system is worth exploring the way I prefer to explore, containing the kinds of things I'm most interested in, without having to waste huge amounts of time on the utterly unappealing, terribly tedious, soul-crushingly sickening FSS, all to find nothing.

I've been out exploring since the gamma pre-release, and after DW2, I'm currently in no hurry to return to it. Frontier admitted that they were well aware that the removal of the ADS would remove a certain style of exploration, which the FSS could still have easily been made more suited for, which is why I would like it if they added it back in as an optional module. As long as there are alternatives and nothing already in the game is removed, again, it's all good.


Credit goes to Darkfyre99, whose opinion post I could easily use for my situation as well. I'm not actually soul-crushingly sickened about the FSS, but I couldn't leave those parts out. The "unappealing" and "tedious" parts still apply.

Still, though, I'd say the priority for exploration should be fixing the serious bugs that have been present since the Chapter Four update. Not just the FSS (and VR), but also the Codex and exploration multicrew.
 
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