exploration minigame 6 months later
- Thread starter Spacecat
- Start date
True, bark mounds being the best example of this. When they were difficult to find, people took note of them, some even going on to GMP entries. Now? "Good grief, not bark mounds again."
It's also quite amazing how there was a CG back in February about constructing a research station to (possibly) give more gameplay to those spaceborne life forms, and not a word on it after the goal completed.
That's fine and to be expected, we are just asking for an alternative for those who don't like it.
I think to a point what they have done is just align exploration with the in-game goals of gaining credits and rank, with the added incentive that now you get to be able to locate stuff on planets much more efficiently (although there's not a huge variety of stuff to find).
I also felt your way, that having to investigate something to see whether I wanted to investigate it was just not a good game loop. But if you are looking for traditional goodies, you don't have to, ELW's and the like stand out perfectly clearly on the energy spectrum, and presumably FD thought that traditional goodies were what players would be interested in.
Having to FSS a whole system to reveal a fully fledged system map is fine, but there's no reason why the old, unexplored system map, which is nothing more than a tool, just like the energy spectrum readout is a tool, shouldn't have been available to those who would like it.
So yes, targeted use of the FSS is fine. It's not difficult to learn or use, but most people want to use it for a reason, not just because. The energy spectrum gives you that reason if you are looking for ELW's (as an example), but if you're looking for things that the energy spectrum doesn't indicate are present, then you're back to scanning everything 'just in case'. I'm pretty sure FD will find out soon enough that not many people want to scan things 'just in case'.
I thought you already got the answer to your question in that regards. Mr. Adam said, "No!"
Not that I agree with him, but still.
Yes I know, my reply was "I don't agree, I'll keep annoying you."
I'll be doing that for like two years come winter regarding shadows on PS4, and yet they keep getting worse and worse instead of better. It's like Frontier actually enjoys torturing us. So be careful what you wish for!
Well, I stopped playing because of this so they can make ED even worse, I'll be watching the world burn on the meantime here.
One year ago ingame purchasable paintkit were requested and rejected by most... Next September this will be a thing so you might be right
Lol. You calling me a fanatic. I suggest you look in the mirror.
I bet there are thousands of explorers that don't touch EDSM.
Some people on here make me crack up with laughter.
EDSM only represents a portion of explorers. The drop in systems could be just for a 100 people and not all of those would have stopped because of the FSS.
To use those stats is just utterly stupid.
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I'm talking about this thread. As to the amount of people that have stopped because of the FSS, I have no idea and neither does anyone else. If anyone thinks they do, they are being delusional.Can you show your method which you used to determine 10-20 people?
Is it more meaningful than marx' method?
@pico, funny you questioned my 1000s which was in jest, but not Max' 10-20.
Double standards?
And well done going the personal insult route instantly buddy. Classy as always
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I have no doubt that you'd win your bet. However, unless you can provide a rationale as to why non-EDSM explorers feel differently about the FSS to EDSM explorers, then there's no valid reason to assume that EDSM statistics are unrepresentative of exploration statistics as a whole. The EDSM sample size is sufficiently large as to make individual personal preference a non-issue.
I like it. It adds some gameplay. Sure, it is a little bit repetitive, but it is also repetitive to deliver bio-waste in another mission, go to a combat zone to earn bonds, scavenge materials on a planet, landing, taking off, etc.
The minigame makes me feel like I'm really exploring, discovering new worlds, watching them, lean their stats and then have the opportunity to map them with another minigame. For me, that's better than jump, scoop, honk, jump, scoop, honk, jump, repeat that was boring to me.
The minigame makes me feel like I'm really exploring, discovering new worlds, watching them, lean their stats and then have the opportunity to map them with another minigame. For me, that's better than jump, scoop, honk, jump, scoop, honk, jump, repeat that was boring to me.
Non EDSM user here... Stopped exploring.
Jump, scoop, honk wasn't exploring either. That just populated the system map, after which you decided if there were things you wanted to fly to and scan.
Now you jump in, sccop, honk (or simply charge the FSS), look at the energy spectrum and decide if there are bodies you want to scan. All good so far.
If you enjoy using the FSS enough that you are happy to scan everything just because, then that's great, otherwise you probably want a reason to use it, and for some people the energy spectrum is too limited in what it reveals and isn't providing that reason.
you figured out what the sample is! that's smart! actually, the poster did say so very clearly, but still ...
well, that's a gift. enjoy and be grateful for it!
exactly. a portion we have data about, to relatively far back in time. while this doesn't tell us the whole story, it indeed shows a picture you may extrapolate to greater samples. that's actually the whole point of statistics, my dear.
or any of the other billions of lifeforms on this planet and beyond playing this game, of course. so you actually looked at the numbers before throwing this tantrum. curious.
or maybe you are just too smart.
First off, always enjoy hearing about explorers enjoying themselves.
And you're right, the FSS is more engaging then jump, scoop, honk, jump, etc. But that's a misrepresentation of how people used the system map to explore. More accurate was: jump, honk, scoop, charge FSD, enter system map, look around for interesting stuff, ignore the computer lady reminding me the FSD has been charged for some time, decide whether there's interesting stuff that warrants checking out. If not, silence the computer lady by pointing ship at exit point and jump.
But if interesting stuff is found, that is where the FSD would have slotted in like a glove. The system looks promising, lets see what's what. I have said this often, but it could have been intuitive and logical. Step one: appraise the system, step two appraise the planets, step 3 look for surface based shinies, step 4 investigate surface shinies.
Now you have to do step 1, 2 and 3 to determine step 1.
The bottom line is: this is it. It's not going to be changed. Exploration updates will come in the form of atmospheric planets, but not in the form of improved tooling. It took them 4 years to deliver the FSS to us, which took away another tool. Exploration is, has always been, and will always be a side show. An afterthought. A bother. And for a game which sports a stunning representation of our galaxy, it boggles the mind. Also, it really seems to me that Frontier is convinced explorers are monetary driven. Testament is how they dealt with the criticism that the honk didn't reveal the system map. Their solution: increase the payout for the honk.
Oh well, I got 2 and a half years of excellent gameplay checking out that stunning representation of the galaxy, was involved in a 3 month exodus to Beagle Point surrounded by most excellent CMDRs and coined the term: jumponium.
All in all, not a bad haul for the game. It still managed to end up in the top 5 games I ever played (alongside the original Elite). Despite Frontier's lackluster efforts developing exploration but rather thanks to an excellent exploration community and Frontier's party piece the Stellar Forge, which is amazing and for which I will give them a truckload of credit, because it's due.
Bad statistical anomaly, BAD!
it is actually a remake of elite. the original elite didn't have particularly engaging gameplay either. exploration? huh?
everything has been an afterthought. the point was to reproduce elite in full scope, without the severe limitations of the 80s. and so they did, and did quite well.
now filling that whole vast scope with interesting stuff is a very different story, and populating it with good, engaging and interoperable mechanics requires a completely different set of experts. nothing they have thrown at it really sticks. so you now have this enormous galaxy and the tools from a theme park builder ... done in a rush.