Codex rumours - where are they?

[Thatchinho]

Every few months I'll repeat my question here, hoping that someone knows the answer.

Have there been any rumours in the codex so far? If not, why is FDev not using this feature?

I really don't understand it... You could do so many exciting things with those codex rumours. Writing a fleshed out galnet article, after that rumours starting to pop up in the galaxy. Was really excited about the rumour section when Beyond was announced.

Well, 3.3 put the mechanics in place, and they’re probably still intended to be used in the future, but as to why they’re not being currently.

1. [Definite] - we’re in a period of effective downtime with the majority of FD’s ED resources working on stuff that isn’t going to be released until late 2020.

2. [Possible] - looking at FD, net, with different people/teams involved, what may have effectively happened is a miscalculation of just how easy the new exploration mechanics would make it to find things. For example, prior to 3.3, the Sinuous Tubers would have constituted a rumour, having featured in the 2.2 (IIRC) trailer. These were not found with the old mechanics. They were found in the 3.3 Beta very quickly. This may mean that where FD (well the people doing the Codex Discoveries conceptual design) had anticipated putting rumours of things in, the speed with which they were found anyway rendered the use of the rumours section for them redundant.

There’s plenty of other things which might have happened such as a gap between the concept and actual implementation, but that’s getting into wild speculation with nothing to actually support it or suggest that it’s the case.

 

[Ozric]

Every few months I'll repeat my question here, hoping that someone knows the answer.

Have there been any rumours in the codex so far? If not, why is FDev not using this feature?

I really don't understand it... You could do so many exciting things with those codex rumours. Writing a fleshed out galnet article, after that rumours starting to pop up in the galaxy. Was really excited about the rumour section when Beyond was announced.

I know the answer, though you will probably like it as much as I. I asked the question at Lavecon.

Why haven't we seen any Rumours yet in the Codex and are they going to be used soon? I had initially thought that something would have been done as part of Distant Worlds 2, but that has come and gone.

The answer was, like most things, we don't have anything to announce on that at the moment we would like to use them.

I spoke that person later on as an aside and asked again why they hadn't been used and what the plans were. (when they weren't stood up in from of a room full of people) They were keen to use them but I didn't come away with the feeling that it would be any time soon, and here we are a few months later and still nothing. There is the slight complication of the Codex not always playing ball in terms of showing you the correct Reported and Discovered numbers for regions you're not currently in.

I have recently been wondering whether they will tie in an II with Rumours, but if I'm perfectly honest I don't see anything happening this year.

 

[Nerix]

I know the answer, though you will probably like it as much as I. I asked the question at Lavecon.

Why haven't we seen any Rumours yet in the Codex and are they going to be used soon? I had initially thought that something would have been done as part of Distant Worlds 2, but that has come and gone.

The answer was, like most things, we don't have anything to announce on that at the moment we would like to use them.

I spoke that person later on as an aside and asked again why they hadn't been used and what the plans were. (when they weren't stood up in from of a room full of people) They were keen to use them but I didn't come away with the feeling that it would be any time soon, and here we are a few months later and still nothing. There is the slight complication of the Codex not always playing ball in terms of showing you the correct Reported and Discovered numbers for regions you're not currently in.

I have recently been wondering whether they will tie in an II with Rumours, but if I'm perfectly honest I don't see anything happening this year.

Thanks for the insight, really appreciate it. Though I would've hoped for a different answer, obviously. But who knows, perhaps we'll be positively surprised and there will be something before the ominous, huge 2020 update (apart from fleet carriers)

 

[Enderby]

Did FD tell us the rumours arent in the game as planned or did they just not bother mentioning it?

 

[Drelthar]

In the devs imaginations, waiting to escape.

 

[Ozric]

I think that Thatchinho is probably very close to the mark too, because of the 2020 update I imagine that we won't see anything before the bulk of the work has been done on that.

 

[Rubbernuke]

I think that Thatchinho is probably very close to the mark too, because of the 2020 update I imagine that we won't see anything before the bulk of the work has been done on that.

Well lets hope the New™ Era actually brings transformative changes and not add yet more half baked and doomed features.

 

[Wolf Starslayer]

Is the New Era a vertical slice?

 

[Sapyx]

I have always assumed that "rumours" would work like this:

When the team at FD design and create something new and awesome (like some new lifeform or alien space station or whatnot), and place it in the game, but if after a few months no-one ever posts anything on the forums or Youtube or whatever that they've found it, then FD will start planting rumours about how to find such things. After all, the graphics team would have worked hard for weeks to create the things, the sound team would have worked on the sound effects for it, etc. - it would be a shame if no-one playing the game ever actually saw it.

No rumours therefore means (a) no new awesome assets have been in-game, and/or (b) FD's threshold for apprehension about wasted work has not yet been reached.

 

[marx]

I spoke that person later on as an aside and asked again why they hadn't been used and what the plans were. [...] They were keen to use them but I didn't come away with the feeling that it would be any time soon, and here we are a few months later and still nothing.

Thanks, good to know. I wonder about the "why they hadn't been used" part: did the person say anything on this matter? After all, the devs originally promised those breadcrumbs for the Chapter Four launch.

 

[Thatchinho]

I think that Thatchinho is probably very close to the mark too, because of the 2020 update I imagine that we won't see anything before the bulk of the work has been done on that.

Not sure we’ll see anything until the 2020 update is released. It’s all going to be very dependent on what sort of approach they’re intending to use post-2020. Two main options:

1. 2020 as a platform to be utilised by FD to produce things in-game with.

2. 2020 as a complete package which will last until the next major update.

Each option means different things in terms of resources.

1. As resources are freed up from working on the 2020 update, they’ll be split into
a. utilisation of the platform (i.e. adding pure ‘content’ for want of a better term). And,
b. development of the next update.

2. As resources are freed up from working on the 2020 update, they move on to development of the next update.

What’ll actually happen is going to be somewhere on a sliding scale between the two, but there’s a few things to suggest that it’ll be more towards 2.

(An example is the diversion of narrative resources to the 2020 update, which suggests that the 2020 update will come packaged with things which will extend for a good period of time.)

Knock on consequence in terms of rumours is that the more towards 2, the less chance of seeing anything using rumours prior to the 2020 update, as resources that are freed up from working on the update will go to working on the next update and won’t be available for ‘utilisation’ of the current platform.

(With apologies for the slightly laboured analysis! Also, as per usual for this kind of post, it’s a general commentary coming out of the post being replied to, and not meant as an ‘explanation’ being directed at you specifically @Ozric )

 

[Drelthar]

No rumours therefore means (a) no new awesome assets have been in-game, and/or (b) FD's threshold for apprehension about wasted work has not yet been reached.

(c) FD thought they would have time to add several of the new things they added in the update with the codex in it as rumours, but they were found quickly - leaving a large period of time with no rumours, as they didn't expect to need any new things planned/made yet.

 

[Kaocraft]

(c) FD thought they would have time to add several of the new things they added in the update with the codex in it as rumours, but they were found quickly - leaving a large period of time with no rumours, as they didn't expect to need any new things planned/made yet.

Makes no sense. They would have added the rumors when they added the things. Even with people discovering them way too fast, we still should have had the rumors in the first place, even if they only lasted for a day before they were discovered.

 

[Ozric]

Thanks, good to know. I wonder about the "why they hadn't been used" part: did the person say anything on this matter? After all, the devs originally promised those breadcrumbs for the Chapter Four launch.

Nothing concrete no I'm afraid. I may have gotten a bit more insight if it had of been a one on one chat, but there were still other people who were intent on nosing in on conversations I can't help but think some of it is around how quickly things were found in the Beta, part of the problem with people using the Beta to scope out things ready to bag them on release, rather than actually testing the game. But I also can't shake the feeling that it wouldn't be too much to do something with them without too much work...

One thing I really miss and have talked to people at FD about are the Treasure Hunts. It would be great to see Galnet used to point you to a rumour in that way.

I have somewhat of a reputation for labouring points around exploration, so even people who I know and get on quite well with at FD are slightly wary

Makes no sense. They would have added the rumors when they added the things. Even with people discovering them way too fast, we still should have had the rumors in the first place, even if they only lasted for a day before they were discovered.

Except for the fact that the Codex was broken for a long time and it wasn't pulling the information through properly for other regions, so even if there was a Rumour you wouldn't have seen it unless you happened to be in that region.

 

[Thatchinho]

Makes no sense. They would have added the rumors when they added the things. Even with people discovering them way too fast, we still should have had the rumors in the first place, even if they only lasted for a day before they were discovered.

Nah, it makes sense. When FD went into the detail of it, it became clear that Rumoured->Reported->Confirmed wasn’t a fixed process that everything would follow, rather that Rumoured was very much optional and at FD’s discretion.

IIRC on one of the streams they confirmed that the intention was also to have some stuff that wouldn’t be rumoured and would just be found if cmdrs found it.

(Which all makes sense as for something to be rumoured either it, or evidence of it, has to have been found by someone, and as ‘Reported’ is for players then Rumoured would mean it was done by an NPC. Better to just let players find stuff than always employ an ‘an NPC did it’ mechanism.)

 

[Six6VI]

Happened to be out in the black on a trip to Alnilam while the September patch was being added and fixed and it seems the number of Stellar Phenomena went up. Did anyone else notice an increase?

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Yeah, but it's been nearly a year. So that "we switched it on too early" shouldn't be an argument any more.

Should be the other way around. We get a snippet of information through galnet or whatever that triggers a rumour, and then the search starts.

I'm not sure how it works. Maybe we are meant to stumble across a satellite or some alien artifact which can then give us a rumour.

Or maybe they are injected via galnet. I really do not know.

 

[marx]

I can't help but think some of it is around how quickly things were found in the Beta, part of the problem with people using the Beta to scope out things ready to bag them on release, rather than actually testing the game.

Given that there are still serious bugs with things not registering on the Codex, they were actually testing the game.
If you think about it, it's quite a dilemma. Frontier could have switched off the new content in the beta, but then it wouldn't have been tested by players. But if it's left in the beta, then it'll be immediately grabbed after release. I guess they went with the former instead, as the developers probably knew they won't be back to fix the bugs later.
After all, it has been ten months since the update's launch, and there are still serious bugs with finds not registering on the Codex.

Except for the fact that the Codex was broken for a long time and it wasn't pulling the information through properly for other regions, so even if there was a Rumour you wouldn't have seen it unless you happened to be in that region.

Hm, I didn't know about that bug. But even if there were any rumours, whatever they pointed to were found within days then, if not hours.

 

[iFred]

I am 100% sure that NOTHING is implemented from the Codex. FD always works with teasing, not with delivering of content. That´s why I stopped playing almost 1 year ago.

 

[JonLuis69]

We

I am 100% sure that NOTHING is implemented from the Codex. FD always works with teasing, not with delivering of content. That´s why I stopped playing almost 1 year ago.

We miss you Fred, come back. Ahhhh go on, go on.