Cherry-picking is cherry-picking. If you’re not being thorough, you’re just sightseeing.
Could or should Frontier enhance the FSS or add in and incorporate an optional ADS-like expansion module?
- Thread starter WR3ND
- Start date
I'm certain many explorers explore for the sightseeing, otherwise I don't get why nebulas are so popular.
Explorers don’t go to nebulae. They were all picked over years ago. Only selfie enthusiasts go there now. Explorers chart places that seem boring to most.
I'd go as far as to separate explorers into 3 camps:
1. the casuals testing out the system, finding a spot on the map they want to see
2. the industrial explorers, using the system to collate data and get paid
3. the explorers by heart, those who go there for the journey alone, using the tool just for additional data and absorbing the sights
I like the FSS but it is far from perfect in its current state. One of the problems right now is that the FSS provides you with all the information you could ever need; too much information if you ask me. This makes the DSS only useful as a credit booster (sure it reveals exact locations of POI's but considering the FSS knows exactly how many there are on a body it should also be aware of their locations). If there was more to find on planet surfaces that would also be great bust that's another discussion.
Here's the reason I prefer the FSS over the ADS: The FSS actually feels like I'm using technology, albeit technology that needs some upgrades (more to come on that) whereas the ADS felt like magic. You could just honk your horn and everything about a system would be revealed on your system map. A nice visual yes but a silly mechanic when you really think about it.
Some changes I think should be made to the FSS:
1. When a body is scanned you are already provided with information on whether a given body is volcanically active, which is fine. Do away with the POI's section entirely. That information should only be revealed through mapping. Maybe add a line in the information area for "biological signals: yes/no" so we know something is there if that is what you are hunting for; or don't, we are already provided info in the codex that tells us likely places to look for certain biological life. Make us actually use some of these tools as opposed to spoon feeding us.
2. The composition of a body should also only be revealed through mapping. This would make me far more likely to map those Metal-rich bodies. As it is I only fly out to them if there is a material I am in need of. Alternatively, list only the common materials and show the grade 3's and 4's as "x% precious metals/materials" which is then elaborated upon when mapped. The DSS should be more than just a credit booster. I will openly admit that I only DSS ELW's, WW's, AW's and some terraformable HMC's. Most of which I can not land on so the only reason to DSS them is for credits. The DSS should have more functionality than that.
3. I really like the idea of the cockpit overlay for the FSS. That would make the Analysis mode actually useful. As it is right now I really don't see the point of having 2 modes. Sure you can double bind things in the fire groups that only work in one of the modes but when you trigger that fire group it gives that super annoying "wrong mode" message for whichever module/hardpoint does not work in the mode you are in. As such I have again separated fire groups so nothing overlaps. Those messages are just annoying. The 2 different modes could have some merit but I feel like they were an afterthought and not implemented very well as is. With some tweaks they could have actual meaning.
4. I don't need every single asteroid belt listed for me. They are useless and they block other info I actually want. Just stop it. This is partly my own fault since I will scan the belts if they are there (scanning OCD, once I start I have to complete it) but I shouldn't be discouraged from scanning something just because it creates an annoying situation.
I could go on but this post is getting long enough and I'm sure I have already lost a few viewers by now.
TL;DR: I think the game would benefit most from fixing/enhancing the current system rather than adding the ADS back, however, I am not dead set against the ADS being added back as an optional module like it was before. I just wouldn't use it myself. EDIT: I mean adding it back in addition to the FSS, not sure if I was clear on that one.
There have been some good suggestions here and I like the intent of the OP with this thread. Hopefully FD takes some of the discussion here into consideration. There have been so many threads lately regarding the FSS/DSS/ADS that it should be obvious something needs to change. I would also be happy if FD would just come out and say the FSS is the way it is for a reason and there will be future content that will address the grievances with the system but as of yet they have not done so, as far as I am aware. I hold out hope that in the new era we will be given additional content related to exploring and the FSS is only one part of the puzzle.
Here's the reason I prefer the FSS over the ADS: The FSS actually feels like I'm using technology, albeit technology that needs some upgrades (more to come on that) whereas the ADS felt like magic. You could just honk your horn and everything about a system would be revealed on your system map. A nice visual yes but a silly mechanic when you really think about it.
Some changes I think should be made to the FSS:
1. When a body is scanned you are already provided with information on whether a given body is volcanically active, which is fine. Do away with the POI's section entirely. That information should only be revealed through mapping. Maybe add a line in the information area for "biological signals: yes/no" so we know something is there if that is what you are hunting for; or don't, we are already provided info in the codex that tells us likely places to look for certain biological life. Make us actually use some of these tools as opposed to spoon feeding us.
2. The composition of a body should also only be revealed through mapping. This would make me far more likely to map those Metal-rich bodies. As it is I only fly out to them if there is a material I am in need of. Alternatively, list only the common materials and show the grade 3's and 4's as "x% precious metals/materials" which is then elaborated upon when mapped. The DSS should be more than just a credit booster. I will openly admit that I only DSS ELW's, WW's, AW's and some terraformable HMC's. Most of which I can not land on so the only reason to DSS them is for credits. The DSS should have more functionality than that.
3. I really like the idea of the cockpit overlay for the FSS. That would make the Analysis mode actually useful. As it is right now I really don't see the point of having 2 modes. Sure you can double bind things in the fire groups that only work in one of the modes but when you trigger that fire group it gives that super annoying "wrong mode" message for whichever module/hardpoint does not work in the mode you are in. As such I have again separated fire groups so nothing overlaps. Those messages are just annoying. The 2 different modes could have some merit but I feel like they were an afterthought and not implemented very well as is. With some tweaks they could have actual meaning.
4. I don't need every single asteroid belt listed for me. They are useless and they block other info I actually want. Just stop it. This is partly my own fault since I will scan the belts if they are there (scanning OCD, once I start I have to complete it) but I shouldn't be discouraged from scanning something just because it creates an annoying situation.
I could go on but this post is getting long enough and I'm sure I have already lost a few viewers by now.
TL;DR: I think the game would benefit most from fixing/enhancing the current system rather than adding the ADS back, however, I am not dead set against the ADS being added back as an optional module like it was before. I just wouldn't use it myself. EDIT: I mean adding it back in addition to the FSS, not sure if I was clear on that one.
There have been some good suggestions here and I like the intent of the OP with this thread. Hopefully FD takes some of the discussion here into consideration. There have been so many threads lately regarding the FSS/DSS/ADS that it should be obvious something needs to change. I would also be happy if FD would just come out and say the FSS is the way it is for a reason and there will be future content that will address the grievances with the system but as of yet they have not done so, as far as I am aware. I hold out hope that in the new era we will be given additional content related to exploring and the FSS is only one part of the puzzle.
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After the previous thread about the FSS, it occurred to me that it might be about having your name on a cool looking system. That is, on the system map.
I previously thought it was just about the flow of the process with the ADS, but I think it is more than that. When you think about the systems in this game, a big part of how we characterize them is by their appearance on the system map. I think ADS guys used to pick their systems by what the map looked like, before we get to anything about how it plays to get your name on it.
How do you know that? They are even mission targets lol.
Nope. Please no baiting or trolling. I have voiced my opinion already.
Personally I find the scanning radio telescope that is the FSS is far more immersive than a magic ADS but, obviously, YMMV.
It's not perfect. The FSS could be overlaid on the HUD, exactly the same as it is now but out there on the canopy and translucent. We scan space by rotating the craft. That's even more immersive but it would be horribly slow. Maybe just ditch the waterfall and blue wash. Let us look at space.
I could come up with lots of alternative scanning methods. Maybe something like an FSS in the HUD that detects planets by paralax, but that doesn't seem to be what people want when they ask for the ADS. They seem to either want little icons they can guess about or they want honk and go.
The ADS, which gives away 90% of the data for free and withholds only the 10% that would be obvious from a distance, isn't for me. Make it a module by all means; I don't have to get one and I doubt you could convince me that it was a good idea.
It's not perfect. The FSS could be overlaid on the HUD, exactly the same as it is now but out there on the canopy and translucent. We scan space by rotating the craft. That's even more immersive but it would be horribly slow. Maybe just ditch the waterfall and blue wash. Let us look at space.
I could come up with lots of alternative scanning methods. Maybe something like an FSS in the HUD that detects planets by paralax, but that doesn't seem to be what people want when they ask for the ADS. They seem to either want little icons they can guess about or they want honk and go.
The ADS, which gives away 90% of the data for free and withholds only the 10% that would be obvious from a distance, isn't for me. Make it a module by all means; I don't have to get one and I doubt you could convince me that it was a good idea.
Then you don't want the ADS functionality in the FSS, wasn't that what MagDogMurdock said?
Ah yes, those "true explorers"
Nebulae being all picked is a myth. Just a couple months ago, I went to the Seagull nebula to see how many undiscovered systems I could find on a quest to fully survey it. I didn't expect to find any: after all, it's only 3,750 ly away, and has an asteroid base with a shipyard even. Turns out that the final number was around thirty systems fully undiscovered. Granted, most of them were mass code B, about ten C, and one D that was empty - but as you said, chart places that seem boring to most.
Then there are the procedurally generated nebulae in areas with high star density. Just last week, I bagged a hundred or so systems from one, with an AFG filter - and it would have been more if I didn't want to go back to the bubble quick.
Still plenty for the taking, but yeah, if you want to get high mass systems around real nebulae, so, the low hanging fruit - well, you're out of luck.
Anyway, sorry for the OT, I just couldn't resist.
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Sightseeing mission targets.
I’ve been to my share of nebulae, they were charted fully long before I even started playing 3 years ago.
They’re very pretty, yes (although most are woefully inaccurate visually), but there really isn’t much exploring left to be done there.
Surface exploration is a thing, also, you need not to visit virgin places to explore.
This is my current thing, on a big tour of nebulae scanning for biologicals on the surface of various gas giant moons.
It's a pain to find anything in nebulas now. There should have been a "last discovered by/last mapped by" tag, and region records should be public just like region reports.
I don't want the ADS in the game in any shape or form. Is that clear enough.
Sounds like you might want to explore if you're looking for stuff like that.
The ADS facilitated that game. The FSS prevents it.
Then that implies you don't want the ADS functionality in the FSS which is what he said.