That's pretty funny when you break it down like that
But I think you can describe any activity in a dull way, just depends on personal preference.
Elite Dangerous Community Schedule W/C 29 November 2021
- Thread starter Zac Cocken
- Start date
That's pretty funny when you break it down like that
But I think you can describe any activity in a dull way, just depends on personal preference.
exploration should be how players initiate expansions of the bubble. Exploration should be dangerous and extremely risky, which is why humanity doesn't cover the entire galaxy already. Exploration should have environmental hazards related to the unchartedness of deep space ...with rogue anomalies in hyperspace, solar flares and other hazards that can be added to make exploring less-travelled systems a skill you acquire taking hints from the galaxy map and also, dealing with what you find once you reach the system (visual queues as well as sensor readings would help you navigate such dangers as you scan items). Depending on what you find and where you sell that data, the BGS can send npc ships to the location to further check out important finds (within a certain distance of the system) ... and you can assist that effort and if it passes some trigger, the BGS could initiate a permanent expansion.
even fuel scooping should be highly dangerous and require skilled piloting to do. Making buying fuel by far the most common way of refueling. fuel scooping should be a hot shot effort that could result in your death.
That's what exploration should be.
except you are glossing over the fact that exploration can't be described in a non-dull way. Unless your goal in the game is to take screenshots.That's pretty funny when you break it down like that
But I think you can describe any activity in a dull way, just depends on personal preference.
Exploration is only dull if you don't have a second monitor 
I'm not disparaging your opinion of exploring, but it is an activity I enjoy & have probably done more of than any other in the game, and I think the stellar forge is one of the games biggest strengths.
What activity do you enjoy?
Moaning
I've been out in the black for literally over a year now. if i didn't do a lot of exploring. I wouldn't have a deep understanding of how little effort went into the role and how much of a joke even calling it a game mechanic it is. Exploration is literally wasting time on the off chance you'll discover something fdev hid in the game ...and otherwise means absolutely nothing. your efforts convert to credits and has no independent meaning or purpose from trade or bounties. There's no skill, no risk. Just repetitive button pressing after repetitive button pressing and uneventful waiting after uneventful wait to repeat the process. You might as well be watching a screensaver and getting credits for staying logged in.
Sounds frustrating, tbh. One of the appealing things about exploration as it stands now is that it's chill. You can explore the galaxy as a relaxing way to see interesting stuff, hunt for cool screenshots, search for rare things or profitable things to map, etc. Your level of risk is reasonably low and almost always within your ability to control, and it's all more about longevity and managing your resources than reacting quickly to danger.
Also, acting like exploration doesn't require any skill at all is disingenuous. There is risk in fuel scooping, landing on planets (high G ones in particular), supercharging your FSD, plotting your route (if you're at the edges of the galaxy). It's just not massively significant risk that can turn on you in a split second. That's in part because being destroyed during an exploration run can lose you actual years of progress if you've been out in the black for that long.
Remember, Frontier tried to make Exobiology a "skill based" reactionary minigame, and the exploration community rioted. People who engage in this loop don't actually want "highly dangerous" "extremely risky" gameplay, because the nature of exploration is a marathon, not a sprint. If every time you fuel scoop, you're running a significant risk of having your ship blown up just for doing it, that has negative gameplay synergy with exploration's nature of having to be carefully self-sufficient or losing everything you've built towards for massive lengths of time.
rootsrat
Volunteer Moderator
In your opinion¯\(ツ)/¯
is there a different one that i'd answer the question with?
90% of the community, buttoned up in one word.
I'm just amazed that as someone who delights in telling SotG how cleverest you are about almost anything that you actually needed to spend a year out in the black to get a deep understanding of exploration.
Much like your posts.
rootsrat
Volunteer Moderator
I don't know, it sounded like you were making that quite definitive. "It should be like that, otherwise it's not fun" kinda.
Maybe you should word it differently, like "I wish exploration was" rather than "It should be" - it wouldn't sound so entitled then. You presented it almost like it was a fact, not an opinion.
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.
there is no skill to searching for profitable things. It's effectively random in what you'll find that might be worth credits when entering a system. the level of risk is not just low, it's 0 unless you fall asleep or fly drunk. you can be out forever and be fine. Getting damaged because you were watching youtube is not something you can attribute to the exploration mechanic. I have no problem with the role having a chill aspect ...just like all roles should have an "easy" path. It would just be less lucrative and less impactful to the game.
there is no risk fuel scooping. That's like saying there is risk breathing because you could swallow your spit and choke or breathe too fast and pass out. Fuel scooping can be done barely conscious.
Then when you do screw up and get too close, it just overheats you a bit. Then you're back to doing whatever. There's no risk of death, there's no eminent danger. There's no skill involved in the scooping activity ... unless the definition of skill is lowered so much that it no longer has any meaningful distinction from being able to interact with your input device.
The "progress" you speak of is meaningless nonsense. Names on planets (aesthetic reward only) ...and credits. It doesn't mean anything else. Losing it only matters to people because the experience of doing it all was worthless to them. the thing you can't lose is the journey and while that should be more important than some credits and a bit of text on a system you'll probably never goto again - it isn't because they're just loading screens and repetitive button mashes. That's why the community events around a bunch of people exploring together were so popular. It gave value to that journey despite being boring and devoid of gameplay as sin.
frontier slapped a stupid mini game match-up copied from other existing mini-game's it already had in an obvious attempt to put lipstick on the pig that is a non-interactive plant. There was no risk involved, and no real meaning to having acquired what you'd get when you "beat" the mini game. So the mini game itself served no real purpose and just looked forced and pointless. That's why it was universally hated and it was removed.
I'd have no problem with the idea that exploration is a marathon and not as risky as i'd prefer... if it involved skill and the effort mattered to the game. It would at least then be a game mechanic and a real role. So far, the only justification i've heard for exploration is screenshots and not really wanting to play a game.
Last edited:
The Jedi deals with absolutes as well. Do or Do Not. Turns out there were more plot holes in star wars than just making out with your sister.