Almost 9 months worth of exploration data lost

Hi, I'm new to the forums but I have been playing Elite Dangerous for almost a year with 212 hours clocked so far. About 9 months ago I decided to go out exploring the nebulae over by the Barnard's loop and out to the Crab Pulsar before going towards the Heart and Soul Nebula in an exploration outfitted hauler. Due to my work and college finals I wasn't able to clock many hours during the months of April and May and didn't start up seriously till mid July when I was able to get free time to begin again. During this time I went to areas that I had heard weren't often explored since they were towards the outer rim of the Galaxy and seemed to be a good way to have fun and make some credits. Early last night I got to PHROI HYPUE XG-S D5-9 which was one of the last neutron stars I wanted to visit and I decided to beat feat my way back to my main system (Taurawa) where I had my older ship stored. I had gotten to the second to last system before I started meeting other ships but it wasn't until I was less than 1000 Ls from the station that an Eagle interdicted (can't remember if there was an AI pilot or a CMDR) me and I was destroyed losing about 9 months of exploration data most of which I assume was first discovery. I apologize in advance if this was posted in the wrong part of the forums.

Thank you for hearing me out,
Michaubr2
 
that is part of the risk you take when going out on long haul trips many players have been snared on the last legs home......................
is it fair? no it is not, but that's the way this cookie crumbles ATM unfortunately
and if I recall correctly dev diarys or somewhere I heard this was an intended risk mechanic so that players may need to get a wing to escort you home on your last legs someone correct me if I am wrong on that one?
"go tell the commanders passer by that ere by frontier Law you lie"
 
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I would contact Support and complain. Interdictions break this game for a lot of people and discourage players from doing long hauls. Something like this should not happen. You should not lose months of progress. There should be some save mechanism. I was destroyed several times on the last leg of a long exploration trip. I gave up on exploration until I can get a more powerful ship.
 
Hi, I'm new to the forums but I have been playing Elite Dangerous for almost a year with 212 hours clocked so far. About 9 months ago I decided to go out exploring the nebulae over by the Barnard's loop and out to the Crab Pulsar before going towards the Heart and Soul Nebula in an exploration outfitted hauler. Due to my work and college finals I wasn't able to clock many hours during the months of April and May and didn't start up seriously till mid July when I was able to get free time to begin again. During this time I went to areas that I had heard weren't often explored since they were towards the outer rim of the Galaxy and seemed to be a good way to have fun and make some credits. Early last night I got to PHROI HYPUE XG-S D5-9 which was one of the last neutron stars I wanted to visit and I decided to beat feat my way back to my main system (Taurawa) where I had my older ship stored. I had gotten to the second to last system before I started meeting other ships but it wasn't until I was less than 1000 Ls from the station that an Eagle interdicted (can't remember if there was an AI pilot or a CMDR) me and I was destroyed losing about 9 months of exploration data most of which I assume was first discovery. I apologize in advance if this was posted in the wrong part of the forums.

Thank you for hearing me out,
Michaubr2

Welcome to the club mate!

This is exactly the same thing that happen to me, went back from exploration where is did a break and the first system into the bubble and I got blow to bits.

would contact Support and complain. Interdictions break this game for a lot of people and discourage players from doing long hauls. Something like this should not happen. You should not lose months of progress. There should be some save mechanism. I was destroyed several times on the last leg of a long exploration trip. I gave up on exploration until I can get a more powerful ship.

does it have any chance to actually work ?

I've been doing a afternoon of trading i got interdicted every single trading hops.
This actually stop to be fun when you get hacked by a Elite NPC in an eagle and you are in a small weapon less type-6 ( you got to run but the shield don't last long enought.
 
I know. It's broken so we need to start complaining and demand a fix. Mines work well for self defense, by the way. I was able to destroy Vultures and Vipers easily with mines when flying a T6. You need best shields though to survive the fight, but it is pretty easy to kill the interdictors with mines.
 
While I haven't been in that seat myself yet, I absolutely agree that no player should have the power to destroy several months of work. Exploring is a very long and tedious process which rarely ever is very profitable - but rather contributes to the game and community as a whole.

I do believe losing such a big bulk of data is more than enough for people to put the game on the self for an indefinite time, and such elements should not exist within a game. Especially not if it can be caused by fellow players.

I do think however that interdictions are a vital part of the game and has to remain. But something definitely has to be done about exploration data being lost due to them - it shouldn't happen.
 
Interdictions are fine IF YOU HAVE WEAPONS, but as a trader?

I have been interdicted for "juicy cargo" when on a mission, but carrying NOTHING. The AI should be made smarter if it is going to do things like this.
 
People have had their data restored by support before. Especially if they left before NPCs were buffed.

It is worth a try with support. Mention you left pre-horizons or 2.1 as the NPC have been made significantly more potent after both those releases.

But in future it is important to know how to counter the interdictions. There is plenty of info on the forums. It is and always has been part of the game being attacked at random for no reason - although it is rare.
 
I use a system with shipyard and outfitting as far as possible out on the outskirts of the bubble. I change ship from my Asp to a combat potent Vulture at that station, then proceed inwards to where I want to sell my data. Usually only encounter NPC until two jumps from my initial dock. And, I have 400 boost and chaff on my explorer. I high-wake if I see any tell-tell interdiction clues. It's really no problem escaping interdictions. It helps to keep your combat rating low too, let combat be the last of the professions you level up in.
 
I would contact Support and complain. Interdictions break this game for a lot of people and discourage players from doing long hauls. Something like this should not happen. You should not lose months of progress. There should be some save mechanism. I was destroyed several times on the last leg of a long exploration trip. I gave up on exploration until I can get a more powerful ship.

I second this, wouldn't hurt to try. A lot has happened in-game since you left 9 months ago and it wasn't that long ago when FD was refunding rebuys. You being gone so long you probably weren't aware of all the changes. I think the chances aren't good you'd even get a response but like I said, wouldn't hurt to try.
 
Yes, this is frustrating. Apparently, some people manage to get enough of an adrenalin kick from this sort of danger mechanic that they defend it. All the better for them ; I personally cannot fathom that kind of thrill... In that situation, I just go hrough various stages of annoyance with a dip in frustration, and I close the game before getting angry.

And you know, I think that there is a sweet spot in balancing unforgiving, high-risk, high-reward mechanics. EDIT: (Re-reading this, I started to giggle maniacally, because I implied that exploration is actually a rewarding mechanic... heeheehee... hilarious... *sigh*) The good ones make you clench your teeth and jump right back into the fray no matter how many times you fall (totally not hinting at dark souls...) and the bad ones just make you turn off the game. Which is funny considering how combat logging solves anything related to the present issue (huehuehue).

To me, there should be some kind of additional mechanic related to exploration. Either a ship could be fitted with a black box :


New size 1 internal : Quantum Entanglement Black Box:

This powerful piece of technology is a single-use module that is programmed to copy and transfer exploration data across space and time, usualy to a designated space station, in the event of an exploration ship's destruction. Upon said destruction, the module activates and tries to transfer as much data as possible in the limited time before the ship's total destruction. As it uses its own power cell and pretty much "burns through" the mass of entangled particles on use, this model does not appear after ship rebuy.

Every grade allows the player to save 20% of total exploration data, up to grade 5 which saves the entirety of said data upon death.

However, the price for this fancy piece of life-saving tech goes from 500 000 credits for grade E to 50 M for grade A. As it will activate no matter how much data is sent, diying early in a trek through the stars will prove very costly to the pilot.



New Mechanic : Survey Data Cache Synthesis :

Or, the ship could synthesize Survey Data Caches after a full system scan, which would contain all meaningful exploration data and could be redeemed in the same way as standard, in-ship-memory data.

This method could only work through synthesis and would require a couple of semi-rare elements, and would only be available after a full system scan with the detailed Surface Scanner.

This would make most exploration data still lost upon death (because most systems aren't worth so much effort), but it would allow the player to safeguard the ost interesting pice of intel from a trip.

Also, given that this would require inventory space, it would force the pilot to choose between jump range and saving data.



Both options would seem pretty balanced to me ; )
 
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Lestat

Banned
For the Op. One thing you took a hauler which can be a good Explorer. but lacking on Defense. Low cost + Added Risk + Hull damage and integrity + outside the bubble = a dangerous combination. See you took the risk and you lost that was your fault. It could of been a CMDR that killed you so you enter the bubble in the open also added another risk.

How to lower the risk. Go to a system you know that Safe. Use a ship that has some defense to it. Chaffs, counter and measures, shields, and Thursters.

Best idea for people if they want to use a small explorer ships like a Hauler. Stay close to the bubble so that risk is such a punch in the gut. So only do 1,000 to 2,500ly jumps. But if you want explore for months at a time use ships that better defense.

Most explorer including my self don't explore to make money. We go out to explore. To accept that risk vs reward. Right now I 800 jumps out. I working on a 3,000 jumps round trip.


New size 1 internal : Quantum Entanglement Black Box:

This powerful piece of technology is a single-use module that is programmed to copy and transfer exploration data across space and time, usualy to a designated space station, in the event of an exploration ship's destruction. Upon said destruction, the module activates and tries to transfer as much data as possible in the limited time before the ship's total destruction. As it uses its own power cell and pretty much "burns through" the mass of entangled particles on use, this model does not appear after ship rebuy.

Every grade allows the player to save 20% of total exploration data, up to grade 5 which saves the entirety of said data upon death.


New Mechanic : Survey Data Cache Synthesis :

Or, the ship could synthesize Survey Data Caches after a full system scan, which would contain all meaningful exploration data and could be redeemed in the same way as standard, in-ship-memory data.

This method could only work through synthesis and would require a couple of semi-rare elements, and would only be available after a full system scan with the detailed Surface Scanner.

This would make most exploration data still lost upon death (because most systems aren't worth so much effort), but it would allow the player to safeguard the ost interesting pice of intel from a trip.

Also, given that this would require inventory space, it would force the pilot to choose between jump range and saving data.

Both options would seem pretty balanced to me ; )
All that going to do is promote people self destructing at the 65,000 ly to get home. The thing is. People need to start using the skill called common sense.

Your idea is unbalance to me. I rather have a avg data credit turn in total listed when exploring. So the player can go ok that too much money I need to head home now.

Returning to civilization after 16 month Need safety advice please At least this player was smart and ask before returning home.
 
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All that going to do is promote people self destructing at the 65,000 ly to get home.
Which is worse, players self-destructing at 65KLY, or players permanently quitting from frustration?

Whenever we lose players, we lose their contributions to the community and we lose their further financial contributions to the game. We're all harmed, whether we ourselves go out exploring or not.

When these losses are caused by mechanics that - in their current form - don't really seem to be contributing all that much, I think it's fair to ask if those mechanics are worth the cost.

Judging purely from the number of forum complaints, the current last-mile mechanics appear to be giving more hurt to ED than help.

The mechanic is entirely negotiable, IMO, but there should be something, gameplay-purity be damned. With most suggested save systems, there's a risk of loss involved. That's good enough for me.
 
I would contact Support and complain. Interdictions break this game for a lot of people and discourage players from doing long hauls. Something like this should not happen. You should not lose months of progress. There should be some save mechanism. I was destroyed several times on the last leg of a long exploration trip. I gave up on exploration until I can get a more powerful ship.

What was your build, had you shields fitted?
 

Lestat

Banned
Hay DocLooshkin. I think players have to account what they use when they start exploration. Let take the Ops Hualer. Note that a Hauler. What did he have in his Hauler? Note a lot of players back then did not put shields on their explorer ships. Because a lot of players could not land on the Planets at the time. Or they had shields and srv and did not have a Auto feild maintenance unit.

Those two factors can leave your ship very exposed so a Sidewinder could take him out easy. Even a npc could take them out.

I know your trying to use the excuse people will leave. But making the game too easy and people will also leave because the game cater to players that are unwilling to accept risk and reward or unwilling to use Common sense for their actions then complain about it.

What I think that needed is a Exploration system Counter. When you sell your data it resets to 0. When you scan a system It count how many planet moon and stars are in that system. Depending on the scanner. It would give you the Lowest possible amount credit you could earn if you turn it in now. With that info it might make people think before they jump deeper into space.

If you keep up with the last 3 videos you see they revamping the galaxy map and system map. Which will help with exploration.
 
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At the very least a black box should be persistently left by your destroyed ship in that system (let it spawn randomly as a point of interest when you're in the system) and you should be able to go get it and turn it in.

That way people can't just travel 10+k Ly and then destroy themselves just to get back home instantly with their data. They would have to travel back that distance and go find that black box with all the exploration data. A bit of work, but not as much work as re-doing everything.
 
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Panticus

Banned
Hi, I'm new to the forums but I have been playing Elite Dangerous for almost a year with 212 hours clocked so far. About 9 months ago I decided to go out exploring the nebulae over by the Barnard's loop and out to the Crab Pulsar before going towards the Heart and Soul Nebula in an exploration outfitted hauler. Due to my work and college finals I wasn't able to clock many hours during the months of April and May and didn't start up seriously till mid July when I was able to get free time to begin again. During this time I went to areas that I had heard weren't often explored since they were towards the outer rim of the Galaxy and seemed to be a good way to have fun and make some credits. Early last night I got to PHROI HYPUE XG-S D5-9 which was one of the last neutron stars I wanted to visit and I decided to beat feat my way back to my main system (Taurawa) where I had my older ship stored. I had gotten to the second to last system before I started meeting other ships but it wasn't until I was less than 1000 Ls from the station that an Eagle interdicted (can't remember if there was an AI pilot or a CMDR) me and I was destroyed losing about 9 months of exploration data most of which I assume was first discovery. I apologize in advance if this was posted in the wrong part of the forums.

Thank you for hearing me out,
Michaubr2

Hey, you'll be able to transport hundreds of tonnes of ships soon; instantly.

Presumably massless exploration data (like, for example, your request to have a ship transferred, which as a corollary must also be instantaneous) is far more difficult to transport!

It makes sense to FD, so you just need to accept it.
 
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Hey, you'll be able to transport hundreds of tonnes of ships soon; instantly.

Presumably massless exploration data (like, for example, your request to have a ship transferred, which as a corollary must also be instant) is far more difficult to transport!

It makes sense to FD, so you just need to accept it.

Hahaha... [big grin]

Braben needs to hire new gameplay designers... :(
 

Panticus

Banned
Hahaha... [big grin]

Braben needs to hire new gameplay designers... :(

Does seem odd, because DB is always talking about science. Evolving mag fields around neutron stars is the latest thing - the RAS will applaud it.

But the odd thing about all good sci-fi in general, is that whilst you must suspend belief - as a canon it must not become internally contradictory. But what would I know.
 
I'd like to point out that exploring does nothing to contribute to the community. Other players are not affected by your explorations (unless you count finding jaques station, which was a one time event pretty much). In other words, how many systems you can call up and see the stats of is just something for you to appreciate all by yourself.

The level punishment for death is pretty lame in this game, only for explorers is it harsh. Since black boxes are already a thing in the game, it would be nice if you could recover them from your own wreckage and thus recover your DATA (and materials , imho) - which would include exploration data. Your death coordinates would be saved and you would know them and be able to visit them, scoop up the black box and recover your data.
(Logically, this would allow you to steal exploration data, but I can't see a way that would work with the current mechanics).

Anyway, for any achievement to have meaning, there has to be a penalty for failure. If failure is cheap, so is the achievement. If failure is expensive...well exploration is pretty much the biggest kick you can get if you know what can go wrong.
 
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