Am I the only one that finds the FSS rather addicting?

[Darkfyre99]

Am I the only one who is half and half then? I like the FSS, but only in as much as it replaces the surface scanning. I do sympathise about losing the system map honk reveal in it's old capacity as that makes no sense (FD should have kept it but just with less info until FSS was used).

I'm more the opposite. While I wouldn't mind if some of the old ADS functionality was added to an optional module, the sheer amount of useful information the system honk provided killed any sense of discovery for me, and with it any desire to explore. The FSS conceals enough system information to preserve a sense of discovery, while still providing enough system information to quickly make decisions on if there's any planets worth exploring in the system.

Thing is I'm also not a fan of the probe mapping system at all, that has got old REALLY fast for me and is becoming a tad irritating. Yes I fully realise mapping is optional and I do cherry pick what I map or not, but it's WORSE than the old surface scan because we have to get so much closer now and that multiplies almost everything I hated about the old surface scanning with making the SCing around more tedious with the gravity of the planets affecting Scruise. Although that's more an issue with Scruise I sippose I wish FD would allow the "pips" to affect Scruise so I could put more juice to the engines and accelerate and decelerate quicker (but burn more fuel obviously).

Personally, I restrict most of my probe mapping to worlds I intend to land on, or worlds that I'll want a closer look at anyways. Though I have to admit I sometimes probe gas giants just for the fish.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Seriously, you can't argue for advanced tech on one hand and manual intervention on the other.

This is the very premise on which the entire game is build...

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

This is the very premise on which the entire game is build...

I thought it was on the premise that people liked flying spaceships.
Turns out I was wong.

 

[Darkfyre99]

I seem to misunderstand you, but of course can you scan while scooping - with throttle down of course.

Given I was talking about charging my frame-shift drive, and not my fuel scoop, I'd say you did misunderstand. Understandable, though. There are way too things in this game that that the initials F.S._.

 

[Old Duck]

I thought it was on the premise that people liked flying spaceships.
Turns out I was wong.

I'm flying to a WW right now to launch some probes. If anything, I probably fly more since the FSS was introduced.

BTW, here's a tip for bigger systems - you don't need to scan everything in the system using FSS. Ignore the moons and focus on the main bodies. This will allow you to scan all the moons "the old fashioned way", and it'll greatly reduce the time you need to spend using the FSS. Obviously this tip is just for people who "like flying spaceships" to every planet in the system.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

I'm flying to a WW right now to launch some probes. If anything, I probably fly more since the FSS was introduced.

BTW, here's a tip for bigger systems - you don't need to scan everything in the system using FSS. Ignore the moons and focus on the main bodies. This will allow you to scan all the moons "the old fashioned way", and it'll greatly reduce the time you need to spend using the FSS. Obviously this tip is just for people who "like flying spaceships" to every planet in the system.

Still gotta play the minigame though.

Also, the probe minigame suffers from exactly the same issues as the scanner minigame.

 

[Maro-Val]

Yep.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I thought it was on the premise that people liked flying spaceships.
Turns out I was wong.

Yes, advanced spaceships, requiring manual piloting.

 

[Old Duck]

Still gotta play the minigame though.

Also, the probe minigame suffers from exactly the same issues as the scanner minigame.

You do realize that the more impossible you are to please, the less likely Frontier is to try? No offense, but golly.

Frontier, this is why you should ignore all these complaints and just focus on fixing my bugs [yesnod]

 

[Darkfyre99]

You forgot the part about being able to resolve the bodies without flying around the system.

True. I still fail to see what's preventing you from doing that, if you don't want to use the FSS to gather that information. Once you know where orbital plane of a system is, you're 90% of the way to discovering bodies via parallax.

I'd say that determining the layout of the system is low-order information, with basic details of the planet type to be middle-order - which is all the ADS provided. To get high-order information it was necessary to fly around the system and use the DSS.
The FSS provides the middle-order information on entry, and the low- and high-order data after playing the minigame - which is why some of us consider it to be OP and detrimental to our exploration experience.

The most important system information to me, looking at it from the viewpoint of a Commander preparing to fly through said system, is the shape and distribution of the gravity wells, aka the orbital heirarchies, within the system. This will help determine what braking strategies I can use at any particular destination, as well as help locate Interesting Things(tm).

Next most important are the distances between me and the major gravity wells of a system. Given that I park myself right beside the primary star of a system, this gives me additional data about the orbits of the major bodies of a system. This also helps me locate Interesting Things(tm).

This is also the kind of information I prefer to learn for myself, as opposed to having it handed to me after holding down a button for a few seconds.

Planet types I consider to be mid-order planetary information, sitting between Points of Interest (high-order) and planetary trivia like day length or axial tilt. The planet type alone doesn't really tell me if there's anything interesting happening its surface.

 

[Siobhan]

Yes, advanced spaceships, requiring manual piloting.

Wouldn't be much of a game if it did everything for us though.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

You do realize that the more impossible you are to please, the less likely Frontier is to try? No offense, but golly.

Frontier, this is why you should ignore all these complaints and just focus on fixing my bugs [yesnod]

I'm easy to please:
Targetable bodies in the Nav Panel without requiring use of the FSS.

The rest of the stuff I talk about would be icing on top of that.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

True. I still fail to see what's preventing you from doing that, if you don't want to use the FSS to gather that information. Once you know where orbital plane of a system is, you're 90% of the way to discovering bodies via parallax.



The most important system information to me, looking at it from the viewpoint of a Commander preparing to fly through said system, is the shape and distribution of the gravity wells, aka the orbital heirarchies, within the system. This will help determine what braking strategies I can use at any particular destination, as well as help locate Interesting Things(tm).

Next most important are the distances between me and the major gravity wells of a system. Given that I park myself right beside the primary star of a system, this gives me additional data about the orbits of the major bodies of a system. This also helps me locate Interesting Things(tm).

This is also the kind of information I prefer to learn for myself, as opposed to having it handed to me after holding down a button for a few seconds.

Planet types I consider to be mid-order planetary information, sitting between Points of Interest (high-order) and planetary trivia like day length or axial tilt. The planet type alone doesn't really tell me if there's anything interesting happening its surface.

I could use parallax, yes. I probably will if FDev ever respon to any of these threads with a definite no.

For the rest of ot we basically want the same thing - I just don't enjoy the FSS method of acquiring that information. Hence my request for targetable bodies outside the FSS.

 

[Darkfyre99]

A 3304 version of Hubble wouldn't require us to manually adjust frequencies and zooms to find the Brain Trees though. It would be all automated, kinda like the ADS.

Seriously, you can't argue for advanced tech on one hand and manual intervention on the other.
If the tech is advanced it WILL be automated.

I can, actually, especially when we're talking about a game. If the advanced technology in the Elite Universe was taken to its logical limits, every single member of the Pilots' Federation, from explorer to combat pilot to trader, would be out of a job!

Realistic application of advanced technology makes sense in the real world, but it would be a very boring game if all we did was log in once in a blue moon to make sure the automatic drones are finished with whatever task they've been assigned by the AI controlling them.

 

[da_wae]

I'm easy to please:
Targetable bodies in the Nav Panel without requiring use of the FSS.

The rest of the stuff I talk about would be icing on top of that.

So basically, you want god-mode-view-auto-exploration with magical auto-reveal of everything in each system.
That's the opposite of exploration.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

I can, actually, especially when we're talking about a game. If the advanced technology in the Elite Universe was taken to its logical limits, every single member of the Pilots' Federation, from explorer to combat pilot to trader, would be out of a job!

Realistic application of advanced technology makes sense in the real world, but it would be a very boring game if all we did was log in once in a blue moon to make sure the automatic drones are finished with whatever task they've been assigned by the AI controlling them.

If everything just comes down to "It's a game" then the ADS was a perfectly acceptable mechanic.

What I was pointing out was that people are using "It's future tech" to justify activities they like and "Manual intervention is necessary" to justify others, while SIMULTANEOUSLY using the same arguments in reverse to criticize the old mechanics.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

So basically, you want god-mode-view-auto-exploration with magical auto-reveal of everything in each system.
That's the opposite of exploration.

Now you're just making yourself look silly.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

So basically, you want god-mode-view-auto-exploration with magical auto-reveal of everything in each system.
That's the opposite of exploration.

The FSS is god mode. The fss gives you:

- First discovered tags
- Detailed surface scans
- Knowledge of anomalies

All for just clicking.

The old ads gave you:

- Nothing except for some measly credits.

Why do you think you're so addicted to the new system?

 

[da_wae]

Now you're just making yourself look silly.

But that is what you're asking for. A magical button that automatically reveals the positions of all bodies in a system after waiting for a 5second warmup.

 

[da_wae]

The FSS is god mode. The fss gives you:

- First discovered tags
- Detailed surface scans
- Knowledge of anomalies

All for just clicking.

The old ads gave you:

- Nothing except for some measly credits.

ADS honk automagically revealed every object in the system without any effort.
FSS requires some effort to reveal information, gradually.