News Chapter Four Exploration Recap

[-VR- Max Factor]

Great, thank you so much for the livestream Ed & Adam and going into a bit more depths about the mechanics. Really looking forward to seeing a livestream showcasing this and trying it in the beta.

Following the livestream I'd like to reiterate some of my questions/concerns from the "mega-thread":

"Honk"
+ maybe fill system map with already-discovered bodies submitted by other Commanders. Seems a little redundant to have to re-discover everything. But only provide additional monetary reward if player re-scans bodies.
+ this could tie in with the suggestion of being able to deploy a "micro nav-beacon". Not only would it indicate to other explorers that somebody has already visited this system even if they haven't sold the data yet, but it would let others access the already-gathered information on the system and spend their time and effort on any remaining bodies in the system. "Standing on the shoulders of giants" kind of thing.

Discovery Scan
+ allow the Discovery Scanner to be usable from normal space as well as Supercruise. Otherwise scanning will be very dangerous near inhabited systems (interdictions).
+ Please don't show detailed information such as relative resource abundancies from the Discovery Scan. By all means show -what- resources are available (and any special features?) but leave the details for the Surface Scan/Probes.

Display
+ Please just have a pop-up, not a full-screen display, to maintain some level of situational awareness while flying.
+ Increase the size of the UI elements for VR (or allow user to increase the UI scale). The sample screenshots seem to be quite small.

Probes
+ Can you fire probes at multiple bodies at the same time? For example, in a tight system of moons around a gas giant.
+ Will you only see interesting POIs once you've mapped the entire planet, or will you be able to see the ones in a partially-mapped planet?
+ Please don't "pin-point" POIs but display search areas. Give us a reason to fly down and reconnoiter with SRV or ship/SLF.

Probe Synthesis
+ ensure required resources can be gathered by mining laser or SRV. This allows smaller ships to skip having to lug an SRV hangar and, of course, non-Horizons players need to be able to gather resources too.
+ materials and recipe should be very simple; think SRV fuel.
+ will higher-grade synth increase probe range and/or coverage?

Engineering Proposals
+ better coverage per probe
+ increased probe-speed / range
+ light-weight scanners
+ combined scanners
+ utility-mountable scanners

I like your ideas. Not too fussed about having already found and scanned planets visible. But I do like the idea of the micro nav beacon though which would need to be scanned first to get the already scanned planets.

The one I want the most though is the UI to be in the cockpit. As a VR user it really annoys me that the Galaxy map and the system map are not in the cockpit as a large pop-up.

 

[DOCa Cola]

It was mentioned on the stream that the 'lowresness' of the planetary body of this screenshot might not have been intended. Actually, i hope it will be low res, pixelated and less colorful, until the scanner has fully aligned/tuned in onto the signal of the body.

I have created a mockup:

 

[zzehirbazz]

Good afternoon, Commanders.

Tonight you'll be able to join Lead Community Manager Edward Lewis and Senior Designer Adam Bourke-Waite from 7PM BST live on Youtube, covering the recently revealed Exploration changes coming to Beyond - Chapter Four and fielding some of your questions.

We hope to see you there!

NOTE - we will not be showing off any video footage or new images of the features on tonight's stream. Streams showcasing this will be in the coming weeks.

www.youtube.com/elitedangerous/live

Hey Paige, can you give us an estimated timeframe where we can expect to see some videos of new content rather than saying a couple of weeks? A vague estimate if you may.

Or should we expect to see something related to 3.3 sometime next week? YES or NO?

Thanks

 

[zimms]

Isn't "a couple of weeks" a vague estimate?

 

[Zer0cool]

Good afternoon, Commanders.

Tonight you'll be able to join Lead Community Manager Edward Lewis and Senior Designer Adam Bourke-Waite from 7PM BST live on Youtube, covering the recently revealed Exploration changes coming to Beyond - Chapter Four and fielding some of your questions.

We hope to see you there!

NOTE - we will not be showing off any video footage or new images of the features on tonight's stream. Streams showcasing this will be in the coming weeks.

www.youtube.com/elitedangerous/live

Great live stream folks but you serious need to find a better and fairer way to answer questions.

I counted you answered the same question, or variant of the same question 8 times and yet missed lots and lots of very interesting and relevant questions.

I totally get that with 1000 people watching the chat is going faster than you can see, perhaps consider getting more staff behind the scenes to pick unique and interesting questions?

 

[CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE]

Great live stream folks but you serious need to find a better and fairer way to answer questions.

I counted you answered the same question, or variant of the same question 8 times and yet missed lots and lots of very interesting and relevant questions.

I totally get that with 1000 people watching the chat is going faster than you can see, perhaps consider getting more staff behind the scenes to pick unique and interesting questions?

You mean like a Focused Feedback Forum?

Seriously though it would have worked better if they had stated in the OP of this thread that we should place questions here (appreciate that not everyone watching the stream will have seen that, but there are other solutions to that problem). As you said, answering questions from the chat clearly doesn't work too well when there are 1500+ viewers.

 

[Dedhed]

Personally, I think it would be good to let the initial "honk" scan fill out the system map like it already does. You'd still need to use the new scanning interface to actually get the complete scan and all the information that comes with it.

Besides, there will be new stellar phenomena the interface is used to find too right? Basically points of interest in space. So keeping that old functionality of the discovery scanner really wouldn't detract from the discovery aspect of the new functionality.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Moar livestream!

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Great, thank you so much for the livestream Ed & Adam and going into a bit more depths about the mechanics. Really looking forward to seeing a livestream showcasing this and trying it in the beta.

Following the livestream I'd like to reiterate some of my questions/concerns from the "mega-thread":

"Honk"
+ maybe fill system map with already-discovered bodies submitted by other Commanders. Seems a little redundant to have to re-discover everything. But only provide additional monetary reward if player re-scans bodies. (EDIT: Lore: money paid to verify previous data submissions)
+ this could tie in with the suggestion of being able to deploy a "micro nav-beacon". Not only would it indicate to other explorers that somebody has already visited this system even if they haven't sold the data yet, but it would let others access the already-gathered information on the system and spend their time and effort on any remaining bodies in the system. "Standing on the shoulders of giants" kind of thing. (EDIT: Perhaps micro nav-beacon could be auto-deployed during "honk" if there isn't one in the system already?)

Discovery Scan
+ allow the Discovery Scanner to be usable from normal space as well as Supercruise. Otherwise scanning will be very dangerous near inhabited systems (interdictions).
+ Please don't show detailed information such as relative resource abundancies from the Discovery Scan. DO show -what- resources are available (and hint at any special resources/POIs?) but leave the details for the Surface Scan/Probes.

Display
+ Please just have a pop-up, not a full-screen display, to maintain some level of situational awareness while flying.
+ Increase the size of the UI elements for VR (or allow user to increase the UI scale). The sample screenshots seem to be quite small.

Probes
+ Can you fire probes at multiple bodies at the same time? For example, in a tight system of moons around a gas giant.
+ Will you only see interesting POIs once you've mapped the entire planet, or will you be able to see the ones in a partially-mapped planet?
+ Please don't "pin-point" POIs but display search areas. Give us a reason to fly down and reconnoiter with SRV or ship/SLF.

Probe Synthesis
+ ensure required resources can be gathered by mining laser or SRV. This allows smaller ships to skip having to lug an SRV hangar and, of course, non-Horizons players need to be able to gather resources too.
+ materials and recipe should be very simple; think SRV fuel.
+ will higher-grade synth increase probe range and/or coverage?

Engineering Proposals
+ better coverage per probe
+ increased probe-speed / range
+ light-weight scanners
+ combined scanners
+ utility-mountable scanners

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I still want to discover bodies that have been discovered by other commanders. If I didn't, I would just buy system data from a station .

I had a thought that it might be nice if FDev gave players a means to recover used probes from planetary surfaces & repair them. Just an idea.

 

[Cajun76]

Are they willing to take questions on the Gnosis debacle ?

It's only a "debacle" for those lacking basic reading and reasoning skills.

 

[Dedhed]

An idea just occurred to me. Rather than rolling all discovery scanners into one, what about a basic discovery scanner that only reveals the jump in star as previously described and an advanced discovery scanner that reveals the system map as is the current functionality.

That way those who like one way or the other can choose their preference.

 

[Qohen Leth]

Livestream this week? Please? Pwetty plz?

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

Discovery Scan
+ Please don't show detailed information such as relative resource abundancies from the Discovery Scan. DO show -what- resources are available (and hint at any special resources/POIs?) but leave the details for the Surface Scan/Probes.

Display
+ Please just have a pop-up, not a full-screen display, to maintain some level of situational awareness while flying.
+ Increase the size of the UI elements for VR (or allow user to increase the UI scale). The sample screenshots seem to be quite small.

Probes
+ Will you only see interesting POIs once you've mapped the entire planet, or will you be able to see the ones in a partially-mapped planet?
+ Please don't "pin-point" POIs but display search areas. Give us a reason to fly down and reconnoiter with SRV or ship/SLF.

Probe Synthesis
+ materials and recipe should be very simple; think SRV fuel.

I've left in the quote all points I agree with (In Bold my favourite ones). Well thought!

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Livestream this week? Please? Pwetty plz?

More information about POIs and a response to the feedback would hit the spot

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

More information about POIs and a response to the feedback would hit the spot

CYA meetings and "diplomacy filters" need to be applied beforehand. *wink*

 

[[VR] Frank_G]

Great, thank you so much for the livestream Ed & Adam and going into a bit more depths about the mechanics. Really looking forward to seeing a livestream showcasing this and trying it in the beta.

Following the livestream I'd like to reiterate some of my questions/concerns from the "mega-thread":

"Honk"
+ maybe fill system map with already-discovered bodies submitted by other Commanders. Seems a little redundant to have to re-discover everything. But only provide additional monetary reward if player re-scans bodies. (EDIT: Lore: money paid to verify previous data submissions)
+ this could tie in with the suggestion of being able to deploy a "micro nav-beacon". Not only would it indicate to other explorers that somebody has already visited this system even if they haven't sold the data yet, but it would let others access the already-gathered information on the system and spend their time and effort on any remaining bodies in the system. "Standing on the shoulders of giants" kind of thing. (EDIT: Perhaps micro nav-beacon could be auto-deployed during "honk" if there isn't one in the system already?)

Discovery Scan
+ allow the Discovery Scanner to be usable from normal space as well as Supercruise. Otherwise scanning will be very dangerous near inhabited systems (interdictions).
+ Please don't show detailed information such as relative resource abundancies from the Discovery Scan. DO show -what- resources are available (and hint at any special resources/POIs?) but leave the details for the Surface Scan/Probes.

Display
+ Please just have a pop-up, not a full-screen display, to maintain some level of situational awareness while flying.
+ Increase the size of the UI elements for VR (or allow user to increase the UI scale). The sample screenshots seem to be quite small.

Probes
+ Can you fire probes at multiple bodies at the same time? For example, in a tight system of moons around a gas giant.
+ Will you only see interesting POIs once you've mapped the entire planet, or will you be able to see the ones in a partially-mapped planet?
+ Please don't "pin-point" POIs but display search areas. Give us a reason to fly down and reconnoiter with SRV or ship/SLF.

Probe Synthesis
+ ensure required resources can be gathered by mining laser or SRV. This allows smaller ships to skip having to lug an SRV hangar and, of course, non-Horizons players need to be able to gather resources too.
+ materials and recipe should be very simple; think SRV fuel.
+ will higher-grade synth increase probe range and/or coverage?

Engineering Proposals
+ better coverage per probe
+ increased probe-speed / range
+ light-weight scanners
+ combined scanners
+ utility-mountable scanners

Excellent post. I can't agree more. Have some rep.

 

[Habu2u]

Livestream this week? Please? Pwetty plz?

YES! This a hundred times over! There is so much speculation, conjecture, and plain old WAGs going on, I think it's preventing any real, valid discussion of the new process and any desired changes that could reasonably be inserted into the game prior to release of Chapter 4 or what might be considered for a future release. Even if you show us a "pre-beta beta" version, we could at least get a much better idea of how it's going to work, time-wise and detail-wise, and hopefully you can address some of the "compromise" talk that's in the 200+ page discussion of the new process and let us know if any of the proposed compromises are even feasible at this point in time. We'd love to have a better explained/viewed baseline point of reference from which everyone can start more valid discussions.
Regards

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Livestream this week? Please? Pwetty plz?

More information about POIs and a response to the feedback would hit the spot

I concur with these fine gentlemen.

 

[Factabulous]

They've said no - last plan I heard was to do the Buckyball Triathlon. Then again, the planning may have gone well, and something might happen...

 

[Whitehair]

I concur with these fine gentlemen.

Qohen and Leth?