News Chapter Four - Exploration Reveal

[Lobey]

Well, 10x 1 minute of finding nothing interesting is probably going to be less engaging that 10x 10 seconds of finding nothing.

One man's 'engaging gameplay' is another's 'pointless busywork'.

However, the changes seem to be popular, so I guess FDev have come up with the goods.

Not salty, just sad.

I'm on the same page as Drew and I think quite a few others are as well - can we get some clarification on whether we can expect a "bare bones" system on initial honk - or is it just star - and perhaps a station or two ?
I would just like to know if we will "have" to some degree explore every single system we jump into under the new system to gain the most rudimentary info - ie number of planets.
Sorry to keep banging on about this - but, I feel this is the one critical thing that's not been answered (that I have seen) - I am more than happy for those who want to explore the system in detail to get busy with probes- decipher electromagnetic signatures and whatnot.
I strongly suspect I might find myself removing scanners all together for the same reason I don't carry mining gear all the time - it's nice to do sometimes - but not all the time.

 

[CMDR_Turdblossom]

Sounds really interesting.

 

[bAdbUd]

When a Planet has been scanned 100% by another CMDR and then visited by a different CMDR will they be able to also find out what's on the planet without having to lob probes at it?

Can that data be purchased, or does everyone have to scan the planet?

I ask because Canonn have massive lists of where everything is (assuming this change doesn't reset all those places) will a CMDR still be able to find these POI's on planets without scanning a system and/or planet?

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

Hi Adam, this is a lot of cool stuff but a question please. This all scanning process happens in space. Is there also additional gameplay and new scan processes for the srv? Some reason to land on planets and increase the planetary data reward?

 

[Noogillim]

Probably a big ask, but is there any chance that we'll be able to use this interface to target stars outside the system and read their energy distribution? Maybe even ID them to an item on the actual galmap? This would be a useful and fun observatory-like feature, and I know I could probably spend hours just scanning the sky from anywhere, surveying the local constellations and nearby star clusters.

I think this would be a lot work to implement because of the way procedural generation works (during hyperjumping irrc). But I may be wrong, it would be a super cool feature.

No more than reverse engineering selecting a star on the nav page or gal map and seeing where the hud icon is I wouldn't imagine it's as hard as keeping us lot happy! it would be a handy feature

 

[ShadowWolf Kell]

100 probes will be gone after a handful of systems...

You'll have to refill just to scan each system in NGC 7822.


Note to Adam - Due to ADS now being used for USSes, and the very limited module space on combat ships, it might be wise to look into ways of making it easier for all ships to pack an ADS/DSS. The USS change is great, just don't forget about combat ships.

It's as good a time as any to revisit the ADS/DSS and dedicated module slot topic.

 

[Dooguk]

SNIP:

2) Still waiting to hear that this will work fine in VR. Personally I'd love to see the new scanner be on a side panel so that there's no delay in loading it like there is currently for the two maps. I'd like to be able to switch between the scanner and the viewport at a glance, especially if using VR or mouselook to look around.

I have my Galaxy Map/Viewport/System Map mapped to a mini hat switch on my CH throttle. This changes the view almost instantly. Not sure what your setup is like.

 

[Mephane]

The data you currently earn from the existing Discovery Surface Scanner (DSS) is provided when using the new Discovery Scanner mechanics. The new DSS will provide the player with surface scan data, which currently does not exist in the game. This allows the player to get the first mapped tag on their discoveries.

Okay, now this is actually some really great news. It might make my multi-purpose FDL idea more viable. It can just so squeeze in a shield, a cargo rack, a fuel scoop, an srv bay, and one of the scanners. If the discovery scanner is enough for normal operations around the bubble (find planets, find materials on planets, find mission destinations without nav beacon) then this could actually work...

 

[don carnage1]

Caution

This looks awesome, FDev, but I have two concerns:

1) You said that honking will now only reveal the star and that other objects will only be revealed by the minigame, yes?

Please do not let this increase the amount of time it takes to determine whether a system is worth further examination.

Currently, if I honk a system and find a brown dwarf full of non-landable icy bodies I know that I can skip it and move on. Exploration may become a huge drag without that ability.

2) Please, PLEASE limit the recipe for crafting probes to common mineral elements like nickel and iron.

If I’m 20,000 LY from civilization and have to worry about stocking manmade synthesis materials like Heat Vanes or Mechanical Components, or scrounge up some ridiculous element like polonium, I will simply quit this game.

That’s all. Looking forward to this!

 

[hornedreaper33]

Thank you so much guys, that really does sound great.

The only question I would have is what would the system map look like after just one honk?

 

[EUS]

Stock up before hand for synthesis or take a mining laser.

Please share the synth recipe that FD doesn't have yet, as you seem to know it.

 

[Andovar]

Will player activity also show up on this system energy spectrum view? For example, will a Discovery Scanner honk by another player make them visible from across the system? Or if I'm mining in a ring with 25MW of mining gear on an Anaconda, will that generate an energy spike at my location for others to detect? Will a player-interdiction-initiated battle now create a Combat Emissions signal source dynamically?

That would be really cool.
But somehow i doubt we'll see it.

 

[Olivia Vespera]

as a tangent, Is there any chance we could ask for a velocity vector for non-combat situations? or maintain ship or vanity camera orientation to current orbiting planet?

For exploration, if we do find a planet we could orbit in local space, I would love to have a velocity vector to understand which direction my ship is travelling even if it's only in non-combat situations.

for the vanity camera, while orbiting in local space, i'd love to be able to leave the camera always orientated without having to change anything. or at least have the ship pull an ISS and keep it orientated along the velocity vector while orbiting.

 

[IamMe]

Are scanner probes limited like ammo so we will need to gather materials from planets to replenish them?
That would be cool instead infinite probes.

 

[Mindenite]

Hi Whitmann, we don't have our synthesis recipe nailed down at the moment. We are currently working with a ship's holding around a couple of hundred probes. It's important to note that scanning a planet varies based on size of the body and aiming skills of the pilot.

Is there any possibility that an exploration ship (as opposed to combat, multipurpose, etc. ships) could either carry more probes before having to synthesize more or have some sort of scanning advantage?

 

[nanite2000]

It will give you the exact location of persistent POIs. The more transient, smaller POIs such as a collection of skimmers will not be located by the surface scan.

Can I make a suggestion here? Please don't give the *exact* POI location and name from a surface scan.

Instead, hint the POI location and POI type within a 'hotspot' region.

The reason I say this is because it robs the player of a potential gameplay opportunity of using the SRV, SLF, or ship to discover the exact nature of a signal at the surface within a manageable search area.

Take, for example, the Survey Vessel Stargazer: https://canonn.science/codex/survey-vessel-stargazer/

For me, ideal gameplay would be:

1. Discover the ship's existence via a Listening Post .
2. Navigate to the planet of the ship's last known location.
3. Fire a probe to find out any persistent signal sources on the planet's surface, identifiable as any one of:
   • Technological (crashed ships, abandoned bases, ancient ruins, etc...)
   • Biological (Thargoid surface sites, braintrees, bark mounds, etc...)
   • Geological (Geysers, Fumaroles, etc...)
   • Meteorological (Later, when atmospherics are introduced)
4. Fly down toward one of the candidate signal sources (in this case, Technological) and then either find the exact location via SRV wavescanner, or from the ship (or SLF).

It takes away some of the mystery (and fun) if I know exactly what's on the planet's surface, and exactly where it is, from orbit.

Otherwise, I'm loving what's been proposed so far. [yesnod]

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Forgot Forum rules. My Apologies.

 

[krusty23]

Like some other cmdr's I'm also concerned that I'll be loosing the quick honk and system info that an ADS gives you.
Sounds like it's becoming overly involved to me.
My preferred option would be some of this deeper body scanning once the ADS has returned all the objects in the system.

Also I wonder what the differences will be between the Advanced, Intermediate and Basic scanners will be?

 

[Stompy]

This thread will be in the same format as the other threads but that won't make it any better. I fully realize it's a very subjective opinion but it feels to me like it's much easier to have an ongoing conversation on Reddit than here. But there's also a ton of history on these forums that I'm not really a part of, either.

 

[Gatsu80ct]

Chpt 4

great ! it was what I wanted for a long time! a mapping of the planets, a compass in this huge boundless universe created by you! keep it up guys. I hope I can see and deepen the new gameplay mechanics ... communication and clarity finally! Thank you