Frontier has put a painstaking amount of detail in this game, programming a relatively realistic physics engine that extends through the far reaches of the galaxy and dictates the motions of all the stars and planets. It is mind-blowing and awe-inspiring to be able to explore this rich and complex game and experience the wonders of space as never before. There is, however, an unfortunate and irksome misalignment in player skill potential. The problem is not one of design, but of equipment. Allow me to explain...
Combat is a skill-based endeavor (mostly) in which the better/ more experienced pilot will be able to succeed against a less experienced pilot with the same equipment. In many cases, a highly skilled pilot will even triumph over a less skilled pilot who has better/ more expensive equipment. This ability to bring one's own personal skill into the game and benefit from it makes the combat system very rewarding. If I want to become a better combat pilot, it takes more than credits to reach this status. Elite: Dangerous will let you put in the time and effort to better yourself in this arena, and increases the rewards for those who have done so. This level of rewarding play is lacking from exploration due to one game-breaking (in my opinion) piece of equipment: The Advanced Discovery Scanner.
To create a parallel to the combat system, imagine this scenario: You have played for months on end, taking bounty contracts and hunting pirates, dodging and weaving your way through laser fire, inventing creative new maneuvers and honing your stick-skills to a razor-sharp edge. You have become a great combat pilot and earned your stripes in the heat of battle. I, on the other hand, spend months running cargo in a whale-sized hauler, idly jumping from planet to planet making a profit. I decide I'm done with the trading business and decide to buy a combat ship. "Oh, look, here's a neat little device that I can buy that will automatically maneuver my ship into the best firing position with the click of a single button." I buy this device and get into a dogfight with you, and with the press of a single button, my ship automatically spins around, locks in your blind spot, and smokes your shields in seconds... "skill-schmill" says I, "I bought a cool toy that makes skill mean nothing..."
This is the equivaalent of the Advanced Discovery Scanner. There are many wonderful ways to use the real physics that have been programmed into this game to explore and discover the wonders of the galaxy. I have discovered trinary stars hundreds of thousands of LS away from each other using using orbital trajectories and relative motion. I get such an immense feeling of satisfaction every time I find some remote gas giant orbiting in the gravitational null-zone between two stars. And yet, every time I see that someone else got there before me and put their name on it, I always wonder if they put the same time and effort that I did into its discover, or if they simply paid a bunch of credits and pushed a single button...
Combat is a skill-based endeavor (mostly) in which the better/ more experienced pilot will be able to succeed against a less experienced pilot with the same equipment. In many cases, a highly skilled pilot will even triumph over a less skilled pilot who has better/ more expensive equipment. This ability to bring one's own personal skill into the game and benefit from it makes the combat system very rewarding. If I want to become a better combat pilot, it takes more than credits to reach this status. Elite: Dangerous will let you put in the time and effort to better yourself in this arena, and increases the rewards for those who have done so. This level of rewarding play is lacking from exploration due to one game-breaking (in my opinion) piece of equipment: The Advanced Discovery Scanner.
To create a parallel to the combat system, imagine this scenario: You have played for months on end, taking bounty contracts and hunting pirates, dodging and weaving your way through laser fire, inventing creative new maneuvers and honing your stick-skills to a razor-sharp edge. You have become a great combat pilot and earned your stripes in the heat of battle. I, on the other hand, spend months running cargo in a whale-sized hauler, idly jumping from planet to planet making a profit. I decide I'm done with the trading business and decide to buy a combat ship. "Oh, look, here's a neat little device that I can buy that will automatically maneuver my ship into the best firing position with the click of a single button." I buy this device and get into a dogfight with you, and with the press of a single button, my ship automatically spins around, locks in your blind spot, and smokes your shields in seconds... "skill-schmill" says I, "I bought a cool toy that makes skill mean nothing..."
This is the equivaalent of the Advanced Discovery Scanner. There are many wonderful ways to use the real physics that have been programmed into this game to explore and discover the wonders of the galaxy. I have discovered trinary stars hundreds of thousands of LS away from each other using using orbital trajectories and relative motion. I get such an immense feeling of satisfaction every time I find some remote gas giant orbiting in the gravitational null-zone between two stars. And yet, every time I see that someone else got there before me and put their name on it, I always wonder if they put the same time and effort that I did into its discover, or if they simply paid a bunch of credits and pushed a single button...
