Could Frontier please demonstrate how to use the FSS enjoyably?

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If the FSS were 100% to my liking, you lot would most likely grumble even more as I'd prefer some brainwork required for using this tool. Pretty much the other direction: ADS -> FSS -> my version, this direction. As it stands, the current version is an acceptable compromise between 2 extremely differing conceptions. Think about it. It could have turned out so much worse for you. :devilish:

I would be happy with more brainwork, but unlike FDev I'd have made it entirely optional.

Also, welcome back.
 
There are enough vehement defenders of the FSS to make your comment moot. However, I have over 10k L3 scans under my belt pre-3.3 and a Codex filled with only 17 entries - it is sickening to think anyone like myself would have to re-tread old ground in order to gain data they should already have.

The thought of engaging in the FSS mini-game 10k or more times just makes me want to hurl.
I made exploration elite pre-3.3 too, likely with a similar (if not greater) number of L3 scans. Rarely left a system visited incomplete (a few special cases in the past) even if it meant many Kls flights to outlying sencondary/tertiary stars.
I've probably been equally active using both systems, although I prefer the choice given by the FSS to aggregate all bodies into the database from a single spot then having the option to fly out to any bodies of interest on completion.

The FSS is my preferred mechanic, but really it doesn't matter, it is a game and the tools that the developers provide are just that, tools.
 
If the FSS were 100% to my liking, you lot would most likely grumble even more as I'd prefer some brainwork required for using this tool. Pretty much the other direction: ADS -> FSS -> my version, this direction. As it stands, the current version is an acceptable compromise between 2 extremely differing conceptions. Think about it. It could have turned out so much worse for you. :devilish:
Agreed.

The same could be said about exploration in general. I’ve always considered a key component of exploration (along with the requirement of creating maps of places that have never been visited before by anyone) is how do you stay alive, and functional, so far from civilization.

I’m still disappointed about the removal of Galactic exploration. Could you imagine if we had to map the vagaries of Witchspace between star systems before jumping to a completely new system, or for that matter, between non-existent trade routes?
 
10k?
You're not a REAL explorer :p
I had over half a million - and that was after a save reset after Engineering.
I earned my stripes - Yes, I have not done any extended journeys out into the black yet but that does not make me "not a REAL explorer" as you put it. I have been slowly building up my available ships and do not have "unlimited" time to play ED and have spent a lot of my time winging up with a friend when they are on-line and so have tended to stick around the bubble for that reason. I have not been to Colonia or Sag-A yet and the FSS implementation does nothing but make me NOT want to engage in such trips.

Regardless, whether 1k, 10k or 500k, the Codex should be already populated with all pre-3.3 data - the current situation is inexcusable on the part of FD. At the very least they should have automatically added any first discoveries (of which I have at least a few).
 
I earned my stripes - Yes, I have not done any extended journeys out into the black yet but that does not make me "not a REAL explorer" as you put it. I have been slowly building up my available ships and do not have "unlimited" time to play ED and have spent a lot of my time winging up with a friend when they are on-line and so have tended to stick around the bubble for that reason. I have not been to Colonia or Sag-A yet and the FSS implementation does nothing but make me NOT want to engage in such trips.

Regardless, whether 1k, 10k or 500k, the Codex should be already populated with all pre-3.3 data - the current situation is inexcusable on the part of FD. At the very least they should have automatically added any first discoveries (of which I have at least a few).
Compared to Drew, we're both still babies in exploration.... but I'm trying :D

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But only 1400 hours on this account...
 
No one actually dislikes the FSS. Some feel obliged to pretend to dislike it. Maybe out of some weird fanboy view-point. I dunno. But, no one, in their heart, really, actually like dislikes it.
I don't dislike it, but it seems needlessly detached from the rest of the game. ie: You disappear into a bolted on mini-game.

So it's a shame the interface (for the pilot) could not be more integrated into their cockpit view. And it's bonkers how you cannot be allowed to still Supercruise so you can be flying to an object while still FSS'ing. Even more so given Multicrew and the new Supercruise Assistant.
 
The FSS is my preferred mechanic, but really it doesn't matter, it is a game and the tools that the developers provide are just that, tools.
Which is fundamentally why the ADS should never have been removed in the first place.

My preferred mechanic after using the FSS both during the Beta and after release is still the ADS - the FSS is hellish to use IMO and space-golf is just a bad joke without a punch line.
 
Compared to Drew, we're both still babies in exploration.... but I'm trying :D

View attachment 134865

But only 1400 hours on this account...
I have double the number of jumps, but that is probably mainly due to winging up with friends and helping them out. Engineering my available ships could have also been a major factor.
Exploration
Systems visited
11,217
Profits from exploration
135,796,932 Cr
Level 2 detailed scans
883
Level 3 detailed scans
10,755
Highest payout
2,121,937 Cr
Total hyperspace distance
383,874.00 Ly
Total hyperspace jumps
21,748
Max distance from start
5,014.02 Ly
Approximate time played
3 months 18 days 14 hours 35 minutes
 
Which is fundamentally why the ADS should never have been removed in the first place.

My preferred mechanic after using the FSS both during the Beta and after release is still the ADS - the FSS is hellish to use IMO and space-golf is just a bad joke without a punch line.
It's just a tool, it works, and is faster to complete a system with more than just stars than its predecessor.
The ADS should never have been in the game in the first pace, that was lazy programming, but it was, now it isn't, does it really make that much difference? Like it or loathe it there are really only two choices, play the game or not, I think it unlikely that a reversion or compromise wil be made by the developers so I make the most of what they have created. But I'm easily pleased, apparently :)
 
It's just a tool, it works, and is faster to complete a system with more than just stars than its predecessor.
Too much concentration on speed of completion is a sickness in modern gaming, the speed of the tool does not make it a good tool.

The ADS should never have been in the game in the first pace, that was lazy programming, but it was, now it isn't, does it really make that much difference?
The point is it was an option for several YEARS and was removed with no good reason - whether it was lazy programming or not is moot and subjective - the simple fact is that it was around long enough to make it's removal unjustifiable for an existing LIVE product.
 
I have double the number of jumps, but that is probably mainly due to winging up with friends and helping them out. Engineering my available ships could have also been a major factor.
Easily more jumps than I, but as you have been ranking up with Fed & Emp you would have done a lot of running around :) Come on out to Colonia, it is a brilliant exploration base, and has a lovely skybox too!
 
Easily more jumps than I, but as you have been ranking up with Fed & Emp you would have done a lot of running around :) Come on out to Colonia, it is a brilliant exploration base, and has a lovely skybox too!
The FSS implementation as it stands puts me off, doing that. I am far less motivated to engage in exploring after the fracas that FD created with 3.3.
 
Too much concentration on speed of completion is a sickness in modern gaming, the speed of the tool does not make it a good tool.
At my age I'd like to still be alive after scanning a few 100+ body systems...

I didn't mind spending a couple of hours flitting around 'discovering' yet another ice/rock ball, but I'd rather use those precious minutes of my life spent in game flying out to things that interest me. Others may have an alternate opinion on their use of time :)
 
That's the family friendly aspect of ED that still shines through in the FSS. It's way too simple IMO but still not that daft like the ADS - and yet a toy for little children. If the game would be more hardcore, we would have a few hundred players now instead of thousands.
That's the main reason why I wish this game had been a single player game. That would allow the player to add optional rules that would make the game more suitable to them. Want more difficult AI? Up the difficulty level. Want to be worried about how your Commander eats and breathes? Tick that box. Want to play it in iron man? Tick that box. Want to concern yourself with logistical considerations like how much time it takes to load your ship? Tick that box.

That being said, one thing I like about the FSS is that while its operation can be simplified down to a "minigame," there's just enough meat to its bones that IMO it can be quickly used to determine whether a system is worth sticking around to explore further. Unlike the ADS, where a system was almost completely explored for you at the press of a button.

YMMV
 
Maybe there could be an auto FSS.
It would weigh more which would encourage “true “ explorers to use the manual version.
Have limited range so very distant objects would need to be manually resolved.
 
That being said, one thing I like about the FSS is that while its operation can be simplified down to a "minigame," there's just enough meat to its bones that IMO it can be quickly used to determine whether a system is worth sticking around to explore further. Unlike the ADS, where a system was almost completely explored for you at the press of a button.
The ADS did not EXPLORE the system for you any more than using a (simple optical) telescope to visually scan Mount Everest is the same as assailing it. You still had to near body scan bodies in the system to properly explore it. The only real difference between the ADS and FSS is in essence the time element - the FSS is quicker and does not require as much travel, the ADS/DSS was more relaxed and slower for the same level of information.

The "one honk and it's done" argument regarding the ADS is totally fallacious and misleading.
 
I'd go with the following:

1. It can only be used while stationary.
2. It has no meaningful multicrew functionality (due to point 1)
3. It's mandatory, thereby removing player choice
4. It's complex and non-intuitive

The key point in the above is number 3. Unlike every other module added to the game, you have no choice but to use it. If it's merely subjectively bad, it wouldn't matter, since you could simply not use it.

Hmm

1) Yes, i agree with this. See no need for the forced slow down. If someone ends up flying 100k LS out of the system while scanning that is their business.

2) Partial credit ;) Yeah, i see the issue, but it can be used with MC? Then its a plus regardless. Still, can two people FSS at the same time to speed things up? If yes, then great. If not, then meh.

3) I think it had to be mandatory, otherwise what would be the point? Can't agree that this is bad. My own suggestion was to change how it works a bit, still give the system layout and type of planet from the ping, just have the FSS give more info and then the DSS the final info.

4) I don't think its that complex. Once you've used it a couple of times you can grok it.

I would disagree with this point - it is simplistic and childish in terms of implementation IMO - the implementation is modelled on radio telescopes, that much is clear, but it lacks various features one would expect from a radio telescope emulation/simulation which makes it ultimately a pain to use.

Key missing elements include:-
  1. Visualisation of the audio component
  2. Pan/zoom of the consolidated frequency spread bar
  3. Tuning memory

I don't understand any of these points. Can you go into detail?
 
Hmm

1) Yes, i agree with this. See no need for the forced slow down. If someone ends up flying 100k LS out of the system while scanning that is their business.

2) Partial credit ;) Yeah, i see the issue, but it can be used with MC? Then its a plus regardless. Still, can two people FSS at the same time to speed things up? If yes, then great. If not, then meh.

3) I think it had to be mandatory, otherwise what would be the point? Can't agree that this is bad. My own suggestion was to change how it works a bit, still give the system layout and type of planet from the ping, just have the FSS give more info and then the DSS the final info.

4) I don't think its that complex. Once you've used it a couple of times you can grok it.



I don't understand any of these points. Can you go into detail?

3) The FSS does give more information than the ADS because it includes the old DSS body scan info plus surface POI numbers. The ADS gave body location but only allowed you to guess what the body type was.

Ergo, they can be complimentary.
 
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