Could Frontier please demonstrate how to use the FSS enjoyably?

Status
Thread Closed: Not open for further replies.
The fundamental problem with the FSS as far as I am concerned is there was too much effort put into the audio aspect and not enough into the other parts - there should have been a visual representation of the audio element from day one but FD fundamentally failed on that score and seem to be blind to the consequences of that failure.

That does make sense, though I'm really not sure what else they could have done to visualize the audio you are tuning into more than what they already have done other than maybe adding like ripples from the bodies reacting to it all.
 
And what happens in EACH AND ANY thread where one of the terms ADS, FSS or exploration is just mentioned once? The same bunch comes in and fills it with endless lamentation about the FSS. You can go through this thread, you can go through many others. If you read them very well and pay close attention, there's a number of requests for improvements and fixes there. Valid concerns on it's usability, how it handles in VR, etc. But it's covered under layers and layers of spam.

And this is an indicator of the mistake FD made, the only other design discussion which I recall has been discussed more is Hotel California.
 
Supercruise isn't even proper spaceflight.
I am sorry but your opinion is demonstrably false - it may not be proper spaceflight in a true Newtonian motion sense of the term but once you enter into the realms of FTL travel Newtonian mechanics fall a bit flat (i.e. are deficient).

I know this isn't a majority opinion, but what's so engaging about staring forward out of a cockpit window so you can proximity scan? It's less engaging than the FSS, in my opinion, and thoroughly less enjoyable.
Why does any discovery or travel process have to be engaging in itself? They are merely a means to an end not an end in themselves. As for the FSS, I would argue it is less engaging than the pre-3.3 mechanics - paint by numbers is the closest analogy I can come up for the FSS.
 
That does make sense, though I'm really not sure what else they could have done to visualize the audio you are tuning into more than what they already have done other than maybe adding like ripples from the bodies reacting to it all.
Simple answer - they could have displayed a real-time oscilloscope type representation of the audio spectrum (think along lines of audio editors and spectrum analysers). The visual element is little more than paint by numbers or as some put it blob-hunt.
 
The FSS is literally the same gameplay as proximity scanning, but instead of instant zooming you have to wait. That's it. Point and wait as opposed to point and zoom.
Not really, they are different beasts in substantial ways - the FSS arguably requires less time and travel but enforces faff and paint-by-numbers. Far from being engaging in any sense of the term, nor is it even close to being the same gameplay as pre-3.3.
 
Last edited:
I feel weird now, because I really like the FSS. I think it's neat that you can just click to target and get up your available information. I always felt the old way was clunky.

I'd love a feature to set waypoints from the FSS however.

I use it in VR and have simply set it to mouse, so I move my hand directly to the right of the stick and scan away to my heart's content, middle button targets. Quick and accurate.
 
I feel weird now, because I really like the FSS. I think it's neat that you can just click to target and get up your available information. I always felt the old way was clunky.

I'd love a feature to set waypoints from the FSS however.

I use it in VR and have simply set it to mouse, so I move my hand directly to the right of the stick and scan away to my heart's content, middle button targets. Quick and accurate.
Don't feel weird. Most people seem to like it too. I also like it in VR.
 
I know this isn't a majority opinion, but what's so engaging about staring forward out of a cockpit window so you can proximity scan? It's less engaging than the FSS, in my opinion, and thoroughly less enjoyable.
Supercruise isn't even proper spaceflight.

It's almost like different people enjoy different things.

I find threading the needle through a gas giant's rings, scanning all the moons before pitching out towards the next body, all while retaining as much speed as possible, to be way more fun than pressing zoom-in, zoom-out over and over again and calling it 'science'.
 
It's almost like different people enjoy different things.

I find threading the needle through a gas giant's rings, scanning all the moons before pitching out towards the next body, all while retaining as much speed as possible, to be way more fun than pressing zoom-in, zoom-out over and over again and calling it 'science'.

You can still do that though.
 
Sorry my bad. But from what I can tell it's not the proximity scans that you find engaging, its the flying your ship part. The proximity scan just gave you an incentive to do that.

Proximity scans made not using the FSS (and hence for me exploration as a whole) a viable option - because flying a spaceship is fun.

The gas giant stuff is an added layer of excitement.
 
I used to love travelling long distances while checking out interesting dj sets. Then I would fly to cool looking planets and scan them in case there was something interesting around them. What is "real exploration" really makes no difference at all here. There is very little "navigation gameplay" anyway, it's all optional. Now this clicking on white rings minigame gives me a headache after 15 minutes, and then arises questions of what sort of fool they think I am to do this for more than 15 minutes, and do they just recycle same stuff by adding a boring timesink. There is no "get good" in clicking those white rings, they are just white rings, it's not like it was a pair railguns on a Federal Assault Ship. It's not that I was against interesting and more timeconsuming mechanics necessarily, I have spent hours dropping into normal space, turning off modules and turning up volume, and just listening, it's kind of reminiscent of what FSS is.

They should make a better system, add something intelligent to it, and fun. I think the reason discussions about these sort of things are so weird is because the game is so niche already, it's not like the game was going to die because they messed it up, because it kind of already is. Then you have just a bunch of old fans discussing about stuff and there is very little perspective.
 
I used to love travelling long distances while checking out interesting dj sets. Then I would fly to cool looking planets and scan them in case there was something interesting around them. What is "real exploration" really makes no difference at all here. There is very little "navigation gameplay" anyway, it's all optional. Now this clicking on white rings minigame gives me a headache after 15 minutes, and then arises questions of what sort of fool they think I am to do this for more than 15 minutes, and do they just recycle same stuff by adding a boring timesink. There is no "get good" in clicking those white rings, they are just white rings, it's not like it was a pair railguns on a Federal Assault Ship. It's not that I was against interesting and more timeconsuming mechanics necessarily, I have spent hours dropping into normal space, turning off modules and turning up volume, and just listening, it's kind of reminiscent of what FSS is.

They should make a better system, add something intelligent to it, and fun. I think the reason discussions about these sort of things are so weird is because the game is so niche already, it's not like the game was going to die because they messed it up, because it kind of already is. Then you have just a bunch of old fans discussing about stuff and there is very little perspective.
The FSS does lack any real skill requirements and IMO anyone that thinks the blob-hunt game requires any skill is essentially deluding themselves. Overall though, that is pretty besides the point. The whole idea of exploration needing to have skill based activities or more interaction is on the most part a ridiculous proposition - all that does is add grind where none is arguably necessary or justifiable.

There were many ideas proposed during pre-3.3-beta discussions but ultimately FD opted to add a poorly implemented ship-based radio telescope emulator which practically flies in the face of the gist of what all but the anti-honk crowd were looking for.

I do not think it is likely that FD will ever completely dump the FSS, so the best we can hope for is they take on board the critique that has been targeted at it both during the Beta and since release in order to address the clear deficiencies in what they have implemented. Either that, or they relent and bring back something akin to the ADS (preferably both).
 
Last edited:
FSS is awesome exactly as is. It seems realistic and adds many conveniences to the game, like spotting USS at range or finding just what you want, like biological signals.
 
Status
Thread Closed: Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom