Could Frontier please demonstrate how to use the FSS enjoyably?

[FurryFailure]

I used the FSS for the first time last week, and I personally don't quite understand the real issue with it other than it's New and "Grindy" (Generally Speaking), I think it's really engaging and keeps me busy, it might be repetitive, but you get that with most things, which is what I assume is the general core issue people have with it, but it's better than just honking a system with an ADS and annoyingly flying to each planet one by one to scan them with a Surface Scanner by looking at it for 3 seconds with nothing else to do except twiddle my thumbs.

I also love the new DSS, it's a silly, but fun "Mini-Game", but that might be my inner child speaking, Elite needs more engaging activities IMHO, keeps the eyes and fingers busy, same with the new Mining Systems.

Frustrating at first, but... honestly, I love the FSS, it's certainly no 10/10, but it beats the old system IMO.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

It's taken me a while to happen upon this little nugget. It is from Star Trek: Voyager, Season 6, Episode 8: One Small Step. Captain Janeway was speaking to Seven of Nine, regarding a Graviton Ellipse they wanted to investigate and said:

"I can't argue with that. If scientific knowledge was all we were after, then the Federation would have built a fleet of probes, not starships. Exploration is about seeing things with your own eyes."

Who's gone and kicked the FSS ant hill this time?
Indigo? Really? Didn't expect it to be you.

Well, while we're here...

I'm still not using the FSS , preferring to explore systems using my own eyes - parallax and proximity scanning.

What's currently bugging me agout the FSS is that the spectrum is unreadable when scooping O, B and A-type stars, since there's no 'background' to the spectrum bar and blue lines on a blue background don't make for easy legibility.

 

[CMDR John Luke Paperbone]

Only thing in the FSS that irks the living crap out of me is the 'Locations' scan when you zoom in on a body. How many locations the body has is irrelevant at that point. I'd rather it just showed if there are geo/bio locations present and be done with it. The probing can then reveal the actual amount.

This is a good idea, nice thinking.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Who's gone and kicked the FSS ant hill this time?
Indigo? Really? Didn't expect it to be you.

Well, while we're here...

I'm still not using the FSS , preferring to explore systems using my own eyes - parallax and proximity scanning.

What's currently bugging me agout the FSS is that the spectrum is unreadable when scooping O, B and A-type stars, since there's no 'background' to the spectrum bar and blue lines on a blue background don't make for easy legibility.

What are you doing, parking looking right into the Star? Didn’t anyone tell you not to stare directly into stars?

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

What are you doing, parking looking right into the Star? Didn’t anyone tell you not to stare directly into stars?

I line up ready to scoop while honking, which puts the star in the lower third of the screen, then check the FSS spectrum, at which point I scream "Oh my god! My eyes! MY EYES!!". Honestly, it's getting old.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

I line up ready to scoop while honking, which puts the star in the lower third of the screen, then check the FSS spectrum, at which point I scream "Oh my god! My eyes! MY EYES!!". Honestly, it's getting old.

Hmm.. we should trade screen shots some time. I can’t say this has been a problem for me. I also scan while scooping, though I suspect I’m lining myself up different.

 

[Zieman]

Also, if the FSS can tell how many locations there are on the body, wouldn't that imply it already knows where the individual signals are coming from in order to separate them?

In real life yes, codingwise not necessarily.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Hmm.. we should trade screen shots some time. I can’t say this has been a problem for me. I also scan while scooping, though I suspect I’m lining myself up different.

I'll grab a screenie tonight.
I'm flying an AspX with a 6A fuelscoop, and I scoop every system, which means my optimal straight line flyby path for the an O/A/B star puts the targeting pixel at 1.5x - 2x the width of the stars exclusion zone (surface to green line distance). That puts the FSS spectrum right across the star.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

I'll grab a screenie tonight.
I'm flying an AspX with a 6A fuelscoop, and I scoop every system, which means my optimal straight line flyby path for the an O/A/B star puts the targeting pixel at 1.5x - 2x the width of the stars exclusion zone (surface to green line distance). That puts the FSS spectrum right across the star.

I’m in a Beluga, so I’ve as much canopy as you have Ship. I’m running a 6B scoop, because the small difference in efficiency doesn’t justify the big difference in price. I tend to come into a system with my honker held down, and start around the star to line up my next jump while I wait, which typically puts the star somewhere over my aft end by the time the noise goes off then start my FSSing (if there’s anything more than stars to Scan).

I rarely scoop at rates over 400/s as I build heat fast, but it’s ok, as the time spent scanning is usually more than enough to top off a 7C fuel tank. If not, it’s a 7C fuel tank, I skip a star or four. ;-)

 

[Sunyavadin]

Once you performed the initial scan you even have an idea of what kind of bodies the system you are in are made of. So you can decide beforheand if you want to stop the scan, do a full system scan, or simply search the planets you're interested in.

Nothing about the bodies in specific ever interested me. It's the orbits. Finding stuff like sheperd moons, nested orbits, and the like. Though sure, it is cool if it turns out the binary pair of moos orbiting a gas giant are also actually ELWs, just from an aesthetic perspective. So the old honk gave me an at-a-glance look at if there was anything of potential interest. With the FSS, on the other hand, to find the info I want, I have found that the most efficient way (which is still tedious), is to go into the FSS and keep panning left and right across the spectrum thingy while panning around the system, so that I can spot where multiple bodies appear to be close to each other, then prioritise scanning those. Mostly if you find a system I've visited since the changes, only the gas giants and their moons will be scanned since they are usually the only places where signals will be clustered. Once I'm done with that, if there's anything I was actually looking for, now I can actually begin the fun part of visiting it. On your average system, using this method to maximise efficiency, it adds maybe a minute to each jump over how long it took me beforehand. On larger ones, it can be quite a few.

 

[Darkfyre99]

I line up ready to scoop while honking, which puts the star in the lower third of the screen, then check the FSS spectrum, at which point I scream "Oh my god! My eyes! MY EYES!!". Honestly, it's getting old.

I usually put the star above me if I’m not Buckyballing it. Pre-VR I found the top of the HUD let me easily find the sweet spot, and post-VR my view above is much less obstructed than my view below when “orbiting” a body.

 

[Sunyavadin]

I line up ready to scoop while honking, which puts the star in the lower third of the screen, then check the FSS spectrum, at which point I scream "Oh my god! My eyes! MY EYES!!". Honestly, it's getting old.

I mean, I just get that from the standard FSS background animation anyway. So I can't imagine what it'd be like if it were straining them even more..

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Must be a VR only issue, I'm on flat screen and really don't know what you are talking about. Didn't your mom told you not to play with a shoebox wrapped around your head?

Nope, flat screen.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

I usually put the star above me if I’m not Buckyballing it. Pre-VR I found the top of the HUD let me easily find the sweet spot, and post-VR my view above is much less obstructed than my view below when “orbiting” a body.

Honestly, I tried that and it scares the out of me having the damn thing looming above my head.
When I'm flying a T7 keep the star to my left or right, since the yaw on a T7 is so much better than the pitch.

 

[PopePhil]

well, there's no 'enjoyable' way to use it.

but it would be nice if it appeared as part of the cockpit display, instead of it looking like a mini-game that's been bolted on from somewhere else

 

[Kaocraft]

In real life yes, codingwise not necessarily.

They ought to fix it whether it's hard or easy code-wise. The prohibitive wait times around bodies with surface signals is a game breaking bug as far as I'm concerned and has ruined the game forever. If they knowingly built the FSS with a huge intractable problem like this baked into it then they are terrible designers and Elite is forever a bad game. It drove me to uninstall entirely and I guess maybe I'll never be coming back, since I've seen zero progress or even acknowledgment from the devs on this issue.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

That's strange. Does your issue persist if you move your ship's nose away from the star? Can you provide a short video to demonstrate what you describe as "no 'background' to the spectrum bar and blue lines on a blue background don't make for easy legibility."
Here's another idea: Are you using custom Hud colors by any chance?

It's fine when I'm pointing away from the star, it's just that I tend to use the FSS when I'm pointing at the star. I can read the spectrum fine for white, orange and red stars, it's only the blue where it gets washed out by the background light source.

By 'background' I'm thinking of the shading that happens with the information panel.

I'll put some screenies together later.

 

[myothershipisacobraiv]

From the sound of it you seem to use a strange method for scooping (unless I'm the one who is trange ). Are you not scooping at the periphery of the sun?
Shouldn't matter though, as most other astronomical bodies are outside of the sun. And for those covered by the sun you need to get away/around from the sun anyway...

You get your ship the max scoop zone or as close as your dissipation will allow and zero your throttle pointed at the star

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

From the sound of it you seem to use a strange method for scooping (unless I'm the one who is trange ). Are you not scooping at the periphery of the sun?
Shouldn't matter though, as most other astronomical bodies are outside of the sun. And for those covered by the sun you need to get away/around from the sun anyway...

I fly at full throttle in a straight line skirting the top of the star - in and out without needing to steer and no overheating.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

I fly at full throttle in a straight line skirting the top of the star - in and out without needing to steer and no overheating.

When you get one of those blue stars, roll 90.
Minor reduction in scoop rate, but the star won't be behind the wavelength.