Could Frontier please demonstrate how to use the FSS enjoyably?

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

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

That'd work, but I get into a rhythm on long trios, so I'd have to do it every star, otherwise I forget until I open the FSS. It'll probably just make something else on the display unreadable anyway

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

I 'brush' over the star full speed while lining up with my next destination and stop when it's in sight and not covered by the sun anymore. With the decelerating speed I dive into the corona until the limit is reached (0.34t/sec). Or stop sooner when I want to FSS a small to medium sized system. With larger systems I keep the star behind for a longer scan session.

'Brushing over the top' is what I do. With a large scoop and a fast ship I can do it at full throttle then jump out as soon as I'm clear on the other side.

Since I only use the FSS to view the spectrum and I always come out of hyperspace at zero throttle it makes sense to do that before scooping. Doing it after scooping would wastes time slowing down and speeding up again.

I'm at work, but I'll post screens when I get home. However, if you line up to brush the top and then trigger the FSS I'm sure you'll see what I mean.

 

[Sunyavadin]

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

So much this. Just another holographic overlay which comes up superimposed over the cockpit, with a reasonable degree of opacity, would make so much of a difference.

 

[Faded Glory]

Which would have me Buckyballing it Back to the Bubble after nearly ten months exploring (including all of the 3.3 beta). I already skip "pre-explored" systems, because for me, they joy is in the seeking, not the finding. I have navigation data, then the object has already been found by someone, who is not me.

I have no problem an optional module that would provide that kind of functionality, but the main reason I like the FSS is that it requires human interaction in order to get any information from it. It won't provide unwanted information while you're discovering the information you want. You won't spoil the rest of the system while getting information about one of its bodies.

Yes, I haven't explored a previously discovered system in years. Seems to be a bit pointless 'discovering' things that have already been 'discovered'. This obviously helped me get to Elite in exploration pretty quickly, and without even traveling very far. Every system I scanned I got the first discovery bonus for.

While of course the FSS provides human interaction where before there was none, I'd argue that much of the time it's really only giving you the same information you got before for the same effort, at least at the initial honk stage, bearing in mind that a system was still entirely unexplored after the honk before. Honking or charging the FSS tells you how many bodies are in a system and what type of bodies there are, and that takes about the same time as honking and opening the system map did. Yes, there's some information you don't get (already discussed to death, so I'll not repeat it), but it certainly gives enough information for the majority of explorers I would guess.

And the absence of bodies on the scanner when you drop into the system is an even quicker way of determining whether it's already been discovered than opening the system map and checking for tags.

As to unwanted information, I'd have to disagree. The proximity scan has had me scanning bodies that were previously explored, admittedly with zero effort on my part, but worse than that has had me tag stars in systems that I would otherwise have ignored entirely.

Anyway, yes an optional module, or modules that would allow people to play the game and explore differently would have been a great thing, and probably none of these threads would have been started. The FSS is a perfectly acceptable tool, probably just shouldn't have been the only one...

 

[Ralph Vargr]

I don't drink, but my FSS does.

 

[lenna]

Anyway, yes an optional module, or modules that would allow people to play the game and explore differently would have been a great thing, and probably none of these threads would have been started. The FSS is a perfectly acceptable tool, probably just shouldn't have been the only one...

The FSS is anything but a perfectly acceptable tool, there are numerous flaws with the overall implementation. The optional module would help mitigate the issues and address other concerns but the FSS was essentially rushed out the door before it should have been.

 

[Faded Glory]

The FSS is anything but a perfectly acceptable tool, there are numerous flaws with the overall implementation. The optional module would help mitigate the issues and address other concerns but the FSS was essentially rushed out the door before it should have been.

I don't know, in terms of a tool in a game to find things it's Ok. Obviously I personally don't like it, got bored using it very quickly, but when I say it's acceptable, it's because as far as the game goes it solves some issues that potentially stand in the way of exploration gameplay. Notably, it removes the need to fly potentially huge distances just to scan a body, and additionally it notifies players if there's something on a body so that they can then decide if it's worth flying out to.

Other than a few bugs, which I have not found particularly irksome, and I play in VR, I'm not sure what the flaws are. The fact that it takes us out of our cockpits? I noticed and pointed that out as a potential issue after the first reveal, but I don't think it's a flaw, I suspect it's a design / technical limitation. Just as with the galaxy and system maps, we are no longer controlling our ships, so it has to be out of the cockpit, and I don't see that changing any more than I see the galaxy and system maps becoming cockpit overlays.

Otherwise, it works fine for what it is, a mechanism that is at least hands on, active rather than purely passive, much quicker for scanning than the previous system, IMO very easy to learn and use. Oh, and for 'traditional' exploration, finding (and scanning) ELW's and the like, much more efficient than the previous method.

As I said, whether we like it or not is a different matter, and subjective. Personally I gave it a decent shot, went for three exploration trips after it went live, but simply didn't find it compelling enough gameplay to keep me going.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

I will note that when I re-explore systems my alt has been to, and vice versa, the FSS is quite time consuming (already know what I'm looking for). Also, the cross hairs will start to drift, then randomly pan up and down, requiring a return to the cockpit.

Yes, I know I can't use meta-knowledge in game. It's still annoying. But, the other account has already cashed in the data. Some of the results should be shown on the FSS, not just the system map.

The time requirement almost ensures a complete strip-mining of the searched system. Playing the DSS pinball game takes the same amount of supercruise time as the old days, but now, many more players will not leave without fear of someone else mapping the entire system, so, they map it all as well.

That's a lot of time sink.

 

[lenna]

I don't know, in terms of a tool in a game to find things it's Ok. Obviously I personally don't like it, got bored using it very quickly, but when I say it's acceptable, it's because as far as the game goes it solves some issues that potentially stand in the way of exploration gameplay. Notably, it removes the need to fly potentially huge distances just to scan a body, and additionally it notifies players if there's something on a body so that they can then decide if it's worth flying out to.

I call rubbish... it solves nothing in essence and creates a barrier to gameplay with no alternatives... the barrier is the childish and ill-thought through mechanics with a UI that is poorly designed.

Exploration without travel is not true exploration IMO, the so-called "huge" travel distances are a natural expectation of proper exploration.

The real major issue is the mini-game focus of the new mechanics - the combination of the FSS/DSS is an insult to the intelligence of existing explorers as is the anti-honk rhetoric.

 

[Sunyavadin]

Playing the DSS pinball game takes the same amount of supercruise time as the old days, but now, many more players will not leave without fear of someone else mapping the entire system, so, they map it all as well.

That's a lot of time sink.

This is one part of what makes it a nuisance to me, since the actual act of going to the planet is the payoff for me.
I was going to go and DSS those planets which interest me no matter what. The FSS just adds an extra layer of time-sink before I am allowed to do so.

Which is absolutely why I'd go for some kind of "Signal Source Triangulator Module" that took up a slot, but gave me a set of unknown bodies in my navpanel upon honking.

 

[[VR] Goooost]

I think theres just two things that needs to change that would fix the whole thing-
1. When you honk the system, it should mark every body as "unexplored" and they should show up (blank) in the system map.
2. when in FSS, have an indicator arrow pointing you to the direction of the spectrum signal you've tuned in.

With these in place, would anyone really have anything left to complain about?

 

[Riverside]

I think theres just two things that needs to change that would fix the whole thing-
1. When you honk the system, it should mark every body as "unexplored" and they should show up (blank) in the system map.
2. when in FSS, have an indicator arrow pointing you to the direction of the spectrum signal you've tuned in.

With these in place, would anyone really have anything left to complain about?

Point 1 is the black body proposal, it's been suggested lots of times. At this stage it would be a step in the right direction, as you may appreciate my view is simply that there was no need to remove the old stuff in the first place so it would still be less than what we had before 3.3. My position isn't going to change on this, I am simply waiting for the ADS module to be reinstated (in much the same way that RubberNuke is waiting for Powerplay to get some love and Old Duck is waiting for shadow resolution on the PS4 to be increased).

Point 2 is a good idea to remove some of the frustration of using the FSS Scanner Screen, currently the wavelength the player is tuned into provides direction pointers when the reticle is fairly close, the range of this could be increased to improve the utility of the tool and remove the gaminess of the random search of that last, off-plane body.

 

[Faded Glory]

I think theres just two things that needs to change that would fix the whole thing-
1. When you honk the system, it should mark every body as "unexplored" and they should show up (blank) in the system map.
2. when in FSS, have an indicator arrow pointing you to the direction of the spectrum signal you've tuned in.

With these in place, would anyone really have anything left to complain about?

I have to say that yes, there probably would be things left to complain about, namely that it is a mechanic that players have to use when exploring, there is no choice in how you choose to explore, and there should be. I cannot think of any other activity in the game that is restricted to only one way of doing it.

With regards to your suggestions, number one, while it would presumably give players the opportunity to target bodies and fly to them if they prefer that to using the FSS, it wouldn't help players looking for oddly colored gas giants (as an example), so leaving them with having to scan lots and lots of bodies that they really have no interest in scanning. Personally, I stopped exploring because I'm not willing to have the game force me to do stuff I'm not interested in, no matter how trivial or easy that stuff is.

Suggestion number two is really just about making the FSS even easier to use, and frankly, I can't see the point. It's already very easy to use and that's a problem because it quickly becomes boring, but I completely accept that that is simply my opinion.

So no, they wouldn't overcome my objection to the FSS, which is simply that I'm forced to use it and am given no alternatives.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

I think theres just two things that needs to change that would fix the whole thing-
1. When you honk the system, it should mark every body as "unexplored" and they should show up (blank) in the system map.
2. when in FSS, have an indicator arrow pointing you to the direction of the spectrum signal you've tuned in.

With these in place, would anyone really have anything left to complain about?

Yeah absolutely, I would easily work with that. Great suggestion.

... Its plain obvious when you start using the thing isn't it.

 

[[VR] Goooost]

currently the wavelength the player is tuned into provides direction pointers when the reticle is fairly close, the range of this could be increased to improve the utility of the tool and remove the gaminess of the random search of that last, off-plane body.

More importantly it points to anything you're close to, not what you're looking for specifically. For that you can only check to see if the circle is there.

 

[Riverside]

More importantly it points to anything you're close to, not what you're looking for specifically. For that you can only check to see if the circle is there.

The shape the arrows form resolves into a symmetrical pattern if what's nearby is in focus on the wavelength tuner. tbh although I've seen that there are patterns to the arrow I just crush through it all & have found any subtlety in the arrow to be completely superfluous, if I find a signal that isn't a USS I'll just tune the dial until I find it (left or right randomly, observing whether the arrow becomes more or less symmetrical).

As a tool I think the FSS Scanner Screen is okay, but it seems to contain a lot of stuff that doesn't perform any useful function. I assume it's there to make it look more sci-fi but any genuine subtlety is lost in the rush to complete the system map as quickly as possible.

 

[[VR] Goooost]

The shape the arrows form resolves into a symmetrical pattern if what's nearby is in focus on the wavelength tuner. tbh although I've seen that there are patterns to the arrow I just crush through it all & have found any subtlety in the arrow to be completely superfluous, if I find a signal that isn't a USS I'll just tune the dial until I find it (left or right randomly, observing whether the arrow becomes more or less symmetrical).

As a tool I think the FSS Scanner Screen is okay, but it seems to contain a lot of stuff that doesn't perform any useful function. I assume it's there to make it look more sci-fi but any genuine subtlety is lost in the rush to complete the system map as quickly as possible.

I'll have to pay more attention to that. Never noticed. One thing that I sometimes do is when I come across a system with 50+ bodies, I'll fly far out before using the FSS, that way it takes less time to scan everything as they are all tightly grouped. (which reminds me that speeding up the pan speed of the scanner would be a huge improvement)

 

[Riverside]

I'll have to pay more attention to that. Never noticed. One thing that I sometimes do is when I come across a system with 50+ bodies, I'll fly far out before using the FSS, that way it takes less time to scan everything as they are all tightly grouped. (which reminds me that speeding up the pan speed of the scanner would be a huge improvement)

Yeah I do that sometimes. I always fly away from the star for a 5-10 secs at least, sometimes I'm busy & don't dethrottle for a while and as you say, the whole system is neatly laid out in a small patch of sky behind me

 

[Sunyavadin]

Yeah I do that sometimes. I always fly away from the star for a 5-10 secs at least, sometimes I'm busy & don't dethrottle for a while and as you say, the whole system is neatly laid out in a small patch of sky behind me

It's ironic that a system designed to cut out the time spent flying, is best experienced by pointing your ship away from the system and just flying for a few minutes.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

One of the compromises repeatedly asked for during the FSS beta was for the honk to populate the navpanel with unknown bodies that players could target and move to in order to scan, since the locations are already known to the FSS from the honk.

And that would ruin the explotation mechanics for others.