Could Frontier please demonstrate how to use the FSS enjoyably?

[Decksmeck]

When space legs arrive, instead of hitting that boring button every time, you will get to go out the airlock into space. Climb up to the top of the ship and look around with a hand held FSS unit. Then you will even see the unit coming up to your face before the FSS screen appears. Immersive. Now the FSS screen will shake and wobble making it more fun to try to tune it because you will over tune a lot.

Also, if you don't like blue you will have an additional choice. Amber. Y'all should be patient. It was all in the leaked roadmap of the 2020 update. They even plan to add heavy breathing through a tube audio sounds.

I shouldn't spoil everything but I will. Other features coming soon are:

Battery size modules. Ranging up to 24 hours of use. Generous!
Space dust collects on the lens of the scanner.
If you take too long some times when the scanner exits you will have floated into space. Time challenge!
In that case, the FSS has a self destruct button on it.

Folks, they are thinking of everything and the ability to float around in space, well, you know it is going to make it 10 more fun.

 

[Iskariot]

Don't worry, I'm not suggesting Frontier change the game.

I am fine with you suggesting a change. This is a passed station anyway, as we all know..
I was just explaining what, in my opinion, it would do to the game.

 

[Shinji Ikari]

Agreed, the FSS is simple and straight forward (could be a tad more sophisticated if you'd asked me). And yet, to have fun with it you still need to get good at it. It's clearly no rocket science but some practice is required after which it stops being painful. I doubt anyone could state the same about the ADS. To me the FSS is a step into the right direction. And a step is still better than no movement at all.

What did you do to my quote?

 

[ThatSmileyGuy]

This "out of cockpit" thing is just something you make up in your mind. If you only could be bothered and approach the FSS in a more playful, experimental and open positive mind, I'm pretty sure you would revise your impression. Cause It's patently false.

I'm reading the post You quoted as a personal opinion. I can't see why it would be false.
VR or not it seems a little out of place - being moved to the FSS view. Similar applies to gal-map and sys-map.
It would be easily negated if there was some animation involved(aside from fade-in / fade-out) as is the case with boarding the SRV.

 

[Shinji Ikari]

I have no idea. Perhaps you tell me?

Could Frontier please demonstrate how to use the FSS enjoyably?

So you think tunning the radio is a kind of effort? There’s more to it than tuning the radio and you either know that or you’ve been chugging the Kool-aid and never looked at this yourself. You still have to manually locate the bodies you’re scanning, which can lie on very divergent orbital...

forums.frontier.co.uk

That was my actual post, the quote you replied to on https://forums.frontier.co.uk/goto/post?id=7838422 is not mine at all.

 

[xondk]

I don't mind it taking time but I do mind that that time is not enjoyable. Point at blob and twiddle the thingamibob.. I mean, really? That's what they came up with?
I wonder if they purposefully went for the most banal thing that they could think of?
Which is why no one enjoys it.

Ok I haven't read up on this thread in full yet, but if you could link where it points out what would be fun?

Pointing at blob and twiddle the thingamabob as you call it, is generally how it happens irl, they just have the computer know what the readings mean?
So yeah, I don't know, what would fit better?

 

[lenna]

It's symptomatic of the dumbing-down which has been affecting ED since David and Michael stopped being involved. Remember that the physics of the planets is sufficiently detailed to allow ships to enter an actual orbit, and yet for probe golf we're required to deliberately crash them into the surface.

The general ideas behind the FSS and space-golf are ok, it is just the implementation that is absolutely abysmal and ruins things. FD listened too much to the anti-honk crowd and gave their opinions way too much weight IMO - the result is boorish interactive mini-games to placate those that put too much emphasis on interaction rather than actual content.

If FDev were to create the Stellar Forge today, there'd be an ELW in every system, within 100 Ls of the star.

I doubt it - FD do at least try to make things look and feel realistic, it is just they missed the mark by a wide margin where blob-hunt and space-golf are concerned - mechanics for mechanics sake.

There were plenty of other ideas put forward during the exploration mechanics discussions prior to the announcement of blob-hunt/space-golf that would have expanded on what we already had without inflicting the terribly designed control changes and mini-games.

 

[Chaparral]

Nah, you have it wrong. People pretend to dislike it, as an excuse to have a pop at Fdev.

How do you feel about the visual execution of the FSS?

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

I doubt it - FD do at least try to make things look and feel realistic, it is just they missed the mark by a wide margin where blob-hunt and space-golf are concerned - mechanics for mechanics sake.

They DID try to make things look and feel realistic, then they went and implemented a magic space telescope and firing infinite probes from supercruise (do they have their own FSDs? I guess they must, since they're certainly not traveling at sub-light speeds).

Since the magic telescope renders all systems 2D, why bother to make them larger than 100 Ls? Then reduce the 'grind' still further by putting ELWs everywhere.

 

[lenna]

Ok I haven't read up on this thread in full yet, but if you could link where it points out what would be fun?

Pointing at blob and twiddle the thingamabob as you call it, is generally how it happens irl, they just have the computer know what the readings mean?
So yeah, I don't know, what would fit better?

The pre-existing exploration mechanics were fine on the most part - and what happens IRL is fine for a stationary/geo-stationary telescope but an abysmal premise for a product like ED. Other proposals included special scanners that would scan the surface/sub-surface of bodies and provide more detailed information via one of the pre-existing MFDs.

The point is that forced interaction does not make for good mechanics, and blob-hunt/space-golf are essentially that - forced interaction (during exploration of virgin systems) and other changes around it just make matters worse.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

How do you feel about the visual execution of the FSS?

May I?

The spectrum bar being populated with discrete signals means it should be digital, not analog. Much scrolling along it for no good reason.

The list of assigned keys along the bottom should be hideable.

The main screen can't make up it's mind whether it wants to allow roll or not. (Hint: It should).

The vertical cascade effect seems to be trying to pretend it's a radar screen, but it isn't.

Messages are invasive and interfere with operation.

That'll do for starters.

 

[Old Duck]

May I?

The spectrum bar being populated with discrete signals means it should be digital, not analog. Much scrolling along it for no good reason.

The list of assigned keys along the bottom should be hideable.

The main screen can't make up it's mind whether it wants to allow roll or not. (Hint: It should).

The vertical cascade effect seems to be trying to pretend it's a radar screen, but it isn't.

Messages are invasive and interfere with operation.

That'll do for starters.

I like the FSS, but I also agree with your criticisms in this list.

 

[Chaparral]

I posted a lengthy description of how the FSS works but some players will never work with it. It reminds me of being a kid when my parents met other adults for dinner and left us kids to play with each other. I was young and wouldn't understand what these adults were talking about. One kid I remember was when he lost the current game we were playing he totally lost it emotionally. Many years later as an adult I see this often on the Forum.

Perhaps it isn't the actual mechanic that is the problem, it is the visual representation used within the system. I personally find it painfully low res with back and forth motions on my joystick hat (possibly more than 50/system) being excessively redundant. I'm looking at daggers and circles over and over and over. Take a step back and ask yourself - is that visually interesting, engaging, or even close to the graphics represented in the rest of the game. It's like a jump from Witcher 3 to Tetris.

 

[Chaparral]

May I?

The spectrum bar being populated with discrete signals means it should be digital, not analog. Much scrolling along it for no good reason.

The list of assigned keys along the bottom should be hideable.

The main screen can't make up it's mind whether it wants to allow roll or not. (Hint: It should).

The vertical cascade effect seems to be trying to pretend it's a radar screen, but it isn't.

Messages are invasive and interfere with operation.

That'll do for starters.

This is exactly the kind of design consideration that makes rational sense within the game setting. +1

 

[lenna]

Since the magic telescope renders all systems 2D, why bother to make them larger than 100 Ls? Then reduce the 'grind' still further by putting ELWs everywhere.

Ultimately, the magic telescope does not exactly render all systems 2D - that is a bit of a far fetched claim, it is no more reducing the system to 2D than printing a map of the surface of an orb would flatten the orb to a disk.

As for "grind", IMO the FSS/DSS introduces arguably needless/unjustifiable "grind" rather than reducing it.

 

[Flimley]

This "out of cockpit" thing is just something you make up in your mind. If you only could be bothered and approach the FSS in a more playful, experimental and open positive mind, I'm pretty sure you would revise your impression. Cause It's patently false. But move on, no one can keep you from shooting your feet if you really want to.

That’s what they all say, they all say “out of cockpit”. \o/
...Although, I am most definitely outside of my cockpit in VR during fss use. Literally floating in free space. I simply cannot image anything else. Even if I close my eyes and hum loudly. When I reopen them again I’m undeniably floating in space.

Flimley

 

[Dutchman141]

When the fss works then I rather like it, it's certainly way better then the old method.
The only thing that puts me off is how long it takes to perform a locations scan, two minutes in some occasions, that's mind numbing.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Ultimately, the magic telescope does not exactly render all systems 2D - that is a bit of a far fetched claim, it is no more reducing the system to 2D than printing a map of the surface of an orb would flatten the orb to a disk.

As for "grind", IMO the FSS/DSS introduces arguably needless/unjustifiable "grind" rather than reducing it.

I meant in terms of removing the distinction between a body 500,000 Ls away and one 50 Ls away. Aside from the number of times you have to press zoom-in they require the same effort to explore. By that measure, the FSS 'flattens' all systems to the same depth.

 

[lenna]

The spectrum bar being populated with discrete signals means it should be digital, not analog. Much scrolling along it for no good reason.

Actually, the spectrum bar is not populated with discrete signals - it is essentially a composite visual representation of the frequency spread from ALL radio sources in the system.

The analog approach is fitting as a frequency-amplitude graph BUT as with even current day oscilloscopes/radios auto-tuning (at least to a degree) and zooming (of the graph allowing for finer manual/auto tuning) should have been implemented. FD have put far too much emphasis on the audio component IMO.

Overall, having it as a forced separate HUD mode and introducing the needless combat/analysis modes is the real killer when it comes to the implementation.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

Actually, the spectrum bar is not populated with discrete signals - it is essentially a composite visual representation of the frequency spread from ALL radio sources in the system.

The analog approach is fitting as a frequency-amplitude graph BUT as with even current day oscilloscopes/radios auto-tuning (at least to a degree) and zooming (of the graph allowing for finer manual/auto tuning) should have been implemented. FD have put far too much emphasis on the audio component IMO.

Overall, having it as a forced separate HUD mode and introducing the needless combat/analysis modes is the real killer when it comes to the implementation.

Stepping through the planet types then fine-tuning individual signals would have been a good solution, I think.

AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HAVE THE FSS REMEMBER WHERE I LEFT THE TUNER!

The modes thing doesn't bother me much, since I stay in analysis mode 97.2% of the time. It's more irritating in the SRV, I find.