Sarcasm doesn't translate well into written language, so I'm sorry if I didn't get your intentions with the wink emote. After all, you wrote that the ADS was "a far more boring and unfun way of doing things", which isn't a personal statement, but a universal one.
Could Frontier please demonstrate how to use the FSS enjoyably?
- Thread starter CMDR Karrde Sun
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That boils down to a matter of taste then. Personally, I like their current range (but then I'm probably just silly as I also like Easter egg hunts)
Nowt wrong with that Cmdr.
The FSS is replacing instrumentation though and many people - myself included really - I think feel that if if's able to tell you there's one unresolved body, show you the blob and arrows to it at all, then it should probably always show the arrows and point you to it. Then it becomes a planet finder rather than (just) a telescope.
It's a bit of both at the moment and maybe as a result isn't quite satisfying as either? It's not far off for me, though I am fairly comfortable with the idea of cataloguing planets being a fairly time consuming task.
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But your option A is not what people would (or at least need) to do...
FSS honk or charge, look at the spectrum without scanning anything (other than what the FSS auto scans), identify with certainty that an ELW is present from the signal's placement on the spectrum, set your frequency to the ELW (which you would have already done to identify that it definitely was an ELW), pan around the FSS sky box until chevrons appear and guide you to the body you want to scan (ignoring all the other body markers), zoom in and job done.
No need to scan all 37 bodies to find the ELW - although to be fair, scanning 37 bodies with the FSS would only take about 3 or 4 minutes.
Yes, if you have a targetable system map, you absolutely can go into the map, target the body you are interested in, exit the map, orient your ship in SC to be facing the body, throttle to zero, open the FSS, tune the energy spectrum to the correct frequency and then zoom in and scan the body. But this supposes that the FSS is somehow incredibly difficult to use which in my experience at least it simply isn't.
Frankly, scanning all 37 bodies would only take me a minute or two longer, and just cherry picking the ELW using the FSS would certainly be faster unless one is absolutely clueless as to how to use the FSS. And in that case, or if people really don't enjoy using the FSS, I certainly don't care if they use the convoluted process - it certainly doesn't give them an advantage.
So by that logic there's no need for ADS to be kept, you look across the FSS spectrum and it tells you, with certainty, what's in the system. Let's be honest, people arguing for ADS say the reason for it is it's a quick way to find particular planets they're looking for. FSS does exactly that, isolating those particular planets by frequency.
You can tell for certain if there is an earthlike after the honk in the system map too with the old ADS. Honk, open system map, click on potential planet listen to what sound it makes. Job done.
Not that I am against cherry picking in particular.
I think what most people are upset about is that they cannot tell if there are any strange orbits and binaries at a glance. I prefer to find these myself in the FSS. The FSS is great at that kind of thing and better then looking at the system map.
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Have you not been paying attention?
The people asking for the ADS back are not the people who are looking for a specific body type. They're the people who are looking for strange orbital combinations, or glowing green gas giants, or any number of other things that can't be identified by simply looking at the spectrum.
Additionally, some people just want to fly to a body in order to resolve it. The FSS doesn't allow that - at least not without ignoring 90% of the FSS functionality and using parallax instead.
Hmm, I'm curious as to why you think that is different to having selectable Unknown bodies in the System Map and Nav Panel and then using the compass to steer towards them.
ADS: Honk - identify body in system map - steer towards it using the compass for guidance.
FSS: Honk - identify body type in waveform - pan towards it using the arrows for guidance.
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Not quite, no...
@Max Factor - Thank you Max, there are things that the FSS doesn't show without scanning. I'm glad that you enjoy the process of uncovering such things (or not if they turn out not to be what you thought / hoped).
But this is why I have said a few times now. Remove the spectrum readout, now the player only knows how many bodies are in a system, not what those bodies are. To find that out, they have to scan every single body. Maybe it will be an ELW, maybe not. No way to know until you have scanned it, and if it isn't (and that's what they are looking for), tough.
Now, obviously I'm not suggesting that FD should really do this, because I don't think it would be popular at all, I'm just suggesting that FD provide the same degree of knowledge to those who want it (hence optional) because they are looking for things that the FSS doesn't reveal without them having to scan everything just in case.
Oh, and yes, I know you could identify with certainty an ELW from the system map, but certainly in my experience I find the FSS to be much faster, obviously other peoples mileage may vary.
Feelings are the basis of most arguments.
Unless I’m grossly misunderstanding here, it sounds a lot like you’re agreeing that the FSS is a vast improvement.
While I do not recall which series or episode this was addressed in, nearly verbatim, this was addressed quite excellently in Star Trek, when this exact issue was brought up - why does Star Fleet send out ships full of people when they could just send out fleets of probes? The answer is The Human Experience.
Why visit the Pyramids of Giza when you can watch an expertly produced documentary? Why go to the sports-ball championship game when you live stream it? Because of the experience. Cold, raw data is cold and raw. But seeing a thing for yourself, experiencing a thing for yourself, it makes it more “real” and profound.
The FSS can be quicker at times, but the honk and system map can also be quicker. While I can look at the FSS screen and know that there is an earthlike, an ice planet, gas giants etc faster the the ADS honk/system map I have no way of telling how many. The ADS honk/System map will tell you exactly what is in the system how many there are of each very quickly.
So while on is faster at some, the other is faster at another. To me they cancel each other out. As to getting rid of the signals, that wouldn't bother me, but I am sure it would bother a great many others. When I scan a system, I generally scan the whole system.
I think you misunderstand this part. It would be better and safer for probes to be sent out to see whats there, and then if anyone wants to phyiscally go once it is known to be safe, they will do. It would make much more real world sense.
The same way we send probes out to the planets now to see what they are like before we travel there ourselves.
I think because the ADS (System Map) would make the FSS 'nothing more' than a quicky cartographics shortcut, saving you from flying your spaceship around the system. If it came to it maybe the ADS should be fitted to all ships and the FSS used as optional slot module instead. That might be quite effective actually. ADS fitted all ships, FSS optional slot.
I think the FSS has gone a bit too far the other way (do think improvements might bring it back again) into the puzzle-o-sphere and it's a shade pretentious (because it's not quite instrumentational) but the ADS is for want of a better word, childish? It's certainly naive. Too naive imo.
I am a completionist system scanner also, and was also under the old system too. (I cherry picked once with the new system just to see how it would work.) Was even called OCD because of it lol. For me it was just roleplay.
That said, I never have, and don't wish to, scan systems just for the sake of it. I scan a system because it has something of interest to me, whatever that happens to be. My own feeling is that with 400 billion systems I'd prefer to be somewhat targeted, there's way too many systems to scan them just because they are there. Of course, if someone very much enjoys the FSS gameplay, there's no reason why they shouldn't simply scan for the sake of it.
However, for me being able to see what a system contains enables me to make the decision to explore it in more detail, or not.
The great majority of that information I can get from the FSS, but there's some that I can't, hence why I would like an optional ADS.I might, I do not possess omnicomprehension. And while this would make sense from a realism point of view, would it make Fun Sense?
I recall a space game of days long past, where there was a mechanic like this - you sent probes to nearby systems (to populate them) before you picked one to fly to.. it was kind of dull as I recall.
It’s a tough thing, coming up with a game, designing all the various systems, and making sure they all have the most appeal to the most people. Then it turns into juggling running chainsaws when you open the flood gates and allow the player base to speak their minds. You find out who loves this feature, hates that feature, and you do what you can to keep the peace, but somewhere along the way you’re going to hit an impasse. People are going to want a certain thing a certain way, that benefits them the most. And it can be hard to “No, you can’t have that, it’s not what we want for you.”, but that’s what must be done. The toys can be put back into the pram as many times as it takes.
No it would not make fun sense. It would be rubbish for a game. I agree, it is tough and not everyone is going to like the decisions. Such is life.
I didn't like the FSS at all at first, then learned to use it effectively. Now I can't imagine exploring without it. It is a lot more efficient than planetary flybys when dealing with large systems spread over hundreds of thousands of elsecs, provides data re: features (essential for hunting Guardian sites, biological anomalies, and geological fun stuff), improves carto cash return, makes unmapped systems more visible, and all in half the time as using the system map, which I still use for other purposes, so it remains a useful tool. As far as the USS signal sources go, the FSS identifies these en masse, as it does the asteroid belts, and if you learn FSS use thoroughly, you learn to ignore the dross unless you want to find it. This is far and above the previous process of chance encounters and head-on scans or stopping to scan the Nav Beacon if available (which is mostly not the case out in the black).
Tish & nonsense
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