You would need to know the exact location of every single piece of bio on the entire planet to generate the requested heatmap, that's all, simple really, only a few trillion entries!
Different colour-coded heat maps for planet surfaces relative to concentration of a given biological organism or geological formation
- Thread starter Angus McSix
- Start date
You would need to know the exact location of every single piece of bio on the entire planet to generate the requested heatmap, that's all, simple really, only a few trillion entries!
Only if they’re being meticulous, which they’re not.
I highly doubt that each and every organism is placed in its location by some unseen FDev hand playing like a digital God. Rather, I suspect that they’re using some kind of automation that looks for geographic formations on a planet and then seeds the area with random drops of an organism meant to fill that landscape, probably even going as far as to set the parameters by which they’re spread out from one another.
The DSS probes, while mapping the planet, should accurately discover exactly where those random dispersions were made, NOT by every blade of grass so-to-speak, but by general area. A pilot flying into those zones should expect to find what they’re looking for within minutes, not hours like it was for me.
and if the density of the organisms in that area is sparse, then the heatmap should also reflect that. That way a pilot can focus on spots with more dense collections of organisms.
OR…
They could just update the in-game codex entry on the subject to better reflect how the exobiology element ACTUALLY works vs how it was originally intended to work.
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with all due respect,
1st it’s not a semi random procedure but deterministic procedural algorithm, because we all share the same coordinates for good spots.
2nd the heatmap was already implemented but the UI for it was not good enough (not first hand experience, but i read the report) that it didn’t make into the release. So the underlying data is already there.
3rd you claim, that it’s impossible to calculate the density map because the data is too large. That’s because you’re thinking goes bottom up. Procedural fractalization is done top down.
Nope, the original maps were changed from multi-coloured to just blue but the underlying data was never based on bio location, they were never heatmaps, just coloured to make them look pretty. FDEV explained clearly that the colours were changed to just blue because people were finding it confusing and thinking they were heatmaps when they weren't. They explained that the maps were location maps based on environmental conditions that suited the bio type, this data is generated when the planet is generated by the stellar forge and has nothing to do with the actual bio themselves, which are procedurally generated and placed using a separate algorithm.
This is fine for placing them because it's quite fast, the location data isn't needed because it's irrelevant, the problem becomes extracting this data and resolving it down to the requested square kilometer density map, because you would have to extract and store the data for every square kilometer of a full sized planet from the procedural algorithm, the earth has 501 million square kilometers, that's your beginning, then you would need to count the number of bio in every one of those 501 million square kilometers to get the actual density and then feed that into your heatmap.
Now just ask yourself why procedural algorithms are used to do this? Because doing it any other way would be impossible, and asking for the actual location of every single bio on the planet to create a heatmap would also be impossible. Fractalization? What are you on about? You are asking for a count of the bio in each square kilometer, fractalisation has nothing to do with anything being discussed here, you are just throwing out buzzword that you think mean something!
Suggestions is what is supposed to clog up the suggestions forum.
Crazy idea, integrate the bios into the SRV wave scanner. Also crazy idea, make the blue overlay something I can turn on/off while I'm at planet level so I don't have to fly back into space just to confirm I'm not crazy and I actually am in a blue zone. Probably easier than making the blue thing work as stated.
I can support both those ideas, don't think having the blue overlay on at ground level would be super useful, but a few kilometers up so I can see where the edge of the area without going into orbital cruise is would be super useful.
What I'd do is I'd let you turn it on off when you're viewing the planetary map. At least then you can see where you are on the planet relative to the blue bits as well as giving that mode a bit more function. 
would you mind providing references?
Since you have already been falsified on the „random“ I kindly ask for a reference on the bottom up procedural biome generation algorithm.
Even if the mechanic is coded that bottom up way, we are in suggestion forum, so here is my suggestion for a top down procedural algorithm.
level 1
use biome map and terrain data to create a heat map in low res
level 2
use heat map level 1 and finer res terrain data as SEED for level 2 heat map
level 3 use level2 heat map and the checks applied in current algorithm to generate spawn map/rules
That way density is available even before the actual spawn is calculated, top down, and still it’s deterministic. There is no performance issue that way.
If you wanted to provide more game depth by a module that „calculates“ the map in different resolutions based on its class, all you do interpolate between level1 and level2 heatmap. I do acknowledge a change of algorithm would mean old coordinates with good spots would be invalidated ( just as all horizon based guides) but replaced by a waaaay more intuitive and meaningful game mechanic.
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Fun read (/s), looks like the thread (and suggestions forum) is being trolled by the usual suspects.
I think the heatmap works as it is, but the colour differentiation could certainly be improved without any other changes to the actual functionality. Some planets & plants are harder to find than others, personally I enjoy the time-sink & when I have finished a planet I often feel I have actually explored the planet & have come to know it's characteristics even though in reality I've only covered a tiny fraction of it's surface.
Exobiology pays enormously well & carries no risk other than crashing or running out of resources (common to any other aspect of the game), I don't think it needs to be made easier but the UI doesn't have to quite so punishing by using only slight shade variations on the heatmap.
Some general advice to the OP: A suggestion is aimed at FDev, not other contributors. If they feel they have a valid objection they are as entitled to post it as you are to put forward your proposal. FDev (if they ever read it) will know how it works, how it is supposed to work far better than any of the community guesses. How it works, how much work would be involved in changing something and how likely FDev are to implement something is up to them, not us and are only incidental to expressing the idea itself.
This is a commonly suggested one, it is a reasonable request imo.
I think the heatmap works as it is, but the colour differentiation could certainly be improved without any other changes to the actual functionality. Some planets & plants are harder to find than others, personally I enjoy the time-sink & when I have finished a planet I often feel I have actually explored the planet & have come to know it's characteristics even though in reality I've only covered a tiny fraction of it's surface.
Exobiology pays enormously well & carries no risk other than crashing or running out of resources (common to any other aspect of the game), I don't think it needs to be made easier but the UI doesn't have to quite so punishing by using only slight shade variations on the heatmap.
Some general advice to the OP: A suggestion is aimed at FDev, not other contributors. If they feel they have a valid objection they are as entitled to post it as you are to put forward your proposal. FDev (if they ever read it) will know how it works, how it is supposed to work far better than any of the community guesses. How it works, how much work would be involved in changing something and how likely FDev are to implement something is up to them, not us and are only incidental to expressing the idea itself.
This is a commonly suggested one, it is a reasonable request imo.
It's entirely possible to generate things procedurally but not randomly. Using a fixed number seed for each planet, the flora could all be generated procedurally but turn up in exactly the same places every time you visit. I guess this is how ED actually does it.
This would explain why density can't be shown for the whole planet too. To do the procedural generation all over the planet rather than the few km radius needed when you land would be a huge amount of computation.
This would explain why density can't be shown for the whole planet too. To do the procedural generation all over the planet rather than the few km radius needed when you land would be a huge amount of computation.
Finding bios requires some practice and being open to learning. It is actually a skill.
People seem inclined to give in to frustration when things don't conform to their initial expectation, that isn't healthy or fun.
It is true that Frontier could provide a little bit better explanation in game of how things are intended to work.
People seem inclined to give in to frustration when things don't conform to their initial expectation, that isn't healthy or fun.
It is true that Frontier could provide a little bit better explanation in game of how things are intended to work.
Exobiology does require knowledge, problem-solving and skill. Knowing the kinds of terrain where the various plants live is essential. Then making a strategy to find them. Go down to the surface in a place which has the sun at a good elevation, casting the right kind of shadows. From the colours of the ground and the expected plant, choose which hillside and choose whether to search towards, away from or perpendicular to the sun (spotting the plant colour or the shadows). Night vision on for some outlines, but off for strong colours (the choice influenced by the presence or absence of rocks). And it's no good finding a huge patch of fungoida if it's impossible to land, so one eye on potential landing sites. The short ship hop or SRV trade-off. Some plants can be found three times on foot while others have a too-great genetic correlation distance.
It's a feature of this forum that you get people saying that gameplay they don't happen to do requires no skill. That's as arrogant as if I said, "Combat requires no skill; it's just pressing the fire button a lot". OK, I'm joking.
I would be perfectly fine with that post, if it was the full story. You explore exobiology, you have mastered it, you love it. I love other parts of the game, i just ignore exobiology. Deal done, we are both happy.
But that’s not the game reality. The way this mechanic interweaved with other parts of the game makes it unmitigatable. There used to be a method for gathering raw materials in Horizon, now that simple way is trimmed/nerfed. I respect Devs closing gold rush loop holes, but I am asking for some middle ground making a mechanic I don’t fancy more bearable and let me focus on the parts of the game i like, instead of creating time sinks in areas that I perceive as a burden. It’s like tieing target switching to the entry of a 10 digit pin code. how would people like that? For me flying around 100m above surface is that 10 digit pin code.
Aha, here we go again. Ye olde wishlist that's been bandied about a few thousand times by now. The most generic set of complaints in the book. And none of it has to do with the heatmap you originally mentioned.
I'd suggest to stop demanding the game that doesn't exist and start playing the game you have. You'll be happier with it.
or … as alternative recommendation, equally polite …. you stop demotivating people suggesting things. This is „Suggestion“ and while that won’t change the game it does give Development an idea what players like or dislike. the number of testimonies is a benchmark as is the quality of the suggestion.
So „i don’t like the OP Suggestion because I like the game as is because xyz“ is a totally valid response
„don’t suggest it again, because it has been already suggested, but nothing happened“ is not a valid response.
It's not a matter of demotivating a suggestion. It's a matter of demotivating the pointless search for an immortal equine.
try harder, it doesn’t demotivate me … in fact i just added a reminder to start a new thread every three month about this mega unintuitive game mechanic and call for better implementations .. ^^
I see Frontier are dispensing with the forums in favour of Discord for the upcoming release. I wonder why
Spoken like a crab in the bottom of the bucket.
the conversation went in this direction organically. Do not dismiss it prima facie because of that, if you were on board with it up to that moment.