DSS heatmap

[J Michaelson]

Ok if thats true then the "everything including crystal needles just dropping iron 100% of the time" problem cannot be solved by going to the "right" geo site, because there are no special sites for that anymore... has anyone picked up a high grade raw material since odyssey?

I have not. They are always grade 1 for me and whatever it is on first pickup will be what every subsequent pickup will be.

The bigger problem for me is that the overlay maps are so vague as to be practically useless. I have visited region after region supposedly having "cactoida" and found nothing at all in well over two hours flying around. Some fungi showed up, and tussock grass, but never that stuff.

 

[CMDR Rabbit]

I have not. They are always grade 1 for me and whatever it is on first pickup will be what every subsequent pickup will be.

Same here.

Seems to be similar state management issues around the game in general (cf. system state disaply in the gal map) where the first thing becomes the only thing.

 

[Phoenix_Dfire]

I've been mostly out in the black and exploring since Odyssey dropped. It took me a little while to get used to the new DSS Map. I found a planet with 7 biologicals on it and worked out that the Blue is where you are most likely to find those items and that the filters did change the map dependant on the type selected. There was quite a lot of overlap, so that was confusing.

I landed on a dark blue patch but couldn't see a damn thing from the air, so there's obviously render distances issues there. However, once I got out in the SRV, I was coming across different types of life within 30 seconds of leaving the ship and then it was scanning away with the genetic scanner and then back in the SRV to look for the next batch. Overall I found the experience much better than the alpha, smoother too and some of the vistas I've seen are breath-taking.

Suggested Improvements

1. Maybe biologicals and geologicals be added the SRV scanner, so that there's a little bit of extra help finding things.
2. Tidy up the Blue Map. In places it looks too pixelated and it's hard to differentiate between the different shades of blue (I'm assuming that the darker the blue, the more chance of life).
3. If we've scanned and handed in the data for these biologicals. Can we start to harvest them for either Mats or Commodities? It feels that there needs to be a little bit more to this game look than just scan and go.

 

[J Michaelson]

Suggested Improvements

1. Maybe biologicals and geologicals be added the SRV scanner, so that there's a little bit of extra help finding things.
2. Tidy up the Blue Map. In places it looks too pixelated and it's hard to differentiate between the different shades of blue (I'm assuming that the darker the blue, the more chance of life).
3. If we've scanned and handed in the data for these biologicals. Can we start to harvest them for either Mats or Commodities? It feels that there needs to be a little bit more to this game look than just scan and go.

Agree with your three suggestions completely, especially the SRV scanner ability. Perhaps a ship-mounted biological/geological pulse wave scanner akin to that used for hunting good mineable rocks? The blue map is just too vague. I had six biologicals, four of which overlapped almost completely and like you say were only seldom visible from the ship. You might drive around for an hour and only find one of the four in all the chaos.

 

[Queex]

Perhaps a ship-mounted biological/geological pulse wave scanner akin to that used for hunting good mineable rocks?

Yes, but only if they implement it better than they did the mining one, which was an absolute dog to interpret thanks to too little colour differentiation and other issues.

 

[Winterwalker]

Perhaps a ship-mounted biological/geological pulse wave scanner akin to that used for hunting good mineable rocks? You might drive around for an hour and only find one of the four in all the chaos.

Perhaps .. and .. you might. However I've been able to spot bacteria (which I think might be the hardest to spot) by setting the SRV on auto-drive and scanning the horizon through the turret. It was fun actually, steering around the rocks, pretending to be a Dalek .. or the Immortan (Joe!).

A scanner would be like the hand held device, only bigger, making the new one obsolete and making the search for bios pretty inane imo. A scanner for science breaking dinosaur bones would be great too .. but would make the Montana Badlands a little bit boring.

 

[yvesmarie]

has anyone picked up a high grade raw material since odyssey?

the only way that i have gotten anything beyond grade 1 has been by hitting bronzite chordite and metallic meteorite bits (which then, as they have in the past, release a whole bunch of different elements)... all the 'usual' deposits in geo sites (piceous, frags, etc) though are only dropping grade 1s...

 

[Queex]

the only way that i have gotten anything beyond grade 1 has been by hitting bronzite chordite and metallic meteorite bits (which then, as they have in the past, release a whole bunch of different elements)... all the 'usual' deposits in geo sites (piceous, frags, etc) though are only dropping grade 1s...

Yeah, I've encountered the usual outcrops etc. and they seem to be working as normal (although much, much less common). Not even found an actual geo site yet.

 

[Iridium Nova]

Odd that the old heatmap system was found to be confusing. This new one is even more confusing, because it's misleading. At least before we could tell where we had a higher chance of finding what we're looking for. Now it's just entirely hit or miss. But maybe the reality is that they did it to pad out the gameplay a bit. If you're constantly having to guess about where you'll find what you're looking for, it takes a lot longer to find it.

 

[Drelthar]

Ummm if you don't care about seeing the not-heatmap, then switch out of Analysis Mode. Mapped planets always did this, even in horizons with the blue-grey grid laid over them until you were near the surface.

Yes but at least that didn't look like total trash

 

[Iridium Nova]

Yes but at least that didn't look like total trash

At least the old heatmap was functional, regardless of how pretty it may or may not have been. This new one is as as useless as it is ugly. If they don't want to make it the standard, then perhaps an option in the settings. Or hell, maybe it could even be an engineer mod. At least that way people who found it confusing wouldn't have to use it.

 

[Drelthar]

At least the old heatmap was functional, regardless of how pretty it may or may not have been. This new one is as as useless as it is ugly. If they don't want to make it the standard, then perhaps an option in the settings. Or hell, maybe it could even be an engineer mod. At least that way people who found it confusing wouldn't have to use it.

Pretty sure it was their devs that found it confusing, didn't see a single post from a player during or immediately after alpha saying they were confused by it, aside from "why is this making the planet green all over?" When it was bugged.

 

[Vasious]

Tidy up the Blue Map. In places it looks too pixelated and it's hard to differentiate between the different shades of blue (I'm assuming that the darker the blue, the more chance of life).

I Could be wrong but; I believe the different shade of blue is just the blue shaded by the terrain underneath

 

[Chorda]

*Edit: seems to be working now

 

[house70]

looks more and more like for geo they decided to make them spread out on the surface, as opposed to concentrated areas that were easy to highlight and target in Horizons. I personally I am not interested in bio, and since the Geo has been downgraded unnecessarily to the point where one has to spend an entire afternoon to find a few scattered materials - mostly same type of materials, too - I will be moving back my exploration to horizons. At least the planets look 1000 times better, are easier to explore and obtain materials needed in long trips; I will be giving up some hyperspace visual effects, but for the rest, I don't care much.

 

[Bufo]

Drive around the Blue areas and don't find any plants. Not a gameplay loop I have time for.

 

[dipperside]

Odd that the old heatmap system was found to be confusing. This new one is even more confusing, because it's misleading. At least before we could tell where we had a higher chance of finding what we're looking for. Now it's just entirely hit or miss. But maybe the reality is that they did it to pad out the gameplay a bit. If you're constantly having to guess about where you'll find what you're looking for, it takes a lot longer to find it.

And what's the point? Instead of meaningful interesting gameplay, we are promoted of blunt grinding of galactic scales. I run the game to play instead of work. I have enough work in real life. The elite is a stupid, exhausting unreasonable grind for the sake of grind.

 

[askavir]

Just aim for the blue area and then fly low (around 100m altitude) and slowly (< 150 m/s) while using headlook, you'll find whatever you're looking for in less than 20 / 30 seconds.

 

[J Michaelson]

And what's the point? Instead of meaningful interesting gameplay, we are promoted of blunt grinding of galactic scales. I run the game to play instead of work. I have enough work in real life. The elite is a stupid, exhausting unreasonable grind for the sake of grind.

Yeah, but if they make it too easy you'll see all the hand-made plants in no time. Because procedurally generated plants would be too much work apparently. You're supposed to love that the pattern of one bacterial splotch is slightly different colored than the virtually identical splotch from five planets ago.

 

[dipperside]

Yeah, but if they make it too easy you'll see all the hand-made plants in no time. Because procedurally generated plants would be too much work apparently. You're supposed to love that the pattern of one bacterial splotch is slightly different colored than the virtually identical splotch from five planets ago.

Okay, and how many hours / days / weeks do I need to spend looking for that one bacterium if there is only 1 biological signal (for example) on the planet? And traveling for almost 1.5 hours in the SRV in one small crater which is painted blue, I did not find anything. This also applies to geological formations. Not only are they now scattered for miles, and from a height they can not be found, and even the raw materials are insignificant. It was necessary to leave everything as in the horizon. The world of the millennial future in the game for Odysseus clearly degraded. Even now, geospace exploration is taking place to the nearest meter.
I dont tell thst game is sucks - but forcing players to spend so much time finding materials should have reasonable limits or alternatives or interesting gameplay ways of such a search. But they are missing, that's the trouble.