Let's make this constructive and tackle it one at a time (I checked the entire Thread and to my surprise saw nothing really explaining - which is a bad Forum attitude towards a new Player after 6 Pages IMHO... Not nice.).
Start with the options, I want to find the button to enter FSS mode. No it's not in the category with the other FSS buttons, It's been moved to something called mode switch. Of course this wasted two hours of my life, And wound up finding it on google, Since the elite wiki never tells you anything useful. And all this time was wasted in just figuring out one button that i wanted to change or even use. Why can't you put everything pertaining to one function in a single category, And stop making it overly difficult to find?
That's an interesting one - because that's indeed an issue.
Just a few days ago, a buddy of mine asked me where the "Leave FSS Button" was in the Controls Setup.
I realized I couldn't find it myself - after 15 Minutes. And I have it assigned and it works for myself... I just couldn't find it.
So indeed, that's still one of the weak points of the Controls Configuration. Not everything is where you'd logically think it would be.
If it helps, things were even more difficult in the distant past, when we had only a single Page you'd have to scroll a dozen screens down.
Flight controls, Is it really necessary to make it so difficult to fly around a solar system, Do i need to hit j, Wait for a countdown, Find the target, and then accelerate? Or would a smart person make it so i just hit the spacebar for four seconds to enter frame shift mode? Since i can maneuver within that mode.
Flying the Ship in ELITE requires 3 different modes of travel by design.
- normal space, in-game typically only used to fly around within maybe 15-20km distances, the mode you are in after undocking from a Station or disengaging into normal space from SuperCruise. You'll be typically traveling at speeds well below 1000m/sec.
- SuperCruise, after activating the Frame Shift Drive; this is used to cover the vast distances within Systems. 30km/sec is the min. speed in idle, reaches upto 2001c (c = light speed). This is what you need to reach i.e other Outposts/Stations in the game.
- Hyperjump, after activating the Frame Shift Drive with another Star System targeted; that's how you reach other Systems many light years away and also travel throughout the Galaxy, jump after jump
You can target anything within a System via Nav Panel or System Map while still in normal space and align the Ship already with it before activating Frame Shift Drive to enter SuperCruise if you wish.
(the delay and countdown before you can enter SuperCruise - or make a Hyperjump - btw. is closely connected to Combat. If there was no countdown of any sort, escaping a losing combat scenario would be risk-free and a given. The way it is, it takes some skill to properly time an egress from a fight going downhill)
Scanning and FSS mode. What an over complicated and stupid system. I have to be in frame shift mode to enable FSS mode? What for? If it's far enough away to require frame shift mode, Then i'll turn that on myself. And i don't need it to be mandated to me. Why are there three kinds of scanners, When there are only buttons for two fire groups? Why doesnt the FSS scanner auto identify a signal type and just list it on the screen for me. Do i really need to manually tune the dial for every little thing? That's terrible game design. Also indicative of this game overall. Overly complicated simple functions. Or twelve buttons for every little thing.
The inability to use the FSS while just sitting in normal space has been discussed alot after the introduction of that very scanning mode and mechanic.
I can only assume that the whole FSS process/screen doesn't handle Ship motion very well, thus the Ship needs to be stabilized and at minimal speed/idle.
There are also some (not typical) scenarios where things might be too close to the Ship to be successfully scanned - in which case it is very useful to be able to simply leave the FSS Mode, swiftly fly the Ship a short while to a better position and then complete the FSS scan from there.
Before the FSS, the whole mechanics were entirely different. A "honk" of the Advanced Discovery Scanner revealed the entire System (visually) - but it required you to manually fly to each and every Object within a System to scan it from quite short Range.
On top, things of interest on Planets you could land on were >not< displayed at all. You had to manually fly the Ship over the Planet and search the entire surface - meaning you stood exceedingly little chance to discover something there.
The FSS and its frequency tuning takes a while getting used to - but it'll not only perform a Detailed Surface Scan over any distance, it'll also give you quite precise Info if there's anything of interest. This is invaluable and saves >alot< of time.
The key is to properly configure the FSS mode, so you can operate it swiftly and intuitively. That takes a little while - but is well worth it, as it'll improve the FSS experience, usability and execution speeds
massively.
(I personally use Mouse to pan around, Mouse Wheel to Zoom in/out, left/right Mouse Button to tune frequency down/up - which allows me to very quickly scan entire Systems at ease)
Mining, it was easy enough to understand that i needed a mining laser and refiner to go mining. Go through the massively overcomplicated flight controls to get to an asteroid, Hit the lasers, a piece flys off, And i have to chase it like a duck hunting dog, And scoop it into an opening under my ship. Only to get the message resources unallocated, Because it has more than one material, So i have to manually eject the unwanted part of each chunk, Every single time i mine. Could you possibly have made this suck any more than this? How about your ship extends a tube to suck up the chunks, Like someone would do in real life. And anything that your ship cant refine is jettisoned automatically. How about you actually tell new players where to get drones that collect the chunks. Horrible system.
You merely forgot about the Prospector Limpet controller (firing a Prospector Limpet at an Asteroid tells you exactly what an Asteroid has to offer) and the Collector Limpet Controller(s) - firing those without anything targeted will have little Limpets collect everything for you until they expire.
Never go Mining without these two Controllers and sufficient Limpets restocked in your Cargo hold to use them. Makes Mining 100x easier.
(in the very early days of ELITE, we indeed didn't have these and had to manually collect fragments to refine them.... and yep, that was darn hard work).
I spent the last two days playing this game, And so far I have had zero amount of fun. Every single thing i try to do is overly complicated, Micromanagement in it's worst form. I can't stress enough how you have ruined anything resembling fun, In favor of "MORE BUTTONS" to push. More nonsensical steps to take to do one simple function. In the real world, We simplify things, We group things together under automatic control, So that the operator doesn't have to micromanage everything. This is not Kerbal space program, Where you build and fly your own ships manually. This is supposed to be a space adventure. But instead It's a space irritation.
Rewards Or the lack thereof. Ten chunks mined 38% of one unit of ore? How about with payout that low, I just tell you what to kiss, And quit this crappy job. Setting the difficulty high, Does not make a game enjoyable. it just shows that you don't care whether people are having a good time or not.
As explained, it seems it all merely boils down to a mere few things :
- getting comfy with the Controls (yes, this can take a little while and might be a little frustrating on occasion... but you'll get it worked out)
- understanding which function really does what (learning curve)
- knowing your Equipment and how to use it (that easily makes the difference between frustration and "why is this so bad?" - and seeing yourself suddenly becoming very effective at doing things
PS.
When I started >6 years ago, without Instruction Manual and only a Forum full of Backers/Testers, it took me more than one attempt to get comfy with the Controls myself.
That's completely normal, the Game offers a ton of Inputs which take time to a) understand and b) then logically distribute to whatever you have at your disposal.