Expanding Exploration Mechanic Coolness and Need, and 'realism' of Galactic Map

Hydrino

Hydrino
If memory serves, in the original concepts was an idea I rather like, that could be used to sex up exploration.

The galactic map is complete, but this is highly unrealistic.

I think most individual stars would actually not be visible on the galmap until players visited, scanned, dropped a nav-beacon and returned.

In this way, we could see the galactic map info available to Pilots Federation members gradually grow (maybe a weekly tick).

Also, more meaning to exploration as jumping to an unregistered system with no Nav Beacon would require some more complex game-play (to be determined), such as the in-system scanning done today. Player is in a new system, must scan the skies around them to record star distances and determine what is reachable.

Also, automatic route plotting would only happen per nav-beacons. So in the bubble plotting a route of 1,000 LY no problem. However, plotting a route to SagA would only be possible over previously mapped and sold exploration data.
 

Micha

Micha
Ditto; would LOVE to have this, but the cat is well and truly out of the bag now, has grown up, and has kittens (*). It would be very difficult to stuff back in.

Theoretically you could add a mini-NavBeacon to every explored system.

You could then calculate which stars are visible based on all the explored systems (base it off their luminosity; the brighter a star is the further away it can be detected; bonus points to take other intervening matter into consideration) and hide the rest.

But how would you deal with all the explorers currently out there? If you change the mechanics of jumping to unexplored systems, especially if it would take some sort of new resources or has non-trivial dangers associated with it, you effectively doom them all to either retrace their steps or probable death.

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(*)Interestingly enough, the saying comes from old maritime slang and has nothing whatsoever to do with cats. It's rather more sinister.
 
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