Having turned the focus of my attention to exploration over the last few months, and having made pilgrimages to Colonia and Sag A*, it really has brought home the fact that exploration is in many ways a unique lifestyle in ED.
And because of this, it is a very special case when people debate the well trodden subject of Open/Group/Solo play.
I'm sure it must have been discussed more than once before, but I see there are two huge reasons explorers would not want to venture into Open. Random, malicious attack by someone with no other purpose than ruining another player's game time could be tolerated to some degree in some scenarios, but when an explorer has travelled vast distances, collecting vast amounts of exploration data and materials, and investing vast amounts of time in the process it would be soul destroying to lose all that to someone with no more than mischief on their mind, and finding it funny to kill another player.
So perhaps the issues of distances travelled and data collected need to be looked at.
My initial thoughts would be that there could be some sort of exploration module fitted that saved exploration data so that it is not lost when the ship is destroyed...perhaps a module that integrates with the escape pod and is not lost on ship destruction.
As for distances travelled, it must be equally soul destroying to be 'sent back' to the last base you docked at, which could be many thousands of LY back, if the ship is destroyed. I'm thinking of ways around this and would be interested to hear your thoughts.
Maybe after being destroyed you could re-appear as a crashed ship on a planet/system near to where it happened, then have some sort of repair bill to pay...like you'd called for an interstellar RAC or AA! Or maybe some enhanced module for exploration ships that could repair the ship after being destroyed; a kind of super duper Auto Field Maintenance Unit. Or maybe a beacon that is deployed that calls for repair help...with money and time being the downside.
As things stand at the moment I explore in my AspX with no weapons at all. It seems more than harsh to be destroyed by some psycho player who's just out to dish out some grief to a player in a ship that can't defend itself. Yes, I know I could try to evade interdiction, but I'd be more inclined to give Open a go if I wouldn't lose everything that I'd achieved over months out in the black should I fail to evade. I'm ok with being destroyed and paying out credits to recover from the assault, but I will not risk losing my exploration data, nor being returned to home after travelling huge distances.
So I'm not talking about exploration ships being flagged as invulnerable, but just thinking of ways around the big issues that make me play in solo or private groups.
Any thoughts are welcome
And because of this, it is a very special case when people debate the well trodden subject of Open/Group/Solo play.
I'm sure it must have been discussed more than once before, but I see there are two huge reasons explorers would not want to venture into Open. Random, malicious attack by someone with no other purpose than ruining another player's game time could be tolerated to some degree in some scenarios, but when an explorer has travelled vast distances, collecting vast amounts of exploration data and materials, and investing vast amounts of time in the process it would be soul destroying to lose all that to someone with no more than mischief on their mind, and finding it funny to kill another player.
So perhaps the issues of distances travelled and data collected need to be looked at.
My initial thoughts would be that there could be some sort of exploration module fitted that saved exploration data so that it is not lost when the ship is destroyed...perhaps a module that integrates with the escape pod and is not lost on ship destruction.
As for distances travelled, it must be equally soul destroying to be 'sent back' to the last base you docked at, which could be many thousands of LY back, if the ship is destroyed. I'm thinking of ways around this and would be interested to hear your thoughts.
Maybe after being destroyed you could re-appear as a crashed ship on a planet/system near to where it happened, then have some sort of repair bill to pay...like you'd called for an interstellar RAC or AA! Or maybe some enhanced module for exploration ships that could repair the ship after being destroyed; a kind of super duper Auto Field Maintenance Unit. Or maybe a beacon that is deployed that calls for repair help...with money and time being the downside.
As things stand at the moment I explore in my AspX with no weapons at all. It seems more than harsh to be destroyed by some psycho player who's just out to dish out some grief to a player in a ship that can't defend itself. Yes, I know I could try to evade interdiction, but I'd be more inclined to give Open a go if I wouldn't lose everything that I'd achieved over months out in the black should I fail to evade. I'm ok with being destroyed and paying out credits to recover from the assault, but I will not risk losing my exploration data, nor being returned to home after travelling huge distances.
So I'm not talking about exploration ships being flagged as invulnerable, but just thinking of ways around the big issues that make me play in solo or private groups.
Any thoughts are welcome
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