[EXPLORATION] Completation Bonus

[VanQ]

The exploration payout is already nice. but still way below what you can make in trading.
But instead of simply raise the basic rewards i whould add a completation bonus, because a complet set of data is of significant more value than a fragmented one.
So i whould add a bonus for:
- scanned all stars (given there is more than one)
- scanned all planets
- scanned all moons
- and an additional bonus for a full system scan

This bonus maybe variy depending of the amount of bodys (for example, 50% of the value of the scanned bodys)

I think this whould courage the explorers to scan whole systems and not just only valuable targets...

 

[Ninjakebab]

I really like this idea! I think the bonus should definitely be a function of the base value of the system, so that you don't automatically get a massive value when scanning a rogue star with no planets

 

[Rhonda]

Good idea, I would like to see a distance bonus added as well. Right now it doesn't matter if I scan the system next door or go on deep space exploration.
40ly should pay out what is 100% today and increasing (slowly) with distance, while selling data less than 40ly away will result in a decreased payout.

edit: additional, when lvl2/3 scans are added, it would be cool to have a more sophisticated mechanic than just "point your ship at object". Maybe have some sort of probe with a scoop-like minigame. At least Lvl2/3 scans should force you to go closer to your object. Right now most celestial bodies are scanned before they are in visual range.

 

[VanQ]

Good idea, I would like to see a distance bonus added as well. Right now it doesn't matter if I scan the system next door or go on deep space exploration.
40ly should pay out what is 100% today and increasing (slowly) with distance, while selling data less than 40ly away will result in a decreased payout.

Im not so shure about this, theoretically a closeby system is of more value (who wants to terraform or mine a system 1000ly away?)

 

[certhas]

I'd add a "distance to closest populated system" bonus like this:
every 100ly you get a 5% bonus to the base value of the scanned data - so, to get the bonus you have to do some serious exploring, 600ly away from the last space station you get a 30% bonus.

 

[AceJustice]

There IS a distance bonus. it's called: you get to explore more systems and make more money along the way.

 

[TheLastCall]

I’d like to see the full scanning a system idea in play.

I don’t see distance as a bonus, you scan a lot the further out you are and that kind of exploring is its own reward.

What I’d like to see is a simple method of bonus. A basic 5% multiplier per body if you scan the entire system only paid to the first person to scan the whole system.

So if there is a single star bonus 5%.
Two stars 10%

You find a system with 20 bodies that is a 100% bonus to scan all bodies. Tempting

You find a system with 100 bodies, that is a 500% bonus to scan all bodies. A black holes normal cost is 50000cr, that would be 250000cr for that black hole, even an icy plant at normal price 700cr to 3500cr.

Plus first finders bonus if appropriate.

This would make a lot more people scan more and add a bonus and rebalance to exploring.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

My god, what a necro.

 

[TheLastCall]

My god, what a necro.

Just bumping an old post rather than creating a new one.

 

[DocLooshkin]

My god, what a necro.

Hi, PR. Saw your Twitch videos. Very educational.
You're right, a thirteen month necro is a bit amazing. On the other hand, if TheLastCall had made a new thread, I'd never have seen the word "completation", which made me laugh like a fool - this is clearly a good thing.

Just bumping an old post rather than creating a new one.

Hello, TheLastCall.
It's fair enough with the big necro. It's what one is supposed to do, after all.

The idea of a Complete Survey Bonus - and getting another Commander's name on the local map - isn't a bad one. It's more or less the kind of thing you'd need in real life, if you were paying people to do this kind of work. It would give some tangible benefit to scanning all those asteroids, which would be good. On the other hand, I wonder just how many players actually want to scan all those asteroids, apart from ourselves? I've started visiting them for the bountied pirates that are often in them (variety and free money), but I don't imagine too many other Commanders do the same thing.

 

[TheLastCall]

The idea of a Complete Survey Bonus - and getting another Commander's name on the local map - isn't a bad one. It's more or less the kind of thing you'd need in real life, if you were paying people to do this kind of work. It would give some tangible benefit to scanning all those asteroids, which would be good. On the other hand, I wonder just how many players actually want to scan all those asteroids, apart from ourselves? I've started visiting them for the bountied pirates that are often in them (variety and free money), but I don't imagine too many other Commanders do the same thing.

Explorers are a strange lot. I found a system with 98 objects. Scanning it all would have made me 500k, but taken a couple of hours, I scanned a lot, but couldn't be bothered with the last few objects. If my reward was to jump from 500k to 2.5 mil then I would have donw it. Exploring is not a rewarding job in this game and needs more insentives to scan the whole system.

 

[metatheurgist]

I used to think there should be a completion bonus but then I just accepted that it was more profitable to be a lazy explorer. Apparently that is how FD wants it to work.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

My stance from the other threads: This is more a ADS issue, but I don't think the CMDR should ever 'know' if everything has been found. The ADS is infinite and it really shouldn't be. I think that complete 'sureness' that there's nothing to be found is against the nature of exploration.

I do agree that difficult stuff should be appropriately rewarded.

 

[TheLastCall]

My stance from the other threads: This is more a ADS issue, but I don't think the CMDR should ever 'know' if everything has been found. The ADS is infinite and it really shouldn't be. I think that complete 'sureness' that there's nothing to be found is against the nature of exploration.

I do agree that difficult stuff should be appropriately rewarded.

Spending time making sure every bit of a system is scanned should be rewarded beyond the current system.

Flying 500000ls to scan a solitary star that will complete the system should be rewarded.

I don't think there needs to be a name on the system of the person who first scanned the whole system.

 

[Wedgetail]

You could still have a fair degree of confidence in completion though, based on the primary mass (or effective mass for binaries/trinaries etc) - which, along with a bit of knowledge about the neighbouring stars, would give a fair enough guestimate at the effective 'size' of the system - or at least the radius at which the star dominates the gravitational forces

i.e. (Admittedly using wikipedia figures) For Sol, this is estimated to be 1.5-2 light years - call it 60MLs, which makes the hutton orbital run look like a trip to the corner shop, and may as well be infinite as far as the ADS is concerned

you could have a degree of confidence that you have discovered all of the energetic or sufficently large bodies in a system based on a single honk, and this should form the basis for the initial 'completation' and associated payouts

but it would be nice if there existed a chance to detect rogues or other 'new' bodies on subsequent scans, provided some time has elapsed since your last scan - the theory being that the first scan is sufficient for your scanners to build its own internal model of the system, and additional scans would either confirm the model accuracy, or if a discrepancy is noticed (on a very small chance) then a new body or phenomenon might be the cause (which would be the exploration jackpot, and pay out big time when sold)

This is basically how planet X was/is theorised, based on mass/orbit discrepancies noted over the course of decades - hopefully by 3300 our sensors are good enough to shorten this time frame to days or weeks (which shouldn't be an issue if we accept the 2ly+ honking range)

 

[Psycho Romeo]

You could still have a fair degree of confidence in completion though, based on the primary mass (or effective mass for binaries/trinaries etc) - which, along with a bit of knowledge about the neighbouring stars, would give a fair enough guestimate at the effective 'size' of the system - or at least the radius at which the star dominates the gravitational forces

i.e. (Admittedly using wikipedia figures) For Sol, this is estimated to be 1.5-2 light years - call it 60MLs

Holy balls, I've never seen the numbers put out like this. This definitely changes my opinion.

So, a system can be confidently 'completed'. The only issue that remains is the 500ls (BDS), 1000ls (IDS), 60Mls (ADS) thing.