Exploration honking going? Thoughts.

FatFreddysCoat

FatFreddysCoat
I'm not totally up to speed with the new proposals so far, but am I right that the honk method for initially mapping out a system is going to be removed, or is it more the detailed surface scanner side of things that's going to have the most changes?

If they are removing the ADS honk... well they can't really, can they? It's been established as a game and lore mechanic since day one so how can they believably just remove an established, working technology like that?

If it's the DSS side of things, which is mooted to be replaced with some kind of projectile based scanner, then I really hope they partner this with a huge seeding of the galaxy with things to find, as if I'm spending longer doing this and - after a dozen systems with all the associated planets - I've found sod all apart from an old satellite and some cargo guarded with unfriendly skimmers, which I'll likely avoid, then it's grind for grinds sake if the new systems just allow you to find nothing more than is already there but which takes longer to do so so I'll give up: I've wanted to go long-range exploring for a year but, as there's nothing for me to "discover", or any story driven by these footprints, I've not bothered, as just finding more planets and stars just isn't interesting.

Also a little concerned that I'm going to have to convert my explorer ship into basically a mining ship to utilise all the exploration mechanics.
 

FatFreddysCoat

FatFreddysCoat
But it's not working on a balance if a set of modules already has an established mechanism that's worked a specific way since day one: changing the DPS on a laser is balancing it, changing the way the laser works completely is throwing the old one out and bringing a new one in.
 

VR SenseiMatty

VR SenseiMatty
FatFreddysCoat said:
If they are removing the ADS honk... well they can't really, can they? It's been established as a game and lore mechanic since day one so how can they believably just remove an established, working technology like that?
Click to expand...

You're looking at the thing from the upside-down...
The real question is: why Frontier introduced such a lazy feature in a so complex and challenging activity like Exploration? And how could they explain why this Honk-thing lasted so long (4 years!) ?

It's really not balanced at all... You have a win button to discover all planets and then you need to eye ball each one to find a single interesting thing... This is not gameplay.
 
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Jukelo

Jukelo
FatFreddysCoat said:
But it's not working on a balance if a set of modules already has an established mechanism that's worked a specific way since day one: changing the DPS on a laser is balancing it, changing the way the laser works completely is throwing the old one out and bringing a new one in.
Click to expand...

But there was no old system. Honking wasn't a game mechanic, it was a placeholder.
 

Cmdr Eagleboy

Cmdr Eagleboy
Honk stays, but it's effects are very limited. It gives primitive information about system - central star plus bodies in decoded signal format. To get more information you have to spend time with discovering more with new tools.
 

Aashenfox

Aashenfox
Exploration has always been boring to actually perform (discovering something is not boring, that's not what I'm saying), adding gameplay to it was not only inevitable but 100% necessary. Jump, honk, jump, honk, is not my idea of compelling gameplay. Shooting little probe things to map the surfaces of planets and following waves to things I want to find, is definitely going to be a huge improvement on what we have.

What I would like to see though, since it is now going to take longer to make the same amount of credits, is some kind of large increase for things that are worth discovering, so at least, you will scan 5 systems in the time it took you to scan 10 before, but finding a binary pair of earth-likes will make you more money in an instant than honking 10 systems ever did. When exploring you need that 'Eureka!' moment, which has been missing up to now, except for interesting phenomena (which there aren't enough of).
 
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