Exploration in future, collection of Ideas, flesh out the details, priorization by community...

[certhas]

I thought: "if all explorers, milky way surfers, black hole divers, moon scanners, starhoppers and elw hunters (sorry for the advertisement ) speak with one loud voice we may achive more than just everyone writing tickets and requests.

So write down your ideas how to make exploring better, more interesting, more accurate (in an astronomical matter), more challenging, more rewarding, how it could have more impact on the populated space and and and...

We can discuss the ideas, see how easy they might be to get implemented into the game or if they would need a complete overhaul of the galaxy.
After we did put all our effort into the ideas, fleshing them out how they could work in the game we let all ppl decide which idea we want to see the most in game and priorize them.
After all that work is done, we make a nice .pdf (or whatever) and send that with all backing ppl (hopefully a long list ;D ) to the devs and wait

If you have an idea please include these things into your description:
would it require a reset of the galaxy (exploration wise - deleting all "first discovered" tags, generating new star systems...)
does your idea need new modules? (like a module to take samples of asteriods)
would your idea require existing game mechanics to get changed?
and more

If you allready have made a Thread for your idea, the better, just provide a link and a small description.

List of all Ideas so far:
New Gameplay Features:

• Elite Exploration: an idea to enhance the entire game (exploration having more impact on populated space, e.g. colonization or terraforming of new discovered planets, maybe with CG (PP?) to provide the resources)
• Body-Wide Scientific Diagnostics, Rescue Missions, Outposts: more in depht scanning options, exploration based missions, building outposts <- see post 5 (and following discussion) for more information.
• Onboard Laboratory' module (basically like a Refinery) for analyzing samples <-- see post 18 for more information

New navigational Features:

• New Astrogation Module: zooming in skybox, targeting close stars in skybox <- see post 11 for more information

New Visuals and Eyecandy:

• Additional stellar objects and phenomena and visual enhancements: like accretion discs, comets, Oort clouds, solar winds <- see post 10 for more information

interdiction free supercruise and cool fuel scooping fellow explorers
p.s. if you think this is a good idea, feel free to contribute, if not tell me how futile my efforts are
please excuse me if my grammar isnt the best (and feel free to correct me)

 

[Mengy]

Here is a link to a thread for my idea on how to improve exploration:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=155152

Basically, I want an explorer guild where we can take missions to explore uninhabited systems, earn ranks for exploration price bonuses, and use votes to select systems to build new starbases in and slowly expand the bubble of manned space.

 

[CMDR DoubleSkulls]

I think this is a good idea. There is already a super-thread containing many good ideas. I think the real problem may not be documenting ideas, but giving FD a feel for the level of support for each one.

 

[Katejina]

1. Body-Wide Scientific Diagnostics - Full-scale planetary diagnostics spanning all relevant scientific categories such as topography, geology, oceanography, ecology, etc. I had a dream the other night where scanning an ELW literally took hours. I stood in my cockpit watching data stream by on a multitude of screens and 3d displays that varied from the basic compounds in the soils to what kind of indigenous life existed, what kind of extra-planetary activity effected the body, emissions put off by local fauna/flora, etc. We automatically assume that any Earth-like Worlds are candidates for human habitation with less effort than terraformable candidates, but these scans would help us understand what it is exactly that causes the conditions required for sustaining human life. We know our earth, but we know it only after we have polluted it. These instruments would give us a glimpse into fresh, non-human affected territories.

2. Rescue missions - Leading off of #1, the second half of my dream involved receiving a distress call from a scientific exploration vessel that contained a group of academics. The call came in while I was still scanning the ELW and thus I had to pause my study. Their ship had been disabled by a localized EMP in the bow landing gear. They were on course to collide with the system's sun. Using an artificial gravity well created by my Anaconda, I was able to mass-lock the vessel and draw them into my secondary ship's landing bay.

Obviously this is a bit specific, but the prospect is interesting. There is so much that can be done with this. I know it's not exploration-exclusive, either, but I was exploring when it happened.

3. Outposts - More specifically, scientific outposts. Ships such as Anacondas and larger ships if/when added in the future, would likely be able to haul enough cargo to set up and build satellites or small orbital stations for worlds that are of high scientific value. In the hopes that our galaxy changes on a scale much faster than real life, we could use these stations to collect data about a system or planet and report these changes back to us.

Example: I set up an orbital diagnostic satellite about a water world. Some time later, I get a blip from the satellite that land masses have formed on the surface, perhaps caused by volcanism or other phenomenon. Now the prospect itself is interesting enough, but unless the orbital provides pictures, I'd have to go out and explore the planet again myself, and that is exciting​. Especially if we have planetary landing available.

These satellites could also perform continuous detailed scans that will not only monitor changes in everything mentioned above, but provide additional data to sell. The drawback is having to haul the materials will decrease your jump range, thus providing somewhat of a balance. You would likely only be able to carry enough materials for a certain amount of satellites, so you cannot just farm them for credits without great labor cost.

 

[drkaii]

Don't forget the Explorer's Community Request List in my sig. Same concept as your thread (and a few others). It's been lost, and no mod/dev feedback. Hopefully you'll be more successful

 

[certhas]

@Mengy, added your idea to the list, nice idea btw. have to read the thread

i'll update the first post every now and then (can you link to a certian reply in a thread?)

 

[certhas]

1. Body-Wide Scientific Diagnostics - Full-scale planetary diagnostics spanning all relevant scientific categories such as topography, geology, oceanography, ecology, etc. I had a dream the other night where scanning an ELW literally took hours. I stood in my cockpit watching data stream by on a multitude of screens and 3d displays that varied from the basic compounds in the soils to what kind of indigenous life existed, what kind of extra-planetary activity effected the body, emissions put off by local fauna/flora, etc. We automatically assume that any Earth-like Worlds are candidates for human habitation with less effort than terraformable candidates, but these scans would help us understand what it is exactly that causes the conditions required for sustaining human life. We know our earth, but we know it only after we have polluted it. These instruments would give us a glimpse into fresh, non-human affected territories.

2. Rescue missions - Leading off of #1, the second half of my dream involved receiving a distress call from a scientific exploration vessel that contained a group of academics. The call came in while I was still scanning the ELW and thus I had to pause my study. Their ship had been disabled by a localized EMP in the bow landing gear. They were on course to collide with the system's sun. Using an artificial gravity well created by my Anaconda, I was able to mass-lock the vessel and draw them into my secondary ship's landing bay.

Obviously this is a bit specific, but the prospect is interesting. There is so much that can be done with this. I know it's not exploration-exclusive, either, but I was exploring when it happened.

3. Outposts - More specifically, scientific outposts. Ships such as Anacondas and larger ships if/when added in the future, would likely be able to haul enough cargo to set up and build satellites or small orbital stations for worlds that are of high scientific value. In the hopes that our galaxy changes on a scale much faster than real life, we could use these stations to collect data about a system or planet and report these changes back to us.

Example: I set up an orbital diagnostic satellite about a water world. Some time later, I get a blip from the satellite that land masses have formed on the surface, perhaps caused by volcanism or other phenomenon. Now the prospect itself is interesting enough, but unless the orbital provides pictures, I'd have to go out and explore the planet again myself, and that is exciting​. Especially if we have planetary landing available.

These satellites could also perform continuous detailed scans that will not only monitor changes in everything mentioned above, but provide additional data to sell. The drawback is having to haul the materials will decrease your jump range, thus providing somewhat of a balance. You would likely only be able to carry enough materials for a certain amount of satellites, so you cannot just farm them for credits without great labor cost.

1. you suggest an additional scanner for that task or more like a module to collect samples and analyze them (someone mentioned a module similar to the refinery)? - might even require to land on the planet to collect them?
2. or finding a planet with a crashed (or landed) ship of survivors who did build a colony (although something like that should be imo something unique the devs implement into the game and introduce it in a story like: archivars of the central imperial library discovered an old text mentioning a spaceship maned with emigrants aming for a new discovered earth like world 1389Ly away from Sol - the coordinates did get lost though)
3. i dont think that planets change in such a short time, although the idea to build satelites (maybe not to far out in the dark - distance is a factor to keep in mind if you really want to colonize a new planet - well, maybe not if the colonists are ppl who need/want to life in exile) around terraformable (or elw's) planets has something to it.



Just had an idea how we could combine the idea of explorers having impact on the galaxy by expanding humanity onto new discovered terraformable and elw's and the satelites. Since a lot of systems in the neighborhood of populated space are allready discovered and scaned how about this:
you can purchase 5 different satelites which are outfitted with either a planet lander for analyzing the biosphere, the atmosphere, the volcanic activity, the metallurgic composition and physical attributes in general. it would take like 2 days after deployment of the satelite for the lander to get all the data, then you'ed have to collect the data from the satelite - which will then get destroyed. that way you could do 5 scans in total, with every scan your reward would get smaller but after you have handed in the data of all 5 scans the planet would officially be recognized as possible candidate for future colonization and be displayed in a chart of stellar cartographics. then if the planet gets scanned e.g. 500 times (100 commanders doing all 5 scans) the planet will get colonized and a CG will pop up in galnet for the big task of colonizing the planet (and those commanders who did contribute for the scanning goal recieve a reward).

 

[Katejina]

1. you suggest an additional scanner for that task or more like a module to collect samples and analyze them (someone mentioned a module similar to the refinery)? - might even require to land on the planet to collect them?
2. or finding a planet with a crashed (or landed) ship of survivors who did build a colony (although something like that should be imo something unique the devs implement into the game and introduce it in a story like: archivars of the central imperial library discovered an old text mentioning a spaceship maned with emigrants aming for a new discovered earth like world 1389Ly away from Sol - the coordinates did get lost though)
3. i dont think that planets change in such a short time, although the idea to build satelites (maybe not to far out in the dark - distance is a factor to keep in mind if you really want to colonize a new planet - well, maybe not if the colonists are ppl who need/want to life in exile) around terraformable (or elw's) planets has something to it.

1. Our Detailed Surface Scanner could be expanded to cover all of these. Alternatively, there could be a "Complete" Surface Scanner, one step up that will handle all of these tasks.

2. The possibilities for these types of events are endless. Crash survivors, early explorers, stranded scientists, etc.

3. I am basing this entirely on the fact that there are some planets in colonized space listed as "Terraforming in Progress". I am assuming that eventually, these planets will complete their terraforming process and begin to build populations, maybe introduce more stations to the system, etc. Things that happen quickly that we would certainly be able to study are planetary impacts, volcanism and land mass creation, storm systems, ecosystem changes, etc. I'm not suggesting that we're going to see whole cycles of life come and go in the course of the game, but I don't think we quite know which scale of time FDev decided to use. Are we 1:1 with real time? Or will things change quickly for our benefit? Other examples: The birth and death of stars. Maybe we explore a system where we knew for 100% certain that just a month ago, there was a rather large Type B star in the core of the system. But now we see it has died and collapsed into a black hole. Did we remember wrong? Did something happen when no one was around? Will we be able to witness​ such happenings at some point?

 

[Patau82]

Hacking drones so we can steal each others data

- - - Updated - - -

3. I am basing this entirely on the fact that there are some planets in colonized space listed as "Terraforming in Progress". I am assuming that eventually, these planets will complete their terraforming process and begin to build populations, maybe introduce more stations to the system, etc. Things that happen quickly that we would certainly be able to study are planetary impacts, volcanism and land mass creation, storm systems, ecosystem changes, etc. I'm not suggesting that we're going to see whole cycles of life come and go in the course of the game, but I don't think we quite know which scale of time FDev decided to use. Are we 1:1 with real time? Or will things change quickly for our benefit? Other examples: The birth and death of stars. Maybe we explore a system where we knew for 100% certain that just a month ago, there was a rather large Type B star in the core of the system. But now we see it has died and collapsed into a black hole. Did we remember wrong? Did something happen when no one was around? Will we be able to witness​ such happenings at some point?

there were a few CG to terraform a few alliance planets :

TERRAFORMING (Djaujas)

Spoiler

Description:
The Independent Djaujas Progressive Party is pleased to announce that Djaujas A 1 has now entered the third stage of its terraforming process. Technicians working for Big G Corporation are currently in the process of preparing the necessary equipment in order to launch the next stage.

Unfortunately due to lack of Land Enrichment Systems, the project has been temporarily delayed until such time as an adequate supply of Land Enrichment Systems can be obtained.

In order to get the project back on schedule, the Independent Djaujas Progressive Party are offering a range of rewards to pilots who help ship Land Enrichment Systems to the technicians aboard Von Krusenstern Entreprise before the project enters stage 3.

Result:
Following a monumental surge of support from independent pilots flying in supplies from all over the galaxy, the Independent Djaujas Progressive Party are happy to announce that the 3rd stage of terraforming Djaujas A 1 has now started. Technicians will be monitoring the ongoing transformation process in order to safely guide events as they unfold. This stage of the process is expected to take anywhere from several days to several weeks to complete.

System: Djaujas
Station: Von Krusenstern Entreprise
Objective: Sell Land Enrichment Systems to Von Krusenstern Enterprise
How: Buy from High Tech stations
Ended: 5 Mar 3301 01:00

Total Contributors: 105
Final Global Progress: 100,098 Tonnes Collected
Final Reward Tier: Tier 2
Final Global Reward: Planet is Terraformed

Final Participation Rewards:
Top 5%: 10,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 15%: 5,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 40%: 2,500,000 Cr + global awards
Top 70%: 1,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 100%: 500,000 Cr + global awards

TERRAFORMING (Dohkwithi)

Spoiler

Description:
The Blue Transport Exchange is pleased to announce that Dohkwithi A 1 has now entered the third stage of its terraforming process. Technicians working for Big G Corporation are currently in the process of preparing the necessary equipment in order to launch the next stage.

Unfortunately due to lack of Atmospheric Processors, the project has been temporarily delayed until such time as an adequate supply of Atmospheric Processors can be obtained.

In order to get the project back on schedule, the Blue Transport Exchange are offering a range of rewards to pilots who help ship Atmospheric Processors to the technicians aboard Ron Hubbard Dock before the project enters stage 3.

Result:
Following a monumental surge of support from independent pilots flying in supplies from all over the galaxy, the Blue Transport Exchange are happy to announce that the 3rd stage of terraforming Dohkwithi A 1 has now started. Technicians will be monitoring the ongoing transformation process in order to safely guide events as they unfold. This stage of the process is expected to take anywhere from several days to several weeks to complete.

System: Dohkwithi
Station: Ron Hubbard Dock
Objective: Sell Atmospheric Processors to Ron Hubbard Dock
How: Buy from Industrial stations
Ended: 5 Mar 3301 16:00

Total Contributors: 88
Final Global Progress: 101,618 Tonnes Collected
Final Reward Tier: Tier 2
Final Global Reward: Planet is Terraformed

Final Participation Rewards:
Top 5%: 10,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 15%: 5,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 40%: 2,500,000 Cr + global awards
Top 70%: 1,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 100%: 500,000 Cr + global awards

TERRAFORMING (Hip 54692)

Spoiler

Description:
The Angelic Order of Hip 54692 is pleased to announce that Hip 54692 3 has now entered the third stage of its terraforming process. Technicians working for Big G Corporation are currently in the process of preparing the necessary equipment in order to launch the next stage.

Unfortunately due to lack of Advanced Catalysers, the project has been temporarily delayed until such time as an adequate supply of Advanced Catalysers can be obtained.

In order to get the project back on schedule, the Angelic Order of Hip 54692 are offering a range of rewards to pilots who help ship Advanced Catalysers Systems to the technicians aboard Brust Vision before the project enters stage 3.

Result:
Following a monumental surge of support from independent pilots flying in supplies from all over the galaxy, the Angelic Order of Hip 54692 are happy to announce that the 3rd stage of terraforming Hip 54692 3 has now started. Technicians will be monitoring the ongoing transformation process in order to safely guide events as they unfold. This stage of the process is expected to take anywhere from several days to several weeks to complete.

System: Hip 54692
Station: Brust Vision
Objective: Sell Advanced Catalysers to Brust Vision
How: Buy from High Tech stations
Ended: 5 Mar 3301 22:00

Total Contributors: 103
Final Global Progress: 100,906 Tonnes Collected
Final Reward Tier: Tier 2
Final Global Reward: Planet is Terraformed

Final Participation Rewards:
Top 5%: 10,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 15%: 5,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 40%: 2,500,000 Cr + global awards
Top 70%: 1,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 100%: 500,000 Cr + global awards

TERRAFORMING (Khona)

Spoiler

Description:
The Khona People's Party is pleased to announce that Khona 3 has now entered the third stage of its terraforming process. Technicians working for Big G Corporation are currently in the process of preparing the necessary equipment in order to launch the next stage.

Unfortunately due to lack of Auto-Fabricators, the project has been temporarily delayed until such time as an adequate supply of Auto-Fabricators can be obtained.

In order to get the project back on schedule, the Khona People's Party are offering a range of rewards to pilots who help ship Auto-Fabricators to the technicians aboard Ziemianski Enterprise before the project enters stage 3.

Result:
Following a monumental surge of support from independent pilots flying in supplies from all over the galaxy, the Khona People's Party are happy to announce that the 3rd stage of terraforming Khona 3 has now started. Technicians will be monitoring the ongoing transformation process in order to safely guide events as they unfold. This stage of the process is expected to take anywhere from several days to several weeks to complete.

System: Khona
Station: Ziemianski Enterprise
Objective: Sell Auto-Fabricators to Ziemianski Enterprise
How: Buy from High Tech stations
Ended: 6 Mar 3301 04:00

Current Contributors: 147
Current Global Progress: 100,220 Tonnes Collected
Final Reward Tier: Tier 2
Final Global Reward: Planet is Terraformed

Final Participation Rewards:
Top 5%: 10,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 15%: 5,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 40%: 2,500,000 Cr + global awards
Top 70%: 1,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 100%: 500,000 Cr + global awards

TERRAFORMING (Milelbis)

Spoiler

Description:
The Milelbis Independents is pleased to announce that Milelbis 4 has now entered the third stage of its terraforming process. Technicians working for Big G Corporation are currently in the process of preparing the necessary equipment in order to launch the next stage.

Unfortunately due to lack of Robotics, the project has been temporarily delayed until such time as an adequate supply of Robotics can be obtained.

In order to get the project back on schedule, the Milelbis Independents are offering a range of rewards to pilots who help ship Robotics to the technicians aboard Quick Dock before the project enters stage 3.

Result:
Following a monumental surge of support from independent pilots flying in supplies from all over the galaxy, the Milelbis Independents are happy to announce that the 3rd stage of terraforming Milelbis 4 has now started. Technicians will be monitoring the ongoing transformation process in order to safely guide events as they unfold. This stage of the process is expected to take anywhere from several days to several weeks to complete.

System: Milelbis
Station: Quick Dock
Objective: Sell Robotics to Quick Dock
How: Buy from High Tech stations
Ended: 6 Mar 3301 01:00

Total Contributors: 143
Final Global Progress: 100,426 Tonnes Collected
Final Reward Tier: Tier 2
Final Global Reward: Planet is Terraformed

Final Participation Rewards:
Top 5%: 10,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 15%: 5,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 40%: 2,500,000 Cr + global awards
Top 70%: 1,000,000 Cr + global awards
Top 100%: 500,000 Cr + global awards

never checked if they now show as terraformed, will look as soon as I log in

 

[elayeth]

I would start with:
1. additional stellar objects and phenomena...
This inerests me the most:
Add additional stellar phenomena like accretion discs, comets, Oort clouds, solar winds, dark spots on stars, live supernovae, gamma ray bursts, to name a few...

2. Visual enhancements such as aurora, geysers, improved plasma on stars etc....

I would like FD to work on realizm and accuracy of our milky way first.... and than add the fiction stuff....

 

[Dommarraa]

I dream of the astrogation module which has some or all of the following features:
A size 3 or even 4 unit that replaces ads and dss.
Telescope allows zoom in on distant objects
Wavelength filter allows you to switch view to uv, radio, microwave, ir etc
Sky box Telescope, pointing the ship at a visible distant star displays information on the hud
Sky box navigation, all stars within a single jump range appear as targetable objects on the sky box.
Galactic compass, display the relative location of a specified location on mini radar

All this would allow you to wander and wonder instead of just following route plots

 

[elayeth]

I dream of the astrogation module which has some or all of the following features:
A size 3 or even 4 unit that replaces ads and dss.
Telescope allows zoom in on distant objects
Wavelength filter allows you to switch view to uv, radio, microwave, ir etc
Sky box Telescope, pointing the ship at a visible distant star displays information on the hud
Sky box navigation, all stars within a single jump range appear as targetable objects on the sky box.
Galactic compass, display the relative location of a specified location on mini radar

All this would allow you to wander and wonder instead of just following route plots

Very good ideas.

 

[NVNM]

I'd like to see some general QoL features added, like an align-to-target button and an improved scanner that increases the range at which you can begin the scanning process, or maybe a kind of probe that automatically prospects objects inside the system.

 

[Reido]

I've had an idea rolling around in my head about a replacement for the "honk once, discover all" ADS module.

The new device would use parallax to find planets and bodies, but instead of us pilots staring at the screen for hours looking for tiny specks of light moving against the background stars, we have the module highlight anything that appears to move against the background.

It could be a device that we toggle on/off with perhaps a slight coloration or tinting of the outside view slightly to remind us that it's on (like putting a colored filter over a camera lens).

The first 300 or so systems that I scanned were done using the parallax method and I got a real sense of actually "finding" planets. The downside of course to the manual method was the fatigue and eyestrain of staring intently at the screen for hours looking for tiny moving specks, but if the computer does the tedious bit, then we just have to take notice of what the computer has "seen" and pilot the ship to steer toward anything that shows up and use the DSS on it.

Let the computer do the tedious bits, and free the explorer to make the high level decisions as to whether something's worth going after to get a more complete scan.

This automated parallax method would benefit the ships with a good canopy view as well as make it a challenge to find all the bodies in a system, especially the planets orbiting out of the ecliptic plane or the ones very far out.

I'm sure this idea will be VERY unpopular to the "Explorer's" who like to cherry pick what they scan to maximize the credits earned, and will be shot down in so many ways because it slows down the process too much, so I've been reluctant to bring it up before, but I think this is a good time.


Andrew Reid

 

[certhas]

I'd like to see some general QoL features added, like an align-to-target button and an improved scanner that increases the range at which you can begin the scanning process, or maybe a kind of probe that automatically prospects objects inside the system.

I really doubt that will happen as FD already told us they wont add any autopilot functions (well besides the docking computer)

Btw. feel free to discuss all ideas

 

[gooddoc]

We can bounce around all the ideas that we want but we're not sat around the boardroom table with the Dev team.

What needs to be asked is 'Have FD developed the Exploration side of the game as far as they intend to?'.

A question that i'll be putting to Michael's next Q&A

So far Iv never used Wings (update 1.2) & I doubt that I'll pledge to any faction (update 1.3) & make myself a target to the other 9 while out Exploring.

All we see as Explorers are little tweaks here & there in each update, though the impact of these updates seem to create more issues than benefits.
Disconnections - now seems to be resolved.
Double scanning - In April I reported that I was having to double scan one object in each system I visited. Today - 2 months on - I'm now having to double scan nearly half of the objects again.
Selling of data

As Explorers, we want to be out of sight & unsociable, that's why we explore. Maybe the Dev team also see this & push our trade right down the 'to do' list & concentrate on satisfying all the 'pewpew' boy's screams.

Just my opinion, still love the game, chilling & exploring - despite the current issues.

 

[CMDR DoubleSkulls]

I think there are quite a few defects and usability issues I'd like to see fixed as a matter of urgency
1) double honk
2) selling data
3) asteroids

There are tons of new features I'd like to see too
1) More exploration equipment - e.g. longer range or faster planetary scanners, "long jump" fsds with much longer cool down times
2) More non-celestial stuff in space - e.g. outposts (humans - scientific/isolationist), abandoned/destroyed ships, NPC explorers (maybe hostile or not), alien ruins (both planetary and space based), space lifeforms,
3) More diversity in bodies (e.g. ELW ice worlds, "exotic" starts)
4) Less predictability in exploration (i.e. make DSS necessary to differentiate between ELW/WW/HMC etc - at the moment this can be worked out from the system map without a scan
5) Better exploration economy

 

[Andrew Gaspurr]

Hi folks,

I had a couple of ideas in some threads which I can summarize again below:

While we're at it, here's a short list of things I'd like to have for us folks:

- 3D System Map in 'Orrery Mode'
- Enabling waypoints
- 2,500 LY route plotting and also 'plot route from waypoints'
- Make rings and belts worth scanning down
- Make it so that samples can be extracted from rings/asteroids, atmospheres, planet surfaces, a sun's corona, whatever
- 'Onboard Laboratory' module (basically like a Refinery) for analyzing said samples
- Exploration-specific kind of USS (like an 'Unidentified Phenomena Source?') with comets, special asteroids, space debris*, something
- Make certain classes of Gas Giants skimmable for fuel, but maybe with half efficiency?
- Add graphical effects for accretion disks, especially if the dense stellar body orbits another at a precariously low distance

Now, I mentioned samples and a lab to analyze them. What could be done with those samples?

- First of all, samples are quite small and shouldn't take up much space. Say, 1,000 samples would make a ton of space and different Lab classes san store more and more samples. Okay...
- Samples could be sold just as additional data to StelCart
- Samples could add to your PF's Exploration Rank
- Samples could be 'converted' into a new kind of item/commodity like 'Scientific Data' that can be sold to Scientific Outposts
- Samples of Terraforming candidates should be more valuable in any of the above cases

These are just some ideas I have to make Exploration more immersive and worthwhile.

* The Space Debris in such an Unidentified Phenomena Source could be salvaged to do deep space repairs, maybe including hull damage. or you could just sell the alloys like in Elite '84.

And

Since having read this thread and posted some ideas I have also been thinking about the 'missing link' between Inhabited Space and the 'Out There'. One can assume that the factions of Power Play have enough to do to secure their claim and commit most of their resources to do so. Not to mention countering the opposition's agitations. In this setting, exploration only makes sense in one's own vicinity and it is more or less related to resource exploitation and outmaneuvering (i.e. 'flanking') an opponent. You might say, exploration is used for its tactical advantages in the, well, Power Play.

But what do most people do that tend to write in 'Exploration'? They seek the unknown, push to the frontier or limit and want to discover things for the sake of discovering them. You might call this the 'adventurous scientist' approach to all this. This creates a missing link somehow that may be responsible for many an explorer's rumbling and ranting: Speaking about advancing civilisation in terms of exploratory colonisation, it just does'nt make much sense to scout the tens of thousands of square lightyears this galaxy has to offer. It would or could have scientific implications, but the game offers none. What good is it to establish the next best outpost in the Veil Nebula or the Eta Carina Nebula? The efforts would be huge, as well as the risks and the logistics. For the Powers, it just wouldn't make sense as it would be a waste of resources. But they are the ones who decide where to go next, no?

Again, I see a missing ingame link here that would make it even plausible (in 'lore' terms if you want) to do this. The one exception would be to erect a Scientific Outpost there, but like I said, science as an outcome or result of exploration just doesn't take place in the game (yet). Heck! We have some Traveller players in here. The Imperial Interstellar Scout Service (IISS) maintained many, many deep space facilities to ease communication with and between their scouts. What if we could establish those for some absurd reason? Maybe a "Frontier Stellar Cartographics Sales Office" in the Lagoon Nebula or something? It's not that we're short on ideas.

It's that Deep Space, Spiral Arm or Core Exploration is just an incentive for the own ego (in a neutral sense). That's not bad at all but the eagerness with which we share this experience with each other shows, that we want the 'more' of it. And this 'more' is the plausible ingame motivation to do so and that is immersive with the ingame universe. I hope I could convey what I mean, kinda hard to describe it the more I think about it...

I could elaborate on these, if need be...

 

[certhas]

ah you where the one posting the idea to collecting samples. i think we can summarize the satelite idea from katejina and your idea of collecting samples with "idea for a new (consumable) module to collect in depht data"
(sorry, its so hot here i'm to paralyzed to think and write more )

 

[Andrew Gaspurr]

I think one of the easiest things to implement in order to promote exploration is building Scientific Outposts on a one-at-a-time basis. There are so many nebulae and stellar objects that are interesting for the scientific community, I think it's quite plausible to do so. Depending on FD wanting to change the process of selling exploration data, each Outpost could also include a StelCart office to make it a bit easier to cash in and be gone again. It would also create meeting points for explorers to form groups and plan their trips together. I assume the ingame response to such an endeavor would be immense and most welcome.

Hell, we could even start such an ingame event ourselves and present FD with a mission dossier afterwards. Not to put the heat on them, no. To encourage them to honor our concerted efforts, of course