FDEV should reconsider the odds to find something interesting with the FSS in the galaxy: my opinion after DW2

[VR SenseiMatty]

Following DW2 expedition (reached yesterday Semotus Beacon, beyond Beagle Point) I could test the new exploration gameplay as I wished since the release of Beyond 3.3.
My TL;DR conclusion is that FDEV should reconsider the odds to find something interesting in the galaxy (stellar phenomena and biological signals) and increase the variety by far!
It's true that during this expedition I found myself rushing sometime so I also skipped some region but in general this is what I discovered in 3 months of exploration:

• Notable Phenomena: ZERO, NULL, NADA!!! Only the ones at the waypoints but I didn't discovered anything completely new to put my name on the codex.
• Biological POI's: 1 Brain Tree and 2-3 Bark Mounds (plus the ones at the Waypoints of interest).
• ELW: these are also extremely rare, I think I've discovered only 3-4 in total (except the ones at WP's of course).

Surface Mapping: this mini game has become boring and repetitive too quickly: mapping planets (not gas giants that are worthless - such a shame!) is so easy that even an Excel Macro would do it. All planets require 6-7 probes and the pattern is always the same!!!!! There should be some magnetic field or gravitational anomalies around planets to deviate the probes pattern in order to make this game a bit more challenging. Does anyone remeber "Worms"? Similar basíc gameplay but the wind was constantly changing the ballistic (just as an example).

So it is my opinion that exploration is still empty gameplay. FDEV is on the good way but there's still a lot to do so they should not underestimate the effort to make it good.
We have the tools now, true that, but the gameloop is too short because the probes mini game is soon repetitive and the things to find are too sparse and too rare (consider also the bug of the loading time to scan POI's on surface). Moreover the few features that are more common are not varied enough (lava spout, geyser etc. there is some variation but they're always basically the very same thing and you intearct with all of these in the very same way).

 

[Deleted member 38366]

Having placed Codex 1st Discoveries in the last days/weeks in multiple Sectors, my advice : do your homework before venturing out

By now it's clear that random travel through the black carries exceedingly slim chances of stumbling across something.

This means Codex must be studied very carefully and individual Systems or Star classes selected accordingly as candidates, including ~100LY-125LY bubbles around any Nebula (preferably mini-nebulae others might have overlooked in regard to the Codex).
Additionally, picking realistic potential Targets is crucial. Alot of Codex entries are far more rare than others.

That'll drastically alter the plotted course and suitable waypoints, but that's the price for optimizing the chances if a Codex 1st Discovery for a Sector is intended.
The rest of course remains pure luck, so a high sample rate and alot of discipline/patience remains mandatory.

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

Your explanation is fine but talking about DW2 and going to beagle point is a different story. Zero is a really bad number after thousands of jumps. My new cmdr hit also the 100,000 ly traveled. So there's no excuse for the poor odds in this case. Even on a beaten path chances should be higher to have some fun in the game... 'Cause don't forget it's still a game and it's meant to entertain the player

 

[Sysmon]

'Cause don't forget it's still a game and it's meant to entertain the player

The galaxy is huge and while it seems reasonable to lament that there really isn't that much variety to discover besides barren landscapes and similar-looking star types, increasing the frequency of some things to the absurd just so some won't have to think about how to find them is not the answer. One of the charms of ED is the attempt of keeping the game world itself somewhat realistic (within reason). Otherwise I do feel the pain, having traversed the Formidine Rift over the last little while and found very little of the new things to discover (no anomalies, no lagrange business).

It is also a charm that the game is relying on us to entertain ourselves, I think. If I just need entertaining, I would play something hand-holdy like Mass Effect. Or, as I do when I'm not out in the black, Crash Bandicoot. In both of those games, I could similarly ruin the entertainment value by running blindly around. It is just easier to do so in Elite Dangerous.

S

 

[thistle]

I'm shocked it wasn't enough for you.

I've found lagrange clouds in undiscovered systems probably half a dozen times, they didn't show up in the codex because they weren't new types, but still. And I didn't go all that far. I do think one of the things they should do is feed out additional things as part of this year up to the 2020 release. Maybe they will.

Still, you got the new skin for your DW2 ship, I thought that was the most important thing.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

Your explanation is fine but talking about DW2 and going to beagle point is a different story. Zero is a really bad number after thousands of jumps. My new cmdr hit also the 100,000 ly traveled. So there's no excuse for the poor odds in this case. Even on a beaten path chances should be higher to have some fun in the game... 'Cause don't forget it's still a game and it's meant to entertain the player

Having had 50k/70k LY "Codex miss" runs myself - I fully understand where you're coming from.

Thing is, there's plenty of "common" Codex types that are reasonably common but still rare enough to warrant taking time to investigate.
I just fear if such items were to become significantly more common, they'd lose that special moment when you finally manage to stumble upon one.

I kinda compare it to finding i.e. an untagged Ringed ELW (found my 2nd ever a short while ago) or Binary ELWs. Or one around a cold star.
Those are really personal moments because they're extremely rare.

So while I sure would like some more distractions/shinies during my own travels, I've come to accept that many of those items just are very rare on random travels.

PS.
Other than that, I sure would like if we could do more with those things, and discover that those things have some background, function, benefit and/or danger to them.
Plus, a Sector 1st Discovery sure should pay far better than those 50k Cr - especially if it's a very rare item discovered.

 

[Sysmon]

Agreeing with Falconfly here. If you go out to find the rarest things in the game, you run into the 400.000.000.000-stars-and-few-PoI-varieties problem. So tempering expectations is good for the soul. But as Thistle said above, more stuff may be percolating into the game over the next year or so, so there should be more goodies to find.

Currently I'm heading towards the galactic edge, but wasn't going to do so until I had found some biology in areas where it hadn't been described from before. After a few hundred jumps across the Rift, I did find some. Not new types of biology, but stuff far from described locations. That was a great moment. I do hope to see lagrange clouds and such later on, but I'm not expecting them until I get near nebulae again. I did look a bit around Heart and Soul, without luck.

Patience and planning is the key. Or maybe it was planning and patience.

S

 

[CMDR Snailman]

ELW: these are also extremely rare, I think I've discovered only 3-4 in total (except the ones at WP's of course).

During my last deep space exploration tour I discovered 28 ELW in 3699 jumps, so that's been roughly 1 ELW every 130 systems.

 

[Vasious]

So far I have found the Notable Phenomena okay to stumble across traveling, I just set the Nav Panel filter to only show them so easy to see if they in system at a glance.

If you are looking for known ones looking at the traits help you narrow down where to look to find them.

Same for the biological, the areas to look for them from their existing descriptions pays off.

For fining something as yet unknown?
Outside of luck
I believe that will be what the rumours will be used for, to provide hints and directions as to where people should look.

 

[Drelthar]

Variety is needed more than quantity.

 

[[VR] M4st0d0n]

IMO the surface scan range is too short, should be allowed before getting in the mud of a gravity well.

 

[WR3ND]

During my last deep space exploration tour I discovered 28 ELW in 3699 jumps, so that's been roughly 1 ELW every 130 systems.

My odds are somewhere around there as well, maybe at least out of every few hundred systems or so, I'm bound to find one or often more ELW systems. That's assuming I bother checking though, and these days with the FSS mechanics, I often don't bother, as I don't find it to be compelling gameplay for general exploration.

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

I'm shocked it wasn't enough for you.

I'm shocked you consider my ZERO discoveries (notable phenomena) in 3 months enough for my own entertainment . You probably underestimated me
When fdev showed the space thunderstorm in space as a new exploration feature I certainly expected it to be something that anyone sooner or later could find... I mean not that later...

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

I am also on DW2 and have had nothing put into the codex from what I can tell. It doesn't bother me. It's not the reason why I go exploring anyway.

 

[Zed]

• Notable Phenomena: 6 or 7, One new codex entry after leaving beagle point.
• Biological POI's: 20+.
• ELW: 20+ at least 5 first discovered.

Wasn't bad but I feel I'd have done better going my own route.

 

[Crook]

Great idea to introduce skill / fun into surface scanning. Maybe there could be a visualisation of magnetic field lines or gravity fluctuations etc that you have to fire around / take account of. Still, every layer will get repetitive eventually but the efficiency bonus would mean something more like that. And I loved worms

I also think we need variety with probes. Infinite amount of the most basic ones - call them class 1 probes - but what about class 2 - 5 probes being introduced. Either for purchase, engineering or manufacture, but limited. Multi planet probes, orbiting probes that you can leave there (just make it easy and have them only visible to you so no need to go populating them in instances) which would relay new data to you remotely. How cool would it be to have 'Thargoids detected!' come in from a probe you left weeks ago, or some such procedural data. Maybe a reason to go back - 'Stellar anomaly detected!' and you have to go back and scan the star again. Then you can have long range probes, biological probes (stop that), geological etc. Probing alone can give you a layer to the game - maybe data analyser can be a class 1 slot now we all have new ones, and you'd equip for geology, make geology probes and off you go. Requiring a wing or multiple slots to get the full data from a planet (geo, bio, gravimetric, atmospheric and so on)

 

[Stealthie]

At the risk of stating the obvious, the "problem" is simply that the galaxy is very big.

Put stuff in the game that's truly rare and chances are that nobody will ever find it.
Conversely, if there's stuff in the game that's common enough that people are likely to find it, it'll be considered mundane.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing more stuff, regardless of how "mundane" it is.
Maybe FDev could design some small "settlements" which look like they're built from crashed Annies or T9 with some tarp's attached and some cargo racks strewn around and then get the Stellar Forge to drop 'em onto likely planets?

 

[VR SenseiMatty]

I don't know why everyone believe that these phenomena are rare in real world. Lagrange points are quite common... Scientist find 3 only around Earth. For the rest we know very few about phenomena that we can't observe with our telescopes and radiotelescopes so the reslism is not a valid reason to keep this gameplay so rare

 

[Stealthie]

I don't know why everyone believe that these phenomena are rare in real world. Lagrange points are quite common... Scientist find 3 only around Earth. For the rest we know very few about phenomena that we can't observe with our telescopes and radiotelescopes so the reslism is not a valid reason to keep this gameplay so rare

Trouble is, in ED we don't have the tools that real scientists have.

By way of analogy, we're "exploring" with the same level of tools that, perhaps, William Dampier had back in the 1600s.

For us to find anything in ED, it has to be stuck right under our noses - and then we can only interact with it by shooting at it.

Said it before but, for the exploration update, I would have liked to see FDev create a variety of "science lab" modules, that'd work a bit like SRV bays, and then you could load them up with different bits of scientific kit in order to complete various science-based missions or make scientific discoveries.

Guess the main problem, there, might have been the effort required to actually create the things for us to research.

 

[WR3ND]

...

The auto tune to next channel on my radio honk broke. At least it had the decency of going ahead and tossing itself out of one of my size one module slots. Since then the module slot has somehow reproduced, spawning two more empty size one module slots. Seems all sorts of strange things happen out in the void...