For the sake of their sanity Fdev please. Throw Explorers a bone with this update.

[Jex =TE=]

FD want player interaction above all else. That's what sells units, bottom line and all that. That's why they bend to whims of the git gud crowd.

I can see how exploration is a real challenge for them but fail to understand how they haven't come up with more to find out there. I've spent probably half of my in-game time since the initial release exploring. 525K Ly of it. You'd think that if 'Thargoids' were zipping around near the Pleiades they'd be zipping about in the further, quieter reaches of space. Or there'd be more evidence of past civilisations on the odd planet or space itself here and there. And the nebulae, well once you've seen the 4 or 5 designs there is you've seen them all. There aren't that many so why haven't they been handcrafted? Same with PNs. And I'm yet to see a black hole sucking the life out of a star.

A previous poster mentioned a lack of imagination and as far as exploration is concerned, I'm inclined to agree with them.

Assume 10 million exploration ships

Assume it take 60 second to make the jump to another system and honk.

hourly amount of systems scanned = 60/hour per pilot x 10 million = 600 million systems an hour.

in 2 hours that's 1.2 billion systems.

in one day, 24 hours that's 14,400,000,000 (14.4 billion systems per day)

in a month that's around 432,000,000,000 (432 billion systems)

And the ED universe has been going how many hundreds of YEARS?

There shouldn't be any unexplored regions of space. With space travel and scanning so quick in this game, and given how many centuries, the entire galaxy would be inhabited by now and the next technology we'd be working on is how to get to other galaxies.

Once again, ED's own internally logic collapses on itself.

 

[Lateralus]

most of them are only apply if you are in the bubble, others only apply in specific areas and the rest are generic play.

It still has been given more dev attention than most of you realise or acknowledge... Bounty Hunting, Naval & Piracy have hardly had any attention at all.

 

[Jex =TE=]

I have not done real deep space exploration yet.
I will patiently wait for access to more planet types, like volcanic planets and planets with atmospheres.
That is when it will get really interesting and exploring will become engaging.

I will just have to be patient. FD has its own schedule and I respect that.
I do not think a thread like this will make FD change their schedule... and rightly so.

I'd like to take soil samples and analyze them - maybe add in a Spore mechanic - the version they had before EA came in and ruined it.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I'm not biasing towards combat, I agree it also has been given a lot of attention.



Why are they iffy? They are all features of exploration...

System scientific data (star, planet & nebula types) -> galaxy background information
Wing-shared exploration data -> already covered in cartographers. Wings doesn't add anything
Purchasable exploration-data (galaxy map) -> that is non-exploration!
Material discovery -> If there were unique materials to be found in deep regions of space, sure ... but the materials next door are the same as the other side of the galaxy
Data discovery (signal sources and base scans) -> I do hope you're kidding. Data gets you 4000 credits when you find a satelite or beacon. Base? What base?
Planet-Surface Points of Interest -> Points of "interest" which exist more and more varied in the bubble.
All space-based alien items and mysteries -> You mean the stuff that players use to disable bases? The mysteries are based on sounds and morse code. I'd call the good people engaged in this investigators, or scientists.
Mysterious non-sentient planet life -> Really?
Crashed alien ships -> 1 CMDR finds a crashed ship, the rest comes sightseeing.
Alien ruins -> 1 CMDR finds some ruins, the rest come sight seeing.
Formidine rift mystery ->investigators, scientists
'The missing' mystery ->investigators, scientists
'Raxxla' mystery ->investigators, scientists

I don't know a lot about the mysteries, because I don't do puzzles and morse code. Ah, that famous Edmund Hillary line: "Do you hear that Tenzing? Morse code! That will show us to the top of the mountain!"

 

[Lateralus]

System scientific data (star, planet & nebula types) -> galaxy background information
Wing-shared exploration data -> already covered in cartographers. Wings doesn't add anything
Purchasable exploration-data (galaxy map) -> that is non-exploration!
Material discovery -> If there were unique materials to be found in deep regions of space, sure ... but the materials next door are the same as the other side of the galaxy
Data discovery (signal sources and base scans) -> I do hope you're kidding. Data gets you 4000 credits when you find a satelite or beacon. Base? What base?
Planet-Surface Points of Interest -> Points of "interest" which exist more and more varied in the bubble.
All space-based alien items and mysteries -> You mean the stuff that players use to disable bases? The mysteries are based on sounds and morse code. I'd call the good people engaged in this investigators, or scientists.
Mysterious non-sentient planet life -> Really?
Crashed alien ships -> 1 CMDR finds a crashed ship, the rest comes sightseeing.
Alien ruins -> 1 CMDR finds some ruins, the rest come sight seeing.
Formidine rift mystery ->investigators, scientists
'The missing' mystery ->investigators, scientists
'Raxxla' mystery ->investigators, scientists

I don't know a lot about the mysteries, because I don't do puzzles and morse code. Ah, that famous Edmund Hillary line: "Do you hear that Tenzing? Morse code! That will show us to the top of the mountain!"

A slippery response... All those mysteries require explorers to go find them, investigation comes afterwards.

My point is that other career paths need attention before exploration (and combat!)...

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

A slippery response... All those mysteries require explorers to go find them, investigation comes afterwards.

My point is that other career paths need attention before exploration (and combat!)...

A slippery response? So much for effort.

Our point is: enter system: boing! fly up to planet 1, hang around for scan, fly to planet 2, hang around for scan, etc is a little lean for exploration mechanics after 2 years.

 

[Jex =TE=]

I assume by engine limitations you mean jump range? That has nothing to do with the issues exploration has - all it would do is allow people to cover greater distances while seeing the same things. No, the issue with exploration is not engines or jump ranges but simply the lack of things to actually do in a system. It needs more planetside features to discover, new scanning options like geophysical scans to more easily detect items of interest (instead of the current mindless wandering), ability to make discoveries on the surface that add (significantly) to the income made, and so on. The biggest boon explorers will get is when we can land on planets with life and ecosystems, with all the associated things to discover (and hopefully earn money from), with hopefully the ability to name lifeforms and maybe have missions to collect specimens and such. We need more reasons to linger in a system, such as comets that might be passing through, rogue asteroids passing through and perhaps even to watch as they collide with a planet or moon, skim gas giants for rare materials. The sooner we can at least land on planets with atmospheres the better exploration will be, and I'm really hoping the 2.4 surprise is the first iteration of this (ie atmospheres but not planets with ecosystems/complex life).

Edit: I see from Liqua's post that you may have actually been referring to the game engine. Apologies if that was the case as I hadn't thought of that. Been seeing too much of people wanting longer jump ranges I think so naturally thought that was what you meant.

You touch on a good point though. Jump range increase is something we don't care about if there's stuff to discover. Jump range only matters when you want to get somewhere quick. The system right next to you could be a thousand times more interesting that one a 1000 LY's away. If there's stuff to investigate and discover, each system becomes a treasure trove and you'll probably find explorers wanting to "cluster" their exploration efforts.

 

[Lateralus]

Our point is: enter system: boing! fly up to planet 1, hang around for scan, fly to planet 2, hang around for scan, etc is a little lean for exploration mechanics after 2 years.

I agree, it's as dull as dishwater (I went to the formidine rift a few weeks back, finger was hovering over self-destruct most of the way back), but exploration has had all sorts of things added to it in season 2, where as the other careers I mentioned have had nothing whatsoever... first things first.

 

[Red Fox Four]

I took a trip out to Sag A while back and was so underwhelmed by it all I killed myself right there on the spot.

That part right there cracked me up so much I had to literally bite my tongue here at the office

 

[Mengy]

My point is that other career paths need attention before exploration (and combat!)...

Your point is not a very good one then. You list an awful lot of general QoL improvements and main Elite storyline stuff as “exploration content”. However, your list only serves to prove the main point of neglect for exploration: a lack of game mechanics. Since 1.0 exploration has gained next to nothing with regards to mechanics:

- First discovery tags
- Neutron jumps
- FSD boosts

And that’s it. No other new mechanics for explorers since 1.0. Some new content, but no ways to engage or interact with them. And please don’t come back at me with “planet landings added a quintillion of square meters for explorers to explore in!”. Horizons added much more for combat than it did for explorers, we have absolutely nothing to do on planet surfaces other than sightsee, and NO sightseeing is not a game mechanic, it’s what we do to pass the time due to a lack of game mechanics!!!!

The list of new combat mechanics is more than triple this, with far more profound impacts to how combat players play the game. So sorry Lateralus, your attempt to paint exploration as being super content and feature rich is very poor.

 

[verminstar]

Why are they iffy? They are all features of exploration...

Anything to do with the mysteries and aliens is made fer the canon part of the game that is only played by a relatively small number of players. Jacques and colonia is as much a part of the devs plan to create a new bubble, and while they needed exploration to get the ball rolling on that, it is not needed now in any shape or form. It exists because its remote, but it does nothing for explorers other thyan its a convenience...an alternative to going back to ganktown fer simple repairs, srv restocking that sorta thing.

Many the other aspects like data collections and data discoveries cease to exist more than 15klys out with the most useful of these being in the bubble itself as an integral part of missions.

The alien ruins are a cut and paste job placed close to the bubble fer PR purposes and have nothing to do with exploration after the initial find. Again, canon nonsense that very few players take part in because most of it is out of game role play anyway. Theres also the part where the FD approved method of finding them is the mk1 eyeball...wanna guess how engaging that is?

The mysterious non sentient alien life is something yer told exists on certain gas giants...ye cant actually see anything because theres nothing there.

Crashed alien ships? Is that plural because thyere really arent that many...same with geysers which as rare as hens teeth. The neutron highway...made fer the trip back and forth to jacques which has already been covered. Makes courier and freight services easier but also just a convenience fer explorers looking to put distance down fast.

I could go on...but whats the point?

 

[Zeeman]

The thing is you guys ask for stuff for exploration but don't suggest anything, even if they added comets etc it would get stale etc.

Actually... Funny you should make such a claim.

Z...

 

[Jex =TE=]

They added tons of things for explorers in 2.2. Most explorers take a lot of pictures and will get a lot from the new camera. They will also hopefully fix the beige planets bug. However from the sounds you simply are not an explorer. I suspect you will never like exploration. I suggest you stop trying to tell yourself otherwise and do something else.

The real explorers here would seem to disagree with you.

- - - Updated - - -

The last game with a heavy emphasis on exploration did not do so well (No Man's Sky). Turns out exploration does not suit a short attention span.

Holy cow batman!

You must be the only person in the universe who doesn't know why NMS failed....

 

[CMDR Pugwash]

It still has been given more dev attention than most of you realise or acknowledge... Bounty Hunting, Naval & Piracy have hardly had any attention at all.

Except you cannot explain how.

I would like to see those professions given more attention too though. I think we're all tiered of the shiny cosmetic additions to the game taking precedent over the core mechanics that we so passionately believe would benefit everyone.

 

[Zeeman]

A slippery response? So much for effort.

Our point is: enter system: boing! fly up to planet 1, hang around for scan, fly to planet 2, hang around for scan, etc is a little lean for exploration mechanics after 2 years.

And they nerf'd canyons, and made all the planets beige, to top it off.

For Realism™!!!

Z...

 

[Jex =TE=]

Yeah I meant game engine here.

I do want longer ranges. Not exponentially so, but longer. My time is limited and I can't watch load screens for an hour a night. Not worth my time, to be honest.

Either range needs increased or load times need drastically reduced.

Neither, give us an exploration mechanice that leaves you exploring just one system for hours, days or weeks!

 

[Lateralus]

Your point is not a very good one then. You list an awful lot of general QoL improvements and main Elite storyline stuff as “exploration content”. However, your list only serves to prove the main point of neglect for exploration: a lack of game mechanics. Since 1.0 exploration has gained next to nothing with regards to mechanics:

- First discovery tags
- Neutron jumps
- FSD boosts

And that’s it. No other new mechanics for explorers since 1.0. Some new content, but no ways to engage or interact with them. And please don’t come back at me with “planet landings added a quintillion of square meters for explorers to explore in!”. Horizons added much more for combat than it did for explorers, we have absolutely nothing to do on planet surfaces other than sightsee, and NO sightseeing is not a game mechanic, it’s what we do to pass the time due to a lack of game mechanics!!!!

The list of new combat mechanics is more than triple this, with far more profound impacts to how combat players play the game. So sorry Lateralus, your attempt to paint exploration as being super content and feature rich is very poor.

You're misrepresenting my argument completely. I'm saying Exploration has had more attention than other career paths since the beginning of season 2.... Crashed ships, formadine bases and alien ruins required quite a lot of development, as did the star changes and planet surface gameplay (not 100% exploration I admit). What about the others?

Trade? Nothing
Piracy? Hatch-breakers can go through shields, wooo..
Bounty Hunting? Wings are going to be able to share bounties, should have been that way all along.
Navy? So placeholder I can practically read 'hello world' in the game files
Smuggling? Probably the most with long-range missions, but still not as much as exploration or combat.

 

[Theodrid]

I agree, it's as dull as dishwater (I went to the formidine rift a few weeks back, finger was hovering over self-destruct most of the way back), but exploration has had all sorts of things added to it in season 2, where as the other careers I mentioned have had nothing whatsoever... first things first.

If the things added, (really not that much to be honest), are 'dull as dishwater' then those things have in fact added naff all in terms of the depth and expansion of the exploration mechanics. That would suggest that exploration indeed needs another, much more thought out and serious series of improvements. In my book at least that keeps exploration right at the top of what should be Frontier's priority list, sure, bounty hunting and piracy, (and others), are desperate for some love too but no more so than exploration in a lot of cases and considerable less in many others.

 

[Jex =TE=]

Aah, just imagine, getting yourself ready for the unknown, jumping in it, having no idea where you are.

For the same reason I hope someday we'll get FSD malfunctions, and jump in a totally random place ^^

LMAO as soon as I read "wormholes" I was like, yeah, have me jump into a system somewhere and not be able to recongize the star field and ...oooookay, how am I going to work out where I am from here....

- - - Updated - - -

They gave you planet landing in 2.0 with limitless exploration, alien discovery sites & new missions, new functions for scanning discovery, increased FSD..etc

what did we get for combat since 2.0?

- Useless launcher fighters (2.2)
- 1 bug fixing and balance patch (2.1)
- Engineers like you (everybody got something out of it)
- Oh apparently they improved piracy (2.0) lol...

calm down horizon has been mostly focused on exploration more than any other profession. Just because they are focusing on combat (now) that doesn't imply they won't release more stuff for explorers.

Your post shows you have no idea what exploration is.

Since launch, there's been CQC, powerplay, RNGIneers not to mention SCB's, new weapons and hull reinforcements, planets with bots to fight though I'm not sure what planet you are on or what you've been smoking. ED has been nothing but combat updates since launch how on earth can you say otherwise?

 

[Jex =TE=]

Oh no, I am begging to differ! I do know what I am talking about, and you skipped over the part that you can take friends out sight seeing. Nothing you can argue changes that basic fact.

Passenger missions were also a bone to explorers, by giving them an option to have 'missions' other than pick a nebula and go (both ways are perfectly valid and awesome ways to gain explorer rank).

The problem with some (not necessarily you but you aren't helping your case) explorers, that's not good enough, or the bone they were looking to be tossed. Which, yes, comes off as entitled as I understand the meaning of the word.

But rather than go straight ad froginum why not argue against having friends along to explore with you and operate your scanners for you (which they certainly can in an Asp Explorer) isn't a valid addition to exploring? THere's even a find ship feature for exploring.

"operate your scanners for you"





BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA!!! that actually made me LOL

- - - Updated - - -

Goalpost moving. Passenger missions, taking people to see exotic stars, etc, or researchers out into the void, is like textbook "Seek strange new worlds" space adventure.

So really the only thing you can complain about, and you have my axe for this one, is why a 1 ton scanner can't fit onto a utility hardpoint that can take a 1.3 ton whatever else.

That'd be a cool valid complaint, why don't we work on that one first?

Tourism is not exploring. Maybe try listening to the people who know what they're talking about around here?