Has FD Hinted at Any "Unknown Permit" Sectors Being Unlocked?
- Thread starter Leadfoot
- Start date
"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones. " (Donald Rumsfeld)
Frontier only allows David Braben's kids, employees, moderators, friends and family of employees, moderators, and all their kids to play in those areas marked as "Unknown Permits" and they are all locked out of Open. Only two of those "Unknown Permits" are for FDev's. One is for testing and the other is for meetings.
Let's leave it that way. We don't want them messing up a perfectly good game the rest of us enjoy.
Let's leave it that way. We don't want them messing up a perfectly good game the rest of us enjoy.
Nope. In fact, there's only ever been more sectors locked than what we started with. Meanwhile, all "New Content" has just been popping up overnight in already-explored regions... which is a bit naff.
Really doesn't make any sense if those are closed off for "future content". Cone Sector, Col <###> Sectors around Barnard's Loop, all unlocked at launch... now locked.
Really doesn't make any sense if those are closed off for "future content". Cone Sector, Col <###> Sectors around Barnard's Loop, all unlocked at launch... now locked.
I used to play Black & White. In the temple there was a room marked for future content .... I never did find out what the future content was, I think they stopped developing the game before they got that far.
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It's just crazy... like, HIP 22460, was just another system, then it got a permit lock, thargoid structure and overlook, the megaship at the crux of a bunch of still- unresolved mysteries. Then there's the thargoid probe pointing to col-70- whatever, and the thargoid link triangulating off the same system and featuring the system's structure in the unknown signal spectrograms... or the main guardian ruin cluster abruptly ending at regor Sector... or the cone sector being locked as a hub of thargoid activity... and that's without going anywhere near things of historical interest like Polaris.
Effort goes in to making these things that are locked off... it makes no sense to do that. With the direction of the current story arcs, there's seemingly nothing hinting at these things being resolved anytime soon, despite being outstanding for years now. It just doesn't make sense for FD to leave them like this.
Arf mentioned permits as one of the things possible in the current story arcs. Not sure if he was talking about regions or systems. I'm happy enough they leave the permits in until there is something interesting in those areas - they're easy to navigate around, though some do seem to struggle with navigation that isn't just a straight line.
Remember that well.
I'd parked my Asp Explorer on the actual Planet in HIP 22460 the night before the update, knowing that something big was gonna happen there
............it did!....
....after the update, I found my Asp had been 'transported' to a nearby Mining Base & the System had been LOCKED OFF
. I could view the System & see the Overlook above the Planet I'd been parked on....
........it's STILL the first thing I check after every update since what? 2, 3, 4 years ago now
.....Then Frontier wonder why players give them stick at times
I initially agreed with Jmanis that they should be using the locked areas for new stuff, and I think that was fdev's original plan, but now think they realised that it won't work.
1) The Thargoids have now appeared in 4 different nebulae - Pleiades, California, Witch Head and Coalsack. If fdev had carried on using permit locks what would have happened?
a) If they used locked nebulae they would have run out of locations
b) If they used locked sectors they would be running out - and the locations are just boring starfields, not nebulae
c) If they used selected systems from a permit locked area they end up with all new stuff being right against the remaining locked systems - so people who have issues navigating would be constantly complaining
2) The Guardians have appeared in multiple tranches too - Ruins, then the smaller Structures, finally larger Structures and Beacons.
a) Structures appear all the way out from the core out past the bubble - and near nebulae. So again fdev would have run out of locked nebulae.
b) If you used different regions for each reveal then the types of structure / ruins would have been implausibly segregated - it makes more sense that they're all close by (apart from the initial reveal when previously empty systems now have finds)
3) Other organics. These are spread around the galaxy. I don't think anyone is seriously saying they should be only in locations that were previously locked
4) What I like to call 'the HIP 22460 issue', as illustrated by goodoc
5) ... and finally if you only add new stuff in locked areas you will run out of areas, so you'll end up adding things in explored areas anyway, so why not do it now?
I get the feeling fdev went with the thought "better lock an area for future use, bound to come in handy" at the start, then when they started looking at adding stuff realised it wouldn't work - and that the number of people who would even notice would be small. I think there are probably less than 10 who notice when all the bio signals move around on planets / systems at major releases, for instance, and only a few more than that care about NSPs appearing and disappearing.
We may get some areas unlocks as Arf alluded, but I doubt there will be more there than a couple of barnacles and a bored Thargoid checking your parking ticket
1) The Thargoids have now appeared in 4 different nebulae - Pleiades, California, Witch Head and Coalsack. If fdev had carried on using permit locks what would have happened?
a) If they used locked nebulae they would have run out of locations
b) If they used locked sectors they would be running out - and the locations are just boring starfields, not nebulae
c) If they used selected systems from a permit locked area they end up with all new stuff being right against the remaining locked systems - so people who have issues navigating would be constantly complaining
2) The Guardians have appeared in multiple tranches too - Ruins, then the smaller Structures, finally larger Structures and Beacons.
a) Structures appear all the way out from the core out past the bubble - and near nebulae. So again fdev would have run out of locked nebulae.
b) If you used different regions for each reveal then the types of structure / ruins would have been implausibly segregated - it makes more sense that they're all close by (apart from the initial reveal when previously empty systems now have finds)
3) Other organics. These are spread around the galaxy. I don't think anyone is seriously saying they should be only in locations that were previously locked
4) What I like to call 'the HIP 22460 issue', as illustrated by goodoc
"If you hide stuff in known locations then people know where to look. Which sucks from a gameplay perspective."....it's STILL the first thing I check after every update since what? 2, 3, 4 years ago now
5) ... and finally if you only add new stuff in locked areas you will run out of areas, so you'll end up adding things in explored areas anyway, so why not do it now?
I get the feeling fdev went with the thought "better lock an area for future use, bound to come in handy" at the start, then when they started looking at adding stuff realised it wouldn't work - and that the number of people who would even notice would be small. I think there are probably less than 10 who notice when all the bio signals move around on planets / systems at major releases, for instance, and only a few more than that care about NSPs appearing and disappearing.
We may get some areas unlocks as Arf alluded, but I doubt there will be more there than a couple of barnacles and a bored Thargoid checking your parking ticket
If FD didnt repeatedly punch these people in the face, a lot more MIGHT care.
I've been punched too many times to care. 30 hours of eyesballing Merope 5c was enough for me.
Considering it's such a small fraction of systems that are locked off, it doesn't really matter much at all. Personally, I like a little mystery. FD have hinted multiple times that there still are mysteries in the game that people haven't yet found.
I'm going to go out on a limb here, and really despise all this nebula-centric stuff FD have been doing. I don't have much more to it than that. Everybody will cite a bunch of stuff like "this is why life would thrive in a nebula/lore stuff/whatever", but all it does is encourage this notion that the key to exploring is just get to the nebula as fast as possible and ignore the vast swaths in between.I initially agreed with Jmanis that they should be using the locked areas for new stuff, and I think that was fdev's original plan, but now think they realised that it won't work.
1) The Thargoids have now appeared in 4 different nebulae - Pleiades, California, Witch Head and Coalsack. If fdev had carried on using permit locks what would have happened?
a) If they used locked nebulae they would have run out of locations
b) If they used locked sectors they would be running out - and the locations are just boring starfields, not nebulae
c) If they used selected systems from a permit locked area they end up with all new stuff being right against the remaining locked systems - so people who have issues navigating would be constantly complaining
2) The Guardians have appeared in multiple tranches too - Ruins, then the smaller Structures, finally larger Structures and Beacons.
a) Structures appear all the way out from the core out past the bubble - and near nebulae. So again fdev would have run out of locked nebulae.
b) If you used different regions for each reveal then the types of structure / ruins would have been implausibly segregated - it makes more sense that they're all close by (apart from the initial reveal when previously empty systems now have finds)
3) Other organics. These are spread around the galaxy. I don't think anyone is seriously saying they should be only in locations that were previously locked
4) What I like to call 'the HIP 22460 issue', as illustrated by goodoc
"If you hide stuff in known locations then people know where to look. Which sucks from a gameplay perspective."
5) ... and finally if you only add new stuff in locked areas you will run out of areas, so you'll end up adding things in explored areas anyway, so why not do it now?
I get the feeling fdev went with the thought "better lock an area for future use, bound to come in handy" at the start, then when they started looking at adding stuff realised it wouldn't work - and that the number of people who would even notice would be small. I think there are probably less than 10 who notice when all the bio signals move around on planets / systems at major releases, for instance, and only a few more than that care about NSPs appearing and disappearing.
We may get some areas unlocks as Arf alluded, but I doubt there will be more there than a couple of barnacles and a bored Thargoid checking your parking ticket
And while I get what you're saying, it still doesn't really explain why FD went ahead and locked more places as time went on. If I take everything you've said as gospel, then FD have just painted themselves into a corner with their story arcs and the reality is, nothing's ever going to come of them. And that's pretty trash. But if that's really the situation they're much better off to just cut their losses and unlock most of the areas. Unlock HIP 22460 and wear the hit of "Yeah look, just another megaship and a thargoid structure, woo" instead of stringing along something they're never going to use.
In short (a bit of a tl;dr), they've got two avenues out here.
- Actually use the permit locked areas for their story development; or
- Cut their losses, unlock them and just leave it at "Yeah look, nothing here/stuff you've already seen"
Buy Arx
It was exactly that probe pointing to the COL 70 Sector and this latest Halloween event that had me wondering if they might have hinted at something being unlocked and I might have missed it. I mean they certainly don't have to unlock EVERY locked system. Even one or two "out-of-the-way" areas might be interesting.
Agree completely with your post. Regarding this particular aspect, though, although I still agree, I think that it also has a bit to do with the plotter being relatively unable to "plot around" combined with the false impression of new players that if the plotter says "impossible", then it means that there isn't a way to get there in the current ship. Too much confidence in the plotter, in short.
Then combine that with a lot of new players having no idea that "locked zones" exist or where they are...
I, personally, am totally fine with the plotter, though, but I've been playing for a while, so...
OOOH! Don't be saying that, with the NERF hammer a'swinginNo need anymore... I get enough playing the game.
Bottom line is they a sadist lol well..kinda.. nore importantly col 70 is a huge mystery! People say its for development others say future events, who knows? This game is so huge! More importantly delphi is the centre of the universe and greek mythology is tied into the game heavily, will we find raxxla? The dark wheel? Will we see a thargoid mother ship? Home base for them? Will odessy frighten us out of our skin with thargoids? Who knows? Im not going to buy Odessey for pvp, no thanks, but i will for exploration and thargoid battles, hopefully they get Odessey right and it can run along side horizons without screwing up the game, i will forever search for raxxla and the darkwheel.
Wait until they unlock Polaris and we find out the Secret Order Of Necromancers were behind everything all along!*
*And SirTj obvs.
*And SirTj obvs.