I learn't early on that you watch it on youtube so I agree that FD seems to have a problem.
How to deliver an in-game narrative (John Jameson)
- Thread starter Globusdiablo
- Start date
1) Disagree.
I'd say it's necessary to make the new content readily available but I think it's kind of narrow-minded to insist that's done within the game - especially when we're talking about a multiplayer game.
It's a brave new world and the days when you bought a CD, stuck it in your PC and then locked yourself away in a darkened room and immersed yourself in a game are in the past.
People like the folks at Canonn, Inara and EDDB are actually part of ED now, regardless of whether the stuff they produce is actually in-game or not.
To me, it feels like ED has escaped the confines of it's own programming and is leaking into "real life" and I find that paradoxically immersive.
Said it before but I dunno if FDev operate like this deliberately but it definitely seems to work and they should go with it.
2) Sort of agree.
Not keen on everything being completely "dumbed down" (get a mission which tells you to find Jameson's ship in X system, go there, honk, get a POI, select it and fly toward it) but it'd be nice if we had some tools which assisted us in finding out and doing things for ourselves.
3) Agree.
I agree with the premise but disagree with your conclusion.
The requirements needed to partake in surface-based content ARE abundantly clear. Specifically, an SRV.
Every mission that involves landing on the surface of a planet flat-out TELLS you that an SRV will be required to complete the mission.
If you aren't capable of absorbing that information and then applying it to content which doesn't lead you by the hand, I'm afraid there's little more that can be done to help you.
What's next, you're going to complain that a COD game didn't specifically tell you that you need to equip a gun every time a mission begins?
Achilles7
Banned
No. It's more like how to have pity and forbearance towards passive aggressive posters without stooping to their level. As they will beat you with experience as you well know.
It's a slippery slope.
No, no, just no! EDDB is NOT part of ED. Neither is reddit or this forum. Technically using external sources is cheating. It is the same as using a walkthrough. These information should be in-game. It is lazy and really bad design to rely on external sources. The game is not playable without them (a large part of the game), so you are basically forced to cheat. But the information in the internet is too much for the most part. There should be design: How are player supposed to perform certain tasks? Currently such design does not seem to exists. And if the design is with the actual in game methods i am out of words.
No. It's more like how to have pity and forbearance towards passive aggressive posters without stooping to their level. As they will beat you with experience as you well know.
Do you think that's what is happening every time somebody disagrees with you?
I mean, if this is the first time you've ever landed on a planet surface, fair enough.
learn from the experience and move on.
If, OTOH, you've already used an SRV, complaining that nobody told you to take an SRV to go an explore a POI on a planet surface is pretty weak.
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Does anyone know how or why the crash site was discovered in the first place?
Like, why was that planet being scoured in the first place given it's not referenced in any of the INRA logs, Listening Posts, or Comms Beacons?
Are there people literally flying slowly across the entire surface area of planets in the hope of finding 'something'? Especially since these bases and the crash site do not show up as a POI on the scanner.
I have a hard time believing someone just stumbled across this - there must have been a reason to look for it in the first place, even if they didn't know what specifically they expected to find there.
Does anyone know?
Like, why was that planet being scoured in the first place given it's not referenced in any of the INRA logs, Listening Posts, or Comms Beacons?
Are there people literally flying slowly across the entire surface area of planets in the hope of finding 'something'? Especially since these bases and the crash site do not show up as a POI on the scanner.
I have a hard time believing someone just stumbled across this - there must have been a reason to look for it in the first place, even if they didn't know what specifically they expected to find there.
Does anyone know?
Basically, yep.
There are a variety of things you can do to help with finding stuff (of varying degrees of dodginess), from looking for SysSec ships in apparently uninhabited systems to twiddling with your gfx settings to make surface POIs more visible and even monitoring your PCs CPU usage.
There was an INRA base found on the planet next to Jameson's crash site so I guess people were already looking for something in that system and they found more than one thing.
Just thought I'd take a minute (as a non-Canonn player) to say that, although I know it's meant as hyperbole, it's also completely untrue.
No discoveries of consequence in-game have required any form of spectralanalysis of sound waves or anything like that. People do it because that's their thing, taking things up to 11 and the like.
- Thargoid Sensor morse is easily listened to without any aids, as is the Thargoid Link/Probe octal signals.
- Image in the Thargoid Probe signal when honking a disco scanner doesn't actually needed for anything in the game.
- Likewise, the image from the Unknown Signals collected from Thargoid Structures isn't actually required for anything in the game.
Everything else is either by dumb luck, bugs, or in some rare occasions some good old fashioned judgement and guesswork.
The only grey zone is listing to the probe/sensor/link signals. I can happily listen to a Thargoid Sensor's morse and understand it, but comprehending the Probe/Link octal signals is beyond me, so I'd need a spectrogram of the signal to visually see the data. But that's a capability thing; many can't hear or comprehend the morse. That said, there's still no practical use in-game for the morse signals being emitted, nor the probe's octal signal other than to pinpoint one of the Col 70 systems which is permit locked anyway.
The Thargoid Link octal signal is the only thing that is used practically in-game, and this is used to discover the in-system location of Thargoid structures. But since some of these can be found just by following messages left in various wrecks and the like, this is only really if you have a burning desire for more of the same. Those wrecks that lead you to the structures, and anything else can be discovered by anyone from... wait for it.... pretty much dumb luck.
And getting back to the OP somewhat, I do have a considerable issue with this. We have some *great* mechanics in-game that can be used to deliver the storyline directly to players, without throwing down a beacon in the galaxy and saying "Look exactly at this point on this planet".
- Tip-offs after doing lots of missions for a faction. Instead of RNG POI, these could provide locations of the Unregistered Comms Beacons (as a concept, unlike the Op, I really don't mind these, except the bit where their discovery is literally by random chance) or planet-side signals, which will provide further clues on investigation
- Missions in general, especially chained missions. Chained missions are missions which spawn having completed a pre-requisite mission. Have a chance to spawn a mission that provides a clue to some "anomolous signal" or some other rumour that leads to some discovery.
- Reputation. A completely underused commodity in the game. Hitting 100% rep with a minor faction for the first time could provide a tip-off much the same as a normal tip-off. That would encourage players to go out and do things across the galaxy
- Assuming mechanics like that pinpoint a particular system for a rumour, some changes like in this suggestion post would also obfuscate things in the target system, without it being a ridiculous game of "spot the glitch" or needle-in-haystack searching like it currently is.
- Expand the application of the mechanics behind engineers. Create more hidden bases where single hermits reside which are dockable only with an SRV or a small ship. I believe these are referred to as 2nd or 3rd tier NPCs under the old system, but it'd be great. Then they could have specialised missions... why someone like Palin doesn't have a mission board asking to source Thargoid Materials/meta-alloys is a bit inane. Build rep with such a contact and they could pass on further rumours (for a favour cost)
Some things just bewilder me too. Barnacles have been discovered for far longer than Guardian Ruins, and had far more galactic attention than the ruins. Why we don't have a scanner that can detect the location of barnacles yet is beyond me. Make it and others like it new modules if you want... I personally would love to fit out an AspX with the Disco Scanner + Detailed Scanner + Barnacle Scanner + Guardian Scanner, but leave behind the wreck scanner. Then there might be some thought behind exploration loadouts?
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Your arguments were sound right until you decided to be condescending, which undermined your entire post. But never mind. I understand why some people need to behave this way.
Now on a more constructive note. Obviously, I was expecting some sort of beacon. As others have stated before me, why hasn't a beacon been dropped at this historic site? After its discovery the sight should for all intents and purposes be a must see for ALL Elite: Dangerous players (sorry non Horizons players).
Which brings us back to the whole point of my initial post; the lack of coherence, consistency and communiction throughout the game, leaving it accessible to only a select few. You being one I imagine.
I could have agreed to disagree, but you chose the low road.
It's a bit rich accusing me of being condescending when your posts reek of it.
Simple fact is, if you'd had the savvy to pack an SRV when you went to look at the crash site, you'd have been able to read the logs and you'd realise that your "complaints" are daft.
Woah ..... never thought of that! Must try it! Must try ....
And the stuff they found. That would help me. I think.
Haha ..... I like a forum giggle.
I want to play the game! I don't want to visit other sites. And the tedium takes up so much of my play time ...........
Bit like trying to find a POI when you spend 6 hours a day playing the game.
I'm so sick of those meaningless messages. Can't they say something funny? Or maybe evil ......
I love a good forum giggle. Wait! Did I just repeat myself?
Ditto
Is that what an INRA base is? Just a hunk of junk with a meaningless message? Did I just learn something new or did I lose my understanding grey cell just then?
Haha .... Ditto.
6 hours of gameplay per day for 18 months! Found 1 interesting POI in all that time. Feels like I have cruised planetary surfaces for a million years.
5000+ LY for Palin and found that 1 POI.
3000 LY right now and found nothing .......... NO ...... THING .....[zZzZz]
And here we are. You initiated this line of conversation, and now you complain that I respond in kind. Can you hear me sighing? May I direct you to the content of the very first line in my very first post? "I consider myself a casual player." Hence I don't consider myself "savvy" in the workings of Elite: Dangerous as you, but more of a "lets fly a spaceship for a while" kind of player.
I recognise your arguments as the "Git Gud" variety, and can only reply; fair enough. If FD wants to make a game that only rewards the select die hard few with its awesome content, then congratulations are in order, because they're doing a bang up job of it. I just think Elite: Dangerous could be so much more, and excite so many more.
I respect your Git Gud approach, can you respect my casual approach?
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Seconded 100%, in all regards.
None, as in zero, of the 'special things' would I have ever found but for the forums.
I think 'newsflash' bookmarks, pushed to every commander, that appear indelibly until player-deleted on our galaxy maps, would be hugely sensible and massively helpful for the casual/average player.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/393838-Newsflash-Bookmarks?p=6190319#post6190319
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Don't forget to reverse the polarity with an inverse tachyon field. Then rotate the shield harmonics
You didn't answer my question.
Have you ever used an SRV before?
As I already said, if you're so "casual" that you've never used one before, treat this as a learning experience and move on.
Alternatively, accept that you screwed up and stop wailing about imaginary condescension from people on the internet who're under no obligation to agree with you or cater to your delicate feelz.
This game is not designed for casual players.
The game control bindings and even the need to get complex control bindings in place should be a hint of this.
Trying to finish the training mission should also be the 2nd hint. P.s. I couldn't finish the last one. This infers I probably won't be able to git gut combat-wise.
Now, FD does make it easier for casuals to experience firsthand handcrafted content....after a long while....as a tourist.
Just went to one of the first thargoid crash site. There was, I think, a tourist beacon; it looked a POI as the label was 'Shipwreck' or something.
And in and around Maia, I was getting messages from Palin to collect some stuff I am not familiar with and did not have the Codex or Elite-pedia to check on terminology. Unknown fragments or senor-something or was it Thargoid something. I'll figure it out like I did for all other stuff in Elite.
ED can be so much more and so much better; but it likely never be a game for casual players.
The game control bindings and even the need to get complex control bindings in place should be a hint of this.
Trying to finish the training mission should also be the 2nd hint. P.s. I couldn't finish the last one. This infers I probably won't be able to git gut combat-wise.
Now, FD does make it easier for casuals to experience firsthand handcrafted content....after a long while....as a tourist.
Just went to one of the first thargoid crash site. There was, I think, a tourist beacon; it looked a POI as the label was 'Shipwreck' or something.
And in and around Maia, I was getting messages from Palin to collect some stuff I am not familiar with and did not have the Codex or Elite-pedia to check on terminology. Unknown fragments or senor-something or was it Thargoid something. I'll figure it out like I did for all other stuff in Elite.
ED can be so much more and so much better; but it likely never be a game for casual players.
Yes, I have used an SRV before, and I see that you prefer the condescending approach, which sadly doesn't surprise me. Oddly this is quite common actually; casual players can respect Git Gud players, but Git Guds can't respect casual players.
I think our little conversation has run its course. You're ranting/baiting now and your lack of genuine argument bores me. I will be ignoring further comments from you unless you bring something relevant to the topic at hand.
Try visiting John Jamesons crash site. It's a blast! /sarcasm
Additional note:
2.4 added mysterious things. This infers that FD intended to make them not obvious for people to find, rewarding only the subset of 'hunters' willing to do all sorts of esoteric stuff to locate.
In 5 to 10 years there might be an in-game audio guide or an interactive tablet you can rent at these tourist sites and you can get on another player's cruise ship, but I won't expect that gameplay.
In-game Codex is a good start. A Pilot's Federation Wikipedia.
2.4 added mysterious things. This infers that FD intended to make them not obvious for people to find, rewarding only the subset of 'hunters' willing to do all sorts of esoteric stuff to locate.
In 5 to 10 years there might be an in-game audio guide or an interactive tablet you can rent at these tourist sites and you can get on another player's cruise ship, but I won't expect that gameplay.
In-game Codex is a good start. A Pilot's Federation Wikipedia.