So I was talking with some friends who are into Exploration (I am presently not) and they mentioned that (1) "it's not for everyone" and that (2) he really enjoys hanging out next to big plants taking beautiful screen shots. I tend to disagree with the sort of simple disregard of what other players may enjoy.
IMO, exploration can be enjoyable to a much wider audience but it isn't because:
1.) It is the most feature-limited thing to do in the game. honk a system, fly just close enough to planets to get a detailed scan.
2.) Go to the next system on your course.
3.) Go to step 1.
That's the problem. It's tedious and endlessly shallow in terms of simple goals and accomplishments. Again, the definition of "ocean wide and and inch deep." And while it's true that not everyone would like it if it even if it were more robust, the reality right now is that it's impossible to tell. It'd be like trying to suggest to me that people don't like swimming when the pond being used to assert the conclusion is only deep enough to submerge their feet in.
Because there is currently so little incentive to stop and look for scenic shots other than a personal motivation to do so, most people don't. And in a game where the core incentive is financial gain, simple sight-seeing is a cool time sink but also one that provides absolutely no reward of any kind. As such, it's reserved for those who already have too much money to spend, or those who don't care about owning a ship beyond their DbExplorer or Asp.
You know what would make exploration feel cooler with little added effort from FD? A "Advanced Geographical Scan" module that would cost and provide scans worth several times more money than a detailed surface scanner and take quite a bit longer to complete. Hear me out: In my concept, such a scanner would require you to drop out of Supercruise within some really close distance to the planet/star/whatever and fully orbit the celestial body one time while the scanner does it's work. Such a scan may take idunno...maybe 30 seconds - 10 minutes depending on the actual size of the celestial body being scanned to complete. For example, creating a "Advanced Geographical Scan" of Betelgeuse should take significantly longer than scanning Pluto, for example. So you get to enjoy and appreciate the time put into the graphics engine that creates these 400 billion star systems while actually reaping a reward so that you can continue progressing through the game.
So basically you'd look like this:
At every planet in a system.
I think that would be awesome. I really do think adding something which seems so basic would make that ocean a little deeper, more enjoyable and more appreciable. So that could be a 3rd level of scanning with the 4th level of scanning being in-atmosphere/landing scans (which could come much later of course).
I think it's a good idea and probably would cost FD very little time/investment to create. The tools are already there in the current scanner system (though adding some sort of effect that provides a visual indication of the surface of the body being mapped would be cool too). It would just need to be limited to regular space speeds and super close proximity.
Just some thoughts.
IMO, exploration can be enjoyable to a much wider audience but it isn't because:
1.) It is the most feature-limited thing to do in the game. honk a system, fly just close enough to planets to get a detailed scan.
2.) Go to the next system on your course.
3.) Go to step 1.
That's the problem. It's tedious and endlessly shallow in terms of simple goals and accomplishments. Again, the definition of "ocean wide and and inch deep." And while it's true that not everyone would like it if it even if it were more robust, the reality right now is that it's impossible to tell. It'd be like trying to suggest to me that people don't like swimming when the pond being used to assert the conclusion is only deep enough to submerge their feet in.
Because there is currently so little incentive to stop and look for scenic shots other than a personal motivation to do so, most people don't. And in a game where the core incentive is financial gain, simple sight-seeing is a cool time sink but also one that provides absolutely no reward of any kind. As such, it's reserved for those who already have too much money to spend, or those who don't care about owning a ship beyond their DbExplorer or Asp.
You know what would make exploration feel cooler with little added effort from FD? A "Advanced Geographical Scan" module that would cost and provide scans worth several times more money than a detailed surface scanner and take quite a bit longer to complete. Hear me out: In my concept, such a scanner would require you to drop out of Supercruise within some really close distance to the planet/star/whatever and fully orbit the celestial body one time while the scanner does it's work. Such a scan may take idunno...maybe 30 seconds - 10 minutes depending on the actual size of the celestial body being scanned to complete. For example, creating a "Advanced Geographical Scan" of Betelgeuse should take significantly longer than scanning Pluto, for example. So you get to enjoy and appreciate the time put into the graphics engine that creates these 400 billion star systems while actually reaping a reward so that you can continue progressing through the game.
So basically you'd look like this:
At every planet in a system.
I think that would be awesome. I really do think adding something which seems so basic would make that ocean a little deeper, more enjoyable and more appreciable. So that could be a 3rd level of scanning with the 4th level of scanning being in-atmosphere/landing scans (which could come much later of course).
I think it's a good idea and probably would cost FD very little time/investment to create. The tools are already there in the current scanner system (though adding some sort of effect that provides a visual indication of the surface of the body being mapped would be cool too). It would just need to be limited to regular space speeds and super close proximity.
Just some thoughts.
