Improvements for exploration

[Valorin]

Since I did a lot of exploration during DW2 and am still out there, here's my list of improvements I'd love to see for exploration gameplay:

Quality of life:

- While I like the FSS and the mechanics around it, I'd love to have an option to see a spectral analysis for a short time in the cockpit after honking and not only in the FSS screen. That way I wouldn't have to go into FSS mode after every jump to check for Earth-likes and other valuable bodies, since that's really the only thing I do when jumping for a long time. Being able to activate the FSS without throttling down would be helpful as well.

- Displaying the type and number of geological and biological POIs on planets in the system map or even a heads up that there are POIs on surfaces after honking the system.

- The FSS mode should tell us if the bodies we discover have been discovered before by another Commander.


Content:

- More natural phenomenons and sites. At the moment there are a lot of repetitive volcanic POIs, rare biological POIs and very, very rare stranger things containing aliens and glowballs in space, which is quite nice, but I am missing more common natural phenomenons like meteor impact sites, acretion discs and the like. Things that are actually proven to be out there and should be a bit more common peppering the stretches between those rare phenomenons.

- New mechanics for actual scientific exploration, like taking samples, readings and so on. FSS and probes might include all the readings we need, but anyway, a few more specialized routines would be nice for some types of stars or planets. I can imagine a drill used via SRV or something like that.

- Ship launched vessels for said scientific exploration... There has to be gameplay around these of course, but I find kind of sad that there is such a great variety of war machines to choose from, but not single type of non-combat vessel that can be launched from our ships.

- Visual and optic changes for jumps that have been boosted by neutron star overcharging or synthesis infusion. To hear the overstressed FSD scream when making those jumps and perhaps see some sparks in the cockpit or weird artifacts in the Witchspace tunnel during the transition would be quite cool.

 

[varonica]

- The FSS mode should tell us if the bodies we discover have been discovered before by another Commander.

Hmm, it does, when you zoom in to the body it's clearly listed at the bottom of the screen, also whether it has been mapped by another CMDR. What it won't tell you is who was the first to visit the system or the body, these are two entirely different things. To be marked discovered the data has to be turned in to Interstellar Cartography, so another CMDR may have visited the system and even landed on the body, but if he died before he turned his data in it doesn't count.

Content:

- More natural phenomenons and sites. At the moment there are a lot of repetitive volcanic POIs, rare biological POIs and very, very rare stranger things containing aliens and glowballs in space, which is quite nice, but I am missing more common natural phenomenons like meteor impact sites, acretion discs and the like. Things that are actually proven to be out there and should be a bit more common peppering the stretches between those rare phenomenons.

Ok forgive me for being obvious, but you know all those round circular depressions on the bodies, they are meteor impact sites, there's trillions of them out there.

- New mechanics for actual scientific exploration, like taking samples, readings and so on. FSS and probes might include all the readings we need, but anyway, a few more specialized routines would be nice for some types of stars or planets. I can imagine a drill used via SRV or something like that.

I'm not against this as an idea, explorers have been asking for scientific interaction for ages, better ways to find things, different ways to identify things. FDEV finally got off their collective backsides and introduced the FSS and what we got was a mountain of complaints about boring mini-games. If they introduced features like samples and analysis of surface deposits and stuff it might please many of us explorers, but it would also annoy a lot of people who think they should be able to find the same stuff instantly instead of doing another boring mini-game (not my opinion mind you). FDEV are stuck between two groups, those who love exploration minutiae and those who just want to find stuff quickly and get it over with.

- Ship launched vessels for said scientific exploration... There has to be gameplay around these of course, but I find kind of sad that there is such a great variety of war machines to choose from, but not single type of non-combat vessel that can be launched from our ships.

No arguments here, I have wanted this for so long, being able to park your big ship in orbit and explore using a properly equipped scientific research vessel, nice.

- Visual and optic changes for jumps that have been boosted by neutron star overcharging or synthesis infusion. To hear the overstressed FSD scream when making those jumps and perhaps see some sparks in the cockpit or weird artifacts in the Witchspace tunnel during the transition would be quite cool.

Never done one so I have no idea, I don't want to get places fast, I want to look at the stuff between places!

 

[Valorin]

Hmm, it does, when you zoom in to the body it's clearly listed at the bottom of the screen, also whether it has been mapped by another CMDR. What it won't tell you is who was the first to visit the system or the body, these are two entirely different things. To be marked discovered the data has to be turned in to Interstellar Cartography, so another CMDR may have visited the system and even landed on the body, but if he died before he turned his data in it doesn't count.

Didn't notice that so far.
And yeah, of course places are tagged after selling the data and not before. EDMC can tell me if somebody has been in the system before though, given that somebody was connected to it as well.

Ok forgive me for being obvious, but you know all those round circular depressions on the bodies, they are meteor impact sites, there's trillions of them out there.

Yeah, we got a lot of craters. I noticed that...
I was talking about fresh impacts.

Never done one so I have no idea, I don't want to get places fast, I want to look at the stuff between places!

I did a few so far, but like you I like to take the scenic route most of the time. But when I used a neutron boost I would have loved some additional noise.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Since I did a lot of exploration during DW2 and am still out there, here's my list of improvements I'd love to see for exploration gameplay:

Quality of life:

- While I like the FSS and the mechanics around it, I'd love to have an option to see a spectral analysis for a short time in the cockpit after honking and not only in the FSS screen. That way I wouldn't have to go into FSS mode after every jump to check for Earth-likes and other valuable bodies, since that's really the only thing I do when jumping for a long time. Being able to activate the FSS without throttling down would be helpful as well.

If you don't slow down to minimum, you won't be able to pin point your target, since they will be moving and really fast. That's why you have to reduce speed to minimum.

 

[Valorin]

If you don't slow down to minimum, you won't be able to pin point your target, since they will be moving and really fast. That's why you have to reduce speed to minimum.

That's right, yeah... Having throttle control while in FSS mode would be quite good though, so I have a choice. Most of the time I just activate it to see the spectral analysis, and sometimes, when scanning while still close to the star, some of the bodies are obscured. In that case I could just throttle.
But well, it's convenience, which is why it's called "Quality of life".