In the latest stream, Bruce confirmed no current development is happening for exobiology and asked us for suggestions for content

[Darth Ender]

I'm sorry, I just don't believe that. I'd love if FDev gave us fauna, procedure generated, alive and kicking, to explore, catalogue and interact with. But asking for special powers given to plants to make up for lack of gameplay, I can't see it. You can definitely elaborate on your ideas and thoughts, but I simply can't agree with the proposed ideas. As we say here, it would be like "distilling a mosquito" (yes, we're strange like that)

plants dont need special powers to move around and capture threats (they do that on earth). They dont need special powers to release chemicals into the immediate atmosphere that could harm (they do that on earth too). They don't need special powers to produce fluids that dissolve or consume (they do that on earth). They dont need special powers to signal other specimens of their species or even other species (they do that on earth too). They dont need special powers to have symbiotic relationships with other things (they do that on earth too). Space spiders for instance are a thing Fdev has mentioned existing in-game (though maybe not actually implemented)...so it's a perfectly good option to throw in.

There's nothing special about any of these abilities that would make exo-biology flora more interesting, dangerous, or otherwise require overcoming an obstacle related to them to succeed in getting a sample. They may not be super common on earth, but earth has plentiful resources for plants.


edit: and excluding very real attributes of plants because you dont think they're common enough to be realistic in a space game seems super out of place in a game that has magic bullets and laser effects, magic telepresence, magic thrusters that can always overcome gravity, magic shields, magic illuminating cold stars, magically inconsistent rules around how you travel, magic space lightning storms, and a wildly unrealistic interstellar political/population structure. Drawing the line at "but it exaggerates an existing attribute of plants a bit" seems ridiculous when there is meaningful improvement to gameplay.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

I'm not sure how that would feel after doing it the umpteenth time, but it's certainly better than the minigame we originally had.

Have it partially skill based. We should be able to get useable materials from plants, the faster you do it the more materials/better materials you get. But there is no fail, no matter what you do, you will get something. It will give you a reason to try harder to get it done faster.

 

[Vasco Sapien]

Apart from being quite shocked that Frontier has not got any ideas themselves

 

[Darth Ender]

Have it partially skill based. We should be able to get useable materials from plants, the faster you do it the more materials/better materials you get. But there is no fail, no matter what you do, you will get something. It will give you a reason to try harder to get it done faster.

It's not like the thing would be off limits after you try and potentially fail. You could keep on trying unless you kill the thing (something that should also be possible).

Perhaps it's just beyond your ability to acquire a sample from a given species because it's super hard. That should be possible. Nothing in the game would absolutely require that you succeed in getting such a sample from that species without opting into it. In such a scenario, not winning isn't the same as spending 20 minutes mining and not finding anything and having nothing to show for it or trekking along the surface of a planet for 20 min and not having anything to show for it. You did something, you learned...you just weren't rewarded with an item because you weren't good enough.

most of that time that wouldn't happen, even when skill is involved in exobiology. I'd imagine there would be tiers of difficulty based on species for those that have such an obstacle to overcome. some players would stick to easier ones. Some would not. Perhaps if this were based on certain observable attributes prior to even approaching the surface, this would allow the player to make the choice before investing the time. Missions obviously, would be pickable...letting the player know a given species it wants is known to be dangerous. So it would be entirely voluntary to invest time in dangerous plant biology, but the rewards would make it worth it.

 

[Viridian-]

I'm not sure if it has been suggested already in the thread (I started skimming after page 3) but I think a time element would be cool. Something like the pylons charging at the guardians site. If you don't get all three samples in 3 minutes you have to start over.

Espionage missions where you could use a hand scanner with an e-breach appearently taped onto it for turning in samples to NPC factions, or anyone standing in stations acting as researchers, private collectors, or Omnipol agents "just checking up on a suspicious lead", etc.

Maybe even a dodgy Vista employee on break, asking, "I shouldn't do this, but my job's on the line here. If you could just fly to these co-ordinates, I'll pay you..."

Sarcasm aside, I think adding a mission for exobiology would be the best improvement possible. The Vista Genomics employee who sneezed on a sample and needs someone with a ship to go get him another one (or any kind of story element) would be a great addition to a station and really give a reason for exobiology. The first time I tried it I got frustrated instantly. My first thoughts were something along the lines of 'ok how far do I have to go for the next one? Do I really have to go back to the srv? Is this really not far enough? I've been driving for a long time now, where's my third sample group? 50k credits. ok' I don't even want to imagine how long it would take to get to even the second level of exobiology. It is too tedious to happen naturally as a part of gameplay unless you have a somewhat niche play style.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

One game about the journey, one about the destination, and none to rule them all.

 

[Darth Ender]

Sarcasm aside, I think adding a mission for exobiology would be the best improvement possible. The Vista Genomics employee who sneezed on a sample and needs someone with a ship to go get him another one (or any kind of story element) would be a great addition to a station and really give a reason for exobiology.

And these missions should be exposed and visible while in your ship. You shouldn't have to be on foot to see them Or perhaps instead of vista asking for a sample, it's a corp looking to get a illicit sample on the down low. etc. I should be able to dock at a station, see such a mission, take it and be off. Without leaving my ship.

The first time I tried it I got frustrated instantly. My first thoughts were something along the lines of 'ok how far do I have to go for the next one? Do I really have to go back to the srv? Is this really not far enough? I've been driving for a long time now, where's my third sample group? 50k credits. ok' I don't even want to imagine how long it would take to get to even the second level of exobiology. It is too tedious to happen naturally as a part of gameplay unless you have a somewhat niche play style.

The hunt for multiple sites mechanic i think is a byproduct of the existing mechanic for exobiology being too simplistic and without any kind of risk. So instead they just have you do the same thing multiple times with time sinks limiting progress. But in an alternate reality with actual skill based requirements and potentially risky gameplay, you wouldn't need to limit players by time sinks. You could get rid of the multi-site sampling requirement. Then mulit-site scanning could be something additional you do entirely at your discretion for something else. Perhaps not every site is as hard or dangerous as the other - so if you find yourself at a hard one, you can find a different one that's easier (though the materials provided in addition to the sample may be less) etc.

 

[londonx]

I like the direction of conservation that their other title Planet Zoo went in. Elite Dangerous needs to be more edgy and open in nature than that though, but it would create an immerisive choice/dilema for the player, do you protect this fragile species or do you partially destroy it for financial gain and fame.

Conservation approach

• A new "shop" maybe less frequent like interstellar factions, purely conservation body looking for non-damaging samples and photographic evidence.
• Photographs of live specimens in their natural habitat would sell for payment and fame (maybe appear on Codex or something dedicated to photographing the galaxy), could be sold at Conservation bodies or black market or even tourist resorts.
• The hand held sample tool would require some hand co-ordination like a surgeons scalp to successfully extract a sample without damage, this would phyiscally connect the tool to the plant and yourself, so you would have a mini-game for keeping the tool with minimal movement on the optimal part of the specimen during the time it requires to get a sample without damaging the specimen. Non optimal alignment would just create less reward and fewer conservarion establishments willling to accept it.
• Time decay of delicate samples, need to move fast.

Research Approach

• The careful time consuming handtool approach makes more sense for the ethical reward of Conservation, for the ubiquitous industrial research of Vista Genomics I would introduce a more expensive aparatus that could be equipped on a SRV or ship that could monitor and sample (scan) a larger area that would also act as a location beacon. This basically mirrors the gameplay loop of core mining, were optimal placement for maximum coverage of multiple species rewards the player and would also promote exploration for optimal clusters of organics within a certain area size. This apparatus could be upgraded. It would be good to somehow bring in the planets atmosphere composition and pressure into the equation, like how the different charges in core mining relate to the density of the frissures.
• Introduce Time decay unless you have the correct deep freeze storage on ship for deep space explorers.

Poacher approach

• Harvesting, laser cutter, cold storage, sell on black market or anarchy systems
• Dedicated cold storage
• Would require destructive art assets
• New mission types
• Would be ideal for a cat and mouse game of hunting the poacher as organics fixed within an instance
• Could trigger a chance of Security Forces turning up while you are poaching, this would create a new type of surface combat where you are in an Artemis (or maybe Maverick makes more sense) suit with not cover.

Variety and Hostile Organics
I am all for more variety, dramatic sizes and potential for hostile lifeforms. However I aslo feel that this would be more likely in terms of evolution on more complex planets with direct compeition so I would like the game to stick to the vaguely plausible level.
So I would suggest the danger could be more about the chemical composition, perhaps the organics growing under certain atmospheres could have a chance to unleash some dangerous chemicals into which ever vehicle or suit you are using to carry the samples with. This would give an long term explorer the risk decision to avoid collecting samples from potentially dangerous planet types to avoid the change of problems when out in the black despite the greater reward. Photographing or scanning would be the safer options. The idea there is that there will always be a chance of a leak even in a secure container being handled by a jack-of-all-trades pilot/dodgy spacefarer.

 

[Viridian-]

And these missions should be exposed and visible while in your ship. You shouldn't have to be on foot to see them Or perhaps instead of vista asking for a sample, it's a corp looking to get a illicit sample on the down low. etc. I should be able to dock at a station, see such a mission, take it and be off. Without leaving my ship.


The hunt for multiple sites mechanic i think is a byproduct of the existing mechanic for exobiology being too simplistic and without any kind of risk. So instead they just have you do the same thing multiple times with time sinks limiting progress. But in an alternate reality with actual skill based requirements and potentially risky gameplay, you wouldn't need to limit players by time sinks. You could get rid of the multi-site sampling requirement. Then mulit-site scanning could be something additional you do entirely at your discretion for something else. Perhaps not every site is as hard or dangerous as the other - so if you find yourself at a hard one, you can find a different one that's easier (though the materials provided in addition to the sample may be less) etc.

Yeah. I'd rather die (in game) than do that game play again. If they made an interesting death possible in exobiology I'd want to experience it.

 

[aRJay]

My definition of a plant and animal is what FD stated: It's only flora, not fauna. So, yeah, sorry, what you describe is not supposed to happen. Life is basically lazy. It evolves the minimum characteristics it needs to survive. Ninja plants would be a great concept, but I don't think we'll see any.

Changes in life forms get passed on if the life form that first exhibits the change survives to reproduce. So as long as the new feature has a low enough impact on the lifeforms survival it will remain even if it offers no current benefit, the problem is for the feature not to be rudimentary there must be an advantage in having it and a greater advantage in having it work well.

 

[aRJay]

I'm not sure if it has been suggested already in the thread (I started skimming after page 3) but I think a time element would be cool. Something like the pylons charging at the guardians site. If you don't get all three samples in 3 minutes you have to start over.

With some of the planets I have hunted exobiology on better make that 3 weeks.

Sarcasm aside, I think adding a mission for exobiology would be the best improvement possible. The Vista Genomics employee who sneezed on a sample and needs someone with a ship to go get him another one (or any kind of story element) would be a great addition to a station and really give a reason for exobiology. The first time I tried it I got frustrated instantly. My first thoughts were something along the lines of 'ok how far do I have to go for the next one? Do I really have to go back to the srv? Is this really not far enough? I've been driving for a long time now, where's my third sample group? 50k credits. ok' I don't even want to imagine how long it would take to get to even the second level of exobiology. It is too tedious to happen naturally as a part of gameplay unless you have a somewhat niche play style.

Why does everything have to be missions, the lack of missions is one of the plus points of the whole exploration & exobiology part of the game. Yes I know that this is not a popular view.

 

[Sethioz]

The answer was no and he also asked us if we had any content ideas.

proof that devs don't have ideas .. but they don't want to listen to people like me either, who have hundreds of amazing ideas that would make this game 100x better.
My first idea would be: make proper atmospheric landable planets with proper flora, forests, rivers ..etc and make it all auto-generated. In other words, look at no man's sky, if only 1 person could do it, then i'm sure entire Frontier company could replicate that in ED!

caves are something I always wanted to see too
not directly related to exploration, but owning and building a planetary base would be good idea too (settlements could be modular, you can buy the power center and from there you can buy more modules, command, habitat, bartender, landing pads ..etc, just don't add some "rent" to them or you ruin it).

also biodomes, which can be used to breed new plants, you can experiment and design your own plants, similar to real life. mixing up seeds and stuff and once you make something new, you can then go plant this on suitable planet and also name your creation! So others who explore that planet, would then see the plant with your name on it (name you gave it).

In my opinion, exploration features are so crucial and in demand to this game that there should be a dedicated team of at least 4-5 developers at any one time creating exploration content, regardless of the other projects going on.

Yup, I agree. I'd like to see more exploration related stuff too. Random generator is way to go tho, it would require initial setup to tell the auto-gen what should be possible and what should not be possible. For example: floating rocks are bad! while some mutated trees are good!

 

[Felix DiCestria]

I found genetics rather tedious while at university, my talent was in ecology; studying the relationships between populations, which is where I might have taken it. figuring out which species occur together and why.

 

[Gordon Freeman IV]

If anyone missed it, Bruce was asked in the latest live stream on Wednesday 31st May whether there was any current exobiology development going on.

The answer was no and he also asked us if we had any content ideas.

Apart from being quite shocked that Frontier has not got any ideas themselves and is not currently working on a feature they know we love and are currently unhappy with (the scanning mini-game was rejected in its entirety by the community), maybe it's time we clarified what we want with exobiology so we can improve this much-desired and loved feature.

I'll start with a few of my own suggestions:

- More plant variety, possibly even leveraging some procedural generation to generate new plant species. This is the number one priority IMO, it feels like the galaxy is too small to have only 30 or so different species of plants when I can find more than that in a 10 metre squared patch of my garden!

- Dangerous plants. Plants that actually want to attack you. Plants that fire poison darts. Plants with teeth that swing and take a bite at you. Plants that emit weird gases. Plants that react to you coming close to them and shrivel up into a protective ball. Plants that are absolutely GIGANTIC like a redwood tree on earth.

- The ability to physically remove samples from the plant and store them as cargo in our ship that we can then take to Research odyssey settlements in the Bubble. Or at least bring our scans to these settlements and get more money for them than you would at a regular Vista genomics outlet.

- Once you've scanned a certain number of plants in an area, you get a clue from this research where you might locate a super-rare exciting plant. You can then get given a specific area of a planet to look for it.

- Add more variety to the sizes of the areas where the plants spawn. It would be nice to see some areas absolutely brim with forests of plants (this exists to an extent) but it would be good to see forest-sized patches of plants covering many many hectares of ground.

- Plants you've scanned can be made into mini pot plants for your dashboard.

Good ideas. My favorite are the cockpit plants, variety and the forests. For a 'forest" they would need to increase overlap of species with tussok or frutexa (space grass) on the ground as bushes and the larger varieties as the trees. I also would love to see whole planets covered in grasses like a big prairie. Oh and the agressive/dangerous plants would be neat.

 

[Gordon Freeman IV]

Communigy Goal:
Deadly Pandemic is spreading across a region of habitable space. A cure have been discovered to create a vaccine. Brave explorers are needed to go deep in to space to retrive rare plants accross the galaxy that are needed to create the vaccine.
Each week if CG goal is not met the pandemic will spread to near by systems, shutting down spaceports and puting planets on lockdowns.

Who is behind the deadly pandemic? Empire? Thargoids? - a mystery that needs to be solved.

This is an awesome idea. I would participate in this.

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

This is an awesome idea. I would participate in this.

Sadly such a CG will never happen, as it would be Odyssey only. Horizons players would be excluded. So Odyssey exclusive content will never enter CGs as long as Horizons is being kept alive, which will probably for the foreseeable future, as long as the consoles still have active players.

 

[Felix DiCestria]

Good ideas. My favorite are the cockpit plants, variety and the forests. For a 'forest" they would need to increase overlap of species with tussok or frutexa (space grass) on the ground as bushes and the larger varieties as the trees. I also would love to see whole planets covered in grasses like a big prairie. Oh and the agressive/dangerous plants would be neat.

Have you been to Gliese 9378 B 1 D?
Citrolo Cultivation Nursery definitely gave the feel of an American town towards the drier parts.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

For myself, I have a more immediate problem taking on log-distance exploration: my pulmonary system. Not joking.

I have respiratory issues, and an auto-immune issue that make staying up at a keyboard more than a couple of hours difficult.

The airplane is officially off the lottery list.

Now, tell me the "grind is in my mind", and I will introduce you to my medical team.

 

[Mogen Teras]

Sadly such a CG will never happen, as it would be Odyssey only. Horizons players would be excluded. So Odyssey exclusive content will never enter CGs as long as Horizons is being kept alive, which will probably for the foreseeable future, as long as the consoles still have active players.

Horizons will likely continue to be kept alive until Odyssey's performance numbers can at least be brought within some semblance of nearness to Horizons levels. Even though we have no hard numbers, general community consensus seems to be that Horizons is still used more than Odyssey. If FDev dropped Horizons, it would force out a ton of players simply due to their inability to run Odyssey properly. And given the unstable nature of Elite lately, i doubt cutting out more of their playerbase is something they want to do.

 

[CmdrKull]

Echoing a lot of the first replies (but hopefully putting my own bit of spin on the ideas):
1. Much greater diversity in how the plants look, even if they still fit into the existing classifications they should look different and unique being on different planets. Unless …—>
2. An overarching mission focused on panspermia, where we work with a contact to get samples from specific systems.
3 bring back the mini game or something like it, but give it more utility. Something like align one ring to catalog the sample, but the second ring gives you a signature to hone in on finding the nearest genetically distinct sample to collect, maybe just forward or back though, ring 3 gives you a better indicator? These would tie in with the alt fire on the sample tool, which…—>
3. Please give us upgrades to the range of the alt fire on the sample tool, or some improvements to it.
4. I said it in the Odyssey Beta I’ll say it again, not giving us a science suite module for our ships where we could analyze samples, enhancing their value or perhaps feeding into panspermia research objectives was such a missed opportunity, but it’s not too late to fix it. Give us more to do back on the ship. Even if it just helps us find more samples, help us tie Elite and Odyssey together.