Interesting things to find in space while exploring?

[Tetryl]

I just started on my first exploration trip, simply going into one of the arms of our galaxy. It's a somewhat stripped down AspE, not even an SRV on board. It does have A-rated shield and thrusters and carries weapons, chaff and point defence -- Tradeoffs, I wanted to get a good jump range and be able to survive interdictions when returning to the bubble. I might go with an SRV next time, if I get an engineered FSD. This time, the goal is simply a few thousand ly of travel outside the bubble, and returning in one piece with the data.

Observations so far... Well, exploration is lacking. No way to do a targeted search for anything, and checking the system map to see if there's something interesting in the system for a detailed scan after the initial honk kills immersion. That map really should be on a cockpit display somewhere! The detailed scanning also gets tedious after a while, it's just approaching and waiting. I'm hoping there will be more advanced exploration and scanning possibilities in the future, giving goals for specific things to find, and tools that require some skill to figure out where the interesting stuff can be found. Hell, our spaceships don't even have a telescope that would allow us to visually inspect a planet without flying right next to it. I'm sure an observatory could be fitted to some of the bigger ships...

Positive note: size 6 fuel scoops are great. And you do get some really nice views, too bad the required actions are somewhat repetitive.

I did find a few signal sources, but they only contained small or large survey data caches. Illegal salvage. Not going to pick those up, the last thing I want is system security hunting me down on my way to a station to sell my exploration data. Besides, it would lower my jump range. Do those USS outside the bubble ever contain other stuff?

Oh, and, picture where I stopped... A bit over 2000 ly from start, on a 0.7G planet, standing on the rim of one of two overlapping craters.

 

[AJRimmsey]

all i ever found in signal sources was engineer stuff which is useless to me,and some data that makes no sense or has any use.

even destroyed ships leave nothing of use ,no cargo,no equipment,not even a corpse to bounce off the screen

someone at FD needs a good kick up the and made to play the game.


oh i did pass chris braben in an orca

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

The detailed scanning also gets tedious after a while, it's just approaching and waiting.

I agree that it is lacking. All you do is point and hold a button for ten seconds. The only difference between scanning a piddly ice moon and a massive star is the distance from the object you can scan.
I think ten seconds is far too long for a moon scan, and far too short for an earth like.

 

[Sapyx]

USSs, as far as we know, only ever contain the exact same things that you get in the Bubble. With the exception of the Unknown artifacts, of course. This is expected to change once the Aliens officially arrive.

Whatever you do, don't pick up any cargo, illegal or not. It significantly increases your chances of suffering an interdiction, even out beyond the bubble.

People have been calling for "more love for exploration" for a while, to make it more interesting, skill-based and rewarding. The only "new scanner" I've heard rumours about is one that lets you know which materials are findable on the surface, so you're not spending hours searching a planet for yttrium when there ain't no yttrium there. Which is really an "Engineers" thing rather than an "exploration" thing.

 

[AJRimmsey]

I agree that it is lacking. All you do is point and hold a button for ten seconds. The only difference between scanning a piddly ice moon and a massive star is the distance from the object you can scan.
I think ten seconds is far too long for a moon scan, and far too short for an earth like.

voice attack

it makes this game so much more bearable

drop out of jump and say "scan" which for me brings me to a stop,starts the scanner and target the sun in front.

and saying docking now saves me 7 key presses

oh and interdictions are a thing of the past,
"evade"
full speed
boost
target hostile
boost
shields full
boost
deploy mine launchers
boost
fire

and by saying "evade"

and FD couldnt do this themselves ?

 

[h347h]

There isn't a good reason to add mechanics to scanning, instead they should add more to do in addition to scanning.

 

[AJRimmsey]

There isn't a good reason to add mechanics to scanning, instead they should add more to do in addition to scanning.

agree,everytime i scan i expect a message to pop up saying theres something interesting over there,or a derelict to check over here,but still nothing after thousands of scans

 

[Tetryl]

Covered about 3000 ly today... I'm thinking there should be more levels of exploration. And a few basic convenience features.

Auto-honking would be good. If you've got an advanced discovery scanner on the ship, you want it to scan each new system you arrive in. Why not make the scan automatic, every time you drop into a new system? Having to hold that button down gets annoying.

Also... The star map shows you the star types in the system. But when in the cockpit, this information isn't displayed to the pilot. Why can't that little window in the bottom left of the HUD tell me that my next jump target is, say, a class G, in a souble star system with a class M? The information is available already, but you have to switch to the galaxy map now to see it.

For exploration, advanced scanners should probably tell you the basics of the planets already. I'm sure the ship can distinguish between a rock and a gas giant easily, without having to fly right next to it. Up close detailed imaging might be the next step, analysis of the atmosphere,... Finally, for maximum information landing on the planet, geological measurements, carrying a drilling rig out there, leaving a sensor package behind to measure seismic activity and coming back to pick it up after a month,...

It needs a goal, though. And reasonable rewards, depending on how interesting the discovery is. Discovering a metal-rich planet is nice, but I don't think anyone will go mining iron on a planet 10000 ly from the bubble, when you can get the same stuff closer to home. On the other hand, finding a good resource planet only a few jumps away from a current or planned settlement location should result in some good rewards.

 

[Quineloe]

There's really just not enough room to add interesting stuff to exploration, unless they want to throw in more alien species.

it however really doesn't help that ELW and Ammonia planets are super, super rare.

Also doesn't help that many systems you can just ignore because they're a young star and a bunch of icy rocks.

 

[Kayweg]

What would have added a real sense of exploration would have been a blank map to start with.
If just the bubble would have been mapped and everything else had remained in a "fog of war" sort of state, only to be slowly unraveled by explorers.
Of course, we know the Milky Way (more or less), so i can understand why it wasn't done.
It would however have added a real sense of discovery i think, preferably with a feature to upload your results to a "galactic atlas", where everyone's discoveries could have come together to gradually shape the picture.
A real long term project of galactic mapping.

 

[Quineloe]

That would have made traveling to Sag A* a huge pain tho

 

[Kayweg]

That would have made traveling to Sag A* a huge pain tho

Until the first guy found it, yes.
I'm thinking explorer and pathfinder here.
But as i said, i understand they didn't go that way.
It's just that knowing the entire map takes away quite a bit from exploring, not least because there isn't much to it other than getting your name on first discoveries, earning some credits and unveiling celestial bodies' info tabs.
And unless you're really into astronomy, you'll get fed up pretty quickly with planet composition, surface temperatures and rotation cycles....and completely ignore that stuff.
The rather simplistic scanning mechanic itself (honk and point) doesn't exactly add a whole lot to the experience either.

 

[WR3ND]

These are a few of my favorite things I discovered...

Spoiler

Interstellar supercruise to Alioth from 78 Ursae Majoris...

This 13 billion year old system with life and the three primary known end phases of stellar evolution...

This "planetary nebula" (supernova remnant)...

A minimum of 23.88LY range is needed to reach the Crab Nebula and Pulsar...

Some bonus content...

Spoiler

Regardless, I also would like to see more compelling, immersive, and integrated game mechanics for exploration that make sense. Think: What do real explorers do and why do they do it? Not so much: What do players do and how can we keep them occupied? It's too easy to fall into the development trap of the latter.

It may be more challenging to successfully accomplish, but I'd like to see Frontier rise to and overcome the challenge as best as is viably possible. [up]

 

[Darth Ender]

there's plenty they can do to make exploration interesting. Add more (and/or better) stellar effects. Make the scanners fuzzy at distance so you can't tell what everything in a system is in the system map right from a honk. Make connection to galnet spotty the further you get away from the bubble. Then you have tons of things that could be added from past civilizations left forgotten out in space to discover and yes, aliens.

Also, dark systems (truly dark - fix stupid Y dwarf systems still showing as purple when the star is cold and dead).

 

[Quineloe]

I don't get why a honk scan of an ELW is worth more than a detailed scan of a regular non terraformable planet.

The x6 system is really poor.

 

[Paineframe]

Sometimes you see cool-looking planets. Sometimes you see cool stars, or systems.

 

[WR3ND]

I don't get why a honk scan of an ELW is worth more than a detailed scan of a regular non terraformable planet.

The x6 system is really poor.

Maybe an additional multiplayer bonus for surface scanning the whole system would make sense on top of and regardless of first discoveries.

Credits aren't really the content you gain when going exploring though. Some people seem to just want to rank up and gain credits, which is fine, but isn't really exploring.

 

[Tetryl]

Just did the last part of the return to the bubble in one session. A bit over 3 hours, over 4000 ly. Did get up from the chair occasionally to stretch my legs!

A few tricky moments...

Spoiler

The map tells you if you've got multiple stars in a system... Not how close they are to each other!

You do see some spectacular things though!

Spoiler

Would you believe you can land on one of those two planets there?

By the way... This is too close to start a jump out of the system without overheating.

In the end, though, I made it back with barely a scratch. A few percent of damage due to coming in too fast for a planetary landing at Farseer Inc. Ship integrity at 87%, for a repair cost of 9000 CR. Oddly enough, a repair all costs only 2404 CR and fixes integrity too!

Several pages of data to sell now, with many first discovery items. Sold 5 pages at Farseer for more than 4M CR, halfway between level 4 and 5 there now, so there will be some leftovers for another engineer.

 

[Bartizan]

I agree that it is lacking. All you do is point and hold a button for ten seconds. The only difference between scanning a piddly ice moon and a massive star is the distance from the object you can scan.
I think ten seconds is far too long for a moon scan, and far too short for an earth like.

What button for DSS? it's auto once close enough.

 

[WR3ND]

What button for DSS? it's auto once close enough.

Yeah, I wasn't quite sure what they were talking about either. Maybe just targeting the object to scan it.

The discovery scanner, AKA "honk" is the one you hold and lets you know where a system body is within a certain range and gives you some data credits for it.

Maybe the don't have the advanced discovery scanner nor surface scanner and are going around to different stellar system bodies they see and honking?