Is Exploration too easy? Galactic center reached already before launch

[Toscaner]

as some probably have seen, the centre has already been reached
kudos to Zion Ravescene, infos in this thread (spoilers incl.)

now my question is, has FD planned or expected this?
from earlier interviews and dev diaries and the DDF it sounded very different.
exploration sounded like a real challenge, which would need proper planning and some luck too
the centre was supposed to be very difficult to reach, if at all

with mechanics like jump failures and searching for jump routes as well as finding the right celestial bodies to refuel this seemed plausible to take a very long time and maybe even need a team of pilots

now is that it? does exploration need new balance?
it surely would benefit from more mechanics, which we wont get till release.
how long will it take before many to most known interesting places will be reached? 1 more month?
are there enough interesting spots out there to keep exploration interesting for a longer time?

just a few question i ask myself atm, and bit of dissapointment.

 

[Alric]

Yeah. Opening up the galaxy was something they were committed to doing for gamma and obviously release..and unfortunately gamma and release come at a time when the rest of the game, other than the procedural generation of the systems, isn't ready for it.

 

[EtherDragon]

Congratulations, they made it to the center. Now go explore the other 399,999,999,000 stars. =p

 

[fleshtickler]

The players will always test and push a game's design, features and code at a rate and a level beyond that which the developers would ever consider feasible. This has been proved beyond doubt in Eve Online for year after year. It is the nature of the monkey.

 

[EtherDragon]

The players will always test and push a game's design, features and code at a rate and a level beyond that which the developers would ever consider feasible. This has been proved beyond doubt in Eve Online for year after year. It is the nature of the monkey.

That is every bit why betas and gammas are great. =)

 

[Harry Stone]

Please please don't make exploration any more difficult than it already is! Do some first before questioning the game because a handful of power players owned a mechanic. For the rest of us mortals it's hard enough!

 

[Connatic]

They could make the mechanics of exploring a little more expensive and risky, but it's not like he explored EVERYTHING. Just made a trip from point A to B. He took a shortcut. True exploring requires you to see EVERYTHING.

400 Billion systems.

Did you know it would take you around 30 years to just count to 1 billion?


To me Exploring is just another type of space trucking like Trade. The whole Unlocking Mystery thing takes more crafted content that is obviously not there yet. Plus it seems the same type of NPCs randomly spawn no matter where you are in the galaxy. There needs to be a different procedure for spawning NPCs in "Deep Space". Like...only ships that could feasibly travel that far. This in turn could make exploring more difficult because you would have a better chance of finding more decked out NPC ships the farther out your go. Which makes more sense all around, from an immersion and gameplay perspective. I mean the same goes for players right? There was no way he was going to find a CMDR flying a sidney at the galactic center.

One thing is for sure though, this does give the devs some valuable information on where and when to hide that Evil Alien Empire that is waiting to be disturbed by a nosy explorer. Man I would love to see a Battlestar Galatica style event in this game. Having an overpowered super-massive fleet chasing us all over the galaxy...

 

[Caiburn]

The ingame part of exploration is ok in terms of difficulty (remember you have to fly all the way back to a station to SELL your data - and if you die on the way you lose EVERYTHING).

The out-of-game part is what is hard. To stay in that seat and keep going. Try it for yourself. Not everyone is cut out to explore deep.

 

[Toscaner]

The players will always test and push a game's design, features and code at a rate and a level beyond that which the developers would ever consider feasible. This has been proved beyond doubt in Eve Online for year after year. It is the nature of the monkey.

yea maybe. but it still confuses me somehow. it's not like a gamer and his potential time to put into a game are totally unknown variables.

i did a rough calculation a few months back, and although it was not completely serious it turns out to be more accurate than expected.
in 42hrs to the Galactic Centre

 

[Shoklar]

Yes, I do think it's too easy if you have the explorer start. Otherwise, it may take some time to get all the necessary equipment. That said, I do feel the fuel tanks are far too large at present, and that all should start with a smaller one and work the way up to the best. You can do around 100ly with the explorer start.

Shok.

 

[Toscaner]

They could make the mechanics of exploring a little more expensive and risky, but it's not like he explored EVERYTHING. Just made a trip from point A to B. He took a shortcut. True exploring requires you to see EVERYTHING.

400 Billion systems.

Did you know it would take you around 30 years to just count to 1 billion?


To me Exploring is just another type of space trucking like Trade. The whole Unlocking Mystery thing takes more crafted content that is obviously not there yet. It seems the same type of NPCs randomly spawn no matter where you are in the galaxy. It does seem like there needs to be a different procedure for spawning NPCs in "Deep Space". Like...only ships that could feasibly travel that far. This in turn could make exploring more difficult because you would have a better chance of finding more decked out ships the farther out your go. Which makes more sense all around, from an immersion and gameplay perspective.

One thing is for sure though, this does give the devs some valuable information on where and when to hide that Evil Alien Empire that is waiting to be disturbed by a nosy explorer. Man I would love to see a Battlestar Galatica style event in this game. Having an overpowered super-massive fleet chasing us all over the galaxy...

i do agree that exploration is more than just going from A to B. also for me it is about watching sceneries and discovering things that are maybe hidden in the detail.

and still i expected such an endavour to take longer, be more difficult, and include more suprises.

if i understand you correctly you mean, kinda like the further you get the tougher the ships/enemies you meet are. sounds viable.

i would really like that once proposed mechanic of plotting your own ways and find hyperdrive routes. and with bad luck or bad navigation you would end up dead easily.
the next question is, how easy will it be to introduce new mechanics and wont it be kind of too late in 6months when so many intersting places are found already.

 

[Connatic]

Yes, I do think it's too easy if you have the explorer start. Otherwise, it may take some time to get all the necessary equipment...
Shok.

I think difficulty should come elsewhere, not just from how expensive and time consuming it is to get the necessary parts for it. You aren't making it any harder this way, just more time consuming. Lets make fuel scooping more risky, lets have appropriate NPCs spawn in deep space. But I do partially agree. Maybe the size of fuel tanks could be adjusted so it takes a little longer than a week to get to the galactic center.

if i understand you correctly you mean, kinda like the further you get the tougher the ships/enemies you meet are. sounds viable.

Yeah, but not just harder. Loadouts on NPC ships that make sense. When the game is released and Explores make a B line for the other end of the galaxy, you should only be seeing NPCs in decked out Asps Explorers, if anything at all, once you get there.

 

[Toscaner]

I think difficulty should come elsewhere, not just from how expensive and time consuming it is to get the necessary parts for it. You aren't making it any harder this way, just more time consuming. Lets make fuel scooping more risky, lets have appropriate NPCs spawn in deep space. But I do partially agree. Maybe the size of few tanks could be adjust so it takes a little longer than a week to get to the galactic center.

well, for now that's everything FD can do. adjust the parameters of the implemented features for release.
but as said, i wish for more mechanics in the future, so difficutly would come through maybe analyzing various sensors and really using your own brain to figure out new ways.

 

[Jax Herah]

exploration involves not knowing what is around the corner. whilst we can see the star in game I think exploration should be more heavily dependant on the discover mechanics with a more in depth or defined game mechanic itself.(more than what it is at present).
.
. what does not make much sense is opening a map to go and discover something that has already been mapped, hence its MAPPED and given character via known star types etc. I forgive the astronomical knowledge implication here but don't extend it so far for in game gameplay. Not so un-discovered theoretically.
.
.
.Let us "NOT" know what is out there at all beyond the already mapped game unverse . so all that non mapped or discovered areas are blank and not there until the game mechanic has been routinely played to manifest it as mapped.

a good idea would be for gameplay purposes to let users name star systems themselves. and only named and discovered areas get place on the map. that would be a great mechanic and give real meaning to buying the system data. not to forget to mention the rewards back from actual users paying for the info to make their route easier is wonderful too. Elite has a whole universe of missed opportunities gameplay wise. many of which exists in that DDA. the practical notion of what we have at launch is incomplete. rushed release at the end of the day. in the morning I hope its all there. and lest not forget it is testing phase apparently. but this is my last bastion of hope for it to be released with a completely different financial attainment curve at the core of the gameplay.
.
It is to easy.

 

[Archon]

I think this is an excellent test of the stellar forge.

A person driving from NYC to Kansas has not explored the country.

 

[Toscaner]

Yeah, but not just harder. Loadouts on NPC ships that make sense. When the game is released and Explores make a B line for the other end of the galaxy, you should only be seeing NPCs in decked out Asps Explorers, if anything at all, once you get there.

sounds good. and if you'd come across a Lakon-6 you'd suspect something's going on. maybe a hidden station around somewhere? oh a little suspense, yummy.

 

[Zvanya]

I think this is an excellent test of the stellar forge.

A person driving from NYC to Kansas has not explored the country.

This. OK so someone has made it to the galactic center. Hop from star to star to star to star to...... That's not exploration in any but the most simplistic sense. The faster you go the less you see. All those systems he passed though are still 99.999999999999999% unexplored. Who knows what interesting things he flew by in his sprint to the core?

EDIT: NOTE TO DEVS. Better block off those areas you want blocked off NOW. If it's not already too late.

 

[Mucka]

I already posted this in that thread before I saw this one but this one is more appropriate so I will post it here.

Yes this highlights more problems with the game than advertises its greatness for me.
I mean if we go off on these great expeditions it is supposed to be out into deep dark space alone into undiscovered territory with unknown surprises but what we actually is get is copy and paste gameplay from the very first system with immortal NPCs just randomly spawning and interdicting in the middle of nowhere and without reason or "intelligence" which totally breaks the immersion, makes the idea of any of the galaxy being unexplored ridiculous and highlights the wafer thin depth and unfinished state of the game in its current iteration.

 

[Toscaner]

I think this is an excellent test of the stellar forge.

A person driving from NYC to Kansas has not explored the country.

yes definitely a good test.

but i would compare it to that coast to coast journey from the pioneer days.
it wasn't that easy i think. many died. and yet they only wanted to reach the other coast.

but sure, there's more than just few hot spots, that are worth exploring.

 

[xxThe_Dice_manxx]

Yeah Zion got to the middle but what's on the other side?

Awesome achievement btw kudos to Zion.