Learning Curve of 3.3 Exploration in Beta?

[Orvidius]

Can someone provide us with the list of necessary keys for the new exploration mechanics?

This probably isn't an exhaustive list, since I'm just trying to remember what was added. But off the top of my head:

Enter FSS
Exit FSS
FSS pitch (buttons or axis)
FSS yaw (buttons or axis)
FSS tuning up/down
FSS tuning (axis)
FSS tuning (absolute axis)
FSS adaptive zoom (instant targeting, more or less)
FSS stepped zoom
Button to directly open latest discovery in codex
Toggle night vision
Toggle HUD mode (combat vs analysis)
Exit DSS (probe) mode
DSS Fire probe
DSS pitch (buttons or axis)
DSS yaw (buttons or axis)
DSS toggle front/back view of planet's mapping grid

... and I'm sure I'm missing some things.

Some of these are optional and overlap. For instance the "tuning" in the FSS has 3 different ways to adjust it, and you can bind just one, or all three, or whatever. I added the up/down buttons and the absolute axis, the latter allows me to instantly tune the FSS frequency with the throttle. A joystick axis on the normal "axis" control would push the slider left and right, instead of instantly moving to the controller's absolute position.

The DSS probing mode is entered when you use a trigger to activate the DSS, with whichever firing group you added it to. Once the DSS mode is up, then you use the controls configured for it.

All of those pitch/yaw/tuning/exit controls can be mapped to the same joysticks/keys/buttons that you use for steering or controlling the galmap, etc.

EDIT: The only ones that could directly conflict with the rest of your normal flight controls, and need to be unique, are the ones for entering the FSS, and toggling the HUD mode. Night vision is optional since you can still toggle it in the right-side ship panel, like the lights.

 

[space voyager]

This probably isn't an exhaustive list, since I'm just trying to remember what was added. But off the top of my head:

Enter FSS
Exit FSS
FSS pitch (buttons or axis)
FSS yaw (buttons or axis)
FSS tuning up/down
FSS tuning (axis)
FSS tuning (absolute axis)
FSS adaptive zoom (instant targeting, more or less)
FSS stepped zoom
Button to directly open latest discovery in codex
Toggle night vision
Toggle HUD mode (combat vs analysis)
Exit DSS (probe) mode
DSS Fire probe
DSS pitch (buttons or axis)
DSS yaw (buttons or axis)
DSS toggle front/back view of planet's mapping grid

... and I'm sure I'm missing some things.

Some of these are optional and overlap. For instance the "tuning" in the FSS has 3 different ways to adjust it, and you can bind just one, or all three, or whatever. I added the up/down buttons and the absolute axis, the latter allows me to instantly tune the FSS frequency with the throttle. A joystick axis on the normal "axis" control would push the slider left and right, instead of instantly moving to the controller's absolute position.

The DSS probing mode is entered when you use a trigger to activate the DSS, with whichever firing group you added it to. Once the DSS mode is up, then you use the controls configured for it.

All of those pitch/yaw controls can be mapped to the same joystick or buttons that you use for steering or controlling the galmap, etc.

Cool, thank you very much!

 

[LifesAJourney]

This probably isn't an exhaustive list, since I'm just trying to remember what was added. But off the top of my head:

Holy... That'd be a challenge to map everything to joystick and mouse...

EDIT: The only ones that could directly conflict with the rest of your normal flight controls, and need to be unique, are the ones for entering the FSS, and toggling the HUD mode.

But this makes the challenge an easy task actually. I do have two yet unused buttons left on my VKB.

Thanks a lot for info!

 

[nouspiro]

Well you can use whatever key you want. FSS is totally separate mode where no keybinding from other game apply. So your only concern is Enter FSS mode key. On my HOTAS I bind FSS enter/exit to FAoff/on button. FAoff is also separated by SC so it reusing button.

I leaved Opening codex and switching HUD mode to keyboard as they are not used that often to be issue.

 

[Thatchinho]

Ok, thanks for the heads up guys. I am a heavy keyboard user with mouse, so for me keybindings are huge and have very little room for more. I'll have to see where I can possibly fit more of them in. Roughly how many new binds are there?

It's not an issue - for most of it you can re-use existing keybinds. Mine are just mapped to controls I would be using for flight. I would recommend following a similar principle.

 

[Lucius-Darcia]

How are people that were in Beta feeling about the new Exploration changes after doing it for sometime? Was the learning curve long and tedious or was it something people generally picked up pretty quickly?

Also, how does it feel compared to the old way after you passed the learning curve? Does the new mechanics feel like it takes too long now to find anything worth of value in a system? Or is fast once you learn the new signal and such?

Just curious, as I'm way out in the deep dark regions and not sure if I should start to meander back to cash in on my stuff right now, or wait. If I wait, it might take me a lot longer to return back scanning via the new system and I'd rather test it out closer to civilization if that's the case. If it's fairly speedy, I'll continue going forth further away...

I've picked the mexhanic up in 30 minutes and the generel gameplay in another 30 minutes and 2 systems. Than followed by 30 hours (not nonstop^^) exploration joy and much POI landing and driving.

Once you get your binds done so that it's comfortably, you're ready to go for chasing fun.

 

[Lance 'Spacecat' D.]

Here's my advice for folks unused to it, a few tips and tricks for future keybinds, if you will.

The analysis/combat mode change:
That's one key that toggles, that's it. (I set it near my FA/off, which is rarely used)

FSS has the most things to adjust:
-Enter and Exit FSS are two separate controls in game. I wanted to use the same key for both and the game wouldn't let me. Solution: I found where a .binds file contains all keybinds, manually edited it, problem solved.
-Very important: set a way to move the crosshairs (I use mouse) and play with the sensitivity till you like its motion.
-Very important keys are zoom in and out, and tuning left-right. So I mapped those to AWSD on my keyboard/mouse setup. (It's only used in FSS mode, won't interfere with flight controls) If you use a hotas, I suggest four buttons rather than a hat switch unless you have a big deadzone to avoid accidentally altering the tuning.
-Slightly less important but still essential is the 'stepped zoom' (that is used when the main zoom has trouble locking on two close bodies), I suggest you put that on something... secondary? I use my mousewheel.

DSS probe launcher:
Once you got the analysis mode, this is pretty trivial, you fire probes with a fire button... Oh, there is one new key to look at the back of the planet.



Honestly, my best tip is to find the .binds file so you can easily tweak, save a backup, try something new, and apply any double-binds the game won't let you do. Once I had that, I set myself up with a 'get out' key that I use to exit UI, exit FSS, exit DSS... That way I easily 'get back to piloting' (and it's my secondary fire key at the same time, easy to reach). That helped me a lot to clean up my bindings.

 

[Lightspeed]

I'm not the best keybinds expert in the game, but I found by using 'Left Shift' plus a letter, gives me the keybinds I need for exploration, without compromising the keys I already have bound for something else. This way, I know intuitively I must press the left shift at the same time as a key letter during exploration only.

It doesn't interfere with my muscle memory for other key presses this way.

But as Lance Spacecat says, above, you can use the ASWD keys to move about while you already in FSS mode, because they won't affect your movement keys outside of FSS.

 

[khaos526]

Ok this gives me a lot of details and what I was looking for. I have found some people's keybinds online already and it at least shows me what to expect when it comes out and what sort of things I'll need to configure. As many of you said, it's just a process of finding what works the best at the same time as trying to figure out how to use it in the first place.

Also good to know I can use the same keybinds for the FSS that I can use for regular mode. That will help a great deal knowing I don't have to try and find spare keys that make sense and not spread all over the keyboard.

And it's also good to know that I can figure out the ranges for ELW's WW and Ammonia worlds as usually that's all I'm looking for now. I used to go for terraformables, but that just took too much time in the past for me. But maybe in time those will be easier to spot as well...

 

[SMcA]

And it's also good to know that I can figure out the ranges for ELW's WW and Ammonia worlds as usually that's all I'm looking for now. I used to go for terraformables, but that just took too much time in the past for me. But maybe in time those will be easier to spot as well...

You don't need to figure out the ranges for ELW's, WW and Ammonia worlds.
When you scan through the scanner frequency, the type of body appears as text below. There is also a setting in Controls that allows you to bind an analogue axis to set where the scanner frequency will be when you enter FSS. So you can enter a system in Analysis mode, quickly go into FSS, scan and see if there are any signals close to Ammonia worlds. Whose frequency is closely bracketed by ELWs and WWs. IIRC

 

[Gramps]

This probably isn't an exhaustive list, since I'm just trying to remember what was added. But off the top of my head:

Enter FSS
Exit FSS
FSS pitch (buttons or axis)
FSS yaw (buttons or axis)
FSS tuning up/down
FSS tuning (axis)
FSS tuning (absolute axis)
FSS adaptive zoom (instant targeting, more or less)
FSS stepped zoom
Button to directly open latest discovery in codex
Toggle night vision
Toggle HUD mode (combat vs analysis)
Exit DSS (probe) mode
DSS Fire probe
DSS pitch (buttons or axis)
DSS yaw (buttons or axis)
DSS toggle front/back view of planet's mapping grid

... and I'm sure I'm missing some things.

Some of these are optional and overlap. For instance the "tuning" in the FSS has 3 different ways to adjust it, and you can bind just one, or all three, or whatever. I added the up/down buttons and the absolute axis, the latter allows me to instantly tune the FSS frequency with the throttle. A joystick axis on the normal "axis" control would push the slider left and right, instead of instantly moving to the controller's absolute position.

The DSS probing mode is entered when you use a trigger to activate the DSS, with whichever firing group you added it to. Once the DSS mode is up, then you use the controls configured for it.

All of those pitch/yaw/tuning/exit controls can be mapped to the same joysticks/keys/buttons that you use for steering or controlling the galmap, etc.

EDIT: The only ones that could directly conflict with the rest of your normal flight controls, and need to be unique, are the ones for entering the FSS, and toggling the HUD mode. Night vision is optional since you can still toggle it in the right-side ship panel, like the lights.

Many thanks for your post Orvidius

 

[LifesAJourney]

I'm not the best keybinds expert in the game, but I found by using 'Left Shift' plus a letter, gives me the keybinds I need for exploration, without compromising the keys I already have bound for something else.

I use it as an anti-cat protection.

 

[khaos526]

You don't need to figure out the ranges for ELW's, WW and Ammonia worlds.
When you scan through the scanner frequency, the type of body appears as text below. There is also a setting in Controls that allows you to bind an analogue axis to set where the scanner frequency will be when you enter FSS. So you can enter a system in Analysis mode, quickly go into FSS, scan and see if there are any signals close to Ammonia worlds. Whose frequency is closely bracketed by ELWs and WWs. IIRC

Another thing I'll have to get used to and learn and figure out, but good to know that it's possible to do that. Will save me much time...

 

[avow555]

any design decisions based on the FSS being detached from your ship was not because of consoles

there were many suggestions in beta on how it could have worked / be improved / not be a separate mini game, especially on the topic of Key bindings, but blaming it on console users isn't really fair, button combos and contextual menus are far underutilized without needing to "leave the ship" - switching flight mode button doesnt work in SC for example. controls could be right there but thats a whole other discussion on how the FSS is / was implemented.

Its unfair to blame console users though; the designers chose a "telescope minigame" outside the cockpit and stuck with it - rightly or wrongly, UI should be a designers bread & butter and consoles dont restrict that with enough creativity.

@op - i would wait until live and im sure someone will be along to post a good key binding set up, i managed in Beta coming from a xbox controller so its not that difficult, Live might even bring defaults which are usable, with every update i have always used the defaults with 1 or 2 tweaks and its served me well rather than mapping my own and getting into a mess.

i played beta obviously on PC but im an Xbox CMDR and already have an idea of what i will use to switch into FSS mode (there are two required FSS & DSS) which then means all the buttons are free to use as you see fit.

Not blaming console users.

I do however hold fdev entirely responsible for another detached weak interface and yes their first concern has always been around designing for consoles.
Lets not forget how they slithered up to madcatz and thrustmaster for hotas sales with the pc crowd in the begining.
Of course the ui design has always been gimped to the lowest hardware platform, that means game pad play.

 

[varonica]

Will be interesting to see how people feel after 50 / 100 / 500 systems.

Done that in the beta, 20kly of scanning everything, when I was in a hurry to get somewhere before the beta ended I had to actually stop myself from scanning every single thing because it was so quick and easy to do those nothing systems, the red dwarfs with a dozen or so frozen bodies and no moons that you run into all the time. It's never going to please everyone though. Even with the FSS and scanning everything I could still get around faster than the old system because of the way I explore, but again that won't be the case for everyone.

20kly with a 50ly jump range gave me roughly 400 systems to test with, more than that because in some areas when I wanted to do a more in depth search I set the nav to econo mode and do a good few light years around particular system, so closer to 600, I still like it, but it will be better once they populate the galaxy with stuff.

 

[SMcA]

Another thing I'll have to get used to and learn and figure out, but good to know that it's possible to do that. Will save me much time...

It will probably only take you a short trip to get the hang of it.

If you, like me, scoop, honk, aim at the next target star and look at the system map. To decide if there is anything worth stopping for. You can save a bit more time by not throttling down on your HOTAS but pressing the zero throttle key bind and going straight into FSS mode. Looking then reversing the procedure. I found as I’ve said in other threads. When I came out of FSS, I was still moving at a small percentage of c. And could jump immediately to the next star. I made a macro that goes into FSS while I hold the button down and backs out when released.

 

[Mengy]

Will be interesting to see how people feel after 50 / 100 / 500 systems.

Speaking for myself, during the beta I was very surprised to discover that the more I used the new mechanics the more I liked them. After exploring hundreds of systems in the beta I simply could not go back to exploring in 3.2, it just felt so shallow and boring to me by comparison.

Regarding the learning curve, I agree that setting up the keybindings well is crucial to enjoying the new mechanics. I had it all set up in 15 minutes, but it took me another hour of tweaking and fiddling to really find a setup which I found comfortable to use. That’s the key in my opinion: not just setting up the keybinds, but doing so in a manner which feels natural and easy to use. Once you have that the new mechanics play incredibly awesome in my opinion.

I can’t wait for next Tuesday!

 

[marx]

Will be interesting to see how people feel after 50 / 100 / 500 systems.

Did that in the beta. (Although perhaps not entirely 500.) After trying things out, I felt mostly the same as I thought originally thought I would. You can get used to it, the same way one can get used to any poor interface given enough practice, but to me, the FSS is still worse than what we had before. (The DSS is better, but it feels quite like cheating. Lob some probes, and you get everything magically pinpointed, no need to narrow down a search area or anything - even though that mechanic is already in-game!)
In my observations, it's mostly people who didn't explore recently (either because they didn't like it, or if they originally did, but later got bored with it) who are enthusiastic about it. Novelty is a powerful thing, and we'll see how long it lasts.

For me, I can put up with the new mechanics, but whether doing so would be worth it for me will depend on what new stuff will be out there to find. Put another way: if I enjoy the new process less, the only way to balance that out is if I'll enjoy the new rewards more.

But hey, even if it'll wear off quickly for me, other parts of the game look more and more interesting these days. Worst case is that I'll stop exploring until the next update (hopefully, expansion) that adds to the galaxy.


Oh, and no offense to anyone, but let me reiterate: customising your controls is not a learning curve. Beyond having to grapple with the controls, learning and becoming proficient at the FSS and DSS can be done in a short amount of time.