Disclaimer: I am a newer player (since February 2019). So this is definitely not a anti FSS thread! I never experienced the older methods and are quite happy with the FSS/DSS. Also I have obviously not huge experience in exploring. I am Elite, and my longest journey is around 5100 ly from Sol/Start, and NOT for Palin, since I have only 3 engineers and no big motivation to do more. I have first visited/discovered around 150 systems, including 2 new ELWs and so on. While I do other things too, I love exploring. This is my background.
Exploring is not boring for me, obviously. But if you scan every system you come through there is a bit repetitiveness. There are still a lot of nice things to discover if you have a closer look, for example planets in a very close orbit, Class V Gas Giants, and so on. But after several days out it becomes repetitive, and there is no threat at all. This I would like to change - a bit.
Suggestion: The dangers of exploration, as it is now, are there, but not very dangerous. If you fall asleep or are not careful, you will botch a landing or hug a star, or arrive in a dangerous position in a new system. This is fine. But there are ludicrous 'explorer builds', with underpowered thrusters, no shield or weapons and nothing much else. The 70+ ly 'designs' are ingenious, but somehow I would not like to use one. There you go far away from civilization out into the dark and unknown - without at least a bit of protection?? These builds are only possible, because of no - not even light - dangers out there, except errors in ship handling.
Therefore I propose encounters: These encounters should not be very dangerous, and for low skill level. A ship with at least a weak shield and weak weapons should easily master such encounters, or without weapons be able to flee. The encounters should be only very far outside all civilizations and totally random, and quite rare.
For example: An alien probe or drone, extremely old and very degraded, can be scanned and may attack, but at a maximum strength of a 'Competent Sidewinder' or less. A design with no shields and no weapons and weak thrusters should be slightly endangered by this, but a light explorer design with at least a weak shield should not have problems with it. The objective is not to kill off explorers, the objective is to make the 'wilderness' out there a bit more interesting.
The background would be: Alien probe, extremely old of completely unknown origin, very much degraded and defective. If it attacks it is because of this degradation and because over 90% of its systems no longer work. There is nothing much to be learned, especially about its technology and origin or of its original objectives. You can scan it, and maybe receive one random data material, and if you destroy it you could find another material, but this is not important.
There should be three types of such probes:
1) Probe in a USS, you can avoid it, or drop into it.
2) Probe in SC, will interdict and try to attack, but essentially quite weak.
3) Probe/installation on a planet, can be seen with a signal and explored/scanned, may attack.
Spawning of such probes should be rather rare and completely random. Maybe they will rather spawn in bigger systems and not in systems with only one or more stellar bodies. And they will never spawn near populated systems, the minimum distance to populated systems will always be around 5000 ly, or even more. This is not something you can 'hunt' for and nothing you want to 'farm'. It is just a bit variation and tension for explorers far outside every populated system. And it is definitely nothing of Thargoid or Guardian Origin! It is just a mysterious and very old technical thing of unknown origin, with not much use.
I think things like that should happen, the Galaxy is huge and very old, there should be more out there than only 'systems'. Systems are interesting and well modeled, but such things would give a little 'spice' to the exploring, without being extremely dangerous or annoying. The central idea is to add light and moderate dangers, there could be more like solar flares and other things out there. Not to kill off explorers, just to keep things a little more interesting. It should be easy to avoid or master such things with a sensible explorer build, i.e. light shields, sensible thrusters and maybe light weapons.
I am missing the feeling of being 'out in the wilderness' while exploring.
Exploring is not boring for me, obviously. But if you scan every system you come through there is a bit repetitiveness. There are still a lot of nice things to discover if you have a closer look, for example planets in a very close orbit, Class V Gas Giants, and so on. But after several days out it becomes repetitive, and there is no threat at all. This I would like to change - a bit.
Suggestion: The dangers of exploration, as it is now, are there, but not very dangerous. If you fall asleep or are not careful, you will botch a landing or hug a star, or arrive in a dangerous position in a new system. This is fine. But there are ludicrous 'explorer builds', with underpowered thrusters, no shield or weapons and nothing much else. The 70+ ly 'designs' are ingenious, but somehow I would not like to use one. There you go far away from civilization out into the dark and unknown - without at least a bit of protection?? These builds are only possible, because of no - not even light - dangers out there, except errors in ship handling.
Therefore I propose encounters: These encounters should not be very dangerous, and for low skill level. A ship with at least a weak shield and weak weapons should easily master such encounters, or without weapons be able to flee. The encounters should be only very far outside all civilizations and totally random, and quite rare.
For example: An alien probe or drone, extremely old and very degraded, can be scanned and may attack, but at a maximum strength of a 'Competent Sidewinder' or less. A design with no shields and no weapons and weak thrusters should be slightly endangered by this, but a light explorer design with at least a weak shield should not have problems with it. The objective is not to kill off explorers, the objective is to make the 'wilderness' out there a bit more interesting.
The background would be: Alien probe, extremely old of completely unknown origin, very much degraded and defective. If it attacks it is because of this degradation and because over 90% of its systems no longer work. There is nothing much to be learned, especially about its technology and origin or of its original objectives. You can scan it, and maybe receive one random data material, and if you destroy it you could find another material, but this is not important.
There should be three types of such probes:
1) Probe in a USS, you can avoid it, or drop into it.
2) Probe in SC, will interdict and try to attack, but essentially quite weak.
3) Probe/installation on a planet, can be seen with a signal and explored/scanned, may attack.
Spawning of such probes should be rather rare and completely random. Maybe they will rather spawn in bigger systems and not in systems with only one or more stellar bodies. And they will never spawn near populated systems, the minimum distance to populated systems will always be around 5000 ly, or even more. This is not something you can 'hunt' for and nothing you want to 'farm'. It is just a bit variation and tension for explorers far outside every populated system. And it is definitely nothing of Thargoid or Guardian Origin! It is just a mysterious and very old technical thing of unknown origin, with not much use.
I think things like that should happen, the Galaxy is huge and very old, there should be more out there than only 'systems'. Systems are interesting and well modeled, but such things would give a little 'spice' to the exploring, without being extremely dangerous or annoying. The central idea is to add light and moderate dangers, there could be more like solar flares and other things out there. Not to kill off explorers, just to keep things a little more interesting. It should be easy to avoid or master such things with a sensible explorer build, i.e. light shields, sensible thrusters and maybe light weapons.
I am missing the feeling of being 'out in the wilderness' while exploring.
