More exploration stuff... please

[GreyAreaUK]

While I would also like a few more 'oddities' I think it has to be handled very, very carefully to fit in with the style and feel of Elite as it stands.


For my part I'm thinking along the lines of things like the Joker Artifacts (from pTerry's "The Dark Side Of The Sun") - alien monoliths, obelisks etc that are just floating in space around planets, moons, asteroid fields etc. You wouldn't be able to collect them, but you could tag their location in much the same way as other exploration data.
But how would you find them? It wouldn't feel right for them to show up on the ADS since that's scanning for large-scale objects, so it would involve dropping out of SC near enough to such an artefact that your normal scanners can detect it. Which would involve an awful lot of dropping-out-of-SC, checking the scanner, dropping back into SC, lather/rinse/repeat, for something that may not even exist in the system you're in. Perhaps have them as very low signal sources that only show when you're very close? Maybe.
It's a tricky balance - make it too easy and there's no sense of accomplishment, too hard and it becomes pointless even trying.


I obviously don't have an answer, I'm just mulling over the problem.

 

[Witzo]

They could literally drop a million easter eggs in the galaxy and they would likely never be come across by anyone.
1 star in 400,000 would have an easter egg. Or less than 1 in 4,000,000 if they put them on planets.

 

[Jon474]

I think the sad truth is that our RL Galaxy is empty of other sentient life-forms. Lots of low-level, just out of the single-cell stage stuff...but nothing else. I like the fact that the Elite Galaxy reflects this and is empty.

I would like to see yet more variety to the astronomical bodies we have already seen. I think that FD have done a fantastic job in sprucing up the appearance of the planets. There are some truly wonderful procedurally generated planets out there. Even more variety, some surprises, other astronomical bodies must be on their way.

I do want to see Thargoids make an appearance in our Galaxy, coming from outside of it...but I really hope that FD don't rush them in. I would love it if it took them, say, two years to introduce tangible proof of their existence. Really ramp up the tension. Strange sightings, odd disappearances, weird discoveries. Sadly, I don't expect that the vast majority of players would tolerate such a timescale and my guess is that they will make an appearance before Christmas.

Flying happy
Jon "Cold" Tallinn
T-6E

 

[shreddog]

I think the sad truth is that our RL Galaxy is empty of other sentient life-forms. Lots of low-level, just out of the single-cell stage stuff...but nothing else

Nobody knows that. There may be other intelligent life, even more advanced civilizations than us, but the sheer distances will keep that a secret forever.. I doubt we could pick up any ancient radio signals from a civilization thousands of lightyears away.