Hi friends
Recently I finally took the time to visit the last remaining region I've yet to visit: Xibalba. I had a thought while manually jumping to The Explorer's Bar & Grill @ Arm's End, looking into the chalky white line that represents our galaxy in the far distance. This really is the only space game I've ever played that is able to express the sheer size of its space in the game world. Not just in the visual aspect, but the emotional aspect as well. Whether that be in the core regions being surrounded by a never-ending golden haze, making my way through the Festival Grounds from Colonia and looking at all the nebulae I'm flying past, or again, out here at the dark and sparse ridge of the galaxy.
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(^My first ever trek to Beagle Point^)
Being out here, thousands upon thousands of light years away from the nearest human, it can be legitimately lonely. Forlorn is the word I always use. In one direction is your familiar galactic playground, and literally everywhere else,
black. Nothing for millions of light years. This is why I like being an explorer. The sense of awe and wonder that is portrayed so accurately it makes you wonder what it's like to be human in the first place. None of us will ever be able to experience any form of space travel, this is the next best thing. The ability and the freedom to spend weeks going where ever you so please. But this galaxy is just one of... a countless number in the universe. And we are one of many different sapient organisms.
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(^Everyone's favorite eerie ceiling fans^)
But despite the vastness of the explorer's game world, with the different views, different planets and whatnot to see, it's pretty empty. Now I know you're like
not this argument again but hear me out. Space is supposed to be pretty empty. Sure. That's why it's called 'space' to begin with. In terms of what to do and find however, well, that is sort of the problem. Everyone can recall the cancellation (or more aptly, indefinitely postponed) of Distant Worlds 3, as well as the suspension of new entries for submission into the
Galactic Mapping Project. Since Odyssey released, besides landable thin atmospheres, I can't quite put my finger on any other significant addition/change to exploration brought to us explorers. I'm not really including plants, as, to me, that's more along the lines of its dedicated exobiologist career more so than purely an exploration, space-fairing activity (like the anomaly and gyre trees above, and are also for some reason
still called "Stolon Pod" in the codex).
All the love is going towards the ongoing Thargoid War in the bubble, which I've heard from a few is getting rather stale. Granted, it makes sense as the majority of the player base is here, but still. A major marketing point for the game was that it includes a 1:1 scale of the Milky Way! Heck, exploration hasn't really even been touched content-wise since. What I think of in terms of major updates for exploration include the addition of the FSS, and the Lagrange clouds (which are awesome). But those came all the way back in 2018.
sadface
Imagine, for a moment, a fantasy world where FDEV treated exploration the same way they treat the (AX) combat roles and thargoid material. Oh MAN that would bring me joy. What new things/events might come along? I've always found it strange that in-game the star Gamma Velorum goes by its formal Bayer designation, but the surrounding sector is named after its informal name "Regor". Was the Wolf Rayet star supposed to go 'kaboom' at one point?
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(^Four of the same nebula model in a row^)
Make every major nebula its own different model? If anything, I would want this implemented. At least for large, real life nebulae. The Carina nebula, Heart & Soul nebulae, and even out further like The Skull and Crossbones nebula, all by itself way out there. Maybe it should be changed to help it stand out as a major landmark for all explorers heading out that way?
What were the purpose of the various permit-locked regions scattered around the galaxy? Or even those random singularly permit-locked systems 20,000LY+ from Sol? If they will never be used for anything, or if the content that was supposed to go into them was dropped, why not just open them? Oh man do you know what would be SO COOL? Silently unlock one of those restricted regions out in the middle of nowhere and have like an 'explorer' tell vox galactica there totally isn't something going on around that area, and maybe have a community goal for us explorers to travel alllll the way out to that sector and to come back and submit data for that sector, with a large bonus for systems starting with XXXX sector name. Maybe plant another one of those 'exploration voyage gone awry' and a large team of explorers got stuck in that sector and they built their own separate bubble there?
Boom, new fresh area that has never been touched before and new content to interact with! All the permit-locked sectors are now are huge spherical roadblocks that you have to take the time to go around. Oh and you know what that reminds me of? Kelly Eldridge's Lost GGG, north of the locked Hyponia region.
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I'll tell you what. The At The Eldritch Gate Expedition might have been the best thing for the Exploration Community in a very long time. Over 200 CMDRs were involved for the rigorous search of this lost planet. I haven't been more excited about this game, ever. I'm glad Frontier acknowledged this astounding feat. (
But AFAIK there still isn't a tourist beacon commemorating the achievement?) But we can go further. Why not do something like this with actual game content? Clues floating randomly out in the black, somehow connecting to one another and leading us down a huge rabbit hole? I know FDEV can absolutely implement something like this. They do love their wild goose chases.
(It's sort of funny how Green Gas Giants in general, one of the explorer's holy grails, and rarest things in the game, were never actually intended to be in the game.)
Okay. Enough mindless ranting about what could have been. I've already done enough of
that. And also, I've kind of had enough of the game. I recently surpassed 100,000 first discovered systems on EDSM, and went over 7,500,000 LY in hyperspace distance and I truly feel that I have actually seen it all. There's nothing new or fairly significant for me to see anymore. The only reason I kept playing over the past few months are researching Green Gas Giants, as well as Helium-Rich boxel hunting. Overall I just feel jaded, and am considering uninstalling the game to invest my time elsewhere. My fellow explorers might feel the same way, so I want to hear what you lot think about the current state of the Exploration role in Elite, what you'd like to see or what you don't like about it.
-CMDR Arcanic