One of the major issues that arose with Odyssey's arrival was the alteration of the DSS using "Heat Maps" for Geological/Biological features. And I think we can all agree that while it's fine for the Biological part of it, the removal of Geographical Signals, particularly on planets with Volcanism, has made the hunt for even regular Raw Materials for engineering and synthesis needlessly tedious, with many people preferring to swap back to Horizons just for the gathering part.
So here is my suggestion to fix this.
Firstly, the DSS. This does need major work when it comes to geological mapping, but I believe it could be addressed through a process that we already use for Ring mining. When the probes do their scan, it could also highlight "Hotspots" on the planet, either for all resources or for a certain type in particular, like Selenium on the upper end, Iron on the lower. Make these hotspots targetable, so we aren't wandering vast expanses of a planet looking for little pockets in a bigger heat map.
Secondly, just as there is a suit for biological data gathering, I believe there could be a place for a suit for geological prospecting, with some manner of scanner to find sub-surface deposits, or even extract it from the rocks sitting in abundance on the surface, particularly in the "Hotspots" mentioned above.
Thirdly, with the release of the Scorpion SRV, it does open doors for other types as well. Naming aside, I believe there could well be a specialized "drilling" SRV designed to extract sub-surface resource deposits, perhaps even in conjunction with the Prospector Suit mentioned above were it to have a 'Tagging' function for deposits.
Any and all feedback is welcome.
So here is my suggestion to fix this.
Firstly, the DSS. This does need major work when it comes to geological mapping, but I believe it could be addressed through a process that we already use for Ring mining. When the probes do their scan, it could also highlight "Hotspots" on the planet, either for all resources or for a certain type in particular, like Selenium on the upper end, Iron on the lower. Make these hotspots targetable, so we aren't wandering vast expanses of a planet looking for little pockets in a bigger heat map.
Secondly, just as there is a suit for biological data gathering, I believe there could be a place for a suit for geological prospecting, with some manner of scanner to find sub-surface deposits, or even extract it from the rocks sitting in abundance on the surface, particularly in the "Hotspots" mentioned above.
Thirdly, with the release of the Scorpion SRV, it does open doors for other types as well. Naming aside, I believe there could well be a specialized "drilling" SRV designed to extract sub-surface resource deposits, perhaps even in conjunction with the Prospector Suit mentioned above were it to have a 'Tagging' function for deposits.
Any and all feedback is welcome.
