PLEASE FD do a little QOL adjustment on scan times

[Leper Messiah]

Ok bit of a rant, so a little back story. Havn't played since the start of June. Elite explorer, and I would rather explore more than anything else. Been playing for the last 2 weeks again and I'm already jaded by the scanning (again). IMO it's completely ridiculous the amount of completely DEAD game time I have to endure because of the length of time scanning takes. And I stress this is utterly DEAD gametime DEVOID of ANY gameplay.

I just did a system and calculated the time for scans, normal size planets took around 17 seconds per scan, Gas Giants 23 seconds, moons 30 PLUS...now if I got within 5ls of the moon that dropped to 15 seconds, but factoring the extra amount of time needed to get out of gravity wells the time saved is soon eaten up a bit.

5 planets, 3 Gas giants, 23 moons (yes I know I don't HAVE to scan these, but I like to scan as much as I can and hate leaving stuff (even though I have left loads in the past which irks me))

The scan times meant that I spent FOURTEEN minutes doing absolutely SMEG all as the scans completed. Once again I stress this is time DEVOID of gameplay. And this doesn't take into account travelling to and from them before the scan started.

Just why? What reason could there possibly be for this?.....personally I think that reducing the time to 5-10 seconds per scan which is still a lot of dead gameplay time would make a massive difference and I BESEECH FD to implement this as soon as they can. That's still almost 5 minutes of dead gameplay, but WAY better than 14.

I don't feel I'm asking for the world or anything game breaking or anything likely to make Exploring overly generous in CR/HR. Just a little QOL change to make me feel that I am not wasting my life (anymore than I am playing a game).

 

[Sixxor]

Seconded. It wouldn't be so bad if you had something to do whilst the scanning is in progress, but you can only flick around the side info panels so much before you've run out of things to read.
And woe betide you should you accidentally orient your ship slightly away from your target before the scan is complete, then it's tough tatties, you have to start the scan again!

 

[Zeeman]

I hereby approve this product and/or message.

Z...

 

[Flimley]

Yes count me in. Even 25% faster across the board would be super nice......or maybe 40%.

Flimley

 

[Mengy]

Yep, this is something I strongly suggested in the 2.2 beta forums before the update. If the new surface map views are locked behind detail scans then fine, I’m okay with that, BUT it would help alleviate the grind and wasted time of exploring by reducing scanner times. We spend so much of our time just watching that little circle spin while the scanner takes its time, it’s really not value added gameplay at all, and that time waster was the source of a lot of people’s angst to not want the surface maps locked away behind planet scans. Reducing the time to scan would go a very long way to making exploration more fun IMHO.

At a minimum, at least give us an engineer blueprint to make planetary scans much faster, please!

 

[Flimley]

Im giving this thread 8 out of 10 Flimley points.

Flimley

 

[Drazkul]

Definitely agree, would be very handy

 

[HailVectron]

It would also be good if the system map updated the object you're scanning when the scan is completed. You currently have to flip off it, flip back, flip off, flip back, until the details fill in.

 

[Leper Messiah]

Cheers for the comments lads. hopefully someone over at FD will see it and realise scanning is not good at the mo.

Im giving this thread 8 out of 10 Flimley points.

Flimley

Cheers!

It would also be good if the system map updated the object you're scanning when the scan is completed. You currently have to flip off it, flip back, flip off, flip back, until the details fill in.

Never noticed this!

 

[Zeeman]

It would also be good if the system map updated the object you're scanning when the scan is completed. You currently have to flip off it, flip back, flip off, flip back, until the details fill in.

Erm, no. It would be nice if the info about the body you are scanning appeared on one of the 50 bazillion displays available in the cockpit (possibly the left or right info panel, XXXX-ample?) as you were scanning, so you WOULDN'T have to waste yet more time by going to the system map to see what info popped up.

Let's triple the scan distance, while we're at it, because, seriously, it would make barely any difference to money earned, but by goodness would it make exploration a lot less tedious...

Z...

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Yep, this is something I strongly suggested in the 2.2 beta forums before the update. If the new surface map views are locked behind detail scans then fine, I’m okay with that, BUT it would help alleviate the grind and wasted time of exploring by reducing scanner times. We spend so much of our time just watching that little circle spin while the scanner takes its time, it’s really not value added gameplay at all, and that time waster was the source of a lot of people’s angst to not want the surface maps locked away behind planet scans. Reducing the time to scan would go a very long way to making exploration more fun IMHO.

At a minimum, at least give us an engineer blueprint to make planetary scans much faster, please!

No, we need faster boot sequence, armoured and shielded scanners. what you ask for makes no sense!

Z...

 

[iain666]

Erm, no. It would be nice if the info about the body you are scanning appeared one of the 50 bazillion displays available in the cockpit (possibly the left or right info panel, XXX-ample?) as you were scanning, so you WOULDN'T have to waste yet more time by going to the system map to see what info popped up.

As it happens I've just this weekend finished writing that for ED Discovery now that the info lands in the player journals, finish a scan and up the details pop on my screen. It is indeed nice not having to open the sysmap to see the details.

Coming in the first 5.1 release (not 100% certain when Finwen's planning that).

 

[Wedgetail]

TBH this would be a perfect time for an engineer who specializes in Discovery and Surface Scanners (and not just shielded mods, Enhanced mods, that would increase range and/or scan time)

 

[EUS]

Agree completely.
I too took the summer of from this game, and the scan times are very noticeable.
Star scan when just inside the scan zone takes 12 parsecs (to misuse a meme).

 

[osser]

Yes. Scan times need to be sped up. I'd be happy with a 50% increase.
Engineers is an option as well although it wouldn't help those of us out on long trips.

 

[Zeeman]

As it happens I've just this weekend finished writing that for ED Discovery now that the info lands in the player journals, finish a scan and up the details pop on my screen. It is indeed nice not having to open the sysmap to see the details.

Coming in the first 5.1 release (not 100% certain when Finwen's planning that).

Nice - FD needs to hire you guys....

Z...

 

[Darth Krayt]

As it happens I've just this weekend finished writing that for ED Discovery now that the info lands in the player journals, finish a scan and up the details pop on my screen. It is indeed nice not having to open the sysmap to see the details.

Coming in the first 5.1 release (not 100% certain when Finwen's planning that).

Great stuff.
Looks like 5.1 is already available on GitHub. Going to give it a go now.

 

[shreddog]

I do have to agree with OP. It really isn't meaningful gameplay sitting there waiting for the thing to end swirling and ticking.

But the biggest problem is that there really isn't anything exciting coming out of a scan.. Ok, perhaps the planet has some interesting stats, but really that's all. And you get the TAG(yey!).

They need to add more functionality to the scanner.

I remember playing Starcontrol 2 (1992 game) and how exciting it was to scan a planet. It had 3 scans; Mineral, Energy, and Biological. And man, when the scanner picked up a energy signal on the surface the excitement was yuuuge. It was rare, and it could have a huge impact on the story/gameplay.

I would really like a similar scan mechanic in Elite. Because just scanning planet after planet only for a TAG is not very good gameplay. They need to add rare things that can be picked up by the scanner, that show the approximate location, and then you need to find the exact location with the SRV. And yes they need to speed up the scanning time.

Starcontrol 2 footage, start at 3:30 to see how finding a energy singal had some really exciting content behind it.

 

[Leper Messiah]

I do have to agree with OP. It really isn't meaningful gameplay sitting there waiting for the thing to end swirling and ticking.

But the biggest problem is that there really isn't anything exciting coming out of a scan.. Ok, perhaps the planet has some interesting stats, but really that's all. And you get the TAG(yey!).

They need to add more functionality to the scanner.

I remember playing Starcontrol 2 (1992 game) and how exciting it was to scan a planet. It had 3 scans; Mineral, Energy, and Biological. And man, when the scanner picked up a energy signal on the surface the excitement was yuuuge. It was rare, and it could have a huge impact on the story/gameplay.

I would really like a similar scan mechanic in Elite. Because just scanning planet after planet only for a TAG is not very good gameplay. They need to add rare things that can be picked up by the scanner, that show the approximate location, and then you need to find the exact location with the SRV. And yes they need to speed up the scanning time.

Starcontrol 2 footage, start at 3:30 to see how finding a energy singal had some really exciting content behind it.

Indeed the "scanning" process should be totally revamped to actual be "gameplay", but that will take time....time I'm not sure FD are willing to put into exploring. I just think this would be a "relatively" easy fix. Good link though, never played that game but some elements tranferred to Elite would make exploring WAY better.

 

[shreddog]

Good link though, never played that game but some elements tranferred to Elite would make exploring WAY better.

I highly recommend it. The game has been re compiled to run on Win32 / Linux and MacOSX and released free to the public under the name The Ur-Quan Masters. It has the most amazing story I have ever experienced in a game. The writing was sooo good with so much attention to detail I still get goosebumps thinking about that game, lol. Those 2 guys that made it back in 1992 were absolute geniuses.

Sry for slight derail

 

[disorganise]

Erm, no. It would be nice if the info about the body you are scanning appeared on one of the 50 bazillion displays available in the cockpit (possibly the left or right info panel, XXXX-ample?) as you were scanning, so you WOULDN'T have to waste yet more time by going to the system map to see what info popped up.

Z...

You need Captains Log 2

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As it happens I've just this weekend finished writing that for ED Discovery now that the info lands in the player journals, finish a scan and up the details pop on my screen. It is indeed nice not having to open the sysmap to see the details.

Coming in the first 5.1 release (not 100% certain when Finwen's planning that).

Ooh! Can't wait.