Blackcompany
Banned
The POI system is...not very good. The completely random nature of discoveries is lacking and often immersion wrecking. Nothing like finding tea - 5000LY from the bubble. At a man made base. Nonsense.
Moreover, nothing is persistent. I can find a base another person will never see. And those bases that are persistent will simply reset themselves for the next person's job. Its frankly ridiculous.
So here are some suggestions for how we fix it:
-All bases and smuggler caches are persistent. Once they are found they STAY found. Forever. As such, they reward their initial discoverer a first discovery reward.
-Down pilots and wrecked ships are persistent while they exist. Once found they stay found until:
-Someone rescues or cleans up the wreck
-A Set number of hours until they are cleaned up by the game and go away, so long as no player is within sight of them.
-Crafting Materials (aka, shooty rocks) remain RNG. They are small enough that this makes no real difference.
How do we Locate POI:
-Normal scans from space reveal all POI locations, within a 10km radius. No further information is revealed.
-Detailed Surface scans reveal:
-All POI
-Their location within 5km
-The type of persistent POI for each revealed area
Players can then choose whether to fly down and deal with the types of POI that interest them, whether they are equipped for rescue of downed pilots, salvage work or simply to explore a base or cache.
These types of POI are persistent. Again, pilots and wreckage remain until cleaned up by players, or for a set amount of hours. Bases and caches stay, period. They NEVER go away, though they may restock or reset every few hours, as if people are coming and going to and from them.
All these sites are publicly viewable. Bases and caches should never be locked away from public view; this kills opportunities for emergent game play.
Mission Changes for POI related missions:
-Pilot rescue: Always available at every non-outpost station and planetary base. Each rescued pilot found results in a reward that varies based on the pilot's faction and his or her rank.
-Salvage: Content is legal and can be sold on Commodities market, unless the commodity is prohibited in a system.
-Slaves: Slaves rescued from POI wreckage can be freed at any large station belonging to or allied with the Federation as well as numerous Independent factions. A reward is always available for this service...and so are the consequences that some factions do not want their slave trade interrupted and will be watching you...
Why do this:
The POI system is broken. You only have to look at the downed pilot situation to realize this. It is also uninteresting. Nothing compelling spawns at the RNG based POI. Tea that is never worth fighting drones over. Rocks I dont need or want. That's it.
Furthermore, the lack of persistence in the bases and caches kills opportunities for emergent game play. If I find a loot cache and dont have a cargo hold, but I DO have a combat vessel, I should be able to phone in assistance. Let them drive down in the SRV and "wake" the drones...which I will happily deal with using my combat vessel. Then, they can scoop the loot and we can work out sharing the payment....or not...amongst ourselves. Emergent. Game play. We need more of this.
Lastly, SRV game play, in and of itself, really is not very interesting. Sure you can play Tag or Base Jump. Its very telling that the two most compelling activities for which the SRV is used have absolutely NOTHING to do with developer created content. The SRV is rather boring.
Which is a good reason to stop forcing players to use it. The more you force a boring, repetitive mechanic on players the more they will come to resent you and your game. See Mass Effect and, well...planetary landings/scanning...for more on that.
By allowing players to use regular or Detailed Surface Scans to see and assess POI prior to landing, you accomplish numerous things. You tie existing systems - planetary scans - to new Horizons mechanics, making the game world more coherent. Heck, go ahead and show the POI to people who do not have Horizons...just dont allow them to land/approach the planet. You also allow players to choose which POI interest them. No more wasting minutes or hours cruising over the surface of planets at ridiculously slow speeds, hoping something interesting spawns, only to hope in our SRV and do more time wasting driving around to find out just how uninterested we are in that particular type of POI.
Players would still need to use the SRV scanner to get an EXACT lock on the POI itself. But under this system they would have a locked in radius, and potential knowledge as to the type of signal they are looking at prior to landing. Which just makes good sense.
So please...lets make the world more coherent and exciting.
Moreover, nothing is persistent. I can find a base another person will never see. And those bases that are persistent will simply reset themselves for the next person's job. Its frankly ridiculous.
So here are some suggestions for how we fix it:
-All bases and smuggler caches are persistent. Once they are found they STAY found. Forever. As such, they reward their initial discoverer a first discovery reward.
-Down pilots and wrecked ships are persistent while they exist. Once found they stay found until:
-Someone rescues or cleans up the wreck
-A Set number of hours until they are cleaned up by the game and go away, so long as no player is within sight of them.
-Crafting Materials (aka, shooty rocks) remain RNG. They are small enough that this makes no real difference.
How do we Locate POI:
-Normal scans from space reveal all POI locations, within a 10km radius. No further information is revealed.
-Detailed Surface scans reveal:
-All POI
-Their location within 5km
-The type of persistent POI for each revealed area
Players can then choose whether to fly down and deal with the types of POI that interest them, whether they are equipped for rescue of downed pilots, salvage work or simply to explore a base or cache.
These types of POI are persistent. Again, pilots and wreckage remain until cleaned up by players, or for a set amount of hours. Bases and caches stay, period. They NEVER go away, though they may restock or reset every few hours, as if people are coming and going to and from them.
All these sites are publicly viewable. Bases and caches should never be locked away from public view; this kills opportunities for emergent game play.
Mission Changes for POI related missions:
-Pilot rescue: Always available at every non-outpost station and planetary base. Each rescued pilot found results in a reward that varies based on the pilot's faction and his or her rank.
-Salvage: Content is legal and can be sold on Commodities market, unless the commodity is prohibited in a system.
-Slaves: Slaves rescued from POI wreckage can be freed at any large station belonging to or allied with the Federation as well as numerous Independent factions. A reward is always available for this service...and so are the consequences that some factions do not want their slave trade interrupted and will be watching you...
Why do this:
The POI system is broken. You only have to look at the downed pilot situation to realize this. It is also uninteresting. Nothing compelling spawns at the RNG based POI. Tea that is never worth fighting drones over. Rocks I dont need or want. That's it.
Furthermore, the lack of persistence in the bases and caches kills opportunities for emergent game play. If I find a loot cache and dont have a cargo hold, but I DO have a combat vessel, I should be able to phone in assistance. Let them drive down in the SRV and "wake" the drones...which I will happily deal with using my combat vessel. Then, they can scoop the loot and we can work out sharing the payment....or not...amongst ourselves. Emergent. Game play. We need more of this.
Lastly, SRV game play, in and of itself, really is not very interesting. Sure you can play Tag or Base Jump. Its very telling that the two most compelling activities for which the SRV is used have absolutely NOTHING to do with developer created content. The SRV is rather boring.
Which is a good reason to stop forcing players to use it. The more you force a boring, repetitive mechanic on players the more they will come to resent you and your game. See Mass Effect and, well...planetary landings/scanning...for more on that.
By allowing players to use regular or Detailed Surface Scans to see and assess POI prior to landing, you accomplish numerous things. You tie existing systems - planetary scans - to new Horizons mechanics, making the game world more coherent. Heck, go ahead and show the POI to people who do not have Horizons...just dont allow them to land/approach the planet. You also allow players to choose which POI interest them. No more wasting minutes or hours cruising over the surface of planets at ridiculously slow speeds, hoping something interesting spawns, only to hope in our SRV and do more time wasting driving around to find out just how uninterested we are in that particular type of POI.
Players would still need to use the SRV scanner to get an EXACT lock on the POI itself. But under this system they would have a locked in radius, and potential knowledge as to the type of signal they are looking at prior to landing. Which just makes good sense.
So please...lets make the world more coherent and exciting.
