Pretty system maps and some kind of weird memory loss

[ColdFish]

Greetings commanders!

I got a few questions that I couldn't get answers for in the newcomers section, so maybe someone here knows:

1. Concerning the system maps:
I found this picture of a beautiful orrery view of a star system on one of the wikis. Was there a time in alpha/beta/gamma when system maps really looked like this? Were they removed for 1.0 (and if yes, why?)? Was there ever talk about these system maps making their return/being implemented in 1.x? (Shame if not, since they look absolutely amazing...)

2. Concerning system exploration data:
I am aware that you lose all scanned system data when you get wrecked before selling them, as with open bounties. But what happens to data you have already sold when you bite the dust?
I noticed that I can get zero information on the galaxy map on a system I had completely scanned before (DSS for every planet and all).
Does that mean that I could now fly there, scan the system again and sell the data again, like if I had been there for the first time? Seems kinda silly to me.
And what's the point of exploring if I lose all "personal knowledge" about a system once my ship gets wrecked even if sold ("saved") the data before? Is that working as intended or have I (hopefully) just run into a bug?

Thanks to anyone who can enlighten me on these.


Cheers!

 

[NanoAnarchy]

That system map looks beautiful! I hope those actually get implemented (no idea if they were at one point or not), because that would definitely make exploring that much more fun.

As for the system exploration data loss after wrecking even though you've sold it, if I get a chance to make it back to my sidewinder base, i could give it a test run (dying /reselling for the same profit/similar profit), but I've no idea if you're SUPPOSED to lose all knowledge after a ship-death.

 

[ColdFish]

As for the system exploration data loss after wrecking even though you've sold it, if I get a chance to make it back to my sidewinder base, i could give it a test run (dying /reselling for the same profit/similar profit), but I've no idea if you're SUPPOSED to lose all knowledge after a ship-death.

That'd be great! Though I already have word from friends of mine that they noticed the same thing. Weirdly enough, they are not sure if that always happened after losing a ship, and neither am I.

 

[Flavio]

Point 1) That Orrery view was just a mock up of what they were hoping to achieve but was never implemented in any build that was distributed but may have been shown in an internal build that we are not privy to. In the previous Elite games there were two versions of the system maps, one was similar to the system map we have in order to get an idea on system data while the 3D view was like the Orrery view where you can see where things are once in the system.

Point 2) yep, that does sound like a bug but I could be wrong, in any case raise a ticket for it.

 

[ColdFish]

Thanks for the info on the system map Flavio.
Here's hoping we will see it in a future patch.

And I will go ticket the system data behavior. Just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything before sending in a ticket. (I suppose they get enough tickets for non-bugs as is )

Cheers!

 

[MostlyClueless]

On point 2, I think it makes sense that you would lose your "personal" knowledge along with your sellable knowledge, since both are stored in the same place - your ship's computer. Which unfortunately has been blown to bits.

 

[etien]

we all hope for the orrery map one day oe another, it is actually usefull to gauge distance inside a star system.

 

[Flavio]

On point 2, I think it makes sense that you would lose your "personal" knowledge along with your sellable knowledge, since both are stored in the same place - your ship's computer. Which unfortunately has been blown to bits.

The problem with this is that you would travel to a couple of systems and discover enough to cover the cost of your ship etc, destroy the ship and then discover it all again and sell the same data all over again, thereby making a profit .
I agree that they could reset the map data on the ship since your original ship was destroyed as long as rediscovering the same system just means that your map data has been updated and you couldn't sell the same data twice.
Small difference but I believe that the OP was saying that the first scenario was taking place and that loophole needs to be closed either by doing what you suggest which is in scenario 2 or by not losing your map data in the first place which is also reasonable.

 

[ColdFish]

Actually I have no idea if I can scan and sell the data again.
I am currently nowhere near the system I checked and also not really in a ship/position to test again. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

But while we are at it:
The total loss of data would make sense if I had lost my only ship. But I do own multiple ships.
In fact, whenever I change ships, I find the same bounty to turn in and the same sys data too. That means, that data is transfered from one ship to the other with no problem.
So, should I not keep the data if I have multiple ships?

In all honesty: Discussing based on "what if" logic here feels kinda dumb. I can see how, from a game mechanic standpoint, losing your unsold data and bounties makes sense. This gives you an incentive to return on a regular basis and turn in for a safe profit, or risk more by staying out longer and don't waste time by traveling, therefore increasing your creds/hour. A typical risk reward mechanic and perfectly working as intended.

What I don't see, from a game standpoint, is how losing all your data, after you brought it home safely, adds anything to exploring as a profession. In fact, I believe it's majorly detrimental since any risk you take in the future jeopardizes not only your "current progress", but also the progress you worked for during all of your playtime. And this hits explorers the most, since I firmly believe (without having actual data, of course) that most of the players choosing exploration as their way to play elite are not really in it for the money, but because of curiosity and the wish to cartograph all the points they always wanted to visit.

Cheers!