Skip if you just want to get to it
I was eagerly awaiting 2.3 because of one thing, I really wanted a long range detailed surface scanner. I thought it would just make exploration a smidgen less tedious and I didn't really expect it to open up any new way of exploring... Then I scanned my first gas giant from 2800ls away.
Exploration (as the game rewards you for it) has always been a big step from the things that feel like real exploration. You fly to a system, honk, scan some planets- maybe fly close or stop for a picture or two but the vast majority of exploration doesn't involve much diversity for the player's experience. This was always odd to me, that most of what the game rewards as exploration isn't the things that the player is most likely to enjoy from exploring. The game is full of incredible environments that offer stunning views and finding these is by far the most rewarding aspect of exploration. When I explore I want to actual see the diverse, procedurally generated universe- not just pass it by.
The long range scanner mod opened up a small window. I can sit in the rings of a gas giant and scan distant bodies as I fly around and really take it all in. That small window looks out into a vastly different experience for explorers. The task of gaining rank in the past has always been easy but it's hardly been rewarding. Being able to actually explore places while I "explore" for credits is a leap in the right direction but I want to leap further.
Here's my suggestion:
Make a 'stratospheric detailed surface scanner' that has extremely more range in normal space while in orbit of planets with an atmosphere. Make it's range in those cases huge, possibly even infinite but shorter while in supercruise. You aim it by targeting a point on the planets atmosphere that triangulates you, your target, and the body you're near (explanation being that it uses the planets atmosphere to amplify the signal). Remove the ability to scan through objects with it so you'd have to relocate to scan an entire system. This way explorers can do some real exploration while they earn credits and rank.
Conversely, you could also give the scanner multiple effects depending on the area of normal space it's in. That way if all you have are small moons with no atmosphere and near star asteroid belts you could still drop down and say, use the metallic asteroids to magnify the signal. Range could vary depending on what natural source amplifies the signal.
I really think a simple change like this could add something huge to the game play of exploration.
I was eagerly awaiting 2.3 because of one thing, I really wanted a long range detailed surface scanner. I thought it would just make exploration a smidgen less tedious and I didn't really expect it to open up any new way of exploring... Then I scanned my first gas giant from 2800ls away.
Exploration (as the game rewards you for it) has always been a big step from the things that feel like real exploration. You fly to a system, honk, scan some planets- maybe fly close or stop for a picture or two but the vast majority of exploration doesn't involve much diversity for the player's experience. This was always odd to me, that most of what the game rewards as exploration isn't the things that the player is most likely to enjoy from exploring. The game is full of incredible environments that offer stunning views and finding these is by far the most rewarding aspect of exploration. When I explore I want to actual see the diverse, procedurally generated universe- not just pass it by.
The long range scanner mod opened up a small window. I can sit in the rings of a gas giant and scan distant bodies as I fly around and really take it all in. That small window looks out into a vastly different experience for explorers. The task of gaining rank in the past has always been easy but it's hardly been rewarding. Being able to actually explore places while I "explore" for credits is a leap in the right direction but I want to leap further.
Here's my suggestion:
Make a 'stratospheric detailed surface scanner' that has extremely more range in normal space while in orbit of planets with an atmosphere. Make it's range in those cases huge, possibly even infinite but shorter while in supercruise. You aim it by targeting a point on the planets atmosphere that triangulates you, your target, and the body you're near (explanation being that it uses the planets atmosphere to amplify the signal). Remove the ability to scan through objects with it so you'd have to relocate to scan an entire system. This way explorers can do some real exploration while they earn credits and rank.
Conversely, you could also give the scanner multiple effects depending on the area of normal space it's in. That way if all you have are small moons with no atmosphere and near star asteroid belts you could still drop down and say, use the metallic asteroids to magnify the signal. Range could vary depending on what natural source amplifies the signal.
I really think a simple change like this could add something huge to the game play of exploration.
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