Really, people are tagging first discovered just by honking!

[Maolagin]

I'm reasonably sure I've seen the discovery pop-ups while in combat mode but I'd have to test it again to be certain.


I'm not able to play the game at the moment but is it still possible to disable the scanner in the Modules tab, or does it not even show up as a module now that it's part of the ship?

Even if this works it would be of limited utility in the bubble where you need the scanner active to detect signal sources and mission targets. But it might be a way of doing long sprints through unexplored space without leaving a trail of tags when you get back.

I made a note to check this exact thing next time I log in, and no. The scanner is listed in the modules tab, but as it doesn't use any power, it can't be turned off.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Just a point which might not be obvious to some. If you've a key bound to set thrust to zero, you can hit that and then press your key to jump into the FSS. You don't have to wait to throttle down and come to a stop before opening the FSS, it will open up as you're throttling down.

I only say this as I don't find the new process much more time consuming if I'm just looking for specific planets as I did before. I little more clunky, yes.

 

[Jack Schitt]

Check out the Suggestions forum. There's a constant stream of requests to automate/shorten/simplify activities which people find tedious/repetitive/boring. If exploration had always been the FSS I guarantee that people would have been requesting functionality similar to the ADS. Give it 6 months and they'll be there, from people who never experienced the ADS.

Not really possible to guarantee a theoretical but I agree up to a point. While the Suggestions forum carries some extreme entitlement, I don't doubt that requests to automate some of the FSS would have come had it been there from day one, just as they have come with this implementation. But I struggle to imagine many people would have put in a request that was basically "Let us see all of the planetary types and the approximate system geometry at once, but force us to fly to each body if we want to log them for discovery." And if they had, I can't imagine it would have met with the same universal approval as that granted to the ADS by those who miss it the most.

The rationale for not allowing both to co-exist just isn't ... well ... rational

FD really ought to have done what was suggested during beta, and populate the FSS spectrum onto the HUD. It wouldn't solve the issues of everyone concerned, not even of everyone in this forum, but it might have offered a half-way solution that demonstrated some willingness to move the goalposts. Having to slow down and engage a different mode in order to see what's in the system is undeniably irritating even to those who generally like the new mechanics.

The scanner is listed in the modules tab, but as it doesn't use any power, it can't be turned off.

Alas. I wonder how much effort would be required on FD's part to open up zero-draw modules for disabling/re-enabling, and whether it would cause issues elsewhere. It seems as though a useful option is being denied simply because of an interface choice.

Of course it may be that there is literally no code for a non-functioning scanner precisely because it can't be turned off, which would make it a more difficult proposition from a programming point of view.

You don't have to wait to throttle down and come to a stop before opening the FSS, it will open up as you're throttling down.

Very true. With the right software you could even bind a macro to do both at the same time.

Which further raises the question of why you have to throttle down at all. The FSS will still open even if you're hurtling along at ludicrous speed, as long as you've zeroed the throttle. The ability to engage the FSS while travelling at high cruise and/or charging the FSD would again remove a lot of the frustration with the new mechanics. Certainly being able to spot a dull and useless system without having to slow down would help. It wouldn't be a million miles from how many people used the System Map in combination with the ADS.

 

[Kenneth McGrew]

FD really ought to have done what was suggested during beta, and populate the FSS spectrum onto the HUD. It wouldn't solve the issues of everyone concerned, not even of everyone in this forum, but it might have offered a half-way solution that demonstrated some willingness to move the goalposts. Having to slow down and engage a different mode in order to see what's in the system is undeniably irritating even to those who generally like the new mechanics.
.

that would upset the Conda crowd. cant have agility coming into play for exploration unfortunately that was basically why its an external thing.

 

[Jack Schitt]

that would upset the Conda crowd. cant have agility coming into play for exploration unfortunately that was basically why its an external thing.

Just to be clear (because I'm not sure I was the first time) I was only talking about the frequency band with the squiggles, not the whole interface. Just enough to glance and see whether or not there's anything worth stopping for before jumping on.

I know the spectrum only shows composition and not geometry, so it wouldn't do for everyone. But it would be handy to be able to quickly spot ELWs or HMCs without having to throttle down, open and close the FSS, then throttle up again. It would be even handier if we could use either method while charging the FSD. That is something you could do with the ADS/System Map that even I miss sometimes.

As for the FSS removing agility as a factor, it's not something I'd thought about but I guess it does for everything other than mapping, and maybe manoeuvring around the star if there are scannable things behind it. And I actually quite like the "big ship" feel of the Anaconda when getting up close and personal with planets. It encourages flybys of the smaller worlds and broadside probing rather than head-on runs, so you don't spend as long in the supercruise shadow.

What I do wish was that the ships suffered more serious damage when you do something stupid, especially now that we can carry AFMUs and repair limpets that undo most of the trivial damage. While probing a gas giant the other day I was taking full advantage of having the ship fly a lazy pass over the planet's dark side while I used the probe launcher to fire broadsides, and I was concentrating so much on the probes that I flew the ship straight into the planet's rings. That really ought to have been a mission-ending mistake but all I took was a couple of percent damage to a handful of modules.

 

[nanite2000]

Just to be clear (because I'm not sure I was the first time) I was only talking about the frequency band with the squiggles, not the whole interface. Just enough to glance and see whether or not there's anything worth stopping for before jumping on.

I know the spectrum only shows composition and not geometry, so it wouldn't do for everyone. But it would be handy to be able to quickly spot ELWs or HMCs without having to throttle down, open and close the FSS, then throttle up again. It would be even handier if we could use either method while charging the FSD. That is something you could do with the ADS/System Map that even I miss sometimes.

I strongly believe the spectrogram should be visible in analysis mode.