Suggestion -> Increase Biological Species Variety for Exploration

[yves21haut]

Hello Commanders and Frontier team,

As an avid explorer in Elite Dangerous, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the beauty and diversity of the galaxy. However, when it comes to biological discoveries, I’ve found that the variety of species can feel a bit repetitive after a while. I believe that increasing the number and diversity of biological species across different planets and biomes would greatly enhance the exploration experience.

It would be fantastic to encounter more unique, exotic, and varied life forms, making each biological scan feel like a more meaningful discovery. This would add more depth to exploration gameplay and provide players with fresh motivation to venture into unexplored systems.

Thank you for considering this suggestion, and I look forward to seeing the continued evolution of Elite Dangerous!

 

[yves21haut]

 

[yves21haut]

 

[varonica]

All the current bio is hand crafted and proceduraly placed, they would need to hire more artists to add more different types of bio, and they indeed should, however better yet they need to change the way they do bio altogether. Seeing the same bio 30kly away from my current location is just silly, maybe when we get more types of landable planets we will get some changes, but each addition of bio just seems to be basically more of the same. We need unique planetary bio, new ways to collect data and analyse bio, new ways to record the bio, the codex is pretty worn out by now, but that's a hard call, would take lots of serious work and money to get it into a place that will make me super happy, not that I am unhappy at the moment, but we could have a lot better.

 

[Florizel]

I'm all for refocusing the ED from war to exploration. And obviously increasing biodiversity would be a good start.

 

[Fifico]

All the current bio is hand crafted and proceduraly placed, they would need to hire more artists to add more different types of bio, and they indeed should, however better yet they need to change the way they do bio altogether. Seeing the same bio 30kly away from my current location is just silly, maybe when we get more types of landable planets we will get some changes, but each addition of bio just seems to be basically more of the same. We need unique planetary bio, new ways to collect data and analyse bio, new ways to record the bio, the codex is pretty worn out by now, but that's a hard call, would take lots of serious work and money to get it into a place that will make me super happy, not that I am unhappy at the moment, but we could have a lot better.

They could use the technology engine to craft it automatically depending on the star type, planet atmosphere, pressure, etc.

 

[varonica]

They could use the technology engine to craft it automatically depending on the star type, planet atmosphere, pressure, etc.

Sorry, what are you on about, what technology engine in particular are we talking about here? Biology is already placed depending on star type, atmosphere, pressure and etc, but the bio isn't generated by any technology engine, unless you mean the one in our heads that the devs use hand craft the bio. You will really need to explain more what you mean, basically what you are posting can be replaced with the word "magic" and it has the same depth of meaning.

 

[Fifico]

Maybe my explanation wasnt enough, so here you are:
Players can engage with the entirety of a procedurally generated deterministic open world universe, which includes over 18 quintillion planets. Through the game's procedural generation system, planets have their own ecosystems with unique forms of flora and fauna, and various alien species may engage the player in combat or trade within planetary systems.
Further:
In computing, procedural generation (sometimes shortened as proc-gen) is a method of creating data algorithmically as opposed to manually, typically through a combination of human-generated content and algorithms coupled with computer-generated randomness and processing power. In computer graphics, it is commonly used to create textures and 3D models. In video games, it is used to automatically create large amounts of content in a game. Depending on the implementation, advantages of procedural generation can include smaller file sizes, larger amounts of content, and randomness for less predictable gameplay.

This is from wikipedia, about No Man's Sky game. This is what I meant. I don't want ED to be like NMS, but they can use some of the technology + hand craft

 

[varonica]

This is from wikipedia, about No Man's Sky game. This is what I meant. I don't want ED to be like NMS, but they can use some of the technology + hand craft

So, NMS, no galaxy simulation, no physics simulation, they put everything into the planet generation, I mean the planets don't even orbit the stars. And yes we all know what procedural generation is, but you can't handcraft even a fraction of the planets in a proper simulated galaxy. NMS is good at what it does, but it doesn't do a fraction of what ED does as far as being a space simulation with a realistic galaxy. Creating realistic ELW's using procedural generation isn't as simple as you try and make it here, procedural generation isn't magic, it's a lot of hard work and that takes time. Let's stop waving wands around and declaring how easy it is, if it was that easy it would already be done, why does nobody understand that?

 

[Fifico]

So, NMS, no galaxy simulation, no physics simulation, they put everything into the planet generation, I mean the planets don't even orbit the stars. And yes we all know what procedural generation is, but you can't handcraft even a fraction of the planets in a proper simulated galaxy. NMS is good at what it does, but it doesn't do a fraction of what ED does as far as being a space simulation with a realistic galaxy. Creating realistic ELW's using procedural generation isn't as simple as you try and make it here, procedural generation isn't magic, it's a lot of hard work and that takes time. Let's stop waving wands around and declaring how easy it is, if it was that easy it would already be done, why does nobody understand that?

I am not saying it is easy. I am not saying I want ED like NMS. It's just a suggestion. I am happy already with ED, a lot. Just want it to be better, that's all.

 

[varonica]

I am not saying it is easy. I am not saying I want ED like NMS. It's just a suggestion. I am happy already with ED, a lot. Just want it to be better, that's all.

We all want it to be better, but to many people go around just saying how easy it is and building up false hopes that only get dashed and create negative sentiment, it's a difficult thing to do, don't expect it soon, rather concentrate on what will improve the current game and sure, dream, but don't expect dreams to just come true, that's SC's greatest downfall, many people dream of what could be and keep sending money that never seems to make a difference. Let's get icy worlds and lava worlds, maybe explorable gas giants, nice, EVA and explorable wrecks good as well, but not ELW's tomorrow or this year.

 

[Fifico]

We all want it to be better, but to many people go around just saying how easy it is and building up false hopes that only get dashed and create negative sentiment, it's a difficult thing to do, don't expect it soon, rather concentrate on what will improve the current game and sure, dream, but don't expect dreams to just come true, that's SC's greatest downfall, many people dream of what could be and keep sending money that never seems to make a difference. Let's get icy worlds and lava worlds, maybe explorable gas giants, nice, EVA and explorable wrecks good as well, but not ELW's tomorrow or this year.

I agree with you. Perhaps one day, as I wish the ED to keep going for more 40 years!! Thanks for your comments.