The FSS - How the Right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.

[Chaparral]

Don't get me wrong - the FSS is an improvement over the honk only IMO, but the mechanic is not internally consistent.

Honk.

Look at the system map.

I see all of the bodies in the system on the system map. I know what types of bodies they are, I recognize the images.

I press F5 to scan the individual bodies.

Holy cow, my ship computer just got stupid. All of those images available on my system map are disappeared and are replaced by EKG signal blips and silly noises.

That does not make sense.

Just drop the images already stored in their appropriate image locations and let me zoom in on them if I want to.

This is unnecessary obfuscation, and suggests the ship computer is unaware of info stored somewhere else in the system.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

That's just the start:

If you target a planet and fly towards it the old-DSS will kick in at the old range and resolve the body for you. It'll do this even if you don't have a DSS fitted.

However if you close to within 20 Ls before the scan has finished, the FSS will wake up, shout "I got dis!" and resolve it immediately.

Unfortunately, the FSS doesn't know what the old-DSS has resolved, so unless you resolve everything with the FSS (via the minigame or the 20 Ls auto-resolve) then you don't get the 'System scan complete' message.

I'm not saying the FSS was a badly thought out hack job ducktaped over the old mechanic that had to be hastily bandaided during beta when it's shortcomings were actually noticed, but it sure LOOKS like that.

 

[Chaparral]

Lol Drew. You're awesome!

 

[Sea_Kerman]

The system map only populates if the system has already been discovered by another person. If the system is new, honking only reveals the stars.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Don't get me wrong - the FSS is an improvement over the honk only IMO, but the mechanic is not internally consistent.

Honk.

Look at the system map.

I see all of the bodies in the system on the system map. I know what types of bodies they are, I recognize the images.

I press F5 to scan the individual bodies.

Holy cow, my ship computer just got stupid. All of those images available on my system map are disappeared and are replaced by EKG signal blips and silly noises.

That does not make sense.

Just drop the images already stored in their appropriate image locations and let me zoom in on them if I want to.

This is unnecessary obfuscation, and suggests the ship computer is unaware of info stored somewhere else in the system.

Because the system has already been discovered or partly discovered, steller cartographics has already updated your ship with very basic information of what's there. If you want detailed information, you need to pay for it or scan. They gotta make money some how.

If you go to a virgin unexplored system, there will be no planets in your system map after the honk.

The FSS scanner does not change its purpose. You want to more info on a specific planet that you can see in your system map, select it, move your ship so it's pointing at the planet, open the FSS and resolve.

Seems alright to me.

 

[Riverside]

Because the system has already been discovered or partly discovered, steller cartographics has already updated your ship with very basic information of what's there. If you want detailed information, you need to pay for it or scan. They gotta make money some how.

If you go to a virgin unexplored system, there will be no planets in your system map after the honk.

The FSS scanner does not change its purpose. You want to more info on a specific planet that you can see in your system map, select it, move your ship so it's pointing at the planet, open the FSS and resolve.

Seems alright to me.

If a player doesn't stop in a new system & only honks without entering the FSS Scanner Screen they are paid for the [unexplored] data just as before the 3.3 update (plus the fully resolved stars and any nearby bodies automatically resolved). Clearly the information has been gathered & is stored on the ship, but it is hidden now where before it was not.

 

[Globusdiablo]

Don't get me wrong - the FSS is an improvement over the honk only IMO, but the mechanic is not internally consistent...
...This is unnecessary obfuscation, and suggests the ship computer is unaware of info stored somewhere else in the system.

FD logic at its worst.

 

[Burke]

If a player doesn't stop in a new system & only honks without entering the FSS Scanner Screen they are paid for the [unexplored] data just as before the 3.3 update (plus the fully resolved stars and any nearby bodies automatically resolved). Clearly the information has been gathered & is stored on the ship, but it is hidden now where before it was not.

So... am i getting this correct? Travel honking is still in the game so long as you genuinely dont care about looking at the system bodies?

 

[Riverside]

So... am i getting this correct? Travel honking is still in the game so long as you genuinely dont care about looking at the system bodies?

Being paid to travel is now more important than travelling to discover yes. I think it would generally be appreciated if your opinions were formed more from first hand experience than reactions to the experiences of others Burke. Fast travel is now more like travelling through a tunnel with streetlights than spotting things through the window as you go past but fast travel still gets you places & pays at least as much as before.

 

[Burke]

Being paid to travel is now more important than travelling to discover yes. I think it would generally be appreciated if your opinions were formed more from first hand experience than reactions to the experiences of others Burke. Fast travel is now more like travelling through a tunnel with streetlights than spotting things through the window as you go past but fast travel still gets you places & pays at least as much as before.

I wont be using the FSS under any circumstances. Im not even binding the keys for it. This game is over for me, i was just amazed to hear the often cursed travel honk is actually still there.

Fdev have failed hard.

 

[Ceitidh]

I wont be using the FSS under any circumstances. Im not even binding the keys for it. This game is over for me, i was just amazed to hear the often cursed travel honk is actually still there.

Fdev have failed hard.

I love the FSS. It's made exploration so much more interesting.

 

[Jack Schitt]

Here we go again.

 

[Ceitidh]

Here we go again

Ooh! Where are we going?

 

[CoyoteXStarrk]

Look this is not a hard problem to solve for FD. Just give players the option to have the Honk back if they want it.


That way if people prefer the FSS they can use the FSS. If they prefer the classic Honk they can use the Honk. Everyone wins.

 

[Darkfyre99]

Don't get me wrong - the FSS is an improvement over the honk only IMO, but the mechanic is not internally consistent.

Honk.

Look at the system map.

I see all of the bodies in the system on the system map. I know what types of bodies they are, I recognize the images.

I press F5 to scan the individual bodies.

Holy cow, my ship computer just got stupid. All of those images available on my system map are disappeared and are replaced by EKG signal blips and silly noises.

That does not make sense.

Just drop the images already stored in their appropriate image locations and let me zoom in on them if I want to.

This is unnecessary obfuscation, and suggests the ship computer is unaware of info stored somewhere else in the system.

I would personally hate it if the FSS became less useful as an exploration tool because it showed false information about what I'd already scanned on the screen. It's bad enough that I can't opt of out spoilers when visiting previously explored systems, but at least I can get some sense of discovery out of it. But a FSS showing false information about what had been scanned? If I see planets on my scanner, I might as well jump out immediately!

Is it obfuscation? Possibly. But if so, it's a necessary obfuscation. It means that those of us who explore for a sense of discovery can still get a taste of it even in previously explored systems. It means that we still have to do at least some work if we want more information about a system. It means that if we want to take advantage of what was previously known to speed things up, we might need to develop a tiny amount of skill to do so.

But personally, I don't consider it obfuscation at all. To me, it means that our ship's computer has incomplete and out of date information. If scanning a system once was sufficient to learn all about it, Universal Cartographics wouldn't pay for additional information. A ship spending a few minutes, or even tens of minutes, in a system isn't sufficient to get a good feel about it. Which is why it's necessary to analyse the system again, from the distortions of Witchspace caused by mass, to the finer details like orbital parameters, surface temperature, and the like.

Our ship's computer contains the Cliff Notes version of a system. It's sufficient to navigate a system. But if we want to actually get credit from Universal Cartographics, we're expected to actually read the book.

 

[Darkfyre99]

Here we go again.

Ooh! Where are we going?

To the inevitable Max Factor Comedy Review, of course!

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

To the inevitable Max Factor Comedy Review, of course!

I do try.

 

[Apsley]

Why not save the hassle of a long drawn out debate on the forums, which lets face it no one likes, and ask parliament to decide?

 

[Stealthie]

See, this is the thing that I find especially absurd about the FSS.
It's just willfully stupid.

We honk and the FSS shows us the position of "blobs" on the FSS screen.
That means the FSS knows the distance and location of all those blobs.

We have a "radio tuner" which shows spikes in different positions according to the type of body detected.
This means the FSS knows what sort of body it's detected.

The FSS has all the information it needs to create a reasonable approximation of the system map without any further input from the player.
So, why doesn't it do it?


If it was up to me, I'd set it up so honking generates a system map populated by generic graphics depicting the types of planets within the system.
The sidebar would contain almost no information at all and simply state the type, size, mass and temperature of the body.
This would yield almost no exploration data but would allow somebody to easily find interesting looking places to visit.

You could then, if you wanted to, open up the FSS and scan all the planets as we currently do.
This would replace the generic graphics in the Sysmap with images of the actual planets and would fill in the sidebar with information about the geological make-up of each planet.
It would also yield the current level of exploration data.

There's absolutely no reason why the current system couldn't be revised so that honking provides a simplistic map of a system for those who just want to look around while using the FSS provides more detailed information and more valuable data for those who want that.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

I wont be using the FSS under any circumstances. Im not even binding the keys for it. This game is over for me, i was just amazed to hear the often cursed travel honk is actually still there.

Fdev have failed hard.

Oh hell yeah. Apparently those measly credits had to be preserved after all that was taken away because a few thousand credits is so important. I bet they are to Max Factor anyway. Credits are super critical to the game and must be treated seriously at all costs or riot.

Its probably better you don't try it. Either you'll decide its not that bad or leave the game for good.

There's absolutely no reason why the current system couldn't be revised so that honking provides a simplistic map of a system for those who just want to look around while using the FSS provides more detailed information and more valuable data for those who want that.

You're going back to the beta again (or missed out on it). Frontier don't care. Going down this path will make you cry. The only people you're going to see are us 5 or the people who define their opinions only on the dislike of the old system and don't care as long as its different. 500 pages.