The FSS should reveal all USSes on Honk...

[Aashenfox]

No, your demand is ridiculous. Either fly to the Navigation Beacon, or use the FSS for FS! Frontier already improved the method - as I described earlier. You just want a one button honk to reveal everything because you're lazy.

You should probably look up the meaning of the word 'demand' and while you're at it, probably 'ridiculous' too.

Why would I do either of those things when I can fly to another system, then back to the one that I'm in, and be right next to the nav, in half the time? You don't have much experience in this game, do you.

 

[Darkfyre99]

...Just a quick one as I sit here in the station after clearing a few Weapons Fired USSes and then taking a short break, contemplating the thought that in order to get a fresh list of USSes in this system, I have a choice of 3 methods, all of them completely ridiculous.

1) I go out to supercruise and do a FSS scan, revealing one by one all 40 of the USSes this system is likely to have. Er, no thanks.
2) I fly back to the Nav beacon and scan it again, getting a refresh. It's 1200ls away and I'm next to a fairly massive body so that will take several minutes. No, the fastest way to do this is...
3) Fly to any nearby system then back to the current one and drop in the nav beacon.

This cannot be supported as immersive or sensible gameplay choices. The option I want that is missing is simple...

4) Go out to supercruise, open the FSS, honk, have all the USSes revealed.

Seems reasonable, no? Thanks for listening. o7

I've always considered

5) Select the USSs along my flight path to see what they are.

to be quite reasonable myself. If you want an automatic way to resolve USSs, make it be an optional module, as opposed to being a core function of the FSS. Our ships recently had another round of open slot bloat, so it's not like they don't have room to spare.

 

[Aashenfox]

I've always considered

5) Select the USSs along my flight path to see what they are.

to be quite reasonable myself. If you want an automatic way to resolve USSs, make it be an optional module, as opposed to being a core function of the FSS. Our ships recently had another round of open slot bloat, so it's not like they don't have room to spare.

As already mentioned, the ones that you just 'see' along your flight path, are, firstly due tot he nature of the system, going to be totally random, but also a very small sample of what is available in some systems, due to that magic 1kls barrier that the FSS can see through only when in a special mode. Also, I didn't ask for an automatic way to resolve USSes, I asked for a more sensible way to get a refresh of the list of available USSes in the system, and suggested that the FSS be adjusted to address this, but there are other ways. An additional module would be possibly bottom of my list of solutions after they just gave us the FSS for free, anybody using a 'USS resolver' when the current options are either included in the ship or not that bad in terms of time (see 3 in the OP), would be heavily compromising their effectiveness for no good reason.

As I said, it's not laziness, it's just sensibility of gameplay, there are various solutions (including changing the nature of supercruise), but I feel the FSS labelling all USSes in a system OR docking at a station revealing all USSes (as someone else suggested), represents an elegant solution.

 

[Darkfyre99]

I think that's the other problem - too many USS in populated systems. I'd rather there only be three or four at any given time in populated systems, and maybe one on rare random occasion in unpopulated systems. The way it currently is, it's like seeing 40 separate car wrecks on the way to work everyday IRL. That's just not realistic.

It's part of my headcanon that the older type 2B hyperdrives of previous games are still around in great numbers, and are used for the low priority transport that makes up the bulk of shipping and passenger services in the game. As a result, most ships still travel through normal space, taking days, if not weeks, to jump from their arrival point far from the star, and travel inwards towards their destination. Not only is this travel faster, but it's also more dangerous, since it leaves them easy prey for pirates. It's also why these ships seem to linger around for so long during an attack. Given that as little as ten years ago, a hyperspace would take up to a week to complete, jumping out and back in could mean severe fines and penalties for being unable to complete their contracts on time.

The Pilots' Federation has a monopoly on certain key-components of the FSD, charging exorbitant prices to non-members, ensuring that the private use of FSD technology remains in the hands of the PF alone. That's why we can get such outrageous prices for our services. If someone requires something, or to go somewhere, right away, the PF is pretty much their only option.

 

[Darkfyre99]

As already mentioned, the ones that you just 'see' along your flight path, are, firstly due tot he nature of the system, going to be totally random, but also a very small sample of what is available in some systems, due to that magic 1kls barrier that the FSS can see through only when in a special mode.

And I don't see the problem with that. Approximately 90% of systems will have destinations within that "magic 1kls barrier." If you want to reveal as many USSs as possible, without using the FSS (for whatever reason) or visiting the nav beacon, then you accept that some USSs in a system may remain unresolved. That's the opportunity cost you pay to avoid delays in getting to your destination.

Also, I didn't ask for an automatic way to resolve USSes, I asked for a more sensible way to get a refresh of the list of available USSes in the system, and suggested that the FSS be adjusted to address this, but there are other ways.

Sorry, but I don't see how this:

4) Go out to supercruise, open the FSS, honk, have all the USSes revealed.

cannot be described as anything but an automatic way to resolve USSs, given that every other method requires some input from the player to resolve them, be it going to a nav beacon, using the FSS, or targeting a USS along your flight path when it gets in range.

An additional module would be possibly bottom of my list of solutions after they just gave us the FSS for free, anybody using a 'USS resolver' when the current options are either included in the ship or not that bad in terms of time (see 3 in the OP), would be heavily compromising their effectiveness for no good reason.

I would hardly describe losing a single size one module slot, which all ships now have, as "heavily compromising their effectiveness." Nor is it "for no good reason." You're asking for a way to avoid doing a task you consider critical for whatever goal you've got set. I hardly think it unreasonable that you trade one opportunity cost for another.

As I said, it's not laziness, it's just sensibility of gameplay, there are various solutions (including changing the nature of supercruise), but I feel the FSS labelling all USSes in a system OR docking at a station revealing all USSes (as someone else suggested), represents an elegant solution.

I have no issue with docking at a station revealing all USSs myself, because you have to make the effort to fly to one, just as you have to do with a nav beacon. What I do have an issue with is preserving the presence of opportunity costs in the game.

Presently, there are a number of ways of resolving USSs, all of which have some opportunity cost to the player. If you have a goal that requires visiting the right USSs, you need to make a decision on which method has the least cost to you. You're asking for a way of avoiding all that, at no cost to the player. Frontier has already removed quite a bit of gameplay opportunities by obviating opportunity costs in the past. I'd rather see this trend reversed, not continued. This game could use more interesting gameplay as it is, and IMO interesting decisions leads to interesting gameplay.

 

[Old Duck]

You know, to flip this on its head, it is kinda silly that nav beacons reveal USS at all. It stands for UNIDENTIFIED Signal Source, yes? If all of the distress calls and convoys under attack are recorded and cataloged at the nav beacon, then the system authorities should be taking care of these things. So it would make more sense that USS requires us to scan or visit them to find out what they are, no nav beacon shortcuts whatsoever...

I'm not talking about installations and megaships in the area, but rather wreckage and distress calls and such.

 

[Aashenfox]

And I don't see the problem with that. Approximately 90% of systems will have destinations within that "magic 1kls barrier." If you want to reveal as many USSs as possible, without using the FSS (for whatever reason) or visiting the nav beacon, then you accept that some USSs in a system may remain unresolved. That's the opportunity cost you pay to avoid delays in getting to your destination.

Sorry, but I don't see how this:

cannot be described as anything but an automatic way to resolve USSs, given that every other method requires some input from the player to resolve them, be it going to a nav beacon, using the FSS, or targeting a USS along your flight path when it gets in range.

I would hardly describe losing a single size one module slot, which all ships now have, as "heavily compromising their effectiveness." Nor is it "for no good reason." You're asking for a way to avoid doing a task you consider critical for whatever goal you've got set. I hardly think it unreasonable that you trade one opportunity cost for another.

I have no issue with docking at a station revealing all USSs myself, because you have to make the effort to fly to one, just as you have to do with a nav beacon. What I do have an issue with is preserving the presence of opportunity costs in the game.

Presently, there are a number of ways of resolving USSs, all of which have some opportunity cost to the player. If you have a goal that requires visiting the right USSs, you need to make a decision on which method has the least cost to you. You're asking for a way of avoiding all that, at no cost to the player. Frontier has already removed quite a bit of gameplay opportunities by obviating opportunity costs in the past. I'd rather see this trend reversed, not continued. This game could use more interesting gameplay as it is, and IMO interesting decisions leads to interesting gameplay.

You're looking at the single proposed solution rather than the actual problem. I'm open to a variety of solutions, I do not necessarily require an 'autoresolver'.

Every ship I fly is pvp ready at any time, there is no spare slot whatsoever. Since FD kindly, as you point out, recently gave us a slot 'for an interdictor', and nothing else. I respect the way you play as an RPer, please also respect the way I play as a pvp enforcer. Obviously in those terms you understand giving a slot to an autoresolver would never happen in my wildest dreams, plus it would be stupid and not what I ever asked for, as already pointed out.

Lastly, from your last paragraph you still haven't read what I've actually been saing in the thread, perhaps a short recap of my posts would help. Let me reduce it for you once again, one last time...

"It is silly that the quickest way to get a refresh of your USSes is to fly to another nearby system only to fly back again to the one you are already in.". Please feel free to suggest other solutions that aren't completely unacceptable to anyone but the most niche player ("I fly along and what I see, I resolve" lol, hope not serious).

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

Yes I’d agree. I’ve recently noticed that the fss in nomans sky works that way, and the whole process is not horrific to use even with similar mechanics.

Yes, with a sigh they seem to have beaten elite on that one too.

Pro tip, you’re making a decision when using their fss, vs popping bubble tap and fidgeting for no reason whatsoever.

 

[yianniv]

Arguably exploration was better before 3.3.

No, it wasn't.

 

[[Diplomacy] Carnegie]

No, it wasn't.

He did say 'arguably'

 

[yianniv]

He did say 'arguably'

Ok, you are right:
Arguably, it wasn't!

 

[Darkfyre99]

You're looking at the single proposed solution rather than the actual problem. I'm open to a variety of solutions, I do not necessarily require an 'autoresolver'.

Every ship I fly is pvp ready at any time, there is no spare slot whatsoever. Since FD kindly, as you point out, recently gave us a slot 'for an interdictor', and nothing else. I respect the way you play as an RPer, please also respect the way I play as a pvp enforcer. Obviously in those terms you understand giving a slot to an autoresolver would never happen in my wildest dreams, plus it would be stupid and not what I ever asked for, as already pointed out.

What you see as a problem, I see as a source interesting gameplay decisions. I consider it silly that ships should be able to do everything without having to make compromises (I.e. opportunity costs”) in the process.

You want a PvP capable ship without sacrificing the ability to rapidly farm USSs. I consider this as ridiculous as running a shieldless D rated freighter, in Open, and expecting to survive. If you want to farm USSs, don’t do it in a specialized PvP unless you’re prepared to accept the consequences of doing so, whether those consequences are: loss of time, loss of opportunity, or fighting at a disadvantage.

Lastly, from your last paragraph you still haven't read what I've actually been saing in the thread, perhaps a short recap of my posts would help. Let me reduce it for you once again, one last time...

"It is silly that the quickest way to get a refresh of your USSes is to fly to another nearby system only to fly back again to the one you are already in.". Please feel free to suggest other solutions that aren't completely unacceptable to anyone but the most niche player ("I fly along and what I see, I resolve" lol, hope not serious).

Sorry, but I saw this thread during breakfast, and felt the need to respond to the OP. Still haven’t gotten caught up, since I’m responding to your reply.

Anyhow, it’s well known among Supercruise enthusiasts that sometimes it’s faster to jump out, and jump back to the system you’re in, than try to move between distant points in a system. I don’t consider it particularly silly to jump out, and then jump back to scan the Nav beacon again. I consider it an ingenious way to save yourself time.

And yes, I’m serious about scanning USSs along my flight path. When not exploring, I’m running missions, and I rarely have the time to “Little Billy” all over the place chasing USSs. Fortunately for me, the changes in 3.3 clusters USSs in high traffic areas, so it’s much more efficient to search for USSs along my flight path, than other alternatives. YMMV.

 

[Aashenfox]

Meh, guess we don't have anything further to discuss then, thanks for sharing your opinion. Where you see everything as hunkydory, I see it as idiotic. My goals occasionally require me to work as efficiently as possible at achieving something and in the process of doing that (refer back tot he OP), I simply made an observation that this is stupid and suggested a possible solution (thi sis the suggestions forum I believe). The fact that it's well known doesn't make it any less immersion breaking, not sure why you even mentioned that... /shrug

 

[Riverside]

Meh, guess we don't have anything further to discuss then, thanks for sharing your opinion. Where you see everything as hunkydory, I see it as idiotic. My goals occasionally require me to work as efficiently as possible at achieving something and in the process of doing that (refer back tot he OP), I simply made an observation that this is stupid and suggested a possible solution (thi sis the suggestions forum I believe). The fact that it's well known doesn't make it any less immersion breaking, not sure why you even mentioned that... /shrug

A lot of things are stupid, some subjectively, others not so much. Currently locating USSs requires some work, and in a way that works to your advantage over a player who is not prepared to put the effort in. I appreciate that this is frustrating, but if you want the best gear I believe you should be prepared to put the effort in if you want to be competitive. And if you are not looking to compete with other players, well what's the rush? It's already much, much faster & easier to locate supplies within a system, and infinitely easier to eliminate a system from a search.

 

[Aashenfox]

Would it help if I told you exactly what I was doing? Sure... I was looking for weapons fire detected USSes in a system with no HAZRESes, no comp nav, and no real traffic to speak of, this is critical to current goals as bounties are the only way we can affect a certain faction at the moment (that has no assets). Every scan there are maybe 3 or 4 WFD USSes, I have to rush to them before they expire and get as many bounties as possible. When you are facing a literal race against time, it highlights the game's foibles, and causes one to come to the suggestions forum and point out when something makes no sense.

 

[Darkfyre99]

Would it help if I told you exactly what I was doing? Sure... I was looking for weapons fire detected USSes in a system with no HAZRESes, no comp nav, and no real traffic to speak of, this is critical to current goals as bounties are the only way we can affect a certain faction at the moment (that has no assets). Every scan there are maybe 3 or 4 WFD USSes, I have to rush to them before they expire and get as many bounties as possible. When you are facing a literal race against time, it highlights the game's foibles, and causes one to come to the suggestions forum and point out when something makes no sense.

While your motives weren't what I figured they would be, you are still doing what I figured you were doing. It also highlights why I think your solution to the problem is bass ackwards, since I believe* the cause of your problem was Frontier listening to the players who wanted BGS to be simplified to the point where there are few, if any, negative BGS actions to be had. This reduces the opportunities for clever strategies, out of the box thinking, as well as simply greater variety in your potential actions.

There are a number of tweaks that can be made to the process of resolving USSs without obviating the gameplay attached to them. To the ones listed in this thread (I got caught up during lunch):

• Auto-Resolving USSs when you get close enough to them (between about 10ls and 30ls IMO)
• Auto-Resolving USSs by type, similar to how asteroid clusters are auto-resolved, but only those within a certain range (100ls-300ls) similar to how you only resolve those within the same "belt"
• Revealing all USSs upon docking with a station, similar to how a nav-beacon works

I'd like to add two more tweaks:

• Let us use the FSS while on the move! Seriously, Frontier, this artificial limitation needs to go.
• Spread out signal source types on the Waveform bar, and include unique chevron patterns for each broad type of USS

As I said previously, I have no problem with your suggestion as an optional module, but as a change to the FSS itself, it's less a tweak, and more a sledgehammer.
__
* Caveat: While I've been following the BGS subforum religiously, I haven't had any opportunities to mess around with the new BGS system following 3.3 myself, since all I've done is explore, and a little bit of Buckyball Racing (including some prep work on my alt). Pre-3.3, my BGS strategy, while definitely unorthodox, yielded effective results for the amount of time I had to put into it. From what I've read, the levers I relied on to move the BGS were removed following 3.3, because far too many players complained about hurting "their" faction by taking missions for it.

 

[Shinji Ikari]

Because the alternatives are stupid, I'm open to other suggestions for sensible methods to get a fresh uss list. Also, I feel having it auto-complete one of th emain game activities (discovering actual planets), is not comparable to this, which is just putting a label on a USS.

Hey look, you are getting a grasp of why many don't like the FSS.

 

[C2306]

...Just a quick one as I sit here in the station after clearing a few Weapons Fired USSes and then taking a short break, contemplating the thought that in order to get a fresh list of USSes in this system, I have a choice of 3 methods, all of them completely ridiculous.

1) I go out to supercruise and do a FSS scan, revealing one by one all 40 of the USSes this system is likely to have. Er, no thanks.
2) I fly back to the Nav beacon and scan it again, getting a refresh. It's 1200ls away and I'm next to a fairly massive body so that will take several minutes. No, the fastest way to do this is...
3) Fly to any nearby system then back to the current one and drop in the nav beacon.

This cannot be supported as immersive or sensible gameplay choices. The option I want that is missing is simple...

4) Go out to supercruise, open the FSS, honk, have all the USSes revealed.

Seems reasonable, no? Thanks for listening. o7

It should reveal USS within a range based upon your sensoor strength.

 

[lenna]

Ok, you are right:
Arguably, it wasn't!

As of 3.3, Exploration is demonstrably more grindy and the interface and mechanics have been poorly thought through and implemented - ergo worse as of 3.3. FD would like to pretend things are fine and dandy but numerous issues have been introduced due to their half-baked changes in 3.3. Threads like this only emphasise the point that they should revisit what was done in 3.3 and either rework it or revert it.

 

[nanite2000]

As of 3.3, Exploration is demonstrably more grindy and the interface and mechanics have been poorly thought through and implemented - ergo worse as of 3.3. FD would like to pretend things are fine and dandy but numerous issues have been introduced due to their half-baked changes in 3.3. Threads like this only emphasise the point that they should revisit what was done in 3.3 and either rework it or revert it.

Improve it, but don’t revert it.