The majority of the exploration changes sound great but one part (the ads scanner) makes me worried

[Crusina Luachra]

Q: won't this make finding interesting planets take a LOT longer? Answer: 'The intention is that the energy distribution should provide explorers with information they can interpret to help identify if specific body types exist in a system.' IE, once you get good at it you can spot high-value targets very quickly.

NO NO NO NO FD YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND. A VALUABLE PLANET IS NOT THE SAME AS A INTERESTING PLANET.





This negates a lot of possible montage creation (Due to the drastic time increase) and makes it incredibly difficult to find unique or interesting planets by the details given so far. And as such I hope we either get more clarification soon or changes. Don't get me wrong, everything sounds good so far except for the having to scan every planet's signal. How does frontier expect this to work for systems with 50+ planets? Am I expected to scan every single one, fighting with the signal?

For instance I found a system with a gas giant that has an atmospheric ice world so close to the asteroid belt that you could literally fly from normal space from the asteroid belt into the atmosphere of the planet. It also has an incredibly quick orbiting speed. That system also had 76 objects that were not asteroid belts. From what I can tell from this new system, I'd have had to scan every single object in the system to have a chance of finding it. When I scanned the system with the ADS we have right now, I looked at everything and saw it was the same ls away from the star as the gas giant so I AUTOMATICALLY KNEW it was an interesting object. It turned out to be even more unique then I had ever expected. This new system would have made me most likely pass over it. I have found more ringed neutron/dwarf stars then I have found planets orbiting that close with that fast of an orbit.


Either they change things or give more information or my way of exploration and content creation might possibly be dead. Note, I am not saying this new system is automatically bad. Or that it won't change or that FD is dumb. I am also not saying that my way of exploration is the right way for everyone.

But in the specific context of knowing quickly when a system is worth looking at or not, from what I can tell this new system dramatically increases the time needed.

Anyone who knows me, knows the kind of content I can put out in terms of montage creation and this one aspect has me extremely worried.

I need hugs and reassurances people =[

 

[tafkabb]

I don't know, it's swings and roundabouts. I've never been happy that even after an advanced discovery scan, I know if a planet has atmosphere, its composition, whether it has rings or not etc., but to see what it looks like I have to fly over there. That's just nonsense

 

[YinYin]

There is a chance that you can spot these details from the signals as well?

It's not so random that you have to scan all of them. Spot gas giant and icy moon signals. Notice their signals coming from the same spot. Boom, same result.

 

[Valorin]

Yeah, you might not be able to see that on the first glance with the new system. Though it was said, the scanner wave thingies will give us a pretty good overview of what is there.
Apart from that, we will spend more time in a system now I guess since we will be able to find a lot more stuff than before.
Enter a system, use scanner, see there is promising stuff, triangulate bodies and automatically also see materials and anomalies on planets!
Go to those interesting enough to draw attention, throw probes, get exact locations and see what's there.

Not sure about the info you need to locate those things, but the above sounds pretty cool, doesn't it? Like, making sense in terms of space exploration? I'm pretty sure you will find other ways to locate great spots and perhaps there will be even more of those.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Now finding cool stuff will be matter of skill a bit
Great right? Not just one button press.

 

[kofeyh]

Now finding cool stuff will be matter of skill a bit
Great right? Not just one button press.

I think you've missed the entire point of the OPs post. There are interesting things out there, only frontier are focusing on making that a game of ping-pong for 'valuable' planets (presumably by $credit?). This is like the person who goes to the countryside to visit and spends the entire time glued to a phone screen, oblivious. Frontier have built a beautiful universe, full of amazing things in some rare places, then vast nothing elsewhere. And Frontier's idea of a good time? Ignore all that and focus on some galactic pinball instead.

Beta will show just how this works. Maybe that's the time to have the "skill cap" debate, when it's evident just how much is 'skill' versus wishful thinking. And if it's amazing? I'll be happy to say that and then some.

 

[kofeyh]

Apart from that, we will spend more time in a system now I guess since we will be able to find a lot more stuff than before.

That stuff has to exist, to be able to be found. This is like people excited about the missions system upgrade because more missions, surely, right? Just because something seems obvious to us, doesn't mean it is to Frontier.

--

Look, I don't want to be right about this stuff. I don't want it to be gamified. I don't want it to end up being some "I told you so moment" because those suck. I want Frontier to put some goddamn passion into their work and make it an a-m-a-z-i-n-g experience. But it's Frontier, it's been years and their solution is a minigame - for exploration. I just.. want to have fun, to be buried in the moment and to just soak it all in. That's it. Is that really so much to ask? Frontier, you have an amazing universe. SHOW ME.

 

[Mohrgan]

I think you've missed the entire point of the OPs post. There are interesting things out there, only frontier are focusing on making that a game of ping-pong for 'valuable' planets (presumably by $credit?). This is like the person who goes to the countryside to visit and spends the entire time glued to a phone screen, oblivious. Frontier have built a beautiful universe, full of amazing things in some rare places, then vast nothing elsewhere. And Frontier's idea of a good time? Ignore all that and focus on some galactic pinball instead.

Beta will show just how this works. Maybe that's the time to have the "skill cap" debate, when it's evident just how much is 'skill' versus wishful thinking. And if it's amazing? I'll be happy to say that and then some.

No, FD are offering a way to distinguish signals that represent a type of body. It will be up to the Commander to interpret and chase those signals he knows to indicate either a lucrative find, or an interesting one. To find out if a Body has unique attributes we will have to use the DDS to probe it. I can't believe, after all of the calls for deeper mechanics, when they show up, we get complaints about Cr/Hr.

I know you, Kofeyh, are looking for exotic phenomena to find, but the science that the galaxy is based on predicts everything is made of the same stuff. Putting the same stuff together in the same environment, our galaxy, should yield a wide variety of the same thing, like variations on a theme in music. Squeezing in fantastical occurrences for eye candy doesn't suit my understanding of E|D as a game. No insult, but I think NMS has that stuff covered.

 

[kofeyh]

I know you, Kofeyh, are looking for exotic phenomena to find, but the science that the galaxy is based on predicts everything is made of the same stuff.

You know nothing, jon snow!

We keep finding the most amazing things in our own solarsystem, and every time we think we have a handle on how something works, there's a new discovery that's mind-blowing. The universe is not a dead entity in a sea of empty nothing. The game shouldn't really be, either. Did you know Enceladus has water that plumes hundreds of kilometers into space? Nobody did, until Cassini shot past it and blew the minds of a bunch of astronomers and astrophysicists alike. There was suspicion, but little else.

Elite? We have something that looks like a lawn sprinkler, in the middle of the gobi desert. Not quite the same thing, really, is it. We have billions of systems; if like nine of them are interesting, and that's it, then we might as well all pack it in and go home. The entire point should be to illustrate and example and showcase. Not pretend 2.9% of something makes it the rule.

Here's hoping.

 

[DMaster]

But didnt you also save time, as you do not need to fly to a body anymore to get a detailed surface scan?

 

[YinYin]

But didnt you also save time, as you do not need to fly to a body anymore to get a detailed surface scan?

That scan isn't important for the screenshot opportunities sought out here.

 

[M00ka]

That scan isn't important for the screenshot opportunities sought out here.

There is nothing stopping you from still going out there for your selfies

 

[Cupsuki]

There is nothing stopping you from still going out there for your selfies

Except that you won't know where to take your selfies unless you scan every single thing on the system

 

[YinYin]

Except that you won't know where to take your selfies unless you scan every single thing on the system

This remains false, because signals indicate body type and location (same info used from system map now - just delivered differently).

There is nothing stopping you from still going out there for your selfies

This is about quickly identifying these places. Not going there.

 

[Ouberos]

Also how detailed will it be I wonder? Currently you can tell the difference between the Ring types by looking at them after you have honked them. If you need Jumponium mats you can home in on your required ring type quite easily.

Also, and I'm not letting this go, the music. I like hearing the birdsong that differentiates a Waterworld from an Earth like. There are bubbles in the gas giants with water too which is quite a nice sound.

My hope is that those of us with sharp ears will be able to git Gud at this very quickly.

 

[DMaster]

That scan isn't important for the screenshot opportunities sought out here.

Ah, ok, i didnt get that point. This is not a problem for me, as i do not play Elite as a selfie simulator! I am out!

 

[YinYin]

Pretty sure the signals will use those original sounds and the whole thing is pretty much just visualising that part for those who don't hear or bother with these details now.

Ah, ok, i didnt get that point. This is not a problem for me, as i do not play Elite as a selfie simulator! I am out!

I might be misrepresenting OP here as you can also seek out interesting locations without taking pictures

 

[Ziljan]

I need hugs and reassurances people =[

Hugs and Reassurances incoming...

First, we currently need to DSS a planet to see whether it's interesting so the current barriers are "travel" + "scan time". This delay to find stuff is already baked into the game. The new mechanic may or may not increase increase scan time, but the longer portion has almost always been "travel time" and that requirement is being removed to some degree, possibly completely.

Second, the process of simply scanning might even be eventually faster since "recognizing energy distributions" more quickly will result in faster scanning since we'll know betterwhere to put the energy filter to quickly complete the scan. It's possible that the total scan time for skilled explorers might end up being shorter than the current scanning times we have now.

Even if the skilled scanning time ends up being longer (which I doubt it will), the new scan time will undoubtedly be shorter than the current travel+scan time. Ergo, the process of finding interesting planets will likely be significantly faster than it is now once we learn the new patterns.

Hug and reassurance complete

 

[sgurr]

Seen your posts but not seen your ED videos before, really lovely work o7

 

[Crusina Luachra]

I don't know, it's swings and roundabouts. I've never been happy that even after an advanced discovery scan, I know if a planet has atmosphere, its composition, whether it has rings or not etc., but to see what it looks like I have to fly over there. That's just nonsense

Which I don't disagree with. Because that's not what is worrying me.

There is a chance that you can spot these details from the signals as well?

It's not so random that you have to scan all of them. Spot gas giant and icy moon signals. Notice their signals coming from the same spot. Boom, same result.

Nope. Because imagine you have 50 planets in a system. Now you see the problem with having to scan them all individually?

Here is a perfect example, in this planetary nebula there were over 70 planets but only ONE ringed one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or_6Z0m5-VM

Now with the current ads I knew from a fast glance at the system map instantly that the ringed planet would give me a good video. And it did as you can see from the above link. With this new system, it looks like FD is potentially saying I'd have to go through 60+ systems to find the one system like that.

Yeah, you might not be able to see that on the first glance with the new system. Though it was said, the scanner wave thingies will give us a pretty good overview of what is there.
Apart from that, we will spend more time in a system now I guess since we will be able to find a lot more stuff than before.
Enter a system, use scanner, see there is promising stuff, triangulate bodies and automatically also see materials and anomalies on planets!
Go to those interesting enough to draw attention, throw probes, get exact locations and see what's there.

Not sure about the info you need to locate those things, but the above sounds pretty cool, doesn't it? Like, making sense in terms of space exploration? I'm pretty sure you will find other ways to locate great spots and perhaps there will be even more of those.

But the issue is I have to do it for every planet. I don't care about money. I care about interesting. With the current system I can instantly tell if a system is worth my time or not. With this potential new system...god do you even know how much I travel? I have over 1.5 million light years. That's the entire galaxy circumnavigated like 4 times over.

If I can not quickly see if a system is worth my time or not my entire modus of exploration and discovery is out the window and given back to me in the form of an incredible grind beyond anything I have ever done in this game. I can not emphasize this enough. The amount of potential sights I may miss with this new system is mind boggling. I do not have the time to scan every system when the vast majority of them seem to have 10-30 planets and moons.

Now finding cool stuff will be matter of skill a bit
Great right? Not just one button press.

No.

I think you've missed the entire point of the OPs post. There are interesting things out there, only frontier are focusing on making that a game of ping-pong for 'valuable' planets (presumably by $credit?). This is like the person who goes to the countryside to visit and spends the entire time glued to a phone screen, oblivious. Frontier have built a beautiful universe, full of amazing things in some rare places, then vast nothing elsewhere. And Frontier's idea of a good time? Ignore all that and focus on some galactic pinball instead.

Beta will show just how this works. Maybe that's the time to have the "skill cap" debate, when it's evident just how much is 'skill' versus wishful thinking. And if it's amazing? I'll be happy to say that and then some.

Indeed. This a matter of finding interesting places, not money.

No, FD are offering a way to distinguish signals that represent a type of body. It will be up to the Commander to interpret and chase those signals he knows to indicate either a lucrative find, or an interesting one. To find out if a Body has unique attributes we will have to use the DDS to probe it. I can't believe, after all of the calls for deeper mechanics, when they show up, we get complaints about Cr/Hr.

I don't think you understand my post. The vast majority of my interesting or to be honest, down right incredible finds, are things I instantly saw as potential places just from glancing at the system map. Now FD is asking me to scan every single planet, in every single system. This is a vast downgrade, this ONE PATICULAR aspect, (the other stuff is fine, like not having to travel to place to scan it).

But didnt you also save time, as you do not need to fly to a body anymore to get a detailed surface scan?

I never fly to the vast majority of planets because I know from just the system map alone even without the dss what places are worth my time and which ones are not.

That scan isn't important for the screenshot opportunities sought out here.

I don't usually take screenshots tbh.

There is nothing stopping you from still going out there for your selfies

Yeah except a lot more time added to find those places to go there for my "selfies" as you put it

This remains false, because signals indicate body type and location (same info used from system map now - just delivered differently).

This is about quickly identifying these places. Not going there.

Im not sure if you are arguing for me or against me.

Ah, ok, i didnt get that point. This is not a problem for me, as i do not play Elite as a selfie simulator! I am out!

I don't either.

Pretty sure the signals will use those original sounds and the whole thing is pretty much just visualising that part for those who don't hear or bother with these details now.

I might be misrepresenting OP here as you can also seek out interesting locations without taking pictures

I don't take pictures, I take video.

[video=youtube_share;CSwte6iXCQ8]https://youtu.be/CSwte6iXCQ8?t=2m4s[/video]

Also let this video be proof that I'm not some "fake explorer" who only wants it to be easy. This video is factual proof that not only do I care about finding interesting places but that I KNOW how to find them.

This new system with the info we have now, would give an massive increase in time needed for EVERY SINGLE SYSTEM and would be a massive detriment to any future montage I would make.

FD can change things (hence my input based on current info) or give more information that may lesson the fear. But until either of those things happen I remain extremely worried and upset.