Unidentified Signal Sources - A better way?

[Gibbonici]

Unidentified Signal Sources. We've all been on the dull end of these things, flying around hoping for one to pop up in front of us or appear on our Nav list. Whether you're looking for rebel transmissions or military plans, named pirates or generic targets, it soon becomes a test of patience rather than a test of skill and wits.

So how about being able to ping your D-scanner to get a number of USS's flag up within range and persist for a certain amount of time until each signal is lost? It would cut down the aimless, hope-for-the-best flying around and reduce that sinking feeling when you drop into a USS that isn't related to your mission, knowing that it could be another five minutes of flying around before you find the next one.

Or if not the D-scanner, perhaps there could be some kind of signal detector module that does this, and maybe even a separate signal parser module that can scan a USS to give some kind of general feedback on its contents?

To add a bit of tension to the proceedings, each ping of your D-scanner (which can already attract unwanted attention) or signal detector could draw the attention of pirates and system authority vessels.

I'm not suggesting some kind of "I win" button here, rather a way of cutting down the aimless, transparent time-sink of buzzing around hoping for a USS to pop up to investigate. Properly balanced it would add a lot to the game I think, and take out one of the dullest parts of the game as it stands.

And looking forward to when wings are implemented, having a ship in your wing that's specced for sensors at the expense of other modules would add to the teamwork aspect of things.

 

[gary.brain]

That would be a good feature, if it can find astro bodies, why not smaller space bodies.

+1

 

[Komemiute]

Great idea. +1.

 

[Krait_79]

Unidentified Signal Sources. We've all been on the dull end of these things, flying around hoping for one to pop up in front of us or appear on our Nav list. Whether you're looking for rebel transmissions or military plans, named pirates or generic targets, it soon becomes a test of patience rather than a test of skill and wits.

So how about being able to ping your D-scanner to get a number of USS's flag up within range and persist for a certain amount of time until each signal is lost? It would cut down the aimless, hope-for-the-best flying around and reduce that sinking feeling when you drop into a USS that isn't related to your mission, knowing that it could be another five minutes of flying around before you find the next one.

Or if not the D-scanner, perhaps there could be some kind of signal detector module that does this, and maybe even a separate signal parser module that can scan a USS to give some kind of general feedback on its contents?

To add a bit of tension to the proceedings, each ping of your D-scanner (which can already attract unwanted attention) or signal detector could draw the attention of pirates and system authority vessels.

I'm not suggesting some kind of "I win" button here, rather a way of cutting down the aimless, transparent time-sink of buzzing around hoping for a USS to pop up to investigate. Properly balanced it would add a lot to the game I think, and take out one of the dullest parts of the game as it stands.

And looking forward to when wings are implemented, having a ship in your wing that's specced for sensors at the expense of other modules would add to the teamwork aspect of things.

I like this idea so long as the scanner comes with an epic horn sound!! Actually a sonar kind of ping would be quite cool.

 

[ZENTRIERER]

Great idea! +1

 

[Bones]

I wouldn't mind this mechanic (Mission- USS Tedium )so much if it wasn't so awkwardly random, one or two non related "fluff" type USS I can understand but not the amount I get that are totally unrelated to the missions I'm on, how about a system of USS spawns that are actually connected to the type of mission you are undertaking, you know in an MMO type fashion, for example, meeting the victims of the smugglers you are looking for (who have just left him robbed and drifting) and he tells you about them, what ships they are etc, then how about a straggler connected with the faction you are looking for who attacks you to hold you off while his mates escape, include some nice RP type comms chat here for the atmosphere, a few more related encounters building up to the final meeting with your foes in an epic battle you have been building up for the last few USS drops or so, surely this is possible and would make these missions so much more engaging..

 

[rferrett]

This is a great idea. And I like the risk/reward aspect of attracting unwanted attention.

Would be especially fun in dangerous anarchy systems!

 

[Epicurean Dream]

+1 from me.

I've thought about this too. We need some way of being able to see what is within an USS without exiting super cruise. It would cut down massively the time spent hopping in and out of very random encounters.

If we were able to DIR SCAN a USS once we are within a certain distance and get a readout of "3 ships" or "7 Cargo containers" e.t.c. we could massively reduce the time spent wondering around aimlessly. I would be very happy with the current system of pseudo-random encounters if we were able to remain in a single session while searching for our specific encounter.

And I also second that USS signals should persist through session changes. If this is not possible due to design limitations (this seems the case) please do not force us to session change every time we want to identify a USS, losing the other USS signals in the process. The feeling is very strong that "one of the ones I missed was very likely the one I was looking for... but now it's gone!". As it stands it is an excersize in tedium and drastically increases the feeling of powerless exposure to chance. While enforcing a feeling that we as players lack the required player feedback elements to make informed choices. We see several USS's, we have no way to ascertain which is the best to chose, we are left to basically roll a die and deal with the fact that the choice is statistically likely to be wrong with no way at all to make a more informed decision. This is simply bad representation/communication of mechanics to the player.

A few simple tweaks to the system would give us back most of that power and personal choice.

 

[Tinman]

Improvements can certainly be done to how these are handled. Having to scan for some of them like you propose would also help to give the appearance that they have a real place in the world rather than being spawned even if they will still be doing that in practice. Some USS should also appear as "random" distress signals rather than something "unidentified". Maybe even with some sort of radio chatter coming from them similar to what we could see in the beginning of the Capital ship trailer. There should also be some ability to get a rough idea of what these USS might be by scanning them from afar, maybe with some sort of heat mechanic. Lots of heat could for example indicate (many) ships and a potential conflict going on. Low heat could be cargo drops (or ambushes ).

In the meantime. The best way to find USS right now is to fly around at minimum SC speed. If you do that the signals will appear just a couple of hundred km away from you making it possible to drop in instantly. By doing this you can fly between USS with very little downtime.

 

[Gibbonici]

Taking the idea one step further (when I should be on my way to work!), in systems where there are rebel transmissions or other "lost" items, there could even be NPC ships who are also looking for them and who might even get there before you do. You'd be able to identify them by their own sensor pings, leading to a whole new dynamic to USS missions.

 

[ipoptires]

+1 great idea, ive wasted so much time flying around aimlessly searching for one to pop up.

 

[Jyve]

Yes! Posted a few times my thoughts on this. I totally get why they're done the way they are, and the way they're handled as instances, but as a gameplay aspect, they cause consternation.
All comes down to "are the contents generated as they're created, or when you zone into them". If they're fully populated on creation as we're flying around, then that opens up a fair bit of potential without changing the game's flow/UI too much.
If we can target/scan them "zooonnggggggg" and get a mass/heat reading from them, we'd instantly have an idea if they're cold containers floating around, how many there are. With heat detection (together with mass), we'd know that there's a fight going on, or just some ships circling. Doens't enable easy mode, lets us knock out a bit the types we're not interested in at this time, and gives us a fighting chance to investigate a bit more.
Of course, even better perhaps would be once you've targeted the USS, then you can use the target subsystems method to have a rough idea of what's inside without actually targeting them from outside, you'd just see 'container' or 'sidewinder' that would help even more to narrow down the retrieve or assasination missions (as by that time you probably even know the class of ship you're looking for).
So, a heat/mass reading at least, or a subsystem target.

Oh, and why do you even see more than one at the moment, when you drop into one now, the other instances will be gone when you emerge from the first USS you've entered. Get the 'why' and the 'how', but we need more practicality of them please.

 

[Lazlo Woodbine]

Excellent idea! I really hope someone at Frontier notices this thread!

 

[Vasea Azure]

Good idea +1

 

[CMDR Byrt Makklin]

I've posted about this too and seen others do so. It definitely needs a few more tweaks.

My personal feeling is that they shouldn't show up as just USS - they should reveal a hint about what may be in there - e.g. 'Low level energy signal detected' for cargo pods, or 'Multiple ships detected' for possible bounty hunting chances or 'Intermittent signal picked up' for those contract changing bros who show up...

 

[SuperMarco]

It can be a good idea, but again, even sometimes it can be a pain to go to every USS, I always love the surprise I can find there. I mean, what's the point of having Unidentified Signal if you can scan them.. the point is to go there and see it by yourself ^^.

The only think I would love to have is a notification in the HUD when a USS is detected, the pain for me is to every time have to go into the navigation panel to see if there is one in range. Either the voice can say it, or having a small notification in the chat I don't know.

 

[stridecolossus]

Agree with the OP and pretty much every other poster's response:

As it stands the USS mechanic is just basically a lottery (and a time consuming one at that) since you have to enter the USS with no knowledge of whether it's related to your current missions or not. Even more immersion-breaking is that sometimes there are several USS which all disappear when you enter one of them, just making it feel a bit 'gamey'.

However, along with others I don't think we should completely remove the random element, I want to work to find the signal I'm after and the chance of getting jumped by a pirate, or meeting a wedding barge, or some other random encounter makes that more fun.

I would like to see:

1. Some sort of change to scanning to allow us to glean some information about a USS without having to drop out of SC as several posters have suggested. Maybe the scan results could be somewhat vague so you're never 100% sure what's there, but at least some indication of whether it's a waste of your time or not. Perhaps better sensors / scanners could provide better or more accurate details, or (dare I say it) maybe another signal scanner?

2. USS should be persistent, or at least should 'decay' over time - if there are half-a-dozen USS and I enter one and immediately re-enter SC there should at least still be a couple of the USS still around!

 

[DraconianOne]

+1 Rep

Totally agree. In fact, seeing more of what is happening in a system when you enter it would be good. I'm not sure why, in 1300 years, we not able to pick up radio waves from, say, conflict zones or distress signals or other ships even if they're 500+Ls away.

And yes, being able to get an indication of what is in a USS would be good too. Even seeing "Unidentified Signal Source" is going to get old - where are all the "Identified" Signal Sources? Why isn't someone developing system upgrades to let us avoid potential pirate ambushes or federal stop 'n searches?

Lots more thoughts about this but no time to add to it.

 

[Arbanax]

Oh yeah more heat, this is a great idea, +1 from me to. I'm all up for deeper content and i believe its going to come. Ideas like this tough give FD something to work with and engage as ideas floating about that may sink with their own or take them into areas they'd not yet thought off.

Ab

 

[Hethwill_Khan]

It is a good idea to have a mechanism to scan the signal sources.

D-Scanner seems like a good compromise, but in my imagination it is tuned for large mass bodies and gravitational fields, not for the tiny stuff, so why not have a different apparel for USS detection ?

Being able to descramble the signal to see what the USS contains might be a stretch and just kill half the fun of discovery ( for me ) but at least a small descriptive of how much mass is detected inside the USS, strength of signals ( difference between ships and containers ) and overall heat registered.

That way we don't have the whole picture but can effectively make a decision.