What can the devs do to improve exploration?

[Jon474]

This is a really interesting thread. I think some of the ideas here are excellent.
TL;DR:

Spoiler

I want to see more variety in the planets and I want to have more offered to me in-game as a Cmdr taking on the role of an Explorer.

I am torn in my thinking about any possible improvements. I think there are two main ones: one, to the actual graphics in the game; and two, to the actual in-game experience of the Cmdr-as-Explorer.

I want to see more variety in the planets.

I love exploring in Elite but my enthusiasm and excitement frequently become a bit jaded when everything I discover turns out to be pretty much the same as in the previous twenty systems. This is, of course, faulty thinking on my part.

Space will be a repetitive business – not in the sense of what we will be able to see, but more in that the actual things we will see will largely be repeated over and over again with the actual differences being within the myriad textures, colours, features, impact-evidence that planetary formation science, geology and “being in space” present. The Elite Galaxy seems to me to have got this aspect of space exploration spot on. So, there will be a lot of rocky and icy planets but there will also be many, many different colour schemes, surface features and evidence of seismic activity. Lots and lots of gas giants but each having clouds with colours as varied as the combinations of the gases and elements that make up their atmospheres. I don’t feel there is currently enough variety. (A personal one: I am sick to death of blue Class 1 Gas Giants!)

I want to have more offered to me in-game as a Cmdr taking on the role of an Explorer.

I am currently using four separate applications to record my journeys through space; Excel, OneNote2013, ShadowPlay and some photo-management application. I cannot capture all of the information I want using all of these applications without breaking the immersion of playing the game.

I would like some sort of ability for an in-game Log system that:

• automatically recorded where I have been and what I have scanned (some of it is already there in verbose logging);
• gave me the Galactic Co-ordinates of the main stars of the systems I visit – it matters to me;
• captured some of the more valuable information held about scanned stars/planets as found on the System Map screens ;
• that let me take and caption/add notes to a picture;
• that actually let me take a decent picture without having to exit SC, slow down, take a picture (in-High-Res), restart the FSD and re-enter SC (I know, this one is selfish!);
• that let me write some text – a journal of where I have been; and
• that gave me statistics of my journey – LY travelled, systems visited, stars/planets scanned, categories of star/planet explored, time since last docking, etc (there are many more).

This might have to be a separate purchase – a Game Extra purchased through the Store– the sale price of which could fund its development? Right now, I would pay.

Sorry about spacing. For some reason my browser won't let me insert line breaks!

Just some initial thoughts.
Flying happy
Jon

 

[Jon474]

How about a simple ingame log. Nothing automatic.

When in a system, you press [log]. It stores the systemname with a link to the GalMap. Plus a text box where you can type 256 characters of comment.

Yes. Much easier solution. I do tend to overthink a solution. As long as it could used multiple times in a system and perhaps recorded the details of whatever your scanner was locked onto at the time the button was pressed?

Jon

 

[Madrigor]

I would like to plot my route manually, even if it's limited to 100 Lys, just click on the stars I want to go and it adds them to the route. For some reason that automated route plotter seems to pick mostly K and M stars and leaves the more interesting ones out.

 

[Archvillain]

Outside of ~1000LY from our own civilization, would be cool to see the wrecks of other Player ships that didn't make it (at the correct locations of their demise).
Seeing a cold, dead Asp with a frozen blown canopy float through space would be a good reminder to be careful out there.

These wrecks - once re-discovered by their owners - could also (debatable) offer an Option for the unfortunate CMDR to retrieve his Map Data from the Computer Storage (complete or random/partial).
That way, CMDRs that vanished a long distance out might get a chance to recover this most precious item, at the expense of making the entire two-way trip to their wreck. And as said, possibly incomplete due to onboard Computer Damage.

Nice! And even better - ANYONE who finds a wreck can retrieve partial map data to sell (scoop a "black box"?) - if it hasn't already been picked clean. This means that finding a wreck in deep space has the allure of feeling like a possible jackpot and represents an abrupt all-hands-on-deck change to an otherwise sleepy schedule, rather than being just an idle curiosity that doesn't affect your plans or get the discovering captain out of his PJs
(Having the data available finders-keepers also means that the explorer who lost the ship feels a sense of urgency to retrieve the wreckage.) That would be very cool!

(Note - map data still has to perish in combat deaths, else the still-alive explorers would become assasination targets. Also perhaps only the owner can retrieve full data (if it is all still there), but others can retrieve partial data, depleting what is left for the original owner)


Map-data in space-wrecks doesn't even need to be a true recording of the dead explorer's actual travels and scans (because that has server implications), it could simply be generated on the spot and consist of a random selection of nearby systems - it's still a jackpot.

Finding an old CMDR wreck in deep space would be incredibly rare, which makes it pretty cool, especially if there is something to be gained. The wreck itself becomes a discovery and a destination - the location would be shared with others, the tale of how the ship was lost would be attached and shared and embellished. It would give meaning to ship loss that doesn't currently exist, and add narratives to deep space.

 

[Archvillain]

Finding an old CMDR wreck in deep space would be incredibly rare, which makes it pretty cool, especially if there is something to be gained. The wreck itself becomes a discovery and a destination - the location would be shared with others, the tale of how the ship was lost would be attached and shared and embellished. It would give meaning to ship loss that doesn't currently exist, and add narratives to deep space.

Ooh! I just realized that the dangerous star-systems that everyone worries about (such as binaries that trap and cook explorers) could become sought after by specially-equipped heat-resilient explorers, looking for wrecks and bonus riches. Some of those explorers might in turn succumb to the system, adding their wreck to the system, adding greater and greater jackpot value to the system, luring more and more people into it...

SHIP-GRAVEYARDS could eventually emerge (emergent gameplay)
But long before that, CMDRs like me would be busy deliberately creating ghostships and graveyards of space... buying a ship, hauling out, intentionally destroying myself, adding another wreck to the system.

The Sargasso Sea of Space... the Bermuda Triangle of Tau Ceti... do you dare to brave the dangers, to claim the riches of those who (like you) thought they could handle it?

Deep space would become a more colorful place.

(I love the existing wreckage USS encounters. They're nicely spooky. Building on those to give them CMDR history instead of random-generation would make them more powerful)

 

[Fen Harel]

I wish we could zoom out more with the debug camera. I know there is supposed to be some tactical advantage to that, maybe, but, it seems so cramped next to our ships. If only we could zoom out farther it would help to enhance the grandeur of space. Showing the wonders of the universe and our puny craft.

 

[Bevz]

I agree with a lot of what's said; my personal list would include:
- Orrery System View.
- Ability to lock onto an object from within the system map, but i believe this is already on the cards for 1.3 (one of the devs confirmed it didn't quite make it for 1.2).
- Nav computer should remember your last route even if you log out of the game!
- As others have said i would like to see remnants from old civilisations; even if there are no living aliens in the game it would be fantastic to hear remnants of old alien radio chatter or even the occassional abandoned relics of old stations or satellites around some earth-like worlds or in USS's.... Imagine seeing a USS in deep, deep space... you're all alone, 1,000's of LY from anyone.... you go check it out and there is a wreck of some gigantic station; you could fly around it, hear it creaking etc.... that would be AWESOME!
- More advanced nebula clouds.... At the moment once you've been in one nebula you've been in them all really. Apart from different colour maps there's not a lot to tell them apart.... They're essentially just spherical texture maps, but i would like to see them have much more finer detail and structure.. For example i went to the Eagle Nebula and could not find the pillars of creation because the nebula maps in the game aren't built that way... So it would be nice to have nebulas built as actual gaseous structures that you could really explore.
- Oh and i know the OP said no talk of planetary landings, but i have to say.... We really want planetary landings! Just in case there is any confusion!! I want to land and see the sunrise over an alien world

EDIT: oh, forgot to say.... Exploration Drones for Detail Scanning. I'd like to be able to send a drone off to scan a far off world while i sit and scan the rest.

 

[Pharoh]

i am sure its been mentioned but...

How about an exploration module that saves your trip details

Also the amount of and types of planets scanned plus percent of full system scans Etc

Also daily Lys travelled

The value of data collected for each system and a break down why it has achieved that value

 

[mossfoot]

How about a simple ingame log. Nothing automatic.

When in a system, you press [log]. It stores the systemname with a link to the GalMap. Plus a text box where you can type 256 characters of comment.

Not only usefull for explorers but for any profession. Traders will log traderoutes, miners will log good locations, bounty hunters can log favourite RES and pirates can go and fornicate with themselves for all I care

LOVE this idea

 

[Setu]

More risk. Supernovas , novas, gamma ray bursters, being thrown out of hyperspace by gravity waves. Magnetic fields which disrupt the cockpit. Events which damage nav system and cause hyperspace to drop out in wrong system so have to navigate his me by dead reckoning. Ability to line up on an object such as visible star, and select in galaxy map. Rescue beacons from stranded pilots. Wormholes. Dark matter clumping. Force fields around star systems. The Borg. Q. Rumours. Nebulae so dense they are hard to escape. These should all be very rare but very real.

 

[Surly_Badger]

I also think that there should be missions to photograph certain things. I'm not sure how that would work out, but maybe if we had the photo-drones (hint, hint!) we could take pictures of certain things for a reward. I'm trying to figure out how to integrate the "bring back the data" model. I think realistically an explorer would have a huge array of recording devices going constantly.

Come to think of it the only "alien" ships that would make sense to find would be the burned out hulks of explorers that have gone before us. Maybe what FD should do is create a wreck whenever an explorer ship dies more than 1000ly from Sol. Then, if someone discovers the wreck, they get a percentage of the data or the value of the data or something.

Exploring should be more dangerous, though. Seriously. Right now it's like a week-long nip down to the corner drugstore for some asprin. I've felt a lot of awe out there, but not very much fear. More fear would be good.

 

[Ryder35]

Not read the whole thread so apologies if already mentioned.

All of the things in the DDF (mis-jumps, the need to use a jump scanner to jump to undiscovered stars, and element of skill to jumping to unknown systems)

Commander's log in that blank screen between our legs

More detailed scanning options

Better financial balance: I spent 6 weeks exploring and came back and made more money in 4 days with a vulture at res points.

Exploration missions/treasure hunts

As mentioned above, more risk/reward

 

[mossfoot]

Better financial balance: I spent 6 weeks exploring and came back and made more money in 4 days with a vulture at res points.

I gotta disagree with this. As pointed out elsewhere, there isn't much risk exploring right now - even traders have to deal with the risk of pirates.

But more importantly, what happens when more things are introduced that could have financial gains (alien wrecks, treasure hunts, income gained through finding stuff in planetary landings, other things that haven't been added yet). Then it could very well get unbalanced in the other direction, and people will complain if a nerf is suggested to balance it then.

It just seems odd to, say, go out to SagA and back and have enough to buy an Anaconda is all...

 

[mossfoot]

Not to mention the list here indicates that the money is out there for explorers

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=130254

That's a lot more than Anaconda money.

 

[R'awx Najjar]

First of all make more generic nebula models, now there are only like 3-4 excluding Barnard's loop and around. I'm at Eta Carina now and wanted to move further down the Orion spur to the next NGC nebula, but decided against it upon realizing that it's exactly the same model as the Eta Carina nebula. Nebulas should be the highlights of exploration, not a boring copy-paste encounter. I'm not asking to undertake the task of making hand crafted nebulas, uust make 20 or so different generic models so there is a bit more variety.

Also adding oblate stars should be rather easy, for example Vega is very noticeably wider at the equator than it is at the poles due to its fast spinning.

 

[Kordred]

I love the ideas about more risk.
I'd like to see the value of certain things be more logical. Neutron stars don't seem like they ought to be valuable. First, if you find one, you've probably found 10,000,000 of them, so they aren't rare. Also, what is anyone going to do with that data besides list it on a chart and say, yep, don't fly into that.
Asteroid belts should not always be worth zero. They should be worth a range of values based on the content of the belt. If its metal rich it should be valuable. If its icy it should be zero. Make them a high risk, high reward item. They might be worth nothing, and they might be worth a lot.
I'd also like to see a bonus for scanning complete systems.

 

[Archvillain]

Ooh yes! +1 to more distance available in the drone/debug camera tether! Trying to take epic photos is a big part of exploring for many of us and the tether is so short that this is frustrating.

Our carefully plotted routes should stop being lost every time the game has server connection issues or when you leave and re-enter the game.

More risk! Yes! But risks that can be alleviated by skill and/or judgement and/or equipment (And to balance greater risk, more ways to make more $$$ )

 

[Cliff Dobbs]

I like a lot of the ideas I've been reading, especially where it makes exploration more risky. I'm not so keen on the ideas for making it easier. Actually, I feel it's a bit too easy, right now.

So, here's my four pennath;

- Tab to view exploration data
It'd be nice to be able to see how much you've collected, etc.

- In sys view, planets should not show type before detailed scan
This really bugs me. If you've not scanned a planet, how do you know if it's a water world, or high metal content. Before doing a detailed surface scan, they should all be represented by a generic planet icon.

- Be able to sell data without docking
- actually, be able to do any electronic transactions without docking
Why, oh why, in an age a thousand years from now, should you need to physically dock your ship to transmit or receive data? Sure, loading cargo, reloading weapons, taking on fuel, they all need to be docked, but looking up the bulletin boards or selling exploration data would be done remotely even today. Has our technology got worse with FTL space travel?

- Cobra Explorer
The Asp is a nice ship, but it's a bit big. What I really want is a modified Cobra. Fewer hard points, bigger FSD, bigger fuel scoop, bigger fuel tank, that sort of thing. Basically, a Cobra with a 35Ly jump range.

- High ranking explorers should be allowed salvage rights
I think someone mentioned about finding the wrecks of destroyed ships. Well, if there's cargo hanging around and you're a thousand light years from civilisation, why shouldn't you pick it up, and not get punished for it? Of course, you need to earn the right, right?

- Facility for legitimately collecting and returning black box recorders from wrecks
I've seen a number of missions about picking up flight recorders, all are labelled as not quite legal. Well, if I'm out in the black and I happen across a flight recorder, I'd like to be able to pick it up and return it safely to the next station I stop at. If a reward is forthcoming, that'd be nice, but even if not, I'd still do it.

Here's to a more exciting exploration (for those that want it )

C

 

[Jon474]

- In sys view, planets should not show type before detailed scan
This really bugs me. If you've not scanned a planet, how do you know if it's a water world, or high metal content. Before doing a detailed surface scan, they should all be represented by a generic planet icon.

I liked pretty much all of your suggestions but I definitely agree with this point.

Flying happy
Jon

 

[Ryder35]

When you're in a RES in a vulture it's high intensity all the time. Exploring is laid back. So it figures the rewards are different.

Agreed but there is not a lot of risk in a res with a specced out Vulture either to be honest.