What would make exploration process more fun?

Ignition

I
Soliluna said:
Using probes to triangu-- wait isn't that Eve?
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The exploration in that game is very basic but even in that game exploration is more challenging and rewarding than Elite with its huge galaxy.

Its not a EVE only mechanic. In our world ships use probe-like hydrophones underwater to triangulate a sound origin.

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Jex =TE= said:
This - take a look at car mechanic simulator. I want that level of repair ability on my ship so if you're going out exploring you better bring spare parts with you but we also need the ability to reroute power and things like that.
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I don't want to deviate the thread but have you seen the planed repair mechanics in Star Citizen? It looks very nice.
 

Scoopy Doopy

Scoopy Doopy
I am starting to think this sudden rash of people looking for ways to make exploration exciting have never done it. They MAY have been more that 1000LY out of the bubble or they MAY have sat through an excruciating dull buckyball to SagA but they certainly haven't explored.

The mechanics of it are irrelevant. However you scan two thousand star systems is going to be dull, no matter how complex you make it. The more complex and time consuming you make it, the less likely it will done at all. It already takes ages.

I think ED does it quite well really. There could always be a few more surprises and the record keeping could be automated.

If you want to have a geologist carrer introduced, I guess that's another argument.
 

akaliel

A
I think if super cruise acceleration speeds were increased, that would go a long ways to improving exploring in general. And trading. We shouldn't have to stare at the screen, watching a clock slowly tick down.
 
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Deleted member 38366

D
akaliel said:
I think if super cruise acceleration speeds were increased, that would go a long ways to improving exploring in general. And trading. We shouldn't have to stare at the screen, watching a clock slowly tick down.
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I still hope the V2.1 Engineers might bring something to that tune.
As a part-time member of the "give Icy Planets some love Foundation" :D I would definitely appreciate a way to accelerate SuperCruise speeds (acceleration/top speed/deceleration) in order to reach distant Objects during Exploration...
 
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akaliel

A
FalconFly said:
I still hope the V2.1 Engineers might bring something to that tune.
As a part-time member of the "give Icy Planets some love Foundation" :D I would definitely appreciate a way to accelerate SuperCruise speeds (acceleration/top speed/deceleration) in order to reach distant Objects during Exploration...
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Even if it's only achievable with Engineer buffed engines, I'd take it.
 

dave11

D
I'm not an explorer (not yet anyway). But I thought it would be cool if there were interesting things to discover like abandoned super structures that you could fly your ship around and even land on, hollowed out asteroids and the like. A discoverer could be given the power to sell permits to approach and explore them to other players. Therefore the explorers do the finding, and folk like me pay them for permission to visit them. Not a fully formed idea, but I thought something along these lines might be interesting.
 

FliesWithEyesClosed

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I'm actually curious about exploration...

Do you ever have any genuine "i just discovered something really cool" moments? or is it mostly you arriving to a system where you know there is a star that is simply undiscovered that you have to scan and planets that are also undiscovered that you have to scan? are there ever moments where you arrive somewhere and something is truely unknown until you've scanned it? scanned it to see if its like a wormhole, a derelict space station, a black hole, or an abandoned space ship belonging to some other long dead explorer? I'm guessing that those kinds of encounters dont exist in ED and if not then i think adding them would add a little something to exploration. Instead of knowing that you are going to undiscovered systems and knowing the you are going to scan undiscovered stars and undiscovered planets you are instead looking for something that is truly UNKNOWN. And an added bonus of that is adding in a discovery system that has more player interaction, similar to the EVE probe system that other people have mentioned.
 

Scoopy Doopy

Scoopy Doopy
FalconFly said:
I still hope the V2.1 Engineers might bring something to that tune.
As a part-time member of the "give Icy Planets some love Foundation" :D I would definitely appreciate a way to accelerate SuperCruise speeds (acceleration/top speed/deceleration) in order to reach distant Objects during Exploration...
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I don't mind that in itself although I admit to even today not bothering with a water world 85,000 LS away. What might be better perhaps would be if you didn't have to be in the gravity well of any planet worth scanning. That way you could get to the next one without the tedious wait until anything happened at all. At least watching your ship accelerate and decelerate.

Alternatively, because you start out in the middle of a system and the planets can be on either side of the star, there is no way of flying to each one in the shortest time. So, how about a quick indicator of the quickest route to visit each planet in a system without flying past the star eight times. Currently I head for the furthest planet out using the system map and then use the left panel navigator planet to visit all the planets in turn starting at the top. That way, you might make a superfluous trip to the furthest planet but you know you are taking all the others in close to the shortest time.

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Those that have not been far out of the bubble maybe don't appreciate just how many stars there are in this galaxy. After all, 400 bullion is just a number.

In effect, there aren't any other players out there. Once you are over 3000LY out, the chance of anybody else visiting your system are remote at best. You'd have to find something pretty special to get anybody to come and if it was that special (i.e. rare) you'd probably never have found it in the first place.
 

Scoopy Doopy

Scoopy Doopy
FliesWithEyesClosed said:
I'm actually curious about exploration...

Do you ever have any genuine "i just discovered something really cool" moments? or is it mostly you arriving to a system where you know there is a star that is simply undiscovered that you have to scan and planets that are also undiscovered that you have to scan? are there ever moments where you arrive somewhere and something is truely unknown until you've scanned it? scanned it to see if its like a wormhole, a derelict space station, a black hole, or an abandoned space ship belonging to some other long dead explorer? I'm guessing that those kinds of encounters dont exist in ED and if not then i think adding them would add a little something to exploration. Instead of knowing that you are going to undiscovered systems and knowing the you are going to scan undiscovered stars and undiscovered planets you are instead looking for something that is truly UNKNOWN. And an added bonus of that is adding in a discovery system that has more player interaction, similar to the EVE probe system that other people have mentioned.
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You don't find signs of humanity except, bizarrely, on planets where you get all the same trash you find in the bubble. I hope ED remember to remove that next time as it makes no sense. You also get "Salvageable Wreckage" targets coming up which again makes little sense given you never ever just bump into people. Even SagA* maybe gets only two or three visitors in a day and nobody has been to the vast majority of stars even one jump away from SagA*.

However, yes, you do get "I just discovered something really cool" moments but not everyone would find them cool. You have to be an explorer.

Your first untagged planet is the first time. Then maybe your first untagged water world and then earth like world and ammonia world. After that the first system I found with six water worlds in it enthralled me as did a water world I found with a tiny moon so close it was practically touching the planet. I landed on the moon and when I looked up, I very much had a "I just discovered something cool" moment. Others wouldn't feel that of course. Perhaps you would be impressed with finding an earth like world with a ring system or maybe a white dwarf spinning at a crazy speed. Maybe the first time you find a Neutron star and a) don't actually hit the thing and b) manage to work out where it actually is. There's lots out there really if you are not just trying to make credits or get somewhere fast.
 

Troa Barton

Troa Barton
GilliganTX said:
Holy nostalgia attack.

Loved that idiotic little game. LOL.
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I know right? I stayed up for several nights in a row chugging Mountain Dew to beat that game, those were the days.
thinking about it I have no idea why it was so fun, by all rights it shouldn't have been but it goes to show that even a simple game mechanic can be fun if done right.
i can't rep you yet, soon.
 

GilliganTX

GilliganTX
Troa Barton said:
I know right? I stayed up for several nights in a row chugging Mountain Dew to beat that game, those were the days.
thinking about it I have no idea why it was so fun, by all rights it shouldn't have been but it goes to show that even a simple game mechanic can be fun if done right.
i can't rep you yet, soon.
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Probably because I was a child, and because Pokemon.



Anyway, back to space ships.
 

Nicodemous

Nicodemous
I would recommend to replace the waiting time while scanning by something to do, too. If I would enjoy waiting, I would pay doctors more visits. I imagine a 'sensor calibration'-minigame of some sorts. I would also enjoy some sort of "scavanger hunt". For instance could after the scan of a (landable) planet a notice pop up, informing about some kind of interesting site on the planets surface. The you may or may not find further hints, leading you to some valuable data of some sorts.
 

Fyrd Judge

Fyrd Judge
Alternative power system for SRV's. 9,000 Wh batteries, they then can be charged while housed onboard ships, over a set time period. Idea from The film Martian. This then allows us to spend 100% of our time exploring instead of looking for rocks.

the-martian-nasa-manual-the-rover.jpg
 
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Haszontalan

H
A log of discoveries with filters and sorting.
Oh and I would love it if my discoveries from before new years eve 2016 would show up on my galaxy map. I have almost nothing to show for hundreds of hours of game time as they do not show up on my map. Yes I reported it.
One press start for discovery scanner instead of holding it down. Scan working in one run, not starting again and again and again several times.
Close stellar bodies syphoning matter off of each other.
Accretion discs.
More reward for thorough exploration compared to rushing through. I kept up scanning everything for a while even after I got the advanced scanner, but my resolution disappeared after a few thousand systems.
Scan from larger distances. Having to go 5 Ls distance to a moon for the 2 thousandth time is not fun for me.
Put the celestial body attributes as de default screen when selecting them on the system map, or at least make the map remember that you left it on that tab.
More realistic terrain instead of smooth features. Like this:
pia19839-galecrater-main.png
 

Zelos1983

Z
POIs that can be discovered, both in space and on planets. I'd also like to have samples to bring back. Exploration missions would be great (e.g. find 10 terraformable planets in Sector xy).

SRV shouldn't require fuel and ammo.

But for me, exploring is the most fun aspect of the game. It's combat that needs a major overhaul.
 
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