Where is the exploration buff?

[Deleted member 38366]

I do believe Exploration payouts could use a re-balancing pass, as opposed to the other "buff passes" we've seen.

• a terraformable Water World almost pays as much as a ready-to-use Earth-like world. AFAIK Terraforming in ELITE lore takes decades and is exceedingly expensive
• a terraformable normal World pays quite a bit when compared to a much more rare ELW
• IMHO 1st Discovery and 1st Mapping (not some rescan/R2R) of a new ELW should pay considerably more due to above reasons
• 1st discovery of some ultra rare Bodies such as a Glowing/Green Gas Giant should pay >alot< ... since they're super rare
• rare variations (i.e. a ringed Neutron or a ringed ELW etc.) should carry a Bonus due to rarity
• rare constellations (i.e. an Earth-Like World around an L Class Star) should carry such a Bonus just as well ... since they're just as rare

Codex :

• the Codex base scan of 2.500Cr definitely could use a considerable buff (merely credited to the inflation income has seen everywhere)
• the Codex personal 1st scan per Region of 50.000Cr could use a minor buff as well
• the Codex scan of a Regional 1st Discovery (currently 50.000Cr) should be increased very significantly.. you're 1st to discover something in a Galactic Region, so it should pay accordingly
• Codex payouts should scale with how rare the Object is in the Galactic Region... very common things get no multiplier but some rare Anomaly with a very low chance to appear might deserve a healthy multiplier (indicating : congrats, you've found something rare!)

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In a nutshell :
Payout buff for Exploration? Definitely in order for the Codex, which is an integral part of Exploration.
Balancing as to pay more for things that are more rare in the Galaxy. The more rare (type + constellation), the higher the Bonus.

At least that's how I see it. Mirroring the nature of Exploration Gameplay, scale the rewards on how rare the discoveries are.

PS.
A Codex that's finally bugfixed and fundamentally bug free is a must. I'd prefer that ahead of anything related to payouts.

 

[varonica]

Varonica touched on a fab idea concerning gameplay with mining. So why not have the same thing for exploration. Missions to map certain regions that involve risk....namely thargoid space or some other 3rd party who would perhaps hassle the cmdr in one way or another. Combined with actual events in space like previously posted attacks on the ship from parasites or failures mechanically etc whilst actually in sc. Make exploration risky for these missions IF the cmdr chooses to take em on.

I would imagine that every profession should have a similar "career" path as opposed to the "freelancing" we do at the moment. The exploration CG's are....the best I can say is limited in usefulness...to explorers. A CG that runs a few weeks and that requires explorers to basically abandon what they are doing to rush back and take part, then afterwards fly back out out resume what they were doing don't fit the bill. A proper career path in exploration and combat would be ideal.

 

[CMDR Yates]

I certainly don't think it should be buffed across the board, but I think there should be better payouts in some areas, and more nuance in payments.

Like, ring hotspots should have an exploration reward associated with them, which would give an incentive to sometimes explore gas giants up close. Perhaps a ring with a great many hotspots could pay out in the region of a terraformable planet.

Gas giants with life could keep their low FSS scan value but have a greatly buffed DSS scan value. This isn't just about money, it about the feeling of doing science. Our probes are uncovering the secrets of the hidden ecosystems beneath the clouds and providing valuable science data.

Of course, I'd also like to see a lot more space phenomena, void life (including dangerous life throughout certain rings etc.), rare AI constructs and stuff to uncover.

And I've previously suggested a mission system where you can toggle your availability on and off for a Deep Space Dispatch Network and get occasional missions in your inbox from Universal Cartographics and the Pilot's Federation to explore certain systems, bodies they have a particular interest in, maybe search systems for lost previous explorers etc.

 

[don carnage1]

But that's not exploration is it, the same as I don't consider people sitting there and mining endlessly until they have billions of credits as mining, none of that is actually the profession of exploring or mining, it's just a way you make quick money and often abandoned once it's no longer useful, and that's a pity because what that means is that there are actually no professions, everything we actually do in the game that's called a "profession" it's actually just a hobby.

Given the option what I would have implemented is a profession "path" for the professions. For instance mining, a new player joins and they get the option of taking on mining as a profession, or if they don't want to make the decision right away they could freelance so they could just explore the game and decide what they like. If they did select mining then or later they would get a number of tutorials on mining that filled them in on what sort of ship they would need, the equipment and how to mine. Once they were proficient they would get job offers from corporations to work for them with various missions of different difficulty or size, payment for working for a corporation would always be better than payment from freelance mining and many of the mining missions would be follow on missions.

In other word implementing actual game play progression that increases payout and job offers as your skill as a miner increases...so job offers not limited to your reputation with a faction but limited by your reputation as a miner, so a freelance miner, as long as he hasn't worked for any corporation and built up his reputation, would always receive the lowest possible payment for jobs and cargo.

A much more complex thing altogether compared to what we have now. The fact that RtR and endless mining for billions exists is a factor of the simplified game play loops FDEV has used instead of putting in some real effort to include "profession" progression and should basically be ignored when discussing nerfs or buffs on payouts.

But then that's my opinion, others may disagree.

Ok sure, but as others pointed out what you’ve just described would require reworking the entire game’s progression system.

That’s not likely to ever happen... and it’s also not what the OP is asking for. The OP is asking for a straight exploration payout buff. That is NOT a good idea for the reasons I and others have already described.

I’m OK with the idea of a minor buff for first discoveries. I’m OK with a buff for VERY RARE finds such as undiscovered ELWs, Wolf Rayets, black holes, and such. I’d also love to see more content.

But an across-the-board buff? No way.

 

[Dragsham]

I did mention other aspects in my Op. Not just a credit increase. Seen as its an issue for some, I fail to understand why?
What's so bad about getting paid to scan stuff. I'm talking dss mainly.
I do get that one shouldn't get paid daft sums without first scanning em.
How many systems have you entered where past cmdrs cherry picked stuff.
I ask that all the system be dss scanned for a bonus thus completing UC data which is what mapping is all about is it not.
Don't see huge blank spots on a sat nav or AtoZ

 

[varonica]

Ok sure, but as others pointed out what you’ve just described would require reworking the entire game’s progression system.

Yeah I know, I think mistakes were made early on, they are the hardest ones to fix. My opinion, and it is only mine, is that the Devs were so wound up in simulating an entire galaxy that actual game play came second, by the time it came to implement proper game play the temporary layers they had already inserted became hard to change. For instance look at what happened with the ADS/FSS debacle.

I have some hopes for Odyssey, maybe they have made some much needed improvements with the new profession of xeno-biologist, but if all it requires is just pointing gun like things and plants and waiting 20 seconds I will be disappointment. I would hope to collect samples, maybe need to analyse RNA and DNA like structures, actually have some serious game play, but that would make it a complete change from what we have, pointing and shooting basically.