Engineers Why explorers are always get the worst end of the stick?

[MAccatan]

I agree to most parts.
Think the planetary landings were a big addition for explorers.
Gives you something else to do, apart from jsut watching the planet from above, now you can do joyrides there and maybe even find something interesting.

What is annoying to me, is that both engineers that offer drive and FSD upgrades need extremely rare items so they even talk to you. Have been docked at Maia now for days and not even seen 1 scrap of a Meta-Alloy which are supposed the be sold there.

For weapon upgrades they just want Bounty Vouchers or Money both things everyone has in abundance, or can produce in just a few minutes.

Sure the size of the Galaxy is nearly limitless, but it is also devoid of interesting things, as soon as you leave the bubble.
Think the explorers do not want to meet Aliens on every planet they touch down, but finding something else but rocks would be interesting.

Even in our solarsytem there have been various traces of unusual bacteria found on asteroids, so guess what strange microorganisms you could find on far away planets.

The meta alloys are in Maia but NOT in the Obsidian Orbital station! Read the PSA again, you need to go to Daniele's Progress (a surface station). Fly safe tho

Regards!

 

[Flyinspaghetti]

I agree to most parts.
Think the planetary landings were a big addition for explorers.
Gives you something else to do, apart from jsut watching the planet from above, now you can do joyrides there and maybe even find something interesting.

What is annoying to me, is that both engineers that offer drive and FSD upgrades need extremely rare items so they even talk to you. Have been docked at Maia now for days and not even seen 1 scrap of a Meta-Alloy which are supposed the be sold there.

For weapon upgrades they just want Bounty Vouchers or Money both things everyone has in abundance, or can produce in just a few minutes.

Sure the size of the Galaxy is nearly limitless, but it is also devoid of interesting things, as soon as you leave the bubble.
Think the explorers do not want to meet Aliens on every planet they touch down, but finding something else but rocks would be interesting.

Even in our solarsytem there have been various traces of unusual bacteria found on asteroids, so guess what strange microorganisms you could find on far away planets.

I think where planetary exploring falls short is the fact there's nothing to do other than grab materials or find a spot for a screenshot opportunity. I feel there needs to be an actual exploration objective on planets that works in the same way you do detailed surface scans for UC data, maybe we could deploy some sort of surveying instrument or mini experiments station on the surface or drill the soil with the srv (something along those lines) to get a higher payout on our data.

That would give a purpose to landing on an unexplored planet and a reason to go landing on as many as possible.

 

[Jamie Wolf]

Sure there could be more, but that is also why I am wary of the Elite update circle.
They have set themselves such a tight schedule that the expansions get pushed out half finished and stay that way as they have to work on the next one.

As I have said before more vehicles would be nice, or the opportunity to land on other then rocky and ice planets.
Think about a water planet with a little hovercraft or powerboat to drive around.

And I copy here from the Wiki:

The Federation was formed circa 2240AD as a direct response to the colonists on Tau Ceti 3 ignoring Earth's demands to stop killing the native wildlife

So there are other planets in the Elite universe apart from earth that have local life.
I do not want plant and animal on every planet, but a few strewn around the galaxy would be kind of nice.

Also like your ideas for drilling or setting up sensors for data gathering, would be some nice long range mission for explorers, fly to some far away system and set up some surveyor relays there.