Below is an Open Letter to Frontier Developments:
Hello Frontier!
First of all I would like to express my sincere gratitude, appreciation, and love for your company as well as Elite: Dangerous. I am a huge Sci-Fi Buff and this game is by far my favorite. Although, as I will go into detail below, it is very much a love hate relationship. Though, First let me formerly introduce myself. I am Histarium, a hobbyist not-famous Youtuber, a gamer, a Photographer, and most importantly to this letter, an Explorer. Iv had the pleasure of naming The Peng Nebula on EDSM, which is visible from Jaques Station. Ever since I first starting exploring in Elite: Dangerous it captivated me, the idea that the galaxy seemed almost impossibly large. How can one person ever hope to say they've "seen it all"? Although, Exploring, the more I did the more I realized it was the least rewarding content wise. Sure, I could make up my own rewards, For instance, finally making it to Colonia, not once but twice, probably takes the cake in "Feeling" Accomplished. Or my personal favorite is looking out into the skybox while floating through the bubble and saying "Yeah, Iv been there!" Not only is it rewarding but several of the tools utilized by explorers are a far cry from perfect. In fact, I feel as though Discovery Scanners were added simply just to allow Explorers at least some tools. Advanced Discovery Scanners being one of the weirdest modules Iv ever seen in a game of this nature.
Surely, others have mentioned these two very obvious things, lack of physical in game reward, and lack of or weird use of tools. Being that most of the recent Community Goals revolve around Exploring, it almost feels as if You, Frontier Developments, are abandoning us, the Explorers. Lets first go into Rewards in more depth. Currently, the only two things that you get from Exploring is abysmal credits for the most time consuming and arguably boring thing to do in the game, and the ability to attach your name onto newly discovered celestial bodies. What takes possibly hours if not days to gain in credits, takes a mere 30 minutes for a Bounty Hunter to gain provided they have at least one good friend and a Compromised Navigation Beacon. Navigation Beacons being essentially a never ending PVE grind for credits as is, but perhaps I'll talk about this in another letter. 1,000,000 credits in 30-45 minutes or hours aimlessly wandering the stars and hoping what you find is something worth more than a Barren Planet or Brown Dwarf. If your lucky, you may find an Earth Like World, or an Ammonia Based world, which are worth a lot but still not very much. Scan the Star, sound your Techno Horn, and move on. Scanning any celestial bodies that might be worth the credits to actually visit. This is currently the only content we have as Explorers. Sure, theres Ancient Alien Ruins, Barnacles, Getting Interdicted by Thargoids, or finding a very rare Unknown Artefact or Probe. However, I do believe this could be so much more in depth, harder, and ultimately more fun and rewarding for the player if done differently.
So, perhaps at this point, you may wonder exactly what I would change, if I dislike the current state of actual in game mechanics. As Iv played and spent many hours exploring, I begun to think this question over very intently. First, I would change how Advanced Discovery Scanners and Detailed Surface Scanners work. In the case of first starting out as a new player, Only able to afford smaller ships, I would change the Modules from being Optional Modules to Utility Slots, As thats exactly what these modules are. Utility Devices that allow you to see whats out in the blackness of space. Lets first start with Discovery Scanners. Now that it takes up a Utility Slot, this frees up my Optional Slots for things like AFMU's Cargo Holds, or perhaps a Drone Bay(I'll get to my idea for Drones in a bit). Let us then also change how the function, Splitting them into two new Modules for players to purchase. First is a Directional Scanner, These would scan at the direction your ship is facing, Allowing a much further sensor range than your standard sensors. It would pop up things such as Celestial Bodies, Asteroid Fields, or Unknown Signal Sources which could lead to a Wake Emission once scanned further. Now, we already have something similar to a Directional Scanner, The Detailed Surface Scanners, where you must point and be close enough to scan a celestial body. Also, the idea that you need to target and aim at a ship to see details about it. However, I would like to implement an activated scanner that requires no targeting and brings up "unknown" signals that you then need to investigate or not investigate. Think of it as a Wave Scanner for your ship, minus having to actively search for something based on sounds, the on-board computer of your ship can do that for you. Secondly, I would add a new type of Limpet or Drone Launcher, this of course being placed in your optional modules slot. An Explorer Limpet Drone Launcher could send out small probes packed with X-ray/Gamma Ray, Radio Telescopes, and other sensors, to then give the player a tad more data on an Unknown Signal or Unknown Planetary Body, that would help them to determine to either move on or get closer for a Detail Surface Scan. Simple point your ship at the object, fire the launcher, and wait as a probe zooms towards its destination. Yes, Im suggesting that the player drop from Supercruise for additional surveying of a Solar System. Lastly, All I would do to Detailed Surface Scanners is make them a Utility Slot as well.
Now that we have atleast somewhat more content or challenge to Exploring and Discovering than simply honking your horn at a star, lets look at rewards. Perhaps a missed opportunity by you, Frontier Developments, was the idea that selling your data to Universal Cartographics actually made a difference. Maybe a miner just wants to mine and doesnt want to have to explore worlds to find those ever sought after Pristine Metallic Rings. Maybe, once enough players contributed to selling data from a particular region, this would then unlock that data for everyone to see, giving credit to all who made that data available to the public. Even just the ability to buy maps, Seems mostly neglected as I cannot directly buy data from Universal Cartographics that another player has sold to them, that would inturn allow me some insight before going to that system. In fact, the only current way to "see" another system from your current location, if its not inhabited, is to go there. Which seems odd to me considering the year is 3303 AD and in 2017 Scientists are able to study stars from much greater distances than a few light seconds. That these stars would magically just be "unknown" and absolutely no data available on them, even ones in the bubble, is a bit curious to say the least. Lets move on though, because I still do not completely agree with how one could make Exploring more Rewarding other than just giving the player more cash for their data.
Now, perhaps you already have plans to implement more, but an Explorer Based SRV with more than just the Wave Scanner for discovering things seems like something we needed at launch, and not something that was an after thought. Not only SRVs but Ships. There currently is not very many ships which are suited for the high demands of an Explorer. Long Jump Range, Good Fuel Economy, Enough slots to equip a few things, and more if we implement the above aforementioned devices. There is not exactly any mid level Explorer. In order if you wished to be purely an Explorer it would go Sidewinder > Cobra > Diamondback Explorer > ASP Explorer > Andaconda/ Imperial Clipper. Im giving the Sidewinder and Cobra the benefit of the doubt as you could use them for Exploring, though they wouldnt be ideal. The price hike, and lack of money being made between the Diamondback Explorer, ASP Explorer, to an Andaconda, or as Explorers sometimes refere to it as, the JumpConda, its a bit frustrating. Going from buying a 1 to 4 million credit ship, to needing over 145 million credits for a ship that has way more internal slots than you'll use for Exploring. I basically Gut ships to optimize their jump range anyways, either selling and never replacing, or selling for a downgrade version. Not to mention that its almost entirely useless to have the best Power Supply needed or the highest tier Life Support. Its a very skewed, and weirdly neglected side of Exploring. Fly the Diamondback and have some limitations, Fly the ASP Explorer and stop, never spending another dime on any Explorer modules, except to Engineer your FSD, or spend the credits on an Andaconda that your only buying for that FSD and Jump Range.
Now then, we have all of that out of the way, lets talk about Risk. Because what little reward we do have, comes with no additional Risk other than pilot errors. I propose the addition of certain, younger stars, having solar flares that heat up your ship faster but give you a higher than maximum fuel scooping speed. Black Holes that you cannot escape its gravitational Pull if you get to close while in Normal Space. FSD Drives that Malfunction after you jump, sending you to a nearby star instead of the intended destination or drop you much closer to a star than whats safe, thus requiring the need to either play it safe, or carry more than one AFMU. Unknown Anamolies that when approached have varying random effects on your ship. Radiation Risk when near Super Red Giant stars. Space is Hostile, Elite Dangerous seems to only throw Enemies at you but not ambient hostility, which is the most unrealistic part of Elite: Dangerous for me. Comets, or other Space Junk that gets picked up on your sensors, that you either avoid its trajectory easily or have it knock your ship around, taking hits on your shields. An example of this is would be that Asteroid Fields could have small rocks hitting your ship as your fly through them. Dust Rings, that are electrically charged, causing your sensors to act up while flying near or in them. One only needs to look to real space for inspiration of how you could up the risk for Explorers. Of course, a game is meant to be fun, but currently flying 22,000 LY is the most boring thing Iv ever done in a game, Throw even a small amount of randomized risk to that and it becomes less boring and forces the player to actively engage the game. Rather than pressing the jump button mindlessly while staring at youtube or watching a show. Thus, giving purpose to the idea that an Explorer goes first and maps out the dangers before an armada of players were to undertake the journey after him/her.
Basically, all I would love to see is Frontier Developments to seriously look at Exploring and its sad neglected shape. We do not have the tools, content, nor the rewards, to justify being JUST that in Elite: Dangerous. One needs to augment their experience with combat or missions to afford the ever lofty, entirely unneeded JumpConda, or only see the inside of two ships for years. Its high time we had change, and Perhaps I expected Horizons to bring about a "New Horizon" on the issues of Exploring, though all it has done is add in a greater sense that you, the developers, are neglecting a popular game mechanic.
Sincerely, Your ever loyal fan and Customer,
-Histarium