I like exploring and its fun but it could use a little buff I think. Here are a few ideas I had:
Set up a new minigame so that relic and data containers are different. Use the same virus meta and modifiers but just make the game different. This would break the flow up quite a lot I think. You could take it a step further and have more variety which would induce more interest/panic in timed situations but two kinds would be a great start.
Introduce escalation loot, e.g. items that point to additional hacking sites you can explore which will give you that sense of progress. Maybe even work that into a chance to chain 4-5 sites which would be like a treasure hunt.
I would actually like to see a situation where you need to collect a set of items which would give you a location to explore.
Perhaps even Introduce a relic and/or data processor system that you could feed specific artifacts and found data items into that would spit out exploration locations e.g. you collect a bunch of artifact shards or data cores and can run them through a station service similar to the factory UI which will chew them up and show you a percent solved and then when you have enough bits it will spit out an escalation site for you.
I believe the different types of site has been around since the great exploration change of āought 3ā; The follow on question is what is the second minigame? Something similar to Tetras? It can not be too resource hungry, can not take up too many programmers, and can not require maintenance.
I particularly like the āescalationā concept. The escalation should point to a system/constellation, not providing a warp in, as is done in PvE sites.
A set of items? Could this be exploited by the large groups in null? I am still mulling this over.
Iām all for new sites however in a lot of systems a lot of sites already exist.
what I think would be good is if exploration players could be privileged to certain sites, this way the existing sites are still available. in my mind what what would happen is a new site would be implemented āAbandoned Data Processing Centreā you then basically scan these down and collect data sheets from these sites, you would then some how (maybe through a module) would process these data sheets to get access to an exclusive site. which would spawn at the trigger command of the explo pilot in a reasonable location
this site would last for a certain amount of time, before despawning or until its complete.
ships in this site, similar to the wormholes during the triglavian invasion would warp in at range, even if warping to a specific pilot, this way is a group is running the site and someone scans them down to warp in, theyāll automatically warp in at range.
perhaps disallow certain ships to prevent people flying in with stealth bombers or other long range ships to snipe at the people running a site, similar to how ESS sites are set up but with a bit of tweeking to be more suiting.
this spoils of this site would be some kind of small trove of goodies which would make the effort worth while. PI, reactions, data cores, BPCās etc etc.
I think the finding data sheets which link to an executable site could be something to look at, giving explo players a bit more of an āinfo brokerā kind of approach to the game.
Iām not sure I follow what you are saying about a different type of site. I know there are data and relic sites and various expressions of these. I just meant have a different minigame for hacking those different types of cans since you have a different module anyway. I also donāt know why you would say that a new minigame would be resource hungry or require too many programmers or more maintenance than anything else in the game. I just think a different game for relic containers for example would break up the activity a bit which would be good. Iām sure there could be dozens of mini games based on virus coherence that would be different enough but use the same amount of resources as the current game.
As for large groups in null they have lot to do already. If collecting sets of items gives corps something to do then thatās a win I think. I would hope that this wouldnāt just be for high level play or null sec, just to improve exploration by making it more engaging.
Ya Iām not advocating for more sites to spawn. Iām suggesting that the loot in the existing sites be useful for more exploration to happen, letting you find additional sites (mostly in different systems) that would only be found by analyzing the relics/data.
Also it would feel more like exploration if you had some maps.
you mean like adding some new types of resources to PI, like a university or research base? Might be a good way to expand that but I think it might blur the lines between exploration and industry a bit.
I think you would want to avoid the artifact resource on that kind of volume from becoming just another market item. Maybe dovetail it with the crappy R&D agents somehow. Supply them with those artifacts and get cores kind of thing.
Being able to ādiscoverā sites only you can get to (DED spaces that exist only when u find certain items or like an escalation from a normal relic/data site). PS with a longer expiration timer - NOT 24 hours please.
I also like the idea of only knowing the location as what constellation it is in (requiring you to do some hunting for it). With the mechanic that when probes are used it only shows up for you alone (possibly only until u warp to it, then anyone probing can see it too?). And please dont make these escalations go into lowsec from highsec.
Programmers note. Having escalations from the current exploration site code would just require a small insert of conditional branching code into the old site code while the new escalation sites can be brand new and exciting code! it would greatly speed up the time to add the feature without rewriting old code while having the opportunity to add a new site code into the game. And you KNOW everyone is begging for that, especially for exploration.
PS this would also solve the complaint that Everyone has about exploration sites being too hard to find, because everyone does them. if u get lucky you could have 4-5 sites in a chain from one normal site.
PPS: these sites dont have to be just relic and data sites they could be Ore sites, with 100 reg ore and one asteroid with some really valuable ore in it, requiring survey scanners to ID it. Also as they get harder throw in a few Rats (Officers in Highsec? perish the thought).
i still think that you should collect some items, perhaps as parts for a BPO which allows you to make some kind of beacon which you then use (and consume) to trigger the site, but giving the players specifically the ability to trigger it themselves would be more ideal, have the item only be valid for say 2 week life span before expiring this way its a little bit like filaments, or other time sensitive drugs in the game āaccess beaconā ā āexpired access beaconā once triggered I could see it being like a moon det, it will last for 3 days, however once triggered anyone can warp to it, this is why I think it would be better to put in place certain ship restrictions and warp in distance.
if you really wanted to put explo players at the center piece of this experience, the site could have a can they have to hack, this creates a state where the hacker is invulnerable but each time they break one passcode or complete one game it will spawn the next wave, failing gives you a retry but you take some ship damage this way your life in these mini games comes down to how much damage you could take, at least thatās one thing to consider. the idea being that a big fleet fight is happening around you and if another group warps to the site you give that explo player a distinct level of control over the site, perhaps some kind of central access node which if you hack you will trick the sentry guns to think youāre friendly or just use the old POS code so you can take direct control of certain weapons on grid.
The follow on question is what is the second minigame? Something similar to Tetras? It can not be too resource hungry, can not take up too many programmers, and can not require maintenance.