All this tiny micro movement, with a cluttered map and awkward sensitivity controls is doing my head in. Making things worse I’ll often launch probes and the damn things aren’t anywhere to be seen on the map. Or I accidentally slip with my mouse and end up putting them so far off the map I can’t grab them back again.
If I enter a system in J-space and see there are 30 or more sigs to scan I just want to slam my head against the desk. Less painful than my wrist will be after scanning all those signatures.
It’s not hard or challenging to scan a signature down, there’s no risk involved. It’s boring, tedious and safe.
The Idea:
I suggest adding a module that scans signatures when activated. Make it so it can’t be used cloaked, that way if people want to be sneaky they can still use the old method of launching probes and cloaking up. Leave combat scanning for ships the same, as using d-scan to pin targets is a skill.
A requirement for the module can be Astrometrics V and Maybe Survey V so Alpha accounts can’t use it. Survey V because it’s a module that can benefit from the 5% bonus to scan speeds of the modules requiring Survey V.
MODULE:
Signature Scanner I
Mid Slot
30 CPU
1 Powergrid
10 GJ Activation Cost
30 second duration
100% bloom to signature radius when activated.
-100% Velocity modifier
Can’t warp
Requirements
Survey V
Astrometrics V
Information
When this module is activated, it will begin scanning down a cosmic signature in your current system. One full cycle of the module will scan one signature.
Note: Due to the complex nature of the electronics needed to run this module, your ship will suffer from an increased signature radius, won’t be able to move and cannot initiate warp. Cannot be used while cloaked, cannot cloak while the module is running. Breaks active tethers.
Positives + Negatives of using this module:
[+] Don’t have to use the current probing system
[+] Systems with a lot of sigs will not be such a chore
[-] Signature resolution is doubled making it easier to be probed down.
[-] Losing a mid slot for something useful
[-] Cloak can’t be used once the module has started until it is stopped.
[-] Can’t move or initiate warp for duration.
Note: Combat probing ships will stay the way it is currently, having to use probes and d-scan.
And people can still use the old method of scanning.
Scanning is already too easy. Just dont log-in. That takes care of four of your five features:
[+] Don’t have to use the current probing system
[+] Systems with a lot of sigs will not be such a chore
[-] Losing a mid slot for something useful
[-] Cloak can’t be used once the module has started until it is stopped
Riskier? You can use it while tethered on a citadel, you can use it from safe spots many AU away from any celestial, you can still use it in a covert ops frigate where a 100% sig bloom still results in only 70m, which makes it hard to scan with probes. You can still warp around to make scanning harder or return to a safe location when you see combat probes.
Tell me, where is the increased risk, dirty land breather?
These kids will never know the joy of having to carry around different sets of probes and warping around dropping probes at each non-overlapping moon to even start getting hits on the sigs in system. Then warping closer and stepping down your probes until you finally know what type you found mag/grav/etc then finally getting your warpable hits.
Oh the goo… well the old days. lol Can’t say I miss anything about it aside from not many people bothered so it was lucrative AF.
Seriously though, grow a pair and deal with it. The easier you make something the more people will do it and the less money you make. And your suggestion is just plain lazy and adds nothing to the experience but turns it into an AFK activity, so F-no.
And that’s the problem! Spending effort scanning would be more acceptable if there was actually any challenge or skill involved in it. As it is there’s none of that. There’s only mindlessly repeating the same standard routine of button clicks with zero chance of failure. It’s something that should be automated, but only requires player action because of legacy systems and CCP’s unwillingness to admit that the game has changed since those days.
You can probe while tethered too. Though If that’s an issue for you, then make it remove the tether and prevent docking while the module is active. But you know there aren’t stations in C13’s and people do leave to scan other systems away from their Fortizars…
Using it in a safe spot is a valid strategy, besides not all systems are big enough for you to do this. You can still probe people down away from celestials.
It’s easy to scan down an Astero with 20m sig radius with probes… Git Gud.
Get it to work like a bastion module where it anchors you for the duration. Maybe increase the duration to 30 seconds per signature. If you can’t probe a ship down in 30 seconds you need to git gud.
Seriously though, grow a pair and deal with it. The easier you make something the more people will do it and the less money you make. And your suggestion is just plain lazy and adds nothing to the experience but turns it into an AFK activity, so F-no.
Exactly, more people will do it. More targets. Something WH space needs.
Nothing about being lazy, the current system is lazy compared to how it used to be. If you’re AFK you’re going to die, simple. I’d rather have the chance of catching someone scanning signatures than no chance if they are cloaked in a safe. If you think scanning is hard now I don’t know what to tell you. This doesn’t make it any easier, just less tedious.
In to the sea with you…
Updated the OP and added a -100% velocity modifier/unable to warp for the duration. Also breaks active tethers for the duration. Increased duration to 30 seconds.
This method only promotes afking and does not enhance game play also 30 seconds to scan 1 sig? thats going to take forever… better to just suck it up and learn the %'s so you can eliminate things your not looking for quickly and cut scanning time down.
Also if it was afk-able then more people would do it which lowers income from these sites, would rather scanning was more a pain in the ass so less people used it.
I certainly don’t mind improvements to scanning, but the suggestion sounds mighty selfish and lazy.
Selfish, because it’s supposed to make it easier yet OP doesn’t want it for “alphas”, who have to struggle with it more than “omegas”.
Lazy, because it “does my head in” or “I slip with my mouse” and “it’s boring and tedious” have never been a good reason for any change, but suggests OP might want to try doing something else for a while.
Sorry if I’m being too direct, but this sounds too much like an I-Win button for exploration. The scanning mechanic is meant to be this way, because for some people it’s actually fun. There are people who expect to find such mechanics in a game, who want to explore and discover things in EVE and not just get an instant gratification for pressing a button.
Take a break from it, don’t let it burn you out. Perhaps find a fleet, anchor up and press F1 for a while until your exceptions change.
The premise when you see probes in space, is that someone is most likely active. Since theres no local in wormholes, dscan results is allmost all you have to go from, for intel.
If this is implemented, i fear space will be full of probes 24/7, everyone will have an alt to afk scan down a chain, becuase they can. People will log in chars at downtime and make them scan till next downtime, while automatically updating third party mapping tools online for your corp or alliance. I can also imagine alliances and corps actually paying a sub (PLEX) for a dedicated scanning account, to scan automatically.
This idea is really bad for wormholes especially, but also for the rest of space. Scanning can NEVER be automatic and well “balanced”. It NEEDS to be an active action the players has to do.
Chances could be made to the actual way of scanning, sure, but it should NEVER be automatic, in any shape or form.
The problem is that scanning is already an I-Win button, with none of the exploration you’re talking about. It’s impossible to fail to find a site, assuming you have sufficient SP and ship bonuses, and if you don’t have sufficient bonuses for the site success is impossible. If success is possible at all then the worst that can happen to you is that you lose the signature and have to expand your probes out to catch it again, wasting a few seconds of time. At no point is player skill involved. At no point are interesting decisions made. At no point do you have any uncertainty about the outcome of the process. At no point will your “exploration” ever find anything that is not immediately obvious as soon as you begin the process.
The ONLY reason scanning isn’t fully automated already is that we’re dealing with the leftovers of previous systems that CCP doesn’t want to invest developer time in replacing. That’s fine, I suppose there are higher priorities, but it’s pretty absurd to pretend that the current system is an essential gameplay experience.
Exploring is competitive. If I scan faster than you, have better skills or just get luckier then that is as it should be.
Sometime you lose, too. I don’t want automated scanning in the game.
Very rarely. Most of the time exploration happens in empty nullsec systems, and the best means of competition is to kill the other guy regardless of who scanned down the site a few seconds faster. Maybe competition for scan speed would matter in highsec, where local is full and competing via guns is not permitted, but who wastes time on highsec sites?
Increase duration to something like 2 minutes/sig while maintaining the other drawbacks and I wouldn’t be entirely opposed. If you want the game to do something for you it should have a very real disadvantage versus an active player AND introduce risk.
If someone still wanted to use such a module? Sure, what the hell. Throw one on a scanning alt in a cheap probe ship while you do something else. Use it as bait. Whatever. That could be content.
The risk involved with current probes is zero. Launch probes in a safespot, cloak until you find whatever you’re looking for. Even negligible risk would be a step up.
But, as I said, there’s no reason to require manual scanning anymore. It’s just bad design in the current state. Automated scanning should just be part of the probe interface, launch a probe and it eventually scans down everything within its radius (with time based on signature size relative to scan radius/strength).
lazy scanning what? the current system as bored as it is. Having an AI in the ship that do nothing useful.
This new auto scanning is great, it make so there is two type of scanning.
Passive scanning: less work for you but really easy to get killed.
Active scanning: Current system.
keep combat scanning the same. Who say the auto scanning is lazy is just delusional or really doesn’t care.
It’s a true Risk-Reward than current system when you just turning on your cloak and drifting in space while hurting your writ. Boring.
Also scanning down a site doesn’t matter ■■■■ if you don’t come there to open it, and this is where the real danger come.
