1hr meaningful gameplay?

[DudeBro69]

I usually get a few hours off each day and maybe play a few games in that time.

Was wondering if I can get some engaging gameplay out of an hour time spent in game.

I saw some videos and most of it looked like mostly flight staring at space wallpaper but then reddit users are saying its amazing and what not.

I am conflicted/

What can i realistically do in 1 hr?

[DudeBro69]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Un1k0rn:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von DudeBro69:

What is exploring?

I see this term pop up everywhere but what does it entail?

Pick a direction, and go. Scan planets, look at plants.

Personally I find it incredibly dull, but admittedly, it does lend itself to shorter sessions as you either find something interesting, or you don't and move on to the next system.

What does that mean?

Like i fly towards something for 15 minutes and then what happens during those 15 minutes?
Do i just wait for 15 minutes?

And then what happens after that?

Is there anything to play or is it just elaborately animated journeys to wallpaper browsing?

[Un1k0rn]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von DudeBro69:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Un1k0rn:

Pick a direction, and go. Scan planets, look at plants.

Personally I find it incredibly dull, but admittedly, it does lend itself to shorter sessions as you either find something interesting, or you don't and move on to the next system.

What does that mean?

Like i fly towards something for 15 minutes and then what happens?

Do i just wait for 15 minutes?

And then what happens after that?

When I say puck a direction, I mean on the galaxy map. Plot a route to some random star in whatever direction. A lot of people go to nebulae as they lack imagination or originality.

As you enter each system, you'll use your scanner to gather basic information of all bodies within it.

If you want more detailed information, you use your FSS (consult your control bindings to see what is bound to open this) to scan individual bodies in a more detailed manner. This can be done without moving from the entry point to the system. It's kinda' like a telescope.

Finally, if you want all information on a planet, you'll need to use a surface scanner, which is a module one must fit onto the ship as it is separate from the main scanner. You will need to actively fly to a planet to use this as it involves firing probes onto a planet. This will reveal information on plant life, geological features and any other surface presences on the planet.

If you don't bother with any surface scans, you can fully explore each system with the FSS within minutes or even seconds. Once you're happy that the system has been explored, you jump to the next in the route and repeat.

How much scanning you do in a system is entirely your choice to make.

[DudeBro69]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Un1k0rn:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von DudeBro69:

What does that mean?

Like i fly towards something for 15 minutes and then what happens?

Do i just wait for 15 minutes?

And then what happens after that?

When I say puck a direction, I mean on the galaxy map. Plot a route to some random star in whatever direction. A lot of people go to nebulae as they lack imagination or originality.

As you enter each system, you'll use your scanner to gather basic information of all bodies within it.

If you want more detailed information, you use your FSS (consult your control bindings to see what is bound to open this) to scan individual bodies in a more detailed manner. This can be done without moving from the entry point to the system. It's kinda' like a telescope.

Finally, if you want all information on a planet, you'll need to use a surface scanner, which is a module one must fit onto the ship as it is separate from the main scanner. You will need to actively fly to a planet to use this as it involves firing probes onto a planet. This will reveal information on plant life, geological features and any other surface presences on the planet.

If you don't bother with any surface scans, you can fully explore each system with the FSS within minutes or even seconds. Once you're happy that the system has been explored, you jump to the next in the route and repeat.

How much scanning you do in a system is entirely your choice to make.

So i scan the system.

What do i do with the scanned data?

Is it just long travel times mixed with scanning?

Sorry I'm just trying to understand what I am realistically getting into./

[Un1k0rn]

You can sell it for credits.

And the travel times depend entirely on what you do in any given system. If you only do a level 1 scan, you'll be there for as little as 30 seconds.

You only need to travel to planets if you want to do a surface scan.

If not, you needn't move away from the entry star at all.

[DudeBro69]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Un1k0rn:

You can sell it for credits.

And the travel times depend entirely on what you do in any given system. If you only do a level 1 scan, you'll be there for as little as 30 seconds.

You only need to travel to planets if you want to do a surface scan.

If not, you needn't move away from the entry star at all.

Ok.

Is it enough credits for a meaningful surprise or reward?

Coz the travel to scan sounds more work and less fun but if the rewards are worth it then the work-fun tradeoff could be good.

Or is it one of those games where you grind this repeatedly for days with minimal growth?

Also can this all be done in an hour?

Like if travel scan> get a good amount of money? etc

[frumple]

WHy would you fly for 15 minutes? It takes just a few to fly to most places, unless you plot a journey that involves many system jumps.


Elite has always been a deep and slower paced game. Progress is almost entirely in your head.
If you have little time to play, you won't enjoy it enough imo. It's not good for quick sessions.

[Sighman]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von DudeBro69:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Un1k0rn:

You can sell it for credits.

And the travel times depend entirely on what you do in any given system. If you only do a level 1 scan, you'll be there for as little as 30 seconds.

You only need to travel to planets if you want to do a surface scan.

If not, you needn't move away from the entry star at all.

Ok.

Is it enough credits for a meaningful surprise or reward?

Coz the travel to scan sounds more work and less fun but if the rewards are worth it then the work-fun tradeoff could be good.

Or is it one of those games where you grind this repeatedly for days with minimal growth?

Also can this all be done in an hour?

Like if travel scan> get a good amount of money? etc

If you find a good system with atmo planets and bio signals, you can spend several short sessions landing on those planets and cataloguing the plants.

[DudeBro69]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Sighman:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von DudeBro69:

Ok.

Is it enough credits for a meaningful surprise or reward?

Coz the travel to scan sounds more work and less fun but if the rewards are worth it then the work-fun tradeoff could be good.

Or is it one of those games where you grind this repeatedly for days with minimal growth?

Also can this all be done in an hour?

Like if travel scan> get a good amount of money? etc

If you find a good system with atmo planets and bio signals, you can spend several short sessions landing on those planets and cataloguing the plants.

Cataloguing plants?

What does that do?

Is it same gameplay style as scanning planets?

[Inscydeus]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von DudeBro69:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Sighman:

If you find a good system with atmo planets and bio signals, you can spend several short sessions landing on those planets and cataloguing the plants.

Cataloguing plants?

What does that do?

Is it same gameplay style as scanning planets?

It's an on foot extension of it, so you'll need the Odyssey expansion to do it. If you have Odyssey, you need to go to a station, disembark and buy an Artemis suit from Pioneer Supplies - it will cost you 150,000 credits.

Then, you FSS a system (or at least a few bodies), fly to a landable planet (they are identifiable on the system map by a kind of blue crescent around them), use the detailed surface scanner to map it. Once this is done and before exiting the scanner display, check in the top right to see if the planet has any biological signals and then select from the type of biological you want to gather using the filters (you will see blue and bluey greenish areas on the planet after you have probed it) - Stratum (particulary Stratum Tectonicas - found on high metal content worlds) is the most valuable, but all types pay decently.

Fly down to one of the bluey greenish areas and look for the biological when you get within about a kilometre or less from the surface. Once you spot some land close to them, disembark and get out the genetic sampler tool that comes with the suit, walk up to the biological and scan it with the sampler. You need to collect three scans of the same biological type consecutively -without collecting any other types in between - to complete the sample. Each consecutive scan needs to be from a plant that is a certain distance from the one before it (I think it's usually around 5-800m apart). Finally fly to a station with a Vista Genomics ((I think most have it) and talk to the NPC to sell it.

[kasato181]

the game is 90% flying in 1 line not matter what load you have in your ship, you dont see it anyway, only the npc picture is different, jumping from sun to sun trilion times, buy a new ship so you dont need tor jump trilion, but a milion, the damage your ship or your rifle do is "pew pew" dmg, proly like a sling...you can "shoot" in some space rock to get minerals and "trucking" around ,same as any other cargo, or you can explore the empty space where you find some other color planets...IF you are luckie you can enjoy the look of some nebula, and the only simulating thing here is time, cose you losing it anyway

[funkynutz]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von DudeBro69:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Un1k0rn:

You can sell it for credits.

And the travel times depend entirely on what you do in any given system. If you only do a level 1 scan, you'll be there for as little as 30 seconds.

You only need to travel to planets if you want to do a surface scan.

If not, you needn't move away from the entry star at all.

Ok.

Is it enough credits for a meaningful surprise or reward?

Coz the travel to scan sounds more work and less fun but if the rewards are worth it then the work-fun tradeoff could be good.

Or is it one of those games where you grind this repeatedly for days with minimal growth?

Also can this all be done in an hour?

Like if travel scan> get a good amount of money? etc

With exobiology, exploring is one of the easiest ways to be able to afford a Fleet Carrier. In less than a week if you're a little bit lucky... Less than 2 if you're not. At an hour a day, it's not going to be that fast... But feasibly in a couple of months.

I've made about 650-700 million in a single system before now (rare but it happens).

[Sighman]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von kasato181:

the game is 90% flying in 1 line not matter what load you have in your ship, you dont see it anyway, only the npc picture is different, jumping from sun to sun trilion times, buy a new ship so you dont need tor jump trilion, but a milion

Maybe that's why they added all the on-foot content 4 years ago, eh?

[Un1k0rn]

Just to add on why I said Exploration lends itself well to those with less time at hand.

It's because it's a set activity that doesn't really change all that much regardless of where one might be. And given many, many people have been doing nothing about exploration since day 1, (I'm sure at least a few remain who have simply never returned to a populated system after leaving them), it goes without saying that obviously it's spilt into many sessions.

The nice thing about exploring is that an hour is plenty of time. Planets aren't going anywhere, which means you aren't waiting for things that may simply not show up at all.

Rather bizarrely, it means that the activity generally associated with taking up a lot of time is actually the most friendly to those with not much of time to spare.

[Chaka (FR)]

On foot mission, and use a taxi if the place is not far from the star you hyperdrive.
Else equip a ship with SCO reactor FSD to travel far with less time.
Equip all your ships with auto-landing/supercruise to gain more time.
When you land on place, don't forget to send back your ship by security.

You can also make some bounty hunting in places where pirates are in ship or accept missions like that.
Rescue prisoners can be a good option too or retrieve black boxes.

[Planewalker]

It is possible to combine almost all activities if you find a system in the bubble (populated space) with many planets, moons, settlements and stations. (edit: and bio signals)


You can take a mission from a station to find an item on a planet, scan what you can, pick up the item (and loot), and then go back to the station, hand in the mission and sell the loot.


Two types of suits are needed for it: Artemis for scanning plants and Maverick for utility.
The Dominator suit is for combat only, and has no tools.

You will find the on foot equipment at the Pioneer vendor, and the missions from either npcs or the terminals on the concourse. Choose disembark from ship and find the elevator.

An SRV (Surface Recon Vehicle) hangar for your ship can be a good investment if you plan to do a lot of on foot missions as it can be used for both transport and combat.
-it will also allow you to change suits and equipment.


Edit2: if you only want to do ship missions, those can be picked up from the station menu when you are in the ship. It is not possible to take on foot missions from the ship.
(you can hand them in via the station menu after you finish them tho)


cheers