Is the map kinda useless?

[Devil Dog]

Ok, tell me if I'm missing something, before I start hating on the way the map works. Because really, isn't the map something we rely on to get around.

1. When I ping a resource, say Bauxite, why do I have to keep opening the map for each location as it appears? Why doesn't the map show each new location as it is discovered?

Just seems like too many actions in a game that already requires too many actions.

2. Why can't I add way points or markers? So I see the Bauxite locations, why can't I add a point on the map, instead I have to drive as quick as possible in that direction, of course the generated icon disappears. Jump out, ping again, drive again, rinse and repeat until I get there. OMFG what a time sink!

Can we pls get a better system for navigating instead of this artificially generated frustration stuff?

[sansee]

1. The map isn't that big and you're supposed to ping until you get here, not continually hand-hold you to the node.

2. Use beacons.

But yes, there should be a way to (re)name your beacons.

[Devil Dog]

Yeah, you're right about it not hand holding cuz it sure doesn't do that!

Which is my point, the map is practically useless. The game is about advanced tech, but I gotta jump out of the truck every 100 yards to ping again, as if the node might of moved???

[∞]

You can add way points or markers. They are called beacons. You can rename those markers, beacons have an interactive menu for this. You can even change their displayed color.

[∞]

You are right though either pinging should permanently mark it on map portions that have been explored or the radar tower should have the additional purpose of keeping those permanently marked.

[Shane]

yes, not completely, but mostly yes it is...

[Devil Dog]

Originally posted by Unusual Porpoise:

You are right though either pinging should permanently mark it on map portions that have been explored or the radar tower should have the additional purpose of keeping those permanently marked.

Thx for reminding me about that tower. What is it good for again, aside from clearing fog of war.

[Pavlus]

Originally posted by Unusual Porpoise:

They are called beacons.

Well, they are not marks on the map, they are marks in the world, so you have to be phisycally present at the location to mark it. That is not how maps work.

Adding path with waypoints on the map to plan a route would be realy helpful.

[DrNewcenstein]

You cannot put a beacon on it until you get to it, that's the OP's point. To get to it, you have to ping it continuously. Apparently you're playing as a total moron who cannot do two or more simple things at once, like wear a gas mask while operating a vehicle, or put on a jet pack and a pair of blade runners while wearing a hazmat suit, or squeeze a trigger on a pinger while driving.

So you ping it and head for the blip. As you get closer, it's not that the resource has moved, it's that you're so far away initially that you cannot target the location accurately. If you hit it once and align it to a compass node, and head in what you perceive to be a straight line towards that node, you can be off by several hundred meters.
"An inch is as good as a mile", and when navigating long distances, 1 degree off course can equal several miles away from your intended destination.

So no, you cannot place a beacon on anything until you actually find it.

As for the radar tower, I was really hoping that would have been included with it, or at least an upgrade for it, or something that was unlocked in your scanner once you built the tower.

Then again I was also hoping the radio control unit was to help with vehicle automation, so you could remotely operate vehicles (basically, you switch to the vehicle view as if you were driving it, drive the vehicle somewhere, park it, then switch back to the actual player), so that you could ferry resources en masse to a new location. Without manually driving it there yourself. At all. Period. Ever. Even to set up an A.I. path.

[DrNewcenstein]

Originally posted by Devil Dog:

Originally posted by Unusual Porpoise:

You are right though either pinging should permanently mark it on map portions that have been explored or the radar tower should have the additional purpose of keeping those permanently marked.

Thx for reminding me about that tower. What is it good for again, aside from clearing fog of war.

It does help you locate water sources, as long as they're big. I suppose once you can read it well enough to decipher the elevations, you can see where you may end up driving off of a cliff rather than down a hill. Otherwise, the most you can do is pick landmarks, like the tall towers that have the multiple arches coming off them. Once you drop beacons near certain geographical features you've visited, you can use the map to judge topography and elevation, and know where the Cave Of Nope lets you out.

[Evilsod]

Jesus the way you guys talk about it, you'd think you're expected to ping every 5 seconds, or jump to hyperspace and being half a degree puts you 4 light years away.

Since this is related to the map, not the compass, are you capable of remembering things? I assume so. How about remembering the location of one thing on a map?

If you answered yes to both of those questions, then boy do I have some advice for you.

1. You scan the resource of your choosing and look at its location on the map by pressing Z after its pinged.
2. You take your chosen mode of transport and drive towards that marker on your compass.
3. Now here's where I will blow your mind. When it disappears, you open your map again briefly and remember where the icon was! You make sure you're still heading towards it and close your map.
4. Repeat step 3 until you get as close as you can.
5. Get out your vehicle or whatever and ping it again. That will also highlight if its multiple nodes, and if its actually in Line of Sight, it will give you a visual indicator too!

So there you have it! How to find resources on your map without having to ping every 5 seconds!

[Snip]

Originally posted by DrNewcenstein:

Apparently you're playing as a total moron who cannot do two or more simple things at once, like wear a gas mask while operating a vehicle, or put on a jet pack and a pair of blade runners while wearing a hazmat suit.

Devs did say that this is intended for now, till the game get more balanced.

[Meewec]

there's a map?

[Devil Dog]

Originally posted by Evilsod:

1. You scan the resource of your choosing and look at its location on the map by pressing Z after its pinged.
2. You take your chosen mode of transport and drive towards that marker on your compass.
3. Now here's where I will blow your mind. When it disappears, you open your map again briefly and remember where the icon was! You make sure you're still heading towards it and close your map.
4. Repeat step 3 until you get as close as you can.
5. Get out your vehicle or whatever and ping it again. That will also highlight if its multiple nodes, and if its actually in Line of Sight, it will give you a visual indicator too!

So there you have it! How to find resources on your map without having to ping every 5 seconds!

I appreciate all the 'tips' but again, these are in the game to artificially inflate frustration - there's no reason when you ping something, it doesn't stay on the map or at least give me the option to add some kinda marker.

1. Ping
2. Open map to see one node.
3. Close map to get in vehicle.
4. Open map to see another node.
5. Close map to drive.
6. Open map to see another node.
7. Wait.
8. No more nodes pinging after about 10 seconds - either far away or don't exist.
9. Drive in any of those directions. 100 yards pings disappear.
10. Get lost in dense trees.
11. Hop out repeat 1 - 8.

Getting to almost any mid to late game nodes requires multiple getting in/out of vehicle. Has nothing to do with only having 5 brain cells.

Again, they didn't add this because they thought it would be a cool innovative feature. They added it because they needed to artificially frustrate the player AKA make busy work otherwise you would get stuff done a lot more efficiently AKA get bored. Same nonsense that's in No Mans Sky.

[Stormfire962]

The map isn't useless. You just need to learn how the game works and use the gray matter between your ears.

[Evilsod]

Originally posted by Devil Dog:

I appreciate all the 'tips' but again, these are in the game to artificially inflate frustration - there's no reason when you ping something, it doesn't stay on the map or at least give me the option to add some kinda marker.

Ah, sarcastically refer to them as 'tips', then explains a scenario where you do everything totally wrong and those 'tips' would have solved everything.

As an FYI since I only found out recently (apparently it was changed from an earlier build), the scanner only shows the closest three nodes. How it interacts with multiple nodes in the same area I don't know because that seems very temperamental, I'm guessing it won't ping nodes that are too close based on distance from you or something.

On to your ridiculous scenario:
Points 2-8 are you being a drama queen and mean nothing.
Point 9 is where basically everything you just described as a 'tip' would have come in.
Point 10... well perhaps you shouldn't be driving in that area then? Not sure how your sense of direction matters when you have a compass and you're heading towards a location on a map.
Point 11 is you being as dense as that forest.

I'm not going to pretend it wouldn't be handy to have resources shown officially on the map once pinged, especially if you've built Miners on them, you could toggle them on/off quite easily to avoid clutter.
This really isn't the gigantic issue you're making it out to be.