Could bosco dig out the resonance crystals out?

[SGM]

Please, you already know where it is when you see the special terrain surronding it. But pinging it still just makes him light up

[JeanneOskoure]

+1

[RUCKUS RELOADED]

i dont think i'd be against such a change but i also think it'd be hard to balance
you would need to make the detection radius small enough that you'd need to know where the crystal is already, which would make such a feature redundant
if you made it too large you could just mark a vague 10m space for bosco to home in on the crystals for you and that would be kinda cheap

[JeanneOskoure]

Originally posted by kestrel:

i dont think i'd be against such a change but i also think it'd be hard to balance
you would need to make the detection radius small enough that you'd need to know where the crystal is already, which would make such a feature redundant
if you made it too large you could just mark a vague 10m space for bosco to home in on the crystals for you and that would be kinda cheap

I think extending it slightly beyond the white core of the crystal (where the scanner stops flickering and stays almost stable at full bar) would be a good range.

[LT2483]

Oh, I like this idea. Deep scan missions kinda screw over solo players with how long they take, so giving them some kind of tiny advantage by letting bosco detect and dig crystals out if directed close enough is a good idea.

[Blargo]

Originally posted by kestrel:

i dont think i'd be against such a change but i also think it'd be hard to balance
you would need to make the detection radius small enough that you'd need to know where the crystal is already, which would make such a feature redundant
if you made it too large you could just mark a vague 10m space for bosco to home in on the crystals for you and that would be kinda cheap

I could see it working if it was required for you to physically be a certain minimum distance away from the crystal before you can issue the command to Bosco.

I think that would make sense in-universe as well, since if you pinged any random surface some distance away where the crystal happens to be, your dwarf wouldn't know it, so they'd have no reason to command Bosco to mine what seems like nothing.
However, if you get close enough to a trigger one of the "I'm near a crystal" voice lines, then it would make sense for your dwarf to command Bosco to dig out the surface where the crystal is.

[Frisky]

Agreed, would make solo deep scan a bit better

[Tyyne]

Originally posted by JeanneOskoure:

Originally posted by kestrel:

i dont think i'd be against such a change but i also think it'd be hard to balance
you would need to make the detection radius small enough that you'd need to know where the crystal is already, which would make such a feature redundant
if you made it too large you could just mark a vague 10m space for bosco to home in on the crystals for you and that would be kinda cheap

I think extending it slightly beyond the white core of the crystal (where the scanner stops flickering and stays almost stable at full bar) would be a good range.

When the dwarves get close enough to say "it's near here" (or whatever they say), then you could just point Bosco to dig it out?

[vindicar]

I think Bosco should dig resonance crystal out only if you ping the actual white-ish 'soil' surrounding it, instead of the normal cave floor material. Then you'd still have to roughly find the spot yourself, but then you could delegate the boring part to Bosco.

[phenir]

Why? You still have to stick around to call the scanner and hook it up and everything.

[LT2483]

Originally posted by vindicar:

I think Bosco should dig resonance crystal out only if you ping the actual white-ish 'soil' surrounding it, instead of the normal cave floor material. Then you'd still have to roughly find the spot yourself, but then you could delegate the boring part to Bosco.

This would defeat the point. If you've found the "soil", you know exactly where the crystal is and can get to it in two pickaxe swings. Bosco having a detection range is the important part here.

Originally posted by phenir:

Why? You still have to stick around to call the scanner and hook it up and everything.

To reduce the time solo players have to spend tracking the crystals down once within the last few meters, to compensate the fact the search phase of the mission takes two to four times as long for solo players.

It's the reason bosco can help build pipes in refinery, and can help you dig out eggs and aquarqs from across the cave. He basically simulates a 2nd player's efficiency for objectives in mission types where that really matters. But that's currently missing for deep scans.

[vindicar]

Originally posted by LT2483:

This would defeat the point. If you've found the "soil", you know exactly where the crystal is and can get to it in two pickaxe swings. Bosco having a detection range is the important part here.

Nope, that's not true. The 'cocoon' around the crystal is wide enough that you can dig through it without as much as touching the crystal. In order to find it quickly you need to start digging at the very-very center, which is not easy to locate with the scanner we're given.
Once you've found the site in general, there is zero problems with finding an edge of the 'cocoon' - the boring part is digging out enough of it to figure out where the crystal is located relative to the edge you've found. That's where Bosco could help.

It's basically the same situation as with mineral chunks. You know one is somewhere near in that wall because you can see the marks on the wall, but you don't know where exactly it is. But Bosco does know, and will dig straight towards it. Why not use the same behaviour for the same problem?

[LT2483]

Originally posted by vindicar:

Originally posted by LT2483:

This would defeat the point. If you've found the "soil", you know exactly where the crystal is and can get to it in two pickaxe swings. Bosco having a detection range is the important part here.

Nope, that's not true. The 'cocoon' around the crystal is wide enough that you can dig through it without as much as touching the crystal. In order to find it quickly you need to start digging at the very-very center, which is not easy to locate with the scanner we're given.

Most people, given part of the edge of a moderately sized sphere, can point towards its approximate centre. I'm sorry you're not one of those people.

Besides, even if your assertion was true (which is is not), why not have the detection range? The point is the mission type taking too long for solo players, and having Bosco be able to dig at a range would be a slight solution to this that already has multiple precedents in the game.

[phenir]

Originally posted by LT2483:

Originally posted by phenir:

Why? You still have to stick around to call the scanner and hook it up and everything.

To reduce the time solo players have to spend tracking the crystals down once within the last few meters, to compensate the fact the search phase of the mission takes two to four times as long for solo players.

It's the reason bosco can help build pipes in refinery, and can help you dig out eggs and aquarqs from across the cave. He basically simulates a 2nd player's efficiency for objectives in mission types where that really matters. But that's currently missing for deep scans.

Bosco building pipes saves you minutes. You don't have to immediately go back to the pipe to finish up the job he started. He basically cuts out over half the time spent on the pipe, probably more like 70%, laying the pipe is just that much faster than building it and it can be done in tandem with him building.
Aquarqs and eggs aren't even comparable to resonance crystals since those can be in difficult to access locations and be difficult to retrieve if they fall in a bad spot. Resonance crystals are always in the floor and don't move.
Bosco digging out the resonance crystal saves you like 5 seconds maybe since you have to be right there anyway to interact with the crystal to summon the scanner, hook the scanner up to the crystal, and build the scanner.
I don't think it's an objectionable change, like if it was actually added it'd be whatever since it's just that insignificant. I just think it's weird that it'd be so bothersome that someone would request it. What are you going to do while bosco is digging?

[SGM]

Originally posted by kestrel:

i dont think i'd be against such a change but i also think it'd be hard to balance
you would need to make the detection radius small enough that you'd need to know where the crystal is already, which would make such a feature redundant
if you made it too large you could just mark a vague 10m space for bosco to home in on the crystals for you and that would be kinda cheap

There is a special resonance crystal terrain that looks distinct from normal terrain around it. Unlike jadiz or pearls, this is a different terrain, it shows as different terrain on the scanner and pinging it already has special voicelines. That's what I mean, you dig a little to find the resonance terrain and then ping it, sure it's not much. But definitely better if you want to do something or are dealing with a swarm. Better to be slightly "redundant" than nothing