I tried probing out a ship on the weekend on the test server after installing the latest patch (sorry, no pics). It was not easy.
First I tried to probe out one target only to have it disappear on me. I was quite confused and ended up looking for another target, but later on I remember about the double image you can get with three probes on a target and only covered one of the two locations. Doh.
Anyways, I searched for another target and found one. It too slipped from me at one point but I backtracked a probe and picked it up again. I was using Combat probes as they are the ones you are supposed to use even though according to my math they have the same strength at the same range as the Core probes but can't go to 0.25 AU and 40 points of strength. This is a problem as you will see in a bit.
As I narrowed down the target to about 50% signal strength I could see in the scan window it was a frigate. With four overlapping probes I could not get it to 100%. In fact, even with 5 probes at shortest ranges I could not resolve the position of that damn frigate. At this point I logged vowing to try again later.
I wondered if using the Core probes would have got that frig. If so, I wonder what use the Combat probes are besides a slightly faster warp speed.
Also, although finding Cosmic signatures and anomalies will be much easier I think that finding enemy ships is going to be near impossible unless they are AFK and not moving. I've read a dev post that suggests this is intended so that safe spots can feel a little safer instead of people warping to and fro multiple spots. But what I really suspect is going on here is setting of the stage for a nerf to cloaked ships sitting in space for hours and being undetectable. If safe spots are considerably safer for longer, then a penalty to cloaks to make them not last indefinitely or make them probe-able somehow could be feasible from a gameplay standpoint. All pure speculation of course.
Anyways, I will attempt to probe a ship again this week. This time with pictures. ;)
UPDATE: From the game development forum thread, the devs say:
- Core probes won't be able to detect ships (and drones I assume) hence hwy combat probes are needed
- Current scan duration improving skills/rigs/implants/ship bonuses will be switched to scan strength and vice versa since the 10 second base time is here to stay.
- Current strength improving stuff is not working on Sisi... hence why finding the frigate proved difficult.
I'll keep y'all posted.
Posts
Probably an issue of being between mini-patches and balancing.
ReplyDeleteI hope you post your feedback in the thread so the devs can see it. Wondering how much of a nerf this will be to us "aggressive salvagers".
ReplyDeleteI have been keeping an eye on the thread to make sure my issues and points are raised by others. So far I have not been disappointed.
ReplyDeleteCasiella: It is both a bane and a boon. Deadspace no longer affects probing ships. But, it is now harder to probe down said ships. Drones are basically unfindable now. Probing a ship is based on the ships sig radius and sensor strength. BC/BS should be findable with decent skills, but anything smaller is a pain in the butt.
ReplyDeleteAs someone for whom the SiSi download is not of interest, I thank you Kirith for doing the footwork and educating the rest of us. All these probing articles are of great interest to me. I'm glad to see it looks like my alt's perfect skills won't have been a waste of time to get.
ReplyDeleteThanks for keeping us updated mate!
ReplyDeleteI have been enjoying these and preparing for the expansion! Thanks.