Artisan Archive

I am with TK, I think surveying is just right, and I love the surveying game. I love when resources shift and you run around to see what's out there. I love finding that perfect little spot to drop a harvester.

I occasionally auto-sample, either because I've found something I really like but it's in town and I can't drop a harvester on it, or when I'm craft-grinding and want to make better use of my time.

I really really don't want them to make sampling and harvesting easier. I love being a virtual geologist, and I love that it gives me an incentive to explore. It's the part of the game I like best.

>1. What do you like about surveying?

>2. What do youdislike about surveying?

>3. What changes need to be made to make surveying more interesting, or why do you like it the way it is?

First, let me say that I liked surveying and sampling from the start. I hit survey IV before hitting anything else IV. This was, fortunately,long before those pop-ups wereput in, which I consider annoying at best. I never used macroes to sample, just hit the sample icon and went and watched a DVD, just coming back to restart the process as needed. I was fine with that. Thought it was pretty cool actually.

Mostly, I now survey to put up harvesters.Imostlyharvest floral food resources and, usually onlyones with verygood attributes.Most ofit I sell for credits. This is how I make extra cash. I don't like running missions very much but rather hunt when I'm not surveying or tending to my harvesters. If I need a small amount of some resources to make a fishing pole or something, I usually look for it on the bazaar rather than sample for it.

I used to try to survey and harvest on 2 or 3 planets, but it was too much. So now I only survey and harvest on my home planet. If nothing good is available, I hunt (or fish).

So to answer the questions:

1. I like wandering around the wilderness looking for a good resource to harvest. I like the money I make selling the resources as well as the people I've met asking for bulk quantities of stuff I hadput on the bazaar. Sticking to one planet and opening up the flora survey tool everyday, it is not too hard to see if anything new appeared (or anything old vanished) and then get a sample of it to see if it is any good (or run out to your harvester to redeed it).

2. I dislike having to sample resources one by oneand examine them for their attributes. This is slow and tedious andone reason I limit my surveying to one planet andjust floral. This can take some time if you haven't surveyed a planet for awhile and everything is new.

3.I'd like to see the following implemented. The first, 3a, is along the lines that Shadow-Light suggested, but just using the regular survey tool.

3a. When you open up a survey tool you see not only the names of the resources currently available on the planet, but also their attributes. Also, any resource on the planet that is changed since you last used the tool on the planet is flagged. You could then quickly see if you need to make a trip out to your harvestor to redeed it or, if there is a new resource available worth looking for a high concentration of to harvest. (Would also be nice if the information can be cut and pasted to aspeadsheet, or website,for future reference.) Perhaps the additional information would become available at the higher skill levels.

3b. I also like Shadow-Light's idea of long range but directional surveying. Having a choice of a wide short range beam or focused long range beam might make surveying more interesting and efficient.

3c. Remote Survey Stations. These would allow your survey tool to provide information as in 3a, but from another planet. You would place the station on another planet.It would use up a lot andhave a small maintenance fee. Then you could use your survey tools to monitor resources on that planet just as in 3a for the planet you are on.

For example: I'm currently on Corellia and I have placed a Remote Survey Station (RSS)on Naboo. Now when I open up any survey tool, I can select which planet I want information on, Corellia or Naboo. If I select Naboo, I get the information as descibed in 3a for Naboo even though I'm on Corellia at the time. If I had placed a second RSS on Lok, then my options would be Corellia (the planet I'm on), Naboo and Lok (the planets I have RSS's on. Sweet!!!!

(Of course, you'd still have to travel to the other planet to locate a concentration and place a harvestor, or redeed one, if you decided to do so.)

Great topic, I hope my comments have helped.

-Arrgagesh, Survivalist on Kettemore.

Things I think would make surveying more interesting are:

1) If the Surveying skill led into a Miner profession

2) First thing a resource gatherer does when they land on a planet, is usea survey tool and see all the specific resources on the whole planet.

The surveying "skill", is nowjust about finding the highest concentration of that specific resource.

I would change it so that survey toolsdon't show all the specific classes & types ofthe resources ona planet, that are not within it's range, butdoes showthe subclasses.

eg so JoeBloggsarrives in Theed looking for somepolysteel copper, he pulls out his mineral survey device, and rather thanseeing all the specificcopper classes & typeson the planet hecan onlydrilldown as far asMinerals-Metal-Non Ferrous-Copper. So he knows there's copper on the planet. Heheads out of Theed and surveys the area for Copper.The survey device picks upa type of copper, andshowsit as Minerals-Metal-Non Ferrous-Copper-Mythra Copper-Aceor. Not the type he wanted (buthe makes a note of it) andsurveys the area some more,and comes across another copper, which shows as Minerals-Metal-Non Ferrous-Copper-Polysteel Copper-Eslip. Presto.

This puts a bit more "skill" back into surveying.

3)When doing a survey, themaximum resource survey concentrationshown, should be linked to survey skill.

eg so for example take a 98% concentration of Eslip Polysteel Copper. Someone with Survey1 would survey this and see this as 60%, someone with Survey2 sees it as 70%,Survey3 85% and at Survey4 the actual 98%.

This means rich veins of resource (ie +85%),can only beseen by someone with Survey4. However anyone can still plant a harvester down and mine that 98% spot.

OK, this was a great thread, a lot of good ideas here.

Bianca Minola

I realize the week is over, but thought I'd add that if any changes are made, that xp should be given for simply surveying as well as sampling. That way people don't have to go through the sampling process to raise their survey skill if they don't want to.