Exploration & scanning

Subcomponent targeting is coming, but knowing where ship components and weak points are, such as uneven hull thickness, remains the better skill, and learning your own ship's weak spots gives pilots an advantage.

They say the shown ping was deliberately the strongest version and is still being balanced, with tunable parameters and possible low-emission suits, decoys or jammers as counters, and they don't want radar to trivialise PvP.

Zane Bien thinks map markers should be sortable through user folders, location hierarchy and tags, with the team saying they'll look into it, and Simon Bursey floating auto-filled deposit data as a possibility.

The artifacts are meant to sell the age of locations and build toward Pyro, like fossils or old coins, in varying condition; no archaeology gameplay is announced, with value left to players.

The plan is for ships to hide in gas clouds, but not yet; it depends on an upcoming rebalance of EM and IR signatures, ambient signatures, and a new cross-section signature.

Alien languages already appear on signage and in a book, and the team hopes learning them could offer optional rewards without penalizing others, but it is speculation and design hasn't been consulted.

Mineable scanning is currently locked to certain items, though some scanners may already be buyable for non-mining ships, which needs confirming; in future all ships might detect mineables with varying range.

Radar detects signatures within a range, ping multiplies that range and shows vague blobs, and scanning reads details of a targeted entity; scanners are not tied to the hull and will be swappable components.

The Phoenix will get a shielded cargo bay that makes scanning harder, while the Taurus gets a separate hidden compartment where the underside turret would be, though the speakers can't stop players from finding it.

A coordinate system is definitely wanted, but it's not designed yet: they're still deciding on origins, resetting per system, how to present unwieldy numbers, and where to show them.

Calix dislikes niche gameplay with no consequences elsewhere, so the research mechanic would link to exploration through samples or artifacts in distant regions that could decay from damage or time limits.

Scouting land is a multi-step process weighing location, terrain grade, weather, security and, usually most of all, subsurface contents, which may take considerable time and money to assess.

Their first focus is delivering what backers asked for, while the new tech opens many more possibilities, such as dynamic scanning and economies and large explorable planets, which they see as opportunity rather than just challenge.

The golf-swing scan is only a first-pass implementation; the intent is a radar that builds energy the longer it's held, widening what it finds but risking failure, so detection isn't a guaranteed one-press ping.

Stealth will be driven by equipment and ship traits (size, heat, power draw, hull plating) with trade-offs, while radar detects contacts and scanners get information, which items placed on cargo can slow.

They want oceans, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, trees and animals on planets, focused on exploration and procedural missions with players creating the story rather than a No Man's Sky-style living world.

Snub ships are meant for short recon and scramble support rather than long-range travel, and the Pisces is promised some interesting exploration-themed features despite having no quantum or jump.

Finding jump points will involve partly manual scanning, then flying a skill-based path through the jump point, which isn't fully prototyped yet, with the route recorded in the nav computer for repeat trips.

Chris Roberts says there will definitely be unique ships, weapons and gear not sold before release, and he wants to encourage exploration through rare items and location-specific shops.

Science isn't planned as a standalone career, with a science ship more about exploration and scanning, and while players might help introduce new technology longer term, it hasn't been figured out.

Personal servers won't be allowed to spoil the Persistent Universe's secrets, so discoveries will be found there first, but the final design of the update system isn't settled.