You have to discover the map?

[Bobolove]

Whats this about? In every other civ, you go to space program and boom, entire map of the planet. Here with satelites, you landing on a planet with a big ass ship and still you dont see entire map?

I dont get it.

How hard is it to send a satelite around the planet and get the map?

 

[Haggbart]

Game mechanics trumps realism EVERY time. Enough said.

 

[Becephalus]

I am not sure game mechanics need a black map. I think they should have just gone with a fog of war. The black map is quite silly and is not crucial to gameplay especially since you see where people land.

 

[Lucius_]

In an interview, they said they did that, revealed the entire map from the start. It killed the sense of discovery and said the early game sucked because of it.

 

[Eji1700]

I'm fine with early game black map. You've got starting choices based on that idea(continent scanners), and it works well.

That said...is there really no "reveal the map" late game tech? I know i can start dropping satellites above my opponent, and that's fine, but if they aren't going to have a see everything tech, then at least give me a spy satellite which gives more vision and maybe increases spy attempts/intrigue and maybe even gives me some city info or something.

 

[Bobolove]

Is there a way to remove the blackness from game? Im fine with fog tho.

 

[Jacozilla]

Maybe you can't see the whole map as you land because in BE the colonists left with only the tech they had, and optical sat scans are blocked by the presumably exotic miasma laced atmosphere. Due to budget cuts before your colony ships launched, you had no robotic probes to drop in-atmosphere.

And emissions scans (IFR, xray, thermal, etc) are all blocked by the exotic planet's even more exotic particle field and magnetic field

The first class colony ships though had HBO, scanning probes, and a buffet reception when you landed.

 

[Tomice]

In an interview, they said they did that, revealed the entire map from the start. It killed the sense of discovery and said the early game sucked because of it.

This. I heard Lena Brenk say it.

 

[Bobolove]

Maybe you can't see the whole map as you land because in BE the colonists left with only the tech they had, and optical sat scans are blocked by the presumably exotic miasma laced atmosphere. Due to budget cuts before your colony ships launched, you had no robotic probes to drop in-atmosphere.

And emissions scans (IFR, xray, thermal, etc) are all blocked by the exotic planet's even more exotic particle field and magnetic field

The first class colony ships though had HBO, scanning probes, and a buffet reception when you landed.

I like how you use creative lore to make this make sence.

 

[Victus Mortuus]

Is there a tech in BE like Satellites in Civ 5? I haven't found it yet and I'd like to have the whole map discovered at some point.

 

[Halbbruder]

In an interview, they said they did that, revealed the entire map from the start. It killed the sense of discovery and said the early game sucked because of it.

This. Also lifeform scanner becomes useless along with the reveal shores spaceship part (forgot the name).

 

[Chaos Blade]

This. Also lifeform scanner becomes useless along with the reveal shores spaceship part (forgot the name).

They could have left it as an option like, you know the Unity Survey in SMAC? play tastes are different, after all... Hell, I love playing with unity survey on, it makes sense!

 

[Question]

Whats funny is that there is nearly no way to remove the map. You need to launch the deepspace telescope because normal satellites wont reveal the map...

 

[Victus Mortuus]

Whats funny is that there is nearly no way to remove the map. You need to launch the deepspace telescope because normal satellites wont reveal the map...

I don't know why they don't give you a tech that lets you put a satellite into a polar orbit to scan the map in its entirety, it takes 40 turns (?) and each turn you see a little bit more of the map.

Like the ISS tracker http://www.isstracker.com/

 

[Dellan]

Now that you said it...

But at least we have that bonus where you can see all the shores. I always choose it because I find it really helpful.

 

[Ryoga]

Now that you said it...

But at least we have that bonus where you can see all the shores. I always choose it because I find it really helpful.

Me too, even if I'm not an an archipelago map knowing where all the landmass is and where I am on the landmass is absolutely invaluable for early exploration.