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Big Wheels on Rovers A lot of times, I find myself trying to drive my rover, and getting stuck on really silly things... like a small bush with one small resource node on it. And I mean *completely* stuck; having to get out and dig the thing up in order to move. If you added in the ability to research Big Tires for the rovers that would lift it so it wasn't so low to the ground, most things could be much more easily driven over. This would add a cost of 1 Rubber to the medium and 2 Rubber to the large rover, and elevate them maybe an inch or so; just enough to lift them over obstacles like plants, rocks and resource bits sticking out of the ground. The increase wheel radius would also make it so the tires were a lot less likely to get suck in small crevices. Another option along these lines would be an upgrade that would add tank treads to the rovers, which would also be able to handle the terrain better. Maybe add the ability to crush obstacles to the treads as well, so it doubles as a trailblazing device. I also feel like this would make them a lot more fun to drive, since it would make the rovers feel like monster trucks. I don't know what changed in the rover suspension either, but they're super bouncy now. if I tap forward, it's like I jammed my foot down on the gas, then equally jammed my foot on the brakes a second later. This needs to be fixed in some fashion; either stiffening up the suspension some, or making the vehicle accelerate slower and stop slower to get rid of the jerky motions. Terrain Mapping Balloons This idea is to add a device that can be fixed to the ground at a certain point. It would be a base unit, a long tether, and a weather balloon-like aerial part with cameras. It's purpose would be to allow the astroneer to track all of their important markers via a holographic HUD. By pressing M, they would be able to call it up as an overlay that would show objects of interest within the balloon's line of sight. The objects would show as icons or letters associated with the thing in question around the astroneer, similar to how you can see directions around them when you hover the mouse over them. This would also show a basic distance in numbers from their current position. Things that would show are beacons, teleporters, vehicles, bases and dead bodies (aka your lost backpack). This would only work on the surface; it wouldn't be able to detect things underground. And it would have only a certain range, requiring the player to set up several across the planet to get complete coverage, but the distance would be appreciable. So for example, you set a beacon to the south of your base, then return, but it's out of your line of sight due to terrain or clouds. You press M, and to your south, either a 'B' for beacon, or a symbol representing a beacon appears, with the number '123' or something to show how far it is away. These devices would have a long range, but not be world encompassing. Maybe a max range of 500 each or more, depending on how large the planets are in general (I have no idea what units of measurement are used in the game for distance). If the player went outside the range of the balloon, the HUD would become unavailable. These objects would be able to be overlapped as well, so placing a second one on the outer edge of the first one's range would still detect some things in that first one's area. Beacon Icons/Skylights I mentioned this in other threads, but I think two ways to make beacons more useful would be if they had different icons along with colors. Icons for resources, pathing, dangerous areas and so on would make it easier to remember why they were placed. I also feel that the beacon's icon size could be larger, so as to be more easily read. The last idea would be a beacon upgrade. This would add a light pillar that you could also color to your beacon, similar to the light pillars thrown up by the alien teleporters. This would make them much easier to see (the colors would be visible to some extent, even during the day). The second effect of the skylight upgrade would be a kind of 'batsignal' type effect on the clouds overhead. One of the major weaknesses of beacons is they go above the clouds, rendering them invisible to people on the ground most of the time. This would have the beacons project their symbols on the bottoms of the clouds overhead, so even on cloudy days, they'd still be visible.

I have an idea for a Navigation Tool that I think could help with exploring and finding your bases if you get lost. So I attached my "sketch" if you can call it one, lol, of the Navigation Tool. It's hard to understand from the picture. Basically, the tool will list the planets you've landed on and show the location of your beacons. Simple, but a bonus feature to it I thought of was that it could tell when the sun will reach the side you're on.You would simply just rotate the planet and see which side is lit up. Now obviously it would be hard to render a full/half rendered planet defined by millions of polys, but you don't have to! You can you the low rendered view you see when you look at a planet from really far away! The only thing that would be rendered is the location of the beacon. I'm not sure how you'd go about doing that but since it'll mostly be acting as a 3D image and not an object maybe that thought process could help. In the picture you'll see there's a spot I picked out on the backpack where the Nav Tool would reside. I thought it would be an appropriate spot considering the size I made the tool. Also I don't exactly have the Astroneer style down nor am I a good artist, but I tried to make a concept art of what the front view of the Navigation Tool would look like. I based it off the style of the Research Catalog since it was the only thing using a UI on an object. Anyways I saw that you liked my post on Twitter about my previous idea so I hope you like this one! I'll see if I can come up with anything else! Thank you again for an amazing game from an amazing team!

My idea behind this is to have a tier system for better and better GPS systems for each planet that involve launching satellites on rockets like the trade platform and the exo request platform. Tier 1: 4,000 bytes, Aluminium, Glass. Medium. Gives you a very simple and laggy GPS system with a 2D plain showing beacons and colored areas to show the general area of resources on the surface. Tier 2: 6,000 Bytes, Titanium, Aluminium Alloy, Glass. Large. Gives you more detailed and smoother GPS system with a 2D plain that has contour lines to show land height and depth. It also shows symbols for players, vehicles and crashed ships/scrap. Tier 3: 8,000 Bytes, Steel, Titanium Alloy, silicone, Glass. Extra Large. Gives you a 3D live render of a small area on the planet. Viewing: Once a GPS rocket has been researched, you will obtain a small screen like the research catalog below the right utility slot that will show the higher tier GPS you have on the planet you are on. I believe that I have balanced this quite well, but if you disagree then tell me and if an agreement is made I can change it.

Players often get lost after traveling to the North or South pole, or away from their base if the beacon/waypoint is eclipsed by the horizon. This is made worse when player's compass begins to rotate wildly once you arrive at either pole. I would love an option to either enable a 3-axis compass in settings, or craft a compass upgrade. This would allow players to look at the orientation of all axis's and choose to run towards any of the 6 nodes on a 3-axis compass. The 3D hologram of the planet would track/orient itself as the player runs around the planet. This could replace the original compass' UI, or simply augment it. Additionally, any beacons, bases, or vehicles could be called out if the compass was large enough, or maybe if the player had the compass/orb in view for a couple seconds. Being able to always find home, or know if you're moving closer, or further away from the rover you just lost would be a huge help. I would prefer this feature as a settings option. I consider navigation to be an accessibility thing, and would be upset if it "not getting lost" was a late-game feature.

I played this game for long time ago and my only real complaint is the beacons cant be see very far away. I think home beacon at least should be seen no matter where your at on the planet. Regardless how many you have. Because its extremely frustrating when you get lost on a planet and circle around the planet a few times before you can find your base if you can. I play multiplayer with two other people and all three of has gotten lost. Be able to see beacons no matter where was apart of the game once upon a time why was it removed?

I always get lost on the planets, and I find it very confusing to navigate using the compass ... it's not just confusion (The Compass is broken) I've checked it right now, since I've been looking for a damn tractor for quite some time. What has been my test to see that the compass does not work well? I have reached a "Node" (Node - Surface elevation 4, Planet: Sylva) I have placed a few steps from its center, now I show the compass, what happens is that by moving between the cardinal points, the witch points north, in all of them. I would understand that the compass would turn around, at the poles, but mark the north in all directions. (The first thing would be to fix that!) --------------------------------------------------------------- My suggestions to navigate efficiently: 1º: Reappear the lights of the active nodes, since these are turned off when activating the node. (Goodbye to a reference point) 2º: It would be good to make a sonar, to detect the directions of the beacons. 3º: Making beacons emit a beam of light 4º: Lengthen the height of the "beacons" and make them visible through the clouds. (Since the latter are solid, and do not let see through them) 5º: Make a hologram of the planet, but without mapping, or elevations, a simple planet, that indicates the position in which we are currently, and possibly mark the nodes we have found, or objects such as: - Beacons - Rocket - Vehicles - Home? They are all non-intrusive examples, since I like to look for things myself, I do not need a detailed map, but I need to orient myself well (at least) Greetings to all those lost Astronauts.

When that whole NASA thing came out, we had a method of locating the satellites. How in the world the Devs have not utilized this for either home base relocation or body relocation or something else is beyond me. I don't know how much time I've wasted just trying to relocate my base or dead body. Use the same device that tracks the signal to at least give you an idea of which direction to go. The whole beacon in the sky thing is painfully limited.

I was thinking how great the paver is because it now enables us to mine resources with large rovers but then i thought that without tethers, we will surely get lost. I am suggesting some kind of "Glow Stick deployer" where you could stick it at the back of the rover, and it automatically deploys glow sticks every few meters. This could be interpreted in two ways imo: 1st version: T3, has an internal storage, uses power 1st version: T2, no internal storage, doesn't use power

Hi. This is a quite complex idea for some new technologies in the game and the way they can work and improve the experience. I understand that what I have written is enough for a whole new update, but why not? Satellites I believe satellites should have slots for sensors and for other devices, so they could be customised for our needs. They need to be powered by solar energy and have a built-in battery. Now, a perfectly working satellite with enough power would update sensor information every 5 minutes. But the further from the sun, this time would obviously be longer. Also, at night the satellite would not be able to use solar energy. So it would either stop working when the battery is drained, what would happen some time after dusk, or it would go into energy saving mode and only update data once per night. To receive any information from the satellite on the ground you would need: 1. Satellite control system/computer – some kind of big platform located in your base that would download satellite data every few minutes. This would for example show maps and location of objects on ground. This system would have a limit of satellites it can control. One computer should be able to control no more than 3-4 satellites. So if you want to launch more satellites, you have to have more computers controlling them and use more power. 2. Additional modules for this system/computer to be able to receive data specific to each type of sensor. 3. Personal computer/Tablet to receive the same data when you are away from your base, to see the map and your location, if you have all sensors and modules required. We could also decide that the data from space needs to get to your base first, in order to be decoded or merged from all different satellites. Then, to get to your personal computer/tablet it would have to be relayed using a network of communication/telemetry stations. Each one would transmit the data within a specific radius. The most logical would be to the horizon, like in reality. So you would need to place telemetry stations in some high places all around the planet to have global coverage for your personal computer. They should be two ways of launching a satellite: 1. A special rocket launched either from a launch pad or from a special platform. 2. By releasing the satellite from cargo space of a space shuttle. Once launched, satellites should be stationary on the orbit and cover only a part of the planet. So to cover more ground, you would need more satellites. There should be a way to manually place each satellite in the exact point you want it. Satellites can be available in 3 sizes: 1. Small: 1 medium sensor slot and one additional slot for another small module. 2. Medium: 2 medium sensor slots and two slots for small modules or one for a medium module. 3. Large: 3 medium sensor slots and two slots for medium modules or one large module. Sensors: 1. Camera – that would allow mapping from space. (Colours of the ground, vegetation and bigger objects only). Camera would update the map every few minutes. So if any player digs a hole or removes a forest, you would need to wait some time to see the change on the map. The camera would not be able to penetrate clouds, so with each map update some of the terrain would be covered by clouds. 2. LIDAR – that would allow for creating elevation map, but without colours. Lidar would give you a monochrome map with heights of the terrain. It would penetrate clouds. 3. Meteo/Infrared sensor – for providing information about weather events and average windspeed in different areas of the planet, so you know where to put wind turbines. It could also penetrate clouds. 4. Geological sensor – to map what resources are on the surface and in the ground (but not too deep. There should be a limit how deep can this sensor penetrate) 5. RADAR/radio wave receiver – for finding all kind of crashed spaceships, probes, etc and for showing location of all the beacons and vehicles. Other modules/devices for satellites: 1. Satnav module – that would provide LIVE tracking of your position, as long as there is enough power. If you have any kind of map available (from a camera or any other sensor), it would show your position on the map as well as show your track in the last 20 minutes (so you could go back the same way). If you have no mapping sensors available, it would only show your current position, your track and the position of your base. On distant planets and at night, when there is not enough solar power, the module can go into energy saving mode and instead of live tracking, it can provide your location in intervals. Also, to make the satnav system work, you need at least 3 satellites with the satnav module and they have to overlap. 2. Telemetry module – provided that you cannot directly receive satellite data onto the tablet and a network of telemetry towers is needed in the game... Then, a module like this would be installed on a satellite instead of a telemetry tower on the ground. It can actually be exactly the same telemetry module that you either install on a satellite or on a tower. 3. Battery – (small or medium) would make sure the satellite has enough power to operate constantly. It could be installed as a device or instead of a sensor. So during the day on planets distant from the sun, it would shorten the interval between map updates. During the night it would either extend the time the satellite operates before the battery is drained, or it would give and extra map update or more. 4. Telescope/Radio telescope – would allow for searching for other planetary systems to colonise and would generate research points when players are actively using it or when they find something. 5. Space lab (large module) – would work on different research projects and for each of them it would require players to send a rocket with specific resources, as well as plant seeds and other biological material. Because a lab module needs extra power, it would only work during the day. To extend the time of operation and speed up research, player would have to place a batteries in sensor slots. Drones I think they would also be a good tech in the game. The way I see them is: 1. Small drones – one small sensor, one other device (small) 2. Medium drones – two small sensors or one medium sensor and two small devices. 3. Large drones – four small sensors or two medium sensors, one medium device or two small. Possibility to convert it into a quadcopter for one astronaut, when a special seat installed in the device slot. The sensors for drones can be almost the same as for the satellites, but mostly smaller: 1. Camera – you would be able to fly into every hole and see if it is safe to walk in, provided it is not too dark or you have extra light installed on the drone. 2. Infrared – you would be able to see in the dark, but without colours. 3. LIDAR – elevation. 4. Geological – mapping resources 5. Radar/radio receiver – probes, spaceships, vehicles, beacons. 6. Research sample scanner – for scanning small research samples, mapping big samples and assessing their byte values. To fly a drone you can either: 1. Control it manually and then you see what the drone sees. 2. Control it using AI, for which you would need an AI/autopilot module installed in the drone and a drone control computer nearby. In general, drones would give you a chance to explore places and checking if they are safe before sending an astronaut. They would also provide updates to maps on the personal computer/tablet, but on a small, local scale, mostly on demand (for example in between satellite updates). However, they would be able to do it also automatically, if auto-piloted. Also, they would not have any problems with clouds as they would fly below them. They would be able to fly only within a specified range around the pilot or when auto-piloted, around a drone control computer (medium size device). This range could be extended by telemetry towers. But then the drone would need extra batteries to be able to safely go further and come back. Drones would have to be charged. There should be two ways of charging. 1. By plugging to a generator/power grid/rover. 2. By landing on a large drone landing pad. Small drones could start from ground or backpack; medium drones - from ground or vehicles; large drones - from ground or landing pad (which could also be attached to large rovers) Devices that could be installed on drones: 1. AI/autopilot – flies the drone automatically on pre-defined missions (a number of them, a queue of different missions or on loop until autopilot switched off) over pre-defined area. This module requires a drone control computer on the ground/rover and satnav coverage in the flight area. So until you have a working satnav system, you can only fly drones manually. 2. Light – for flying in the dark. 3. Horn – when the atmospheric conditions are bad and you want to signal other players. 4. Battery/small solar/generators – extend the flight time. 5. Tether placer – a device that would allow for placing tethers from the drone. 6. Small item dropping device (medium module) – would allow you to drop two small items where you want them. For example when you want to quickly deliver an oxygen filter, a battery or anything else to another player or when you want to place a beacon in a specific place you can only access by drone. 7. Seed planter – a device for planting seeds. I can see the use of it when the drone is auto-piloted. Players collect seeds and leave them on the drone landing pad and drones automatically plant them in a specific area. 8. Item collector (medium module) – can pick up one or two small items from the ground. The same module could be used on rovers to put item on trailers without the need of stopping and getting off. 9. Special devices for EXO missions – locating x-mass presents, etc.

Okay so, you're going out to find scrap and you've been travelling for some time now and have no clue where your base is.Here's my idea : Packable landing pad • Printed from: Medium Printer • Resource Cost: 1 Ceramic, 1 Aluminium, 1 copper • Byte Cost: 1,250 Description: A landing pad that can be packaged into a T2 package like the field shelter Packable, round trip spaceship • Printed from: Large Printer • Resource Cost: 3 Aluminium, 1 Ammonium • Byte Cost: 2,500 Description: This is a tiny spaceship with no space whatsoever, has an integrated solid fuel thruster, and the whole thing will become scrapable parts once it has done one round trip. It can only fly to landing bubbles of the planet it is already on, but can be packaged into a T2 package like the field shelter. It is basically a one-use small spaceship with the same cost of a small shuttle and a solid fuel thruster with a few drawbacks but can be packaged. Feel free to comment about what you consider fair byte and resource costs and what should be changed.

Navigation is a pet peeve of mine - I'd like to see a compass on the HUD permanently in view at the top of the screen as in other games - with p.o.i.'s marked at their appropriate bearings - at least - things you've already discovered, like gateways, base, beacons etc.Also - a map of some kind would be nice, to help orient yourself - one that expands as you uncover/discover your surroundings. A map that either automatically adds POI's or one where you can set markers for things of interest - like an iron deposit, or underground cave entrance of note etc. The compass you have at the moment is annoying, in that you can't see it while driving - meaning you have to stop every so often, get out of your buggy, click on your character, to see vaguely in which direction you're going - but by the time you've skirted untold holes, hills, forests and other obstacles, you can still get hopelessly lost, as the flag for your home base is only visible a certain distance - after that you have no idea - unless you know the area well. Excursions that go further away are always fraught with the danger of not finding back home. I can't say how many times I've fallen down a hole or died in a cave, with no way of ever finding back. All my gear/ore - lost.To aid this - some decent headlights / spotlights for the vehicles would be grand! Driving at night is suicidal, and the work lights are only so good.

At the moment, if I get lost, the search for my base can be described as agony.

Given that transport often falls underground, this is a very good idea. And in general, for navigation it is not bad.

At the moment, markers of beacons often overlap with clouds. Because of this, the last time I could not find a base for 2 hours.

It would be nice to add a map of the planet, for example, as a small module which, when installed on the ground, would project a holographic map of the planet.

Please bring vehicle beacons back. It's baffling why these were removed, but they make it significantly easier to find your rover again if you happen to get separated from it. Possibly due to bugs, as happened to me a few times. Die in the middle of nowhere, spawn back at base. Well crap, where's my rover? Too bad it doesn't have a built in beacon like it used to. Well, maybe it should. That was a good idea I wish you hadn't discarded for some reason.

I have an idea for a logical beacon system that is actually based off of something System Era has already done. When you first start off a game you are given an examinable Landing Pad as shown below: Then, when you go away, the text disappears but the icon remains as shown below: Every object with a tag has a beacon similar to this. It can be toggled by holding B while it is selected. This is also similar to the tags in No Man's Sky. My new system also allows for finding your base, even when halfway around the planet. Please let me know what you think.

One simple suggestion. Please add a map. So very easy to get lost....

Idea: 1. Make a mini map, BUT make Repeaters that must be places insight of you, and it insight of the base. Makes player climb Mountains to place these Repeaters. 1a) If it were me, I would just take your Asset for the Small Solar, and change out some color, and put a huge (8ft) antenna whip out the middle. Let it run on its own, no platform, no power, it just works. You could make it go out if there is a storm by it or by the player. OR 2. Or can you make the Beacons more customizable so I can drop "Bread Crumbs" as I walk away from the base. Like let the Player choose a Keyboard Letter, And more colors. Email me, hit me back if you need more info or help doing any of this (I'm a game developer).

As of now, the compass is difficult to use, making navigation difficult and leading to players, myself included, getting lost. The simplest way I see to resolve this situation is to add an option in the menu to toggle the compass on continuously, so that the player can be constantly aware of their bearing. It would also be helpful to make the compass visible while driving, such as by making it appear below the rovers as it does below the player. This seems to me as a relatively simple option to help players keep their bearings while exploring.

I like Astroneer's minimalist UI, and I have a suggestion for increasing beacon usefulness without adding to the existing UI paradigm. When you place a beacon, you assign it a name or number (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc). This is done by tabbing through with the use command (E or ALT-click on ground, etc.). When you've cycled through to the identifier you want, stop: That becomes the beacon's unique identifier. You could still use colors, or color combinations, but that might limit the number of beacons... which could be OK, if that's desired limitation. To use the beacons, you would need to research a receiver. It would be a dish antenna similar in size to the small solar and take one slot, and I think it should be expensive, at least 5k or more. This would be a tool for advanced exploration, after the basic base it built. Slot the receiver antenna on the top of your backpack or on a rover (this is perfect for the small rover, because it has one extra slot after power is attached). Use the X button to cycle through active identifiers, just like selecting when selecting one on a beacon. Once an active beacon identifier is selected, the receiver antenna will always point in its direction, indicating the most direct route to the selected beacon. This would be much more effective for navigation, but still retain an element of challenge, without cluttering up the UI. Some usage scenarios: Leave a beacon at the base, drive far away, drop another beacon. Then switch to the first beacon and find your way home, without fear of losing the location you were at. Another scenario: Drop a beacon on the equator, then traverse the circumference of the equator. When the antenna switches direction, you have just passed the exact opposite side of the sphere. This system would be much less effective underground. It would still work, but the confines of tunnels would limit its usefulness. However, there are still cases where it could be helpful. For instance, if you have travelled far underground, you could place a beacon, then go to the surface and use the location to dig a direct shortcut to the location. You could also use it to dig your way out of a deep place, or to find vehicles lost underground. A couple of other thoughts: In this system, I would rename the beacons, calling them transponders instead. Beacons would be limited to planet range only, so beacon identifiers (transponder codes) could be reused per planet. The base yurt could have an entry by default and planetary range. Other beacons could have less power, which could be increased by investing more research in antenna upgrades. If a map system was ever implemented, it could be based around transponder triangulation, where you couldn't mark a location unless the appropriate number of transponders was deployed. Something I haven't figure out yet: How would the antenna be animated if the beacon was directly below the antenna? Thoughts?

During my wander through planet terrain i was thinking about navigation. Than i read few posts regarding maps and GPS. Due to you are alone on distant planet there is no map and you are not able to develop global positioning system but you have simple beacons. The idea is to combine compass with beacons. Allow compass to show destination to beacons. Not all at the same time but to a group of "green beacons" (limit to one color at a time, be able to chose group in compass menu). This would allow to group your waypoints in player style (show your vehicles, home base or important places "red blinking beacons"). How to display all this information? Allow compass to display on ground (after hovering on player, similar to terrain deform tool) a bigger circle with colour arrows on edge. Add a fancy grid to compass circle. Allow to display a distance to beacon next to an arrow. Holding use key during cursor on player there could open a compass menu, allow to chose which color of beacons to display. I think this would be nice alternative to current simple compass but would not create easy to use maps and GPS systems.

Please, add MAP. So, it's too difficult to find out the main base of you drive a rover far away.

Hi Everyone, Any of you ever get frustrated by getting lost during exploration? Get turned around in that cave, come out a different entrance and never see your base again? Well suffer no further! Here is a [near] foolproof method of GLOBAL navigation, tried, tested and verified: The Beacon Meridian Method. Fig 1. The Beacon Meridian Method of global navigation. Step 1: Make beacons. For example, you will eventually need about 10-14 depending on terrain for Terran. Step 2: Drive North from your base, dropping beacons as you go (see Fig 1, second panel). Be sure to look over your shoulder and keep the last beacon in sight. Ideally, you should be able to approach one beacon and see the next on the horizon. Step 3: North Pole. Make a short column and place a beacon on top. Step 4: Drive back to base along your beacon meridian and continue South, dropping beacons as you go (see Fig 1, third panel). Step 5: South Pole. Make a short column and place a beacon on top. Sounds great, but... how do I use it to navigate??? ----> SOLUTION: If you get lost, just drive by dead-reckoning until you reach the beacon line. If you have no clue at all which way to go, drive West or East and you will encounter the beacon meridian (see Fig 1, fourth panel). Then head North or South. If you are really lost, you will end up at one of the poles before reaching your base (evidenced by the column, so don't bother looking for the next beacon) and simply have to turn around and go in the opposite direction, eventually reaching your base. Using this system, you can explore the entire planet and never worry about not making it back home. I hope you all find this useful. Cheers! -TSG