Is this not coming in Odyssey, or did you forget to write it in the devblog?

Just wondering because this is by far the best feature of the scanning changes, and alone awesome enough to rescue the whole thing.

Perfect usability improvement!

You can explode. That will lose the probes.

One wonders how many probes are lost via forgetfulness vs ship explosion. If most is via ship explosion, then this change will have little impact on the market.

What about the modules/ships reducing the CPU need for probe launchers, since the DS are removed, this bonus wont do any good ? Any plan on replacing t his bonus by a scan strengh bonus or speed or even range for example ?

I do not know whether you can lose them this way.

1) Launch, afk 2 hours, probe times out and disappears
2) Launch probes, Disconnect or logoff while there in space and not come back (also a possibility).
3) Cyno/Jump bridge?

You all might want to try those situations out, the one being most likely is disconnecting/logoff.

We have a dev blog coming out soon, but I will just write a quick reply here.

The two formation buttons in the scanner window are aimed more at the novice explorer. We know they are not the most 100% efficient formations you can make (because more than two efficient formations exist, for varying reasons at scanning things)

The interactivity with the formation can be tweaked with shift and alt.
Now, in Odyssey there are three key ways to launch probes.
By clicking Spread formation or Pinpoint formation buttons (which launch in the formation also, centered on the sun)
Or by clicking the module/probe launcher itself.

The probe launcher launches the probes in the last known position of the system, and in the last known formation you left them in. It will not suddenly switch to the Spread/Pinpoint, unless they were last in that position.

So for example.
If you want a specific formation, what you can do is this:

Say I just want four probes in a standard square formation, nothing special.
I will launch my probes.
Either de-activate or recall four.
(These two steps are far quicker, than simply hitting the module 4 times. And far less inconvenient)
Move my probes into formation
Scan something.

Now, I have an option. I can recall the four probes that are out. Jump system, and launch the four probes again. When I launch through the launcher, they will appear in the same formation they were just in. They will not suddenly snap to the spread or pinpoint.

Oh, and just as I wrote this up. http://community.eveonline.com/news/dev-blogs/team-super-friends-do-odyssey/

I just tested this on Sisi and it's not working as intended (or at least as you described).

I launched 8 probes...set them in a square formation all on the same plane (2D) and recalled them. Loaded the launcher again and launched probes. they all appeared in one point in space. They did not form in the square formation I used last.

Also lets say I manually do a 4 probe setup, recall it, place 8 probes in the launcher and click the launcher. Do I get 4 probes in space and 4 in the launcher?

No. You get 4 probes in your custom setup and 4 probes in a glob all in space at the same time.


-Confirming that custom formations break the return notification (it gets stuck on "returning")...have to keep inventory open to see when they are back.

No. You get 4 probes in your custom setup and 4 probes in a glob all in space at the same time.


-Confirming that custom formations break the return notification (it gets stuck on "returning")...have to keep inventory open to see when they are back.

Just tried this out Alvatore DiMarco and it works for me.
What I did:
Dropped 8 probes, arrange them in a square formation.
Scanned
Recalled Probes (tried both clicked the button, and also right clicking probes and chosing recall)
Launched the 8 probes again after they were all recalled.
They launched back into the square formation.

If you are experiencing the formation not saving, please file a bug report in game with your exact steps you're taking so I can take a look :)
(Hit F12, Report Bug, Fill in the details, its pretty quick)

Just tried this out Alvatore DiMarco and it works for me.
What I did:
Dropped 8 probes, arrange them in a square formation.
Scanned
Recalled Probes (tried both clicked the button, and also right clicking probes and chosing recall)
Launched the 8 probes again after they were all recalled.
They launched back into the square formation.

If you are experiencing the formation not saving, please file a bug report in game with your exact steps you're taking so I can take a look :)
(Hit F12, Report Bug, Fill in the details, its pretty quick)

It does save for me as well but I am also getting the same thing as Alvatore DiMarco, requires a session change to launched the saved formation. I LOVE YOU CCP <3

CCP just got to my bug report now.

Also, to launch all your probes in one spot just use the launcher button. It does still work, you know.

No, it doesn't. The probe formation still goes to the sun. The probes may physically be around your ship but as soon as you hit scan they all warp into their formation centered on the sun.

It remembers your last formation when launched through the launcher, but it remembers their positions in the system. The very first time you launch, they will all drop on your ship.

So activating the launcher directly should cause the initial formation to be around my ship, and not place the formation centered around the sun?

I'm not talking about the physical location of the probes, I mean the location of the probe formation as shown in the solar system map.

You think moving the formation on top of yourself is going to make difference?

It adds a few seconds to combat probing and doesn't solve the issue of on-grid probing, but adds tedium to normal use.

Auto-recall of probes has been unanimously rejected, will you consider leaving that out of Odyssey?

We have been discussing the point so far, and we are making one change.

• Deactivating probes will not cause them to auto-recall. (When jumping, or logging off etc)

We're still reading up and discussing other points however.

Yes it will, its a side effect and will only happen once as the formation and position is saved from then on.

To add a point here, having the formation centered on your ship with the changes we have made will make scanning other ships in your 150km vicinity just too easy.

For example, currently with the (old) system, you would have to click the launcher several times to launch all probes. If you were launching 8 probes, this would take 8 seconds. You would then have quickly form and resize the probes, maybe 2 seconds or less to the experienced prober.
After which you would analyze, taking between 4-6 seconds. So far we are at about 14 seconds for the quickest possible time (in theory)

With the new system, if the probes were to launch with the formation centered on your ship, it would take two clicks. Hit pinpoint to launch all 8, maybe reduce scan range and then hit analyze. (Takes about 1-2 seconds). Then you wait for the results at about 4+ seconds. So minimum results to get a hit on a ship in your vicinity is reduced from about 14 seconds, to about 4-6 seconds.

We chose not to go this route with the formations.

We have been discussing the point so far, and we are making one change.

• Deactivating probes will not cause them to auto-recall. (When jumping, or logging off etc)

We're still reading up and discussing other points however.

We have been discussing the point so far, and we are making one change.

• Deactivating probes will not cause them to auto-recall. (When jumping, or logging off etc)

We're still reading up and discussing other points however.