Elite: Dangerous (continued)

[Oldman]

Hi Folks

@ Moderators ...I didn't want to start a new topic whilst this was still on the board, so if you want to create a new one that's ok

Anyway, is anybody still playing this game?...if so what's your thoughts on the current state of development.
I'm still playing, enjoying it, the recent (ish) new features have added a bit more interest to the game for me, and the planet landing/planet features are quite good now.

Oldman

[brucewarren]

After all the hype about the mamba and the comparisons to the fer de lance I've decided to take another look at the latter.

When it first came out I ignored it. Back then if memory serves there were no class four gimballed weapons and I suck at using fixed guns.
For some reason I'd assumed it had the same 4 utility slots as the python rather than the six it actually has.

So I've decided to get one and try it out. It's going to take me a while to get her all engineered up though.

I tried out the new mining and it's certainly cool but I'm not really into mining. I blew up a few 'roids but I guess it's not for me.

I much prefer the new scanning system to the old. Using an ADS to insta honk the whole system never really felt like exploration to me. You could
use a smaller scanner and leave yourself something to do but then you risked missing stuff, especially in multi-star systems. I much prefer the new
way of doing USS's too. In the old days I'd sit in cruise at 0 throttle waiting for them to randomly show up. It felt wrong. The random nature of
them was far too obvious. Having them generate on arrival and not immediately next to the ships feels a lot better. It might still be random but
it's not throwing the dice roll in your face to the same degree. It just feels more realistic.

[Morkonan]

... It just feels more realistic.

Just a search for a knowledgeable opinion on ED: How many "fiddly bits" are in it?

I read a fair amount about people tweaking their "stuff" in game, mostly related to ships. But, are there lots of things to tweak? For instance, is the ship design/tweak/weapons/stuffs system geared up so that many different overall designs are actually viable and meaningful? Or, is most of it a railroad towards "Best Practices/Min-Max?"

I like Fiddly Bits. In X3, there were a bunch of fiddly bits. There were min/max issues, but one could make just about anything "work well" for some kind of useful purpose. And, there wasn't "one path to rule them all", either. One could play however one wished and even within certain flavors of play-throughs, one had a huge array of choices for fiddly bits.

IF I played ED and decided, for instance, to pursue a career in asteroid mining... forever. How much stuffs would I get to fiddle with? Would it end up being "you have to get this one type of ship in order to really do that well" and "after three upgrades to your limited selection of fiddly bits, you're basically done with asteroid mining?"

For instance, in X3TC, if one wished to be a "miner," one would start with a POS crappy ship with an ore collector. But, eventually, one could move up to having huge Mobile Mining Fleets with base ships, huge merchant ships ferrying ore, fleets protecting Mobile Mining Base Ships in dangerous sectors, centralized distribution trade posts stocked by highly trained pilots ferrying goods within your network and that your very experienced ore merchants used to supply themselves as they ferried ore to every industry in the galaxy... Every ship, every installation, customizable by you with your weapons of choice, systems, preferred tunings, trained pilots, support and logistics ships, etc..

That is a very deep level of "fiddly bits."

I don't expect ED to provide that, but I'd like to know if that sort of customization and an equitable amount of it focused on the player's ship is possible in ED. Or, would it eventually come down to "there are no further fiddly bits and no productive point being an asteroid miner after about ten hours of play and once you get xxx ship."

[Redvers Ganderpoke]

I haven't playec ED for nearly a year, the main reason is thst it srarted to feel like a job. Perhaps it doesn't suit how I want to play the game but wadn't really enjoying it. I have logged in to look at the new "exploration" enhancements and this has only enforced my current thinking.

[Oldman]

Hi Folks

I'm still playing Horizons, downloaded the most recent 'update' and I was wondering what your thoughts are concerning the recent upgrade.
I was a bit miffed there wasn't much in the way of new features and ships, but I gather the recent upgrade was more to do with long term bug fixes, though there were a few minor improvements to scanning planets etc.

I've also been playing in open mode, I usually play solo, but I have noticed there's not many players in open mode. Maybe I'm not in systems that have many open players but I've recently been through Sol and Shinrarta Dezra , I only saw two commanders in both systems!
Anyhow, just thought I'd revive this topic to see if any veteran 'X' players are still interested in Elite Dangerous/Horizons, and what their thoughts were.

Oldman

[Alee Enn]

Everyone's pretty much waiting for the "next big thing" in December. That's going to be the make-or-break point for Elite Dangerous.
Frontier are doing their usual silence, taking it for granted that the player base will hang on and come back later in the year.
But many think that if the "next big thing" isn't walking around*, as is rumoured, then that's it for Elite Dangerous, it'll be a matter of when, not if, Frontier declare it dead.

*= Players might accept atmospheric landings, but it's not what's been "leaked" and not what's expected.

[felter]

Don't expect too much from the game right now, as they are currently mainly just doing a massive bug repair and are not adding new content.

[Redvers Ganderpoke]

I've not played for over a year now. The straw that broke the camel's back was the update last year that introduced the new exploration method and all my voice attack controls didn't work anymore. I just couldn't be bothered any more. So, my Asp, "Casual Obscenity" is currently abandoned in unoccupied space some 10kly from earth.

[Chips]

Wait, it's nearly dead?! Or just it's a bit dull? You can still play online right? I bought it but never actually got around to playing it, but if it's soon to be kaput I should perhaps install and give it a go at least. For nostalgias sake. Also, before Mount and Blade 2:BannerLord is out in March

[Tycow]

Or just it's a bit dull?

It's always been a bit dull I'm afraid.

I paid £100 for the premium beta back in 2014, and it's one of my biggest gaming purchase regrets.

[Chips]

I paid £100 for the premium beta back in 2014, and it's one of my biggest gaming purchase regrets.

Ye gads, if you didn't enjoy it i have a distinct impression i'm not going to. Ah well, will still download/install it at some point - but perhaps not when time is a premium. Cheers!

[Aken_Bosch]

Dull? Yes, always been a bit like that as said above. Dead? Luckily far from that, though it's being definitely kept on a "holding pattern" these months, waiting for the next big thing to come up. Will it be space legs? Atmospheric planets? Pachinko lootboxes? Who knows!

As for me, still definitely invested in it. There is still lot of player organized gaming going on if you're more the social type and in the right mindset. I've been quite involved into racing for example (Buckyball and Speedbowling), there are the usual PvP, mining and trading groups, explorers, rescue services like the awesome Fuel Rats and Hull Seals, and so on....the game itself is pretty much an empty sandbox by itself, so it's easy to get immediately bored if you don't set yourself a scope and aren't keen into roleplaying it a bit.

Aside from all that, the universe and ships handling are so good that from time to time I just feel the urge to launch the game and randomly fly or drive around some planet with head tracking and full range headphones, just to soak up the scenery.

[brucewarren]

I still play from time to time.

I have an old python which was engineered old way. I've recently decided to re-engineer her the current way. There's no practical
reason to do this, but I feel the old girl deserves it.

[Tycow]

I paid £100 for the premium beta back in 2014, and it's one of my biggest gaming purchase regrets.

Ye gads, if you didn't enjoy it i have a distinct impression i'm not going to. Ah well, will still download/install it at some point - but perhaps not when time is a premium. Cheers!

Don't get me wrong, it had it's moments of enjoyment. Seeing some of the sights of the universe, the first time you dock in a space station, it's sound design... it's a shame they're few and far between. It really is SpaceTruck Simulator.

Oh, and it's UI is awful.

Give it a go and see what you think.

[Aken_Bosch]

I'd hardly call awful its UI, but I guess this comes down to tastes for the most part. I surely appreciate the way in which I can interact with pretty much any ship panel and function via just a hat stick and a couple buttons of the hotas. As for space trucking, even though I find it repetitive I admit it's a nice thing to do on its own, if you are in the mood for it of course. There are times I just love to do some simple "buy here, sell there" in my T-9, slowly bringing the lumbering beast out of dock on auto-launch, waiting to arrive at destination on assisted supercruise and then autodocking once arrived. You hardly do anything in the meantime aside from pointing to a destination and asking for a landing pad, but enjoying the sights and sounds in the meantime is enough of a pastime.

Then when you get bored of that, you can always go shoot someone, somewhere, some way.

[Tycow]

I'd hardly call awful its UI, but I guess this comes down to tastes for the most part. I surely appreciate the way in which I can interact with pretty much any ship panel and function via just a hat stick and a couple buttons of the hotas. As for space trucking, even though I find it repetitive I admit it's a nice thing to do on its own, if you are in the mood for it of course. There are times I just love to do some simple "buy here, sell there" in my T-9, slowly bringing the lumbering beast out of dock on auto-launch, waiting to arrive at destination on assisted supercruise and then autodocking once arrived. You hardly do anything in the meantime aside from pointing to a destination and asking for a landing pad, but enjoying the sights and sounds in the meantime is enough of a pastime.

Then when you get bored of that, you can always go shoot someone, somewhere, some way.

Maybe that was overly harsh. I didn't mind the ship UI when flying about, and operating the marketplace etc. but I seem to recall cursing the navigation UI. It's been a while since I've played.

[Aken_Bosch]

Oh right, I hear you on that one, it always had definite margins for improvements. Still waiting for a proper implementation of route plotting with intermediate navpoints...

[Ketraar]

Still waiting for a proper implementation of route plotting with intermediate navpoints...

I hope you have a comfortable chair then.

One of the most annoying things in Elite is the clunky Universe map, that would really do with a overhaul and include some proper route planing with waypoints and the like.

MFG

Ketraar

[Redvers Ganderpoke]

Then when you get bored of that, you can always go shoot someone, somewhere, some way.

I used to have a thrash about in a buggy! It did take 3 years to get bored including a trip to the other side of the galaxy. The "new" enhancements didn't do anything for me, the plot was pedestrian and it always felt like you were watching something rather than participating.

[felter]

If you want to know how things are going with Elite Dangerous, ObsidianAnt has just released a new video on it and it is looking like the game is going away anytime soon.