Some more questions for Egosoft
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Some more questions for Egosoft
Bunch of very specific questions in regards of X4:
1) We saw that S and M ships dock at platform and player can get out of them directly onto that platform.
What about getting our L and XL ship docked at shipyard? Is there a door to some kind of dock? teleport to landing pad? Maybe player is carrier by small traffic taxi (kinda like space Uber).
2) Is there any functional difference between Super Highway and Trans Orbital Acelerator?
3) Can you boost between sectors (areas connected by Super Highways)?
4) What are the methods of intredicting/preventing ship boost? Can you throw ship out of boost, or only prevent boosting? does boosters are from enging or have separate surface element (like jumpdrive in XR)?
5) Are there some kind of non-lethal weapons to destroy surface elements (like Ion distruptor in X3)?
6) Can you order your NPC ships to Disarm/Disable target (while trying to avoid hull dammage)?
7) Can you give specific orders to capship turrets, or will they just auto-fire everything in range? Can you jump into the turret for direct control?
Will there some kind of logic excluson for turrets - like large turrets not targetting fighters, while small turrets prio fighters above bigger targets - I'm asking mainly because X-Rebirth Plasma/Jet that was IMBA OP omnipotent weapon that was totally not fun.
9) Have you decided on Anti-missile countermeasures? turrets point defence? flares/decoys? dedicated anti-missile weapons?
10) Will NPCs (like Pirates) be able to board, or boarding will be restricted to player-controlled ships?
11) Will we have some kind of Universe Trader logic of X3, or the auto trading will be limited to one system like in X-Rebirth?
12) Will we be able to deploy or construct static defences outside of station area? I mean some kind of small droppable setry guns, weapon platforms (like Targon Tracers from X-Rebirth), deployable minefields (e.g. cheap dumb mines with proximity fuse, more expensive mines with IFF fuse, so they won't blow-up the friendly freighter)
13) Will we see return of X3 Flak Array Artillery? I X-Rebirth railgun was also something worth bringing back.
14) In X-Rebirth one of customizable Skunk cokpits was the "VR cokpit" that replaced the glass cokpit with monitors that imitate windows. Will we see some ships using such cokpit/bridge? I mean:
- it looks cool
- you don't have to fit the ship interior so tightly to ship exterior
- it makes sence to put cokpit/bridge deep inside hull ,unless you want this:
https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/image ... 1280%2C717
1) We saw that S and M ships dock at platform and player can get out of them directly onto that platform.
What about getting our L and XL ship docked at shipyard? Is there a door to some kind of dock? teleport to landing pad? Maybe player is carrier by small traffic taxi (kinda like space Uber).
2) Is there any functional difference between Super Highway and Trans Orbital Acelerator?
3) Can you boost between sectors (areas connected by Super Highways)?
4) What are the methods of intredicting/preventing ship boost? Can you throw ship out of boost, or only prevent boosting? does boosters are from enging or have separate surface element (like jumpdrive in XR)?
5) Are there some kind of non-lethal weapons to destroy surface elements (like Ion distruptor in X3)?
6) Can you order your NPC ships to Disarm/Disable target (while trying to avoid hull dammage)?
7) Can you give specific orders to capship turrets, or will they just auto-fire everything in range? Can you jump into the turret for direct control?
Will there some kind of logic excluson for turrets - like large turrets not targetting fighters, while small turrets prio fighters above bigger targets - I'm asking mainly because X-Rebirth Plasma/Jet that was IMBA OP omnipotent weapon that was totally not fun.
9) Have you decided on Anti-missile countermeasures? turrets point defence? flares/decoys? dedicated anti-missile weapons?
10) Will NPCs (like Pirates) be able to board, or boarding will be restricted to player-controlled ships?
11) Will we have some kind of Universe Trader logic of X3, or the auto trading will be limited to one system like in X-Rebirth?
12) Will we be able to deploy or construct static defences outside of station area? I mean some kind of small droppable setry guns, weapon platforms (like Targon Tracers from X-Rebirth), deployable minefields (e.g. cheap dumb mines with proximity fuse, more expensive mines with IFF fuse, so they won't blow-up the friendly freighter)
13) Will we see return of X3 Flak Array Artillery? I X-Rebirth railgun was also something worth bringing back.
14) In X-Rebirth one of customizable Skunk cokpits was the "VR cokpit" that replaced the glass cokpit with monitors that imitate windows. Will we see some ships using such cokpit/bridge? I mean:
- it looks cool
- you don't have to fit the ship interior so tightly to ship exterior
- it makes sence to put cokpit/bridge deep inside hull ,unless you want this:
https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/image ... 1280%2C717
Re: Some more questions for Egosoft
Is it bad that I really kinda want to have one of my deaths in X4 be because I'm that guy running from the window?mr.WHO wrote:- it makes sence to put cokpit/bridge deep inside hull ,unless you want this:
https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/image ... 1280%2C717
- Général Grievous
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Re: Some more questions for Egosoft
It guess Battlestar Galactica HQ / command center really worth it.Solflame wrote:Is it bad that I really kinda want to have one of my deaths in X4 be because I'm that guy running from the window?mr.WHO wrote:- it makes sence to put cokpit/bridge deep inside hull ,unless you want this:
https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/image ... 1280%2C717
Il vaut mieux mobiliser son intelligence sur des conneries plutot que de mobiliser sa connerie sur des choses intelligentes...
- Vandragorax
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I hope the plasma/jet is still available, I love that thing in Rebirth, it made getting anywhere near those end-game capital ships with a lone fighter something you REALLY didn't wanna do I found myself using lots of other fun tactics to capture them like sending in waves of other fighters ahead of me as fodder, and using long-range torpedoes to take out those weapons specifically.
As for your other questions, I think Egosoft have sort-of answered some of them in other forum comments from what I can recall:
2/3) I believe highway is for very fast travel through the core of some sectors where you are able to join or leave at any point. The trans orbital accelerator will be to get from one sector to another and you can only go from one end to the other like a wormhole. I suspect it will be like XR where each sector is independent and can't be travelled between without using the accelerators, since they include different backdrops and zones, so the gates/accelerators act as a way to hide the loading of the next sector as you 'warp' in.
6/7) I believe they said we can't currently manually control turrets, but we can tell them what to target (hull or hardpoints). They will fire at everything in range if we tell them to fire at will or defend an area, or fire at one specific target if we tell them just to attack that. Not confirmed yet if we can give them specific targets like "Large ships/Small ships/missiles only" but due to point 9 below this is likely.
9) Current anti-missile is only turret point defence, but they were working on missile anti-missiles (like we had in X3 AP)
10) boarding will be player-only controlled
As for your other questions, I think Egosoft have sort-of answered some of them in other forum comments from what I can recall:
2/3) I believe highway is for very fast travel through the core of some sectors where you are able to join or leave at any point. The trans orbital accelerator will be to get from one sector to another and you can only go from one end to the other like a wormhole. I suspect it will be like XR where each sector is independent and can't be travelled between without using the accelerators, since they include different backdrops and zones, so the gates/accelerators act as a way to hide the loading of the next sector as you 'warp' in.
6/7) I believe they said we can't currently manually control turrets, but we can tell them what to target (hull or hardpoints). They will fire at everything in range if we tell them to fire at will or defend an area, or fire at one specific target if we tell them just to attack that. Not confirmed yet if we can give them specific targets like "Large ships/Small ships/missiles only" but due to point 9 below this is likely.
9) Current anti-missile is only turret point defence, but they were working on missile anti-missiles (like we had in X3 AP)
10) boarding will be player-only controlled
Admiral of the Fleet.
- Tenlar Scarflame
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There's a glimpse of a weapons list on one of the screenshots where a ship is being outfitted, and I believe I recall some of the weapons being "beam" format type things. I think there's "beam", "shard", "pulse", "plasma", and a couple others I can't recall, each further distinguished by original manufacturing species (like, there was a "Xenon Pulse MK1", "Argon Beam MK1", et cetera)
TLDR, not sure plasma jet SPECIFICALLY is returning, but some kind of related beam weapon is probably going to be available. ^^
TLDR, not sure plasma jet SPECIFICALLY is returning, but some kind of related beam weapon is probably going to be available. ^^
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- Earth Ultimatum IV.
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I wonder if there will be an option to turn off the walking into your chair cutscenes, as I will get bored of that pretty quickly. I'd be happy to go straight to the VR cockpit (and stay there for the entire game, us computer nerds know interacting with people is so over-rated!)Solflame wrote:Well, considering that you have to walk into a cockpit I don't see how they could unless they literally coded it to turn invisible when you sat down...
- Tenlar Scarflame
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Lol, what a time that was.Earth Ultimatum IV. wrote:Point #14: hey screw you, DON'T YOU DARE to take away my cockpits/bridges. Been waiting the entire X3 to have my cockpits and windows back. Don't even think about it
please
Reunion development: Hey guys... so, uh, there's no cockpits in any of these really slick looking screenshots... we DO have cockpits, though, right? And they're cool and modern?? Right???
Terran Conflict development: Hey, this looks really cool! Lots of stuff getting added that will really flesh out what you started with Reunion. I bet that means we get cockpits now! They'll be so cool! Right??
Albion Prelude development: Wow, so many features! This really is the pinnacle of what is possible with the engine you all made for X3. Good work, guys. Hey, all these fancy bells and whistles must certainly include cockpits this time! RIGHT???
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- Vandragorax
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Nobody said anything about "taking away" cockpits though... what was said in the OP was that he enjoyed the cockpit option which was essentially not a window, but an interior of the ship designed as a cockpit which, when you sat down in the chair, had all the screens light up and essentially 'pretend' that you were looking out into space via the screens.
I personally like that cockpit the most in X:R too, it felt super cool and futuristic, high-tech, and sensible (as has been stated, why put the pilot at the hull of the ship with just a pane of 'glass' protecting them from the outside? xD)
Also whilst playing, it wasn't any different from a 'standard' cockpit, it still felt the same. Just had that cool 'VR' style effect whenever you got in/out of the chair/room. I hope they do that again
I personally like that cockpit the most in X:R too, it felt super cool and futuristic, high-tech, and sensible (as has been stated, why put the pilot at the hull of the ship with just a pane of 'glass' protecting them from the outside? xD)
Also whilst playing, it wasn't any different from a 'standard' cockpit, it still felt the same. Just had that cool 'VR' style effect whenever you got in/out of the chair/room. I hope they do that again
Admiral of the Fleet.
My biggest take on cockpits is that they lack functionality. Back in the days of X2, it was cool that they displayed the weapon output, the seta charger, shields and hulls, but that was about it. All these information could be displayed by a single HUD, and that's what ES had in mind back in X3.
Today, while the cockpits are a necessity, they still lack the functionality a player would expect. But that comes because of higher expectations, and requires more manual gameplay elements, like landing gear switch, shield switch, etc. The question is how complicated do we want to get.
I'm for one, fine with how ES handles cockpits (that they mostly put it in for immersion instead of functionality). But for players with complicated flight setups might want to handle a ship more manually. For example, I always thought that it was a nice addition until X2, that you had to disable shields in order to pick up containers. It was sort of disappointing to see that you just had to fly into them at full speed in Reunion to pick them up.
Today, while the cockpits are a necessity, they still lack the functionality a player would expect. But that comes because of higher expectations, and requires more manual gameplay elements, like landing gear switch, shield switch, etc. The question is how complicated do we want to get.
I'm for one, fine with how ES handles cockpits (that they mostly put it in for immersion instead of functionality). But for players with complicated flight setups might want to handle a ship more manually. For example, I always thought that it was a nice addition until X2, that you had to disable shields in order to pick up containers. It was sort of disappointing to see that you just had to fly into them at full speed in Reunion to pick them up.
- Tenlar Scarflame
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Oh yeah, I don't expect cockpits to actually go away. Just remembering what a long road we took before we got them back.Vandragorax wrote:Nobody said anything about "taking away" cockpits though...
The "simpit" cockpit is one of my favorites as well for XR. Still did a good job of making sure you knew you were physically sitting inside a physical cockpit, but had all those sweet sweet sightlines ^^
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I'm on Twitch! 21:15 EST Sundays. Come watch me die a lot.
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- Vandragorax
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Without VR something is lost by having to click around on a dashboard or a giant ipad display (this is the future after all ) in order to operate the ship.repatomonor wrote: Today, while the cockpits are a necessity, they still lack the functionality a player would expect. But that comes because of higher expectations, and requires more manual gameplay elements, like landing gear switch, shield switch, etc. The question is how complicated do we want to get.
It IS definitely something that would be really immersive and interesting on VR though, so personally I'm all for cockpits being made more functional but only for a VR interface where we can physically move our hands around to interact.
Admiral of the Fleet.
I will be honest: I don't believe in VR. I see it as a fad that will slowly die a painful death. Not because it doesn't have potential and immersion that can take players into an awesome, new realm; but because as a 'not so hardcore gamer', I don't see myself ever investing in such expensive technology.Vandragorax wrote:Without VR something is lost by having to click around on a dashboard or a giant ipad display (this is the future after all ) in order to operate the ship.repatomonor wrote: Today, while the cockpits are a necessity, they still lack the functionality a player would expect. But that comes because of higher expectations, and requires more manual gameplay elements, like landing gear switch, shield switch, etc. The question is how complicated do we want to get.
It IS definitely something that would be really immersive and interesting on VR though, so personally I'm all for cockpits being made more functional but only for a VR interface where we can physically move our hands around to interact.
Make no mistake, I know I have criticised the cockpit+joystick immersion just a post ago, but VR takes gaming to a whole new level. And that level is pretty much out of bounds for someone, who just wants to start a game, play it for some hours and get back to life. This is what consoles get right, you sit in front of the television, put the disk in, and play the game. Nothing hard in them.
This is what Egosoft strived for lately- simplify all the menus and gameplay elements, so the game is available for a broader audience on EVERY level, not just the hardcore simulator veterans. This was why the reception for Reibrth was so poor, but also this is what we sort of need, while not actually needing it. There's a goldilock zone here that is really hard to reach, especially since every player/customer has a different opinion on things.
- Vandragorax
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I would have agreed with you a couple of years ago, but now VR is getting cheaper and more mass-market. This year alone has seen the release of a handful of new VR options to retail as manufacturers are finally surpassing the quality of the original Rift and Vive.
Prices are coming down and will continue dropping over the next couple of years as this year's models get updated with newer releases again, by which point I imagine they will be a lot more commonplace amongst 'casual' gaming households as the quality is now high enough that the latest generation of VR is much more accessible.
It just needs a couple more years to become the 'norm' that VR is supported out of the box by more games, as it can still be an unsupported mess of user hacks and tweaks to get it working correctly in a lot of cases
As for the issue of the X series complexity, I think you're right there is definitely a "sweet spot" whereby newer players can get stuck in and not feel overwhelmed, and hardcore simulator nuts can go crazy with all of their peripherals and macros etc.
I think Egosoft have been doing a great job in that regard though, their base games are always very enjoyable even putting small numbers of hours in, but they are easily playable for thousands of hours with people wanting to play every day. They also allow for enough third-party mod support so that veterans can add complexity to their game to any degree they wish, without it affecting players who don't want it.
Prices are coming down and will continue dropping over the next couple of years as this year's models get updated with newer releases again, by which point I imagine they will be a lot more commonplace amongst 'casual' gaming households as the quality is now high enough that the latest generation of VR is much more accessible.
It just needs a couple more years to become the 'norm' that VR is supported out of the box by more games, as it can still be an unsupported mess of user hacks and tweaks to get it working correctly in a lot of cases
As for the issue of the X series complexity, I think you're right there is definitely a "sweet spot" whereby newer players can get stuck in and not feel overwhelmed, and hardcore simulator nuts can go crazy with all of their peripherals and macros etc.
I think Egosoft have been doing a great job in that regard though, their base games are always very enjoyable even putting small numbers of hours in, but they are easily playable for thousands of hours with people wanting to play every day. They also allow for enough third-party mod support so that veterans can add complexity to their game to any degree they wish, without it affecting players who don't want it.
Admiral of the Fleet.
Honestly the biggest issue w/ VR right now is the fact that no one is driving the Vive Pro's ridiculous price down. Hoping the LG headset is still in development and will do that.
I mean, considering the cost of the computer necessary to run a game at VR quality, the VR equipment itself isn't that expensive relative to a lot of the stuff you've bought already (it's about the same as a 1070 if you're talking about the Vive), it's more that running a high-end gaming rig isn't cheap period. Adding a VR headset is the equivalent of adding a second graphics card or a 4k monitor.
That being said, even if we had VR I would mainly be using the HOTAS and Keyboard to control things unless I was walking around a station. Just because VR can be more realistic doesn't mean it has to be. Heck, just think about the reaction a lot of people had to the idea of walking around on stations period! Though I liked it a lot...
I mean, considering the cost of the computer necessary to run a game at VR quality, the VR equipment itself isn't that expensive relative to a lot of the stuff you've bought already (it's about the same as a 1070 if you're talking about the Vive), it's more that running a high-end gaming rig isn't cheap period. Adding a VR headset is the equivalent of adding a second graphics card or a 4k monitor.
That being said, even if we had VR I would mainly be using the HOTAS and Keyboard to control things unless I was walking around a station. Just because VR can be more realistic doesn't mean it has to be. Heck, just think about the reaction a lot of people had to the idea of walking around on stations period! Though I liked it a lot...
- spankahontis
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repatomonor wrote:I will be honest: I don't believe in VR. I see it as a fad that will slowly die a painful death. Not because it doesn't have potential and immersion that can take players into an awesome, new realm; but because as a 'not so hardcore gamer', I don't see myself ever investing in such expensive technology.Vandragorax wrote:Without VR something is lost by having to click around on a dashboard or a giant ipad display (this is the future after all ) in order to operate the ship.repatomonor wrote: Today, while the cockpits are a necessity, they still lack the functionality a player would expect. But that comes because of higher expectations, and requires more manual gameplay elements, like landing gear switch, shield switch, etc. The question is how complicated do we want to get.
It IS definitely something that would be really immersive and interesting on VR though, so personally I'm all for cockpits being made more functional but only for a VR interface where we can physically move our hands around to interact.
Make no mistake, I know I have criticised the cockpit+joystick immersion just a post ago, but VR takes gaming to a whole new level. And that level is pretty much out of bounds for someone, who just wants to start a game, play it for some hours and get back to life. This is what consoles get right, you sit in front of the television, put the disk in, and play the game. Nothing hard in them.
This is what Egosoft strived for lately- simplify all the menus and gameplay elements, so the game is available for a broader audience on EVERY level, not just the hardcore simulator veterans. This was why the reception for Reibrth was so poor, but also this is what we sort of need, while not actually needing it. There's a goldilock zone here that is really hard to reach, especially since every player/customer has a different opinion on things.
Have to disagree, VR is getting better, saw a particular one Microsoft is working on that's completely wireless.
It's still a small fortune to buy, but this will push down the prices of the current models to a great deal, only a small percentage of the gaming community has VR, so price is still an issue as well as availability of VR Friendly Titles.
It'll only get better in time and cheaper.
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My most annoying Bugs list 6.0 Beta 4 + [All DLC]
--------------------------------
Nvidium Worshop Animation Enlarge Broken
Building Modules causes low frame rate
Massive Framerate drops freezing game!
Save Corrupted Fixed the Crash!
My most annoying Bugs list 6.0 Beta 4 + [All DLC]
--------------------------------
Nvidium Worshop Animation Enlarge Broken
Building Modules causes low frame rate
Massive Framerate drops freezing game!
Save Corrupted Fixed the Crash!
My suspicion is that the current implementation of VR will be obsoleted by a better one, and the current equipment (and software) to implement it will end up as expensive white elephants.
VR in some form is the future. We just haven't gotten a look at its real face yet. It's probably too soon to try jumping on the current bandwagon, because the REAL bandwagon is very likely still a couple of years down the road.
VR in some form is the future. We just haven't gotten a look at its real face yet. It's probably too soon to try jumping on the current bandwagon, because the REAL bandwagon is very likely still a couple of years down the road.