New interview

[Noimageavaiable]

I find it funny how I used to joke about Egosoft adding chest-high walls in space and here we have Bernd talking about all that hot corridor shooter action that most people who aren't hyperactive 12-year olds despise so much about the mainstream shooters and how they want to bring it into the main game. I used to think that this was all just the typical Egosoft incompetence that brought us such things as the M7M or the dysfunctional Terran economy and dismissed people saying it was dumbed down for the wider market, but here's the proof with Bernd pretty much admitting they are going for the ADD shooter crowd.

[Halconnen]

Also "Ego-shooter" is apparently German for "FPS". Seems appropriate somehow.

"Ego-shooter" means, a FPS done by Ego-soft.. right?

Speaking as a German, "Ego-shooter" is indeed used to refer to the FPS genre over here. The term has no direct relation to Egosoft's company name.

[Niemmy]

Driving an M3 across multiple sectors without SETA wasn't exactly an exciting time either. .

beg to differ.

slowly traversing the universe,checking stations for missions while smoking a spl....ciggy was great fun and a way to relax.

not to mention spotting a pirate or view etc,with X games freedom was immense.

I used to love taking a capital into Xenon space and laying waste to everything it was very exciting! So saying Cap ships are not fun is speaking through your bum!

[raya6789]

Driving an M3 across multiple sectors without SETA wasn't exactly an exciting time either. .

beg to differ.

slowly traversing the universe,checking stations for missions while smoking a spl....ciggy was great fun and a way to relax.

not to mention spotting a pirate or view etc,with X games freedom was immense.

I used to love taking a capital into Xenon space and laying waste to everything it was very exciting! So saying Cap ships are not fun is speaking through your bum!

For 95% of the playerbase they are no fun. It is no fun to jump into a sector, then afk for 15 minutes and realize your turrets shot down everything. Whats the fun in that?

The crazy maneuvers (what a word..) you do? Nah, caps need 20 minutes to turn around..

High speed chases? Yea with 50 m/s not going to happen.

[Noimageavaiable]

For 95% of the playerbase they are no fun.

A source for those numbers please, preferably as a link. Unless you pulled them out of your ass that is, in that case don't link to that.

[NimbleZA]

Ffs why do all my favourite games try to be mainstream crap?! I play games like the X series because I don't like the mainstream games cause they are boring generic bull where you do the same brain dead shit over and over again for 8 hours and the game ends! I bought the X games so that if I want to I drop my fighter in favour of a scout and go exploring for hours or hop in a trade ship and go haul cargo or hop in a capital, assemble a fleet and destroy an entire sector if I want! If I wanted mainstream i'd play cod or battlefield dammit

[A5PECT]

I used to love taking a capital into Xenon space and laying waste to everything it was very exciting! So saying Cap ships are not fun is speaking through your bum!

Right, but is it fun outside of that particular context i.e. capital-grade engagements?

How much of X3 was capital engagements, exactly?

Yes, it was fun, but in the scope of things its value only emerged in extremely specific circumstances (when there are lots and lots and lots of very very very powerful enemies to shoot at). X games are very wide in scope and gameplay extends far beyond that extremely limited context, however entertaining it was to you personally. It makes perfect sense if Egosoft wants to focus on small and medium-scale combat first, as that element is persistent throughout all of gameplay and affects a wider range of players, not just capital-grade fight junkies obsessing over the endgame.

I won't hesitate to admit I am one of them. Part of me enjoyed flying capital ships. But it was just a part. There were lots of other parts of me that enjoyed other parts of the game.

For Egosoft it's a matter of prioritization. But remember, just because a feature isn't at the very top of their list it doesn't mean they don't care about it at all.

It's also important to remember that capital ship combat was an extension of the fundamental combat mechanics of the game, and X Rebirth's focus is on fundamental mechanics.

[DaddyMonster]

Yeah, I think Bernd's made a judgement on how representative we are and - having studied his sales ledger in detail - decided "no all that much"...

Building a game is a process of making thousands of decisions, with a few really big ones in the mix, and he's made some that people here aren't going to like, he knows it and doesn't mind shaking things up. My personal view is that's what directors need to do sometimes and I feel he's unlikely to lose sight of what makes X great but I appreciate it will understandably concern / alienate some.

What this says about future dev work vis-a-vis this community is the question. I mean they'll obviously use us for balancing and bug fixing but I get the feeling that future development isn't going to be "can we RTS command from the bridge?" / "can we have more player ships?" / "can we FPS boarding & stations?" - with Ego replying "yes, eventually we do it all". Bernd clearly sees that approach as part of Ego's problem in the past - piling functionality that was never preplanned and building walls of complications between core fans and the wider gaming community. I think he's going to be spending a lot more time focusing on the burgeoning competition, their successes and mistakes, and professional reviews - rather than this forum. He'll be looking to refine the game, rather than just grow it. He might well do some of the things we ask for but his influences have clearly changed.

[Gupster]

Driving an M3 across multiple sectors without SETA wasn't exactly an exciting time either. .

beg to differ.

slowly traversing the universe,checking stations for missions while smoking a spl....ciggy was great fun and a way to relax.

not to mention spotting a pirate or view etc,with X games freedom was immense.

I used to love taking a capital into Xenon space and laying waste to everything it was very exciting! So saying Cap ships are not fun is speaking through your bum!

From what we have heard from Ego-soft you can still do exactly as you describe, the only difference is that you wont be in first person view sitting in the cockpit of the capital ship, but you can go WITH it either docked to it or go to the sector with it in the Skunk, so you will still see the huge battle between your cap ship and the enemy ship/ships.

[ThommoHawk]

For 95% of the playerbase they are no fun. ...snipsnipsnip...

^ This is what's that word again? rhymes with 'anchor' or something.... well raya6789, to be gentle and kind, I will only say that your PULLING that number out of [insert coin] only strengthens the points I was making with my previous observations.

[Stellen]

For 95% of the playerbase they are no fun. It is no fun to jump into a sector, then afk for 15 minutes and realize your turrets shot down everything. Whats the fun in that?

If you genuinely believe that, then you obviously haven't seen any of the "favourite ship" polls that have taken place in the past:

A quick google search came up with:

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=3420871
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=2902825
http://steamcommunity.com/app/2820/disc ... 285603110/

A lot of different people liked a lot of different ships, for a lot of different reasons, which is why so many people have concerns about only having access to one ship in X:R.

[SmartBase]

Bernd made a good point when he talked about pandering to the fanbase and how that created a wall around their games. The interview was pretty good.

[Shootist]

Bernd made a good point when he talked about pandering to the fanbase and how that created a wall around their games. The interview was pretty good.

And, as a long time fan with over 2200 hours in TC alone. I look forward to Rebirth as something new and old at the same time.

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

You know, there is a great difference between FAVORITE and MOST USED ship.

Yeah, everybody says that they love M5s, that they love their Novas or Falcons, but everybody actually flies a M2 or M7M. And Springblossoms.



For those capital ships, they said that there is no direct command, but we still have hope to get indirect command (using the radio comms to give orders to captain).

And my guess is that they will never bring capital ship steering back, but instead of that they will add commanding from main bridge.

[DaMuncha]

Blastclaw Protype FTW.

[Funktapus]

Yeah, everybody says that they love M5s, that they love their Novas or Falcons, but everybody actually flies a M2 or M7M. And Springblossoms.

Would be interesting to see what the average playtime is for a player. The ships you described take quite a bit of resources buy and equip, I doubt most players advance beyond an M6. Sure, the hardcore players have been there and back again... but Bernd has made it pretty clear hes not catering the game towards people who have sunk 200 hours into X3.

[SunofVich]

I kinda understand that flying a capital ship with a joystick is lame. But the fact that they actually had a bridge view with crew running about and then removed it is lame as well. Hopefully they just disconnected the programming hookups and modders can re-add it. And the point about joysticking a capital ship I would be fine with just telling the captain where I want the ship to go.

The alternative I suppose is getting the skunk as close to the hull near where the bridge is supposed to be. I wonder, do capital ships shields encapsulate the player's ship if it's close enough to them?

[wasdie]

You know, there is a great difference between FAVORITE and MOST USED ship.

Yeah, everybody says that they love M5s, that they love their Novas or Falcons, but everybody actually flies a M2 or M7M. And Springblossoms.



For those capital ships, they said that there is no direct command, but we still have hope to get indirect command (using the radio comms to give orders to captain).

And my guess is that they will never bring capital ship steering back, but instead of that they will add commanding from main bridge.

I really hope they add commanding from the main bridge. It would be excellent to have some sort of a "war room" connected to the bridge of a local sector map that you can control your fleets. That's the direction they should take. It's both unique and extremely flexible.

[Hemmingfish]

You know, there is a great difference between FAVORITE and MOST USED ship.

Yeah, everybody says that they love M5s, that they love their Novas or Falcons, but everybody actually flies a M2 or M7M. And Springblossoms.

I fly a Viper most of the time. Overgeneralising will destroy you like that. I know a handful of other people personally who spend much of their time in M3+ for the manoeuvrability and just jump in capital ships when they have to.

So not "everybody" flies M2 or M7M.

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

You know, there is a great difference between FAVORITE and MOST USED ship.

Yeah, everybody says that they love M5s, that they love their Novas or Falcons, but everybody actually flies a M2 or M7M. And Springblossoms.



For those capital ships, they said that there is no direct command, but we still have hope to get indirect command (using the radio comms to give orders to captain).

And my guess is that they will never bring capital ship steering back, but instead of that they will add commanding from main bridge.

I really hope they add commanding from the main bridge. It would be excellent to have some sort of a "war room" connected to the bridge of a local sector map that you can control your fleets. That's the direction they should take. It's both unique and extremely flexible.

Bernd said that they will add somekind of "fleet control interface", or "RTS-like fleet control interface" that can be used to control your ships in RTS style. That interface would be possible to access from Skunk and from the inside of capital ships too. Let´s just hope that they will add bridges too, sometime.