Elite: Dangerous looks better already!

[Alee Enn]

In any case, I've managed to work my way down to Sol region now (although I notice you need a permit to actually visit it...no idea how to get one of those!)

I'd have to look it up, but I thought everyone who was a kickstarter/Alpha/Beta backer had an automatic permit to visit Sol?
Don't ask me how new players get a permit to Sol, I have no idea.

[brucewarren]

I'm hoping they add passenger missions and the gear to transport them before too long.

It's not that I particularly like carting them around in luxury cabins so much as they were one of they few ways to get permits back in FE2.

Taking a delivery mission or a package to a system won't get you a permit at the moment which is annoying me a little. Along with Sol, you need permits for Alioth, Achenar, Van thingy[1] Roos 128, and Sirius.

Sol is nice looking and all, but not really a source of gear so you're not missing out that much. It's a tourist trap, not an industrial world. I'm guessing that Sirius would the place to go if I could get in there.

[1] I never get the name right. The Guardians of the Free Spirit seem to have engaged a Spin Doctor and changed their name but they still don't like consumer goods. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck ...

[pjknibbs]

OK, that's it. I'm done with this game. I was actually doing OK for a change; did a nice trade that earned some money, got some cartography stuff while doing a bulletin board mission, the usual sort of stuff. I then got a mission to return some tea to a station. I knew tea was for sale in Eta Cassiopiae, which was within one jump distance, so I went and fetched the tea.

When I got back to the station, the bulletin board mission had vanished. Checked my Transactions tab and the mission was now showing as "multiple delivery"--it had a note in it from someone unknown in Anlave system saying that I should deliver the tea to them instead and get paid more. Well, I couldn't deliver it to the original person for some reason, so I went ahead and jumped to Anlave, landed at Kobayashi City, and accepted the bulletin board message to give over the cargo...

"Cannot communicate with server to finalise transaction". I tried half a dozen times and got the same message each time. I'm just not going to bother with this any more, or ever again, for that matter, because every time it feels like I'm actually starting to have fun, the game turns round and kicks me in the teeth. Very, very disappointed.

[Nyax]

Why don't you just leave it a while and come back when it's actually been released? They're patching the game almost every other day so chances are problems like that won't last forever.

[Chips]

It isn't released yet pjk - unless the online aspect is the reason you're stopping play and not the game itself

If it's the lack of actual non-online playing then fair enough, it's unlikely to be changed any time (soon).

[pjknibbs]

Online is part of it--I originally pledged to support the game, then, when it looked like it would be multiplayer only, withdrew my pledge. It was only when they made assurance that yes, there would be a truly offline mode that I reinstated the pledge. I decided I would try out the gamma because of the assurances from Frontier Developments that there really wouldn't be a difference between online solo and offline solo, that it wouldn't need much bandwidth, etc, and the fact three out of four major issues I've had were due to online communications issues puts the lie to that--however, I'm really not sure I would keep playing it anyway, given that I really haven't been finding it much fun most of the time.

Honestly, if FD had produced a bug-free version of FFE with ED's graphics and supercruise system, I'd have been all over it!

[Memnoch]

So you found a bug perhaps? Did you ticket it so that they have at least a chance of fixing it? I have had that message a number of times in the past and you can try a few things such as switching your type of game e.g. from Solo Online to the All Group. Or completely closing down the game and restarting it.

You'll probably end up ticketing it though I expect. Although if you have given up this quickly its just as well you didn't play the game during Alpha.

[kurush]

e.g. by forcing you to sit through the bloody "let's turn your ship round now" animation every sodding time you take off.

Yeah, it is annoying. And I think the fanboy lemmings keep praising this crap for "immersion". My favorite trick now is to log off and then log back on immediately to skip all of this. Takes like 5 seconds but feels ridiculous.

The game seems kinda playable and they even managed to implement most of the features of FFE, but not all. But this online shit just messes things up. They likely blew half of the budget on it and now claim it is going to produce some "rich" gameplay for us. So far I don't see it materialize, the gameplay is fairly dull and comparable to the older games and their clones.

[pjknibbs]

Although if you have given up this quickly its just as well you didn't play the game during Alpha.

Quickly? I spent around 10-12 hours playing this game, and I think that's a reasonable amount of time to decide if it's for me or not? Like I said, even if I hadn't encountered these problems, I'm not sure I would have continued.

[Alee Enn]

Although if you have given up this quickly its just as well you didn't play the game during Alpha.

Oh boy, so true .... I remember the days (literally) of nothing but a spinning orange sidewinder.
Or asking for permission to dock and getting timed out, over and over and over ....

pjknibbs, I feel for you, I really do, but considering your connection with Egosoft, I really do think you should know what to expect.

@Kurush, yes I agree the docking sequence animation is annoying, I skipped it in FFE, and X series, and would love to skip it here too.

[felter]

It's not so much the launching that gets me, it's the outfitting. All I want to do is look and see what they have, and you have to go through the whole animation to find out. Then you have the map, it needs some work done on the route finding. Then there is the trade, why is that not directly linked to the map. Exploration needs some work done on it too, as right now it is next to impossible to find some of those elusive planets, moons and points of interest.

The game still needs quite a bit of work done on it, while it is not too buggy, the current content needs worked on, while it needs some more new content added. I don't think it is quite ready for release, but that seems to be the way of things right now.

[Ketraar]

pjknibbs, I feel for you, I really do, but considering your connection with Egosoft, I really do think you should know what to expect.

You should expect what he writes. Dont want to talk for PJK but this type of comment is offensive, assuming one's opinion is invalid just because he happens to help out sorting trolls in a forum is something that ticks me off badly. Implying he'd have a hidden agenda is stupid and again offensive, you should try address the issues raised not invalidating opinions by making absurd accusations. I advise the use of manners next time.

MFG

Ketraar

[Memnoch]

Quickly? I spent around 10-12 hours playing this game, and I think that's a reasonable amount of time to decide if it's for me or not? Like I said, even if I hadn't encountered these problems, I'm not sure I would have continued.

That's not a lot of time but I would agree that it should be enough to determine whether you are going to like the game. However I would urge you to take another look in a while. The thing you have to understand is that this game is, as far as I am concerned, still in open Beta. They can call it Gamma if they wish but that is where it is I think.

It is also not a complete game as yet. The "complete" Elite experience will come when you can land on planets, anywhere you like and not just at POI and also first person so you can wander around inside your own ship and stations.

Some will quote Rebirth as a reason not to do this. I would counter this with the suggestion that doing it badly is a reason not to do it and Egosoft have shown no talent in this arena at all. I'm sure Frontier can do it better.

[muppetts]

'It is also not a complete game as yet. The "complete" Elite experience will come when you can land on planets, anywhere you like and not just at POI and also first person so you can wander around inside your own ship and stations.'

If they actually do it, I doubt you would see a finished version in less than 24 months from now and that is if they have the money to do it.

[Alee Enn]

pjknibbs, I feel for you, I really do, but considering your connection with Egosoft, I really do think you should know what to expect.

You should expect what he writes. Dont want to talk for PJK but this type of comment is offensive, assuming one's opinion is invalid just because he happens to help out sorting trolls in a forum is something that ticks me off badly. Implying he'd have a hidden agenda is stupid and again offensive, you should try address the issues raised not invalidating opinions by making absurd accusations. I advise the use of manners next time.

MFG

Ketraar

Whoa, hang on a minute. You want to talk about manners? How about not putting words into my mouth and implying I'm saying something I am not.

For what it's worth, all I meant was given pjknibbs experience in the X series community, he should know what game developmnet is like, and thus my sympathy for him is dimished.

My comment was neither offensive or insulting, it's YOU who made it so.

[Nyax]

Exploration needs some work done on it too, as right now it is next to impossible to find some of those elusive planets, moons and points of interest.

That's an upgrade issue. There are three grades of discover scanner (the thing that finds planets/ stars/ asteroids etc) The basic model most ships come with can find things up to 500 Ls away. The next grade up will find things up to 1000 LS away and the top of the line model will find anything in the system no matter how far away it is. There's also a detailed surface scanner that increases how much info about each object you capture, and so ups the rewards you get for the survey.

Another thing that you might not know (I didn't until I researched it) The discovery scanner is not always active. You have to equip it as a weapon through the fire groups screen and then fire it (hold down the fire trigger until it charges) It will then find all the objects in it's range.

[SteveMill]

I sympathise with pj. They haven't got the outfitting supplies anywhere near right. Or the net code. But regarding cut scenes. This game plays in real time so it isn't possible to skip them.

But you should be able to look at a catalogue from the cockpit to check supplies rather than go through the animation.

Of course if they'd just made to single player game people wanted real time wouldn't be an issue.

[Memnoch]

Another thing that you might not know (I didn't until I researched it) The discovery scanner is not always active. You have to equip it as a weapon through the fire groups screen and then fire it (hold down the fire trigger until it charges) It will then find all the objects in it's range.

If you feel like taking a break from combat or trading, exploration can be a nice detour. The best possible situation though is to have a ship kitted out in such a way that you can do a bit of everything, or at the very least be able to defend your self.

[kurush]

This game plays in real time so it isn't possible to skip them.

As I mentioned earlier, it is not true. You can skip the entire launch cutscene plus whatever you do to leave the station by just logging out and back in. Takes about five seconds compared to a minute it takes to do it "properly". it is just bad design, although of course people will come up with some excuses for it. Hell, this entire game is built upon excuses why it hasn't been released like 15 years ago

[Bazza]

pjknibbs, I feel for you, I really do, but considering your connection with Egosoft, I really do think you should know what to expect.

You should expect what he writes. Dont want to talk for PJK but this type of comment is offensive, assuming one's opinion is invalid just because he happens to help out sorting trolls in a forum is something that ticks me off badly. Implying he'd have a hidden agenda is stupid and again offensive, you should try address the issues raised not invalidating opinions by making absurd accusations. I advise the use of manners next time.

MFG

Ketraar

The irony is strong with this one luke