one playable ship

[the-danzorz]

Why do so many feel the need to whine and complain about the concept of only one flyable ship in XR?

By the looks of things it seems to spice up the game and not remove anything in the process. The drones are practically ships but better in many different ways. The only difference is that you don't die if its blown up and it's size. But the drones can actually do more then ships can, will probably handle the same way depending which type of drone you use.

So from a flying prospective it will probably feel the same minus a cockpit

From a fighting prospective, it will probably be more intense, as you have less space to mess about and more objectives to destroy. for example, if your goal is only to destroy the jump drive so the ship can't escape, then that will be the main objective while trying to avoid gun fire (which will probably be more important to dodge that).

From a tactics point of view, you have more you can do with drones then you can do with ships. For example, you can use a stealth drone to enter a station to knock out some key part of its functionality, so on and so forth.

If you slap a cockpit view in there, you will not be able to tell the difference probably from x2-x3 fighter ships and the drones. other then the stats and fighting will be slightly more complex (probably a good thing).

As for fighting with capital ships and flying them, i will be totally honest. they require no skill to fight with capital ships and its not fun after a few hours to fly and use one. You just sit there steering the ship and let the cannon nuke everything down, you spend most of the fight steering and it steers like a pack of cows.

You still experience that same feeling in XR, apart from you aren't steering.BUT it seems it is going to get more intense and real, It seems like it will be more like "ST Bridge Commander" (as you can give orders from the bridge) and that in my honest opinion was actually fun to play. You felt like a captain as you had a lot to sort out and do. You don't fly the ship, which i never did in BC, but you give key orders which greatly effect the battle. Which parts of the ship to take out, worrying about reinforcements, how long do you have to disable the ship before your position is over-run and you need to flee.

Fighting in the X games is all about stats, not so much about skill. As the strafe drive could cheat you out of a death and make an m3 beat a fully loaded m2 given time. XR fixes this it seems and introduces a more skillful game play factor, giving realism and a much more fun experience.

The current system in XR seems to goal and tailor itself more around this kind of thinking when it comes to fighting with capital ships and even drones, Hell even with the economy, with the ability to send drones into stations to disable them in some way. In-fact seeing as capital ships and stations will be developed modular, it is almost certain that you will need to focus on certain areas of the ships /stations in order to win, as well as defending key parts in your own ships and attestations.

Why would you be so focused on manually flying a ship, having 1 object your turrets need to target and no sense of a real battle. When you can experience something like this with XR. Where you need to really think hard and know the enemy and the situation and adjust your tactics in order to win.

Which brings me to the last key point, XR supports modding. If having more ships, simply because they are ships is that important to you. Then all you need to do is wait until the mod scene releases ships. Which they always do in bulk numbers. But with the current features in XR, you have much more to experience and the mods just bring even more do that. XR brings out such a good framework for molders to add even more too.

So i ask why complain and whine, as there doesn't seem to be a valid reason too. The experience is made more realistic and if anything does lack, the modding scene can cover easily given time.

But the truth is, none of us have played XR and we won't until 2012, so there is a lot more information that we can be provided until then which will make more sense. It seems to me most people complain because its not a ship, but a drone.

P.S

Most people didn't change ships that often, as they preferred one over the other for some reason. Also even if you fly them all, it gets boring really fast as all it really is, is basic stat changes and a different model.

Which drones are essentially anyway >_>

[Mightysword]

tell people they're whining right at the beginning doesn't really encourage anyone to read the rest of your post ... just saying.

[Gazz]

Why do so many feel the need to whine and complain about the concept of only one flyable ship in XR?

Because it eliminates a great deal of role-playing opportunities.
You can't very well consider yourself a fighter pilot if all you do is sit in Stinky's cockpit and take temporary control of a fighter drone.

Fleet admiral or Great Lord Emperor of your very own empire... in some kind of corvette? Laughable!

[brucewarren]

I thought it was only capitals we couldn't pilot.

I was under the impression you could fly everything else with the VR headset
not just the drones.

Confused now. If it is only drone and you command caps via NPCs then
have the mid-sized ships all gone ?

[chew-ie]

[..]

Fleet admiral or Great Lord Emperor of your very own empire... in some kind of corvette? Laughable!

But... but I was told it will be an awesome corvette!

[the-danzorz]

Why do so many feel the need to whine and complain about the concept of only one flyable ship in XR?

Because it eliminates a great deal of role-playing opportunities.
You can't very well consider yourself a fighter pilot if all you do is sit in Stinky's cockpit and take temporary control of a fighter drone.

Fleet admiral or Great Lord Emperor of your very own empire... in some kind of corvette? Laughable!

But does it?
No one has said you can't purchase fighter ships and build a fleet, also you don't feel like a fleet admiral at the front lines in an M3, or at the back giving orders in an M6. It seems a lot of people choose to be in an M6 as it gives a high amount of fire power with flexibility and space also.

Also what fleet admiral flies his own ship, can't he afford a pilot? captain curk very rarely pilots the enterprise?

Fleet admirals give orders, real tactics and that's what XR seems to offer more then the any previous X game.

If you RP a smuggler or something, then depending how much you can extend and modify your ship, that i can see being a problem. But the mod scene can fix that also.

[Mightysword]

Fleet admiral or Great Lord Emperor of your very own empire... in some kind of corvette? Laughable!

but it's not unheard of. Bosh's flagship is the frigate Iceni which is about the same size as a Deimos (corvette), he doesn't fly around in an Orion or Hecade. The CnC ships doesn't neccessary to be the one with highest raw power.

[brucewarren]

Technically a flagship is wherever vessel the admiral/ commander is operating from.

If he wants to put the flag on a rowboat then a flagship it becomes.
Whether any admiral would want to do such a thing is another matter.

[Gazz]

The CnC ships doesn't neccessary to be the one with highest raw power.

Technically, no, but it would be one with enough space for a flag bridge and accommodations for a staff.
So something corvette-sized is just ridiculous.

A cruiser or heavy cruiser... maaaybe.

If you RP a smuggler or something, then depending how much you can extend and modify your ship, that i can see being a problem. But the mod scene can fix that also.

Wishful thinking.

I specifically asked if the engine would support such a thing being modded and the answer was:
*tumbleweeds*

So you are welcome to imagine any particular degree of modability - it just won't be founded on any fact whatsoever.
We simply do not now if the engine is even capable of the player entity physically switching to another ship so that this other ship becomes "the" playership.

[X2-Illuminatus]

Why do so many feel the need to whine and complain about the concept of only one flyable ship in XR?

Because they like the feature in the current game and want it in the next game, as well. It's simple as that.

[dphantom]

I think its all a matter of semantics, it's exactly the same. Think of it this way: X Rebirth is exactly like any other X game where you can pilot any ship (except capital ones apparently), the only difference is they're now called drones and you fly them through VR which is like saying there no cockpits.
And like it was said, it is even more flexible, they can be of various sizes from what we were told, be modular, customizable and preform roles no other ship could.

I must say I would of course prefer being able to actually really pilot any ship like in previous games, but it does not bother me at all, I still think the game will be awesome.

[X2-Illuminatus]

the only difference is they're now called drones and you fly them through VR which is like saying there no cockpits.

Actually, I would say the main difference is that you cannot fly every ship you see in the universe. In X3:TC you see a ship and if you like its design or properties you "simply" board, cap or even buy it and fly it afterwards. That won't be possible anymore.

[Cycrow]

the only difference is they're now called drones and you fly them through VR which is like saying there no cockpits.

Actually, I would say the main difference is that you cannot fly every ship you see in the universe. In X3:TC you see a ship and if you like its design or properties you "simply" board, cap or even buy it and fly it afterwards. That won't be possible anymore.

except kha'ak capital ships of course

[the-danzorz]

Why do so many feel the need to whine and complain about the concept of only one flyable ship in XR?

Because they like the feature in the current game and want it in the next game, as well. It's simple as that.

Which doesn't seem to be removed in its entirety, drones are essentially fighter class ships. Just smaller and removes a little risk and adds more of an experience and tactics. You starter ship seems to be upgradable and as a result you should and probably will be able to turn it into a freighter. So the only class ship i can think of that is essnetionally not flyable is the "Motherships" m2/m1/m0 class ships.

But although they are not directly flyable manually, you can still fly them and dock and explore inside them. Making it more realistic from a commanders point of view.

The CnC ships doesn't neccessary to be the one with highest raw power.

Technically, no, but it would be one with enough space for a flag bridge and accommodations for a staff.
So something corvette-sized is just ridiculous.

A cruiser or heavy cruiser... maaaybe.

If you RP a smuggler or something, then depending how much you can extend and modify your ship, that i can see being a problem. But the mod scene can fix that also.

Wishful thinking.

I specifically asked if the engine would support such a thing being modded and the answer was:
*tumbleweeds*

So you are welcome to imagine any particular degree of modability - it just won't be founded on any fact whatsoever.
We simply do not now if the engine is even capable of the player entity physically switching to another ship so that this other ship becomes "the" playership.

I personally can't see why it won't be possible, looking back at the degree of mods released already for the X-Games. This stands well within the boundaries of the engine. It already supports a similar mechanic, with the drones and how they work.

It seems like it is changing that to support ships as well (i do understand the coding is not as simple as that, or egosoft would of supported it on release and said so sooner), even if that is the case that it doesn't work. You can still edit the rawr player ship and change it into something more suitable.

I think its all a matter of semantics, it's exactly the same. Think of it this way: X Rebirth is exactly like any other X game where you can pilot any ship (except capital ones apparently), the only difference is they're now called drones and you fly them through VR which is like saying there no cockpits.
And like it was said, it is even more flexible, they can be of various sizes from what we were told, be modular, customizable and preform roles no other ship could.

I must say I would of course prefer being able to actually really pilot any ship like in previous games, but it does not bother me at all, I still think the game will be awesome.

I agree

[Mightysword]

Or Xenon Ship ... which was I believe something originated from a mod. Or granted some extremely lucky player can get a K to bail or was it even possible. But flying a K or J used to be a bragging right like riding an Ash of J'laar in WoW ... until the cap system ruin it.

Frankly I wish for something extremely hard to aquire ship, the current capping method just feel like going shopping.

[Geek]

I think its all a matter of semantics, it's exactly the same. Think of it this way: X Rebirth is exactly like any other X game where you can pilot any ship (except capital ones apparently), the only difference is they're now called drones and you fly them through VR which is like saying there no cockpits.

This is not true. First, drones only replace fighters, so you will not be able to fly a corvette (other than the main ship), a frigate, a (true) carrier or a destroyer. That is quite a lot.
Then, remote control is not the same than flying, because you will not die if the drone is destroyed. Thus it removes the sense of danger. If you think it is worthless, try to play a Did game in TC.

[stabile007]

While I do enjoy being able to hop ship from ship you have a point in that I do tend to prefer a single ship as my "main" ship anyways. So if Egosoft is going to take that concept and make it an excellent ship and allow me to walk its halls and what not then I am happy that way. Since I can control my other ships as drones anyways that will keep me satisfied on that front.

However at this point information is scarce and there will be much speculation. I am sure as we get closer more finalized details will come out and most people will end up satisfied.

[BDK]

Can your ship be destroyed while you're playing -who cares if I die- with your drones? zz

[dphantom]

This is not true. First, drones only replace fighters, so you will not be able to fly a corvette (other than the main ship), a frigate, a (true) carrier or a destroyer. That is quite a lot.
Then, remote control is not the same than flying, because you will not die if the drone is destroyed. Thus it removes the sense of danger. If you think it is worthless, try to play a Did game in TC.

From what I read, I believe we still do not know what size the drones can be, there could be drones the same size as a corvette or bigger still. We tend to think of drones as small, but anything without a cockpit could technically be called a drone.
It is true the sense of danger is somewhat lost, but you still lose money/drones when they are destroyed (they could get quite expense with lots of upgrades), and the player ship can still be destroyed/captured.
New game-play mechanics may rise, like deploying drones to defend your own ship; and if your drone is destroyed you wont have to reload a save, or have some other hacky wacky game mechanic to "resurect" you, so one could eve say it is more immerse that dying and reloading or spawning at the closest station.

Also I can't remember ever reading (may have missed something) we cannot pilot any other ships, but nothings tells us yet other ships (except capital ones of course) can't be controlled via the same VR system we use for drones, we simply won't be in they're cockpit.

[Virtualaughing]

I dont understand why peoples wanna walk in a spaceship. I hope transporter device wil work inside the ship to change turret view n so if needed.
Another concept is the talking with NPCs. My bet the skip to next question/option will be my favorite button.