Elite Dangerous Catch-All

Ah! Gotcha. Yeah, the ask for a cutter screenshot came up multiple times on the stream. hah!

I was thinking of picking up the courier and ieagle just because. Does it make sense to buy a clipper when I have a well equipped python that I use for pretty much everything? I have the discount and need to decide this weekend obviously.

Clippers are faster and more maneuverable than the Python, but the shields aren't nearly as good. There are also a lot of complaints about where the hardpoints are located, especially when it comes to using fixed weapons.

On the plus side the Clipper looks and sounds amazing. I have a lot of fun flying it. PVE wise there's nothing I can't take down in a one on one fight so it makes a great bounty hunting ship.

Asterith wrote:

I was thinking of picking up the courier and ieagle just because. Does it make sense to buy a clipper when I have a well equipped python that I use for pretty much everything? I have the discount and need to decide this weekend obviously.

Pirates and PvPers still seem to use them even when they have the funds to step up to Pythons, FDLs, or Anacondas. Because they are fast (very fast) and big, they have an excellent ability to dictate whether or not a combat engagement occurs.

For PvE... well, that's a tougher call. In my book, the Python wins out just about every time despite the Clipper's advantages in speed and aesthetics.

That said, I did buy one on discount anyway, for sentimental reasons. However, it should be said that (at least until the new ships drop) I've pretty much got all my financial goals sorted; I own a combat Python, a trade Anaconda, an explorer Asp, and a variety of smaller ships just for sh*ts and giggles, and I have enough in the bank to feel okay buying something for no real reason on top of all that.

Orphu wrote:

Man, Horizons is lookin' good!

Also, that appears to be a Viper Mk IV.

That's pretty, but why is there mist in a crater on an airless world?

Hrdina wrote:

That's pretty, but why is there mist in a crater on an airless world?

Some sort of sublimating volatiles, or outgassing?

IMAGE(http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/3c/66/3c66537f1549b380802c5bf2fbd83b46.png?itok=SKz43ki0)

It (might) happen on the moon.

Orphu wrote:
Hrdina wrote:

That's pretty, but why is there mist in a crater on an airless world?

Some sort of sublimating volatiles, or outgassing?

IMAGE(http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/3c/66/3c66537f1549b380802c5bf2fbd83b46.png?itok=SKz43ki0)

It (might) happen on the moon.

Maybe, but there is a distinction between outgassing and what looks like a video peering into a foggy valley in the morning.

That said, in the name of a good game experience, I've been willing to accept all the overly-dense nebulae and the overly-dense asteroid belts/rings, so I'm sure I will enjoy seeing this as well. I am definitely looking forward to exploring in my SRV.

Note: One should never assume a software engineer knows much about planetary geology or atmospheres.

The video description is as follows:

Here's another unedited video taken from Elite Dangerous: Horizons. Again, many things here are unfinished which I won't call out. This shows another slow zoom, but this time showing the effect of volatiles forming as a mist in a deep crater on a cold, rocky, uninhabited world.

Volatiles outgassing, with the crater walls keeping them from dissipating, that's believable enough.

Note that even Pluto's atmosphere is probably in flux over its orbital period. It's likely that it only has the thin atmosphere that it does when it's closer to the Sun as it is now. Those gasses will freeze and fall to the surface in about 75-100 years when it's further away.

I can imagine there are many bodies like this that straddle the line between having at atmosphere and not.

Do GWJ folks ever group / wing up to play? I've been basing myself out of Tombaugh station but I'm not sure I've seen another real player in open play there.

Don't think we have too many playing in open, several play in the 'Veloxi' group though

I usually play in open. Shoot me a friend invite, or post your cmdr name.

Carlbear95 wrote:

I usually play in open. Shoot me a friend invite, or post your cmdr name.

It's CMDR Gorthag in game.

mguenther wrote:

Do GWJ folks ever group / wing up to play? I've been basing myself out of Tombaugh station but I'm not sure I've seen another real player in open play there.

While I might turn it down from time to time (I often play while also watching TV with my wife), I'm always happy to receive a wing request. Even though it usually means putting a more profitable endeavor on hold, flying together is so much fun that it doesn't really matter all that much.

Yeah, I'm usually solo or in the Veloxi Group. I've only winged up once, with Lorenzolio, at an HRES but it was later at night and I had to leave pretty early into our endeavors.

I'm usually happy to pair up if I get an invite but I play in such short bursts that I tend not to seek out friends myself, as I don't want to waste their time. That's the same reason I've been lagging on sending friend requests too, actually.

I think I'll be withdrawing from Powerplay today. It was fun, and it helped me get my Python, but it just isn't fun anymore. And with the nerfs to ALDs bounty payouts, it may not even be worth that anymore.

That being said, do we have any interest in creating an INARA wing?

They nerfed's ALD's bounty payouts? What the hell is the point then?

They're showing the new ships on the livestream. The videos will be up shortly after.

The Corvette's two huge hard points have crazy good positioning, and an awesome deployment animation.

They're teasing out the Cutter until the end, though.

Hello Corvette. Time to go grind out the Fed Ranks.

Asp Scout: Smaller and cheaper than the Explorer model, with two fewer small hard points. Basically, another entry level exploration ship, and it will be interesting to see just how it differentiates itself from the Diamondbacks.

Cobra Mk 4: AMAZING hardpoint layout, especially for gimbals. A bit slower and less agile than the original Cobra. (Note: this is the special ship only available to players who bought both the original Elite and the expansion.)

Viper Mk. 4: Heavier, more flexible, longer range Viper, also with an improved hard point layout. It also pays for these improvements with reduced speed and maneuverability characteristics. Looks really great, though.

Keelback: An armed and armored Type 6. Trades cargo space for offensive and defensive capability. Should make an EXCELLENT upgrade from the Cobra for mining.

Federal Corvette: A bit more combat focused than the Anaconda, adding speed and maneuverability in trade for cargo capacity. It also drops two large hard points and adds a second huge one compared to the Anaconda. For now, I'm not sure if that's a fair trade -- the huge weapon options kind of suck. However, they did confirm that more weapons are coming, although they couldn't promise 2.0 on that.

Imperial Cutter: Supposedly a bit more capable as a multi-class ship than the Corvette, but unclear from his comments vs the Anaconda. Anyway, it's faster than either of the other ships in the size class, but not as maneuverable as the Corvette, and maybe not even as much as the Anaconda, which would be a bit of a bummer. Also, I'm pretty sure the hard point layout he said was wrong -- he said 2 medium, 2 large, 1 huge, then said it was more firepower than the Anaconda, which that flat out wouldn't be. An early newsletter erroneously reported the Corvette as 2 medium, 3 large, and 2 huge, which was corrected in the following newsletter saying that information was the result of "Imperial spies," so I'm going to guess that's the actual hard point layout here.

EDIT: Sounds like the real layout is 4 medium, 2 large, 1 huge, which is much closer to what I'd call an upgrade from the Anaconda, depending on what the layout is like.

And here's the full stream. Q&A and ship reveals up to about minute 47, then discussion of the new materials and synthesis system after that. I had to tune out after the ship reveals, but it sounds like the first pieces of the loot and crafting system that will be fully fleshed out later in season 2.

Veloxi wrote:

They nerfed's ALD's bounty payouts? What the hell is the point then?

Hard to say. ALD bounty payouts are decreased slightly, because the way her bonuses work - I think there's an extra percentage bonus being added in by mistake. The percentage is supposed to be 20% for joining/hunting in her control/exploited systems, then at rank 3 that percentage goes up to 30, 40, or 50% depending on what her rank is, then 100% for rank 5. Currently, you can stack the 20% bonus for hunting in her space with the 30-40-50 bonus depending on her placement, and judging by the dev response I don't think that's intended.

She also gets that bonus added to combat zone payouts in her space, which doesn't seem to be intended - there's been some talk (at least on the Reddit/forums, can't find relevant links atm) about switching Hudson's bonuses to combat zones instead of bounty hunting and let ALD keep the bounty hunting bonuses. As it stands, Hudson's bonuses work the same as ALD's, so he's likely getting nerfed too.

PP was the least fun thing I've done in the game and nearly burnt me out on it entirely. Just didn't click with me and the grind is crazy.

God that Cobra has me so tingly...

I know a lot of them are pretty good ships, but I just find the Imperial ship designs so aesthetically blecch. That Corvette is hotness, but I don't know if I'll ever get into such massive class ships.

WipEout wrote:

I know a lot of them are pretty good ships, but I just find the Imperial ship designs so aesthetically blecch. That Corvette is hotness, but I don't know if I'll ever get into such massive class ships.

They definitely look better from some angles than from others -- even as a fan of the Imperial designs in general, the Cutter's front end looks a bit, well, bloated in that video. But from the sides and the back, holy hell does it hit the right buttons for me.

Of course, I think you're talking more about the general design aesthetics across all the Imperial ships, and I totally get where you're coming from; it's a very, very different style from everything else in the game, other than the Orca. The funny thing is that the Imperial ships feel like they come out of the Star Trek universe, and everything else feels more Star Wars -- but even though I generally prefer the Star Wars design style in the source material, I love Elite's version of Star Trek design.

As for the Cutter, I'm going to reserve judgement until I see it from from a few more angles. While it is a bit bloaty, the front end also has nice echos of NASA space shuttles, which is something also really love in the FDL.

EDIT: Also, I f*cking love the Imperial cockpit design, which is the part of the ship you see the most. I particularly like the Courier's interior, and wish like hell I had a good reason to fly one more often just so I could sit in there and enjoy the view:

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/dxbAwbt.png)

PSA: Don't go bounty hunting in the Compromised Nav Beacon in Mbere (closest system to Orcus and frequent target of bulletin board missions).

Not sure if it was a bug or I'm just horrible, but if you enter that nav beacon from the star side, you basically drop in within fuel scooping range so your heat just starts to go up and up and up. It just would not go down, even with hardpoints retracted. At one point I hit 400% heat, was able to supercruise out with about 10% hull and no canopy, only to blow up in supercruise because I was still too close to the star.

I randomly came across a visual artist's non-Elite-related suggestion that most spaceships look better from a distance or with a narrower field-of-view, because the perspective effects of up-close views tend to distort the lines of the ship.