Elite Dangerous Catch-All

Gremlin wrote:

I assume that the cheap carriers are restricted to the Beta, though.

Yes of course. You get to play with it for a few days and then it's gone.

I bought one and parked it in the Orcus system. I tried trading some commodities to the carrier, with the intention of bringing a crapload of narcotics to another system, but couldn't get the cargo to leave my Anaconda to the carrier. Not sure what was going on there.

I should really plug my HOTAS back in and log on.

The control software for my CH Products Fighterstick didn't work with Windows 10, but poking around on the internet it looks like there's workarounds and a Windows update that helped.

lorenzolio wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

I assume that the cheap carriers are restricted to the Beta, though.

Yes of course. You get to play with it for a few days and then it's gone.

Party poopers

I see, that makes sense.

Gremlin wrote:

I should really plug my HOTAS back in and log on.

The control software for my CH Products Fighterstick didn't work with Windows 10, but poking around on the internet it looks like there's workarounds and a Windows update that helped.

I've never had any trouble using the CH Control Manager SW with Windows 10.

I'm old, so it is possible that I did have an issue when I first installed 10, but have already forgotten...

Space feet!
And Space Guns!

Your text to link here...

Officially announcement now.

https://www.elitedangerous.com/?utm_...

This is pretty cool, but gods would i prefer a massive rework and rebalance of the content we already have.

I literally have no idea what I am meant to understand from that trailer.

So is this an evolution of Elite: Dangerous? Or is it an extension, like Eve Online's Dust 514? (Whatever happened to that, by the way?)

I haven't played Elite in more than a year. The last thing I did was the 'Road to Riches', which delivered far less riches than I expected, and I haven't plugged in my HOTAS since.

I could be tempted back... if only I knew what I was being tempted back too.

I know that publishers love their cryptic trailers. But I'm not sure that Elite is a popular enough game to support such... opacity.

They have a habit of naming their “big” updates as though it’s a full expansion or spin-off, but this is just the long-awaited addition of being able to walk around outside your ship and on planets. They’ve been talking about it as a feature practically since the game was announced.

Haven't played in ages although I was still interested to see what the 2021 update would entail. That trailer is incredibly underwhelming.

Still gonna buy it.

I'll probably get it if it's $30 or less, any more then that and I might wait for a sale.

I want to want to get it, but we'll see.

I've actually been on Elite hiatus since late December so that I can play other stuff. I'm not really interested in the fleet carriers or in FPS combat. If there is some interesting SP gameplay with Space Legs I'm sure I'll jump in.

I honestly don't think that FD really know what they want to do with this capability yet. Based upon past performance, the answer will be "not much" but maybe they'll surprise me.

Hrdina wrote:

I want to want to get it, but we'll see.

I've actually been on Elite hiatus since late December so that I can play other stuff. I'm not really interested in the fleet carriers or in FPS combat. If there is some interesting SP gameplay with Space Legs I'm sure I'll jump in.

I honestly don't think that FD really know what they want to do with this capability yet. Based upon past performance, the answer will be "not much" but maybe they'll surprise me.

Grinding.

babakotia wrote:

Haven't played in ages although I was still interested to see what the 2021 update would entail. That trailer is incredibly underwhelming.

Yeah, it seems to think that getting out of your ship and walking around is intrinsically exciting, and I... don't find it so.

If I do get Odyssey, I figure I'll walk around each ship once to see what the inside is like (assuming they model the ship interiors) and then go back to flying a spaceship for a while. Much like I did with SRV's when Horizons came out.

Or maybe I'll finally give X4 a try instead? Though one of the things that's kept me from picking that one up is the concern that it'll make me spend time walking around in FPS mode when I want to be flying a ship and managing my commercial empire.

Quote is STILL not edit.

Hrdina wrote:

I honestly don't think that FD really know what they want to do with this capability yet.

I'd say that about all of Elite Dangerous at this point. We've got large blocks of systems that have been permit locked for years for future development, and they've so far done seemingly nothing with any of them. I mean, it's been nearly 4 years since players decoded that the Thargoid Probes send info back to Col 70 Sector FY-N C21-3, but that's still locked away and pretty much forgotten. So much time and effort to develop this puzzle, and just no continuation of it. It's just frustrating to see the potential in the game that's not being utilized.

I do wonder if they have some grand plan. And they are slowly releasing bits of it as they get finished. But the bits themselves are not inherently fun,well, some are.

maverickz wrote:

I do wonder if they have some grand plan. And they are slowly releasing bits of it as they get finished. But the bits themselves are not inherently fun,well, some are.

Given their past expansions, it would be incredibly charitable to say that had anything like a plan. For most of them, they put together a kernel of something new, then abandon it. Of all the major changes they added (forgive me if I've missed any):
* PowerPlay
* Wings
* CQC
* Planetary Landings
* SRV
* SLF
* Multi-Crew
* %#$^! Crafting
* Thargoids
* ARX
* Carriers

Which do you still use? Which do you think are interesting?

I did PP for a while, but decided that it didn't suit me. It seems like an entirely new system of lore overlaid on a completely different axis of lore. Plus, the new lore made zero sense.

SLF I used as a means to hire someone to provide me more guns. I flew the SLF a little, but not much.

Thargoids had their moments, but here is a case where FD's own interest seems to wax and wane. They're not really a threat to anyone unless you choose to engage them, or if they just happen to impact a station that you care about. Right now it's like the Thargoids called time out or something.

Crafting I used almost because I have to. Same is true for ARX, after a fashion. Despite all the complaining I'm doing here, I really love the base game and honestly got many hours from it. I don't mind throwing in a few bucks on cosmetics in order to pay for the server time, even though I resent having to buy company scrip to do it.

Wings/CQC/MC/carriers, not for me.

Planetary Landings and SRV are actually fun, mostly because I enjoy exploring. The missions associated with planetary bases were OK at best. Even here, though, I feel like FD got bored. Why did we never see new models of SRV beyond the Scarab?

Right now, any excitement/interest in Odyssey is entirely based upon my imagination of what FD might do with the game because the trailer said little beyond Space Legs and ground-based pew pew. If Odyssey involves an update to both the game engine and to the background sim, I'll be paying attention.

For background, all of the above comes from an old guy who played the original back in 1985 and much prefers SP gaming. YMMV.

PurEvil wrote:
Hrdina wrote:

I honestly don't think that FD really know what they want to do with this capability yet.

I'd say that about all of Elite Dangerous at this point. We've got large blocks of systems that have been permit locked for years for future development, and they've so far done seemingly nothing with any of them. I mean, it's been nearly 4 years since players decoded that the Thargoid Probes send info back to Col 70 Sector FY-N C21-3, but that's still locked away and pretty much forgotten. So much time and effort to develop this puzzle, and just no continuation of it. It's just frustrating to see the potential in the game that's not being utilized.

that's not true. they very effectively used those permit systems to alienate a significant portion of their player base not very long ago.

thrawn82 wrote:

that's not true. they very effectively used those permit systems to alienate a significant portion of their player base not very long ago.

I feel like I missed something. Which wouldn't be hard considering the last couple years of E:D time for me has been 2 weeks on, several months off... Or are you talking about the whole Gnosis fiasco? Because even that was back in 2018...

The only reason I'm getting back in a bit is because my coworker started playing so I've been showing her some of the neat things in the game. I'm trying to get my hands on a Thargoid probe because I never completed the map room thing in the Thargoid base and I know she'll get a kick out of it (she's coming in pretty much spoiler free). But holy sh*t is that getting frustrating... took me 10 minutes to get a sensor, and then I spent about 4 hours trying to get a probe. All to show her a pretty light show.

A this point I've clocked around 1050 hours in E:D. While I gripe about the game, I wholly admit I've gotten far more than money's worth out of it. I wouldn't have played this much if it was a bad game. But Hrdina has hit the nail on the head in terms of problems. There's an ocean of activities to do, but that ocean is only 2" deep. Every new thing in the game in the last few years has been really shallow. You mess with it for a bit, get bored, and move on to something else. Nothing gets integrated in long term.

Turns out this game is a lot more fun when I don't read other people's opinions.

PurEvil wrote:
thrawn82 wrote:

that's not true. they very effectively used those permit systems to alienate a significant portion of their player base not very long ago.

I feel like I missed something. Which wouldn't be hard considering the last couple years of E:D time for me has been 2 weeks on, several months off... Or are you talking about the whole Gnosis fiasco? Because even that was back in 2018...

The only reason I'm getting back in a bit is because my coworker started playing so I've been showing her some of the neat things in the game. I'm trying to get my hands on a Thargoid probe because I never completed the map room thing in the Thargoid base and I know she'll get a kick out of it (she's coming in pretty much spoiler free). But holy sh*t is that getting frustrating... took me 10 minutes to get a sensor, and then I spent about 4 hours trying to get a probe. All to show her a pretty light show.

A this point I've clocked around 1050 hours in E:D. While I gripe about the game, I wholly admit I've gotten far more than money's worth out of it. I wouldn't have played this much if it was a bad game. But Hrdina has hit the nail on the head in terms of problems. There's an ocean of activities to do, but that ocean is only 2" deep. Every new thing in the game in the last few years has been really shallow. You mess with it for a bit, get bored, and move on to something else. Nothing gets integrated in long term.

I am indeed talking about the whole Gnosis fiasco.

I kinda think elite is just dying a slow death, not because it isnt a good game, but because fdev just doesnt seem to be willing to overhaul it and is instead bolting on more stuff in hopes it will draw people in.
I kinda wish they would take the approach of digital extremes (warframe) another game that has notable balance problems. Despite balance issues and some dumb decisions to push out content before it was ready, they are quite reliable in overhauling whole systems when they have ideas on how to make them better. It doesn't always work out well, but at least they are giving it a shot regularly. Hell, the very fact that they can look at their game and recognize that it needs fixing is a breath of fresh air.
In the past 6 months DE has redone the defense model, the melee combat system, changed the way all damage types work and added an entire new gameplay type, all while putting out pretty much weekly bug fixes. Not all of those things worked as the community had hoped but imagine if fdev did even half of that with elite in a year!
As far as i know the teams are similarly sized. I'm sure there are important differences that affect this that i can't think of, but come on fdev!

maverickz wrote:

I do wonder if they have some grand plan. And they are slowly releasing bits of it as they get finished. But the bits themselves are not inherently fun,well, some are.

And here you get to the nub of the problem with Elite: Dangerous. It's brilliant from a technical point of view, but its just not fun (and I say that as someone who put months in to it).

Every activity you can do is like a real job, but without the elements that make real jobs satisfying (e.g. interacting with other people, seeing the difference that your work makes, social events, praise from colleagues and customers, etc.)

I wonder also whether this new 'space legs' feature is a response to Star Citizen, which at least promises to have more actual 'game' in it.

maverickz wrote:

Turns out this game is a lot more fun when I don't read other people's opinions.

Yeah. I learned early on that there's a "playing Elite" hobby and a "complaining about Elite" hobby, and the latter can be a lot more visible on the Internet. And now I fear that I may be slipping from one to the other, myself. :/

A big sandbox invites people to imagine more and more things to do in it, and from there you get lots of loud voices demanding different things. And Frontier doesn't have infinite resources. Plus, they have other, newer games that E:D has to share those finite resources with.

I think that you're right, but for the exactly wrong reason, misplacedbravado.

I can only speak for the base game. But though it appears to be a big sandbox, Elite: Dangerous isn't really. Yes, the game engine generates a huge play area, but the game itself offers only a limited number of things to actually do in it. Exploring. Fighting. Mining. Trading. And all of these are flying-based activities, linked together with lots of much less interesting flying.

The longest flight I've taken is around 50 minutes, but that felt like a very long time to doing next to nothing in a game. Apart from moving the HOTAS slightly from time to time. (I cannot imagine the tedium of the trip to Hutton Orbital, which I understand runs to around an hour and a half.)

I understand that the games are different, but I can't help comparing the ED sandbox with that of Red Dead Redemption 2, which offered a very wide range of different activities and - crucially - different mechanics.

One digression: will the implementation of the new 'space legs' require players to swap their HOTAS for a controller. I cannot imagine using a HOTAS to control a character...

With the release of fleet carriers this week, the "Deep Space Support Array" is prepping to send them out throughout the Galaxy.
Here's a link to the spreadsheet of where they sit now... many are still in the bubble preparing. Check the Currrent Location column.
https://bit.ly/dssanetwork

In other words, if you want to hitchhike to far reaches of the galaxy, now's the best opportunity!

Hrdina wrote:

Which do you still use? Which do you think are interesting?

My playtime in Elite has been in fits and starts. I take long breaks where I don't play it but then come back and play it for weeks on end again. This has added up to over 1,100 hours. I think I've covered most of the different play styles in that time (yes, even Power Play for a while). This last run I decided I'd try long-distance tourism. Here's a story.
Flying my freshly painted lime green Orca into Asvinici, I picked up two first class passenger missions. The passengers were overheard saying "Wow, this green Orca has got to be one of the top 1% of liners out there!" These tourists wanted to go pretty far... the furthest of the two mission was about 21,000 ly out, and would take me closer than I've ever been to the galaxy center.
First class passengers going thousands of light years pay top dollar. But did you know that first class passenger compartments are pretty heavy?! My jump range ended up being only 45 ly and that is with the help of a guardian FSD booster. I had about 3.5 weeks of real time to do the round trip... so that should still be no problem, right? Even if I only play a couple times a week, right?
The trip out was pretty fun. I had brought an SRV just to tool around on the planets for my own entertainment, not because I needed it for the tourists.
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/54Xif8R.jpg)
I found a fair number of neutron stars and one black hole to put my name on as first-to-find. Speaking of black holes did you know that if you are facing a black hole and you throttle down to zero (while still in supercruise) and then just noodle about in your system map for a few minutes -- that's not really safe? After a few minutes of not paying attention I dropped out of supercruise with "Emergency stop-Too close!". It gave me a bit of a fright because the entire screen was gravity distorted to the point that I couldn't really tell which way to steer away from the hole. Anyway after reading about it later I was in no real danger.
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/lrCM0UG.jpg)
Exploring is relaxing if you don't have a schedule to keep but when I finally got to the second/furthest tourist beacon the return trip became a bit stressful because the mission time limit had less than 1.5 weeks left. I really had to shift into "if there aint an earth-like planet in this system I'm only staying for as long as it takes to scoop fuel" mode... and had to do that for about three consecutive play sessions to get back to the bubble fast. In other words the return trip was not as fun. By this point my paint job was starting to show the effects of all those neutron FSD boosts.
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/Epk5Lep.jpg)
So I get within 100 jumps of home, I still have five days on the mission timer, and so I think I'm doing ok...I'm gonna make it! The next day happens to be June 9th when the Fleet Carrier update drops. Next time I log on I see this:
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/WfPbWVP.png)
My mostly-complete missions are gone, but the passengers are still aboard! Goddammit, Frontier! I put the game aside that night, I was pretty bummed and didn't play. Luckily when I next logged on the missions were back on the board. phew
When I finally reached the bubble again I had to sneak into Lukyanenko Enterprise with silent running because my fussy passengers were already upset at having been scanned earlier in the trip. Wouldn't that be funny if one last scan by the authorities at the end of three weeks was the one that made them bail out? Luckily that isn't part of the story. I completed the missions with 3 days left on the timer.
There are faster ways to make money but I was rewarded with
49 mil for one tourist mission
34 mil for the other tourist mission
175 mil of exploration data (12.2 mil from one system)
I also got a promotion to explorer rank Elite!
My beautiful lime green paint was now scraped all to hell after 45,000 ly of travel.
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/y6V8K1l.jpg)IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/WtkEb2D.jpg)IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/hEQR03Y.jpg)
I think it looks cool... I don't think I'll repaint.