As I don't want to totally derail electricwhiteboy's thread, I'm starting a new one about Elite.

I was keenly anticipating this game's release for a very long time - even buying a PC at the end of last year capable of running it at maximum settings - but not so long before release they announced they were going back on their earlier promise to allow a fully SP experience, so I never bothered buying it.

I understand the different play modes, that you can effectively have an entirely misanthropic experience by playing online but in your own instance of the game. That still rather misses my point as the actions of other people in that universe still impact my universe... and I want my own one damnit!

This is particularly the case with exploration. With a game like this, different people have very different motivations to play or to play for an extended period of time. For me, I knew that combat, trading, and any faction grinding would eventually get boring, but exploration would be interesting for me. I do appreciate that there are a lot of systems, as in a fucktonne, and that it is essentially impossible that they will ever all be explored in game by players.... but I still wanted to be the one to explore them all

But I do appreciate that this is a bit of a thin reason for not having bought the game, so I am asking those who play it and enjoy it to tell me what's fun about it and, if they plan to keep playing it for a long time, what it is that motivates their enjoyment. Normally, I'd just buy it as it's so cheap to buy games even on Steam in baht, but this one's full Western price B1900 (around 35 quid / $55) which means I won't allow myself to indulge in auto-click purchasing!

I don't think not being a single player experience is a thin reason. It's a very good reason for being disappointed in this release.

I don't have a GPU on my desktop comp but I have played Oolite and WC: Privateer in the past, as well as Galaxy on Fire 2 on Android.

Pretty amusing genre.

Oolite is a lot better when you mod it out btw, and set the left and right arrow keys to yaw rather than roll.

You're aware that the game does support a single player experience right? In so far that you won't encounter other players?

As for exploration, there is a thrill to be had in being the first person to discover a system and scan the planets there. Its nice to know that the next person who comes along will see that you were the first person there.

*edit*

Sorry, re-read original post and spotted that Speary is well aware of the solo play mode.

My comment about exploration still stands.

Sadegh wrote:Oolite is a lot better when you mod it out btw,.

Oolite is a different experience entirely. I like Oolite and have played it a lot, but its a vastly different game to ED. Oolite, for me, doesn't come remotely close in terms of the sense of immersion controlling a ship in ED does. Oolite also doesn't deliver the same sense of scale that ED does.

With mods, Oolite offers a lot more for a player to do than ED does, with the exception of exploration. That's one of ED's great strengths and there isn't another game out there which lets you explore a realistic simulation of the milky way.

In the scheme of things, from what I've seen, Oolite probably can't hold a candle to Elite Dangerous. But it is a fun game when appropriately tricked out.

Sadegh wrote:In the scheme of things, from what I've seen, Oolite probably can't hold a candle to Elite Dangerous. But it is a fun game when appropriately tricked out.

Absolutely agree!

Sendraks wrote:That's one of ED's great strengths and there isn't another game out there which lets you explore a realistic simulation of the milky way.

Space Engine? (If you can call it a game that is )

The whole - no single player mode thing.

I nearly gave up on Elite Dangerous when this was removed, but was talked round by the solo player mode and then eventually coaxed into the Mobius PvE group - where I get to have an multiplayer Elite Dangerous experience in a dickhead free environment. Mind you, with 10k+ players in Mobius, I still rarely see players online.

I think until you've played Elite Dangerous, its hard to convey how massive the game really is, in terms of space and how much you'll feel like other players are impacting on your game. I know players in Open who live on the fringes of occupied space and haven't seen another player in months. The game is vast. Solar systems are huge spaces.

In terms of the background simulation, I think the influence of other players makes the game feel more dynamic and the universe more "alive," without the experience being one of "other players fucking with my shit." You'll see prices on some trade routes fluctuate as a result of supply and demand, but again for me that feels more credible than the static prices of the earlier Elite games.

And as for Exploration, well the Milky Way is a vast place and so far, players have only discovered a fraction of it. There is plenty still to find and getting that "discovered by" tag next to a planet, feels worth it. I'm starting to get itchy feet for heading out into deep space again, but want to save up the cash for my Python first or possibly more, if the Federal Corvette gets announced any time soon. But still, I see the screenshots my friends post of the places they've seen and I have some memories of curious sights I've seen. A giant white star with rotation that could be measured in minutes. Dwarf stars with supermassive ring systems. Quadrenary systems, with multiple orbiting dwarf stars and gas giants. The galaxy is a remarkable place.

I really like the billboards OXP where you can see space billboards peculiar to the system's government type. Here are the raw textures that get split in half to make the fronts and backs of the billboards in Communist systems for example:

























Objects in Communist systems also can be made to feature the somewhat ominous name "НЮРОПОЛ" (Neuropol) with these OXPs

Sendraks wrote:And as for Exploration, well the Milky Way is a vast place and so far, players have only discovered a fraction of it. There is plenty still to find and getting that "discovered by" tag next to a planet, feels worth it.

Anyone made it to Kepler-452?

I Googled the Kepler-452 issue in Elite Dangerous and it looks like it's not there but will soon be added. Also I just noticed something in one of those pix I posted:



It says in German "for our security" and the space station behind it is labeled—you guessed it—GULAG.

The actual "feel" of flying the ships is noteworthy as well. Unlike the earlier games, where the ships were largely just boxes which you could fit more or less stuff and their handling characteristics were basically just faster/slow, more sluggish or less sluggish, the ED ships have character. They have their own handling quirks. They all have different fitting limitations. The weapons hard-point placements mean you have to think about what goes where and correspondingly, when attacking a ship, where their blind spots are.

Ship fitting is rather involved. As much about personal preference, as it is squeezing the performance out of a ship to get the most range, or best handling or largest shield. The playerbase keeps uncovering new options all the time. The game offers more flexibility than initially thought, whilst still retaining the individuality of the craft. The ships all sound different as well.

And there sheer amount of controls for each craft........wow. Frontier have clearly thought very hard about what is needed to effectively control a space ship and they've come up with a user interface that keeps you firmly immersed in the cockpit. But, you need a lot of buttons. A recommend a decent HOTAS, I really do.

So would you say that the flight control simulation is one of the major draws to the game? I am really looking to see from other people's experience whether there is enough game there for long term play for me, or whether it really requires being interested in faction grinding type pursuits for extended game enjoyment.

It's a major draw for me certainly. Compared to other spaceflight sims, this is the one that really has me feeling like I am flying a ship.

I don't think this is a game that much to offer in the way of faction grinding. You can do it, but it doesn't unlock any game changing stuff and isn't required for progression. There is no endgame, it is very much a sandbox.

Sendraks wrote:It's a major draw for me certainly. Compared to other spaceflight sims, this is the one that really has me feeling like I am flying a ship.

Without a HOTAS, using only mouse & keyboard, would it still be as good?

Spearthrower wrote:
Without a HOTAS, using only mouse & keyboard, would it still be as good?

I have no clue for that. Plenty of folks out there play ED with just mouse and keyboard, but I couldn't vouch for what the experience is like. I can't imagine it would be hugely different.

There is just something, I can't explain what, about docking a ship at a station for the first time in ED. The sheer size of it, combined with the fact that the process of docking is quite involved. Not difficult, just involved. It feels like you're doing a real thing, rather than just flying through the station entrance and.........ta daa, you're docked.

1) Arrive at station - ideally having flown towards station in supercruise so you arrive facing vaguely towards the front of the station.

2) Get within 7.5km range of station. Request docking clearance and get your platform confirmed.

3) Fly towards and into station.

4) Locate your docking platform.

5) landing gear down, use fine control thrusters, main thrusters and your control device to land ship.

6) Possibly whilst using head look to gawk at other ships landing and taking off.

Is there an auto-docking upgrade for ships?

Sadegh wrote:Is there an auto-docking upgrade for ships?

Yes, although why anyone would use it is a mystery to me. Some people do though.

The docking computer functions like the auto-pilot in Frontier and Frontier First Encounters, in that it manually flies you into the station. As opposed to the docking computer in Elite, which either manually flew you in or quick docked you by effectively teleporting you into the station.

Unlike the earlier Elite games, the better conveyed size of stations in ED, means that docking isn't the horrendous task it was in the original Elite. The letterbox entry doesn't spin round silly fast anymore, as there is no need for it to do so.

Spearthrower wrote:

Sendraks wrote:It's a major draw for me certainly. Compared to other spaceflight sims, this is the one that really has me feeling like I am flying a ship.

Without a HOTAS, using only mouse & keyboard, would it still be as good?

I wouldn't say a HOTAS is required (although I do use one and feel it certainly helps with immersion), but I would recommend a joystick at the very least and I wouldn't recommend playing a fighting class or playing in multi player without one.

I actually like the fact that even though I'm always in my own single player instance that the other players have an effect, it makes it more of a living environment. Things change and having to adapt to new situations keeps it fresh.

As far as the exploring aspect of the game, I think it needs much more love. It's LOADS of fun exploring in the beginning, but it will eventually become routine. There needs to be more proceedural content to help mix up exploration a bit and maybe introduce more game mechanics for the explorer to keep it fresh.

As for exploring the universe, I've turned to Space Engine which is free and Fecking amazing.
http://en.spaceengine.org/

If you have a wanderlust for space, and your computer meets the minimum reqs, I highly recommend it. It doesn't require a joystick and is just as easy with one as it is with a mouse (but I still think it's more fun).

A very select personality type tends to enjoy this game, the graphics are beautiful but the game is shallow beyond belief.

It does very succesfully simulate a vacuum (or some prefer to call it space) with only a few things actually in it