Before you set off for the great beyond, try setting mini-goals of exploring the near beyond to test the waters. Barnard’s Loop is only a couple thousand Ly away, for example, and has plenty of sights to see and systems to scan, even if you won’t earn many first discovery bonuses there. Also, learn to filter your galaxy map by star class, where you can tag out star classes you don’t want to bother with (or that won’t let you scoop fuel!)
That said, I found the build quality of the X-52 Pro not worth the 140 dollars I paid for it on sale. I’ll try out the X-55 Rhino at some point if I can get a good price, but for now the Thrustmaster TFlight HOTAS X is working great (and since you can program any button as a shift, it handles like 90% of the needed controls).
The latest newsletter finally sets a date for the 1.3 Powerplay beta: May 20th. So presumably everyone else will get it a week later.
Good, I should be burned out on GTA V Online by the end of the month.
Thrag
4365
I’m glad they are finally adding some sort of sphere of influence indication to the map. The screenshot in today’s newsletter look like a big improvement.
I’m very happy w/ my X55, FWIW.
KevinC
4367
My X-52 started to fall apart after very light use. I’m using a CH hardware (Fighterstick + Throttle + pedals) and they feel much, much more durable. I find the joystick far more accurate/sensitive for small motions than the X-52 as well, although maybe that’s just my imagination. On the X-52 I always struggled with very small adjustments (like say trying to hit a small target at long range), on the CH everything handles great.
The one thing I disliked about the CH stick is that it lacks the rudder “twist”, but some people view that as a pro, not a con. Once I got the pedals it’s a moot point, but that’s also a lot more money.
If (when) my Logitech g940 set dies I will replace it with ch gear. That stuff is true pro.
I fucking managed to run completely out of fuel in a combat zone. Cost me almost a million in vouchers ffs!
KevinC
4369
Ouch, that sucks! I guess you could have waited for 1.3 and Qt3 could run you a fuel drone? :D
A guy on the Lave Radio podcast tried to do that (required listening BTW if you’re into ED) and I guess there’s a time limit on how long you can drift out in the void with no fuel–your ship apparently self-destructs.
Steam keys for folks who want them but who purchased the game directly from Frontier will be made available at the end of May.
Wow, far out (not that I really needed it, but the Steam integration is always nice).
(and yeah, I realize that I’m totally dating myself with that “far out,” which was in vogue when I was about 12)
that absurd thread on the Steam forums can hopefully be deleted now.
excellent news.
pyrhic
4374
did they change the discovery rules/mechanics now or is it broken?
Got the federation quest to go to PLX 695, and though i knew there was nothing there for me, i figured it’d be cool to travel and explore a bit. So i did the 100 LY or so to get me there, discovering stuff on the way - mostly it had been discovered by others before, but there was a couple of systems that had some far-flung planets that weren’t yet discovered. So i scanned them all, and logged them in the cartography office and…nothing. No award for discovery, and they still don’t show a name there with them (but they no longer say unexplored)…
anyone know?
With the team focused on the recent Mac release and the upcoming Powerplay, I’ve noticed that the smaller, in-between patches for the game have been much less frequent. And folks have been complaining about a bug where the first discoverer is not always listed on system maps for quite some time now. I’ve certainly seen it, and gotten excited by some undiscovered object, but no. That said, I’ve also had the opposite happen–I’d go on a scanning spree through heavily trafficked systems, turn it all in and WTF! What’s this new screen all about?!?
pyrhic
4376
So for the first time in forever, on my way back from my PLX 695 mission, i saw another player in my system. It was such a curious event…I was like…hmmm, OH? So i had to go check him out…he was in an eagle, and i in a vulture. I got to scan him before he warped out, and i thought about following him, but since i didn’t really have any desire to kill him, and he wasn’t wanted, i figured i could let him just fly away. Just another random encounter in space.
After a week-long delay, the 1.3 Powerplay beta is finally live for those with beta-access. Looking forward to finding out how the new ships measure up.
Changelog.
KevinC
4378
I’m very skeptical of their bounty change, but we’ll see. If I still get a bounty for accidentally hitting a friendly ship in a RES and I have to vacate the system for a week, that’s a dealbreaker for me. Also, 10% loss on reselling modules? That’s unfortunate, as I liked the ability to swap out what my Cobra/Asp/Clipper/whatever was doing.
Can’t wait to check out the Power Play stuff though, the game really needs more systems like that.
I think what is supposed to happen with the bounties is that while you can’t just pay them off immediately, they are never issued by major factions. So say you shoot someone before they show up as WANTED, or a stray shot gets you marked for death while you’re RES hunting, now you have a bounty on you in that system. But there’s nothing stopping you from hopping to a neighbouring system without the faction that issued the bounty and carrying on. And since it’s never a major faction that’s out for your blood, it won’t make you persona non grata in the entirety of Fed space, for example.
Hopefully it won’t end up being too annoying.
KevinC
4380
The problem is I play in a Wing with a couple friends. That would get tedious very quickly unless they’ve done a significant overhaul of friendly fire/bounties. For the goddamn life of me I do not understand why a stray shot on a shield results in a bounty. Even in the case of actual hull damage, I should only be fined proportionally to the damage caused. I honestly have no idea why a stray shot or two results in the entire swarm of police that infest every RES to immediately forget the $160,000cr Anaconda they were battling to chase me and my 200cr bounty out of the system.
Can you tell that idiocy is my biggest pet peeve with the game right now??? :) Especially when it’s compounded by the fact that I have to fly all the way over to a station to pay it off, then head back and meet up with friends (at which point one of them is likely to be running for their lives as well). It’s tedious, obnoxious, and adds nothing of value to the experience, at least not that I can discern. So I’m anxious of them making this aspect of the game potentially worse. I sincerely hope I’m wrong!
