Same here. Looking forward to being able to plot longer routes, and any other quality-of-life features 2.4 brings.
I’m more interested in what FDev will be announcing at the expo next month. Atmospheric landings? Space legs? Deeper, story-driven missions? NPC’s walking around stations?
I’d be thrilled with news of “Hired game designer”. As others have said, this is a game made by engineers, and it shows.
Same, zero interest in the Thargoid stuff but the quality of life improvements plus more varied missions will make me log in to check it out. Hopefully Frontier can move on past Thargoids quickly and get back to working on the core game.
Also… I have been goofing off with a Cobra around Colonia.
I’m intrigued to hear improvements to missions. Otherwise, meh.
I"m interested to see what gameplay additions Thargoids bring. I would expect at least being able to scoop and sell Thargons as Alien Items like the original, and ‘Witch Space’ interdictions.
Not too interested in the story but it’ll be cool to have the old adversaries back and to see what other stuff they roll out over the next few months.
Honestly I’m still loving the game as-is in VR mode. I’m sure the novelty will wear off at some point but for now the experience is still mind-blowing to me. The game becomes less a grind and more immersive role-playing. I do wish for more varied tourist spots for the sightseeing missions though. You’ve seen one ice geyser you’ve seen them all!
Absolutely agree, except for the novelty part. I don’t think it’s a novelty, it’s my new normal for these kinds of games. :)
Except there’s only really one of these kinds of games, which puts you in the cockpit and simulates adventuring around a plausible version of our galaxy.
About a year ago I reverted to playing Elite on my desktop instead of my OR DK2. The visuals were sharper, it was a more comfortable experience, etc… and then I stopped playing it entirely. Outside a VR device, the game held no interest to me.
And then I received my CV1 a month ago and I’m in love again. :) Elite really is my premiere VR experience.
Agreed. Got my CV1 about a month ago as well. Elite is THE showcase for that tech. I sit in my cockpit geeking out at some of the incredible scenery on display, and the feeling of “being there”. I used to try and imagine that world all by myself when playing on my ZX Spectrum. People, we are living in the future we always dreamed of - and it is GOOD.
Except for driving buggy’s on bumpy terrain. That makes me helluva nauseous - too much like real life ;-)
You can try camera stabilisation in the buggy, or try turning that off. For some on is less nauseating, for others off is far better.
2.4 has brought some optimisations making the game smoother overall. I for one am happy with that. And the 20kly route planner. And free sunglasses for my puppet.
I bought an anaconda at last. It’s the ship that needs nerfing most, but its also a very beautiful VR experience. Not only is its bridge huge, it also overlooks the ship, like the bridge on a regular earth ship would. So you are really driving a ship. In space. Seeing the ship sticking out in VR really makes the scale happen. And for contrast it carries a fighter which is really tiny and zippy. Happy as a pig in the mud with this. :)
I flew a type 9 for a short while. That cockpit is awesome in VR as well. It’s like you are driving something huge and industrial. Very nice.
today i played a LOT of elite, all of it in vr. 2.4 is smoother than before and the colours pop a little more so yeah. nice. no headache or nausea, guess i got the ipd nailed or perhaps the two hours of vigorous gardening i did today helped. dizzy as fuck tho. my inner ear does not like my body actually moving all of a sudden.
With this Voice Pack stuff, is there seriously no written documentation listing the keybinds needed for it to function? You have to watch a Youtube video for this?
Cheers!
I think there is a pdf that comes with the voice pack that shows them. I think you can also print them out in voice attack.
Well 2.4 has hosed the launcher so it has checksum errors and wont download for me. Le sigh. Damn these guys are dangerous patchers. I guess I wait for them to fix their servers just like the last two times.
When I fired up the launcher to grab 2.4 a few days ago, it told me to redownload a new launcher, so maybe that’s you’re problem? One way or another, hope you get it ironed out.
Thanks, yeah I just use Steam or Oculus store until they get it fixed. I keep forgetting patch time is danger time for Elite :)
I updated the launcher. For whatever reason their end, myself and some other players get the wrong checksum from Frontier when downloading the same file even with a new install and clearing every cache their is. It gets into a loop and keeps updating the same file. No idea what they are doing but it usually gets fixed after a few weeks.
I got back in via steam and am happily cruising thanks!
Frontier had their expo last week and discussed the 2018 updates for Elite.
Summary borrowed from Reddit
- 2018’s Series of updates will be called “Beyond”, with the first release happening in Q1 2018 and will be FREE for Horizons owners
- Planetary Tech rework: new lighting system, material rendering pass, diversification of landscape, and more.
- Quality of Life improvements: Better Crime and Punishment (including better armed system authority), Better trading data for more informed decision making, Wing Missions, and Engineering to be reworked to guarantee improved equipment for players.
- Guardian Arc to be revisited: providing new content such as Guardian tech; notably new hardpoint equipment. These will need to be unlocked for players on an individual basis (through “personal narratives”).
- Galnet Audio: Galnet will be provided with a text-to-speech medium for its articles.
- “A lot more ships to come”: So far, Type-10, Krait and Chieftain ships have been confirmed. Latter two are Lakon projects in conjuction with the Alliance. Type-10 Defender. Krait. Chieftain
- Squadrons: New platform for clan-like system offering enhanced communications for a range of players. Also offering the ability for Squadrons to purchase ship carriers, which allows players to rearm, repair, refuel and respawn.
- Mining to be revisited: Devs want to invoke a feeling of “Wild West Prospecting”, giving players new tools to find and exploit ore reserves.
- Planetary Terrain Rework: Addition of Rock Scatter update for larger size and scale of terrain objects, along with localised fog effects too in order to make different planet types feel more distinct from one another.
- Exploration to be revisited: Will be updated to add a suite of new activities to find and engage with. In addition to Exploration missions and a Codex to log discoveries and act as a sort of encyclopedia for space anomalies. With the addition of new effects, phenomenae and anomalies to discover.
- Thargoid Arc extended: Story will naturally be progressed, with the introduction of a new ship or “clan” of Thargoids. Screenshot. Additionally, the 2.4 Teaser shows the remains of an INRA outpost and a crashed ship which seemingly looks like an older Cobra model.
That’s a long list, but not as meaty as I might have hoped for. The terrain stuff will be nice to reduce the sameness of the beige moons, but I would have hoped for an evolution of the planetary stuff this year. Would be nice to fly into gas giant atmospheres, or volcanic planets, or something. I didn’t expect to see atmospheric planets next year, but a half-step would be nice.
I’ve never interacted with the story stuff, especially since it seems like it’s a requirement to watch Reddit for the evolution of the storylines. Having a carrier for you and your mates sounds cool, but I’m a solo player so nothing there for me. I’m also a pretty casual player, not interested in optimal builds, so I bounce right off the engineers stuff. It’s free for current Horizon owners, but I hope 2019 brings more substance – particularly on the planetary side of things.
All that said, I’ve been back to playing and have been having good fun doing sight-seeing passenger missions in my Asp X. The payout is pretty good, especially when you do a bit of scanning on the way. When I need some pew-pew, I head to the nearest res in my Federal Dropship. It’s got good firepower, but it’s so slippery!
It’s still by far my favorite VR experience.
I love takeoff and landing, everything else in this game just seems like 238 shades of brown. What am I missing?
It’s a lot of stuff, and still part of Horizons! I wonder when they’ll need to start charging for a new expansion? Maybe the bits and bobs sold in the shop are doing okay for them. I know I’ve bought the odd aesthetic piece here and there as a token gesture of support since I nabbed the lifetime pass way back when it was cheap. :)
I’m not too interested in the mutiplayer or narrative sides either, at least as they are - maybe some of this will make it more appealing? But I am keen to see what happens with the mining, exploration, and engineer loot reworks as those are all core parts of my enjoyment and good to see they’re getting attention.
The other core part being the planetary landings which add so much to immersion. I too had hoped we’d have expanded world types in 2018, maybe not atmospheric No Mans Sky ecosystems, but something additional. Maybe they are just saving that anouncement for later in the year (/hopes).
