If it helps I’ve been playing the game since May and put significant time into every major release since Premium Beta 1.0. So I obviously like it a great deal and I expect most other fans of the previous Elite games will too, even if they have legitimate disappointments and concerns.
But I also think it has problems and could really use some more work before release.
KevinC
1722
Yea, from this post here.
But development for Elite: Dangerous will continue unabated. We’ve many features planned post-launch, some already discussed in the forums, others that haven’t been announced.
For example, player wings should hit early next year and our ship roster will continue to grow.
Player wings were referred to as alliances in the design archive and covered what typical group or guild mechanics would allow in other games. In terms of being able to play together with friends, there are important features tied to this:
Alliances allow players to indicate trust between themselves so they:
[ul]
[li]Can freely jettison and pick up cargo between themselves[/li]> [li]Can fire upon each other without criminal implications[/li]> [li]Gain the same criminal fine/bounty if one or more other members commits a crime[/li]> [li]This only occurs if the player is in the same vicinity as the player committing the crime[/li]> [li]Have the ability to slave hyperdrive systems together to make travel easier[/li]> [li]Get matched as a whole during slaved hyperspace travel and if not possible spawn in their own instance at a location rather than splitting the alliance up[/li]> [/ul]
EDIT: From Razgon’s link, it looks like slaving drives isn’t going to happen at all, but the ability to travel together in some way is still planned for player wings, whenever they roll out.
Player Wings also includes the group missions and shared rewards stuff.
In Jumpgate, wings didn’t have slaved drives either, but it all worked out just fine in terms of easily following each other and sharing rewards. Same was true with squads.
jpinard
1725
What they wanted to do in their design document vs. what they actually can do is of course different. “Why” that happened we just don’t know. Normally my first guess would be money, but they’ve been trying to hire for several key positions in the game for months now. So it could be technical, or just needs time. I wish gamers were more patient when it comes to a game where they’ve blazing a new trail. We’ve had such a long drought for a high quality game’s like this and after living through the insane mess that was X-Rebirth it worries me if our only real option will be Star Citizen (which I really feel is going to be an unforgiving play-to-win).
It’s expected that things will be cut and changed during development, that doesn’t mean those cuts and changes aren’t disappointing.
And I think the release at this time is likely due to money, this is a company that posted an operating loss for the last financial year and probably needs to recuperate those development costs. If they had to release then they had to release and I certainly understand it and don’t begrudge it, but am not particularly happy about it as a player. But that’s just the way things are and I hope the game goes on to be successful enough to fund years more development.
I love how if you don’t appreciate how one of these space sims works, there are like 4 others to choose from.
David Braben’s definition of MMO regarding Elite is pretty much what I hoped an MMO would be back in the early days, and what I hoped an online version of Elite would be: the feeling of being alone in the universe but with other players going about their business and the ability to interact with those players. I never wanted MMO to mean that half the NPCs had yellow exclamation points above their heads, that a chat window in the bottom left would provide a constant stream of players calling each other faggots or LFG requests, that you’d be continually ganked whenever you encounter a massive tool in-game, or that rolling waves of players would move from one encounter to the next farming resources or XP.
So I’m very glad that Braben is using my original definition of MMO here, but I also think he’s making a huge mistake in doing so because it’s not what everyone else on the planet thinks and MMO should be. He should use that in the marketing, this is a “different type of MMO, something unique”, not throw the term around and let it fester.
Not that I can get online anyway, grmpmpph (I spent two hours last night doing everything I could with the router, firewall and god knows whatever else, it’s like a stoic refusal to actually work). Back to Alien Isolation for my nostalgia fix for the moment.
jpinard
1730
KK - did you mean router firmware update? Or you got a replacement? I wish I was rich. I’d totally buy you a replacement cable modem and router. It’s a sin to not have a science geek Aussie not be able to fly a spacehip with us. Maybe Smaug could rob a liquor store of cash for you?
Actually no, jp, that’s the one thing I’ve yet to try. I’ll wait until Monday though, so if it explodes in a shower of sparks I can at least go and buy a new one without having to wait for the store to open again. I am also heading to Europe in a week, for over a month, so I may actually leave it until I get to Europe which is much closer to Frontier’s offices and hopefully my bits will successfully make the journey without getting drunk and lost, as these aussie bits are wont to do.
Well, well. I succumbed to temptation and ordered an X-52 Pro HOTAS through Amazon the other day, and it arrived today. I fooled around with it a bit, and you know what? It’s going back. It has a billion buttons and 3 hat switches (which are nice to have no question) but the build quality I expect at that price is just not there. For one thing, the PS/2 cable that connects the throttle part (which has the USB connection to the computer) to the stick has female PS/2 connectors at each end that barely plug in, and pull out with hardly any tugging at all. At the very least they could have put a honking piece of metal in the base of both the throttle and the stick so they’d stay put without having to affix them to something via velcro or whatever. The documentation provided by Saitek is a joke BTW–it doesn’t even have a diagram telling you what all the buttons/axes are.
Also, I honestly find that the TFlight HOTAS X from Thrustmaster meets my needs better. It’s more compact, and the way I use it (throttle and stick joined together) it’s more convenient for me just to have it on my lap, vs having to set up pedestals or whatever for each part separately (which I would have had to do with the X-52 Pro if I’d stuck with it). Maybe someday if I’m feeling really ambitious and extravagant I’ll spring for the Warthog, but I’ll try to get some hands on messing with it first at Fry’s.
jpinard
1733
Papageno - The PS/2 thing is a real pain which is why my last one needed replacing. That being said it’s actually really easy to use and setup in Elite and plenty compact. You just need to sticky-velcro it to a small lapboard. I like it better than the Thustmaster as it has more hats. But if I had to buy a new HOTAS and actually had money to spare I’d probably go with the Saitek X-55 Rhino. The Thrusmaster Warthog would be too heavy for my lap.
So for the X52 Pro all you need to do is install the drivers. No need for their software. If you make sure the clutch is checked in the joystick game controller settings you double the # of actions you see below:
Thanks for the reply, jpinard. By a “lapboard” do you mean one of those boards with a beanbag back that you put on your lap to work on a laptop?
And thanks for the pics (was the other diagram showing you the button numbers actually from Saitek, because I looked on their site and found nothing like that), but I think I’m going to stick with the HOTAS X anyway, as I’m used to it by now. Also, I find a throttle with a detent in the middle more intuitive for ED, and the X52 Pro doesn’t have that (I can’t quite figure out the purpose of the semi-detents at the extremes, BTW). And finally, the tenuous PS/2 connections really grind my gears. Would it have killed them to make those plugs as long as the old ones for mice and keyboards used to be? Maybe I’ll get one of those lapboards though.
Is progress getting reset before the 12/6 release? Or will folks playing now get to keep their progress for the release?
-Tom
schurem
1736
Most likely a reset of sorts. might be we get to keep the credits earned, might be we get all reset. doesnt really matter because its elite, its not about the goal, its about the getting there ;-)
papageno, the hotas is originally built to simulate jets. it has an idle detent at the one side and an afterburner detent on the other.
They don’t know yet, it depends on whether any changes prior to release require one. The latest update as of today is:
A quick update on this. We’re currently performing some tests to see if changes made require a wipe. We should know in the next couple of days. Michael
KevinC
1738
Their stance has been to expect a wipe. If one doesn’t happen then you can be pleasantly surprised, but plan for it to happen.
So I was dead set on purchasing this for the holidays, but some of the “controversy” over the upcoming launch had given me pause. I ventured into the dev forums (I know I know) and beyond the usual bitching there seems to be some valid concerns about content in this game. For those of you who’ve been playing is it a safe bet to grab the preorder discount or should I wait the few days for 1.0 to really see what’s in there?
Aceris
1740
Depends what you want from the game to be honest. Content wise you can:
-
Find or guess at profitable trades, haul cargo for various organisations, wander round the galaxy, occasionally get interdicted and either have to evade it or fight it out. Space Truck Driver Simulator, basically.
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Go out into the unknown, get scan data from planets that aren’t on the standard maps yet, sell the data. You will get interdicted more often this way as uninhabited systems are anarchies.
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Locate a combat zone, fly there, sign up as a merc with a side and blow stuff up.
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Lurk around a nav beacon, shoot innocent traders and take their stuff, dodge the feds and other pirates, sell your loot in an anarchy.
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Lurk around a nav beacon, shoot filthy pirates, collect bounties from the feds.
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Asteroid mining.
That’s it, no real “endgame”, no traditional group content, although I imagine they will add more challenging conflict zones pretty rapidly as players get more accomplished at the game.
Obviously the flight model and graphics are pretty solid.
Longer term they want to add in more complex mission chains and there’s some Imperial civil war plotline starting up with release; but what that means is that there will be custom mission chains where you get to be a small part of a huge sprawling complex power struggle by blowing up a ship or carrying somone from place A to place B or taking part in the war. I don’t think it’s the traditional MMO model where every player independently rescues to true heir, takes him to safety, and builds their faction up until it emerges victorious.
