1741

Spot on summation, Aceris.

1742

Thanks Aceris, that helps, every time I look at this game it looks like something is enjoy but I haven’t played a space sim since X-Wing and Tie Fighter were first released so I’ve got no recent comparison to judge expectations.

1743

If you’re going to get it at some point don’t wait. Get the Mercenary pack for $50 so you start the game with 2 ships and some other bonus’s. Even if the game comes down in cost to $40 for purchase at launch, all the extras in the Merc package make the extra $10 well worth it because as you learn the game and try different things, you may decide to wipe your save, and when you do this, you will restart with the Sidewinder AND the Eagle. But if you buy post-release, every time you reset your game you will only start with the Sidewinder.

1744

Acer is right on with the major features, but there’s an additional level of polish that’s absent from a lot of pre-release games. Audio is particularly well done.

1745

Audio and general UI polish. The game controls and moves real nicely making general flight, but especially combat fucking awesome. Just blowin bitches up is well worth the price of admission.

1746

There are a couple of standout features for me:

  1. The 1:1 scale universe. If you’re interested in astronomy, the sense of scale and having realistic solar systems to explore is super cool. Between the jump drive and the frame shift drive, they’ve done a nice job reinforcing the scale without making travel boring.

  2. The art direction and sound design are amazing. I love the non-fiddly design of the ships. Space feels cold and lonely and beautiful.

That said, it really is a game where you need to make your own fun. It’s not a directed, mission-based experience like X-Wing or Tie Fighter. If you have an interest in space travel and space vistas, and you like fairly open sandbox games, it’ll be up your alley for sure.

1747

Thanks everyone you convinced me, I went ahead and picked up the preorder. I won’t have a joystick until after the holidays so it’ll be K&M until then, any tips for that setup?

1748

The game is basically everything I want in a space game, full stop, and in letting people go from online solo to private group to Open play on the fly, it avoids the BS of traditional MMOs (not to mention there’s no monthly fee).

1749

I worry about people who fund Elite: Dangerous and then complain that it’s basically just a new Elite. I mean, what precisely were they expecting? So far this looks like exactly what I wanted, with the promise (although yet unfulfilled) of it becoming a lot more… a new Frontier (without the bugs, and with far better combat) at the very least.

Also, in a moment of epic facepalm, I got an email notification this morning from Frontier Developments about my server connectivity issues. It said “Ticket closed”. I… what… eh…! You haven’t even started on it, you… <insert courteous Australian language which should probably remain unsaid>

Then I clicked on the ticket. Apparently they responded within two hours of my original ticket, but I either never got the email notification about it, or my spam filter ate it. Anyway, I have resubmitted another ticket fulfilling the request from the previous one (adding some commands to AppConfig.xml to produce a more verbose output to the network log file basically).

1750

Aaargh, my condolences kayzkrok. Looks like your spam filter is overactive. I find in these cases that it’s best to keep a tab open in the browser with the trouble ticket page in question, that way you can refer back to it to check for activity. Hope they get back to you with a solution.

1751

KK - Gamers are crazy nutballs. This is what we wanted and now that it’s being delivered (mostly), it still won’t be enough (or right) for the torch-wielding vocal 2%. They’ve sold some 140,000 copies of the game, and when you look at the forums it’s the same 20 loudmouthed people screaming about stuff - and they dominate the entire forum.

1752

Yes, I have F5 a tab open right now, and every F5 so often I will have a quick look to see F5 whether there’s been an update. I certainly F5 wouldn’t want to miss it again. That F5 would be embarrassing.

1753

I made it back to Sol from Lave with a detour down through the outskirts of the empire to cash in a bounty. I had one cargo rack left in my Cobra, so that’s 16 tonnes. Loaded it up with a special commodity named Lavian Brandy and hauled it all the way to Mars High. Well over 10k per tonne in profits! o.O Sorely tempted to make a Lave-Sun run in something like a Type-6.

1754

F5 F5 F5 F5 F5
…
Elite Dangerous support update

!!!

Ok, we’re on! Except, we’re not, but apparently the problems I’ve been having are not unique to me, so it’s an issue they’re aware of. They’re working through my log files to see whether it helps. Fingers crossed.

1755

Enjoy it while it lasts because the profit on rare commodities will certainly be nerfed by release. For now it is by far the best way to make money though.

1756

No wipe:

Hi guys, This is just a quick update to confirm that there won’t be a wipe at launch.

1757

Doesn’t sound very hygienic to me. I bought the Merc edition yesterday but I guess the beta or gamma is not available since I want a backer? No biggie since I’ve watched tons of YT vids of it - I loved the one who pilots his ship without assist enabled. Mad skills right there. And yes the sense of scale is amazing and I can’t wait to do planetary landings.

1758

I think you had to purchase it before Nov 22nd in order to get access to Gamma. Or needed to purchase Beta access. Unless you were a Kickstarter backer, then you get in even without Beta or something? I don’t know, the whole access thing has been (IMO) needlessly confusing.

1759

People keep saying this, but I’m honestly having a hard time parsing what this means beyond it being pure marketing. What does 1:1 scale really mean in a game with hyperdrives? It’s not like people are going to be travelling from planet to planet at sublight speeds in realtime.

1760

I always take that as meaning the Milky Way has ~400 billion stars, and Elite has 400 billion stars. 100k were created using real data as a base, the others procedural. For me, I also like that you “drive” from planet to planet in supercruise and freely hyperspace around, as opposed to traveling through gates linking specific systems together.

But yea, it’s mostly a marketing bullet-point.