*** The Official Elite: Dangerous Thread ***

[V-Spec]

Case made for the stick:

That's gonna be sweet as hell when it's done, I must admit pushing forward on those big A-10 throttles is cool!

I used mine for DCS-A10c but now elite seems to have taken over


Also, I might be some sort of noob at this game - i've been lugging cargo all over the place for a day or two, bought a type-6 etc, but earlier on I landed in one of those cool bigger space-stations, but the inside was all white and had palm trees and greenery in there - I haven't seen one like it since "Stephenson hub" the place is called, I've had shadowplay turned on all the time so I did a youtube;

 

[ThereIs0nly0ne]

That's gonna be sweet as hell when it's done, I must admit pushing forward on those big A-10 throttles is cool!

I used mine for DCS-A10c but now elite seems to have taken over

Cheers V-spec. Mine was originally bought for the A-10c also. Elite has a special place in my gaming life as it was the first game I was really addicted to. It's no surprise it's getting the most attention at the moment.

 

[HaloUK]

That's gonna be sweet as hell when it's done, I must admit pushing forward on those big A-10 throttles is cool!

I used mine for DCS-A10c but now elite seems to have taken over


Also, I might be some sort of noob at this game - i've been lugging cargo all over the place for a day or two, bought a type-6 etc, but earlier on I landed in one of those cool bigger space-stations, but the inside was all white and had palm trees and greenery in there - I haven't seen one like it since "Stephenson hub" the place is called, I've had shadowplay turned on all the time so I did a youtube;

Liked the music in this video. What is it? Sounds a bit like System 7/Hillage.

 

[V-Spec]

Liked the music in this video. What is it? Sounds a bit like System 7/Hillage.

I listen to all-sorts when i'm hauling CROP_HARVESTERS between star systems, that track is called "Ping" by these guys; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozric_Tentacles from the album "The floor's too far away"

Ozrics do some really great music for flying to, I'd recommend the above and albums, "Jurassic shift" "Strangeitude" "Erpland" "Arborescence" and "Spirals in hyperspace"

 

[HaloUK]

I listen to all-sorts when i'm hauling CROP_HARVESTERS between star systems, that track is called "Ping" by these guys; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozric_Tentacles from the album "The floor's too far away"

Ozrics do some really great music for flying to, I'd recommend the above and albums, "Jurassic shift" "Strangeitude" "Erpland" "Arborescence" and "Spirals in hyperspace"

Thank you kindly.

From Wiki "Ozric music is a highly psychedelic mixture of driving basslines, keyboard and intricate guitar work, with a sound influenced by Steve Hillage and Gong" "Hillage also collaborated with Ozric Tentacles on the 2004 album Spirals in Hyperspace."

Wicked! Thought it sounded like something Hillage/System 7 would do.

 

[Lowe]

Viper with 4x overcharged multi cannons is a bit tasty, no wonder it's the go to load out for griefers.

Bit odd that the AI Anaconda didn't open up on me. Weird. :S

 

[V-Spec]

Viper with 4x overcharged multi cannons is a bit tasty, no wonder it's the go to load out for griefers.

Bit odd that the AI Anaconda didn't open up on me. Weird. :S

rofl nice, I find that the NPC AI is totally random, sometimes it ends up giving you a half-decent fight, the rest of the time you can just sit behind it pumping it full of rounds until it dies ;_;

Last night I got bored of hauling, so bought a cobra and spent 2 million on a pair of class-2 beam lasers, a pair of class-1 beam lasers, class 4 reactor and power coupling and some armour,

Went out bounty hunting in the asteroids near freeport, those class-2 beam lasers deliver some serious damage up close, got attacked twice by human players for stealing their NPC kills and won both fights really loving the cobra atm, it reminds me of the millennium falcon for some reason,

 

[SkeeterUK]

Ok so i have some money now so i can pre-order this before it jumps to £39. Trouble is i have some questions first that is putting me off kinda. If anyone can reply it would be great.

1. When is the game due for release (best guess)

2. Is it worth getting beta with it being so near Nov which i think could be the release date month, check question 1 for this.

3. Exactly what will be the release version contents as all i have seen of videos on utube so far is 1 station a few ships and nice combat with a bit of trading in. Im so hoping there are scripted missions with voice acting and cutscenes and a campaign to follow as i really cant be bothered with certain open world games like x games anymore with no decent missions that are heavy story and all your expected to do is make your own adventure up something which i may have been able to due when i was younger but not at the old age of 32 lol i just dont have the patience to think of things to due within a open world with no content other than basics layed out for you.

4. Due i absolutely need a t flight hotas or can i expect to be able to fly ok with kb and mouse like fs2 and other popular space sims.

5. I know landing on planets isnt due at launch which is a damn shame as its a key part of what makes elite well elite. They are gona try to make it but i wonder can they pull it off when so many other games wouldn't due to the problem of procedural worlds just look all the same i think Egosofts excuse was. Anyhow if it does come when is it generally expected to be released and will it cost a lot for this "add-on" which imo it should be free due to it being a core feature of an elite game.

6. As said i have looked at vids and the combat looks fun and i love the cockpit gfx and the weapon gfx and sfx and that station you land in. But even tho that looks all nice and there's what, i think about 6 ships that's flyable so far?, then to me £35 for that seems a bit overpriced for what is a lack of content imo as in few ships one maybe 2 stations, 1 cockpit design afaik and that's it. I may get aggro for this but i hope there's more like 30 different types of station, 15+ ships at the least ranging from small to very large ships, and has to have some decent missions in that has vo and a cutscene or two at the least. If not i dont think i could justify the cost. If it had what its got now and the price was £10-15 then its of course a insta buy due to not much content but great skirmish combat.

Sorry im going on a bit in the last point. As money is tight i need to pick how to use it well. And i need to know its a game im hoping it will be at release if not then unfortunately i might have to skip till at least all the dlc is out and is packed up in a neat bundle for about 25-30 quid next year or so.

Cheers.

So to summarize.

1. Release date (best guess)
2. Worth getting beta access if release is next month (rumored i think)
3. What is suppose to be in the final release, content wise?
4. T flight hotas, needed yey or neh. Or will mouse and kb be good enough.
5. Landing on planets, how much u reckon the addon will be and when it might be due. Also does anyone think it will be any good?
6. Rant about little content in utube vids so far for the price u pay compared to what im hoping it has at release.

 

[Rroff]

Towards the end of 2014 seems to be the current noise for going "retail".
The retail "release" content wise I think will disappoint some people, as the base game matures they will rapidly iterate on content but I think we are still 6 months away from the level of content people want to see.
Landing on planets isn't likely to come for another year after they flesh out the base game - I think they will be able to do something decent there though.

 

[xyphic]

1. Release date (best guess)

They seem to be pushing for a 2014 release. I'd guess some time in December.

2. Worth getting beta access if release is next month (rumored i think)

Depends on your definition of "worth". If you're not averse to game-breaking bugs and your progress getting wiped occasionally, then it might be worth it for the extra practice you can get in before release. But if not, I'd suggest waiting as you'll get more of an idea of the final content.

3. What is suppose to be in the final release, content wise?

Trading, piracy, bounty hunting, exploration, mining, missions (courier, assassination, combat, escort, etc.). How deep those will be is really anyone's guess. Frontier have stated 25 playable ships at launch. We haven't seen any of the Imperial designs in game yet, and I suspect they're holding those back for the wow effect.

The gamebreaker for you, I suspect, is that there will be no scripted missions (at least not in the way you're hoping). We're certainly expecting an ongoing story with missions relating to and influencing it, but what that's going to be probably won't be revealed until release. Likely to be related to the plot of the official novel.

4. T flight hotas, needed yey or neh. Or will mouse and kb be good enough.

Mouse and KB take a bit of getting used to, but there's no reason you can't become skilled with them. The game is controller agnostic so you can bind anything to anything (e.g. you could control roll, pitch, yaw with your keyboard and throttle with your mouse if you like). There are some limitations, but generally speaking it's as configurable as it needs to be. If you have an X360 or PS3 controller, they should also work (and you can configure buttons as modifiers to expand the range of controls available).

5. Landing on planets, how much u reckon the addon will be and when it might be due. Also does anyone think it will be any good?

The reason it isn't in the game at release is that Frontier want to make it a deep and meaningful experience. Expect expansions to rock in at quite a high price point (£25-35) but also expect them to be worth it. Planetary landings will necessarily bring high-fidelity procedural planet generation, including cityscapes, dynamic weather, etc. David Braben has also talked a lot about activities such as being able to discover new lifeforms (and then go big game hunting!). I really don't know what they'll actually deliver, but it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling that they're not trying to shoehorn something in just because it was in the previous games. (DB has stated that in some respects he wishes he hadn't included it previously because it didn't really add anything to the game)

6. Rant about little content in utube vids so far for the price u pay compared to what im hoping it has at release.

Again, I'd suggest waiting until you can see what Beta 3 brings. There's likely to be another tranche of features in the Gamma release (and we don't yet know if there'll be Beta 4, but given the 2014 release it feels unlikely). Some of the features we've already seen should also see a bit of rework.

 

[V-Spec]

6. As said i have looked at vids and the combat looks fun and i love the cockpit gfx and the weapon gfx and sfx and that station you land in. But even tho that looks all nice and there's what, i think about 6 ships that's flyable so far? ,then to me £35 for that seems a bit overpriced for what is a lack of content imo as in few ships one maybe 2 stations, 1 cockpit design afaik and that's it.

Tbh, right now there are 9 ships - but they're all very different and awesome in their own way, everyone is ranting and raving about the ships in star citizen - but tbh, whilst the star citizen ones look very sexy I found the actual flight experience left me wanting, in elite flight just *feels* much better (so far)

In terms of content, the beta is currently up to around 520 different planetary systems, most of which have their own stations, extraction sites, all run by governments/dictatorships/lawless, so you're pretty much free to go and do what you like, there are lots of bulletin boards for missions - but most of it revolves around making money, you either trade, kill people and steal, or - as beta 3 is unveiling, mine asteroids with lasers to extract raw resources, (actual manual mining, as opposed to the automated thing they do in eve)

It's very much an open world exploration game, which is 100% the selling point for me, I made a few million credits hauling cargo around - (some very picturesque locations to see too) then blew it all on a pimped ship with insane guns, i'll do this until I run out of cash then i'll haul cargo again,

They've basically made a universe for you to fly around in, in terms of content I think it's totally delivering, and there's lots more to come.

I may get aggro for this but i hope there's more like 30 different types of station, 15+ ships at the least ranging from small to very large ships, and has to have some decent missions in that has vo and a cutscene or two at the least. If not i dont think i could justify the cost. If it had what its got now and the price was £10-15 then its of course a insta buy due to not much content but great skirmish combat.

As I said, currently around 520 planetary systems stretching over 100LY, as others have said, around 30 different flyable ships in the works, and there's easily a good 20+ different types of station right now,

 

[Sega Mega Dave]

I doubt i'll bother playing it now until release as it gets boring quickly, visually it's decent if not ground breaking also the lack of teamwork etc... is disappointing.

In my opinion it needs a lot more content before release as it's thread bare.

 

[SkeeterUK]

Thank you for not flaming me guys and thanks for the great replies.

Hmm 20+ stations right now, that sounds good but from what i have seen on youtube how come the interior is always the same, maybe the exterior is slightly diff per station but is the interior always the same? 30 Ships sounds nice and if all playable too then great, whats the biggest you can get and can you get crew like the old games like ppl for turrets on corvette class or somit?

Another question or two i thought up.

1. Will there be modding at all, as if there was then oh boy id plonk £35 for it asap i mean get a high poly star destroyer and a tie fighter and a xwing and we have starwars even better would be a mod to change the cockpit to that of the sw ships cp then mod the sfx. Man that would be cool. Of course star trek and b5 and all the others will be modded in too. Of course im not implying the existing stuff isnt awesome as is but well if its a open ended space game then you cant not think of the possibilities what mods could bring.

2. Scripting. Is there any sort of scripting language in that could enable modders to write new missions, new features etc so it takes some of the burden of DB due to budget etc.

3. I think there's a requirement that a online connection is needed to install and actually play the game, will this always be the case. What if say someone wants to install it without the net for say a reason they couldn't afford the net anymore but still wanted to play a solo game of elite? I have net and doubt id lose it but on the off change i did or say my net was crippled to a trickle etc. What happens to those in them situations. I realise this is a hard to answer question but thought id ask anyhow.

Also a little off topic question kinda.

We all like that its big and open ended kinda thing as in 400 billion stars to explore etc. But what has me wondering is.. Why.

Let me explain.

In most of these types of games you have a lot of sectors or systems to explore and trade in which is great but how many of them do we actually explore or visit even once? In frontier i never really explored the many systems you could jump to i just stayed to what i know which was a handful of systems where i knew what buys and sells reliably which i would guess would be around 30 systems im guessing here max. There was never a real need to go further out to explore as it was all generally the same as the core systems i made my home in. So i guess what im asking is why the focus on all this space when in most peoples reality they will stick to a small area that is familiar and easy to travel to and from and not really need the extra area to explore. Unless everyone except me would keep out going further and further out of where you started and were familiar with and never looked back?

 

[V-Spec]

We all like that its big and open ended kinda thing as in 400 billion stars to explore etc. But what has me wondering is.. Why.

Let me explain.

In most of these types of games you have a lot of sectors or systems to explore and trade in which is great but how many of them do we actually explore or visit even once? In frontier i never really explored the many systems you could jump to i just stayed to what i know which was a handful of systems where i knew what buys and sells reliably which i would guess would be around 30 systems im guessing here max. There was never a real need to go further out to explore as it was all generally the same as the core systems i made my home in. So i guess what im asking is why the focus on all this space when in most peoples reality they will stick to a small area that is familiar and easy to travel to and from and not really need the extra area to explore. Unless everyone except me would keep out going further and further out of where you started and were familiar with and never looked back?

One word - mining

We've been told that in beta 3 - when they introduce mining, they'll be resources scattered literally all over the place, so if you have a ship with a big cargo hold, good scanning and mining equipment - you could make a pretty penny, or you could kill the miners and steal their warez..

I don't know what other people are thinking - but if the mining/prospecting system works, then there's an entire game right there,

 

[ThereIs0nly0ne]

Main throttle section filled sanded and covered in blackboard vinyl with a badge inserted:





The throttle will sit on risers so will be higher than shown.

 

[jabokai]

I doubt i'll bother playing it now until release as it gets boring quickly, visually it's decent if not ground breaking also the lack of teamwork etc... is disappointing.

In my opinion it needs a lot more content before release as it's thread bare.

I'm a 5000+ poster over there, member of the DDF, etc... and, sadly, I pretty much agree with you. SO much potential, and I still really hope it will get there but I don't play it much at all currently.

 

[Roalith]

Sounds like you guys should get in on the Buckyball challenge, has totally revitalised the game for me

 

[SkeeterUK]

Preordered the game while its £35. Probs was gona get it as mostly was gona play with a mate co-op style.

Elite, dont let me down buddy.

 

[Sega Mega Dave]

It's a decent game and it's nice to see space sims making a comeback.

For me though the main issues are:

It's all too safe, trade runs barely have any threat, stations are well protected, you barely have the opportunity to take out real players.
Bounties i find dull.
Economy is basic.
Trade runs becoming tiring.
Space Station interiors are practically the same, there is no sense that you are in a different star system to the hundreds of others.
Ships don't feel special even the Anaconda.

Like i said above i feel it needs lots more added too it to really keep me wanting to play, it just feels like a basic single player game with the odd real player dotted around. There is no social aspect to it which surely a game like this screams out for.

Will see what Beta 3 brings but can't see it fixing the majority of my issues.

That said flight model is nice, it runs well and looks pretty decent, sounds are pretty solid too.

 

[melchy]

I'm pretty much waiting for the final release now until I throw any more time into it. I'll probably have a play around with beta 3, but I see little point in trying to amass much wealth when there will be a reset in November (or December) for release.

I personally like where the game is at. Having played the original Elite on the BBC B at release in 1984 this takes the best parts of that and Frontier (which I played to death on the Amiga) and melds them together with much more modern graphics.