Elite : Dangerous

[Ttaskmaster]

See, I do all that already...
Typically I'll line up so I pitch upward, altering the throttle until I am turning faster than the target, then apply downward strafe/thrust on my hat. This rarely works fast enough, so I hit reverse-thrust as well, which seems to work in most cases.
I dunno, maybe it's the cheap stick and lack of sensitivity, but I usually seem to overshoot the target a lot. I'm not terrible and I do make some money from bounties... it just takes me far too long and they manage to jump out half the time!

That and whatever those Cobras are packing to blow me up in two shots...!!!

[Lowe]

OK, so that's a good start then, don't forget once they are passed the horizontal plane hit the thrusters to push your ship upwards - this will help close the gap at the expense of some forward speed. This is useful since if you're packing multi cannons (or anything else where you have to lead the target for that matter) it will also position you so that you are looking top down with the largest aspect of the target ship, great for hitting Cobra and Anaconda.

Careful with reverse thrusting - yes there's times when it will pay off, but if you're not careful it's very easy to lose all your momentum and you become a sitting duck. No so bad 1v1 but if you ever get jumped by a gang, that can be the end of you.

Some NPC Cobras are packing double railguns and two burst/beam lasers. That's pretty much shields and 50% hull gone in one hit...

[Lowe]

I'm sure you all know but beta 3.0 is live. Huge (!) changelog, sadly I've not had chance to check it out yet.

[Splash]

Aw, and there's me with 3 days of working from home...

[GreenPiggy]

Oh darn. Need to bring 16 more million for my Imperial Clipper :S

[Lowe]

Ok so initial v3.0 impressions having spent a couple of hours last night. Bought my Viper back and bar struggling to find a FSD have broadly got what I had before. That said my thrusters aren't as anywhere near as good, and I'm struggling to dogfight in the Viper effectively.

So thoughts - it looks a lot better. The blueness from space is mostly gone apart from distant nebula. Space looks a lot more... well, space like. Sounds have been tinkered with. Lots more ship's voice stuff. However it's clear that these have been recorded at a different time to the originals - the phrasing and way sentences are spoken is notably different, though I guess a lot of people won't notice this.

Bugs - fuel usage is absurd and has been confirmed as being 10x what it should be. Given that the distress beacon has been removed now, it's pretty much imperative that you have a fuel scoop. Ammo for kinetic weaponry is crazy priced now. To refill 4 standard class 1 multi cannons costs over 7k. Given the nerf they've had against shields too, this makes them very cost ineffective for a bounty hunter like me. (Pah)

Speaking of fuel scoops, it's very simple and nowhere near as dangerous as the initial screenshots made out. Simply super cruise at slow speed close to a star (not directly at it, over the top of it!) and it's all automatic. If your heat gets too hot, break off, cool down and try again. Simples.

Interdiction. This is cracking fun, but bugged at the moment. You can tether a ship in super cruise and try to pull them out. If they throttle back and submit, there's no harm done (well, until you get into normal space and light them up haha). But, they can try to escape by following an Escape Vector which flashes up on the HUD. If you're quick enough and a good enough pilot you can avoid the interdiction. If not, you both fall out of SC into normal space, usually with a bang. Literally - for some reason at the moment you always crash into one another, guess it's a bug. But, the excitement surrounding the chase and possible resulting fight is superb. There's real tension as the interdiction process begins!

NPC AI has had a tweak - they're much more capable dogfighters now. A single encounter can end up being sufficient to force you to head for repairs. No more taking countless AI on if they're anywhere from Master upwards (imho given my current loadout, ymmv etc).

Haven't tried mining or the other ships. Mining looks dull frankly, and the new big ships require millions of Cr to buy and I don't have the time to grind. Apparently the Imperial ship is pants haha.

[Allen]

Haven't tried mining or the other ships. Mining looks dull frankly

I was so excited to hear mining had been added, so I jumped on last night, fit a ship for mining (a mining laser, a refinery and plenty of cargo space) and set out to earn my fortune. Sadly, it is very lacklustre.

The process of mining itself is quite enjoyable, firing at the asteroid until a piece of rock breaks off, scoop it up and refine it, however this is where it falls apart for me. The rock that breaks off seems to contain one or two elements, and you can only refine one, so you have to vent the rest. Also, you only get something like 5-15% of a unit per refine. Considering it can take some time to fire, scoop and refine, it takes way too long to mine a single unit, which then only sells for a couple of thousand.

Hopefully, along with everything else it will get balanced, but right now it's really not worth doing apart from "testing", which is what we're supposed to be doing anyway.

Back to bounty hunting for me...

[Lowe]

Don't forget mining is supposed to be none lucrative in known systems. That's the whole point, go exploring somewhere new, find waste, waste, waste, waste, BINGO, Gold. Don't tell anyone and reap the rewards...

With regards to binning half your find, I've read somewhere you need another unit (not sure which one) and then that enables you to do more than one 'thing' at a time.

P.S - Beta 3.01 now, they've fixed the fuel bug.

[Lowe]

3.03 just went live - crash fixes primarily.

[Kanoe]

Just started to really play this beyond the tutorials. Still getting to grips with it. Have got a pretty good joystick for it and someone on the forums has done a pretty decent button layout for it. Elite could do with making the control mapping process easier. Can't believe how many options there were to trawl through!

If anyone wants to add me commander name is Kurt Hectic.

[Ttaskmaster]

Elite could do with making the control mapping process easier. Can't believe how many options there were to trawl through!

HUH??!!
Go play Freespace and then tell me about mega-options!!

Seriously, I play with a stick that has 7 buttons, one 4-way hat and a throttle. The rest of the commands are on keyboard, requiring 11 keys at most. That includes all the little features like switching the ship lights on!

[cptwhite_uk]

Yeah Freespace did go crazy for controls - "Target last hostile bomb targeting a friendly capital ship" levels of ridiculousness

[someru]

Can someone who has played this for quite a bit tell me if this is a game someone that has only ever played the X series enjoy?

[Ttaskmaster]

Can someone who has played this for quite a bit tell me if this is a game someone that has only ever played the X series enjoy?

IMO - Not really.
I find many games that are similar to others I've played end up sucking badly, or vice versa. I generally hate FPSes, but quite enjoyed the likes of Borderlands and Battlefield 3, for example.
Based on my usual games, I should be utterly enarmoured with Star Citizen, but in fact think it's a steaming pile of Jet Fighter Flightsim rip-off fanboy jerkoff sludge...

Same for films, books and so on.
I think the only way is to try the game for yourself and see.

[someru]

IMO - Not really.
I find many games that are similar to others I've played end up sucking badly, or vice versa. I generally hate FPSes, but quite enjoyed the likes of Borderlands and Battlefield 3, for example.
Based on my usual games, I should be utterly enarmoured with Star Citizen, but in fact think it's a steaming pile of Jet Fighter Flightsim rip-off fanboy jerkoff sludge...

Same for films, books and so on.
I think the only way is to try the game for yourself and see.

Okay thanks, I guess I'll simply have to wait for release and see some reviews and some more gameplay and then decide.

[Ttaskmaster]

Okay thanks, I guess I'll simply have to wait for release and see some reviews and some more gameplay and then decide.

If it makes any odds - I've been thinking of playing the X series someday, but have already played a number of space sims and I think Elite is flippin' AWESOME!