Elite : Dangerous

[Lowe]

What this game really needs is a rotational input damper. FA off would be so much more pleasant if you didn't have to exactly match an initial rotational input to cancel it.

It has exactly that. It's called Flight Assist On.

[kalniel]

It has exactly that. It's called Flight Assist On.

Would be nice to have switchable per axis FA I guess. I don't have the game so don't know, but flight sims are always nice when you can configure the trims etc. exactly how you like.

[KeyboardDemon]

Would be nice to have switchable per axis FA I guess. I don't have the game so don't know, but flight sims are always nice when you can configure the trims etc. exactly how you like.

Add it to the list of requested features on the Elite Dangerous Forums. I know that they still have a lot of things to get 100% right and are working on higher priority features and fixes so it might not get added to the top of their list, however if enough people are asking for it then it might still get put on to the list at some stage.

[Ttaskmaster]

Played with a Python last night!!!!!!!!!

I really, really, really like this one!
The Asp is a gorgeous ship and the Eagle & Viper are my little baby powerhouses... But the Python is just fantastic!!

I'm hoping we get to go walk around inside our ships at some point, too - The over-the-shoulder view showing corridors off the Bridge just have my brain screaming to know what's back there.
In fact, I want that more than I want external cameras for drooling over my ship!

[outwar6010]

I've decided my next goal in the game is to make it to the centre of the playable universe.

[Flibb]

EdTracker bits turned up in the post today, 10 minutes with the soldering iron and its up and running. Software setup is very easy, and it works really well. Time to change the bindings on the joystick now.

[rob4001]

I've decided my next goal in the game is to make it to the centre of the playable universe.

Now you're just ripping off No man's Sky

[Gerrard]

EdTracker bits turned up in the post today, 10 minutes with the soldering iron and its up and running. Software setup is very easy, and it works really well. Time to change the bindings on the joystick now.

I received the bits from Hobby Components but I'm still waiting for the PCB from EdTracker. Not that it matters; I think I've burnt myself out on the game for now. Tried exploration and got bored with that pretty quickly. Tried mining and got bored of that even quicker. I think the best thing is to put the game to one side for now but will probably have another quick go when I finished making the EdTracker next week.

[herulach]

Am I missing something about the reward progression? I'm presently in a $2.5m VIper (A everything that matters with a pair of beams and a pair of multis)

To get a similarly well kitted out cobra I'm either going to need to spend far more time in a hauler grinding trade routes than I'd like or do what 20 odd assassaniation missions? At which stage you're doing 7 or 8 times as much again to get an asp and so on. It seems nuts that the rewards don't scale - $150k for an elite viper (maybe anouther 50 for bounties) and no opportunity to do anything else seems a bit daft?

[Gerrard]

Nope, you've pretty much hit the nail on the head. The only rewards at the moment are either the bigger ships or to go travelling around the galaxy. Even after the trading fix, the trade route I was doing only dropped from 1300cr/1100cr each way to 1000cr/1000cr, so it was still by far the best way to get money.

To make matters worse, the bigger ships have a bigger repair cost; the Cobra isn't too bad but the Asp certainly is. You can argue that the Viper is probably the best pure combat ship until the Python. The Cobra doesn't add much and whilst the Asp has a couple more weapons, it's a much bigger target and the shields aren't as efficient; sounds cool though! The Cobra is very good for rare trades and exploration as is the Asp and the T-6 is the best for trading until either the T-7 of the Clipper.

So, in a weird way it's actually good that you can do pretty much everything in the early ships relatively easily. I noticed a thread on the forums titled "A Mile Wide; An Inch Deep" which seemed a nice summary of the game at the moment. This is why I'll probably take some time out until they've filled it out a bit more; I wouldn't mind an external view for a start. Don't get me wrong, I like this game but I have just over done it the last three weeks (something I normally do with games TBH).

[kalniel]

With games like this it's sometimes best not to think about the progression - just enjoy the game with what you've currently got, and then if a few months down the line you've got enough for the next progression then it's a unexpected bonus, rather than playing in order to get the next progression.

That only works if the game is still fun at the lower ranks - which depends on how much interaction there is with other players probably.

[herulach]

The problem with not thinking about progression is there's not a huge amount to do without aiming for bigger ships as a goal. I can't take dominion over my own system, I can't set up construction trees to satisfy a particular requirement etc and once it gets to a certain point even bounty hunting and assassinations are unlikely to be worthwhile (in terms of repair bills vs reward)

At that stage you've essentially got euro truck simulator 3301.

Don't get me wrong it's a great game and I'm still having a blast with it, I just hope by the time I've got my python they've added some content to make it useful beyond ooo shiny.

Just buffing assassination missions (or adding tiered ones - surely not everyone worth killing has an anaconda?) would be a half decent start.

[Gerrard]

With games like this it's sometimes best not to think about the progression - just enjoy the game with what you've currently got, and then if a few months down the line you've got enough for the next progression then it's a unexpected bonus, rather than playing in order to get the next progression.

I think that there aren't that many activities at the moment other than getting the bigger ships. And the bigger ships don't actually give you many more options other than more cargo to make money quicker.

That only works if the game is still fun at the lower ranks - which depends on how much interaction there is with other players probably.

Which is why I said that the smaller ships let you do pretty much everything and that's a good thing. However, I've not played in Open and I am no doubt missing out on a lot. Then again, from reading the forums, that's not a bad thing at the moment. 1.1 should make it a bit more bearable but sounds like they'll still be cheats there. The Wings system is when I think it will really make it more of an enjoyable multiplayer game.

[kalniel]

At that stage you've essentially got euro truck simulator 3301.

Which is what the original was to some extent - you're role playing your space captain life.

[Gerrard]

The problem with not thinking about progression is there's not a huge amount to do without aiming for bigger ships as a goal. I can't take dominion over my own system, I can't set up construction trees to satisfy a particular requirement etc and once it gets to a certain point even bounty hunting and assassinations are unlikely to be worthwhile (in terms of repair bills vs reward)

Those are the sort of things you can do in Eve and I think the developers explicitly stated they didn't want to go down that direction. There is a more subtle thing that some players are trying to do and that's to affect the existing factions within a system and trying to get them to expand. It sounds like there's still some issues with the influence system, but could be interesting.

There was a story on GalNet in the last couple of days about a travelling station (a story I had read when I had Frontier Elite II). That could be interesting, especially if it needed players to go out and mine for fuel or find supplies at each stop. There are also community events, like the BucketBall Run (sp?) race and I read last week about people having a Sidewinder destruction derby inside a station!

At that stage you've essentially got euro truck simulator 3301.

I actually liked Euro Truck Simulator; and in fact it was Yahtzee's review stating that fact that got me to get the game. And I think it was TotalBiscuit who mentioned that leaving the boring bits in (like having to land each time) that sort of made it endearing. But of course, it's not something you will play for long lengths of time.

[Ttaskmaster]

Am I missing something about the reward progression? I'm presently in a $2.5m VIper (A everything that matters with a pair of beams and a pair of multis)

For 1 million of those Cr, you could buy a Type 6. Run a few quick trade routes and you'll have enough to double your cargo space (IIRC, that thing can hold 120T of cargo if you run without shields - I only do 100, myself). This can see you earning over a million Credits in under an hour and you'll soon be buying Asps and Pythons and all sorts!!

I think that there aren't that many activities at the moment other than getting the bigger ships. And the bigger ships don't actually give you many more options other than more cargo to make money quicker.

Or more of the bigger guns... don't forget the guns!!

There are collective community goals already being tested in the Beta, with rewards for the higher contributors.
There are other things imminent too.

But I thought the primary goal was always getting to Elite status. Difference in this new game here is that you have 4 statuses to aim for - Combat, Trade, Exploration and finally getting Elite in all three.

1.1 should make it a bit more bearable but sounds like they'll still be cheats there.

There really aren't that many cheats - Just that there are a lot of people screaming about the occasional ones.
I cut through and deal with heavily played systems quite often and it's uncommon for me to even see more than one or two players, let alone have any interaction with them. I have shot precisely one human player since Beta first opened... and that's playing about 40 hours a week!
Certainly there's very little PvP cheating and most of the other fiddles and exploits really only affect that player's game, rather than the rest of us.