[Closed] Elite Dangerous

Not really as they can be delivered to you at a small cost and amount of time.

StirlingCrispin
This book has an excellent chapter on how the original game was written and squeezed into under 32MB.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Backroom-Boys-Secret-Return-British/dp/0571214975

Thanks for that recommendation, just been reading the book, sat by a pool in The Algarve, and really enjoying it!

Took an hour to transport my type 7 about 400 ly. Cost about 10,000 credits.

Weeksy - it is more complex than in days of yore but we have google now and tbh I've found that learning a relatively small amount (as I have) quickly makes sense of the game and it's his to play. I reckon that the complexity means more potential life to the game as you progress and will stop it getting repetitive.

Thanks to this thread, I've just started on this. I bought it pre access in 2014, and found to my surprise, I have a bonus Viper Mk IV as well as the starting ship.

Couple of days in, without knowing what I'm doing, up to about cr400,000. But it's as a mmorpg, it all feels very "dead". Its just flying about from place to place. There's no "life" to the game, like orther mmorpgs. And unlike the other mmorpgs I played, I have no guild or friends, which makes it even deader. Is the upgrade to the horizons/commanders pack worth £20?

It's a simulator not World of Warcraft.

This thread has prompted me to try and revisit the game. I am Cmdr "Ross Killer" on pc version. If anyone wants to ping me a msg.

Jujuuk68 - Member
Is the upgrade to the horizons/commanders pack worth £20?

It's a simulator not World of Warcraft

And in that respects its pretty good, but its still no x-wing.

Imagine how ****ing cool a Star Citizen/x-wing cross would be.

A man can dream.

transporting ships to you is cool, but I've been buying 1 set of top end stuff that fits both of my ships and swapping it to the one I want to use, this is rather clunky, maybe there's a better way of doing it or maybe I just need to get the hang of it.

Swapped my mouse X axis from Yaw to roll last night and now in real danger of crashing whenever I try to enter a space station, I'm hoping it doesn't take long to get used to and is actually worth it. Using FAoff to turn and face your target is also proving tricky to master, would be nice if swapping back to FAon set your throttle back to what it was.

Anyone on PC noticed issues with issuing too many commands at once? Simultaneously rolling, lateral thrust, boosting and firing it seems occasionally something gets missed. Also been doing the fly at station at max speed the hit throttle 0% and deploy landing gear to emergency stop and one or the other key stroke doesn't register and nearly crash.

There's no "life" to the game

It's a simulator

And in that respects its pretty good, but its still no x-wing.

Imagine how **** cool a Star Citizen/x-wing cross would be.

A man can dream.

X-Wing was ace, but Freespace was where it was at for me.

Take it from a long time sim combat nerd - these games are a lot more fun with mates or a regular flying group where you start developing tactics.

Simulators are great in that respect, you are playing for the gameplay not progression.

Some of my best online sim gaming experiences have included taking off from an airfield with four or five mates - in say - P-39s tooled up with rockets. Flying for over an hour in formation to the target, entering enemy airspace undetected and then coming in low, fast and smacking the airfield and everything that moved.... in one pass to avoid the AA. It was hours of scanning the skies, keeping formation, engine management and following nav vectors for about 30 seconds of shooty hilarity and swearing from opponents

These games wont give you instant gratification. Back in the old days of IL2 Sturmovik - you might glimpse the enemy for a second after a 30 minute patrol.... only to get brassed up by some sneaky ****er that climbed up under your blindspot.

<tangent>
how have I been gaming for so long and not heard about n-key rollover limits?
Just for fun I tried out 5 different keyboards:
H UCK BON FOX JUMPS OV H LAZY DOG
HE QUIK BRON FO JUPS OER HE LA DOG
HE QUIC BROWN OX UMP OVER HE Z OG
HE QUIC BROWN OX UMP OVER HE Z OG
HE QUIC BROWN OX UMP OVER HE Z OG
</tangent>

Anyone on PC noticed issues with issuing too many commands at once? Simultaneously rolling, lateral thrust, boosting and firing it seems occasionally something gets missed. Also been doing the fly at station at max speed the hit throttle 0% and deploy landing gear to emergency stop and one or the other key stroke doesn't register and nearly crash.

Thrustmaster HOTAS X - no wrries on key strokes 🙂

Couple of days in, without knowing what I'm doing, up to about cr400,000. But it's as a mmorpg, it all feels very "dead". Its just flying about from place to place. There's no "life" to the game, like orther mmorpgs. And unlike the other mmorpgs I played, I have no guild or friends, which makes it even deader. Is the upgrade to the horizons/commanders pack worth £20?

There's an entire galaxy to spread out in - it's not quiet though. If you go upto the messages menu there's one for CMDR contact history. I usually see a few different people just around my own systems and occasionally get an o7 salute from random passers by. Try looking at the list and chatting,

Wing up with other people and visit a RES (High) or Combat Zone and it's far from quiet. Combat Zone are even more fun if you get a couple of people with big ships and then some smaller ship support like a Vulture or Asp.

Horizons is worth it, most of the fun bits were released in the Horizons updates.

It's not a game all handed to you with easy instructions, it's pretty much, "here's a Galaxy and some stuff, go play with it". Like being a kid again making up your own game 🙂

Cmdr "Ross Killer"

Just been reminded about missions to scan some ruins for the Guardian stuff so might dig out the Asp Explorer and go do that, then catch up on Thargoid chasing.

..... this thread is going to have me purchasing a 1080ti...a VR headset... a thrustmaster warthog hotas and a long throw extension for it.... must resist.... more expensive... crack habbit..... than.... MTB and actual crack combined.

highwayyyy to thaaa dangerrrzooone.

It's a simulator not World of Warcraft.

It's Massive. It's multi player. It's online. You create a character, Commander x. Its an MMORPG. They don't *all* have to take place in dungeons.

FSX is a simulator. X plane is a simulator. Rise of Flight is a simulator. Cliffs over Dover is a simulator. Or the Silent Hunter series, or even Trainz/Train Simulator2016. I am familiar with simulators.

I'd argue it's intent and scope is much more than a simulator. It has guns, quests, a money system, and a persistent, online universe which every player logs into, creates a unique character in, and who then progresses through, and has some effect on the world.

An MMORPG doesn't have to copy WOW (or Guild Wars II, LOTRO, Warhammer online or Rift/Valiant which I never tried) in every respect. But Wow has weapons, quests, a money system, and is persistent on the one location that players are required to log into, (albeit over multiple servers) into which each player creates at least one character, who progresses through and has some effect on the world.

So, whilst I see you're point, it does simulate to some extent, something that doesn't actually exist, and without the level of technical complexity the real thing would have, and has to "fudge" some basic mechanics of physics to exist at all. So it's not really that much of a simulator. Its actually a game, a complex to fly simulator style game, one that multi users log into and play at once at the same time.

So again, I'll ask again, politely, why does the game feel so "dead"? It feels like a single player own pc install game.

Or am I just too "new" and that it opens up a bit more, socially? Does the sterility wear off? Wheres the chat? Wheres the people? Wheres the life? The "spark" to the game? The "groups/guilds" of players?

I think the planetary landings, whilst a good idea in theory, should somehow lead to "life" and a dynamic environment. The Spaceships should be lively, dynamic, mini cities, with places mmorpg players can congregate to chat, exchange knowledge, even if "trade/crafting" and those sorts of things you do find in WOW don't exist. Make me feel there's life outside the cockpit. There seems little immediate facility to find friends in the rpg ways.

In fairness, I did spend several years on WOW Guild, and used to spend half my nights monitoring chat channels ensuring our players were playing nicely, being respectful with each other, sorting out arguments, looking after players with communication needs, and being a "shoulder to cry on". (We were one of the few Guilds, happy to take on players with specific difficulties, like players with Aspergers to varying levels, as I used to "look out" for them, and step in if they started to annoy other players). So in one sense, most of my log in time was actually spent not playing, but ensuring the play time of others was enhanced. I certainly don't want to do all that again.

It just feels like a fairly dry simulator, when arguably, (with space, guns) it should be a lot more than that. Presently, it feels like a few non interactive screens operating out of a cockpit seat, then flying through space, which is always going to look pretty the first few times, and then after a couple of flights resembles just more of the same.

hrustmaster HOTAS X - no wrries on key strokes

this one? certainly a lot cheaper than the other hotas I've heard mentioned, but is it really worth it or is it a cheap and nasty version of the probably very nice but definitely out of my price range A grade setups? >£300 for warthog!!

Yep that's the one, it's cheap but not too nasty, button numbers rub off and it's not as smooth as a £300 warthog probably is. I doubt it will last me years but it's better than the cheap price would suggest. Bought mine a year ago and it's not broke yet.

Combine it with Voice Attack and you never need touch a keyboard again.

So again, I'll ask again, politely, why does the game feel so "dead"? It feels like a single player own pc install game.

Or am I just too "new" and that it opens up a bit more, socially? Does the sterility wear off? Wheres the chat? Wheres the people? Wheres the life? The "spark" to the game? The "groups/guilds" of players?

Regular MMOs make you think you're in a changing and evolving world when it's all fake, the world is designed so you are all forced down the same route and given what appears to be choices but ultimately feeds you the same story as every other player regardless of what choice is taken.

Elite doesn't feed you, you're dropped in a horrible system with the cheapest, crappest ship and you make your own game. Pretty much consistently the people I've heard say it's empty are waiting for the game to deliver an experiece but it won't. The game world carries on without you and doesn't care what you do unless you interact.

When the Engineers update was released, the AI worked out optimal hardpoint loadouts and started engineering NPC ships to beat the cr@p out of players. FDev had to tone it down a bit as they were too good - the AI works well.

The group I play with setup a player faction, the faction was added to a system and by incrceasing influence we took over the system and expanded into other ones. Fly into our systems and the owner is something we created and have to maintain or the Background Simulation might just change the balance.

The Thargoid stuff has been added in drips over then past year, even down to the scary warp interdictions that started happening where you were ripped out of the hyperspace jump and scanned by some huge and scary looking alien ship.

You just have to be active and not expect the game to feed you as all you will see is the space between jumps. I've played a few MMOs over the years and this is one of the first ever games that feels like what you do changes how events run. Going back to a standard Warcraft clone now feels emptier than Elite ever does.

hotas, voice attack, headset, hmm this "summer sale" game might end up not being quite so cheap after all

What he said ^.

MMORPG follow pretty much set paths that have no effect on the universe as a whole other than the instance you're in or a weekly/monthly community challenge. MMO's like Elite have everything someone does has an effect on themselves plus the universe around them. They're is no real set plots like MMORPGS you get with World of Warcraft, Old Republic or Star Trek Online.

If you've not seen the Thargoid scanning.

@Thom, does it help if I tell you the price of the rift has been slashed? 😈

I have this joystick. Does the job for me apart from the occasional creak but I'll probably take it apart at some point and grease it to sort that.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000U1OOH4

I don't play it as much as when it first came out, but this makes it so much easier http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/x52pro.html

I'd recommend spending the 100 or so extra if you have rudder pedals, on the Thrustmaster Warthog - I have the older Cougar (F16 stick). My X45 crapped out after 6 months of use, the Cougar has lasted for 8 years so far. However, I'd also recommend getting an extender to increase the throw of the Warthog and reduce the force needed to move it - then either floor mount it on a stool type thing - or buy a desk adaptor so that it is attached to your desk but below it. There's a company making these - which gives you a much more ergonomic arm position.

You will also need to download a script to get the toggles to work, as they are proper two way toggles as apposed to the one click switches that return to centre on the Saitek - and thus **** with the ED controls. The Warthog is fully programmable though - and this is why scripts exist to get around that.

If you can't be arsed with all of that and don't minding potentially binning a 200 quid joystick after 6 months to a year, get the Saitek.

Retired the Cobra III last night, turns out that's what I had. Bought a type 6 as I was tired of sitting in RES areas/Nav beacons waiting around for combat and have decided to try some hand at haulage/courier type missions, seems good rep and money if I'm selective what I pick. Found some good tools for optimizing routes etc so gonna give that a whirl tonight.

That Warthog is simple excessive for this game...might have to get one.

Wahoo it's payday! as of last night I was sitting at 25% and 75% in trade/bounty CG so should be getting around 18million. As I'm feeling so flush I'm going to order one of those HOTAS X setups 🙂 So tonight I'll be looking to buy that Asp, kit it out for all rounder duties and do some missions, just need to select a home system, probably in the empire as I want a clipper.....hmm

I did part of the bounty one but got so bored of waiting around for wanted call signs that i gave up and left, got to the first tier i think though. Looking at like 500k reward. Will see what comes up after these ones finish 🙂

I got one of [url= https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thrustmaster-T-Flight-Joystick-manette-Boutons/dp/B001CXYMFS ]these[/url] at the minute, works perfectly for my needs

Been too knackered between night to chase last weeks CG and too busy before that. I'll have to check out this week's.

The PS4 Hotas is really great, makes a big difference to the game. Bit crap to use in photo mode, you can get the camera to go anywhere but where you want.

I've spent far too much time on this game now though, and not enough riding!

Woooo! I got A Cobra 🙂

Top tip though. Don't go on a mission to carry goods somewhere, get there and realise you didn't accept the mission 😕

Oh, good work.

[not very stealth ad] if anyone wants a pc code for the full Commander deluxe game i.e. base game and horizons then drop me a mail. £25 rather than £40 [/not very stealth ad]

Doing the Bounty Hunting CG in LTT 4961 at the moment if anyone want to wing up.

Been doing the trade CG, quit at 1000 tons as i was getting bored running the same route for very little money 🙁

regarding the "Hotas X" argos have the pc/ps3 [url= http://www.argos.co.uk/product/4289418?cmpid=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59158|cid:200291570|agid:12525670250|tid:aud-144400486596:pla-146219932370|crid:66128558090|nw:g|rnd:8132712632606064844|dvc:c|adp:1o1&gclid=CISuoL7_itUCFaoW0wodwLoNfQ ][i]T flight[/i] hotas X[/url] and pretty sure thats the one thats been discussed here, but theres also a HOTAS X 2, no idea what the difference is. Bit of googling suggests the hotas x has 4 "mode" buttons on the rudder so you effectivley quadruple the buttons you have available, example config [url= https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B47mwGbn0vvub09vZmYzdlhMZjA/view ]here[/url], sounds like the Tflight hotas X should dispense with need for K&M altogether.

Any comments from thustmaster owners?
(still feel very seedy going into argos and searching for "thrustmaster")

Lashing down here today so might fire the PS4 up later for some CG.

Pimped Cobra and 30 mil in savings towards something bigger. Need 65 mil though so another two nights of grinding coming up...... Ping Ross Killer if you are on PC

Been doing the trade CG, quit at 1000 tons as i was getting bored running the same route for very little money

I'm procrastinating and not firing it up. Fancied having a go at the Guardian Ancient Ruins scans. 100 and odd scans and some artefact collecting that if you do it all can net a huge amount of cash.

Raining outside so could be an Elite day with a quick Zwift later on.

On the Hotas thing, not sure. Mine is the TFlight Hotas X with the red trim and a PC\PlayStation switch - about a year old. There's one with blue trim that may be PS4 only and an Xbox One version now. If there's another new one with extra buttons I might consider an upgrade.
You can setup mode switch on the basic one, in the custom bindings for Elite, press and hold the button you want to use as mode switch and then button you want as a command. So you could have Joy5 as Supercruise and Joy8+Joy5 as Jump. Kind of works, there are loads of keymaps on Reddit if you stand having to look at Reddit. Another place those people who use Twitter and leave YouTube comments live - often need to wash afterwards 🙁

[Edit: Just realised, I play on PC, might not work on PS4 the same]

Been doing the Ancient Guardians mission for the last couple of days. It's very absorbing, whizzing around ancient ruins learning about a long dead(?) civilisation..
I'm 75% done, another day should see me heading back into the bubble to cash in my 201million credit reward... 😀

Can definitely back up the HOTAS opinions, I've been playing Elite since beta and can't imagine how anyone can cope without one, it transforms how the game plays. For example, lots of people keep going on about docking computers, can't see the reason to clog up a slot with one as I can be inside a station within a minute of dropping out of super cruise, aligning with the slot and matching rotation is just so much more intuitive with a HOTAS.
Just trying my best to forget about the Oculus price drop.. although.. my birthday is in a couple of weeks.. 😉

@DONK, this is the 2nd trade CG this week, the devs set the total sum needed wrong, missed a few 000's from the quantity needed and the goal was finished in 8 hours...from that i did two loads and got like 8 mill 🙂 in which i had enough to buy my ASP. Running superconductors into conway city now at around 500k profit per run. Looking at 1072 tons collected and i'm only at top 50% with a return of 2.2mcr currently.

Transporting for the CG just done one run and made 170k just from that. 😀

Now. I've upgraded to 64 Ton cargo hold do I go brave and swap the shield generator with a 32?

Ive never get rid of the shield generator just for more space, the amount of times i've been interdicted today is mental, its almost every run now. shield has saved my arse multiple times 🙂

That's my fear I've not removed them.

Seem people are taking part in the CGs now the bounty hunting one has been completed, I had a quick go of it yesterday morning before heading out but only enough to gain in the top 100%.

Well that's been a session and a half, started the Ancient Ruin scans.

Travelled over 1000LY, 101 scans in the SRV and finally got the 201,000,000CR message. Flying back to the bubble and home to cash in and make the Anaconda a bit less of a barge. Only 34 jumps and about 700LY to go.

A bit of a long job but not as dull as I'd expected.

That's some pay out though.

The Thargoids are coming!

possibly daft questions, I've got the horizons version (possibly season pack) is the 2.4 a free upgrade or will I need to buy it?

Had assumed I'd have to pay for it but had a quick look and I can't see a purchase option

Also seen some "back up your bindings" notifications

Its just an update I think. If you have it through steam it'll just update or just open up the Elite Dangerous Launcher and iirc there is a look for updates button? Could be wrong on that last one

cool, will just have to make sure I back up bindings before steam steamrollers the update on 🙂

Yup it’s a patch with a big update.

I’ve not been on in months as the weather has been to good, might start back up if the weather turns rubbish.

Sorely - VERY sorely - tempted to spend money I don't really have on PS4 and ED... Is it workable with the standard dualshock doobbery, or do I need to find more cash I don't have on a controller? Don't have to bother with a headset or anything, do I?

You can pick them up cheap enough secondhand they DualShock works very well with ED they’ve put a lot of thought into it.

Cheers Drac, much appreciated. 🙂 *wrestles with conscience*

First Thargoid encounter today near Maia.

Ouch...

was a rebuy involved nemesis? I haven't run in to any yet

Couple of Qs incase anyone is still interested. For trading ships do you bother fitting guns? As I haven't been successfully interdicted by NPC and I mainly play in mobius/solo I figure there's no point, anyone see a flaw in there? (I'm also scrapping shields for more cargo and to run silently for smuggling, occasional scrapes to repair but worth it so far)

Also is anyone using missiles? Have only used MC and various lasers fully engineered, missiles sound like they have potential but possibly just a load of faff. Is anyone going to convince me otherwise? Done some searches but not got any solid info, most of it dated so has probably been patched into insignificance.

I always ran shields with trading but only in open play, solo play there was no point as the interdiction always failed.

Never used missiles though so no epxerience there, in my combat set up i always used burst lasers to take their shield down then gimballed turrets, kinetic thingys, cant remember the name right now :S

Missiles and Torps are more an Alpha strike thing, great for PvP but not as useful in PvE as the amount of ammo is low.

When trading, especially in the bigger ships (that turn too slowly to win the Interdiction mini-game), just throttle back and submit to the interdiction, as soon as you drop hit the throttle and keep boosting until FSD cooldown is up, then jump away. As long as you are flying something other than a T9 with E rated thrusters you will generally jump out with only a few hits.

I'd always run a small shield, just in case to be honest. Definitely no weapons other than a Point Defence or 2 on a trader, you want max jump range generally.

Definitely no weapons other than a Point Defence or 2 on a trader, you want max jump range generally.

With the low ammo thing, I've heard a few say "not for pve" but I'm only hitting a couple of ships, getting out of trouble at the odd USS or an assassination mission, so low ammo shouldn't be an issue, should it? I'm not sitting in CZs for hours on end.

So after buying it in February, I finally got around to downloading it today (PC version). Is there anything I should know or do before I dive in - I see there's a tutorial so I'll just start with that?

It was going cheap with the extra packs so likewise finally did the same a while back. Started the tutorial and found it a right pain in the arse. Not played it since.

Problem from what I can tell is Braben's approach is all about the realism, same with the old Frontier games. Original Elite him & Bell (probably Bell's choice) went with a compromise of arcade playability, and it was way more enjoyable. Shame the two had a falling out and we don't get Bell's input.

I may give it another go. I get the impression I need some kit to make it more playable than with a keyboard and mouse. Original Elite was great fun just with a keyboard.

I got out of the habit of paying it so never been on for months, it’s a great game though.

My experience was summarised more eloquently by someone who had the same feeling about the game

"the ocean may be miles wide, but it's only an inch deep"

I ran around doing bounty hunting and planetary scan missions and stuff, bought a few shiny ships, did some engineering stuff, and then ran out of a point to do anything. If you ever played the classic Privateer, imagine that but universe but with no storyline.

Can't say if this has changed with Thargoids etc but I'm not going to give it another go. It's a bit like someone tried to create a universe the size and complexity of eve online with a flight simulator core rather than a bit of everything, and done a poor job of executing it.

I get the impression I need some kit to make it more playable than with a keyboard and mouse.

Biggest problem I had with K&M was the input limit, press more than a couple keys and it doesn't register any more, keyboard limits differ but reckon you'll max out any playing this, I bought a thrustmaster hotas X, much better. I played ED to death for a while, been on a break from it but going back to it soon, just waiting for some of the planned additions. Don't get stuck grinding for cash/rep/engineers, there's plenty of stuff to do but it seems you have to seek some of it out.