Author Topic: Elite Dangerous  (Read 183759 times)

Rogerio

  • Smarties
  • Newbie
  • ******
  • Posts: 35
  • Tickle me, Sandi.
Elite Dangerous
« on: December 02, 2016, 05:15:46 AM »
Hi folks, does anyone here play Elite Dangerous and can give me some feedback if its worth starting it now?

I used to play EvE since 2004 and I quit some years ago and that was one type of game that if you left, you could literally never catch up with people who continued it.

So, is it easy to get into ED?

Do we even have a "community" there that people play together, etc?

Also, do they have any referral system as I am thinking in getting it, so might as well help a fellow member here. :)  :snoop:

dsmart

  • Supreme Cmdr
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4915
    • Smart Speak Blog
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2016, 07:17:12 AM »
Check the kermits_pad_a_terre channel on my Discord server. If you don't have access, let me know.
Star Citizen isn't a game. It's a TV show about a bunch of characters making a game. It's basically "This is Spinal Tap" - except people think the band is real.

Beexoffel

  • Smarties
  • Newbie
  • ******
  • Posts: 46
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2016, 02:46:38 AM »
My message here, it has disappeared. Lost in the refactoring of the forum?
Anyway, let me reiterate:
I've been playing Elite:Dangerous a couple of days per week most weeks since November 2014. I'm good at grinding.

Kyrt

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 176
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2016, 04:07:03 AM »
Hi folks, does anyone here play Elite Dangerous and can give me some feedback if its worth starting it now?

I used to play EvE since 2004 and I quit some years ago and that was one type of game that if you left, you could literally never catch up with people who continued it.

So, is it easy to get into ED?

Do we even have a "community" there that people play together, etc?

Also, do they have any referral system as I am thinking in getting it, so might as well help a fellow member here. :)  :snoop:

Elite....IMO....is a decent game. Not great, it has problems and issues of its own.....but I still play it and have fun.

It is vast....but much of that vastness does feel a bit empty
It has a lot to do...but there is a lot of grinding

Frontier have made a number of decisions that i think were mistakes and there are many areas which could be improved.

Again, IMO.

But....I still play it....I still have fun....it looks beautiful and has great sound....the flight model feels 'right' to me...

And if it is unstructured and vast today, Frontier are still developing it and have ambitious plans to add new features and gameplay aspects, and are continuing to improve those already in the game.

Don't expect ED to be the BDSSE. But there are player groupings...ED could do with some better Clan/Guild systems though...and it isn't impossible to catchup with the front ranks. Time consuming perhaps but not impossible.

Is it easy to get into? For the basics? Yes. It could be better but it's devent enough if you know the type of game.

And no...no referral system.

If you like this type of game I'd say give it a go. You'll want the basic game and the Horizons pass for the full current experience but there is no subscription fee.

dsmart

  • Supreme Cmdr
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4915
    • Smart Speak Blog
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2016, 06:08:55 AM »
Yeah, I am a big fan of ED as well, though they have made some questionable decisions. What is concerning to me is that it looks like, aside from maybe space legs, they are probably not going to take it as far as they possibly could.

What we space simmers need is a triple-A quality capital ship game with the visuals and audio direction of ED which, to me, has set the bar very high in that regard. Into The Stars totally blew it. So it looks like only Universal Combat remains in that arena; but the last time I released a title in the series was back in 2009.  :cripes:

In fact, I decided to start small by doing some visual and backend upgrades to Universal Combat CE, gauging the response, then branching out to multiplayer and then fps inside stations and capital ships like we have in Line Of Defense via DLC updates down the road.

The genre has always been niche, and indies really don't have that much money to spend on such a title. In fact, to do what I want to do with UCCE would cost north of $5 million, easy. I don't think Battlescape Infinity or Dual Universe are going to make a dent in the genre either because more titles isn't the answer; more quality titles with a broad scope is where I believe the future for the genre lies. Which is precisely why I had backed Star Citizen, thinking that it was going to cross that threshold. But alas, here we are.
Star Citizen isn't a game. It's a TV show about a bunch of characters making a game. It's basically "This is Spinal Tap" - except people think the band is real.

Rogerio

  • Smarties
  • Newbie
  • ******
  • Posts: 35
  • Tickle me, Sandi.
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2016, 04:12:01 AM »
Thanks for the insights, guys.

Perhaps for now I will wait until ED (and the version with all DLC) is on sale, then I will bite the bullet and get it.

I have had some nostalgia as of lately when I installed Freelancer again and played it a bit.

"THIS IS FREELANCER ALPHA ONE DASH ONE. REQUESTING PERMISSION TO DOCK."

Hah, oh the memories.

At one point I was also tempted to return to EvE, but I have grown older now and I am not into the whole PVP thing anymore, in fact never was (I was a miner) but the rise of free to play disposable accounts/ships made suicide ganking a real thing and that kinda bothers me a bit.
And as Derek said, it is a niche thing (even though it doesnt seem) and the reason many people backed SC, but we will be living on Mars before that game is released. lol

So all in all, seems ED is a great alternative if on sale (missed the 35$ deluxe pack sale).

Beexoffel

  • Smarties
  • Newbie
  • ******
  • Posts: 46
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #6 on: December 06, 2016, 04:40:56 AM »
"THIS IS FREELANCER ALPHA ONE DASH ONE. REQUESTING PERMISSION TO DOCK."

Hah, oh the memories.

Then you'll like the stations in Elite greeting you with "Faulcon DeLacey Romeo Oscar Gamma, please proceed to landing pad zero-five." where they use spaceship brand plus the first three letters of your name.

Enjoy the views. One of the complains is sameishness of stuff, but I've spent a lot of time exploring and the variation is in the details. Not every red planet is a Mars.

Rogerio

  • Smarties
  • Newbie
  • ******
  • Posts: 35
  • Tickle me, Sandi.
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #7 on: December 06, 2016, 04:53:15 AM »
"THIS IS FREELANCER ALPHA ONE DASH ONE. REQUESTING PERMISSION TO DOCK."

Hah, oh the memories.

Then you'll like the stations in Elite greeting you with "Faulcon DeLacey Romeo Oscar Gamma, please proceed to landing pad zero-five." where they use spaceship brand plus the first three letters of your name.

Enjoy the views. One of the complains is sameishness of stuff, but I've spent a lot of time exploring and the variation is in the details. Not every red planet is a Mars.

Nice!

How is it in terms of loot, missions, exploration?

I have seen plenty of reviews but they are a bit vague. I would love to be able to go out there in some place, kill some NPC ships, loot stuff, craft, upgrade, etc. Either in a mission or not.

Beexoffel

  • Smarties
  • Newbie
  • ******
  • Posts: 46
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2016, 05:35:03 AM »
Nice!

How is it in terms of loot, missions, exploration?

I have seen plenty of reviews but they are a bit vague. I would love to be able to go out there in some place, kill some NPC ships, loot stuff, craft, upgrade, etc. Either in a mission or not.
For starters, it's kind of slow. Which suits me well but is not for everyone.
You mention three things, and I do find myself thinking at times "what shall I do now?".
If I choose 'loot', that would be 'shoot a ship, see what drops out', which can be cargo or material for engineers to make little upgrades to your ship. Dropped cargo is a slow way to make money and you never know if it's valuable. Shooting ships is more profitable for the rewards you get for shooting wanted ships or ships in war zones.
Loot implies combat, which is slow paced but can be over in seconds - chance may confront you with something way overpowered. Part of the 'dangerous' in the title is to know, even though most of the game is relaxed, to decide in a second to run, drop heat sinks or brake hard. Combat can also give duels lasting ten minutes of speed/direction and power management.
Other loot is from crashed ships on planets. Again, not a sure way to make money. But a good way to be a tourist.

Missions come mostly in the forms of transport something or shoot something or buy something and bring it back. There's a fair amount of variation in the details and the way you can perform them. Like when I found out I can get 'kill this many ships of faction X' by going to one of those faction's planet bases and drop my anti-ship proximity mines, which gently drift down to the base and then explode destroying all its 'skimmers', a kind of base protection drones. Probably not how Frontier intended it, hehe.
Passenger missions are a special kind of cargo missions with one or a number of waypoints, pays fairly well once your rep with a faction is OK. I still haven't figured out how to give my VIP his ton of fish when he asks for it.

Exploration is my specialty because I get relaxed by repetitive tasks after a day of work. It consists of going to a system you haven't visited before, press a button to collect basic data and locations of the bodies there, and then picking some to scan in detail by getting up close and just looking at it for half a minute. If it's an airless rock, you can land on it and drive around and collect minerals for various functions like car fuel, ship jump range improving fuel and repairs.
A big attraction for me is being the first to scan bodies. When you bring the data home, you then get your name on it. Exploring is a repetitive endurance thing that leads to people posting lots of screenshots, trying to find a gas giant/ice ball/rock/... bigger/hotter/closer/... than any others and bragging about time and distance travelled. Along with tragic stories of ship loss, when the repetitive, calm, sameish nature has once again lead to complacency and catastrophic close-ups with a white dwarf or coming in too fast while landing. Weeks or months of work are lost this way. The 'dangerous' part hides most of the time, but will come out at unexpected times. This game does not care about your skill level.

Rogerio

  • Smarties
  • Newbie
  • ******
  • Posts: 35
  • Tickle me, Sandi.
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2016, 07:23:06 AM »
Thank you very much for the detailed insight.

I will definetely get it on the next sale!  :lesnick:   :snoop:

Beexoffel

  • Smarties
  • Newbie
  • ******
  • Posts: 46
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #10 on: December 06, 2016, 07:42:58 AM »
Thank you very much for the detailed insight.

I will definetely get it on the next sale!  :lesnick:   :snoop:
You're welcome!
I'd like to add that I wrote the above with partial intent to point out the weaknesses to help you decide against spending on something you might not like. Elite may be an acquired taste. Frontier forum polls, for what such polls are worth, put the average player age between 35 and 45, with a significant number of people over 50. So that you may know what you might get yourself into  ;)

krylite

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 197
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #11 on: November 29, 2017, 03:31:41 AM »
Elite: Dangerous is on sale now. You can get the combo with horizons and all the current updates for ~ $32
Plus the next upcoming season of upgrades will be free for horizon owners for the entirety of 2018.
So a great deal for imo, the BDSSE today.


krylite

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 197
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #12 on: June 17, 2018, 09:12:07 PM »
Nice video on the "stellar forge" of ED and the galaxy simulation details: (starts 6min)


Beyond , being a free season of updates for Horizons owners has been great so far. Revamped engineers, crime & punishment, thargoid scouts which hearken back to the old Elite and FFE, and new guardian items and mystery obelisks including two new ships: T-10 & the Chieftan.


Chapter 2 arriving on June 28th /w new ship the Challenger.

And, the content shown in ED's trailers actually do come out in the game within weeks later.  :laugh:

« Last Edit: June 17, 2018, 09:28:52 PM by krylite »

dsmart

  • Supreme Cmdr
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4915
    • Smart Speak Blog
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #13 on: June 18, 2018, 04:59:44 AM »
Thanks for sharing those. I haven't been in ED for awhile now.

And yeah, unlike those other guys, their trailers tend to have features which are either already in the game, or in the upcoming update.

Also, compare this recent Braben interview, with Croberts verbal diarrhea.

https://variety.com/2018/gaming/features/david-braben-interview-1202846009/
« Last Edit: June 18, 2018, 05:08:07 AM by dsmart »
Star Citizen isn't a game. It's a TV show about a bunch of characters making a game. It's basically "This is Spinal Tap" - except people think the band is real.

krylite

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 197
Re: Elite Dangerous
« Reply #14 on: June 27, 2018, 04:44:59 PM »
You're welcome Derek. I'd already seen that article, but thanks. Yes, agreed Braben seems far more of a professional that has got his act and company together than CRobbers and I believe Frontier is still committed to ED's future. Here is the latest trailer (in-game engine looking) which showcases the Krait which arrives tomorrow!


Also great 'spacelegs' tease by FDev (rare hint of what they're working on behind the scenes, imo) and I'd think another nail in the coffin of SC. CIG-management must be shaking in their backer funded shoes knowing that their ponzi days are limited on seeing it.
« Last Edit: June 27, 2018, 04:56:34 PM by krylite »

 

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk