Elite: Dangerous

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there's a frog in my snake oil
Yeah, it'll be a pain for those with really restrictive connections, or who wanna laptop play while on the go or something. Can see the thinking though, that offline players could exploit static markets etc.

I'm still hiding in Solo right now, just enjoying the stability and smooth drop out of hyperspace. Looking forward to setting my expectations with Gamma (although I don't imagine I'll step into multiplay until a few patches have dropped )

Been chatting on the Reddits about future expansions, especially the out-of-seat stuff. Some people making the point that Frontier should do a good job of beasties, be they planet-based or alien, going by their various zoo franchises. On people tho, their canned 'Outsider' has me a touch worried... Same engine base etc, all be it a pretty dated build now. They do look a bit... Gary's Mod. (I kinda like some of the eccentricity in the character faces, and hell HL2 ended up being very personable, but I'm expecting a bit of uncanny valley to be coming our way. Filling a universe with tech and wonder is one thing, and they've aced a lot of that, but a peopled living universe is gonna be tough).

Action also looks a bit floaty, for what was apparently finished gameplay. Maybe that'll help with the zero-G stuff



But ach, that's all light years away anyway
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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here



The People's Republic of Clogher
I've just found a new favourite place! Wyrd, be damned.



Oh yes!
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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan



there's a frog in my snake oil
Haha Damn don't stay there man, you'll be constantly replacing your engine



The People's Republic of Clogher
Now, I know Wankel is a famous rotary engine brand but I also remember Braben saying that he and Ian Bell hunted through the original game in order to remove dodgy planet and station names.

Maybe Mr Wankel (please let his first name be Richard ) was a Kickstarter backer?



there's a frog in my snake oil
Woo, Christmas came early



Luvvvving this. Will need to play with the set up a lot but already found quite a nice layout which allows me to use all 6 axis with ease (great fun for stunting around asteroids ). I'm finding the hat stick is really cool for the horiz/vert thrusters as I hoped - really good for last minute adjustments in close proximity.

Using the two 'shift' keys on the thrust stick to get more use out of all the buttons. Bit tricksy but think it'll become second nature. (Now I've just gotta stop pressing 'flight-asst-off' by mistake :S)

Gonna have to get used to setting the speed to the turn zone manually, but being able to flip into reverse in a trice is neat. My main issue is an old one I have with joysticks generally - getting a bit of roll when I'm trying to pitch alone. Think I've fixed it by edging the X axis deadzone along a bit.

Anyways, cheers for the reco It's proper solid. BT came up trumps too, just managed to catch their re-stock in time. They're going like hotcakes.

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Kinda good to see Braben braving the seething masses for a Q&A. Found this bit intriguingly vainglorious tho...

Q: How will you (or will you) keep the E: D galaxy synced with our rapidly expanding knowledge of what real star systems are actually like? What if a star systems at release has not been studied and so has several procedurally generated planets but a few years later it is discovered that it has no detectable planets?

A: No detectable planets does not mean no planets... The main methods for detection at the moment are Doppler movements of the parent star and occultation. Both of these fail if a system is 'flat on' to us - ie if the planets orbit in a plane perpendicular to our viewing direction. So in that case we would be OK leaving them (though we may have to tweak the system axis...). Less flippantly we will look at each one as it is discovered. I hope the discoveries will already be there, in which case we just make an addition to the text box, but in others it may mean adjusting an orbit.
So, he thinks the galaxy generation is so good it includes undiscovered planets? IE that they've nailed all the vagaries of planet creation?

He needs to make a God-game next



The People's Republic of Clogher
Nice!

I think I picked up the last of the batch when I got mine - checked back to the store page a few minutes later and it was showing out of stock prompting a nervous wait until I got sent my confirmation email. The way I've configured mine is that the directional thrust only works when the landing gear is down but it's mainly the stock button placements after that.



there's a frog in my snake oil
Yeah, either they're only getting tiny restocks or there's a lot of people hammering at the door!

Oo, do you not use the directional thrusters in free flight? They're dead useful for altering your loop and that, and for doing the strafe-one-way-yaw-the-other trick when head to head

Incidentally I saw that they nerfed the crash damage a fair bit, which is cool. I kept getting wiped out in intense war zones through collisions. Did seem a bit harsh as you normally never see them coming.



The People's Republic of Clogher
I see that Davey B has addressed some of the online-only issues idiots on the internet are having. Basically, if the servers ever get taken offline they'll release an archived version of the game with the most up-to-date stats. Seems fair.



there's a frog in my snake oil
Yeah they've done a pretty good job of talking it over now.

I get the guys who are annoyed because they travel a lot and often get zero signal, but want to be sure they can play. The very low requirement for solo should mollify them some tho (so Braben's phone-tethering trick should work for many if they can't source some wifi etc).

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The mighty Thrustmaster has currently made me a worse pilot . I'm just zipping through the neat new combat tutorials, and it seems that the yaw is less subtle than using an analogue stick, which makes fine-tuning your approach run trickier. The in-stick yaw is cool, but has a fairly hefty dead zone, while the yaw buttons on the throttle seems to be just big lumpy inputs. I've ended up staying with the twisty stick, as it's got more graduations once you hit the starting point, but it's a proper physical activity during a marathon chase!

It still feels much more badass and intuitive on the whole, but I'm totally getting some gimballed weapons the minute I can

Either way, think I'm gonna end up with a wrist like a female Romanian wrestler



The People's Republic of Clogher

Either way, think I'm gonna end up with a wrist like a female Romanian wrestler
You wish.

I actually ended up raising the deadzones for twisty-yaw. Never bothered mapping it to the throttle rocker because I was using it for my directional thrust. Might try your d-pad nipple trick though, to free up some buttons.

The internet rage is tiresomely predictable but Braben should be clearer about refunds to people who've used the Beta. You're right, the internet requirements in Solo mode should be pretty tiny - all you're doing is touching base with the central server occasionally to get some stat updates.

Apparently Saturday's Gamma build will be the end of the save wipes. Unfortunately it'll also be 24 hours after DA Inquisition unlocks.



there's a frog in my snake oil
I actually ended up raising the deadzones for twisty-yaw. Never bothered mapping it to the throttle rocker because I was using it for my directional thrust. Might try your d-pad nipple trick though, to free up some buttons.
Blimey, I guess that could work too, at least you'd know you've really gotta twist to hit the biting point.

Nipple is definitely great for stunt flying I was able to buzz the Capital ship very satisfyingly, making little corrections when I was about to slam into an outcropping. Not sure how useful it actually is, but it's fun

I've got it working for menus too, just by adding 'left shift'. Seems to work ok.

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I think he's come and flat out said that if you've played it you're pretty screwed. But at least it's upfront.

And on the Gamma, ach, you were saving yourself for the full launch anyway right (Plus you'll probably start about 3 times anyway )



The People's Republic of Clogher
If the game allows me I want a trader save, a merc save and a miner/freelancer save.

I think the most recent Braben utterances have been that they're looking at Beta-player refunds on a case by case basis. If you've put the number of hours in that you or I have then I'm guessing there's no chance but what about someone who dropped £50, lives where my mate does in a broadband blackspot area (where he gets either nothing or 3 meg on a good day) and started the game for a few minutes after every patch just to see how things were progressing? My mate very nearly bought the Beta, in fact it was me who persuaded him to wait until launch.

I'd say that the number of buyers with a genuine grievance is tiny but if Web 2.0 has taught us anything it's that face spiting by nose removal is a valid form of criticism. As long as it's in 140 characters or less...



there's a frog in my snake oil
Hey if they're tweeting about they're kinda undermining their case

*EDIT* Oh dear lord...



*OTHER EDIT*

My latest run in with the Capital ship




there's a frog in my snake oil
Worst...changelog...ever...

"Replace some potentially offensive station names"
Goodbye Wankel Colony

Other than that, fairly epic Will hopefully get to playing around with the new USS random events and maybe some faction missions before the next wipe. Def looks like they've fleshed out the universe a bit more generally. Trading tweaks look interesting too.



The People's Republic of Clogher
Goodbye Wankel Colony
Me posting the pic on Giant Bomb to try and lighten the No Offline Mode thread drew attention to it. It's my fault.

I'll have a go with 3.9 later.



The People's Republic of Clogher
3.9 impressions generally extremely positive. Station landings are still glitchy as all hell in online but the stuttering around planets in Super Cruise (something which I've seen others complain about) has all but gone for me. The occasional hitch when the LOD changes but nothing major.

Loads of interdictions though, more than I remember. That might be because of the numbers playing and it felt good to smoke the world's most useless pirate (not an AI either) with my stock Sidewinder on my very first run.



there's a frog in my snake oil
Yeah just had a quick dip on my break. Does seem smoother all round. Played online without issues too which is promising (especially given I've remembered I'm on a wifi dongle, which isn't ideal). Managed to dodge quite a determined interdiction, which I suspect was a player - made me feel better about my HOTAS handling. In theory we should see less of them though, going by the log notes - less NPC cop stops etc anyway, especially if you're rated in the region.

Liked this little USS exchange someone stuck in redditland - The surprise appearance of MaggieMilksnatcher . Hopefully there'll be lots of these mini-story iterations - makings USS's the tempting caves of Skyrim etc



The People's Republic of Clogher
I'm getting interdicted once a trip, sometimes more, and got totally owned by a fully kitted out Eagle last time I logged in. I think it might be because I've got 3 fines outstanding, all of them due to game crashes and glitches making me bork quests. If that continues into the full release (heck, even now seeing as this save isn't gonna be wiped) a lot of people are going to moan.

And the Elite userbase seems moanier than most.



there's a frog in my snake oil
This is how confident I am there will be a pre-launch wipe



(He enjoyed flying at the sun - luckily he'd put it in reverse )

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Feeling quite confident about having a fun game on the 16th now. Will buzz about and check out some stuff, like the expanded fleet battles (it seems), and the USS content etc in the meantime. Maybe follow Braben's tip to head 'up' and see the Galaxy's form revealed beneath you in the map . Just gonna try and stay away from main story surprises for now.

Good to see proof of derelict ships too