If you didn't like it a year before, you won't like it now. There are some new features like basic multicrew, but the basic gameplay remained the same. The 2.4 expansion with aliens will come out shortly. After that it is rumored that the next season will be about the overhaul of the basic mechanics to make it more interesting.
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Elite: Dangerous
- Thread starter Raapys
- Start date
not even close. not to mention, the next round of "big patches" (i.e. DLCs) are supposed to focus on fleshing out the core mechanics... i wonder how they plan to monetise what are essentially regular patches, lol. hopefully they try it and it leads to the sacking of some key personnel who are holding the game back...
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2017
- Messages
- 31,889
The people holding the game back are the community. (Yes, I'm still salty about ED)
That said, didn't they plan on making certain season features free eventually?
nah, the main people who are holding the game back are Sandro and Brookes, they're the leads when it comes to design and features and shit, and they've proven time and again they have no idea how to design sensible gameplay loops so they resort to the only thing they know: senseless, depthless, monotonous, soul-crushing grind
dunno about free features. and seeing as to how they're trying to greedily monetise every little tiny possible bit, i seriously doubt they'll make S2 free. ever. plus, they've confirmed they're moving away from the "seasons" model.
speaking of seasons... i wonder what they'll include as S2-exclusive content for the 2.4 patch, as that one focuses on the Thargoids and absolutely nothing gameplay-wise they've showed so far looks like it's exclusive content for those who paid for S2. if the only exclusive shit will be "Thargoid encounters... but on the ground!" for us who paid for S2, i swear i'm finally uninstalling
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2015
- Messages
- 20,726
Burning Bridges
Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Which update was the one with the rumored rebalancing? The next one that comes after the rumored one that comes out in fall/winter 2017 or the one after that?
I think you are talking about the update after that one.
Burning Bridges
Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Who's playing this? I get back into it from time to time.
Trading in this game sucks, but I have made most of my money with mining. If it was not for mining I would have long given up on the game.
It can be frustrating at first, managing the limpets and all the problems. And seems not to pay off. But if you know what you are doing it becomes good, steady cash and for me it became a challenge to make as much money per time as I can.
With a system that still turns out hugh paying missions (which are a bitch to find) I can make 3-6 million in 1 mining trip. My record so far was 6.7 million in 1 expedition with a 96ton Asp. I was now able to afford a Python and with it I think I could realistically make up to 10 million by just bulk mining the shit out of everything. And not vent Palladium and Platinum to make room for Osmium/Painite as I have to do now.
Unfortunately that was nerfed again and again. For some reason there is only some missions left for Osmium. The insane missions that paid Platinum and Painite 3 times the market price are gone (fortunately I had made 20 millions from it when it still worked). They also raised the normal price for Painite to 73K. Almost 2/3 of my income is mining for Painite and Osmium (which I can sell for 60K to certain allied factions, making it almost as valuable as Painite).
I also tried ice mining a few times which looked like it was good money (Bromelite pays up to 60K per ton). But the materials are in such small quantities that it becomes a real grind. mining 60 tons Bromelite took around 3 hours and I never want to go there again. And I did not get a single fucking diamond either.
I can make roughly the same amount of money with trading. I have a planet that spawns 3 million worth of missions for Consumer Goods, Performance Enhancers, Progenitor Cells and all the other stuff that I buy at a Hightech world, so I spam those missions and fill the Python with ~250 tons. 2 to 2.5 million for 6-8 jumps and two dockings, which I now do with a docking computer. It works and it's easy money. But I like mining more.
Trading in this game sucks, but I have made most of my money with mining. If it was not for mining I would have long given up on the game.
It can be frustrating at first, managing the limpets and all the problems. And seems not to pay off. But if you know what you are doing it becomes good, steady cash and for me it became a challenge to make as much money per time as I can.
With a system that still turns out hugh paying missions (which are a bitch to find) I can make 3-6 million in 1 mining trip. My record so far was 6.7 million in 1 expedition with a 96ton Asp. I was now able to afford a Python and with it I think I could realistically make up to 10 million by just bulk mining the shit out of everything. And not vent Palladium and Platinum to make room for Osmium/Painite as I have to do now.
Unfortunately that was nerfed again and again. For some reason there is only some missions left for Osmium. The insane missions that paid Platinum and Painite 3 times the market price are gone (fortunately I had made 20 millions from it when it still worked). They also raised the normal price for Painite to 73K. Almost 2/3 of my income is mining for Painite and Osmium (which I can sell for 60K to certain allied factions, making it almost as valuable as Painite).
I also tried ice mining a few times which looked like it was good money (Bromelite pays up to 60K per ton). But the materials are in such small quantities that it becomes a real grind. mining 60 tons Bromelite took around 3 hours and I never want to go there again. And I did not get a single fucking diamond either.
I can make roughly the same amount of money with trading. I have a planet that spawns 3 million worth of missions for Consumer Goods, Performance Enhancers, Progenitor Cells and all the other stuff that I buy at a Hightech world, so I spam those missions and fill the Python with ~250 tons. 2 to 2.5 million for 6-8 jumps and two dockings, which I now do with a docking computer. It works and it's easy money. But I like mining more.
Kitchen Utensil
Guest
Well, I found the concept of travelling our galaxy pretty interesting, so I made it to Beagle Point and back, travelled the Outer Arm Vacuus and visited Jaques.
Then I stopped "playing".
Then I stopped "playing".
Started playing again a few weeks ago, from scratch.
Did some exploring, went to Colonia and back and got my Cutter yesterday.
I am still entertained, but then again, I like grinding.
Did some exploring, went to Colonia and back and got my Cutter yesterday.
I am still entertained, but then again, I like grinding.
Morkar Left
Guest
Lost complete interest in it. The game was best when first released. Back then it was just like the original Elite with some pretty graphics (and some odd ship handling). From there on it went only downwards...
started playing again a couple days ago. needed to play a few of the training missions (they're nicely done. i had no idea they changed them completely from the basic ones we had at release) to try piloting with kb+m as i can't be arsed to dust off the hot ass. i want to unlock at least the "2nd layer" of rngineers and get G3 (or better) upgrades for at least 4-5 of my ships ('vette, conda, fdl and vulture 100%. probably also the cutter, clipper and asp)
Burning Bridges
Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Tbh I dont know exactly what went wrong woth this game.
Some things are actually pretty great, like the ship customization and the ship progression is also pretty good (meaning that after 1 year I still have an incentive to get a better ship).
But here is a list what does not make sense:
iinterface (making a lot of tasks an absolute pain in the ass)
waiting time (an UI designer should know that if every new screen takes seconds to load, people will get pissed off by your game)
always the samesamesamesamesamesamesame missions (which I dont get as 80% of them just seem to be disabled)
tons of reading through missions boards
market screen is dreadful and trading makes no sense (which again, I dont get as it was absolutely sound on the C64)
always the same things happen - for example in asteroid fields enemy ships gets spawned at the beginning and then never again - rubbish!
interdictions can stack up to a point where you never get out of them
way too much traffic, even an undiscovered system is more like a public highway
way too many factions and planets, should have streamlined this
galaxy map is hardly usable (again I get tired of repeating all the things you learn to work around the many problems with the UI)
In a word: Repetive, and zero respect for their players. This game sucks with a capital S.
If it was not the only one in a genre that I always adored, I would just delete it and just forget about it.
Some things are actually pretty great, like the ship customization and the ship progression is also pretty good (meaning that after 1 year I still have an incentive to get a better ship).
But here is a list what does not make sense:
iinterface (making a lot of tasks an absolute pain in the ass)
waiting time (an UI designer should know that if every new screen takes seconds to load, people will get pissed off by your game)
always the samesamesamesamesamesamesame missions (which I dont get as 80% of them just seem to be disabled)
tons of reading through missions boards
market screen is dreadful and trading makes no sense (which again, I dont get as it was absolutely sound on the C64)
always the same things happen - for example in asteroid fields enemy ships gets spawned at the beginning and then never again - rubbish!
interdictions can stack up to a point where you never get out of them
way too much traffic, even an undiscovered system is more like a public highway
way too many factions and planets, should have streamlined this
galaxy map is hardly usable (again I get tired of repeating all the things you learn to work around the many problems with the UI)
In a word: Repetive, and zero respect for their players. This game sucks with a capital S.
If it was not the only one in a genre that I always adored, I would just delete it and just forget about it.
Burning Bridges
Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Anyway, I have some more mining tips to share.
In contradiction to what you hear in many youtube videos, the size of asteroids does matter. In fact it matters a lot.
Let's say I mine only very small asteroids, because they are so easy for your limpets. But I observed that 1 fragment takes away up to 10% of the asteroid. Now if I do the opposite, and choose only the huge ones (which I usually do by picking the largest most distant ones), 1 fragment reduces the material by as low as 2%
That means that such a large asteroid has 5 times the number of fragments, according to my calculation.
In monetary terms, lets say I mine 2 tons of Osmium from a small asteroid, then a really large asteroid would give me 10 tons in almost the same amount of time.
This is getting important as I only really look for Painite and Osmium now. Even though the missions for metals and minerals suck at most stations, I still have built up a particular faction at a very good station, and they now pay me ~90K per ton of Osmium.
And that means in the above example, a single asteroid with a lot of Osmium can earn me a million of credits in a few minutes. The same with Painite. Palladium (at 30K from mission givers) is still good cash. The rest is shit. I dont even mine Platinum most of the time, though it is a bit of extra income.
And lastly, they now offer me missions for Bromelite (mined in ice rings) for up to 100K per ton, but I have decided I dont want to go there again. Though on the other hand, if I were bulk mining ice rings there may be some nice cash, but it is just not as good as metallic rings.
In contradiction to what you hear in many youtube videos, the size of asteroids does matter. In fact it matters a lot.
Let's say I mine only very small asteroids, because they are so easy for your limpets. But I observed that 1 fragment takes away up to 10% of the asteroid. Now if I do the opposite, and choose only the huge ones (which I usually do by picking the largest most distant ones), 1 fragment reduces the material by as low as 2%
That means that such a large asteroid has 5 times the number of fragments, according to my calculation.
In monetary terms, lets say I mine 2 tons of Osmium from a small asteroid, then a really large asteroid would give me 10 tons in almost the same amount of time.
This is getting important as I only really look for Painite and Osmium now. Even though the missions for metals and minerals suck at most stations, I still have built up a particular faction at a very good station, and they now pay me ~90K per ton of Osmium.
And that means in the above example, a single asteroid with a lot of Osmium can earn me a million of credits in a few minutes. The same with Painite. Palladium (at 30K from mission givers) is still good cash. The rest is shit. I dont even mine Platinum most of the time, though it is a bit of extra income.
And lastly, they now offer me missions for Bromelite (mined in ice rings) for up to 100K per ton, but I have decided I dont want to go there again. Though on the other hand, if I were bulk mining ice rings there may be some nice cash, but it is just not as good as metallic rings.
Burning Bridges
Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Oops, the part about the asteroid size was actually wrong. That was something related to my new prospector limpet module, apparently having it upgraded to A-rated was the reason for the increase in yields.
Mea culpa.
But anyway, my new record for 1 mining run is now 11.2 million credits
The 39 tons of painite are worth ca 2.8 million which isn't bad. But the real kicker is 78 tons of Osmium, which I sold off to my mission Gods for ca 7 million.
I also brought back the usual 50-60 tons of Palladium which goes for 30K a ton.
All in all not bad, and the Python would pay off itself in 4 such runs.
And besides, it really pays off not to stack up 20 missions before I go on a run because the interdictions became an impossible problem and after I lost the Python once (with a full load of Consumer technology) the insurance cost me over 4 million credits - the biggest setback so far in the game. Instead I now fill up cargo with Consumer Tech, Performance enhancers and this kind of shot - without missions . and sell them off at a huge world with agriculture economy. The missions still spawn if I have the cargo and I can sell them off one by one.
But the upgrades in the Python are so damn expensive that this becomes a real rat race. An A-rated powerplant for it alone costs 40 millions or so
Mea culpa.
But anyway, my new record for 1 mining run is now 11.2 million credits
The 39 tons of painite are worth ca 2.8 million which isn't bad. But the real kicker is 78 tons of Osmium, which I sold off to my mission Gods for ca 7 million.
I also brought back the usual 50-60 tons of Palladium which goes for 30K a ton.
All in all not bad, and the Python would pay off itself in 4 such runs.
And besides, it really pays off not to stack up 20 missions before I go on a run because the interdictions became an impossible problem and after I lost the Python once (with a full load of Consumer technology) the insurance cost me over 4 million credits - the biggest setback so far in the game. Instead I now fill up cargo with Consumer Tech, Performance enhancers and this kind of shot - without missions . and sell them off at a huge world with agriculture economy. The missions still spawn if I have the cargo and I can sell them off one by one.
But the upgrades in the Python are so damn expensive that this becomes a real rat race. An A-rated powerplant for it alone costs 40 millions or so
But the upgrades in the Python are so damn expensive that this becomes a real rat race. An A-rated powerplant for it alone costs 40 millions or so
I didn't have a problem with the interface until I switched from my xbox controller to my joystick and started using the mouse beside it, but I didn't find it all too shabby.
The waiting time is indeed terrible, though it's only for passenger/mission board for me?
Yep, all the missions are the same, but I don't see how they are going to fix this without making it a space opera.
Market screen is shit, trading makes sense, but you have to rely on third party tools/websites, because there is no way to efficiently do it in game.
About the astroid fields, I have no idea, I have never been in one other than getting in an astroid base
Interdictions are annoying as shit, especially when you fly a ship like the Type-9. You can choose to submit, boost away and high wake out of there, but if you do that they are right behind you. Successfully finishing the shitty interdiction minigame gives you a little more time.
The systems you are in are just undiscovered to you, if you leave the bubble you won't come across anyone.
Indeed a lot of factions, and they are all useless and don't mean shit, other than the 3 major ones and the Powerplay factions, I suppose.
I struggled with the galaxy map, but not as much anymore, I just use the plot route tab and type in the place where I need to be and plot from there instead of trying to find the goddamn star system myself.
All in all I am still really enjoying it, though I wish trade was made more profitable, everything you can make trading gets easily beaten by a few single jump passenger missions.
There are some really impressive tools for this game though, I used to use EDDiscovery when exploring, and now I use Trade Computer Extension MK II, which is about as intuitive as the game ui itself, but so damn powerful.
Burning Bridges
Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Have you played Elite in the C64?
Although it was a very difficult, challenging game you could predictably see profits from trading without using any tools that work like a cheat mode (internet wasn't invented). The same types of cargo were all there, but fitted in 1 page because they were not copied and pasted to make hundreds of them. Now trading means calculating everything ahead over the internet or scrolling an endless orange list million times to get 25 credits profit for biowaste.
Just to take up this point, what tricks have you learned to unstick a system? Do you also carefully try to find an empty pixel that is outside the system data panel and wonder why you could not just press right click anywhere or just hit Escape, or why you accidentally hit a system 200 light years away every second time?
And about searching for the name, have you also wondered why in a system with 400 billion stars, and with names like "BD +15 176" that a normal person will not be able to remember more than a dozen of at a time, the search textbox does not recognize blank spaces and other conjunctions and has a tendency to clear itself when you edit a mistake?
It's like they spend millions on some shit and then gave the task of input text or purchase selection to an intern who just learned programming while doing it.
In fact I hope I never meet one of the Frontier developers because I might kidnap him, put him in my cellar and force him to make a certain number of billion of credits and become affiliated with all factions until he is able to buy high rank ships like Imperial Clipper.
As I said, not everything about this game is shit, the online database is pretty impressive actually.
MadMaxHellfire
Arcane
i'd like to come back to the game, to check how it has changed, but i don't feel like relearning all the controls =_= i should have the crab whatsitsname for xbox pad, i've heard one of the best.
lots of stuff. mainly the lead designer(s) having 0 clue about what makes a game fun or interesting.
and the atmosphere, the audio-visual identity (the audio team deserves a goddamned oscar), the really fun flight model
yup. the GUI designers should be fired on the spot. after all the iteration since 1.0 it's still shit. and the online tools by amateurs are 10 times better. and they could've really made HUDs unique at least on a per-manufacturer basis. it's really not that hard (even same randoms on reddit managed to pull it off rather well)
that's one of the main reasons. the missions are all either generic fetch quests or "go there kill x". and the "story" they're trying to deliver is also lame. there needs to be a much better variety of missions, with some nice randomised set pieces, missions that are created organically by the system type+state and have consequences for the system. and there should be less of them spawned with higher rewards
trading is just stupid. first of all it's all faux-dynamic. it's just a static mess with dev-dictated max and min prices for no reason other than a misguided attempt at "balance". then the system state has minimal impact upon prices, as does the relative position of the station and system. then you have the fact of the static economy meaning nothing is ever produced and nothing is ever consumed, so the commodities have no actual purpose. they might as well rename everything to "commodity". then you have the gamey nonsense of rare goods. then there's the fact that player-to-player trading is made to be as annoying and idiotic as possible, killing any attempt at a player-influenced economy (the engineer materials would be a perfect fit for that). etc etc etc
even fucking Rebel Galaxy, an indie game made by literally 2 people (not counting the art/audio asset contractors) has a better, more sophisticated, more realistic economic simulation in their 20€ game
yes! this is really the crux of the matter! the game really really tries to pretend to be dynamic&living, but in reality it's really obvious it's just a static themepark spawned on a per-instance basis, and it never respects the players enough to give the tools to us to make it into a living, breathing entity.
the shitty and real obvious npc spawning system (particularly the mission-tied npcs are idiotic), no persistent npcs, no mean of interaction with npcs other than "shoot" or "stare", the monumentally idiotic concept of wars (who is the mouthbreathing retard who thought it would be a good idea to represent wars by having small arbitrary pockets of space with endless respawning ships? i'm betting it was Sandro. that man's stupidity knows no bounds), no proper setpieces, the career progressions are stupid (they had the perfect opportunity to create some handcrafted missions/campaigns a la X3's plots for the military careers. but nooooo), the samey factions that have next to no influence upon the system topology, the disconnect between the galaxy and powerplay, the clusterfuck of awful design decisions that is powerplay in general, the shit background "sim" that is way too slow and has way too little of an influence on the systems, the staticness of systems (i.e. there's no functional difference between a system that is at war and in lockdown in a communist dictatorship and one that is at peace and in a boom state in a liberal democracy), the rng^rng of rngineers etc etc etc
i disagree. if anything, there's not enough traffic in highly popular systems with supposedly billions upon billions of denizens. i'd like to see a more diverse "traffic topology" than the "low pop system gets to spawn 10 ships, high pop gets to spawn 30 ships" nonsense
yup. by trying to make a bazillion tiny different factions, they actually diluted them to a point that made them so similar that even the supposed "superpowers" are all the same.
yes. it's repetitive in all the wrong ways and for all the wrong reasons, doesn't respect the player's time, and gives next to no agency to the player, leaving him with the feeling that he can only amass resources to get better gear but never exert any kind of influence over the galaxy, even uninhabited systems far away from the bubble. it's worth of a doctoral thesis in "how NOT to design a video game" for a game design course at a university. the saddest part? if they fired the lead designers and hired a couple of dudes who know what the fuck they're doing and some balls (like the previously mentioned duo from Double Damage), i'm pretty confident they could turn it completely around in a year, or maybe two
if it weren't for the superb flight model, the unrealised potential it has, and the pedigree, i'd have abandoned it after a 2 hours and never looked back.
/rant
sorry
Morkar Left
Guest
Frontier tries now for years to get their mission and factions/contacts system right while two guys develop the best faction/contacts and mission systems I have seen in a space game. And they were starting from mobile gaming... Seriously, if Frontier would just copy their systems for E:D the game would actually become good again.
I think one rather basic issue with the design is that avoiding combat is next to impossible. You can wrestle back from interdiction attempts sure, but you can potentially still face combat any time you are out of frame shift, and in some cases, face it much more often than your current focus might suggest.
If you want to mine, you need a ship that can also fight. If you want to trade, you need a ship that can also fight. If you want to run missions, or ferry passengers, you need a ship that can also fight. I'm oversimplifying things, I know, but crudely put, that's how it plays out. Combat is so central, even when some of the activities on offer should make it much, much more peripheral than it actually is.
I'm not sure what the solution is. Stripped of potential danger "non-combat" activities would probably be (even more?) deathly boring. Yet as it stands it feels like the specialised cargo ships, passenger ferries, etc, are kind of pointless.
If you want to mine, you need a ship that can also fight. If you want to trade, you need a ship that can also fight. If you want to run missions, or ferry passengers, you need a ship that can also fight. I'm oversimplifying things, I know, but crudely put, that's how it plays out. Combat is so central, even when some of the activities on offer should make it much, much more peripheral than it actually is.
I'm not sure what the solution is. Stripped of potential danger "non-combat" activities would probably be (even more?) deathly boring. Yet as it stands it feels like the specialised cargo ships, passenger ferries, etc, are kind of pointless.
Kitchen Utensil
Guest
By the way, does Colonia have a shipyard where you can fit a fighter hangar?
Started the game again and realised I'm in the Outer Arm Vacuus. I was just starting my circumnavigation when I stopped playing several months ago, and my Conda is optimised for jumprange (60ly). I'd like to continue on that circumnavigation; however, the Conda really is sluggish and having some fighters to do the occasional canyon run would be a welcome diversion. But I don't feel like returning to the Bubble. Since I had planned a detour to Colonia before crossing the Mare Desperationis anyway, it would be optimal if I could fit the fighters there.
Started the game again and realised I'm in the Outer Arm Vacuus. I was just starting my circumnavigation when I stopped playing several months ago, and my Conda is optimised for jumprange (60ly). I'd like to continue on that circumnavigation; however, the Conda really is sluggish and having some fighters to do the occasional canyon run would be a welcome diversion. But I don't feel like returning to the Bubble. Since I had planned a detour to Colonia before crossing the Mare Desperationis anyway, it would be optimal if I could fit the fighters there.
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Burning Bridges
Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Ok, of course. There sould be much more traffic in populated systems and much less in unpopulated ones.
There should als be much larger space stations in the billion sized systems whereas small ones, to give you a feeling of going to a big place.
Burning Bridges
Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Except if you have a really fast ship, you are practically invulnerable. That means a Cobra, ASP Explorer or to some extent a Diamondback Scout. Maybe even an unarmed Type 6, I did not try that tbh.
I am currently more concerned about the Python which doesn't seem to be able to outrun pirates anymore, and this makes it basically just a poor fighting ship with a lot of cargo.
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