Elite Dangerous Lands on PS4 Today

[ffronw]

Elite Dangerous Lands on PS4 Today

You can get Elite Dangerous for your PS4 digitally and at retail starting today.

If you've been wanting to play Elite: Dangerous, but you don't have a PC or Xbox One to play it on, here's some good news: the game is now available on the PlayStation 4. Frontier Developments announced today that the game and its season pass are both available digitally on the PlayStation Store separately, or together in the Commander Deluxe Edition, which also includes the bonus Commander Paint Pack.


If you prefer physical media, there's a retail version as well. The Elite: Dangerous: Legendary Edition will pack in the base game, the Elite: Dangerous: Horizons season pass, and a bonus 1,000 Frontier points that can be used to purchase in-game cosmetic items. This retail version will be available for both PS4 and Xbox One.

If you've got a PS4 Pro, you'll be able to choose between two graphics settings: "Quality," which favors better graphics, and "Performance," which prioritizes framerate.

Elite Dangerous has been available on PC since December of 2014, and on Mac and Xbox One since October of 2015.

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[Neurotic Void Melody]

Am so conflicted on this. I been wanting to try a space sim for years, but I don't know if this would be a buyer's remorse situation that I cannot go back on. Keep hearing divided opinions, also that it has microtransactions and a grindfest gameplay. For every person that loves it, another hated it and demanded a refund. Some say it gets good after a while which means a short session may not give a useful impression. No demo available. Two different versions of the game. I need to convince someone else to buy it first maybe.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Neat. Good for them. It's a fun game. I still enjoy it a whole lot.

I am sad that they don't get Horizons bundled in automatically, though. It should be.

.......Hey wait a tick. That trailer shows fighting against capital ships. That's not in the game as far as I know, WTF!

Am so conflicted on this. I been wanting to try a space sim for years, but I don't know if this would be a buyer's remorse situation that I cannot go back on. Keep hearing divided opinions, also that it has microtransactions and a grindfest gameplay. For every person that loves it, another hated it and demanded a refund. Some say it gets good after a while which means a short session may not give a useful impression. No demo available. Two different versions of the game. I need to convince someone else to buy it first maybe.

Well, what kind of space sim do you want?

If you want super deep newtonian flight, and don't mind a barebones, but completely seamless universe (including seamlessly being able to land on all planets), then Evochron Legacy isn't bad (The universe feels empty, but the rest of the game is pretty neat).

If you want a world that really interacts with you, and has lots of fun stuff to do and you don't mind it being 2D "broadsides" type combat, Rebel Galaxy is amazing.

If you want a sorta-space RPG with a lot of stuff in it, but it all feels super rough and unpolished, Starpoint Gemeni 2 is alright.

-

Elite is a high quality middle ground between all of these. The flight model is a bit simple, but there's enough depth that you can have some good fights out of it. The game IS a grind (the only way to get better ships is to get money, which entails doing various tasks a lot, which are sadly similar no matter where you go in the galaxy), but there's enough differences in kind that it's not unbearable. I like it a lot actually. It's a great game to play to chill out before bed, or while listening to podcasts or whatever.

It's also a bit player hostile at first. For example, learning to dock you ship at a station is not easy at first, dealing with your first few combat encounters is super hard at first, trying to figure out how to make money trading is hard, etc. But once you get the ball rolling and start upgrading your ship and parts and get used to managing power mid-fight, things really start to click.

-

Anyway, I feel your pain. I too, am still looking for the perfect space sim. Elite and Rebel Galaxy are the closest I've come to finding it, but...Both are missing something crucial.

Oh, and the Horizons DLC really feels like it needed to be part of the base game. Seriously, the content is neat and helpful, but...It feel

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Neat. Good for them. It's a fun game. I still enjoy it a whole lot.

I am sad that they don't get Horizons bundled in automatically, though. It should be.

.......Hey wait a tick. That trailer shows fighting against capital ships. That's not in the game as far as I know, WTF!

Am so conflicted on this. I been wanting to try a space sim for years, but I don't know if this would be a buyer's remorse situation that I cannot go back on. Keep hearing divided opinions, also that it has microtransactions and a grindfest gameplay. For every person that loves it, another hated it and demanded a refund. Some say it gets good after a while which means a short session may not give a useful impression. No demo available. Two different versions of the game. I need to convince someone else to buy it first maybe.

Well, what kind of space sim do you want?

If you want super deep newtonian flight, and don't mind a barebones, but completely seamless universe (including seamlessly being able to land on all planets), then Evochron Legacy isn't bad (The universe feels empty, but the rest of the game is pretty neat).

If you want a world that really interacts with you, and has lots of fun stuff to do and you don't mind it being 2D "broadsides" type combat, Rebel Galaxy is amazing.

If you want a sorta-space RPG with a lot of stuff in it, but it all feels super rough and unpolished, Starpoint Gemeni 2 is alright.

-

Elite is a high quality middle ground between all of these. The flight model is a bit simple, but there's enough depth that you can have some good fights out of it. The game IS a grind (the only way to get better ships is to get money, which entails doing various tasks a lot, which are sadly similar no matter where you go in the galaxy), but there's enough differences in kind that it's not unbearable. I like it a lot actually. It's a great game to play to chill out before bed, or while listening to podcasts or whatever.

It's also a bit player hostile at first. For example, learning to dock you ship at a station is not easy at first, dealing with your first few combat encounters is super hard at first, trying to figure out how to make money trading is hard, etc. But once you get the ball rolling and start upgrading your ship and parts and get used to managing power mid-fight, things really start to click.

-

Anyway, I feel your pain. I too, am still looking for the perfect space sim. Elite and Rebel Galaxy are the closest I've come to finding it, but...Both are missing something crucial.

Oh, and the Horizons DLC really feels like it needed to be part of the base game. Seriously, the content is neat and helpful, but...It feel

Rebel Galaxy is pretty good fun, I have spent a fair bit of time in that game. The soundtrack helps a lot. Unfortunately am restricted by the console platform, and these space flight games are a very rare breed indeed there. As in I think Elite may be the only 3D space exploration game that isn't No Man's Sky. Which adds to the confliction as there aren't really any alternatives for now.
Didn't realise that you could land on planets in Elite, that sounds quite neat. Especially if it's all modelled on our galaxy's own curious bodies.
The horizon expansion basically doubles the price for the game on the store which makes it tricky to know if it's worth the gamble. All the descriptions provided are vague at best with zero personal experience of the game not helping.
Oohhhh I so want my own spaceship!!

 

[Cowabungaa]

Am so conflicted on this. I been wanting to try a space sim for years, but I don't know if this would be a buyer's remorse situation that I cannot go back on. Keep hearing divided opinions, also that it has microtransactions and a grindfest gameplay. For every person that loves it, another hated it and demanded a refund. Some say it gets good after a while which means a short session may not give a useful impression. No demo available. Two different versions of the game. I need to convince someone else to buy it first maybe.

First of all, I can't recall any microtransactions in-game at least. I vaguely remember something offered in the launcher but I thought that was just some kind of pre-order bonus or founder bonus or something. In-game I've never noticed anything in any case.

Second of all; yes it's a grind-fest. Undoubtedly. A shallow grind-fest even. The question is whether you mind that in this case or not, and with what reason you end up playing the game. I still sometimes play it to relax. It doesn't really have grand goals or some expansive story or whatever. There's just you, your ship, and a universe to trade, explore and shoot in. And honestly it's pretty dope for that. Sometimes I just sit down for an hour or two with a D&D podcast and I just do some cargo missions or some bounty hunting. It's a light game, despite the initial bump of simply learning the controls. And in that role, as a chill-out game, I think it does very well.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

First of all, I can't recall any microtransactions in-game at least. I vaguely remember something offered in the launcher but I thought that was just some kind of pre-order bonus or founder bonus or something. In-game I've never noticed anything in any case.

Second of all; yes it's a grind-fest. Undoubtedly. A shallow grind-fest even. The question is whether you mind that in this case or not, and with what reason you end up playing the game. I still sometimes play it to relax. It doesn't really have grand goals or some expansive story or whatever. There's just you, your ship, and a universe to trade, explore and shoot in. And honestly it's pretty dope for that. Sometimes I just sit down for an hour or two with a D&D podcast and I just do some cargo missions or some bounty hunting. It's a light game, despite the initial bump of simply learning the controls. And in that role, as a chill-out game, I think it does very well.

Well it's certainly sounding far more palatable than previous information portrayed it to be. Chill background game for multitasking sounds tailor suited for me. Is the Horizon expansion necessary for the best experience do you think?

 

[Remus]

I wonder how the controls would operate on a standard PS4 controller. I have a Thrustmaster HOTAS and it barely has enough buttons for all the maneuvering. Vertical and lateral thrusts for example, while not completely necessary, make circle-strafing larger ships and docking easier but were difficult to find a place for on my stick.

 

[Jacked Assassin]

I find Elite Dangerous extremely complicated when compared to Rebel Galaxy.
Also less fun since in Rebel Galaxy I can feel like a Space Trucker thanks to the music.
If only Rebel Galaxy had an online mode or Elite Dangerous was less complicated.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Well it's certainly sounding far more palatable than previous information portrayed it to be. Chill background game for multitasking sounds tailor suited for me. Is the Horizon expansion necessary for the best experience do you think?

Depends, really.

Horizons allows for:

Landing on planets with no atmosphere, which is kinda dull for long periods, but fun in short bursts (and lets you do ammo/fuel/etc synthesis as well as engineer your ship to be much better)

Ship Launched Fighters, which can only be used on 7 ships in the game, but god DAMN are they fun (I do not regret the design compromises I had to make on my trading keelback to be able to stick that Fighter bay in there. It makes fighting pirates a ton of fun when I'm on trading runs)

Multicrew (lets you be a gunner on another player's ship or fighter bay, or lets you recruit someone to your ship)

And there's likely gonna be some nifty stuff that comes out at the end of Horizons that deals with the aliens.

All of these are small, but interesting additions to the game. If none of them sound interesting to you, then maybe don't get the expansion.

Oh, and BTW, the micros, as far as I'm aware, are all stuff like "Hey, paint your ship! Hey, you can have nameplates for your ship! Hey, purple lasers!" which are all basically meaningless because you're typically flying your ship in first person anyway. I honestly don't bother with them.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

A shame it's so late, but I hope it gives another shot in the arm to the playerbase of a phenomenal IP.

Well it's certainly sounding far more palatable than previous information portrayed it to be. Chill background game for multitasking sounds tailor suited for me. Is the Horizon expansion necessary for the best experience do you think?

First off, no - it's not a grind-fest - unless you want it to be, or let it be that. Plus, typically the G word's treated like a pejorative off the bat. Why? Some enjoy what could be defined as a grind, and more often than not most players can enjoy elements of grinding here and then. Elite lets you engage with that as much or as little as you want.

Re Horizons: yeah, I'd say it's [unfortunately for any newcomer's wallet] utterly essential. I adore the game, as I've said many times, but in terms of features I suppose most people would say it's very light. Personally, I couldn't care less when it offers the kinds of experiences nothing else can get close to, but without Horizons and the continued expansions Elite's an even more minimalist IP.

As I always say to anyone considering it: if you're thinking about getting into it, the community's always there to offer some great advice, and point you in the direction of some extremely useful resources (e.g. the Coriolis for ship builds [https://coriolis.edcd.io]) and guides. It may sound like a leftfield comparison, but I'd say Dark Souls and it have a fair bit in common, at least spiritually; no real right or wrong for ship/character builds, and potentially punishing to the incautious (Elite's stakes can be much, much higher than anything in DS, though; I had a month's worth of play wiped out by one daft landing, and there was obviously no proverbial blood stain to return to to recover XP).

Re micros: yeah, as someone else pointed out they're all cosmetic (ship skins, mostly palette swap flight suits, decals/name plates, shitty ship kits for that chavs-in-space look, etc). I kinda bridle at the gall of FDev sometimes, but I've still probably spent more on Elite than any other game in my life, and I will continue spending because I still see value in what's on offer, and wish to continue to support the game and FDev themselves.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Neat. Good for them. It's a fun game. I still enjoy it a whole lot.

I am sad that they don't get Horizons bundled in automatically, though. It should be.

.......Hey wait a tick. That trailer shows fighting against capital ships. That's not in the game as far as I know, WTF!

Assaulting captial ships has been in the game since the early days of the Beta. It's in the current release, but you have to get into a big arse fight to trigger a drop in from an Interdictor or Faragut. Taking a full wing (or several full wings) into a warzone on the Fed/Imp border is the most reliable way of triggering it, sometimes capital vs capital instances spawn naturally.

However, it's one of those 'did it so I could say I did it' things, you'll get a hefty reward if you manage to drive the capital away (you can't destroy it, only force it's retreat), but ninety percent of the time the capital ship will just splatter you and your wing like bugs, they are heavily armed. I'm hoping for capital ships to get stuck in more now that the Thargoids are coming.

It's a bit odd that the base game and Horizons are separate, but looking on the store the cost of buying the two is the same as buying the complete game on PC. It's a bit silly separating the two, you need Horizons, Frontier should really just sell the complete edition by itself.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Well it's certainly sounding far more palatable than previous information portrayed it to be. Chill background game for multitasking sounds tailor suited for me. Is the Horizon expansion necessary for the best experience do you think?

Depends, really.

Horizons allows for:

Landing on planets with no atmosphere, which is kinda dull for long periods, but fun in short bursts (and lets you do ammo/fuel/etc synthesis as well as engineer your ship to be much better)

Ship Launched Fighters, which can only be used on 7 ships in the game, but god DAMN are they fun (I do not regret the design compromises I had to make on my trading keelback to be able to stick that Fighter bay in there. It makes fighting pirates a ton of fun when I'm on trading runs)

Multicrew (lets you be a gunner on another player's ship or fighter bay, or lets you recruit someone to your ship)

And there's likely gonna be some nifty stuff that comes out at the end of Horizons that deals with the aliens.

All of these are small, but interesting additions to the game. If none of them sound interesting to you, then maybe don't get the expansion.

Oh, and BTW, the micros, as far as I'm aware, are all stuff like "Hey, paint your ship! Hey, you can have nameplates for your ship! Hey, purple lasers!" which are all basically meaningless because you're typically flying your ship in first person anyway. I honestly don't bother with them.

A shame it's so late, but I hope it gives another shot in the arm to the playerbase of a phenomenal IP.

Well it's certainly sounding far more palatable than previous information portrayed it to be. Chill background game for multitasking sounds tailor suited for me. Is the Horizon expansion necessary for the best experience do you think?

First off, no - it's not a grind-fest - unless you want it to be, or let it be that. Plus, typically the G word's treated like a pejorative off the bat. Why? Some enjoy what could be defined as a grind, and more often than not most players can enjoy elements of grinding here and then. Elite lets you engage with that as much or as little as you want.

Re Horizons: yeah, I'd say it's [unfortunately for any newcomer's wallet] utterly essential. I adore the game, as I've said many times, but in terms of features I suppose most people would say it's very light. Personally, I couldn't care less when it offers the kinds of experiences nothing else can get close to, but without Horizons and the continued expansions Elite's an even more minimalist IP.

As I always say to anyone considering it: if you're thinking about getting into it, the community's always there to offer some great advice, and point you in the direction of some extremely useful resources (e.g. the Coriolis for ship builds [https://coriolis.edcd.io]) and guides. It may sound like a leftfield comparison, but I'd say Dark Souls and it have a fair bit in common, at least spiritually; no real right or wrong for ship/character builds, and potentially punishing to the incautious (Elite's stakes can be much, much higher than anything in DS, though; I had a month's worth of play wiped out by one daft landing, and there was obviously no proverbial blood stain to return to to recover XP).

Re micros: yeah, as someone else pointed out they're all cosmetic (ship skins, mostly palette swap flight suits, decals/name plates, shitty ship kits for that chavs-in-space look, etc). I kinda bridle at the gall of FDev sometimes, but I've still probably spent more on Elite than any other game in my life, and I will continue spending because I still see value in what's on offer, and wish to continue to support the game and FDev themselves.

Thank you for such detailed, informative replies, they have been very helpful in gaining a better perspective, I have decided to take the plunge for the complete edition and it hasn't disappointed so far yet. Also is surprisingly a small download compared to most triple-A releases with far less, err...space. The hyper/superdrive tutorial was being a finicky ***** because it failed to tell me that to 'officially' drop out in a way that counts to them, there was a second target selection I needed to press outside of the first target selection , so i was stuck repeating drop-out attempts mere metres away at the slowest speed possible only for the lady to tell me it's wrong. But now that misunderstanding is out the way, there looks to be a lot to appreciate for relaxed space-mooching. The vast control options are slowly becoming less intimidating too. There is a 3rd person camera mode for the ship I found, probably to give those mini-buys some semblance of purpose.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

...I have decided to take the plunge for the complete edition and it hasn't disappointed so far yet.

Ah, good to hear -the more the merrier in ED's world. Hopefully the PS4's release won't be beset with its own bugs and quirks, but I suppose that's a possibility.

I feel the people who get the most out of the game - across years, let alone months - are those who simply don't get bored of the actual flight model and the sheer spectacle of it all. I can understand some being dissatisfied with its simplicity and relative lack of features, but like I said, given what it offers I'm still incredibly grateful it even exists.

Toggling FA off and flipping to face a docking bay whilst still speeding in the original direction (at a busy orbital station) - before correcting and approaching to dock - just never gets old for me.

The hyper/superdrive tutorial was being a finicky ***** because it failed to tell me that to 'officially' drop out in a way that counts to them, there was a second target selection I needed to press outside of the first target selection , so i was stuck repeating drop-out attempts mere metres away at the slowest speed possible only for the lady to tell me it's wrong.

Y'mean the drop from FS/frameshift to a station/planet/target? A mini pointer would be; keep max input thrust until about 10secs to target (go for lower if you're quick and accurate enough) - then at that point drop the throttle to the centre of the blue zone. You won't ever miss a drop and have to do the 'loop of shame' again.

I'll try to resist spewing out a long list of pointers, but be mindful that the closer you get to a heavy body (a star, a planet, even ships) the less efficient the FSD becomes, i.e. the slower you'll go. Skim close to a huge gas giant in FS and you'll practically crawl to a stop until your drive has enough, er, figurative and literal space to work with. You can, of course, sometimes use that to your advantage, at least with station approaches; if you're coming in too fast and think you'll miss your drop, angle closer to a planet and you'll scrub off speed easily.

And if you're being pursued sometimes temporarily angling away from your destination is a safer bet; the 'fastest' means to get between two points may be a line, but if the line's spacetime is warped then it really ain't...

Oh, and one last small thing; when jumping between systems an easy mistake to make is to not orient away from the star you dropped at/jumped to. With neutron stars and white dwarfs a lazy commander can find themselves yanked out of FS and cooking from the inside with just a few seconds worth of a mistake. Two ways to avoid ever doing that: when a jump's been initiated (i.e. the countdown's started), throttle down to zero - nothing will happen to your speed, of course, but when you drop you'll be at a dead stop.

But my favoured solution is to disable Flight Assist in normal flight (or just before entering frameshift/inter-system speed), and then any jump will automatically drop the ship at dead zero. No more panicky moments of pitching down or up as a star suddenly fills your cockpit...

If you ever get into exploration out of the bubble (the settled region around Sol), then you'll spend most of your time in FS. The longer the journey, the greater the chance of making a sloppy mistake, and the costlier it'll be, so when out in the black (which is actually increasingly bright closer to the core) I always jump 'FA off' to completely negate those kinds of mistakes.

The vast control options are slowly becoming less intimidating too. There is a 3rd person camera mode for the ship I found, probably to give those mini-buys some semblance of purpose.

Heh, it's not officially a gameplay cam, given you don't have access to all controls and readouts. They've specifically wanted to keep it a first-person experience, and only in the gunner's seat in multi-crew does it really break that 'rule'.

Re control options and binding: a useful one to have bound is 'select/jump to next target', or whatever it's actual name is - it's the bind which allows you to select the next system on a plotted route. For explorers it's essential, but it's always useful, as it means you can target whatever you like when in a system, but then immediately re-target your plotted galaxy map route and be on your way.

Even if you don't sign up and post, the official forum's [https://forums.frontier.co.uk/forumdisplay.php/29-Elite-Dangerous] a great place for links to resources and wotnot, as well as the obvious community support. You may've crossed paths with some of his content already, but Obsidian Ant's [https://www.youtube.com/user/ObsidianAnt] a fine YT'er who does regular updates on what's going on with/in the game. He's a huge fan, but he can be very critical whilst trying to acknowledge all sides of an issue.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

...I have decided to take the plunge for the complete edition and it hasn't disappointed so far yet.

Ah, good to hear -the more the merrier in ED's world. Hopefully the PS4's release won't be beset with its own bugs and quirks, but I suppose that's a possibility.

I feel the people who get the most out of the game - across years, let alone months - are those who simply don't get bored of the actual flight model and the sheer spectacle of it all. I can understand some being dissatisfied with its simplicity and relative lack of features, but like I said, given what it offers I'm still incredibly grateful it even exists.

Toggling FA off and flipping to face a docking bay whilst still speeding in the original direction (at a busy orbital station) - before correcting and approaching to dock - just never gets old for me.

The hyper/superdrive tutorial was being a finicky ***** because it failed to tell me that to 'officially' drop out in a way that counts to them, there was a second target selection I needed to press outside of the first target selection , so i was stuck repeating drop-out attempts mere metres away at the slowest speed possible only for the lady to tell me it's wrong.

Y'mean the drop from FS/frameshift to a station/planet/target? A mini pointer would be; keep max input thrust until about 10secs to target (go for lower if you're quick and accurate enough) - then at that point drop the throttle to the centre of the blue zone. You won't ever miss a drop and have to do the 'loop of shame' again.

I'll try to resist spewing out a long list of pointers, but be mindful that the closer you get to a heavy body (a star, a planet, even ships) the less efficient the FSD becomes, i.e. the slower you'll go. Skim close to a huge gas giant in FS and you'll practically crawl to a stop until your drive has enough, er, figurative and literal space to work with. You can, of course, sometimes use that to your advantage, at least with station approaches; if you're coming in too fast and think you'll miss your drop, angle closer to a planet and you'll scrub off speed easily.

And if you're being pursued sometimes temporarily angling away from your destination is a safer bet; the 'fastest' means to get between two points may be a line, but if the line's spacetime is warped then it really ain't...

Oh, and one last small thing; when jumping between systems an easy mistake to make is to not orient away from the star you dropped at/jumped to. With neutron stars and white dwarfs a lazy commander can find themselves yanked out of FS and cooking from the inside with just a few seconds worth of a mistake. Two ways to avoid ever doing that: when a jump's been initiated (i.e. the countdown's started), throttle down to zero - nothing will happen to your speed, of course, but when you drop you'll be at a dead stop.

But my favoured solution is to disable Flight Assist in normal flight (or just before entering frameshift/inter-system speed), and then any jump will automatically drop the ship at dead zero. No more panicky moments of pitching down or up as a star suddenly fills your cockpit...

If you ever get into exploration out of the bubble (the settled region around Sol), then you'll spend most of your time in FS. The longer the journey, the greater the chance of making a sloppy mistake, and the costlier it'll be, so when out in the black (which is actually increasingly bright closer to the core) I always jump 'FA off' to completely negate those kinds of mistakes.

The vast control options are slowly becoming less intimidating too. There is a 3rd person camera mode for the ship I found, probably to give those mini-buys some semblance of purpose.

Heh, it's not officially a gameplay cam, given you don't have access to all controls and readouts. They've specifically wanted to keep it a first-person experience, and only in the gunner's seat in multi-crew does it really break that 'rule'.

Re control options and binding: a useful one to have bound is 'select/jump to next target', or whatever it's actual name is - it's the bind which allows you to select the next system on a plotted route. For explorers it's essential, but it's always useful, as it means you can target whatever you like when in a system, but then immediately re-target your plotted galaxy map route and be on your way.

Even if you don't sign up and post, the official forum's [https://forums.frontier.co.uk/forumdisplay.php/29-Elite-Dangerous] a great place for links to resources and wotnot, as well as the obvious community support. You may've crossed paths with some of his content already, but Obsidian Ant's [https://www.youtube.com/user/ObsidianAnt] a fine YT'er who does regular updates on what's going on with/in the game. He's a huge fan, but he can be very critical whilst trying to acknowledge all sides of an issue.

Am glad to contribute to a genre that needs much more love!
First play in open play mode did sort of refuse my docking for the first jump mission they provided, so hopefully that was down to a busy server as I did see a constant stream of ship stealing my damn progress. So am offline for now, but with the positive impression that the game isn't doing badly for its' release.
For a first time space sim player, this is probably just the right balance I think. There are always lessons to be learnt on session and every action demands enough skill from the player that makes even the simplest action feel precisely defined and personal. The scale and detail is impressive and I have yet to comprehend many of the systems still, but that adds to the feel that there is so much left to learn. Mayhaps this is the problem with a first-timer space explorer, but I do get the odd dark souls vibe, as overused as that comparison is these days, it does entice familiar emotions.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

For a first time space sim player, this is probably just the right balance I think. There are always lessons to be learnt on session and every action demands enough skill from the player that makes even the simplest action feel precisely defined and personal. The scale and detail is impressive and I have yet to comprehend many of the systems still, but that adds to the feel that there is so much left to learn.

The PS4 version took its time, but the upside is that the game's obviously significantly more feature rich than it was even when I joined.

The Engineers rollout was, er, controversial when it first appeared, but even though I've not heavily Engineered much at all I couldn't really imagine the game without them, given they greatly increase player options with ship builds. Even very small details like the voiced station comms greatly add to the sense of realism and immersion. Ditto asteroid stations and some of the other civilian and military structures, or the ability to actually create a character (which was only added very recently).

Have you looked up any guides and wotnot, or are you just trying to figure things out? Have you made any surface landings yet and gone out in the SRV? Are you eyeing up any cosmetic micros yet? Generally speaking, I at least buy a new ship pack each time I get a new ship, and then over time buy multiple packs for favoured ships.

Mayhaps this is the problem with a first-timer space explorer, but I do get the odd dark souls vibe, as overused as that comparison is these days, it does entice familiar emotions.

Nah, as I said in the previous post there are a lot of spiritual similarities between the two, primarily in ship/character builds (huge freedom, plus the freedom to simply make shitty builds), risk vs reward, simple-yet-at-times-complex/difficult core gameplay, and also with their rather obscure learning curves. Things are better now, of course, but Elite's still a game that rather requires external resources and community feedback to really get the nuances. Building a ship without Coriolis would be an absolute nightmare, and the trading site's [https://eddb.io] more situational but just as essential.

However, with Dark Souls [1] it felt like that was partly an intentional design ethos. With Elite it's more about FDev kinda being lazy and not doing a very good job with making the game accessible to newcomers... Still, regardless of how it got to that point that inscrutability and need to engage with the community and their resources is something I greatly enjoy in both.

And, generally speaking, in both games when you fail it's your fault, and it's something you could've avoided. The crash landing I had after a month's worth exploring/scanning (I was 18,000Ly out from the bubble. if you go into the galaxy map and search Neutron Nebula it should take you straight to the system close to the core) was on a frikkin' 0.05G moon - a humiliatingly low-G world to wipe out on... I'd advise watching back footage of your own crashes or failures in combat, as you can typically learn to spot exactly what you did wrong and when. No mistake in Elite's a disaster if you learn from it.

The lesson I learnt from my 0.05G wipe out was 'Don't make mistakes'.

...but apart from that; don't attempt vertical descent landings from 7Km up and assume just because it's low-G it'll be an easy landing - losing concentration, particularly as an explorer, is usually the biggest and most frequent killer.

That's a general tip for surface landings, btw; angle the descent like a plane, even if you're trying to nail the center of a POI (those blue zones which appear on your radar. that's what I was trying to do on my wipe out). You might have a slightly harder time nailing the POI's source direction, but that's obviously preferable to, y'know, blowing up. Even if you've landed on high-G worlds in the past just fine, don't underestimate the potential danger in any landing, particularly if your structural integrity is low.

Oh yeah, your ship effectively has two 'health' bars but you can only see one in the cockpit. The HUD obviously indicates hull integrity and is reduced from weapons fire and collisions when your shields go down. Structural integrity goes down through simple flight and operation; you'll see the option to repair that state separately when docked. I've not seen rigorously detailed coverage of it in terms of actual math (I did find some older stats, but they'd likely be outdated by now), but what matters is that when your shields go down you'll take more damage much faster if your structural integrity's been significantly reduced.

That general wear and tear mostly impacts explorers, but it's always worth keeping an eye on when in the repairs screen regardless of your profession/ship role.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Now console users have the privaledge of spending real money to be bored as f**k. Lucky them.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

The PS4 version took its time, but the upside is that the game's obviously significantly more feature rich than it was even when I joined.

The Engineers rollout was, er, controversial when it first appeared, but even though I've not heavily Engineered much at all I couldn't really imagine the game without them, given they greatly increase player options with ship builds. Even very small details like the voiced station comms greatly add to the sense of realism and immersion. Ditto asteroid stations and some of the other civilian and military structures, or the ability to actually create a character (which was only added very recently).

Have you looked up any guides and wotnot, or are you just trying to figure things out? Have you made any surface landings yet and gone out in the SRV? Are you eyeing up any cosmetic micros yet? Generally speaking, I at least buy a new ship pack each time I get a new ship, and then over time buy multiple packs for favoured ships.

Mayhaps this is the problem with a first-timer space explorer, but I do get the odd dark souls vibe, as overused as that comparison is these days, it does entice familiar emotions.

Nah, as I said in the previous post there are a lot of spiritual similarities between the two, primarily in ship/character builds (huge freedom, plus the freedom to simply make shitty builds), risk vs reward, simple-yet-at-times-complex/difficult core gameplay, and also with their rather obscure learning curves. Things are better now, of course, but Elite's still a game that rather requires external resources and community feedback to really get the nuances. Building a ship without Coriolis would be an absolute nightmare, and the trading site's [https://eddb.io] more situational but just as essential.

However, with Dark Souls [1] it felt like that was partly an intentional design ethos. With Elite it's more about FDev kinda being lazy and not doing a very good job with making the game accessible to newcomers... Still, regardless of how it got to that point that inscrutability and need to engage with the community and their resources is something I greatly enjoy in both.

And, generally speaking, in both games when you fail it's your fault, and it's something you could've avoided. The crash landing I had after a month's worth exploring/scanning (I was 18,000Ly out from the bubble. if you go into the galaxy map and search Neutron Nebula it should take you straight to the system close to the core) was on a frikkin' 0.05G moon - a humiliatingly low-G world to wipe out on... I'd advise watching back footage of your own crashes or failures in combat, as you can typically learn to spot exactly what you did wrong and when. No mistake in Elite's a disaster if you learn from it.

The lesson I learnt from my 0.05G wipe out was 'Don't make mistakes'.

...but apart from that; don't attempt vertical descent landings from 7Km up and assume just because it's low-G it'll be an easy landing - losing concentration, particularly as an explorer, is usually the biggest and most frequent killer.

That's a general tip for surface landings, btw; angle the descent like a plane, even if you're trying to nail the center of a POI (those blue zones which appear on your radar. that's what I was trying to do on my wipe out). You might have a slightly harder time nailing the POI's source direction, but that's obviously preferable to, y'know, blowing up. Even if you've landed on high-G worlds in the past just fine, don't underestimate the potential danger in any landing, particularly if your structural integrity is low.

Oh yeah, your ship effectively has two 'health' bars but you can only see one in the cockpit. The HUD obviously indicates hull integrity and is reduced from weapons fire and collisions when your shields go down. Structural integrity goes down through simple flight and operation; you'll see the option to repair that state separately when docked. I've not seen rigorously detailed coverage of it in terms of actual math (I did find some older stats, but they'd likely be outdated by now), but what matters is that when your shields go down you'll take more damage much faster if your structural integrity's been significantly reduced.

That general wear and tear mostly impacts explorers, but it's always worth keeping an eye on when in the repairs screen regardless of your profession/ship role.

Sorry for my late reply here, I thought I already did, but must've either invented the memory or my device didn't do its' job particularly well.

I have noticed the engineers around and that they seem to improve your functions, but my ship is still a one-seater and am currently finding the least dangerous methods of income for now - ships are expensive creatures!

The alien myths/events and the centre of the galaxy are what excites me right now, but apparently there's much much more to do before I can even begin comprehending those paths, such as needing an engineer to store mysterious artifacts in a corrosion-proof cargo hold.

Did a bit of SRVing in training, but not in the main game yet. Kinda made the mistake of selling my vehicle instead of storing it and now I can only find planetary vehicle bays for sale, not the SRV's themselves, which is a little annoying as the recon data grabs look a bit fun to try out. Haven't checked out the options for cosmetics, I think a ship that sticks as a keeper will lead me to bling it up properly. Some ship that allows a helpful crew and a healthy jump level for far exploration would be great!

The planetary landing and orbital flight are both skills am slowly improving on; no crashes yet ...took some experimentation and close analysis of hud details to get an overall understanding of what systems where going on there. Previously I either entered orbit far too distanced from the target to continue the path, or directly above the target so I beeline straight down, damaging my hull along the way. A mostly healthy middle ground has been utilised now.

Mostly I try to mix in game discovery and learning with community help when and if needed, or if a specific mechanic/goal doesn't have any visible introduction in the game to go by. Haven't had a dogfight at all yet, but my weapons and shields are damn well ready, I just need to find some asshole bounties to practice on without getting in trouble.

Speaking of which, have been recently reading up the political makeup of the game world, as I stumbled on the leader page by complete accident and didn't realise I could pledge allegiance and contribute towards vague territory expansion goals. I wanted to include more option so pledged allegiance to some green-haired lady or something because her goals appeared suitable enough. But that has made the odd systems to come up as 'hostile' on my dashboard, so I don't hang about in those places long enough to call my dashboard's bluff.

All in all, it's a pretty good experience for a first-timer as long as they're prepared to learn and be patient. Landing is still a wonky task, but the job gets done ok enough with marginal improvements every now and then.
Oh and the map is way way way more vast than it first presented itself to be. When I initially zoomed out very slowly, then zoomed in even slower on a different area, I almost fell of my chair from dizziness trying to comprehend it all. Damn you, space! You too large...how is anyone brain capable of imagining you fully? These subjects legitimately keep me awake at night.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

Now console users have the privaledge of spending real money to be bored as f**k. Lucky them.

If you're going to try to be snarky, you could at least be accurately so - it's been out on Xbox for about two years (and I've loved every minute of it). Now PS4 users will have the privilege of playing one of the greatest games ever crafted.

I have noticed the engineers around and that they seem to improve your functions, but my ship is still a one-seater and am currently finding the least dangerous methods of income for now - ships are expensive creatures!

Are you still in the Sidewinder, then?

The alien myths/events and the centre of the galaxy are what excites me right now, but apparently there's much much more to do before I can even begin comprehending those paths, such as needing an engineer to store mysterious artifacts in a corrosion-proof cargo hold.

Heh, sounds like you're getting stuck into things even I've not done (I've still not tried Powerplay). I've barely seen anything of the alien narrative. I've been out of the bubble for--- dunno, well over a year, now? Plus with several months playing other games instead, I'm just never around the right part of space.

I assume you've heard of Colonia? It's a new, growing bubble 22,000Ly out from Sol. No Engineers, and you can't A-rate ships, but for explorers and miners it's obviously a great place. I spent a veritable age traveling there, partly as I needed a break after the initial failed 18K trip, and so the alien narrative's passed me by. Not that it really amounts to much, mind. Personally I've no real interest in it at the moment; I don't want to collect and transport corrosive artifacts and open doors to alien 'bases'/installations for no real gain (though I would like to get [witch space] interdicted by aliens). I'm RP'ing a named character, and I don't really see her going hunting for alien mysteries. I'd love to find something new out in the [bright] black, sure, but thus far I believe the narrative's unfolding in the wrong part of the galaxy for that.

Did a bit of SRVing in training, but not in the main game yet. Kinda made the mistake of selling my vehicle instead of storing it and now I can only find planetary vehicle bays for sale...

Use the trading site I linked to in order to find nearby stations selling what you want. I assume you already know, but High Tech economies are where good selections of ships and gear are found, so if you're just browsing filter your map for those.

Haven't checked out the options for cosmetics, I think a ship that sticks as a keeper will lead me to bling it up properly. Some ship that allows a helpful crew and a healthy jump level for far exploration would be great!

If you're looking to scratch both those itches at the same time, then you may be waiting a while - plus a ship that's a good explorer doesn't tend to be great for multi-crew (there's also bugger all to do out of combat/security for multi-crews thus far).

Apropos random ship recommendations: the Cobra III's pretty much the best multi-role ship in the game, certainly when taking into account cost and accessibility. It wasn't an option until quite recently, but these days you can keep refitting a given ship to fulfill all kinds of roles, via module storage, i.e. find a 'home' station (usually a High Tech of some stripe. mine's the Vonarburg Co-Operative orbiting Way, in the system of Wyrd, if you wanna say hi. I mean, I won't be there and we're on different platforms, but still... ) to keep your ships at as well as stored modules, so that you can swap out parts to suit your whims and/or mission requirements.

Re jump range: you don't need a good one to go exploring, obviously. I gather all ships in the game have made it to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center. The only real danger any ship with a small jump range has to contend with is fields of stars that cannot be scooped from, and filtering out all non main sequence stars - OBAFGKM, aka Oh Be A Fine Girl/Guy Kiss Me - will show you when you have a tricky zone ahead of you.

I'd say jump ranges over 35Ly would now be considered 'good', and will see most people traverse the galaxy at a reasonable pace, but depending on how hardcore an explorer is a massive jump range has a drawback; you visit less systems, ergo you won't be making as much creds as someone with a 'worse' exploration ship. Those concerns are relative to how far out you are, though; generally speaking no one wants to be tens of thousands of Ly out from home in a ship with a shitty jump range...

Previously I either entered orbit far too distanced from the target to continue the path, or directly above the target so I beeline straight down, damaging my hull along the way. A mostly healthy middle ground has been utilised now.

How did you damage the hull? D'you mean you entered too fast and were forced out of SC? If so, that has nowt to do with angles or distance and everything to do with speed.

In a recent vid Obsidian Ant more or less cited an optimum drop point for surface station approaches; drop into glide at around 100Km out from target (the angle's not overly important, at least on most low-to-medium G worlds), and you'll transition out of glide very close to the station.

Mostly I try to mix in game discovery and learning with community help when and if needed, or if a specific mechanic/goal doesn't have any visible introduction in the game to go by. Haven't had a dogfight at all yet, but my weapons and shields are damn well ready, I just need to find some asshole bounties to practice on without getting in trouble.

Head to any nearby RES/Resource Extraction Site and fish for Wanted ships trying to pick off miners. Stay away from the higher level RES's, as the quality scales up significantly, and they'll tend to be in wings, too.

...that said if you're willing to risk it you can enter the nastier RES's, and wait for big ships with good NPC pilots to be engaged by security. As long as you inflict some damage on the ship you'll get the bounty. It's cheap, sure, but I'd say all players have done it at some point. HazRES's don't have security at all, btw, so that trick doesn't really work there...

I wanted to include more option so pledged allegiance to some green-haired lady or something because her goals appeared suitable enough. But that has made the odd systems to come up as 'hostile' on my dashboard, so I don't hang about in those places long enough to call my dashboard's bluff.

Green? Y'mean blue, aka Space Khaleesi/Aisling Duval? If so: filthy casual! ;-) I swear most people pledge to her because she's cute.... Well that, and her perk module is Prismatic Shields. Given the aforementioned RP, my character won't ever fly Empire colours as she's Fed loyal, so I'll never fly the fancy space-Learjets (I prefer the functional looking FNA/Federal Navy Auxiliary ships anyway) or unlock their modules.

Honestly, Powerplay's kinda shite, even now. Back in 'the day' it was far more punishing and even less rewarding, and so whenever I get back home I will pledge to Felicia Winters (partly for RP - my pilot's Fed loyal but knows Hudson's a bit of a maniac - and partly because her bias isn't towards combat), but I'm not sure how long I'll keep contributing. It still needs an overhaul, frankly (though I hope they never get rid of it).

All in all, it's a pretty good experience for a first-timer as long as they're prepared to learn and be patient. Landing is still a wonky task, but the job gets done ok enough with marginal improvements every now and then.

You could always use a docking computer! ;-)

Some sneer at its use, but actually it's handy for haulage (just to give you a break) as well as docking some of the biggest ships until you've gotten used to it. If a ship I'm running haulage missions in can spare it (re spare racks), I always equip a DC.

Oh and the map is way way way more vast than it first presented itself to be. When I initially zoomed out very slowly, then zoomed in even slower on a different area, I almost fell of my chair from dizziness trying to comprehend it all. Damn you, space! You too large...how is anyone brain capable of imagining you fully? These subjects legitimately keep me awake at night.

Yeah, the fact that Elite - more or less - models the galaxy on a 1:1 scale is awesome. I can understand why some would dismiss all that given it's mostly PG and there's not a lot to 'do' on planet surfaces... But the scale of it's still suitably imposing, and 'a lot of nothing' sums up the cosmos quite accurately, so whilst some see it as boring, I see it as realistically lonely/stark.

I'm currently the farthest flung I've been from the bubble; 23,000Ly - within one of the two nebulae just past Colonia. Oh, if you ever plan on a trip out to Colonia, look up the list of stations that dot the path between it and the bubble (provided you want to see some semblance of civilisation between the two bubbles, that is. I enjoyed seeing no one between the two at all).

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Are you still in the Sidewinder, then?

Nope, i, err... *quick check* ... acquired an Eagle, probably due to some closeted US patriotic desire that their media has pushed upon me through childhood.

Heh, sounds like you're getting stuck into things even I've not done (I've still not tried Powerplay). I've barely seen anything of the alien narrative. I've been out of the bubble for--- dunno, well over a year, now? Plus with several months playing other games instead, I'm just never around the right part of space.

I assume you've heard of Colonia? It's a new, growing bubble 22,000Ly out from Sol. No Engineers, and you can't A-rate ships, but for explorers and miners it's obviously a great place. I spent a veritable age traveling there, partly as I needed a break after the initial failed 18K trip, and so the alien narrative's passed me by. Not that it really amounts to much, mind. Personally I've no real interest in it at the moment; I don't want to collect and transport corrosive artifacts and open doors to alien 'bases'/installations for no real gain (though I would like to get [witch space] interdicted by aliens). I'm RP'ing a named character, and I don't really see her going hunting for alien mysteries. I'd love to find something new out in the [bright] black, sure, but thus far I believe the narrative's unfolding in the wrong part of the galaxy for that.

Not sure what powerplay is yet, sounds tough already. Colonia is also new to me, but I typed it in and looked and behold it is there...just a mere 22,000.54 odd light years away. Going to need a few extra sandwiches for that journey.
Apparently the alien discoveries are only presently occuring within the main bubble, so am not sure what may be hiding out there in the vast unknown. I can understand keeping the RPing separate from these weird alien tasks that don't seem to reward with much, especially when so far into a distant journey. I personally feel a fair bit of inner excitement with the thought of being on the forefront for new narrative discoveries, that in itself would be its' own reward for me at least.
Have you had any pretty bad losses yet with characters/ships or been more of a cautious commander? I despair the eventual moment of losing a well equipped ship to something unheroic like a badly timed toilet break or an attention starved puppy distracting me.

Use the trading site I linked to in order to find nearby stations selling what you want. I assume you already know, but High Tech economies are where good selections of ships and gear are found, so if you're just browsing filter your map for those.

High tech, that is quite a logical place to look hehe. Oki dokies. Would I need the planetary vehicle bay equipped for the SRV to appear in store?

If you're looking to scratch both those itches at the same time, then you may be waiting a while - plus a ship that's a good explorer doesn't tend to be great for multi-crew (there's also bugger all to do out of combat/security for multi-crews thus far.

Apropos random ship recommendations: the Cobra III's pretty much the best multi-role ship in the game, certainly when taking into account cost and accessibility. It wasn't an option until quite recently, but these days you can keep refitting a given ship to fulfill all kinds of roles, via module storage, i.e. find a 'home' station (usually a High Tech of some stripe. mine's the Vonarburg Co-Operative orbiting Way, in the system of Wyrd, if you wanna say hi. I mean, I won't be there and we're on different platforms, but still... ) to keep your ships at as well as stored modules, so that you can swap out parts to suit your whims and/or mission requirements.

Re jump range: you don't need a good one to go exploring, obviously. I gather all ships in the game have made it to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center. The only real danger any ship with a small jump range has to contend with is fields of stars that cannot be scooped from, and filtering out all non main sequence stars - OBAFGKM, aka Oh Be A Fine Girl/Guy Kiss Me - will show you when you have a tricky zone ahead of you.

I'd say jump ranges over 35Ly would now be considered 'good', and will see most people traverse the galaxy at a reasonable pace, but depending on how hardcore an explorer is a massive jump range has a drawback; you visit less systems, ergo you won't be making as much creds as someone with a 'worse' exploration ship. Those concerns are relative to how far out you are, though; generally speaking no one wants to be tens of thousands of Ly out from home in a ship with a shitty jump range...

Have heard quite good things about the Cobra III, and it sounds appropriate for my non-committal style of play. Current jump range is hovering between 11-12 My which has proven mildly annoying every now and then. But then again, I was surprised how much money system and planet data netted me on one fairly routine trip, so all that scanning and exploring does have its' financial merits.
Wyrd was passed recently, that name stood out at the time, but don't remember the details of the system. A fuel scoop is waiting in storage, I'm still in money-hoarding mode for now, along with looking for a nice SRV. Is there only one type of SRV in the game?
I hear that inhabited planets are planned to be accessable in the future, which disappointed at first when I was stuck in limbo attempting to enter one of them. Must be a heavy task to intergrate into the game, it would be great if they achieve it though.

How did you damage the hull? D'you mean you entered too fast and were forced out of SC? If so, that has nowt to do with angles or distance and everything to do with speed.

In a recent vid Obsidian Ant more or less cited an optimum drop point for surface station approaches; drop into glide at around 100Km out from target (the angle's not overly important, at least on most low-to-medium G worlds), and you'll transition out of glide very close to the station.

It was basically just hull damage from not-so-smooth drops out of supercross. They're quite minimal so it isn't a bother for now, I tank the small imaptiences.

Head to any nearby RES/Resource Extraction Site and fish for Wanted ships trying to pick off miners. Stay away from the higher level RES's, as the quality scales up significantly, and they'll tend to be in wings, too.

...that said if you're willing to risk it you can enter the nastier RES's, and wait for big ships with good NPC pilots to be engaged by security. As long as you inflict some damage on the ship you'll get the bounty. It's cheap, sure, but I'd say all players have done it at some point. HazRES's don't have security at all, btw, so that trick doesn't really work there...

Will have to try that at some point, thanks. My shiny railgun needs testing somehow and there is a distinct lack of wildlife in space.

Green? Y'mean blue, aka Space Khaleesi/Aisling Duval? If so: filthy casual! ;-) I swear most people pledge to her because she's cute.... Well that, and her perk module is Prismatic Shields. Given the aforementioned RP, my character won't ever fly Empire colours as she's Fed loyal, so I'll never fly the fancy space-Learjets (I prefer the functional looking FNA/Federal Navy Auxiliary ships anyway) or unlock their modules.

Honestly, Powerplay's kinda shite, even now. Back in 'the day' it was far more punishing and even less rewarding, and so whenever I get back home I will pledge to Felicia Winters (partly for RP - my pilot's Fed loyal but knows Hudson's a bit of a maniac - and partly because her bias isn't towards combat), but I'm not sure how long I'll keep contributing. It still needs an overhaul, frankly (though I hope they never get rid of it).

*Quick checks again* ...Oh, no it is actually Felicia Winters, but she has green lipstick and overcoat, so my fickle brain must have retained that part of the detail instead. I saw the cute one but found Winters had a more agreeable philosophy. Haven't done any contributing yet, been swaying between smaller goals so far, but the political influencing of systems does intrigue me.

You could always use a docking computer! ;-)

Some sneer at its use, but actually it's handy for haulage (just to give you a break) as well as docking some of the biggest ships until you've gotten used to it. If a ship I'm running haulage missions in can spare it (re spare racks), I always equip a DC.

Ehh, I like the little challenges. But there'll probably be a time in the future where a DC will be highly appreciated, like a moment of intense intoxication after of during a party.

Yeah, the fact that Elite - more or less - models the galaxy on a 1:1 scale is awesome. I can understand why some would dismiss all that given it's mostly PG and there's not a lot to 'do' on planet surfaces... But the scale of it's still suitably imposing, and 'a lot of nothing' sums up the cosmos quite accurately, so whilst some see it as boring, I see it as realistically lonely/stark.

I'm currently the farthest flung I've been from the bubble; 23,000Ly - within one of the two nebulae just past Colonia. Oh, if you ever plan on a trip out to Colonia, look up the list of stations that dot the path between it and the bubble (provided you want to see some semblance of civilisation between the two bubbles, that is. I enjoyed seeing no one between the two at all).

It is impressive. I believe a tool like their interactive mapping would be great for teaching or allowing others to be able to physically appreciate the scale of our universe to a greater degree. As work is still being done on the game, it's tantalising to think of what the future of this galaxy could grow to be.
A journey to colonia will have to be initiated at some point, as long as prepare accordingly and practice the tricks of the trade.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

I can understand keeping the RPing separate from these weird alien tasks that don't seem to reward with much, especially when so far into a distant journey.

Explorers get used to being absolutely nowhere near the action... Many have abandoned long journeys and plans just to check something new out, though good CG's/Community Goals probably account for more hasty returns to civilisation.

I personally feel a fair bit of inner excitement with the thought of being on the forefront for new narrative discoveries, that in itself would be its' own reward for me at least.

Oh, absolutely. But someone in a YT comment compared Elite to the game in Ready Player One; a grand mystery to solve, done by collaborating and competing against other players. But as with the book's OASIS and its mysteries, Elite's secrets can be seriously obscure and tend to reward only the dedicated.

I gather one of the earlier crash sites was sussed out simply from a trailer; they apparently mapped the stars in the short clip to narrow down the search area. That's--- not something I could be arsed to suss out... Ditto for converting audio into visual for clues.

Have you had any pretty bad losses yet with characters/ships or been more of a cautious commander? I despair the eventual moment of losing a well equipped ship to something unheroic like a badly timed toilet break or an attention starved puppy distracting me.

Heh, given Elite's scale, everything is relative. Early failures confined within the bubble that felt agonising now feel insignificant after the crash I've referred to; 18,000Ly to the Neutron Nebula and a crash on a 0.05G world from 7Km up (a hasty vertical landing into a POI's centre) cost me a month's worth of scanning data - thousands of systems visited, and tens of millions at least lost. Factor in the rebuy and I had to pay 350K for a month's wasted gameplay...

Still, I'm stubborn and more or less headed right back out to that very cursed rock after the rebuy. When I head back to Colonia I'll have over 200m creds, and by the time I return to the bubble I'll likely have around 350-380m (which doesn't include about 100m spent on a new ship), depending on how thorough I am. So all in all a massive round trip will net a suitable reward.

As for tea breaks and other assorted distractions: the danger they carry depends on where you are in the galaxy. ;-) (oh, I suppose that's another small similarity to Dark Souls; no pausing)

High tech, that is quite a logical place to look hehe. Oki dokies. Would I need the planetary vehicle bay equipped for the SRV to appear in store?

Yeah, you can't buy SRV's on their lonesome - you first have to buy and fit the bay (they're then stored as one module).

Keep a look out for systems controlled/exploited by Li Yong-Rui/LYR, as his stations will tend to have a discount. One of the hurdles of building ships in Elite is that the ship's always just a starting point, and the real cost is in the modules (which will quite swiftly cost many times the baseline cost of the ship).

Have heard quite good things about the Cobra III, and it sounds appropriate for my non-committal style of play. Current jump range is hovering between 11-12 My which has proven mildly annoying every now and then. But then again, I was surprised how much money system and planet data netted me on one fairly routine trip, so all that scanning and exploring does have its' financial merits.

Cobra III's tend to find - and keep - a place in everyone's fleet, no matter what they're flying, even if only for sentimental value. The Python's the next ferociously capable multi-role (I bought one when I arrived in Colonia for mining and haulage), and generally most see the Anaconda as the top-tier (I'll never fly one, simply because they're so gorram ubiquitous... ditto the Asp Explorer).

Re ship builds: have the used Coriolis yet? Maybe you want to explore builds and wotnot on your own, but Coriolis is a great way to show other people your current or planned build and get feedback.

Wyrd was passed recently, that name stood out at the time, but don't remember the details of the system.

I picked Vonarburg Co-Operative as a home pretty much just because it was one of the first luxury rated station interiors I ever saw. With amusing irony the station's supposed to be Communist...

A fuel scoop is waiting in storage, I'm still in money-hoarding mode for now, along with looking for a nice SRV. Is there only one type of SRV in the game?

Unfortunately, yes. FDev generally say they don't want to add new stuff just for the sake of it, and want mechanics and features to support them. So they'll add new SRV's when there's a real point to it.

Personally I'd be fine with different designs with a few differences (speeds, thruster rates, weapons, cargo racks, that sort of thing), but it doesn't seem new SRV's are anything close to a priority for FDev.

I hear that inhabited planets are planned to be accessable in the future, which disappointed at first when I was stuck in limbo attempting to enter one of them. Must be a heavy task to intergrate into the game, it would be great if they achieve it though.

Atmospheric worlds are planned, but frankly I'm not sure the game can handle it (well, I certainly don't think the Xbox can handle it... ). It'll likely be another two years, if that.

At the moment none of the ships are really designed for aerodynamics in the slightest, so perhaps new ships will be added, or significant tweaks will have to be made to the current roster for them to be included.

*Quick checks again* ...Oh, no it is actually Felicia Winters, but she has green lipstick and overcoat, so my fickle brain must have retained that part of the detail instead. I saw the cute one but found Winters had a more agreeable philosophy. Haven't done any contributing yet, been swaying between smaller goals so far, but the political influencing of systems does intrigue me.

Ah, good man: Winters is the only hope for the galaxy Federation. ;-) If you want to hitch your, er, space horse to the populist choice and eventual 'winner' (if FDev ever allow for that, which they probably wouldn't) where the superpowers are concerned, then vote Empire for the aforementioned Space Khaleesi+interstellar Learjets reasons.

There's speculation the Alliance may end up with new ships rocking alien technology, as I believe that happened in a prior Elite/Frontier, but so far I don't think FDev have hinted at that at all.

Personally I'm just looking to Powerplay to give a little extra RP context as well as consequences whenever I return home, nothing more. To be an effective PP'er you really need to get in touch with other players and organise efforts to actually affect any system changes or swings.

I believe a tool like their interactive mapping would be great for teaching or allowing others to be able to physically appreciate the scale of our universe to a greater degree.

Yeah, I've always been interested in astronomy and wotnot, but Elite's model provides an awesome sense of perspective, be it galactically and also in terms of relative scale within systems. Seeing how the galaxy visually changes as you travel out is also still one of the most enjoyable details for me (the Magellanic Clouds are usually on hand to orient 'up' and 'down', galactically speaking)

The nebulae from a distance can look pretty ropey at times, but it's still a novelty to see tiny specks loom larger until they swallow you whole; truly vast clouds of hydrogen and oxygen rich reds and greens/blues, with fields of stars beyond. The swathes of dust can also make for some stark visuals, at times suddenly cutting up the familiar band of the galaxy, or seeming to engulf you in total darkness.

Barnard's Loop is a very familiar marker for those in and around the bubble, and it was enjoyable seeing it recede before vanishing when I first ventured out a few thousand light years.

As work is still being done on the game, it's tantalising to think of what the future of this galaxy could grow to be.
A journey to colonia will have to be initiated at some point, as long as prepare accordingly and practice the tricks of the trade.

A trip to Sag.A* and doing the Hutton Orbital run (which took me 1hr 30mins, from star to station) are other traditional 'to-do's', I'd say.

Explorers are seen as a little nuts in the community... Given the 'features' and mechanics of the role are more or less non-existent (the reward's very subjective and experiential), traveling vast distances can be a variously boring or torturous thing, depending on your tastes. If you have a huge backlog of podcasts, then Elite's an ideal accompaniment. ;-) If you just want to travel - not scan/explore - then I suppose the trip to the core or Colonia wouldn't be that bad.

Oh, and getting into Sol to sightsee our own system requires a Federation flavoured permit, but it's worth it (who can resist diving into Saturn's rings). Mercury was my first surface landing (in a Cobra III) after Horizons came out on XB1, and I took about two leisurely weeks to work my way out to Pluto and Charon (the other KBO's weren't in the game at that point), landing on every moon and taking a ton of pics.