Elite: Dangerous (Kickstarter)

[Architecture]

I find the concept of a starfighter with an American paintjob in a game about interstellar travel absolutely hilarious.

[Dr Wookie]

  On 7/3/2014 at 10:01 PM, Architecture said:

I find the concept of a starfighter with an American paintjob in a game about interstellar travel absolutely hilarious.

Yeah, I think a lot of it is pretty tongue in cheek!

 

Here is the latest in a series of cool videos by fellow backer Neon Raven;

It was made in Premum Beta 2.02 with 3 other commanders; given that the only way to get such views is through the top of the canopy in a Sidewinder ship, I find Neon Raven's work very impressive

[Dr Wookie]

Only a week to go now until ED goes into the "Standard Beta" stage... which confusingly still isn't what I would call a beta, but does mean that the price drops to $75, and tens of thousands more people will be able to play in the online multiplayer mode. Currently those people with Standard Beta passes have access to the single player combat scenarios in order to get some practice in; apparently over 30,000 people are playing right now.

 

STAR PORN

Here's a video showing sped up flares and corona mass ejection in a star, from an internal build (maybe Standard Beta 1, not sure).

 

SHIP PORN

While here are a few tantalising glimpses of the cockpits of various ships outside of the captain's chair, all ready for the planned walking about expansion; this will only happen when walking about adds real gameplay, so will be some months, maybe even a year after first release

 

MORE SYSTEMS, BUT MORE RESTRICTIONS

There will be many more star systems opened up in SB1; we were given a sneak peek, and some people infered 50-60 new systems, whereas we now have 8. However, fuel will be a thing, meaning we can't just gad about wherever we want anymore

[Dewar]

Ooh, looking nice. I thought I was pledged up to beta level, but it turns out that I won't be getting it until release. Oh well, the dogfighting isn't really what I want out of the game anyway, and that seems to be the primary focus at the moment.

[BigJKO]

Just out if curiosity, have they talked about how they're making the galaxy of systems, etc.? Some sort of procedural generation and then going in and hand-crafting some of it?

That ship's cockpit... I do want to walk around that.. I'm very happy that there are three space games in development all with a different focus and a very different aesthetic that are all very appealing to me somehow.

[Dr Wookie]

  On 7/22/2014 at 6:17 PM, Dewar said:

Ooh, looking nice. I thought I was pledged up to beta level, but it turns out that I won't be getting it until release. Oh well, the dogfighting isn't really what I want out of the game anyway, and that seems to be the primary focus at the moment.

If you really wanted to, you could upgrade to the beta by paying the price difference; I think you would need to wait until it was released though. However, it won't be long now until the "gamma" phase where everyone who wants to can play early for retail price; there may still be some tweaks before retail release, but hopefully there will be no more progress wipes unless something huge and untoward happens. Given that the 30th anniversary of Elite is in September, I can see that as a very attractive date for releasing the gamma!

 

 

  On 7/22/2014 at 6:40 PM, BigJKO said:

Just out if curiosity, have they talked about how they're making the galaxy of systems, etc.? Some sort of procedural generation and then going in and hand-crafting some of it?

That ship's cockpit... I do want to walk around that.. I'm very happy that there are three space games in development all with a different focus and a very different aesthetic that are all very appealing to me somehow.

Basically every star in the night sky is represented in game... some poor soul had to type in the parameters for ~150,000 real  star systems into their proprietary "Stellar Forge" that reproduces these systems in game. The other star systems are procedurally generated using real astrophysical theories to try to reproduce the Milky Way as closely as possible. Back in 1993, Elite II managed to fit 500 million stars on a single floppy disk, with about 150 real star systems.

 

As for the asthetic side of it, apparently there have been many iterations between the artists and the programmers to try and make the proceedurally generated stuff as interesting and pleasing as possible. David Braben gave a fantastic Tedx talk about procedural generation... he's pretty much the master of the technique

[Dr Wookie]

Can someone help me find my jaw?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODaiPJRyyxA

 

This stunning video is the work of a whole bunch of premium beta commanders, shot through the roof of the a starter ship..

[Dr Wookie]

The final newsletter before the release of Standard Beta is now out... and includes gratuitous 4k, 8k, and 16k shots to help demonstrate scalability and futureproofing... I won't link those shots here as the 16k (130 megapixel) shot froze my work computer for about 10 minutes ! The whole newsletter is here

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=dcbf6b86b4b0c7d1c21b73b1e&id=c5e7202cb7&e=9a500ef1b4

 

CURRENT RECOMMENDED SPECS

 

After the Eurogamer article about future proofing, a number of other sites (cough gamespot couch) took the angle that ED won't run on most pcs, ignoring the whole scalabilty thing. There are lots of graphical options already, so that it will run well and look good on lower end machines (I spent the first week with my new pc running on integrated graphics by mistake, so I know it works). Here are the current recommended specs after the first round of optimization:

DirectX11

2GHz Quadcore CPU

2 GB system RAM (more always better)

DX10 hardware GPU with 1GB RAM

 

NEW SHIP

There was a new ship unveiled, a baby brother to the big-ass space cow hauler, called the Lakon Type 6 (maybe not final name)

 

TRADE PORN (?!?)

This new video shows a work-in-progress method for showing broad-strokes info on what goods to trade where, and it's pretty!

 

 

PAINT JOB MICROTANSACTIONS

New paint jobs will be available for the Sidewinder and Eagle ships, purchasable from the online store for real money; it is unclear whether these paint jobs will be available for in game currency. These apply to a specific ship type, but once you've unlocked them, you can apply them any time you visit a space station.

[Dr Wookie]

So the standard beta is now up and running! There is a staggeringly huge change log here:

http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28314

 

The new play space is about 30,000 cubic lightyears, with 47 new star systems in the mix.. I spent ages in decision paralysis for where to go first!

 

There has been a new audio and visual pass, making a vast improvement over the previous builds

 

The first time I got in, the servers shat the bed a few minutes later because thousands of people were trying to get on all at once, but I tried again just now, after most of Europe has gone to bed

 

A nice surprise (something that I was hoping for, but not yet announced for this beta) was the inclusion of the first go at a mission system, with bounty hunting, mercenary work, and courier missions so far; each has a time limit from a few hours to a day or so so far

 

EVen though the preparations started at 2 pm UK time, the beta went live just after 10 pm; astonishingly, they've still been supporting as recently as 1 am; what legends!

 

This is shaping up to be something truly special

[Aaron]

I was also playing this a bit last night, though just the single player missions to get used to it, as I have an early bedtime. I am impressed so far - it is especially fantastic with TrackIR; the "glance" sensitive screens on the left/right hand side of the cockpit are a perfect touch to draw you in. Also I really like the speed/manoeuvrability trade off you have to make with the throttle when dogfighting - this is something I think even X-Wing had, but it feels so much more pronounced here and is also much better messaged (the agility "sweet spot" on your throttle gauge is clearly marked).

 

I have a Rift DK1 so I will also have to give that a try, even it probably won't be practical.

[Dr Wookie]

TRAILER PORN

 

 

  On 7/30/2014 at 8:36 AM, Aaron said:

I was also playing this a bit last night, though just the single player missions to get used to it, as I have an early bedtime. I am impressed so far - it is especially fantastic with TrackIR; the "glance" sensitive screens on the left/right hand side of the cockpit are a perfect touch to draw you in. Also I really like the speed/manoeuvrability trade off you have to make with the throttle when dogfighting - this is something I think even X-Wing had, but it feels so much more pronounced here and is also much better messaged (the agility "sweet spot" on your throttle gauge is clearly marked).

 

I have a Rift DK1 so I will also have to give that a try, even it probably won't be practical.

Hi Aaron, glad to see you're also enjoying it so far! I've been in since alpha in December, yet still wanted to skip work for the latest build !

 

I borrowed DK1 to try it with ED a few months ago, and it was very impressive, although not very practical. I managed to have a go with the HD prototype at E3, and it was just fabulous! Apparently DK2 is even better, being able to lean in and look around and stuff. I had DK2 on order, but I found out that the specs required to drive it are way higher than I have, so I cancelled it; I hope to get the CV some day though

 

They've also started selling ship skins; each one is $3.50 or $5, can be used as many times as you like but only on one ship type. There's  only a limited selection right now, but more will be added later. I think this is a pretty reasonable price point so long as you only want one skin per ship type (or maybe two at most); I certainly wouldn't recommend getting the lot!

[maximusfuller]

Wow this looks really ambitious. Not as ambitious as Star Citizen but I can't imagine that the there are like 4 studios working on the game.

[Dr Wookie]

  On 7/30/2014 at 8:02 PM, maximusfuller said:

Wow this looks really ambitious. Not as ambitious as Star Citizen but I can't imagine that the there are like 4 studios working on the game.

Elite Dangerous and Star Citizen are both extremely ambitious in different ways. Star Citizen aims for the all killer no filler Hollywood style blockbuster set in 100 or so systems where all the players will come together,  while Elite Dangerous is simulating a whole galaxy where players will be much more rarified. I am excited for both games, as well as Limit Theory and No Man's Sky.

 

I think there's about 100 people working on the game, with the main studio in Cambridge, UK and the netcode team in Halifax, Canada. Last time I was able to get numbers, there was over $6 million raised from backers, and we don't know how much private investment there was. I think the studio sold off some stock for about $70 million, but of course not all of this is being ploughed into Elite.

 

What's really impressive is that they started making Elite Dangerous in earnest after the Kickstarter ended in January 2013, a bit after Star Citizen. FD have managed to get a beta together, while RSI have coughed up some ships, commercials, a hangar and a teeny tiny dogfight module. I've backed Star Citizen, and hope it will be awesome in 18 months to 2 years' time, but right now I am really turned off by Arena Commander.

 

I think one reason for this is that the many studios producing Star Citizen are making dog fighting, the single player campaign, first person shooter stuff, and planetary landings all at once in some sort of vertical slice. By contrast, Frontier Developments has put all of their efforts into making the in-cockpit experience the best it can be for the first release; then walking around and planetary landing stuff will come a year or two afterwards. Also, there is absolutely no story mode in Elite Dangerous, and the Squadron 42 story module for is the main reason I want to play Star Citizen.

[brkl]

How is a fiver for a texture reasonable? At least horse armour had models.

[Dr Wookie]

  On 8/1/2014 at 8:28 AM, brkl said:

How is a fiver for a texture reasonable? At least horse armour had models.

To me, these cosmetic microtransactions are the least evil way to continue to fund FD after sales. Way better than cash for credits/ pay2win . I splashed out $3 on some bling for my ship; that's less than the price of a coffee around these parts

[Dr Wookie]

This week's  newsletter is pretty sparse, but they HAVE put out the beta and 3 updates this week! One thing that struck me is that people from 98 COUNTRIES are playing! That's nearly half of the countries in the World!

They will be localizing in German, French, Russian, Polish, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian and Simplified Chinese.

[coaxmetal]

So my X52-Pro arrived today, and I bought the beta. Going to be checking this out this evening if all goes well.

[Dewar]

  On 7/31/2014 at 6:27 PM, Dr Wookie said:

I think one reason for this is that the many studios producing Star Citizen are making dog fighting, the single player campaign, first person shooter stuff, and planetary landings all at once in some sort of vertical slice. By contrast, Frontier Developments has put all of their efforts into making the in-cockpit experience the best it can be for the first release; then walking around and planetary landing stuff will come a year or two afterwards. Also, there is absolutely no story mode in Elite Dangerous, and the Squadron 42 story module for is the main reason I want to play Star Citizen.

 

Ug, Elite is going to have walking around inside stations? I guess it must be popular because everyone (EVE, X Rebirth, Star Citizen, etc.) has it, but I'd rather just be in my ship and take care of all that with menus.

[Griddlelol]

I'm no Eve expert, but wasn't there a huge backlash against that when it was introduced? I thought the hate for it was so intense that they got rid of it.

[coaxmetal]

I recall hearing talk of it when I did play eve and thought it was a silly idea but I've no idea if it ever got implemented or not. I assume it did.

 

On the Elite front, I made my first profit wooo! I have like 1500 credits now. Thanks to this trade route calculator (http://www.elitedangeroustrader.co.uk/). It's like eve but easy mode. Anyway this game is great. Also I'm planning to try learning to use flight assist off a little. I changed the throttle from forward only to full range, and changed the button that used to be reverse thrust toggle to be flight assist toggle. Wish me luck.

[Dewar]

  On 8/13/2014 at 11:15 AM, Griddlelol said:

I'm no Eve expert, but wasn't there a huge backlash against that when it was introduced? I thought the hate for it was so intense that they got rid of it.

 

The was more about the real money purchasable visual items, most famously the monocle.

[Salacious Snake]

After screwing around in the beta for a bit (with TrackIR and a HOTAS Warthog) I have to say, this game really seems to have its shit together already. I'm impressed! 

[Dr Wookie]

  On 8/12/2014 at 4:01 PM, Dewar said:

Ug, Elite is going to have walking around inside stations? I guess it must be popular because everyone (EVE, X Rebirth, Star Citizen, etc.) has it, but I'd rather just be in my ship and take care of all that with menus.

They will only have it when there's interesting gameplay involved, they say. No pointless wandering . And it's not a bandwagon thing, in the early drafts for  Elite 4 (years ago), the player would have started out on foot and would have had to work their way up to their first ship!

 

  On 8/13/2014 at 3:29 PM, coaxmetal said:

 It's like eve but easy mode. Anyway this game is great. Also I'm planning to try learning to use flight assist off a little. I changed the throttle from forward only to full range, and changed the button that used to be reverse thrust toggle to be flight assist toggle. Wish me luck.

There's still a lot of balancing to do, as well as player interdictions, tougher npcs etc... at the moment, trading is way too safe and easy, as well as much more profitable than collecting bounties. I made more money in the first week of standard beta than i did in all of the earlier phases combined. I'm probably going to wait until the next release before playing more; I'm really looking forward to the addition of factions and reputation, since these give a major motivation for playing other than cold hard cash. There is a huge leap between the two big cargo ships with nothing in between at the moment (only 8 out the 25 player ships are available right now), so earning another 2 million in the face of a wipe isn't really appealing. I started playing more with combat after making 1 million or so.

 

Good luck with flight assist off, that will be fantastic if you tame it!

[Dr Wookie]

The last couple of newsletters have teased some mighty meaty new additions to Beta 2... I've not seen a release date for that version, but the 30th anniversary of Elite is coming up next month, and there's not enough time for gamma let alone full release by then so that seems like a good date.

 

STATION PORN!

 

There are two new types of space stations being intrdoduced,  Ocellus starports and  outposts.

 

The Ocellus starport has a spherical body, based on the 1929 idea for a space station design by Jon Bernal... the shape is great for efficient shielding and maintaining air pressure

 

Their structural strength means that they can be moved from system to system fully formed, rather than being built in situ. Example uses given was for gold rushes or tourism for spectacular but short term stellar events.

 

Outposts are mcuh smaller, found it the more far-flung systems

 

These are so small that all the landing pads are on the outside, meaning that we can watch the galaxy go by while docked!

 

NEW GAMEPLAY MECHANICS

 

Beta 2 will have some really important game play mechanics added that are vital to the success of the game, in my opinion:

 

--- Rankings and Reputation: FINALLY we will have reasons to do stuff other than amassing cash! For me this is the main motivation for playing the game, so I really hope they've got it right!

 

--- Galactic news feeds, where events can trigger missions or market opportunities. Also, players can get on the feeds with feats of great derring do or dastardliness, meaning you could be public enemy number 1

 

--- Missions will be expanded to include espionage, group missions, escorts and policing duties. Vitally, some missions will only be available to people with the right kinds of reputation and ranking (reputation is a very complex beastie with many aspects, see http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6279 ). It looks like there will be mission chains too!

 

Great stuff... I can hardly wait!

[Dr Wookie]

Hi guys, the latest newsletter had some pretty cool stuff in it

 

NOSTALGIA PORN

 

FD have teased a "wireframe" skin for the Cobra Mk III... I want this SO BADLY!

 

FINAL PRICE / PREORDER DETAILS

 

So the final retail price has been announced as 39.99 GBP / 49.99 Euro / $59.99. However, anyone who had preordered the game already or preorders for 35 GBP / 40 Euro / $50 will get the Mercenary Edition with the following bonuses:

- An extra Eagle fighter ship, stored in a separate location, ready for you to pick up

- Exclusive pack of paint jobs

- A Day 1 ship decal

- Digital  player's guide

- Digital concept art book

- Other stuff TBA

 

We can still only fly one ship at a time, but any station larger than an outpost will have places to store ships... they will be safe til we come and get them

 

MINI SHIP ID CHART: 8 NEW SHIPS TEASED

 

Key (new ships in all caps, question marks are guesses):

PYTHON?,  ?,  ASP, ORCA PASSENGER LINER,  ?

FER-DE-LANCE?,  Eagle,  ?,  Viper,  Hauler,  Cobra,  Lakon Type 6, DOLPHIN PASSENGER LINER

                                             Sidewinder

 

CURRENT SHIPS NOT IN CHART: Lakon Type 9, Anaconda 

 

That's 16 out of 25 playable ships promised 

 

30TH ANNIVERSARY STUFF

 

The 30th anniversary of the original game is this month, I think September 22nd. FD have announced 10 days of announcements and suprises surrounding this date... this includes showing at the Eurogamer Expo

 

ANOTHER GREAT VIDEO FROM ISINONA

Here Isinona (probably the best Elite pilot out there, at least on youtube) demonstrates how you can use the hauler (a very humble starter trade ship) for banditry by cunning and making the most of your surroundings

 

BRAGGING RIGHTS

A few months ago, I was chosen along with two other members to be an ambassador for the game at E3. Last week, I got this awesome signed, framed concept art as thanks!