Elite: Dangerous

[Egan]

Originally Posted by eddie

Is the single player option any good?

Offline solo isn't available in the current build. What you have currently is online solo where you are essentially the only player and everyone else is NPC. The Galaxy wide economic model and all the markets etc are still influenced by everyone else on the servers but you won't see them. What is interesting is that you can switch between multiplayer and online solo (you may have to be docked first - and log in and out) but when offline comes you won't be able to move your commander between the modes.

I'm playing online solo just now as I think most people are until we figure things out. It's fine. Done a couple of mission carrying goods from one place to another. I've barely scratched the surface. Want to find an asteroid field and have a look around. Anyone found one yet?

One thing I think the game really needs are solar system maps. I know there are mock ups kicking around but I don't know when they're coming. Would be useful.

[Egan]

One thing to bear in mind is that it is SLOW at the start. Maybe not X games slow but it is still going to take you a bit of grinding to get going. The big difference is that in Elite you're going to be spending so much time staring at stuff with your jaw on the floor you probably won't notice how slow it is....

[eddie]

Still on the fence with this, I would want to have my own solo career like you had in the original series, not interested in multiplayer. It sure looks awesome though!

Originally Posted by Egan

One thing to bear in mind is that it is SLOW at the start. Maybe not X games slow but it is still going to take you a bit of grinding to get going. The big difference is that in Elite you're going to be spending so much time staring at stuff with your jaw on the floor you probably won't notice how slow it is....

True that, although you can be lucky!
I started a week ago and had to grind my way up.
It felt OK though, not as painful as in EVE for example, where you have to invest DAYS to make any sort of progress - or what you convince yourself of to be "progress".

A friend of me got to a Type 6 on day one. How?
Some friendly soul in an Anaconda dropped a few tons of Gold for me - which I gave to my buddy as a kickstart - after I chatted a while with him and asked him how long he needed etc.
He has so much moneyz that he was happy to help out and share, so my Friend could sell Gold worth ~9k per ton (until the black market price collapsed that is) and simply skipped the first painful hours of "Wow, with this trade I made 900 credits! " grinding and went straight to the Hauler. From that point (Hauler), it goes rather quickly towards the Type 6, which will make life easier.

If I would not have spend the most time configuring my controls (perfectionism can suck hard) and voice control ("Computer, play some Sinatra!" FlyMeToTheMoonStarts*) I would have a Conda already... but why hurry?

@eddie
Well, ED is definitely made for multiplayer primarily and is a sandbox game - although you can have careers! You can play it alone and I think it will be fun with the finished product, fleshed out AI and simply muuuch more content, but right now you might better wait if you really not want MP, cause the SP/NPCs are brick-dumb at the moment. It is really just a beta. Very playable but if it is enjoyable is up to you and hard to guesstimate in advance.
The MP though is not as crowdy as one might think. You meet players here and there, but the most contacts are NPCs. This might be beta related, even if not, this is not like EVE, where you have to fear insta-annihalation by some buttface who just kills you because he can.
This can happen in ED too, sure. But it is not the norm at all.

I sure don't regret getting it.

[CaptainHaplo]

There are ways around grinding.

The important thing to remember is that this is not a feature complete game at all - nowhere near it. The various versions have been designed to test major aspects of the game. Premium beta for example - was built around the combat section - so combat paid well and the got to see how the game would work in that arena. Beta-1 is heavily trade loaded.

If your looking to not grind - warp to STYX and cruise around slowly in SC. Hit Unidentified Signal Sources (USS) - if its gold, scoop it. If its not, boost and flight assist off, then hit SC. You can have a hauler in a couple of hours with enough money to fill it.

If your wanting millions - definitely skip the Cobra for a while and get to the Type 6.

For those who are into combat, different ships offer different strengths. Add in the current customizable weapons loadout (MUCH more ship customization on the way) and you really can be a formidable force. I have taken a few Anaconda's in my Cobra Mk III. Just use C4 and C2 Cannons at really short ranges.

[CaptainHaplo]

Originally Posted by eddie

Still on the fence with this, I would want to have my own solo career like you had in the original series, not interested in multiplayer. It sure looks awesome though!

Eddie - rest assured there IS solo mode. The purpose of "online" solo mode is that your dealing with a truly dynamic economy. If you leave a system knowing they need crop harvesters, it is possible someone else saw that too. If they deliver a load of them, it affects the price. A small load equals a small change. If someone dumps a few thousand in the market - you might find your profit evaporated. Real market conditions - but its based on what other players (that you never see) might do.

On the other hand - the devs have confirmed that there will be a Solo OFFLINE mode as well.

[eddie]

Sounds good! I don't mind going online to play the game, just want have it like it was originally done, trading and fighting when you had to.

I see in the ED forums there is some solo missions now, where you learn the basics of combat.

Run into those huge alien ships yet? I used to hate those things when they showed up, one I could deal with, more then that and I was usually toast,lol Must have spent countless hours on the old C64 playing the first version of Elite. Thought it was awesome then too!

[CaptainHaplo]

Originally Posted by eddie

Run into those huge alien ships yet?

Thargoids - they will be in the game but not in as yet. Much of the game is not in yet really. They are doing things a bit different than most. There was ALPHA - which allowed you to actually fly and fight. It also laid the foundation for multiplayer 1v1. From there, Premium Beta came out and added significant advantages by trading. Beta 1 continues that - but has added "instancing" for multiplayer, groupings (and ignores) so you can hang with friends online and never see people you decide are griefers. Instancing remains a work in progress. Ship insurance, multiple ships, upgrades, etc - are in place at various levels.

Beta will run a while - then we will see GAMMA phase - where a "complete" game is close. Consider Gamma more like release candidates.

After the game goes gold - the devs are going to continue working on additional content - planetary landings, boarding and capturing ships, etc.... Its gonna get HUGE.

[eddie]

Well, how about some screen shots, especially of those novas and such!!

[Egan]

Just a couple for now. Image Shack seems to have killed my old account...I've been using the built in 4000k Hi res srceenie function so these have been seriously scaled down.



Space, the Final Frontier. The Milky Way.



Starlight.



Asteroid Field



Gas Giant and harbour.

Seems image shack won't let me use anything larger than thumbs unless I give them money. Over to Photobucket we go!

[eddie]

They look great and thanks!

[Egan]

Just another quick hit.




The big rock out in front? I had no idea exactly how big they really were until i flew past it and saw my shadow travelling across it. Just a speck. And there are thousands of these things covering tens of thousands of square kilometres.

[biosthetique]

So, on which platform do you play that game?

[Egan]

Originally Posted by biosthetique

So, on which platform do you play that game?

Running it on a 5 year old I7 with 6 gig mem and an ATI 7970 card. Runs pretty much perfectly, which is impressive considering I think it'll be optimized a lot more before release.