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Sounds nice, bit hell I can't fork out the 120 required to play ATM so I prob won't play it.

Well, they just released the launch date for Standard Beta: July 29th. By then, you could play for €60.
That being said, the Lifetime Expansion Pass (valued €40, sale ends July 29th) is only included with Alpha and Premium Beta, so technically at this point you could just wait until the game goes gold and get it for the standard price of €40.

I certainly agree that Alpha and Premium Beta come at a steep entry price, but so far I'm really glad I chipped in. Elite Dangerous is shaping up nicely, and it's great to see the game grow so fast. Now I just need to get better with my joystick ...

Also, a cool streamer vid demonstrating the new station and testing the new Hauler-class transport. It certainly sounds neat.



[edit] Just stumbled over this and thought it'd be shareworthy. David Braben talks about the importance of gravity, stellar configurations, and the effects of player actions on galactic politics:




Seeing this, I'm getting the impression that SC may have a stronger focus on combat/action, whereas Elite aims for greater attention to detail when it comes to simulating the background as a whole.
Players discovering and naming new star constellations? That's just sweet.

Standard Beta just went live!



Elite Dangerous is one step closer to its final release - but (perhaps more importantly) this new build also brings with it a host of new features/content:
Also, a pretty neatepic video:

Fast forward to time index 3:30 if you're only interested in explosions (you're missing out on the Bladerunner music tho).

I've noticed from the wiki that the ships you get to fly aren't specifically classified as any type of hull (i.e. frigate, cruiser, etc.)

But I did see those hulls listed farther down the page, so they're being included. I may have missed it, but are you going to be able to own a large scale ship like that?

Frankenberry wrote:I've noticed from the wiki that the ships you get to fly aren't specifically classified as any type of hull (i.e. frigate, cruiser, etc.)
But I did see those hulls listed farther down the page, so they're being included. I may have missed it, but are you going to be able to own a large scale ship like that?

I think the Anaconda classifies as a Cutter, considering its size and armaments.


(for comparison, left to right: Panther, Sidewinder, Eagle, Anaconda)

But any class larger than that? I recall it was on the table, but I wouldn't expect it. From how I understood the design vision, Elite is very much about you being Mal Reynolds or Han Solo rather than Admiral Adama. There are ships that need multiple crew and/or have turret emplacements, and shared ship control has already been announced, but I don't think we'll ever be able to have our own cruiser or carrier, if that's what you mean. Apart from it possibly undermining the setting's realism (think of the time it'd take to get the thousands of trained crew together alone, not to mention how the actual factions are going to look at independents buying battleships). The devs seem to intentionally wish to avoid turning Elite into a sort of EVE where groups of players are able to amass so much firepower that they can essentially dominate entire sectors of space and dictate terms to other players. That's something the official factions (be it governments or corporations) are meant for. This game is about you surviving out in the void, on one of the many paths you are able to choose from.

The Anaconda (pretty much a gunboat) and the Lakon Type 9 (heavy freighter) are currently the largest ships in the game, and they barely fit through the docking port of the starbase (in fact you trigger the PROX alert any time you fly through ). Anything larger than this would require shuttles to transfer cargo or personnel - but that is not to say it may never happen, as David Braben hinted at here. Either way, it's stuff for a future expansion, and planetary landings as well as shipboard personal combat will be released first, especially as those have already been confirmed.

The studio just released a new trailer to go with Beta 1.0, by the way:



And here is another short vid from Scott Manley, talking about some of the new additions to the game, helping out local authorities in a random encounter, and managing to drop out of FTL really close to his destination.


Also, I just managed to scrape together enough credits to trade in my Sidewinder for a Zorgon Hauler. Huzzah!
That courier run from Eranin to Dahan really paid off. Someone desperately needed that coffee!

Some more eyecandy:

You're right about the larger hulls and all that, it wouldn't fit what I've seen for the game setting. Even so, the ships you can fly are pretty massive (the Anaconda appears to be downright sexy).

Think I might have to pick this up when it launches, are they going completely sandbox (i.e. no story for single player) for both MP and SP?

Frankenberry wrote:are they going completely sandbox (i.e. no story for single player) for both MP and SP?

Yup! The game's slogan is pretty much "one ship, one galaxy, 400 billion stars - blaze your own trail".

So there is no story, but lots of opportunities to make your own, if you will. Adventure will come your way regardless of which of the many possible roles you pick, and your actions, combined with those of other players, will be able to (re)shape the geopolitical structure of the galaxy.
There is a background simulation in place that governs the effects of player and NPC actions on the individual systems, and so-called injected events will be used to represent these consequences in the game world, offering new opportunities for you to participate in.

Here is the relevant article from their design archives.

An excerpt:

"The repercussions of injected events could cause long term changes to the background simulation in a system. Players may also get opportunities to mitigate changes to a system through events in the background simulation.
E.g. an Injected Event causes two factions to go to war with each other in a system. As the background simulation now has influence from the warring faction, it will generate events and missions linked to that war. If players complete missions relating to negotiating peace and ending the war, and react in the right way to events, they could stop the war and mitigate the effects of the Injected Event.

Players will be able to influence this system, since the meta-game will feed off of changes in the simulation from many different sources, including players. For example:
Missions – generally these will have the largest positive or negative effect on the system, depending on faction, success or failure, nearby enemies or allies, the importance of the mission undertaken, and various unforeseen consequences.
Trade – player trade will have a minor effect on the system, although a star system already under the effect of an injected event may be exploitable (i.e. food sold to a star system suffering from a famine would fetch a very good price).
NPC interactions – attacking, defending, interacting and killing NPC’s within a star system or faction will have an effect. The everyday NPC’s met won’t be high level, so their influence will be limited to small changes. For example, killing a trader will negatively affect the wealth of his faction or star system, but not to a vast extent.
Exploration – discoveries made by players, once sold into the system, will be unlocked for the system to use for injected events."


I think/hope that with just a bit of creativity, you can pretty much build your own story around this stuff! For example, in the area currently playable in the Beta, the Federation is at the moment pushing into Eranin space, an independent agri-world under communist governance. Their "Intervention Fleet" is based around the Farragut-class battlecruiser Impeccable, but minor skirmishes occur throughout the system.
The developers have accompanied the evolving situation there with fluff snippets in the game's newsletter:

"Eranin: This system includes the outdoor world Azeban, with an extensive agricultural economy specializing mainly in grain and livestock, with tea and coffee plantations in the equatorial regions. Its territorial borders are currently being contested by an aggressive Federal expansion programme originating from Dahan; traders are advised to avoid conflict zones."
- Sidewinder Owner's Manual

"Eranin Tension Continues
Skirmishes between the Eranin Defence Force and the Federation continue.
Many contract bonds for assistance have been placed by both sides, making it a profitable ongoing opportunity for Elite Pilots Federation members."
- Newsletter #30

"The ban on the trading of Progenitor Cells was lifted after new batches were given the ‘all clear’ everywhere except Eranin. This depressed the black market, but Progenitor Cells have so far failed to regain their previous dominance of the trade markets as lingering public concern suppresses demand.
Conflicting reports on social media include a statement attributed to a ‘Freedom Freda’ – believed to be a self-appointed spokesman for the rebels on Eranin, where she claims Progenitor Cells are used by “blood-sucking capitalist scum, unnaturally extending their lives to keep underpaid hard-working proletarians in their places”.
Progenitor Cell manufacturers are rumoured to be preparing legal action against the beleaguered Federal government in Eranin for lost profits, citing failure to control the Eranian left wing militants (‘terrorists’, as they are described in the draft claim we have seen) widely believed to be behind the initial contamination."
- Newsletter #33

The new mission system in Beta 1.0 also includes bounties on Federal ships in the Eranin system, as members of the pilots union are "co-opted" into the conflict on behalf of the locals. People are already picking sides, though some are only doing so because the Eranin rebels are paying better.
http://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/273g5w/my_deepest_apologies_for_everyone_ive_killed_in/

The game hasn't even really started yet, but already I'm wondering what will eventually become of Eranin - especially as I decided early on that my character would be a freedom-loving spacer from the Alliance of Independent Systems, who is quite sceptical of the two superpowers' (the Terran Federation and the Empire of Achenar) aggressive expansionist tendencies. And this is just one world out of thousands that make up mankind's colonies. Who knows what we'll find once we can actually begin exploring beyond the frontier!


[edit] The new newsletter had a cool screenshot of a docked Anaconda. I hadn't even noticed the prow "observation deck"-style windows before:

Purchased this for fifty quid last week and i have not been able to leave it alone !

So a 'true' sandbox sort of game where you can actually have an effect on the galaxy around you...man I think I'm in love.

Didn't these guys raise like 50 or 60 million in crowdfunding-ness?

Frankenberry wrote:So a 'true' sandbox sort of game where you can actually have an effect on the galaxy around you...

Pretty much! Though the influence of a single pilot alone will, of course, be somewhat limited. Depending on how active you are and what you do, anyways. The Design Discussion Archives mentioned stuff like important NPCs travelling around, so in theory, even a single player could leave a huge mark if they somehow manage to, say, assassinate an important ambassador. Other than that, it pretty much depends on what the "local playerbase" in a system does as a whole .. such as the "Freedom for Eranin!" people on the ED forums possibly managing to thwart the Federation's expansion, if they manage to put up sufficient resistance against the Feds and Federation-allied players.
The tools are there; it's up to the players to build up sufficient pressure to have it mean something.

Here are some interesting design documents regarding how the background simulation works: http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6305
The many factors and their effects on other aspects of the game are pretty cool. I'm possibly repeating myself when bringing this example, but the idea that famine could have local markets start buying slaves as if they were foodstuffs is both sick and pretty cool!

Frankenberry wrote:Didn't these guys raise like 50 or 60 million in crowdfunding-ness?

Nah, that was Star Citizen - Chris Roberts' project that ran a kickstarter at roughly the same time as Elite. SC, whilst also being about you as a pilot in space, is aiming for a much higher level of individualised detail (highly detailed, handcrafted levels as opposed to procedural generation, but at the cost of featuring only about a hundred "world maps" compared to a 1:1 replica of the Milky Way), and it follows a different philosophy when it comes to ship designs and flight model, but together with Elite it promises to be a brilliant comeback of the PC space sim genre, and indie as well.
I'm a bit sceptical as right now SC still seems to be more of a PR media campaign than a product in development and I foresee their use of Cryengine requiring a lot of reverse-engineering in order to allow all the stuff they want to push in, but I still think it will eventually become a cool game, too - just offering a different experience to Elite. Which is actually a good thing, as it means there isn't any real competition between them and they'll simply appeal to different demographics, much like EVE will retain its niche in spite of ED and SC. In fact, in a bit of symbolic cross-promotion Chris Robers and David Braben even pledged some cash for each other's kickstarter.

Anyways, Elite "only" managed to raise about $2.6 million in the original kickstarter, but they're bound to have some more cash now due to subsequent Alpha and Beta access sales via their webstore. The game's eventual release in Q4 2014 will probably mean another cash influx that would allow them to keep working on already-announced expansions such as planetary landings etc.

Rayvon wrote:Purchased this for fifty quid last week and i have not been able to leave it alone !

Welcome aboard, Commander!

What have you been doing so far? I've finally managed to get my hands on a Viper just two days ago and kitted her out with two class 4 pulse lasers and two class 1 auto-tracking multicannons, plus a bounty scanner. I did notice a severe drop in jump range, though! I think those huge lasers in particular must have cost me like two lightyears.

Im miffed, seems they dropped the expansion pass, should have been paying more attention :C

Yeah, it was taken out of the shop the day Standard Beta launched (29th) - I think it was available up until midnight, as a window of opportunity for new Beta players who were convinced by what they saw, but now it's gone for good.
They did warn about this in their last four or five newsletters, too.

That being said, I don't think it's something to get miffed over. Sure, if you really like the game, ultimately you end up saving some cash - but considering the rate at which these expansions are going to be released, and their presumed price, it's safe to say that it would have only started to "pay for itself" in two or three years from now. I really don't think these expansions are going to cost much, so you can just as well play it safe and buy them as they are released.

PS: found the new conflict zones at Eranin 3 and Eranin 6. lol'd at the communist militias pwning Federated fighter wings whilst flying refit Sidewinders and Type 9 freighters.
Poor Feds blow up like TIE Fighters in their cheap short range fliers! Knock out their shields and they're as good as gone. Then again, what can you expect from a pilot seat strapped to a set of engines.

How do the weapon classes work? I remember in Frontier you have them rages in MW and have pulse and beam choices, and in original you just went pulse->beam->military.

Weapons are differentiated by Class (1-8 so far), Mount and Type. With class 1 being the smallest, they get larger, heavier and more damaging the further you go up. For example, a Class 1 pulse laser only weighs 4 tons, but the same system in a Class 2 variant clocks in at 9 tons already. With the total weight of cargo, modules, weapon systems affecting jump range, this can have a significant impact on your operating range - resulting in very heavy, fully kitted-out ships often being "locked" into a fairly small constellation or "island" of stars. A lot of people think this is annoying, but personally, I find it an interesting aspect of the game, as it keeps the cheaper models including the Sidewinder more viable even at later stages of gameplay. If a pilot wants a ship specialised for combat, they simply have to see how much range they are willing to sacrifice.
My Viper still can do the jump from Aulin to i Boötis ... if I don't load more than 4 units of cargo. So I suppose I can still do courier jobs next to the bounty hunter business. The galaxy map now includes a slider with which you can simulate your ship's load and have the navcomp hide jump routes you are too heavy to use.
At a later stage during Beta, the devs will introduce the ability to upgrade jump drives, so this should help as well. I'm almost expecting a bigger jump drive to come with drawbacks of its own (aside from their cost), though, such as reducing cargo space.

Anyways, another interesting aspect of the game are gimballed weapons. These are auto-tracking, particularly useful for people who are not as good with manual aim or for taking out specific subsystems such as the FSD. Tracking is not perfect (it basically "brushes" over the target back and forth, still including a small chance to miss), but the main drawback is the additional bulk of the gimbal system resulting in less damage potential. Basically, gimbal weapons always add +1 to a weapon's class, so a Class 2 Pulse Laser becomes a Class 3 Gimballed Pulse Laser .. and can no longer be mounted in a Class 2 hardpoint. With hardpoints only coming in equal numbers, this effectively means you have to sacrifice a Class 4 hardpoint.
In short: if you opt for auto-aim, you're paying a price in DPS. It's a fairly clever idea that seems to work nicely so far, or at least few people are complaining about it.

Another available mounting system next to gimballed joints and standard (fixed) mounts is, of course, turrets, though these only become available on the larger ships.
Other than that, I have heard some people talk about "stealth lasers" that cause less ambient heat.

Weapon types now offer variety in terms of individual advantages and disadvantages, rather than a clear progression from one system to another.

Cannons: they sneaked this one into the Standard Beta launch; they still aren't widely known and few people have tested them, but they appear to be a sort of "space artillery" with low rate of fire, high damage
Multicannons: the classic gatling gun that needs to spin up before firing. wrecks hulls, but has a significant spread over longer engagement ranges
Beam Laser: as with the original Elite, a coherent beam of light that does damage as long as you keep contact. Its disadvantage is that it heats up pretty fast
Burst Laser: a bit like pulse lasers, but each pull of the trigger fires a quick burst of three shots
Pulse Laser: probably the most common laser in use right now; each shot results in a single zap, with a short cooldown period (0.5 seconds or so) afterwards. Fairly efficient cooling in lower classes
Missiles: come in a dumbfire and heat-seeking version, as well as different "calibres". Different launchers may share the same calibre, but differ on how many shots they hold. Also, missiles are friggin' expensive!
Torpedoes: not in game yet, but as per newsletter #13 will probably be carried individually, occupying an entire hardpoint by themselves
Railgun: not available in gimballed version, and have a very high energy draw. They do tremendous amounts of damage if you do manage to score a hit, though.
Plasma Accelerator: weapon of mass destruction, used by the military to take out entire city blocks. So far the Anaconda is the only ship in the game capable of equipping this beast as it requires a Class 8 hardpoint.

There's also some "pseudo weapons" like the point defence system, chaff launcher, heat sink launcher, or the bounty scanner, but as they are merely using the weapons interface but are not offensive armaments themselves, they probably do not require listing here.
Lastly, you can now also equip different types of armour reinforcement for your ship's hull - the standard being lightweight alloys, and available upgrades spotted so far being mirrored surface composite (improved resistance against lasers), reactive surface composite (improved resistance against bullets), and reinforced and military composites (general resistance upgrades). As far as I can see, these hull upgrades are generally the most expensive things you can buy for your ship, as their cost is much higher than the ship itself!

A few friends of min are playing this and report good things so far.
However it seems like a seriouuuuuus time sink?

Like the sound of some of the ways the game is balancing things out.

Ratius wrote:However it seems like a seriouuuuuus time sink?

I'd say that depends on the player. Elite Dangerous is primarily a singleplayer experience with (optional) multiplayer, in a persistent galaxy driven by player activity and injected events. Technically, you could do as I've been doing the past week and just log in for half an hour every day, doing a single trade run with a bulk freighter, as a way to relax by playing space trucker with some oldschool rock music on the webradio. There's a big risk in getting sucked in deeper, however, simply because everything looks and sounds so gorgeous and Braben's team keeps piling new features onto the game.

On a sidenote, I made some nice cash recently by, uh, "liberating" a couple slaves and saving them from certain doom. Went to investigate a signal contact with my Viper and found a Hauler getting shot at by the Feds - a scan revealed that the pilot was not only wanted, but was also transporting stasis pods with slaves in her cargo hold. Being a bounty hunter, I of course went to intercept and crippled the Hauler with my twin-linked sets of pulse lasers and m-cannons. Unfortunately, the Fed cop in his Eagle stuck around to investigate the scene and collect evidence, which meant that I had to delay scooping salvage as he'd immediately fine me for handling stolen goods.

I minimised my heat signature by shutting down the main engines and the shield generator, lurking in the void, until finally the Eagle jumped into hyperspace - unable to collect all cargo with its minuscule hold. With the witness gone, I was finally free to power up my systems and deploy my cargo scoop. Fortunately, the slaves were still in "mint condition" in spite of the battle, but can you believe it took me three jumps until I finally found someone who would buy 'em? All the while evading patrol craft and scans, fearing they'd go Judge Dredd on me if they find out what I'm carrying. Anyways, I finally managed to cash 'em in on a black market, and it was worth the effort.


I now managed to sort-of-upgrade to a Lakon Type-6 with a capacity of 100 tons. Steers like a drunken cow, but it's got a glorious glass canopy with 180° view that lets you feel like a crane driver, and I felt like I mix up my combat with a bit of hauling once in a while.
Also, I now get assigned the large pads in the stations. Immediately made me feel more important.

Also, it seems someone on the forums caught the Feds prepping for another incursion into Eranin airspace, using the binary system of Dahan as a staging area:

How long would it take one to save up for an Anaconda?

Right now, not that long. I think the Connie costs about 2-3 million, but you can get there within a couple days if you are really desperate and active, jump to the larger freighters as soon as you can afford them, and make use of various tools such as that fanmade trading app that looks up the most profitable routes for you in order to maximise your profits (supposedly there's a route that nets you 400.000 in a Type-9, although you need to have a big wallet before you can afford to acquire those more expensive goods).

Pretty sure that's going to change, though, as the devs have hinted in the last newsletter that the next patch is going to introduce dynamic galactic markets:

Rumours of potential supply-side restrictions are starting to reach us. Well-placed sources indicate that galactic macro-economic factors may soon start to affect the recent stable trading market, forcing members to look beyond the familiar routes, or to new activities, for continued profit.
We will of course issue a high priority info-alert should as soon as we uncover any more solid information.

Once interdictions are possible for players, it may become even harder, unless you know someone willing to escort your freighter in a nimble fighter, or hire some NPCs to do it.


[edit] Just because, here's some info on the three currently biggest factions in the game:



The Solar Federation, aka the Federation

To an outsider, the hierarchy of Federation society is based on democratic principles - people vote within their system/state to elect Congressmen, and a President with an 8-year term and a ‘vote of confidence’ after the first 4 years. However, corporate loyalty oils the machine, and Federation space is a battleground of commerce. Commercial organisations compete as aggressively as the law will allow for the time and attention of the Federal citizen, who goes through life bombarded by advertising. Corruption is not unusual – individuals defend it shamelessly when caught as ‘getting one over the system’. Social class is only determined between ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. There is a lot of poverty about, as well as conspicuous wealth.

The huge gross domestic product (GDP) of the Federation economy funds a large, well-equipped Federal Navy which projects its values and influence. Culturally the Federation is tolerant of some things (like religions) but utterly intolerant of drug-taking, political activism, and certain cultures. A great many things are illegal, like slavery, cloning and certain narcotics. Federal law is based on an agreed Constitution. People have rights and freedoms, enshrined by this agreement. Local ‘state’ law prohibits other trafficking to a greater or lesser degree. Things like ship-based weapons, personal weapons, other milder drugs and alcohol are banned in some systems.

The media drives a culture of celebrity. Top ranking politicians, social commentators, entertainers and super-rich all command a great deal of media attention. This provides a massive distraction for the populace, to the extent that foreign wars conducted by the Federation on their behalf get little media attention. This has gone on for many hundreds of years, and there is no sign of it changing.



The Empire of Achenar, aka the Empire

Originally founded by Marlin Duval, who led the colonization of the Achenar system in the mid 23rd century, the Empire is based on a ‘cliens’ system. Society is strictly stratified, with people being able to move between strata (lower strata particularly) based on money, patronage and influence. The Empire values both status and honour very highly indeed, so whilst it is acceptable to flaunt wealth, treating people well is a question of honour – and this includes slaves. Having an unpaid debt is seen as utterly dishonourable; an honourable Imperial citizen would sell themselves into slavery to clear a debt they couldn’t otherwise clear.

Law is seen and enforced very differently in the Empire. Senators are responsible for enforcing the Emperor’s laws, but the Senators themselves are above the law. They can order executions, and can even kill people themselves, though sometimes (rarely) they may be held to account for their actions by the Emperor. Some Senators are warlike and may take over systems in the name of the Empire, to get the spoils, and they may get a good deal of support as a result. Some Senators do not tolerate slavery, and regularly speak out against it – but from the basis of honour, not suggesting it should not be legal.

In the Empire, very little is illegal, but many things are frowned upon, like excessive use of narcotics.



The Alliance of Independent Systems, aka the Alliance

The Alliance arose out of a need for cooperation. Centuries of warfare and both Imperial and Federal meddling in a great many otherwise peaceful independent systems caused various small alliances to form and then get broken up over the centuries. The Alliance formed from a number of culturally different systems with a unified goal: to provide a stronger voice in the galaxy for its member systems and ultimately to defend them against unwelcome attention from the big powers. The Alliance is culturally very varied and leadership of the Alliance (the presidency moves between member systems annually) has been described as ‘challenging’. Seeking agreement between the member systems is generally a tortuous process, usually ending up with a great deal of compromise.

Militarily, cooperation has been more successful. Each member system contributes a portion of its navy to the Alliance Defence Force – the total contribution proportional to its GDP. It is led by the six-strong Council of Admirals (one from each of the largest member navies), but they can act swiftly without government approval, which has proved very effective, and over the years there has been little disagreement between the admirals.

Contributed vessels generally bear the decals of their own navy, but have an additional Alliance Defence Force decal applied while they are with the group, so the culture of identity and independence (and rivalries) applies here too.

Nice, some fleshing out of the three factions from before.

Is Lave going to be in its historical location, and fully independent?

Daba wrote:Is Lave going to be in its historical location, and fully independent?

It looks like Lave is part of the Alliance. As there has been no mention of the Gal Co-Op so far, it's possible that this organisation either merged with the Alliance, or that both factions have been retconned into being one and the same:


That being said, it's also possible that Lave's allegiance to the Alliance of Independent Systems is a recent change of affairs, as the novel "Lave Revolution" tells of a rebellion shortly before the start of ED:

Lave.

A single planet, orbiting a dying star. For centuries, spacefarers have visited, docked at the space station and left, with no thought for the people on the planet below.

Bad luck at cards means bad luck all round for Pietro Devander, who journeys half way across human controlled space to this ancient planet, whose name is barely remembered.

What he finds is resistance. What it becomes, is revolution.

In 3250 (Frontier First Encounters) - Dictator Doctor Hans Walden is absolute ruler of Lave and has been for more than fifty years. He seems ageless. His secretive government ruthlessly control the planet and its population.
In 3300 (Elite Dangerous) - Lave is a Democracy. What happened?
Elite: Lave Revolution tells the story of those brave men and women who risked everything to bring freedom to the people, a story of spies, dictators, revolutionaries and assassins in space. Who will lead a free world into a bright interstellar future?


If you're interested, amazon offers a preview for the e-book edition here. From all I've heard (here is one example review), it seems to be a nice story - on its own two legs, and as an addition to the lore of Elite.

So I bought in on the beta a few days ago (not so much for the beta as the discounted insurance for life, etc.) and have been mucking about a bit... so... what exactly does one do in Elite: Dangerous? Thus far I've been aimlessly wandering about in my Sidewinder/Eagle basically going station to station looking for employment opportunities that are worth a damn (thus far I've made about 20k credits off of 4 about jobs). I know the game is about exploration and whatnot, but thus far I've only managed to find a couple asteroid belts and got interdicted once or twice... It really doesn't seem like there is that much in the way of content that I can see.

I'm having the opposite experience. I've kitted my eagle out as a scout/explorer and I'm kicking around the dark parts of the universe, occasionally popping into an orbital to get paid for all my survey data. It's brilliant fun.

Evidently I'm doing something wrong... whats your fitout like? Also how do you get into the 'dark parts' ? I have like an 8 ly jump range, at this rate it'll take me a few weeks real time to jump a sufficient enough distance away from civilization to do stuff.

Also, anything cool to see out there aside from asteroid belts?

Maybe I should play those tutorials...

The total of human colonised space is about 250 lightyears, including all factions and independent worlds. Yesterday, I made a journey from Shinrarta Dezhra (the pilots' union homeworld) to my old base at Eranin Orbital that was about 80 ly, and it took me about half an hour including one stop to refuel. Assuming you haven't started smack in the middle of the core worlds, you should be able to reach the edges of civilisation within an hour or so, though I do understand the journey itself can be a bit boring. Don't forget that even colonised areas pay small amounts for scans as a means to refresh local charts, though! I made about 5k profit just from selling the data I gathered during the jumps from SD to Eranin. The independent worlds in particular are pretty much Wild West, after all, even though they maintain outposts or even colonies with anything from a couple thousand to a few million inhabitants.

But definitely play the tutorials anyways! Elite is a bit more complex than most games, and the tutorials provide a good introduction into various mechanics.

chaos0xomega wrote:Also, anything cool to see out there aside from asteroid belts?

Though "content" really is subjective. Elite doesn't take your hand through some sort of prefabricated story that's the same for everyone - it just gives you a sandbox and a shovel and says "enjoy".
Me, I'm getting my fun out of feeling like Spike Spiegel or Starbuck when I'm pulling wanted criminals out of frameshift to collect their bounties, with a hint of Han Solo when smuggling recovered stolen goods to the nearest black market, or Mal Reynolds when I play courier to make small amounts of cash to cover my expenses or just to get into good standing with one of the factions. The "story" I have chosen for myself is to lend support to the communist government of Eranin to stop the Federal incursion into independent airspace, which means harassing assault wings launched from the Feds' Farragut cruiser, or shipping medical supplies for the people on the ground.

It definitely takes a fair bit of imagination to just make up stuff to fill in the blanks, but with the game's beautiful scenery and all the things you can do, I'd say it certainly encourages you to be creative about it. Also, there's a lot more background to the setting than you may spot at first glance, though much like with GW it can be a bit difficult to find if it's from the older titles of the franchise. You can actually learn a fair bit of real astronomy just from reading the descriptions on the galactic map, though.

That being said, there are rumours that the developer is preparing to kick off the background simulation on Dec 16th with a succession crisis within the Empire of Achenar, where all players may involve themselves in the struggle of who becomes the next Emperor. I'm curious how that'll work out!

Speaking of the Empire, did y'all watch the live stream from the premiere event?




The entire stream (about 1h long) is available here.

 Lynata wrote:
The total of human colonised space is about 250 lightyears, including all factions and independent worlds. Yesterday, I made a journey from Shinrarta Dezhra (the pilots' union homeworld) to my old base at Eranin Orbital that was about 80 ly, and it took me about half an hour including one stop to refuel. Assuming you haven't started smack in the middle of the core worlds, you should be able to reach the edges of civilisation within an hour or so, though I do understand the journey itself can be a bit boring. Don't forget that even colonised areas pay small amounts for scans as a means to refresh local charts, though! I made about 5k profit just from selling the data I gathered during the jumps from SD to Eranin. The independent worlds in particular are pretty much Wild West, after all, even though they maintain outposts or even colonies with anything from a couple thousand to a few million inhabitants.

But definitely play the tutorials anyways! Elite is a bit more complex than most games, and the tutorials provide a good introduction into various mechanics.

chaos0xomega wrote:Also, anything cool to see out there aside from asteroid belts?

Though "content" really is subjective. Elite doesn't take your hand through some sort of prefabricated story that's the same for everyone - it just gives you a sandbox and a shovel and says "enjoy".
Me, I'm getting my fun out of feeling like Spike Spiegel or Starbuck when I'm pulling wanted criminals out of frameshift to collect their bounties, with a hint of Han Solo when smuggling recovered stolen goods to the nearest black market, or Mal Reynolds when I play courier to make small amounts of cash to cover my expenses or just to get into good standing with one of the factions. The "story" I have chosen for myself is to lend support to the communist government of Eranin to stop the Federal incursion into independent airspace, which means harassing assault wings launched from the Feds' Farragut cruiser, or shipping medical supplies for the people on the ground.

It definitely takes a fair bit of imagination to just make up stuff to fill in the blanks, but with the game's beautiful scenery and all the things you can do, I'd say it certainly encourages you to be creative about it. Also, there's a lot more background to the setting than you may spot at first glance, though much like with GW it can be a bit difficult to find if it's from the older titles of the franchise. You can actually learn a fair bit of real astronomy just from reading the descriptions on the galactic map, though.

That being said, there are rumours that the developer is preparing to kick off the background simulation on Dec 16th with a succession crisis within the Empire of Achenar, where all players may involve themselves in the struggle of who becomes the next Emperor. I'm curious how that'll work out!

Speaking of the Empire, did y'all watch the live stream from the premiere event?




The entire stream (about 1h long) is available here.

Err, Im about 27ly away from Sol, how far out from the edges am I?

Also, how does one interdict?

Hope to fire up my gamma access on my laptop when I get home - looking forwards to just heading out into unknown space and going all James T Kirk with the locals

chaos0xomega wrote:Err, Im about 27ly away from Sol, how far out from the edges am I?

Well, Sol is about 46 ly from my current position at Eranin, if that helps put things into perspective.

Just open the galaxy map in the navcom menu to your left in your cockpit and have a look around. In maximum zoom, one square stands for one lightyear. Once you zoom out, blocks of ten of these squares get replaced by bigger squares representing 10x10 ly. If you zoom out further, ten of those get replaced by other squares that are 100x100 ly, and so on. You'll quickly notice how the names for important or "popular" colonised areas (such as Lave or Achenar) will run out at around the 100 ly mark around Sol.

chaos0xomega wrote:Also, how does one interdict?

You need an Achilles Aerospace FSD Interdictor Module (stations in high-tech systems occasionally stock these) which can be slotted into one of your internal compartment spaces.

Once you have an interdictor installed, you need to link it to one of your fire groups, which you can do in the appropriate menu in your cockpit to the right. For example, in my bounty hunting Eagle, I have a secondary fire group just for the interdictor (left mouse button) and the warrant scanner (right mouse button), and I switch into my primary fire group (burst lasers on LMB, gimballed multicannon on RMB) after I have finished the scan. Of course, if you have a mouse with more buttons, feel free to try and jam everything into one group - your choice.

After you have installed and configured the module, you need to line up behind the target you want to pull out of supercruise. Due to how the mass shadows of various planetary bodies affect the ships' supercruise velocity, you should try to intercept them either directly at the navigation beacons of the local star as they just begin to pick up speed (usually only pirates do this, as the bounty scan takes a tad too long for it), or you can try to intercept them on their path towards their target destination by flying a shallow curve from their flank to their rear. If you do try to pursue them from the local star but fail to pull them out in time, they will (depending on their engine) most likely accelerate faster than you, because they are further away from the center of gravity. However, once they get closer to the target planetoid, they will be slowed down by its gravity, and you will be able to close distance.

Once you are within range - a dozen lightseconds or thereabouts - and the interdictor signals readiness, try to match speed and then trigger the module. The interdictor will establish a frameshift tether with the other ship and begin disrupting its space-time contraction field, effectively pulling it (and you) out of supercruise. Due to the forces at work, the target vessel will begin to veer off-course, but you must keep it within range and arc of the module to maintain the tether until the interdiction is successful. Unless the target vessel is on autonavigation, the pilot will be aware of this attempt and have an option to either submit to interdiction (slowing down to about 30 km/sec) or attempt evasion, which means pursuing an "escape vector" and making it significantly harder for you to maintain the tether, basically resulting in a duel of sorts, where the victor is determined both by piloting skill and ship agility. You can keep track of the interdiction's success by following the blue bar that pops up as soon as you trigger the module. The red bar to the other side represents the target.

If the target vessel submits to interdiction, both you and your target exit supercruise in normal fashion and close proximity to one another. If the target did not submit, but had to be forcefully yanked out of frameshift by the module, both ships will still exit supercruise in close proximity, but there is a chance that they incur a small amount of damage in the process, depending on how stressful the exit was. If the target successfully escaped interdiction, it will remain in supercruise, but the tether breaks down and your ship is violently ejected into realspace, meaning only you take damage and you find yourself alone in the void with your FSD on cooldown.



Do note that some players do not take kindly on being pulled out of supercruise, especially as many will suspect piracy if it's not done by an authority vessel!

SilverMK2 wrote:Hope to fire up my gamma access on my laptop when I get home - looking forwards to just heading out into unknown space and going all James T Kirk with the locals

Ripped shirt and everything?

 Lynata wrote:

SilverMK2 wrote:Hope to fire up my gamma access on my laptop when I get home - looking forwards to just heading out into unknown space and going all James T Kirk with the locals

Ripped shirt and everything?

You know it

Apparently I'm in Gamma Access, so I'll be downloading later today (though probably won't get to play until tomorrow). Is it playable with Mous control, or should I try and dig out my flight stick and try and make room on my desk for it?