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[Mengy]

I actually may pick up a DBX when 2.3 drops.

The scoop speed on the DBX is still the slowest scoop in the game, and it's super frustrating flying like that, but at least it will now finally have enough internals to do it's job! The range increase is interesting, no one really wanted that, but I wonder if it can now outjump the Asp?

And it's about damn time they fixed the Condor, that should have been hotfixed the very week fighters were implemented. At least it's good now.

 

[dumbo]

As for discovery credits, they can easily get around this by defaulting it to the helmsman (their ship, they get the glory) or just, y'know, change it so a group of explorers can be listed as the first discoverers. How hard could that be?

AFAIK the ED "database" has no record of when a player discovers a system, it only records when the player sells the data relating to the system. (e.g. if A and B both discover the same system in January, the game only records which player sells the data first).

I think the developers would need to extend a bunch of records and re-do the sale process (which is pretty slow already). Maybe it would take an 'FD server guru' a week or a month to make all the changes and test it? Given they're currently working through bugs/feature requests for the current beta, this just doesn't seem very likely to happen /shrug.

Personally, I'd see this as a waste of time anyway. The real problem is that exploration has no real gameplay/interaction - hence multi-crew support would simply be 'rearranging the deck-chairs on the titanic'.

 

[Mengy]

So wow, with the slight mass reduction on the DBX in today's update, it now has the largest jump range in the game, even more than the Anaconda in a super lean build!!! My initial theorycrafting with the Beta Coriolois has these two exploration setups for totally optimized builds for deep space exploration with the Asp X and the "new and improved" DBX:

http://beta.coriolis.edcd.io/outfit...Tiyf///9mEDjwAUv8Z8AIAV7DzNTQAAAA=&bn=Amity 2

http://beta.coriolis.edcd.io/outfit...QFZHMAFNBXH//wcAT2dOfLcAAAA=&bn=Mini Explorer

That's with very close to optimal engineering on the FSD and the sensors, running with half sized tanks and one SRV each. The notable results:

Asp X: 57.36 lys max range, 55.49 lys full tank, 0.18s fuel scoop rate
DBX: 60.00 lys max range, 57.93 lys full tank, 0.46s fuel scoop rate!!!!

That scoop rate still hurts even with half tanks, BUT for traveling speed purposes the extra range of the DBX just might make that time up in distance per hour. Testing will prove that out, but I'm wagering it won't be as bad a downside as it seems in the end.

I really like the duality of the new DBX having both the largest jump range coupled with the slowest fuel scoop rate in the entire game. It makes for an interesting choice by players, and I hope it stays just like it is right now in beta 3.


My final reaction to Frontier's changes for the DBX:

 

[RadioactiveLobster]

So they've finally made the Diamond Back Explorer not shit at exploring.

Took them long enough.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Personally, I'd see this as a waste of time anyway. The real problem is that exploration has no real gameplay/interaction - hence multi-crew support would simply be 'rearranging the deck-chairs on the titanic'.

True true. I just meant it was more of a salt in the wound for anyone hoping to even get a morsel of satisfaction for multi crew with exploration.

 

[Reckheim]

So wow, with the slight mass reduction on the DBX in today’s update, it now has the largest jump range in the game, even more than the Anaconda in a super lean build!!! My initial theorycrafting with the Beta Coriolois has these two exploration setups for totally optimized builds for deep space exploration with the Asp X and the "new and improved" DBX:

http://beta.coriolis.edcd.io/outfit...Tiyf///9mEDjwAUv8Z8AIAV7DzNTQAAAA=&bn=Amity 2

http://beta.coriolis.edcd.io/outfit...QFZHMAFNBXH//wcAT2dOfLcAAAA=&bn=Mini Explorer

That's with very close to optimal engineering on the FSD and the sensors, running with half sized tanks and one SRV each. The notable results:

Asp X: 57.36 lys max range, 55.49 lys full tank, 0.18s fuel scoop rate
DBX: 60.00 lys max range, 57.93 lys full tank, 0.46s fuel scoop rate!!!!

That scoop rate still hurts even with half tanks, BUT for traveling speed purposes the extra range of the DBX just might make that time up in distance per hour. Testing will prove that out, but I'm wagering it won't be as bad a downside as it seems in the end.

I really like the duality of the new DBX having both the largest jump range coupled with the slowest fuel scoop rate in the entire game. It makes for an interesting choice by players, and I hope it stays just like it is right now in beta 3.


My final reaction to Frontier's changes for the DBX:

I'm liking this. Never really used the DBX cause of the inferior jump range (compared to the ASP) but will definitely try it out in 2.3. I like the look of that ship more than the ASP.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Ooooooh SHIT! Isinona is back!

Also, check this 50+ ly Orca: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDange...e_orcas_new_jump_range_is_pretty_substantial/

My final reaction to Frontier's changes for the DBX:

Yeah, I'm genuinely curious about it now. Couldn't really justify getting one before.

Also curious if any fun Asp Scout builds are feasible now.

 

[Jedi2016]

Damn.. what's my Asp going to be up to? Or maybe I should go for a DBE now. I never gave the ship much thought before since I already has the Asp before the DBE even existed...

 

[Volimar]

All you pretenders abandoning your AspX for some shiny new pretender or old upstart.

AspX is for life.

 

[SmartBase]

The Asp is the ugliest ship in any medium and ruins any screenshot it happens to be in, I can't wait for an alternative to use for running errands in the bubble. The DBX could be that ship but it's a bit small.

 

[Anton Sugar]

I don't know guys. After seeing the shitshow that is Mass Effect: Andromeda's character creator and how Elite's is actually pretty solid (if not limited in selection right now), maybe they DID spend all that time working on it.

 

[Felix Lighter]

I still have not received an invite to the Liz Ryder engineer even though I've been cordial with the Eurybia Blue Mafia forever. Is it bugged or do I need to just keep doing missions for them?

 

[Not Spaceghost]

Lol I've been playing so much breath of the wild I forgot I hit 4 weeks with Li Yong Rui.

Time to grind out 750 merits and wait till thursday, woo power play.

 

[Volimar]

Too many people have big ships. I can't half ass a single large haul to a CG station and make it into top 75% anymore.

 

[danowat]

Is the Vulture canopy made of tissue paper?

My Vulture is a tank, it can soak up a ton of damage, but then all of a sudden the canopy blows.

it makes for a bit of fun trying to hot foot it back to a station with no HUD, but I wish I could beef the canopy up a bit!

 

[Reckheim]

Do your self a favor guys, watch the below video. Its a bit long but its worth it. Really shows off what is possible with the new camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5HDysOM0bI&feature=share

 

[Anton Sugar]

Well, this is kinda interesting: David Braben tweeted an article mentioning 'huge ships designs that allow large groups to share crewing duties' and 'some amazing concepts' that will arrive with 2.4

The team has mentioned that they are planning huge ship designs that allow large groups to share crewing duties in a way that has never been seen before in a game. They are also adding Commander Creation options, currently you are always a generic faceless captain (with a helmet) once the new update drops you can make your avatar unique which will make multi crew sessions that much more interesting. This is not even the end of the season, there is still an unannounced 2.4 version that the team hinted would bring some amazing concepts to the game.

I guess it may make sense that the "Executive Control" of large ships (if this is the same thing that Braben mentioned years ago) would come before any new planetary or Space Leg features.

EDIT: Apparently, may just be a miscommunication from the writer. May just be talking about multi-crew without really knowing what he's talking about.

Of course, the hesitance here is that this wouldn't be much more than a "concept" when it's released, without any meaningful gameplay impact.

Regarding that, Steve Kirby commented on the new installations in space being little more than sightseeing areas now:

I'm in full agreement with you that these locations needs more meaningful interactions and links to other areas of the game. I will be doing everything I can go make these locations what we originally envisioned them to be. Much of our planned gameplay for these sites has been slightly delayed due to several reasons I can't go into, but we hope to implement them in the future. These included some of your suggestions already and now include some others from this thread like docking.

As many of you know, we tend to implement these things in stages for various reasons. Now that we have the key installation types in place, we are now in a position to work on the deeper gameplay.
As for the reason this has not been completed already for 2.3, all I can say is that sometimes priorities have to be changed and we don't get to implement everything we originally intended got the first iteration of a piece of content.
We are looking again at the priority of these locations based on your highly constructive feedback. Some of this work is easier than others and we might be able to get to it quicker than currently planned, to give you guys more reason to visit these locations and more meaningful actions to do when you are there. Some however are more long term and we will get to them as quickly as we can.

Interesting.

Is the Vulture canopy made of tissue paper?

My Vulture is a tank, it can soak up a ton of damage, but then all of a sudden the canopy blows.

it makes for a bit of fun trying to hot foot it back to a station with no HUD, but I wish I could beef the canopy up a bit!

Vulture canopy has always been very fragile. It's part of its design philosophy--shield tank glass cannon.

Do your self a favor guys, watch the below video. Its a bit long but its worth it. Really shows off what is possible with the new camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5HDysOM0bI&feature=share

Gonna check this out soon, heard it's fun!

 

[SmartBase]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgVKH0EIMPc&feature=youtu.be&t=518

Seems like others won't be able to see your ship name on their scanners unless you buy the ship plates. Hardly surprising at this point.

 

[Volimar]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgVKH0EIMPc&feature=youtu.be&t=518

Seems like others won't be able to see your ship name on their scanners unless you buy the ship plates. Hardly surprising at this point.

Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.

 

[RadioactiveLobster]

It's a purely cosmetic thing that has no impact on gameplay so I'm not too upset about it.

 

[Mengy]

It's a purely cosmetic thing that has no impact on gameplay so I'm not too upset about it.

It is the first cosmetic feature in Elite Dangerous to:

- not have a basic default and free version available to all players
- be completely paywalled behind a purchase in the Frontier Store

This was a kickstarter promise feature to the backers, it was supposed to be a basic feature of the game promised back in the alpha days, NOT paywalled behind a store purchase. It is one thing to have improved, fancy, and embellished paints, skins, outfits, nameplates, etc as store purchases, nothing wrong with that, but to have a basic feature like this totally locked behind a purchase alongside the season purchases too?

It's a new precedent for Frontier with Elite Dangerous, and not a very good one either.



OH, speaking of paying for cosmetics, here is an Imgur album with all of the Commander Creator skin packs that will be hitting the Frontier Store either at 2.3's release or shortly afterwards:

http://imgur.com/a/qSNvi

Patch 2.3 might as well be renamed from Multicrew to The Frontier Store Update.

 

[DrBo42]

It is the first cosmetic feature in Elite Dangerous to:

- not have a basic default and free version available to all players
- be completely paywalled behind a purchase in the Frontier Store

This was a kickstarter promise feature to the backers, it was supposed to be a basic feature of the game promised back in the alpha days, NOT paywalled behind a store purchase. It is one thing to have improved, fancy, and embellished paints, skins, outfits, nameplates, etc as store purchases, nothing wrong with that, but to have a basic feature like this totally locked behind a purchase alongside the season purchases too?

It's a new precedent for Frontier with Elite Dangerous, and not a very good one either.

My favorite part is the follow-up about the DDF "Yeah we haven't been following that for a long time"

 

[SmartBase]

It is the first cosmetic feature in Elite Dangerous to:

- not have a basic default and free version available to all players
- be completely paywalled behind a purchase in the Frontier Store

This was a kickstarter promise feature to the backers, it was supposed to be a basic feature of the game promised back in the alpha days, NOT paywalled behind a store purchase. It is one thing to have improved, fancy, and embellished paints, skins, outfits, nameplates, etc as store purchases, nothing wrong with that, but to have a basic feature like this totally locked behind a purchase alongside the season purchases too?

It's a new precedent for Frontier with Elite Dangerous, and not a very good one either.



OH, speaking of paying for cosmetics, here is an Imgur album with all of the Commander Creator skin packs that will be hitting the Frontier Store either at 2.3's release or shortly afterwards:

http://imgur.com/a/qSNvi

Patch 2.3 might as well be renamed from Multicrew to The Frontier Store Update.

But don't you see, buying the base game and the season pass (only 2.1 million sold, combined) isn't enough to cover their cheapskate AWS setup and the development of framework content updates.

 

[DrBo42]

I respect that they need to make money but locking ship names to it is a bit too far. They definitely need to figure out a better model for next season. As it stands now and how late and lackluster Season 2 is, I imagine people won't buy Season 3. Who really wants to pay for bland framework updates with little to no gameplay?

 

[I'm new be nice]

The fanboy in me can't help but feel for them as developers, it can't be an easy venture and they've done better for themselves than I would have ever expected, deservedly so I'd say, this particular issue not withstanding.

 

[DrBo42]

The fanboy in me can't help but feel for them as developers, it can't be an easy venture and they've done better for themselves than I would have ever expected, deservedly so I'd say, this particular issue not withstanding.

Sure. Development isn't easy and something on this scale with multiplayer is even harder. Obviously it's easy to look at the launch and time in the project up to now in hindsight but IMO something needs to change in their process. For me specifically it's the rushed implementation of systems at its most basic state and then hopefully deepening it later on. Whether they have the funds to change that process is a big factor and at this point it's hard for me to expect they do.

 

[Manzoon]

Has Frontier mentioned if the ship name plate is a one time purchase (like a laser color or decals) or an individual purchase per ship? One is a little easier to take than the other.

 

[DrBo42]

Has Frontier mentioned if the ship name plate is a one time purchase (like a laser color or decals) or an individual purchase per ship? One is a little easier to take than the other.

Account bound rather than individual ship.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

What the hell, locking ship names behind a paywall makes it less fun even for the people who buy that shit. Like, I want to be able to see what people name their ships whether they paid the money or not.

 

[Manzoon]

Account bound rather than individual ship.

Thanks, I guess it could always be worse. At least I don't have to buy a six pack of garish license plate frames for each ship.

 

[I'm new be nice]

Sure. Development isn't easy and something on this scale with multiplayer is even harder. Obviously it's easy to look at the launch and time in the project up to now in hindsight but IMO something needs to change in their process. For me specifically it's the rushed implementation of systems at its most basic state and then hopefully deepening it later on. Whether they have the funds to change that process is a big factor and at this point it's hard for me to expect they do.

The current issue aside, I find it difficult to imagine what they could do differently otherwise.

Too much time spent on a particular feature set means lost momentum, which for a multiplayer game is particularly troubling. They've been working at a pace just fast enough to keep players engaged (admittedly just barely) while still maintaining close parity to their established milestones.

I honestly would go so far as to say that their level of planning and execution is nearly masterful, when considered within realworld logistics and constraints.

 

[DrBo42]

The current issue aside, I find it difficult to imagine what they could do differently otherwise.

Too much time spent on a particular feature set means lost momentum, which for a multiplayer game is particularly troubling. They've been working at a pace just fast enough to keep players engaged (admittedly just barely) while still maintaining close parity to their established milestones.

I honestly would go so far as to say that their level of planning and execution is nearly masterful, when considered within realworld logistics and constraints.

I'm sorry but if you don't have things for people to group up and do 2 years into a multiplayer game, something is very wrong. That's why the current method of "Introduce Wings or Multi-crew (without content appropriate for it) and loop back hopefully a year from now" doesn't cut it and never will. It's flawed and causes nothing but frustration on both sides.

 

[I'm new be nice]

I'm sorry but if you don't have things for people to group up and do 2 years into a multiplayer game, something is very wrong. That's why the current method of "Introduce Wings or Multi-crew (without content appropriate for it) and loop back hopefully a year from now" doesn't cut it and never will. It's flawed and causes nothing but frustration on both sides.

I mean I agree, it's fucked haha, but I just don't see how else they could do it. They'll get there. They're getting there.

 

[Mengy]

I'm sorry but if you don't have things for people to group up and do 2 years into a multiplayer game, something is very wrong. That's why the current method of "Introduce Wings or Multi-crew (without content appropriate for it) and loop back hopefully a year from now" doesn't cut it and never will. It's flawed and causes nothing but frustration on both sides.

Yep. They jumped to adding new foundations and features before finishing the original ones, and now what they have is a shallow and barebones game that they keep trying to add new mechanics too, but without the proper gameplay mechanics to make any of it meaningful. To say nothing of their poor network development planning to support an online multiplayer game of this sort. It’s the main reason why multicrew is combat only, because combat is the only aspect of the game with enough development to actually have anything useful to do in multicrew.

They’ve become so concerned with marketing features that they pushed aside making the game an actual game first.

The problem isn’t one of competency as much as it is one of direction. Frontier’s art and sound teams are amazing, some of the best in the industry, but the management’s decisions of what to work on and when is terrible, their priorities are very poor. I have to think it is on purpose though. This is probably why Frontier does not advertise their roadmap for the game at all, I doubt very much that it would be well received given the history of updates we’ve seen so far.

 

[RadioactiveLobster]

There, stop complaining.

Hi everyone,

There's been a number of questions from Commanders regarding ship naming and how ship name plates will work so we wanted to give you a little more information about how these features will work when they're released.

In-game ship naming

When you have named your ship in-game, your ship name will appear in multicrew grouping and in your HUD. In addition to this, in beta 5, when other people scan you, or target you in space they will be able to see your ship name in their UI. This feature will be available for all players of Elite Dangerous (both base game and Horizons players) including Xbox One, upcoming PS4 release and PC Commanders.

Cosmetic Ship Name Plates

The ship name plates will offer an added layer of cosmetic personalisation for Commanders wanting to wear their name with pride, much like paint jobs and other cosmetics currently available in the store.

Name plates will be made available in themed packs. These packs will contain three designs, each of which will be available in three colours: black, white, and grey. This makes a total of 9 nameplates per pack. After purchase, each pack will be available for use across all of your ships (Ship launched fighters and SRVs don't have name plates) and each pack of 9 variant plates will be coming into store at just £2/€2.5/$3. This means that purchasing one pack of name plates will allow you to use that style across all of your current and future ships, at the same time and rename each individual ship as many times as you like. We believe this flexibility offers Commanders great value and is a great way to help support the continued development of Elite Dangerous.

Thanks!

 

[Reckheim]

The sad part is that Frontier is straight up taking advantage of its customer base.

They know it has been one of the most demanded quality of life feature for the player base and they know that anyone that has sunk any meaningful amount of time into the game will buy the name plate for their ship (I know I will). Hence they made it a paid item.

At the end of the day they are a business.

 

[Mengy]

Yep, excellent news, I’m glad Sandro changed his decision. I don’t think Frontier anticipated the backlash like the whole thing caused. There is fine line between acceptable paid content for a game with a full selling price, and milking your customers with things that should not be sold as extra after a $60 entry fee.

 

[DrBo42]

There, stop complaining.

 

[Serrato]

At least he's honest lmao.

 

[Effect]

DBX changes!? Can finally use mine now.

Glad the name tags will work across all ships you have and you're just paying for the different designs. I was going to be pissed if the purchases were on a ship by ship basis like the colors.

 

[Anton Sugar]

I mean, it still sucks that the ship name doesn't appear on the ship without a store purchase...but I guess the store purchase itself is done in a "reasonable" manner.

 

[Volimar]

Those Legacy flight suits are pretty sharp.


Ooh and I like the Explorer ones too.

I mean, it still sucks that the ship name doesn't appear on the ship without a store purchase...but I guess the store purchase itself is done in a "reasonable" manner.

Yep.

 

[wesleyshark]

There, stop complaining.

That seems reasonable to me.

Also digging those Legacy flightsuits.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Seeing more flight suits than I saw last night now. Liking these:

Operative=official NeoGAF flight suit

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

Explorer looks very Trek-y I like it.

 

[Reckheim]

Explorer looks very Trek-y I like it.

yeh, I think that's the one i'll end up getting as well.

I wish they had options that didn't all look like spandex suits tho. Something with a bomber jackets or something (i know it wouldn't make sense in space but it would be kool).

 

[Anton Sugar]

yeh, I think that's the one i'll end up getting as well.

I wish they had options that didn't all look like spandex suits tho. Something with a bomber jackets or something (i know it wouldn't make sense in space but it would be kool).

Don't forget this concept art:

I'm sure non-flight suit clothing is only a matter of time.

 

[RadioactiveLobster]

My guess is non flight suit will come with Space Legs but not before.

 

[danowat]

I am slightly confused about shields, I get that each shield has an optimum hull mass (nothing else included?, no bulkheads or armour?), and any deviation from this affects the shields optimum performance.

Take for example the Vulture, it has a hull mass of 230T, if you put a Class 5 shield in it, which has an optimum mass of 405T, you are 175T off the optimum, but it has 389Mj of strength, but a Class 4 shield has an optimum mass of 285T, so you are only 55T off optimum, but it has 60Mj less of shield strength.

Which one is better?

Edit : Using Corolios, and adjusting the optimum mass engineer adjust it appears that as you bring the optimum mass of the shield down, closer to hull mass, the shield strength actually decreases?

I am now very confused!

 

[Pegasus Actual]

I think the optimal shield mass thing is more like diminishing returns. If your mass is over it, your shields are going to be trash, if your mass is under you get some additional benefit but some of the shield is wasted.

The way all that shit works is pretty confusing. It *seemed* like the first hull mod you can get from an Engineer, which was just a level 1 something or another made my hull worse across the board. It gave me some more raw hull but also lowered my hull's resistance. It seemed like it would make damage taken against most weapons worse, though there was one that was slightly better. I didn't really have a way of testing or proving it but I eventually dumped the mod. Hopefully there are better hull mods when I unlock other engineers.

Another thing that confused me, I watched a YouTube video comparing the ship-launched fighters. The guy showed that if you pop a heat-sink you can shoot fixed beam lasers forever. What? How does that work and more importantly how can you figure out your 'effective capacitor' for a build? Does the same sort of thing affect pulse or burst lasers? Heat was made out to be a thing that you a) needed to manage to keep from taking damage, and b) something you could manipulate to not show up on sensors so much.

I like depth to ship-building but they don't explain how any of the numbers work. You just guess and hope for the best or look up someone else's "OP build"