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Elite Dangerous: Horizons |OT| Just scratching the surface

DrBo42

Member
Special is separate from Secondary. It seems a little unclear whether you can reroll individual effects (primary, secondary, special) or if all of them have to be rerolled. He never hits the "Try Again" button, so I'm not sure if that's a complete reroll or what.

Oh. Then it's the whole thing that gets rolled every time. Brilliant.

(The brilliant bit is sarcastic. Sounds awful.)
 

SmartBase

Member
Have they mentioned being able to batch modify weapons? That huge stat variance is going to put a damper on me wanting to craft for big ships.

On the plus side I might have a reason to downgrade and try the Vulture.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
That shift lock mine is real interesting. Would be a reason to bring a fast nimble ship in a wing. Traders are going to get absolutely fucked in this patch. Mass lock torps, missile bleed through shield to destroy modules, shift lock mines. You guys better bring some serious point defense/ECM modules that are upgraded. Good lord.

Yep, miners / traders / explorers are going to suffer from the looks of things.

All I'm seeing is another combat focused update. Did they show anything non combat related? Again??? They put so much work into spicing up combat with every patch, and so little work into anything else.
 

Pomerlaw

Member
Stream Detected. Warning - Summary Details Deployed.


All of this is beta folks!
Loot and Crafting works in ED via upgrades to modules via collecting resources in space and taking them to Engineers.
Each Engineer has their own back-story, location and criteria which they wish potential visitors to fulfil. For example, an Engineer may invite you if you've travelled/explored a lot.
Resources - can be salvaged from destroyed ships, found at settlements, mined, located at beacons in space. Materials have context in where their found and what their used for.
Some resources are goods which aren't usually found on markets.
Resources can be awarded from missions - some are only awarded from missions.
New video - this is in beta remember. Dweller Engineer base found. Ship lands on surface, directed by traffic control. Domes on the surface. Eventually we get to the landing pad. Ship lowers into hangar (station is called Black Hide).
New option - Engineers workshop. Power Distributor requested. Engineers works and various stats are shown and then altered for stuff like power, etc. Ship then leaves the base.
"Don't want to use the gambling word." (yes, FD do read the forums!!)
There is an amount of chance in the upgrade process. Randomness isn't as random as people think, its somewhat controlled.
FD have already made some changes regarding Engineer RNG.
Engineer bases all look unique.
Players can see what they're going to get (within ranges) before asking the Engineer to work on a module.

Engineers invite you.
Once at a base, you can upgrade your modules or browse all upgrades this engineer can perform.
Loads of upgrade options for modules - eg Power Distributor. Video coming real soon on YouTube.
Upgrade options are graded, 1 to 5.
Oooh, there's a shielded power distributor upgrade!
Animation for Special Chance is gone from beta video
Potential uupgrades for Burst Laser include longer range.
Concorant Sequence - new special mod which increases shield strength (like regeneration laser) at the cost of additional heat.
Upgrades have side effects for stuff like power draw.
Date for Beta incoming!
Engineers won't directly hate other Engineers.
Some Engineers will be harder to meet. These engineers will offer the more sexy mods.
No engineers mods for shields. Yet.
With Ice Mining comes RES in Ice Rings!
Ship manoeuvrability can be changed via Engineers.
Engineers offer outfitting services.
Beta - Phase 1 at start will allow access to some things like Engineers. Phase 2 is called Mayhem - and will allow everyone access to everything - every weapon, every ship, every special effect. FD want to test special cases internally. So many combinations to test.
Video shown for Torpedo weapon. Weapons fired at T9. New mod called Mass Lock, prevents targeted vessel from jumping into Hyperspace. Less useful against smaller ships.
Torpedoes are getting slower. But, a LOT more powerful. And a few other changes too (missiles too).
Ram-scans are fixed for 2.1
Non-weapon upgrades include increased jump range; reduced power usages; mods for sensors.
Engineers can provide upgrades for power plant modules as well.
Retribution laser can stack with Thermal Shock.
New upgrade shown, called Shift Lock Canister - an mine which will restart your FSD, preventing a hyperspace jump. Video shows how - Clipper drops mine into T9 and engines go offline for T9! (and perhaps the Clipper too).
Engineers equipment is as reliable as standard mods unless effected by upgrade process.
You can't be totally locked out of an Engineer base unless you shoot at their base.
Engineer locations (for those you have invites for) are shown on galaxy map.
Weapons module upgrades can be viewed on target ship (but not the exact upgrade that ship possesses.).
Ship Insurance - once module is upgraded, its covered by insurance rebuy.
NPC can use upgraded modules but quite rarely.
NPC AI bugs killed (like spinning ships)
No module storage for 2.1. Its probably coming at some point.
Ship transportation, module storage - falling under same umbrella. On FD's to-do list.
Shield Cell Banks can be modified. Spin up time, heat etc can be altered.
All module upgrades are legal in all systems. For now.
If you attempt to land at an Engineer base without invite, you'll be shot at. With big guns. Controlled by Engineers who know how to upgrade those big guns.
System Authority NPCs can use modules upgraded by Engineers.
Landing without shields without hull damage - this can be done in 2.1.
Silent building changes - if in silent running, firing weapons will increase heat within your ship and potentially make your ship visible on enemy sensors.
Heat sink ammo reduced somewhat.
Phasing Sequence effect video. Shoots through shields and transfers heat and damage to target hull (I think). Doesn't damage modules.
Currently 54 engineer recipes with 5 tiers available.
Missile changes - damage shields increased. Guidance systems improved. Splash damage to hull and modules within blast radius. Drives, weapons etc are vulnerable. Some internal mods might be hit thanks to mods to missiles.
Beta is Coming! This Thursday!! No ETA for exact time.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=245991
 

Hylian7

Member
Beta Thursday?!?

7b1FREi.gif
 
I just played in VR for the first time and it was amazing. Holy shit, the scale of it all. Everything feels so much bigger. Also the pilot body, when you look down, it truly feels like it's you. However, when you move away and look back at the headless figure, it's super creepy seeing it breath and move through its idle animations. What a thing. All I did was fly from a outpost to a station and then landed on a planet. I can't wait until I have more time and can engage in some combat.
 

mitchman

Gold Member
No. It's going to make this module upgrading a little frustrating.

For me, it's one of the biggest problems with the game right now. Impossible to re-use modules between ships without a loss (or being quick enough when refitting). I just got the Oculus Rift CV1 so I might get back into the game again after being away for a few months.
How about export/import of joystick mappings? Having to setup the X52 again and find out where my old install kept the mappings doesn't sound like fun, and it tended to lose settings between every major release.
 
For me, it's one of the biggest problems with the game right now. Impossible to re-use modules between ships without a loss (or being quick enough when refitting). I just got the Oculus Rift CV1 so I might get back into the game again after being away for a few months.
How about export/import of joystick mappings? Having to setup the X52 again and find out where my old install kept the mappings doesn't sound like fun, and it tended to lose settings between every major release.

You could always import joystick mappings. It's in a FDev folder in your AppData/Local folder. FDev --> ED --> Options --> Bindings.
 

mitchman

Gold Member
You could always import joystick mappings. It's in a FDev folder in your AppData/Local folder. FDev --> ED --> Options --> Bindings.

Thanks, good to know. I was more thinking of exporting them in a readable json or similar form from the game, and then import them in a new install. I hope I kept my old Windows install and the old profile directory.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
For me, it's one of the biggest problems with the game right now. Impossible to re-use modules between ships without a loss (or being quick enough when refitting).

You don't lose any money when selling modules back, they buy and sell at the same price with zero loss. Only ships sell back for a loss in game.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Still irritating to sell off and rebuy every piece of equipment every time you want to swap ships. There should be a smoother way to do it is all.

Without module storage it's really going to suck after 2.1, because if you craft a module improvement, and then sell that module, you lose the craft altogether. Then if you ever want to go back to it you will have to get all the mats and play the roulette of crafting again.

I've always refitted my Asp and Clipper for whatever role I felt like playing at any time, but after 2.1 I'm going to keep specific ships for specific roles, no more changing ships around, not until module storage gets implemented (if ever).
 
Yes, module storage should have almost been considered a required component of the looting/crafting system. We can already obviously store crafting materials in an unexplained way (same collection of materials across all ships, no matter the size or cargo space, even in our little SRVs), nice and convenient yet, they seem to want to work module storage into a larger more complicated in world system that is entangled with ship transport, making it a feature they aren't even willing to commit to.
 

DrBo42

Member
Made a thread on the official forums about the crafting system. How the Primary, Secondary and Special effect shouldn't all be tied to the same roll. Also that we need a batch or clone function to apply a roll we like to other applicable weapons. I immediately regretted that decision.

"If you don't like the system, don't use it."

The Elite Dangerous community, folks.
 
Made a thread on the official forums about the crafting system. How the Primary, Secondary and Special effect shouldn't all be tied to the same roll. Also that we need a batch or clone function to apply a roll we like to other applicable weapons. I immediately regretted that decision.

"If you don't like the system, don't use it."

The Elite Dangerous community, folks.

I wonder what the overlap is between current ED players and the MMO/loot-based communities.

I'd wager "ignorance is bliss" for most of them.

I think, at the very least, the Special should be an independent roll.
 

Hylian7

Member
No. It's going to make this module upgrading a little frustrating.
Sigh, you would think that would be an integral part of having custom modules...

Always something fancy new thing, but they can't make the obvious thing that makes it not tedious.
Made a thread on the official forums about the crafting system. How the Primary, Secondary and Special effect shouldn't all be tied to the same roll. Also that we need a batch or clone function to apply a roll we like to other applicable weapons. I immediately regretted that decision.

"If you don't like the system, don't use it."

The Elite Dangerous community, folks.
The official forms are notorious for having that attitude. If I made a thread over there about how stupid the AI are with interdictions (Shieldless Sidewinder interdicting fully decked out FDL, for instance) I would get "It's part of the game, so it's fine"
 

Burny

Member
"If you don't like the system, don't use it."

The Elite Dangerous community, folks.

Honestly, doesn't this apply to other game communities as well? But yeah, talk about white knights defending every hair raising aspect of Elite. There recently was a meta thread about exactly those attitudes. :p

I've had people lobbying against micro jumps there. Apparently you have to let your ship fly in a straight line for some 20-30 minutes on end to some distant second star. Otherwise people's immersion could be harmed. Those who think watching Netflix or alt tabbing out/grabbibg a coffee is immersive at least. :p

Pro tip: Make a thread about jump ranges or player controlled stations! :D
 

Serrato

Member
I think that's unfortunately a part of every ''Specific'' game forums. People too enthusiastic to see flaws.
(And GAF too)
 

DrBo42

Member
Start a thread on reddit.

I posted the video itself on reddit and there have been a number of concerned posts about RNG in there.

Meh. I realize they tend to care far more about reddit reactions but I can't be bothered. Maybe a dev will see the thread.

They're going to get crucified when the beta hits if the rng and absurdity of mismatched weapons is too much anyway. We'll get there regardless.
 

Pomerlaw

Member
Honestly, doesn't this apply to other game communities as well? But yeah, talk about white knights defending every hair raising aspect of Elite. There recently was a meta thread about exactly those attitudes. :p

I've had people lobbying against micro jumps there. Apparently you have to let your ship fly in a straight line for some 20-30 minutes on end to some distant second star. Otherwise people's immersion could be harmed. Those who think watching Netflix or alt tabbing out/grabbibg a coffee is immersive at least. :p

Pro tip: Make a thread about jump ranges or player controlled stations! :D

At the same time, having 3 out of 4 threads on the forums about how the game is crap is annoying as hell. There are a lot of useless complaints that lead nowhere. You wonder why those guys are still posting in the forums when they hate the game so much...

I remember a few threads about player controlled stations and it wasn't that bad. A lot of folks found the idea interesting. Aren't player owned asteroid bases been mentionned since 2014 by Braben anyway? There is even official art.
 

DrBo42

Member
At the same time, having 3 out of 4 threads on the forums about how the game is crap is annoying as hell. There are a lot of useless complaints that lead nowhere. You wonder why those guys are still posting in the forums when they hate the game so much...

I remember a few threads about player controlled stations and it wasn't that bad. A lot of folks found the idea interesting. Aren't player owned asteroid bases been mentionned since 2014 by Braben anyway? There is even official art.
I think a big problem is just how garbage their moderation team is. Duplicate threads, pointless joke threads, thread shitting...the whole place is toxic.

Player owned bases/stations is great but so many people have this asinine notion that it would somehow transform the game into EVE. In other words, the Elite Dangerous community is absurd and extremely resistant to ideas that weren't in the extremely limited original.
 

Pomerlaw

Member
A lot of folks never post on the forums, but are still part of the community. That's why newsletters piss so many folks off when they have limited information. All those people who don't follow the game as much found the info interesting, die hards not so much...
 

Hylian7

Member
At the same time, having 3 out of 4 threads on the forums about how the game is crap is annoying as hell. There are a lot of useless complaints that lead nowhere. You wonder why those guys are still posting in the forums when they hate the game so much...

I remember a few threads about player controlled stations and it wasn't that bad. A lot of folks found the idea interesting. Aren't player owned asteroid bases been mentionned since 2014 by Braben anyway? There is even official art.

A thread just saying the game is shit is one thing, but threads complaining about an aspect of it is entirely different, and valid.
 

JambiBum

Member
I mean any official forum for any game is always filled with shit posters. That's just the way they work for whatever reason. Places like Reddit and GAF exist as a semi decent place to have actual discussions. Sure there are still shit posts from time to time, but they exist far less and are usually shot down pretty quickly.

I took a break from ED for a while in order to wait on 2.1 to hit but since I got my Rift I decided to jump back in for a bit to see how it would feel. Holy shit is it a completely different feeling. I didn't think that I'd be that in awe with it but I was giddy like a fucking school girl once I started playing. I didn't even do anything. I just did the VR training mission because I didn't have much time to play and it still blew me away. Once 2.1 hits I am going to be playing so much Elite again. Can't wait.
 

Hylian7

Member
I mean any official forum for any game is always filled with shit posters. That's just the way they work for whatever reason. Places like Reddit and GAF exist as a semi decent place to have actual discussions. Sure there are still shit posts from time to time, but they exist far less and are usually shot down pretty quickly.

I took a break from ED for a while in order to wait on 2.1 to hit but since I got my Rift I decided to jump back in for a bit to see how it would feel. Holy shit is it a completely different feeling. I didn't think that I'd be that in awe with it but I was giddy like a fucking school girl once I started playing. I didn't even do anything. I just did the VR training mission because I didn't have much time to play and it still blew me away. Once 2.1 hits I am going to be playing so much Elite again. Can't wait.

Yeah, when I tried an Oculus, it was on Elite. That straight up sold me on VR. I plan on getting a Vive when the price comes down though.

Only hours until beta time!
charm_smile.gif
 

JambiBum

Member
Yeah, when I tried an Oculus, it was on Elite. That straight up sold me on VR. I plan on getting a Vive when the price comes down though.

Only hours until beta time!
charm_smile.gif

FYI Rift is better than Vive right now for Elite. Rift has a better resolution than Vive right now due to some issue that either HTC or FDev have to figure out. They're both aware of it and are working towards a solution but who knows when it will come.
 

Burny

Member
At the same time, having 3 out of 4 threads on the forums about how the game is crap is annoying as hell. There are a lot of useless complaints that lead nowhere. You wonder why those guys are still posting in the forums when they hate the game so much...

Following the forums very loosely, I hardly see that type of thread anymore. That was much more common around the launch 2014.

Now, when there's a thread complaining about something, it's often a specific aspect of the game. And often the people complaining aren't wrong, even though their ideas and solutions may often not be realistic. If the usual defense force thinks the suggestions might get the game into the territory of actual multiplayer games, in which people can communicate with each other properly, form groups, formally interact with each other in other ways than shooting, scanning and dropping/scooping homoepathic doses of cargo (pl2pl trade, station control), or if travel times could in any way become shorter, they come out in full swing. The afforementioned "burn it with fire" attitude is strong there.

Which is a pity, as these things often don't concern minor design or balance issues, but fundamental things. Proper, system wide player communication? Formal groups? "Nah, that's Eve and we don't want that in our game." *rollseyes*
 

JambiBum

Member
Following the forums very loosely, I hardly see that type of thread anymore. That was much more common around the launch 2014.

Now, when there's a thread complaining about something, it's often a specific aspect of the game. And often the people complaining aren't wrong, even though their ideas and solutions may often not be realistic. If the usual defense force thinks the suggestions might get the game into the territory of actual multiplayer games, in which people can communicate with each other properly, form groups, formally interact with each other in other ways than shooting, scanning and dropping/scooping homoepathic doses of cargo (pl2pl trade, station control), or if travel times could in any way become shorter, they come out in full swing. The afforementioned "burn it with fire" attitude is strong there.

Which is a pity, as these things often don't concern minor design or balance issues, but fundamental things. Proper, system wide player communication? Formal groups? "Nah, that's Eve and we don't want that in our game." *rollseyes*
I don't want a system or game wide chat. I would take station chat options though. Also let players trade when they are in the same station. Make it seem like there are workers in the station that trade the cargo between people if certain players feel like it breaks immersion or whatever. Basically I just want stations to have more impact on the game, which they seem to be heading towards slowly. Make stations actual hubs for communication and I think it'll go a long way.
 

JambiBum

Member
And how would such hide-able chat channels hurt you if the players who want them had them?

Never said that they would hurt me. Just said that I don't want them and would rather have station chats because most of the time system/game wide chats are filled with garbage in every single game which is why people hide them. Not saying that station chat probably wouldn't also get filled with garbage eventually, but it would at least only be in the more popular stations. If people want game wide chats that's their choice, I don't.
 

Maybe the grind won't be so bad?

- Mining resources can now create materials
- Materials can be spawned inside signal sources
- Materials can be dropped from destroyed ships
- Materials can be dropped from destroyed skimmers

What are these used for?

- Encoded data materials added
- Data materials can be scanned from scannable wreckage

Cool stuff for world-building/immersion and some variety:

- Added scannable wreckage scenarios and POIs
- Added inbox messages when retrieving encoded loot from various objects

This is something I've wanted for awhile--I've always appreciated ED's effects but there wasn't enough variety within the same weapon types:

- Allow weapon damage values to modify visual affects

Wonder what this looks like vs current:

- New surface material system - improves surface material detail and performance

Between the bug report and this, I'm really curious what these factors are. Faction is obviously one of them (Empire wears different clothing vs Federation):

- Contacts have their appearance deterministically generated to reflect various key factors

Does this mean mission restrictions are gone??

- Missions are now rated by rank, not gated by them

Love this--better rewards!

- Commodities can be awarded from missions
- Loot items can be awarded from missions
- Special treasure locations can be awarded by completing missions

This is pretty cool:

- Add traffic density system for generating USSs
- Shipping lanes are created between the primary star, stations, and planets with settlements. Shipping lanes that are too similar to others, or too short, are removed
- Traffic density is calculated based on shipping lane, station and settled planet proximity. This traffic density value alters the probability of USSs
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
- SRVs can no longer be deployed when their respective Vehicle Bays are disabled

Welp, that hurts us explorers, guess we'll have to fly with larger power plants now....it was a weird bug though.
 

DrBo42

Member
Welp, that hurts us explorers, guess we'll have to fly with larger power plants now....it was a weird bug though.

Not really. You can craft a high charge power plant or just craft a better FSD with lower fuel consumption (this was mentioned) etc. They mentioned something either about a mod or just a general fact that low power use affects fuel use in jumps. Something I didn't even know.
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Not really. You can craft a high charge power plant or just craft a better FSD with lower fuel consumption (this was mentioned) etc. They mentioned something either about a mod or just a general fact that low power use affects fuel use in jumps. Something I didn't even know.

Yeah, it can also be gotten around by tedious power management too. Keeping the shields up but the SRV bay unpowered when landing on planets, but once landed unpower the shields and then power up the SRV bay. So it's more tedious but it did need to be fixed, as it was a bug to begin with.


Those patch notes are immense, it will take my whole lunch hour to absorb it all. I'm super anxious to hear from the players once the beta goes live though, I want details on module recipes!
 

DrBo42

Member
gs on syncDownload is live. No need to redownload a new launcher if you're using Steam, 2.1 beta will be a new option.

Edit: And of course it errors out constantly and won't finish syncing files. Lol. It wouldn't be an FD launch without it.

Edit 2: Okay, this launcher is balls. There's no resume functionality in the sync files portion of the update. So if yours eventually hangs and errors out during sync, you'll need to delete the PUBLIC_TEST_SERVER_64 folder and VirtualCache file here C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Elite Dangerous\Products

Then you can restart the update from scratch. Only way to successfully update is to make it past the sync without error and due to how much their servers are being pounded, doesn't look like that will be any time soon. Or maybe you'll have better luck than I.
 

DrBo42

Member
Halfway through the sync and it dies again. Which would be fine...but there is no resume functionality in this piece of shit launcher lol. Fucking FD.
 

LeBart

Member
Not sure if this is going to be indicative of all rings, but this one is much foggier:

I took that shot. I honestly think it's a bit much.

A few things I've noticed so far:
- I've seen 3 different ring systems, other than the heavy fog, I can confirm that they did fix the ugly LOD and added shadows, but nothing spectacular from what I've seen.
- Supercruise transistions are a bit smoother! No more flickering planets! Going into supercruise in particular feels extra nice. The transition when going into glide above a planet surface hasn't changed though.
- Stars keep their surface detail when viewed from far away. It doesn't seem to apply to planets.
- Going into system map still takes ages. -_-
 
I took that shot. I honestly think it's a bit much.

A few things I've noticed so far:
- I've seen 3 different ring systems, other than the heavy fog, I can confirm that they did fix the ugly LOD and added shadows, but nothing spectacular from what I've seen.
- Supercruise transistions are a bit smoother! No more flickering planets! Going into supercruise in particular feels extra nice. The transition when going into glide above a planet surface hasn't changed though.
- Stars keep their surface detail when viewed from far away. It doesn't seem to apply to planets.
- Going into system map still takes ages. -_-

Ah, nice. I keep forgetting to give credits, I'll add those back in.

Ice ring in 2.1/1.6:

ocIaxPM.jpg
 

LeBart

Member
Ah, nice. I keep forgetting to give credits, I'll add those back in.

Eh. Worry about giving credits when posting elaborate high res shots with interesting camera angles.
I just hit F10. x)

Additional impressions:
- Planet surfaces don't look drastically better at a glance, but I'm on a planet I've never seen before so I can't really tell.
- Engineer bases look amazing, but you knew that already.
- The USS descriptions are more useful than I initially thought.
- Imperial ships finally have proper imperial seats!
 
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