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[Anton Sugar]

Yeah, I mean, if friends don't matter at all, and you can comfy couch it up even with your PC, go PC.

Still ethusiastically SMH at FD completely ignoring the Kinect. Guess that makes them no better than MS, in that regard

 

[Zalusithix]

Still ethusiastically SMH at FD completely ignoring the Kinect. Guess that makes them no better than MS, in that regard

What's Kinect? Did you mean HoloLens? =P

 

[Pixel Samurai]

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Thank you all for the feedback! I'm going to meditate on it for another hour or so but I'm leaning towards PC.

 

[Burny]

Time Sensitive Matter:What say you Elite-GAF, is the graphical prowess of the PC version worth $14? I also know about the early CQC on Xbox but that makes no difference to me.

If that 14$ doesn't mean the world for you: go the PC route.

You'll eventually have all the options the XBone version has - including the controller controls. Then there's head tracking, Mouse & Keyboard controls (which work surprisingly well without giving such players an advantage!) and the option build a HOTAS setup. On top of that, the planetary landings addon was hinted to be arriving on PC first as will most likely other updates, due to quicker patching process. You have all the options in the world to go for a multi monitor/4k setups /supported VR headsets at some point down the line, if you chose to. Just make sure to have your PC plugged into a good surround system. ;-)

 

[Anton Sugar]

What's Kinect? Did you mean HoloLens? =P

Haha, HoloLens support BETTER come. I would love that.

Still, Kinect was literally made for voice commands and IR tracking. Braben pls

 

[frontieruk]

Haha, HoloLens support BETTER come. I would love that.

Still, Kinect was literally made for voice commands and IR tracking. Braben pls

He's already installing Cortana for future use across Xbox and windows 10

 

[Zalusithix]

Haha, HoloLens support BETTER come. I would love that.

Still, Kinect was literally made for voice commands and IR tracking. Braben pls

I'm actually not sure how they'd manage to work HoloLens into a game like Elite. VR works well enough, but AR would be tricky. I suppose you could do some sort of weird combo where the traditional display wouldn't have the UI - just the actual action. Instead the ship's holographic projections would be constructed around you using the HoloLens.

 

[Anton Sugar]

I'm actually not sure how they'd manage to work HoloLens into a game like Elite. VR works well enough, but AR would be tricky. I suppose you could do some sort of weird combo where the traditional display wouldn't have the UI - just the actual action. Instead the ship's holographic projections would be constructed around you using the HoloLens.

Well, they could potentially overlay the entire UI in the HoloLens AR instead of in-game. You could actually look to your left or right to access your individual panels, for example.

He's already installing Cortana for future use across Xbox and windows 10

Meanwhile, us X1 chumps are holding buttons. Just let me yell "Cortana, full weapons power" dammit!

 

[diaspora]

I'm actually not sure how they'd manage to work HoloLens into a game like Elite. VR works well enough, but AR would be tricky. I suppose you could do some sort of weird combo where the traditional display wouldn't have the UI - just the actual action. Instead the ship's holographic projections would be constructed around you using the HoloLens.

AR heads up display.

 

[Zalusithix]

Well, they could potentially overlay the entire UI in the HoloLens AR instead of in-game. You could actually look to your left or right to access your individual panels, for example.



Meanwhile, us X1 jumps are holding buttons. Just let me yell "Cortana, full weapons power" dammit!

That's what I meant with the ships holographic projections (the UI) being built around the player using the HoloLens. It'd be less of a "I'm here in this ship" and more of a "I'm remotely piloting this ship from a fancy terminal". Ironically, the concept of remotely piloting the ship is probably more accurate for the future anyway.

AR heads up display.

The ship's holographic projections pretty much are the HUD. Any of the head tracking target info markers wouldn't work through HoloLens though. They'd have to be dealt with like they are in a TrackIR setup.

 

[MiniBossBattle]

Is there a way to activate/use kill warrant scanner besides a firegroup button? Best way to have kill warrant scanner & not shoot is to have your hardpoints retracted?

 

[Zalusithix]

Is there a way to activate/use kill warrant scanner besides a firegroup button? Best way to have kill warrant scanner & not shoot is to have your hardpoints retracted?

The KWS requires hardpoints being deployed. To not shoot, have it be its own fire group (typically bundled with your other scanners/intedictor). Cycle off the KWS grouping to your combat grouping after the scan completes.

 

[haveheart]

I'm assuming you haven't used Thrudds or EDDB to find a station selling it.

Thank you! This is awesome. Didn't know such things exist. This will be helpful

 

[MiniBossBattle]

The KWS requires hardpoints being deployed. To not shoot, have it be its own fire group (typically bundled with your other scanners/intedictor). Cycle off the KWS grouping to your combat grouping after the scan completes.

I only have two fire groups.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

I only have two fire groups.

there is no other way. You can add another fire group for the KWS if need be. a lot of people add the KWS to their primary fire so that they're scanning as they're shooting their pulse lasers or some such.

 

[Zalusithix]

I only have two fire groups.

OK, the terminology is a bit messy here, but you have "groups" in the sense that you can make multiple weapons fire with either button 1 or 2. You can also create groups of those groups and then cycle between them.

IE: Button 1 fires your lasers in your combat grouping, but button 1 fires the KWS in your scanning group.

there is no other way. You can add another fire group for the KWS if need be. a lot of people add the KWS to their primary fire so that they're scanning as they're shooting their pulse lasers or some such.

I'm not sure that's the wisest way to do things. Firing before a scan can have negative repercussions.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Yeah, what they said. Like this, for a ship w/four hardpoints:

			   Firegroup 1	   Firegroup 2
Pulse Laser			1	
Pulse Laser			1	
Multicannon			2	
Multicannon			2
KWS						1
Discovery Scanner				2

1=Primary Fire button
2=Secondary Fire button

You can only have two inputs (primary and secondary) per firegroup. So, in this example, when I have Firegroup 1 selected, all my lasers fire at the target when I press Primary fire trigger and all my cannons fire at the target when I press my Secondary fire trigger.

When I switch to Firegroup 2, my Kill Warrant Scanner activates on my Primary fire and my discovery scanner activates on Secondary fire.

 

[Pixel Samurai]

Went PC.

I'm so excited, I'm so scared. This thread is scary. I never play 4X/Space Sims.

 

[Burny]

I'm not sure that's the wisest way to do things. Firing before a scan can have negative repercussions.

It's actually clever. They can still add the KWS without other weapons to a separate fire group for when they want to scan first and shoot later.

But when you're already in a group of blood thirsty system authorities competing for that Sidewinder kill, you'll hardly have enough time to scan that poor soul before they are blown up.

Went PC.

I'm so excited, I'm so scared. This thread is scary. I never play 4X/Space Sims.

Some handy starter tips:

• Do all the tutorials. Use that time to configure the controls. That option list is daunting, impractical and annoying, but you need to know the controls. You can also use handy setups others have configured. Google a bit.
• Don't bother with missions at first. Do some light bounty hunting at a nav point or RES (resource extraction site). Earns you more money and faster. Is also more fun. Don't shoot anyone if they are not wanted (and you've completely scanned them)!
• Get out of your Sidewinder ASAP. For combat, a Viper is your next stepping stone. For trade, try a Hauler or similar.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

I'm not sure that's the wisest way to do things. Firing before a scan can have negative repercussions.

No, it can't. We're talking about Kill Warrant Scanning, not regular scanning. The only potential negative is if your weapons are of such high DPS that you'll kill the target before the scan finishes. In which case you should have it in a different group.

 

[Zalusithix]

No, it can't. We're talking about Kill Warrant Scanning, not regular scanning. The only potential negative is if your weapons are of such high DPS that you'll kill the target before the scan finishes. In which case you should have it in a different group.

Firing on a locally clean target before you know if they have a bounty elsewhere? I'm pretty sure that's going to have a negative effect with potentially no positive outcome.

It's actually clever. They can still add the KWS without other weapons to a separate fire group for when they want to scan first and shoot later.

But when you're already in a group of blood thirsty system authorities competing for that Sidewinder kill, you'll hardly have enough time to scan that poor soul before they are blown up.

I suppose that's one benefit to that layout. Just so long as you remember that you're in "hot" mode the next time you go for a scan. If I were to do a setup like that though, I think I'd take advantage of my dual stage trigger and set the KWS as the first stage and weapon fire as the second stage. That way I'd still have to intentionally fire, but it'd be less awkward than trying to hold two buttons down. (This obviously isn't an option for everybody.)

 

[Anton Sugar]

No, it can't. We're talking about Kill Warrant Scanning, not regular scanning. The only potential negative is if your weapons are of such high DPS that you'll kill the target before the scan finishes. In which case you should have it in a different group.

There's always the scenario where someone is Clean in the current system but Wanted in another. Of course, in that case, you'd HAVE to have the KWS assigned to a different firegroup (or input, depending on the ship's hardpoints).

I kinda like that the Vulture can be formidable with just lasers, because that opens my Secondary up to KWS, chaff, shield cell, etc.

 

[Zalusithix]

There's always the scenario where someone is Clean in the current system but Wanted in another. Of course, in that case, you'd HAVE to have the KWS assigned to a different firegroup (or input, depending on the ship's hardpoints).

I kinda like that the Vulture can be formidable with just lasers, because that opens my Secondary up to KWS, chaff, shield cell, etc.

Ideally you'll have chaff, shield cells, and heat sinks bound to dedicated keys. That way you don't have to futz with mapping them to fire groups at all and they'll always be available. Most HOTAS setups should have more than enough buttons to handle it with ease.

 

[Burny]

If I were to do a setup like that though, I think I'd take advantage of my dual stage trigger and set the KWS as the first stage and weapon fire as the second stage. That way I'd still have to intentionally fire, but it'd be less awkward than trying to hold two buttons down. (This obviously isn't an option for everybody.)

That's the point I thought? You don't have to hold two buttons down. A fire group let's you assign every weapon to the same button, so they fire simultaneously if you want them to. in that case, you'll automatically use the kill warrant scanner when firing on your targets, so if they carry bounties in other systems, you'll also be granted those, assuming they live long enough.

I kinda like that the Vulture can be formidable with just lasers, because that opens my Secondary up to KWS, chaff, shield cell, etc.

Chaff and shield cells can be assigned separate non-fire buttons on the PC, so you don't have to waste one of the two available fire buttons in any fire group. It's just ECM that can't have it's own keymapping iirc.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Firing on a locally clean target before you know if they have a bounty elsewhere? I'm pretty sure that's going to have a negative effect with potentially no positive outcome.

There's always the scenario where someone is Clean in the current system but Wanted in another. Of course, in that case, you'd HAVE to have the KWS assigned to a different firegroup (or input, depending on the ship's hardpoints).

I kinda like that the Vulture can be formidable with just lasers, because that opens my Secondary up to KWS, chaff, shield cell, etc.

If they have a bounty elsewhere but not in the system they're in presently, they'll still be clean in the system you're in. You'll still get fined if you fire on them.

 

[Anton Sugar]

I'm too lazy to bind stuff to the keyboard. Part of the reason I got the Rhino: more buttons and shit to press on the HOTAS versus my Thrustmaster.

If they have a bounty elsewhere but not in the system they're in presently, they'll still be clean in the system you're in. You'll still get fined if you fire on them.

Right, but you're not going to fire on every Clean ship you find Which is why you'd want it bound to a separate firegroup or input.

 

[Pixel Samurai]

It's actually clever. They can still add the KWS without other weapons to a separate fire group for when they want to scan first and shoot later.

But when you're already in a group of blood thirsty system authorities competing for that Sidewinder kill, you'll hardly have enough time to scan that poor soul before they are blown up.


Some handy starter tips:

• Do all the tutorials. Use that time to configure the controls. That option list is daunting, impractical and annoying, but you need to know the controls. You can also use handy setups others have configured. Google a bit.
• Don't bother with missions at first. Do some light bounty hunting at a nav point or RES (resource extraction site). Earns you more money and faster. Is also more fun. Don't shoot anyone if they are not wanted (and you've completely scanned them)!
• Get out of your Sidewinder ASAP. For combat, a Viper is your next stepping stone. For trade, try a Hauler or similar.

Thank you thank you! So far Elite-GAF is awesome

 

[Zalusithix]

That's the point I thought? You don't have to hold two buttons down. A fire group let's you assign every weapon to the same button, so they fire simultaneously if you want them to. in that case, you'll automatically use the kill warrant scanner when firing on your targets, so if they carry bounties in other systems, you'll also be granted those, assuming they live long enough.

No, I mean that with the two stage trigger, I can have the KWS and weapons trigger separately, but still only use one physical button. Thus I can do the scan & kill method with no added effort when I want to, but at the same time retain the ability to do them separately.

If they have a bounty elsewhere but not in the system they're in presently, they'll still be clean in the system you're in. You'll still get fined if you fire on them.

You'll still get penalized by the system you're in, but if you know they have a bounty beforehand you'll also have a reward to go with that (outside of the current system). If you fire before a scan, they could be totally clean in which case you still get the fine, but get no reward. Granted, this is an edge case, but I think the safer of the two options is better for somebody that is still figuring out the game.

 

[Mengy]

• Do all the tutorials. Use that time to configure the controls. That option list is daunting, impractical and annoying, but you need to know the controls. You can also use handy setups others have configured. Google a bit.
• Don't bother with missions at first. Do some light bounty hunting at a nav point or RES (resource extraction site). Earns you more money and faster. Is also more fun. Don't shoot anyone if they are not wanted (and you've completely scanned them)!
• Get out of your Sidewinder ASAP. For combat, a Viper is your next stepping stone. For trade, try a Hauler or similar.

Starting out for combat, I'd step to the Eagle from a sidewinder first, then the Viper. I thoroughly enjoyed flying the Eagle back at the start, it's cheap and capable and just a joy to fly. Don't go challenging anything bigger than a Cobra though, lol.

 

[Burny]

No, I mean that with the two stage trigger, I can have the KWS and weapons trigger separately, but still only use one physical button. Thus I can do the scan & kill method with no added effort when I want to, but at the same time retain the ability to do them separately.

Ah, that's what you meant. It still does use a fire button though, doesn't it? With only two of those available per fire group, the second button might be better "spent" on ballistic weapons, if you have those.

 

[Zalusithix]

I'm too lazy to bind stuff to the keyboard. Part of the reason I got the Rhino: more buttons and shit to press on the HOTAS versus my Thrustmaster.

Who said bind to the keyboard? Bind them to buttons on the HOTAS. It's a heck of a lot more efficient than flipping between multiple weapons groupings.

Ah, that's what you meant. It still does use a fire button though, doesn't it? With only two of those available per fire group, the second button might be better "spent" on ballistic weapons, if you have those.

Yeah, it does use a fire button, so I'm losing a secondary weapon fire option if I did it. (Basically the trigger acts as both button 1 or 1+2 depending how far depressed it is.) However, if the goal is killing them fast because there's not enough time to do a scan beforehand, I'm pretty sure I could just set it to fire everything. It was all just musing anyhow as I don't do enough bounty hunting to worry much about getting the last 1% efficiency out of my KWS usage

 

[Soi-Fong]

Starting out for combat, I'd step to the Eagle from a sidewinder first, then the Viper. I thoroughly enjoyed flying the Eagle back at the start, it's cheap and capable and just a joy to fly. Don't go challenging anything bigger than a Cobra though, lol.

lol This is funny since I was hunting Conda's in an Eagle. Though, this was with the help of the federal security and stuff in RES zones. Even still it's fun just trying to stay in a Conda's blindspot. Hahah

I'm in a Cobra MK III now for bounty hunting. I tried out the Viper and I still have it, but for some reason I just don't enjoy flying the Viper. I know with the bottom of the MK III, your gimbaled weapons have limited range of movement, but I actually like that.

When I was flying in the Viper, it's happened a few times where the gimbaled weapons I accidentally fired on federal ships close to my target. They move around like crazy.. In the Cobra it's not a problem since like I said, they have limited range of movement and I feel like I have more control overall on that.

 

[Mengy]

I tried out the Viper and I still have it, but for some reason I just don't enjoy flying the Viper.

I've tried combat in a Viper twice and I ended up selling it back both times. I just don't enjoy flying the Viper, I felt borderline helpless in it and the view out the window sucked. I preferred fighting in my Asp over the Viper.

Now the Vulture, that's a different story. I love combat in my Vulture. I hate traveling in it though, that horrible jump range just sucks.

 

[Pomerlaw]

Vulture is overpowered. I hope they balance it a bit soon. lol

 

[DrBo42]

Vulture is overpowered. I hope they balance it a bit soon. lol

How so? Can take down a Vulture player handily in a Python or FDL.

 

[Raticus79]

All right, it turns out that the info in my previous post about merit decay was wrong and the reality is a lot more motivating.

The situation isn't that the merits you earn each week only persist for 4 weeks - instead, it calculates your new total using the totals from the last 4 weeks, cumulatively. So, instead of needing to farm 5000 to maintain rank 5 and breaking even with the previously-posted logic, it's actually only 1250 per week and you make 37.5 million profit each week. The 3-4 trade runs needed to get those 1250 merits would be finished in less than an hour each week. Crazy.

This thread goes into a lot more detail.
http://elitepve.com/viewtopic.php?t=2304
"Rank 2: Easy to achieve (just 100 merits!) and easy to maintain: just 30 merits a week maintains you at rank 2.
Rank 3: Can be maintained with 100 merits/week.
Rank 4: Maintained with 200 merits/week.
Rank 5: Maintained, as said above, with 1250 merits/week."

 

[Anton Sugar]

All right, it turns out that the info in my previous post about merit decay was wrong and the reality is a lot more motivating.

The situation isn't that the merits you earn each week only persist for 4 weeks - instead, it calculates your new total using the totals from the last 4 weeks, cumulatively. So, instead of needing to farm 5000 to maintain rank 5 and breaking even with the previously-posted logic, it's actually only 1250 per week and you make 37.5 million profit each week. The 3-4 trade runs needed to get those 1250 merits would be finished in less than an hour each week. Crazy.

This thread goes into a lot more detail.
http://elitepve.com/viewtopic.php?t=2304
"Rank 2: Easy to achieve (just 100 merits!) and easy to maintain: just 30 merits a week maintains you at rank 2.
Rank 3: Can be maintained with 100 merits/week.
Rank 4: Maintained with 200 merits/week.
Rank 5: Maintained, as said above, with 1250 merits/week."

Damn, that actually sounds really good. So Powerplay just takes a long time to be viable (you would need an expensive cargo ship to be able to do something like that, right?), but once it is, it's worth it, from a money standpoint alone?

 

[Raticus79]

Damn, that actually sounds really good. So Powerplay just takes a long time to be viable (you would need an expensive cargo ship to be able to do something like that, right?), but once it is, it's worth it, from a money standpoint alone?

Yeah, fast tracking costs 100,000 per 10 cargo, so it'd burn through 100 million to get to rank 5 initially, then you'd have to reinvest some during the next weeks. Grinding your way there is possible, but would take a lot longer.

Edit: Seems like people are still pretty divided about it. There was a bug in the first week that made it hard to interpret the formulas. Need to see one more week's results to know for sure.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=158419&page=3

 

[Felix Lighter]

I just heard an interesting statement from David Braben from an interview from a while ago about implementing VR into Elite Dangerous. He made a very interesting point. He said he believes if they had a publisher to report to that it would have taken more time to make a case to a publisher to allow them to incorporate VR than it actually took to do the coding.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NIJ2VVLIxk

That specific point was made at around 1:54. I'm sure this video is old news but that point I found particular interesting.

 

[Soi-Fong]

I just heard an interesting statement from David Braben from an interview from a while ago about implementing VR into Elite Dangerous. He made a very interesting point. He said he believes if they had a publisher to report to that it would have taken more time to make a case to a publisher to allow them to incorporate VR than it actually took to do the coding.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NIJ2VVLIxk

That specific point was made at around 1:54. I'm sure this video is old news but that point I found particular interesting.

Interesting. I hope they continue to put support for the Vive and eventually the CV1 Oculus as well. Elite in the Rift just has to be tried out. I actually have a friend who I'm having come over today so they can try out the Rift.

 

[Zalusithix]

Interesting. I hope they continue to put support for the Vive and eventually the CV1 Oculus as well. Elite in the Rift just has to be tried out. I actually have a friend who I'm having come over today so they can try out the Rift.

I thought they explicitly said they weren't going to implement the other headsets. Either that or I'm mixing up devs.

 

[Soi-Fong]

I thought they explicitly said they weren't going to implement the other headsets. Either that or I'm mixing up devs.

Oh really? That's disappointing..

Well anyway, I had a friend's friend try it out and they were blown away. Even being in a sidewinder, all they could point out was all the small details of the ship.

They freaking loved it. In a passing conversation, he mentioned that he bought the Hydra since I mentioned Oculus touch and I was surprised as hell since those are rare. He was surprised I knew about them. Anyway, he stated that he would bring over the Hydra to try out some other games w/ the Rift.

 

[Burny]

Oh really? That's disappointing..

They said that they'd implement support for other VR headsets on a case by case basis, iirc. I wouldn't give up hope just yet. The Rift is just the one out in the wild the longest, so let's wait until Vive is more readily available.

Edit: That is the interview.

 

[Zalusithix]

Oh really? That's disappointing..

They said that they'd implement support for other VR headsets on a case by case basis, iirc. I wouldn't give up hope just yet. The Rift is just the one out in the wild the longest, so let's wait until Vive is more readily available.

Yeah, I think I was crossing developers in my head. Still, best to wait for the actual implementation before making plans.

Well anyway, I had a friend's friend try it out and they were blown away. Even being in a sidewinder, all they could point out was all the small details of the ship.

Didn't want to give them control of your expensive ships?

They freaking loved it. In a passing conversation, he mentioned that he bought the Hydra since I mentioned Oculus touch and I was surprised as hell since those are rare. He was surprised I knew about them. Anyway, he stated that he would bring over the Hydra to try out some other games w/ the Rift.

The Hydra is interesting, but in addition to being niche, it's also pretty much obsolete. With both Valve and Oculus releasing VR focused controllers, the Hydra (and the technology behind it) loses its purpose.

 

[Flintty]

Excellent OT. I just bought this on X1 early access. So far it is awesome but daunting. So much to learn and figure out but that is part of the fun!

 

[Felix Lighter]

Yeah, I would be very disappointed if they didn't support the Vive. It's the headset I'm currently looking forward to buy. Based on the video I posted and the fact that already support the Rift which almost has to make implementing Steam VR APIs even less of investment, I would be surprised.

Excellent OT. I just bought this on X1 early access. So far it is awesome but daunting. So much to learn and figure out but that is part of the fun!

Lots of people here to answer any questions you might have. Ha, I've been out of the loop a bit so a lot of my information is out of date. I have a lot of catching up to do.

 

[Flintty]

Thanks! My biggest confusion at the moment is fire groups. It doesn't explain it well in the game.

 

[Felix Lighter]

Thanks! My biggest confusion at the moment is fire groups. It doesn't explain it well in the game.

Hmmmm.. I'm not familiar with the Xbox One interface changes but with fire groups, you have a primary and secondary trigger, fire groups allow you to assign weapons to either the primary or the secondary trigger. You switch fire groups depending on the situation.

So a typical situation is having a firegroup for a kill warrant scanner primary and one weapon secondary (this is used to scan a target to get a complete list of bounties, the default scanner only gives you bounty status in the current system) and a firegroup for weapons only. You switch to the kill warrant scanner group to scan for additional bounties and when the scan is complete you switch to the all weapons group to optimize fire power.

You typically group like weapons on the primary or secondary. For instance if you have 2 multi cannons and 2 pulse lasers, you would put the multicannons on the secondary trigger and the pulse lasers on the primary trigger. That would be one weapon group.

 

[Zalusithix]

There was a bit of discussion not too far back (starting at post 8892) relating to fire groups, how they work, and working the KWS into them. Everything from the Xbox One version should be the same. The control interface is different between the PC and Xbox version, but the underlying systems should be the same. Just a matter of figuring out what button fires 1 vs 2, and what buttons are used to cycle forward and backwards between the different groupings. Setting them should be done in the same weapons subscreen of the right panel.

 

[davidcotton]

For newbies in a sidewinder don't be in a hurry to jump ship. It can be handy to have something that doesn't hurt when it goes pop the first couple of times. Also don't just concentrate on upgrading weapons. Look at the power requirements and upgrade those as well. Makes a huge difference.