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[Mengy]

So I finished up my little local nebula exploration trip in my DBE. Here are some more pics of my trip.


Entering into the Orion Nebula and Barnard's Loop.

This is the Running Man Nebula which sits right next to the Orion Nebula:

This planet inside Running Man sat way too close to it's star, I jumped in and found it right next to me. I'm lucky I didn't smack into it on the way in!

The Flame Nebula, a very brilliant orange color.

This is the Horsehead Nebula which sits right behind Barnard's Loop, nice contrasts in this nebula.

And this is how the Milky Way looks through the middle of Barnard's Loop:

Found this nice water world just a short distance from Horsehead and Barnard's, which are in the background.

I then left Barnard's and made the long 1000+ LY run for the Seagull Nebula, further out towards the galactic rim.

Next I turned left and flew 1000 LY clockwise along the rim over to Hubble's Variable Nebula, a small but pretty formation out by itself.

It was here that I officially broke my distance from Sol record, 3745 LY from home. You can see Barnard's Loop in the distance where I just came from, and how far off it is now.

With my previous record being broken I turned myself homeward to turn in my data. Along the way I stopped by one more point of interest along the way, the colorful Cone Nebula.

Made it back to Apam Napat without any interdictions or problems. It was a pretty decent trip, I turned in 389 system's worth of data and made over 5.7 million credits. I'm Ranger rank so that was only enough to bump my rating up 8%, still a long way to go until Elite Explorer! Got to see a lot of beautiful nebula along the way and made a lot of first discoveries. I have decided however that this was my final voyage in my Diamondback Explorer. Even though I love the look of the ship and it's cockpit I'm going to sell it and refit my Asp as my main exploration vessel, it's just a much better ship and I don't see any reason to own both, especially now that I own the Clipper as my mining & trading vessel. It was a good final voyage for the DBE though.

 

[Jedi2016]

I'm not even sure what the furthest I've been out is. I'm still just a Pathfinder.. hehe. But my Asp is waiting and ready, as soon as Horizons drops, I'm gone. Gonna do a loop around the core and come back.

 

[Mengy]

I'm not even sure what the furthest I've been out is. I'm still just a Pathfinder.. hehe. But my Asp is waiting and ready, as soon as Horizons drops, I'm gone. Gonna do a loop around the core and come back.

After Horizons I'm actually going all the way to the far rim on the opposite side of the galaxy, stopping by to make my first core visit along the way of course. I would go right now but I want my SRV to get me the FSD boost so that I can reach previously unreachable stars while all the way out there. Plus I really want to be able to land and go joy riding on deserted never before visited planets along the way too!

I have a hunch the trip will take me several months to do.

 

[Jedi2016]

After Horizons I'm actually going all the way to the far rim on the opposite side of the galaxy, stopping by to make my first core visit along the way of course. I would go right now but I want my SRV to get me the FSD boost so that I can reach previously unreachable stars while all the way out there. Plus I really want to be able to land and go joy riding on deserted never before visited planets along the way too!

That's exactly why I'm waiting for the expac to drop, too.

I'm actually going to be taking a "scenic" trip, making short economical jumps (once I leave occupied space) to catch as many systems as I can (I don't spend long in each system anyway). But, like you said, if I see something interesting that's out by itself, I want to be able to make boosted jumps now and again.

 

[HelloMeow]

Hooked up the old DK1 again. Every time it's amazing. I can only imagine how awesome Horizons will be.

The only reason I don't do it more often is because of simulation sickness. I hope the Vive or CV will help, because I'm going to get one or the other and I'll use them non stop even if it means I'll get sick.

 

[Funky Functionality]

[nebula trip; post-horizons trip to far end of galaxy]

I took nearly the same route around those nebulae a handful of weeks ago, and especially enjoyed all the colors in the Cone Nebula somewhat near the Hubble Variable sector--dunno if you managed to stop by it along your way.

That's also exactly my plan when Horizons drops--gonna make my first trip to Sag A* and keep going, hopefully by then having the FSD boost materials to get me farther than 65k ly from Sol. While I'd like to participate in that large organized trip to the far end of the galaxy, I know I'll be hard-pressed to keep their pace and still check out everything I'd like to check out along the way.

Several months indeed. I don't think I'll get burned out, though--having the SRV at the ready should give me some nice "vacation time" along the way, as all those 1k LY increments quickly become a second full-time job. Can't wait to do some interstellar off-roading and climb some giant mountains. I'm only worried about getting a bit too adventurous and tumbling to the SRV's death. I wonder if the AFMUs will be able to repair it...... hmm.

Been playing with Space Engine in the meantime to get my planetary landing fix. I know it's a long way off, but whenever atmospheric worlds become available for landing, I don't think I'll be playing anything but Elite for a long, long time. Maybe NMS every now and then. Elite is just scratching all my dream-game itches right now. What a time to be alive.

 

[Pomerlaw]

http://www.polygon.com/features/201...horizons-expansion-adds-planetary-landings-on

It's quite possibly the biggest game expansion, in surface area, ever conceived. And it's just around the corner.

 

[Jedi2016]

One thing we haven't seen yet is the actual transition from orbit to the surface. Hopefully it's not something cheesy like just dropping out of supercruise or seeing a loading screen or something... I actually want to make the flight down on my own. I think even No Man's Sky just has a one-button transition, hopefully Frontier can do better.

 

[Agremont]

That looks sweet. It's supposed to release on the 24th right?

 

[Hylian7]

That looks sweet. It's supposed to release on the 24th right?

Beta is on the 24th, but they have said more recently just a nebuluous "next week", so I'd expect that date to change.

 

[Funky Functionality]

One thing we haven't seen yet is the actual transition from orbit to the surface. Hopefully it's not something cheesy like just dropping out of supercruise or seeing a loading screen or something...

They've said in the livestreams that it's seamless with no loading screens.

 

[HelloMeow]

One thing we haven't seen yet is the actual transition from orbit to the surface. Hopefully it's not something cheesy like just dropping out of supercruise or seeing a loading screen or something... I actually want to make the flight down on my own. I think even No Man's Sky just has a one-button transition, hopefully Frontier can do better.

Going in and out of supercruise could use some love. It looks a bit cheap.

I get that some kind of transition needs to happen because of how the game works, but at least give it some fitting effects. Not this blue glowy tunnel with 3 particles.

 

[Anton Sugar]

http://www.polygon.com/features/201...horizons-expansion-adds-planetary-landings-on

God damn.

 

[Serrato]

At least progression seems to be going well... Do we still expect the expansion before new year?

 

[Anton Sugar]

I hope these stations feel at least as "alive" as space stations. Traffic in orbit, ships coming and going, etc. Shame there are no AI SRVs, the "ground" experience around stations will probably feel pretty artificial without friends.

At least progression seems to be going well... Do we still expect the expansion before new year?

Barring some insane technical issue, for sure. Beta starts next week--will probably be 2-3 weeks long.

 

[Mengy]

Going in and out of supercruise could use some love. It looks a bit cheap.

I actually kind of like the transition from cruise to thrusters, maybe I'm just used to it. I can think of two dozen things off the top of my head I'd rather see them address than that at least.

At least progression seems to be going well... Do we still expect the expansion before new year?

Yep, they keep saying it's on track. Word is that the beta is expected to go pretty smooth, they don't think there's a lot left to do other than test it out publicly. We'll see soon, like next week!

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

Just tried CQC for the first time, and it's a heck of a lot of fun zipping around in a condor, backflipping through tunnels and hiding behind asteroids.

 

[Hylian7]

Kornelius did a video on Bi-Weave Shields vs regular A-rating shields. For the purposes of the video he did A5 Shield vs C5 Bi-Weave on Fer-De-Lance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PDND0oRFHw

 

[kvk1]

Felicia Winters bobblehead is so dope.

Looks like Barack Obama and Tilda Swinton's love child.

Day 1.

 

[DrBo42]

Kornelius did a video on Bi-Weave Shields vs regular A-rating shields. For the purposes of the video he did A5 Shield vs C5 Bi-Weave on Fer-De-Lance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PDND0oRFHw

Probably the least interesting or informative video he's ever done. It's just forum post info.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

we Blade Runner, fam!

Good looking shit, Frontier. Thing is...Frontier is very good at making shit that looks good. I just hope there's a plan in the future for these nice looking things to be more than decoration. Window shopping makes me sad.

 

[Pomerlaw]

Ok these pics are mine.

Its the ROSS 750 system... It is close from Caucuma, home of my faction.

Looks like the star is standing on top of the rings, but is just an optical illusion. Quite a sight.

 

[Jedi2016]

What do you guys think are the odds of getting more than one class of bi-weave shields? Will they always be Class-C, or do you think we'll be able to buy Class-A shields at some point?

Probably the least interesting or informative video he's ever done. It's just forum post info.

Yeah, I have yet to see anyone actually do a live comparison, all everyone seems to be doing is running the numbers. But numbers don't mean shit to me, I want to know how they'll hold up under actual fire in a combat zone or RES.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Ok these pics are mine.

Its the ROSS 750 system... It is close from Caucuma, home of my faction.

Looks like the star is standing on top of the rings, but is just an optical illusion. Quite a sight.

Beautiful. That's up there with my fav ED shots.

 

[DrBo42]

New David Braben video. Vulture flying above surface/landing with SRV deployment, 8 min.

-Looks like it's absolutely struggling under gravity.
-First look at transition from cockpit to SRV, fades to black.
-"Select vehicle" option when landed. Possibly multiple SRV types can be equipped at once for different things? Or just prep for fighter launching

Ground bases that don't serve as starports still look absolutely lifeless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFYqfhMfVCk

"The team are still hard at work on the Horizons beta, including yesterday and today (Sunday). A huge thanks to the team for this, and for those that sent us pizza. Unfortunately the issues last week have compressed the timescales, but the game is looking ever better. This has put the Tuesday beta release at risk, and though Tuesday is still theoretically possible, in all likelihood it will be in the following few days before we can release it.

While playing today I took this video (unedited) – an extra ‘sneak peek’ – landing a Vulture outside Kaleri Oasis in the Teppani system and deploying an SRV– with me messing around in solo. Again some issues, which I won’t list here."

Looks like Tuesday is not going to be beta day. Plan accordingly.

 

[kvk1]

that is going to look mental in VR

i can't wait to deploy the SRV, drive a little, and look back at the ship dwarfing me in size

 

[Jedi2016]

Ground bases that don't serve as starports still look absolutely lifeless.

Yeah, it looks a bit too dead in that video. While it makes sense for no one to actually be outside (no atmosphere and all), it seems they could easily add a bunch of NPCs in other SRVs, a few ships or drones or whatever flying around, would definitely liven it up a bit.

The fact that the planet/moon has no atmosphere makes me wonder why they're adding a distance-fog effect to everything. Clashes horribly against the black sky.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Yeah, it looks a bit too dead in that video. While it makes sense for no one to actually be outside (no atmosphere and all), it seems they could easily add a bunch of NPCs in other SRVs, a few ships or drones or whatever flying around, would definitely liven it up a bit.

The fact that the planet/moon has no atmosphere makes me wonder why they're adding a distance-fog effect to everything. Clashes horribly against the black sky.

I haven't seen any fog? There was a mist in one of the vids but he explained it was a metallic particle mist or something.

 

[Mengy]

New David Braben video. Vulture flying above surface/landing with SRV deployment, 8 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFYqfhMfVCk

Man, I really am looking forward to Horizons. I'm much more excited than I expected to be.

Yeah, it looks a bit too dead in that video. While it makes sense for no one to actually be outside (no atmosphere and all), it seems they could easily add a bunch of NPCs in other SRVs, a few ships or drones or whatever flying around, would definitely liven it up a bit.

The starport land bases seem to have ships coming and going which add "life", but yeah in that video there doesn't seem to be much activity. They don't have any NPC SRV's for Horizons but I'd be willing to bet they will be added eventually. Just a couple of moon rovers milling about would do a ton to add some flavor.

Doesn't matter much to me though, I'll mostly be driving around barren uninhabited worlds deep in galactic space, so I won't be seeing much of any bases let alone NPC activity.

 

[Jedi2016]

I haven't seen any fog? There was a mist in one of the vids but he explained it was a metallic particle mist or something.

Watch when he's driving around inside the base, especially the towers at a distance. The parts that are in shadow are much lighter than the black sky immediately behind them, when they should be nearly black themselves.

 

[Staab]

Watch when he's driving around inside the base, especially the towers at a distance. The parts that are in shadow are much lighter than the black sky immediately behind them, when they should be nearly black themselves.

Doesn't look like fog to me, just an indirect effect on the lighting since the towers are light gray ?

Beta push-back was to be expected after what David said earlier last week, I'm guessing it will launch on Friday so it can run over the week-end..

What do you all think, 3 weeks of beta and Horizons release on the week before Christmas so they can iron out a couple of bugs before the beginning of the holidays ?

Btw: anyone find it somewhat weird that we still haven't seen a complete transition from space to planet ground even though we're like a couple days out on the beta for Horizons ?!
Are they maybe doing that to push for more pre-sales with beta passes ? Seems odd considering the amount of focus they have put towards weekly livestreams / Q&A's...

 

[Burny]

Ground bases that don't serve as starports still look absolutely lifeless.

Yeah, it's missing NPC SRV tracffic. Which makes it a bit disappointing that they aren't goimg to have those initially as DB said in the Horizons FAQ. They said they would like to implement them at some later point though.

As always though, when something is not in the game that would absolutely make sense, even with the existing assets (I would like to see NPC SRV traffic between settlements and mining sites), then I trust they're not leaving it out out of spite. When they're struggling to get the beta out even with the existing content, then I don't think it's in the cards to add a non trivial last minute feature for flair...

I'm already thankful that they're pretty honest with these things. They could also be waffling for hours each week in front of a camera, telling us about all the great things their going to do in the finished game and how great we're all going to find them and then release an absolute barebones alpha/tech demo a good year after the initially targeted release date for a couple of thousand backers only.


To keep banging on a bit about the procedural planet generation: If I'm not mistaken, they still haven't added horizontal displacement to their surface generation, meaning they still haven't got overhangs and sharp surface features. I'm a bit disappointed here - need to bug them about it if they should do another FAQ. The surface texturing looks a lot better than at the beginning though.

 

[SmartBase]

New David Braben video. Vulture flying above surface/landing with SRV deployment, 8 min.

-Looks like it's absolutely struggling under gravity.
-First look at transition from cockpit to SRV, fades to black.
-"Select vehicle" option when landed. Possibly multiple SRV types can be equipped at once for different things? Or just prep for fighter launching

Ground bases that don't serve as starports still look absolutely lifeless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFYqfhMfVCk

"The team are still hard at work on the Horizons beta, including yesterday and today (Sunday). A huge thanks to the team for this, and for those that sent us pizza. Unfortunately the issues last week have compressed the timescales, but the game is looking ever better. This has put the Tuesday beta release at risk, and though Tuesday is still theoretically possible, in all likelihood it will be in the following few days before we can release it.

While playing today I took this video (unedited) – an extra ‘sneak peek’ – landing a Vulture outside Kaleri Oasis in the Teppani system and deploying an SRV– with me messing around in solo. Again some issues, which I won’t list here."

Looks like Tuesday is not going to be beta day. Plan accordingly.

It's probably the compression since it looks good in the screenshots but those ground textures and some LOD transitions aren't looking so hot.

 

[Serrato]

The Vulture seemed to be struggling while in that planet's (moon?) gravity. I guess it's either that this one had a huge gravity pull or that the Vulture will not be an atmospheric fighter.

(or both)

 

[Pomerlaw]

It's probably the compression since it looks good in the screenshots but those ground textures and some LOD transitions aren't looking so hot.

DB confirmed they have a problem with texture streaming... They are working on it.

 

[Felix Lighter]

It would be great if I could access the beta from my Steam installation but I know they won't push the files to steam, though my account will have Beta access. I'll have to have a separate install I guess.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Doesn't look like fog to me, just an indirect effect on the lighting since the towers are light gray ?

Yes it looks like they're adding the same ambient value to everywhere on the planet which gives it a washed out look. Should be something they can improve in the future.

 

[SmartBase]

DB confirmed they have a problem with texture streaming... They are working on it.

Figures, though it looks like the gamma's cranked up a bit too high in the video which doesn't help the washed out look either.

How long are we expecting the beta to be? Three weeks, four?

 

[Michael Armbrust]

DB confirmed they have a problem with texture streaming... They are working on it.

It's possible he's just talking about the really bad textures like in the cargo bay.


I'm amazed with how photorealistic the planets look from orbit, but the surfaces don't seem to have the same quality at the moment.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Watch when he's driving around inside the base, especially the towers at a distance. The parts that are in shadow are much lighter than the black sky immediately behind them, when they should be nearly black themselves.

Yes it looks like they're adding the same ambient value to everywhere on the planet which gives it a washed out look. Should be something they can improve in the future.

Yeah, I think that's less haze and more how light is being rendered. I don't think it's a very flattering look, but honestly, I've noticed that their released Horizon in-game screens look a lot better, in terms of dynamic range, than Braben's videos. It could be a gamma issue with Braben's recorder/encoding process.

EDIT: Beaten by SmartBase but glad to know others have noticed it, too. I mean, the gamma/black levels in these look MUCH better:

Approaching a mining installation in your SRV - what rewards could the automatic mining pods hold?

Wrecked ships on the planet surface are a fantastic source of valuable cargo.

A Federal convoy speeds over the planet surface in a low-altitude canyon run.

A wing mate takes some serious heat in a strafing run on a planetary settlement.

 

[TheTrain]

New sneak peek! [Old?]

The team are still hard at work on the Horizons beta, including yesterday and today (Sunday). A huge thanks to the team for this, and for those that sent us pizza. Unfortunately the issues last week have compressed the timescales, but the game is looking ever better. This has put the Tuesday beta release at risk, and though Tuesday is still theoretically possible, in all likelihood it will be in the following few days before we can release it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFYqfhMfVCk

 

[Anton Sugar]

New sneak peek!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFYqfhMfVCk

Posted yesterday

 

[Burny]

My MFG Crosswinds arrived! On to playing with a proper HOTAS.

Serial number: 1338. Dammit, that was close! ;-)

 

[Mengy]

My MFG Crosswinds arrived! On to playing with a propert HOTAS.

Serial number: 1338. Dammit, that was close! ;-)

Congrats! The Crosswind pedals are supposed to be the best you can buy. I'm thoroughly happy with my CH pedals, but if I had the will to spend the cash I'd have some Crosswinds too.

 

[Serrato]

So I finally bought a Python and A-Class fitted it. While I have difficulty destroying eagles (but it's not like they can do any real damage unless I really let them) I pretty much pounce anything in my way.

So far it's pretty cool! Next Step : Anaconda! (Or Corvette )

 

[Anton Sugar]

Delay confirmed: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=202634

"A few days" late.

 

[Serrato]

Not really surprised i'll admit

 

[Staab]

...there's too much to do finding the right balance between flying *to* a planet, and flying *into* a planet first . One of these is fun, the other is awesome.

Source

That sounds like a pretty good hint >
I'm surprised they're still tweaking the flight speed for planetary approach, but I'm relieved to finally get a confirmation it's indeed completely seamless..

 

[Hylian7]

So I came up with a new idea of something I'd like to try.

Every week I'm generally taking one night to haul the 5000 power commodity for ALD to get the easy Rating 5 for the next week. I'm in an Anaconda, but this is a fairly repetitive task of getting cargo, take it somewhere, drop it off, go back to Kamadhenu (ALD headquarters), get more cargo, take it somewhere, rinse, repeat until I hit 10k merits. I have an Anaconda, and can take 450T worth of cargo per run.

My idea is to make a podcast out of this. I'm unsure of a name for it, so far my ideas are "Trucker Talk" and "Anaconda Address". Those aren't great, but I will be coming up with more. The idea is to record my game while I'm doing this, and have a list of topics to discuss before I start the podcast. I imagine the first episode or so will be me solo, but in the future I'd like to do it winged up with people, and in the further future when we are allowed to have multi-man crew ships, do it with more than one person in my Anaconda (or whatever ship I am using, hopefully eventually a Cutter).

The podcast would mostly be about Elite, but doesn't necessarily have to be. It will probably mostly stick to gaming in general, but there's no reason it can't branch out beyond that. The plan would be to have the video version of this up on YouTube, as well as an audio-only version of it on Soundcloud, iTunes, etc.

Anyway, what do you guys think of this idea? Would anyone be willing to be guests on this?

 

[DrBo42]

So I came up with a new idea of something I'd like to try.

Every week I'm generally taking one night to haul the 5000 power commodity for ALD to get the easy Rating 5 for the next week. I'm in an Anaconda, but this is a fairly repetitive task of getting cargo, take it somewhere, drop it off, go back to Kamadhenu (ALD headquarters), get more cargo, take it somewhere, rinse, repeat until I hit 10k merits. I have an Anaconda, and can take 450T worth of cargo per run.

My idea is to make a podcast out of this. I'm unsure of a name for it, so far my ideas are "Trucker Talk" and "Anaconda Address". Those aren't great, but I will be coming up with more. The idea is to record my game while I'm doing this, and have a list of topics to discuss before I start the podcast. I imagine the first episode or so will be me solo, but in the future I'd like to do it winged up with people, and in the further future when we are allowed to have multi-man crew ships, do it with more than one person in my Anaconda (or whatever ship I am using, hopefully eventually a Cutter).

The podcast would mostly be about Elite, but doesn't necessarily have to be. It will probably mostly stick to gaming in general, but there's no reason it can't branch out beyond that. The plan would be to have the video version of this up on YouTube, as well as an audio-only version of it on Soundcloud, iTunes, etc.

Anyway, what do you guys think of this idea? Would anyone be willing to be guests on this?

I'll be a guest.

As for the beta I'd expect Friday or Monday. Most likely Friday.

Source

That sounds like a pretty good hint >
I'm surprised they're still tweaking the flight speed for planetary approach, but I'm relieved to finally get a confirmation it's indeed completely seamless..

Wonder how it actually works. You need to drop from super cruise into normal space or orbital cruise just for the simple necessity of an instance. There's a break somewhere, just not sure where it is. Still not convinced it'll be seamless until I see it.