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[Anton Sugar]

You can play the game Solo or with other players, or groups. There are PvE groups that you can play with, too. It's all the same universe.

HOTAS definitely helps! But not required.

And yes, there actually have been some alien artifacts found...sounds like first contact will be made sometime next year.

 

[Felix Lighter]

Very new to reading up on this game. I've played EVE a good deal and know that its vastly different but some parallels can be drawn.

Is a joystick/thruster a must? I tried key board and mouse (training) and ran screaming away.

Is this really an MMO, almost seems like an single player game like Rebirth. How often do you run into other players and how aggressive is PvP? In EVE its insane.

Is there exploration? Can I find some strange alien artifacts?

Lots of people prefer keyboard and mouse. I've played with a controller, keyboard and mouse and HOTAS. I did not enjoy keyboard and mouse. I found controller worked just fine. HOTAS is great but not a necessity. I found that some things were easier with a HOTAS some things were easier with a controller. HOTAS is just really an immersion builder more than anything else.

In open you will encounter other players sometimes. There are extremely busy areas where you will definitely see other players if you'd like to seek them out. There is also a lot of areas that you won't see people and you virtually will never see anybody if you leave inhabited space to explore. The game is instanced, so you won't find yourself in a system with 100+ commanders, the numbers are limited, I don't know the exact number per instance. You have the option to also play solo and in a private group. Your same commander account is free to enter any of these modes at anytime. All progression is shared.

There is definitely exploration, the entire milky way galaxy is approximated based on modern science and to scale. There are more systems than all the players playing could ever hope to see and there has been some alien artifacts found but their meaning is still a mystery.

 

[Wreav]

Using lateral thrusters is almost impossible to do on the fly with a controller, and second nature on HOTAS, basically why I prefer it.

 

[DrBo42]

Using lateral thrusters is almost impossible to do on the fly with a controller, and second nature on HOTAS, basically why I prefer it.

This x1000. Game looks way better on my Xbox One due to my shit laptop but I just can't play with that controller for that very reason. If a HOTAS actually gets released for XB1, I'm there.

 

[Pomerlaw]

Using lateral thrusters is almost impossible to do on the fly with a controller, and second nature on HOTAS, basically why I prefer it.

I have no problems doing it? Maybe it's my config but I think it is pretty doable. I use my lateral trusters all the time.

 

[Felix Lighter]

It's tough to figure out how to have pitch, roll, yaw, vertical and lateral thrusters + throttle control and primary and secondary fire buttons that you can press at the same time. One is usually sacrificed and I think most people either give up yaw or lateral thrusters. I imagine if you want to plop down bank on the Elite controller it would be great.

 

[Cuban Legend]

Using lateral thrusters is almost impossible to do on the fly with a controller, and second nature on HOTAS, basically why I prefer it.

lateral and verticals were mapped to my right stick on my setup, roll and pitch on left stick with "low roll into yaw" added. was quite intuitive

 

[Felix Lighter]

lateral and verticals were mapped to my right stick on my setup, roll and pitch on left stick with "low roll into yaw" added. was quite intuitive

That's definitely a very workable solution and probably 99% there. If you are used to full yaw and roll controls with everything else, though, it may feel hard to deal with. Yaw for me comes into play most in fine tune aiming, which is something I do use in conjunction with roll.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

lateral and verticals were mapped to my right stick on my setup, roll and pitch on left stick with "low roll into yaw" added. was quite intuitive

Yeah that's what default configured this morning when I used the 360 controller. I'd like a little more lea-way between yaw and roll though, as it seems I have twitch left/right on the left stick to turn anything else and I ROOOOOOLLLLLLLLL.

 

[Kiyoshi]

Anton, that post there discussing possible ways to improve the game is one of the best posts I've read in a long time. Right on the money.

 

[Serrato]

Yah, Anton, you should post that idea on the forums where maybe the devs will see it. I don't expect anything but we never know.

 

[Hylian7]

Using lateral thrusters is almost impossible to do on the fly with a controller, and second nature on HOTAS, basically why I prefer it.

With a controller you can do button mappings that use other buttons/axes you already use for other things when holding a button.

For instance, D-Pad is power distribution, X + D-Pad is lateral/vertical thrusters.

 

[DrBo42]

With a controller you can do button mappings that use other buttons/axes you already use for other things when holding a button.

For instance, D-Pad is power distribution, X + D-Pad is lateral/vertical thrusters.

Gross. How can you use that during flight?

 

[Felix Lighter]

I wonder what the workflow is for creating new skins for ships. It must be more complicated than you'd think because one thing they always fail to do is add new skins for new ships. It typically takes months. I'd imagine getting skins out at the same time the ship is introduced would be really encourage a lot of purchases just because a lot of players want to jump in the new shiny ship. By the time the ship skins arrive, that surge has to have died down and players either moved on to other ships or that initial enthusiasm for the new toy has gone away.

 

[Wreav]

With a controller you can do button mappings that use other buttons/axes you already use for other things when holding a button.

For instance, D-Pad is power distribution, X + D-Pad is lateral/vertical thrusters.

You can't pitch or yaw simultaneously while laterally moving in that scenario, though.

 

[Serrato]

Ranked up to Post-Captain.

Only one more Rank!

 

[Pomerlaw]

Credits : Kidka.

 

[Jedi2016]

So if the low-intensity combat zones are full of Pythons and Anacondas, what the hell must be going on in the high-intensity zones? Made about 1.2M in less than an hour, though, and it's a CG, so there's bonus cash at the end, hopefully before Tuesday.

 

[Hylian7]

Gross. How can you use that during flight?

You can't pitch or yaw simultaneously while laterally moving in that scenario, though.

This is true, I guess you could swap right stick or something for d-pad. I'm not sure. I don't fly with a controller anymore and haven't for a long long time.

 

[HelloMeow]

Using lateral thrusters is almost impossible to do on the fly with a controller, and second nature on HOTAS, basically why I prefer it.

It's possible to control each axis independently. This is what I use, for example.

Right stick vertical: pitch
Right stick horizontal: roll

Left stick vertical: vertical thrust
Left stick horizontal: yaw

Left stick press: horizontal thrust left
Right stick press: horizontal thrust right

Right bumper: forward thrust
Left bumper: backwards thrust

 

[Mr. Luchador]

I'm still getting to grips with the game, I think I'm starting to understand the cruise and jump system. In fact, I was playing around with it so much I ran out of fuel and sat motionless just out of reach of an Earth like planet, cockpit freezing over, breathing becoming more difficult the ghostly rattle of the Oxygen tank running dry.

I loved every moment of it.

 

[Sarcasm]

So a new cat that steam put in my library:

 

[Burny]

I should stop watching Outerra mountain flyover videos.

Look here...
and here!

The more I see of this, the more disappointed I am that Horizons falls so short of the bar with convincing rocks. Look at those mountains and then at the Horizons mountains.



I'm of course aware that expectation can be toxic, but here I am.

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

So I just picked up a Federal Assault Ship and I kind of love the stupid hog. The top/bottom large hardpoint placement isn't ideal, but it's not bad (certainly better than the clipper) and the ship is more than maneuverable enough to keep even smaller ships in its sights. And yes the shields are pretty junk for something of its size (300 tons beyond optimal shielding!!!), but it has so much armor that it just adds that bit of spice to combat without any serious concerns about dying.

But the best part is how much the ship groans during maneuvers, especially under hard deceleration. The whole thing sounds like it's loosely fitted together out of old steel and it gives it so much damn character.

Honestly I kinda prefer the before in that comparison. Seems like the noise in that alpha is too much and makes it look kinda bad IMO. Tough because they can't really quality control the generation. Definitely need to bring something else to the table for ridges and cliff and overhangs etc. I wish they'd comment on it rather than letting us wonder if the engine just can't do it or what so we can stop bitching either way.

There's also the issue that you're not used to looking at scenery through a vacuum. Not to say that they can't improve the situation, but even if it were 100% photorealistic it still wouldn't look right to human eyes.

 

[Serrato]

The FAS is probably my favorite ship

It's not fancy looking.
It doesn't have perfect weapon placement.
But it's a force to be reckoned with and probably the most dangerous ship under 100M credits.

 

[HelloMeow]

Just slap some frag cannons on there and ram/shred everything to death!

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

Just slap some frag cannons on there and ram/shred everything to death!

I thought about it, but man there's just not enough ammo in those things to go bounty hunting.

 

[Reckheim]

I should stop watching Outerra mountain flyover videos.

Look here...
and here!

The more I see of this, the more disappointed I am that Horizons falls so short of the bar with convincing rocks. Look at those mountains and then at the Horizons mountains.



I'm of course aware that expectation can be toxic, but here I am.

Correct me if I am wrong but those types of mountains only exist in planets that have an active core and have shifting tectonic plates (i have a feeling i am completely wrong on this so feel free to correct me). From the images i've seen of Mars the actual landscape looks close to what elite dangerous made for horizons.

 

[Winterblink]

But the best part is how much the ship groans during maneuvers, especially under hard deceleration. The whole thing sounds like it's loosely fitted together out of old steel and it gives it so much damn character.

I could write at length about how much I adore this game's sound design. It's fucking brilliant. My favorites so far:

• Jump drive spooling up
• Mid-jump sounds
• Dropping out of jump drive near a star and the accompanying engine spin down
• The change in acoustics when entering and exiting a dock
• The way your ship sounds when in glide mode, all the heavy creaking
• The Recall Ship transmission noise (squee'd hard when I heard that the first time)
• SRV scanner noise
• The Viper

 

[Burny]

Correct me if I am wrong but those types of mountains only exist in planets that have an active core and have shifting tectonic plates (i have a feeling i am completely wrong on this so feel free to correct me). From the images i've seen of Mars the actual landscape looks close to what elite dangerous made for horizons.

There are varied landscapes, both on Mars and the Moon. And Mars certainly has rocky cliffs. WIth seemingly less tectonic activity than Earth you will probably not get such mountain ranges, but according to their "How to Make a Real World" stream, there are planets in Horizons which have mountain ranges caused by tectonic activity.

Maybe it's unrealistic to have such sharp ridges on Mountains from planets without atmosphere - I wouldn't know. What should definitely be present on these planets however, are sharp ridges on certain rock shapes as well as more detail in the cliffs/on the ground level surface. And overhangs here and there. ;-)

 

[Mengy]

There are varied landscapes, both on Mars and the Moon. And Mars certainly has rocky cliffs. WIth seemingly less tectonic activity than Earth you will probably not get such mountain ranges, but according to their "How to Make a Real World" stream, there are planets in Horizons which have mountain ranges caused by tectonic activity.

Maybe it's unrealistic to have such sharp ridges on Mountains from planets without atmosphere - I wouldn't know. What should definitely be present on these planets however, are sharp ridges on certain rock shapes as well as more detail in the cliffs/on the ground level surface. And overhangs here and there. ;-)

Outtera isn't a game though, it's a terrain engine. Elite has a LOT more going on than just procedurally generating terrain. It has to run at good framerates too control responsively, two things that Outtera has issues with even though it's ONLY doing terrain and not any game mechanics whatsoever.

Elite's terrain will never approach Outtera, it can't, it just has too much else to deal with on a per CPU cycle basis. Expecting something of that quality terrain wise is completely unrealistic. It would be awesome of course, but it's still unrealistic.

I honestly don't know how they are going to pull off atmospheric and Earth Like Worlds in game. My hunch is that the min requirements are going to increase greatly next season....

 

[Serrato]

I honestly don't know how they are going to pull off atmospheric and Earth Like Worlds in game. My hunch is that the min requirements are going to increase greatly next season....

Yup...

 

[Anton Sugar]

Well, at least we know FD wasn't bullshitting when they said they tried to create an engine/platform that could stay relevant/upgraded throughout the years. A year or two from now, handling Horizons might be a cakewalk!

Anton, that post there discussing possible ways to improve the game is one of the best posts I've read in a long time. Right on the money.

Yah, Anton, you should post that idea on the forums where maybe the devs will see it. I don't expect anything but we never know.

Maybe I'll clean it up and post it, especially in light of Michael Brooke's comment.

Credits : Kidka.

Cot dam.

 

[Burny]

@Mengy: I very much doubt that all the highly complex game logic in Elite is the reason and I do hope that we'll reach Outerra levels eventually. Otherwise, I can't take Elite's planets quiet seriously. There's one thing that approaches a realistic representation of rocks and thern there are molten ice cream mountains Doesn't necessarily hamper my enjoyment of the game mechanics, but I surely won't write home about the planets in Elite then.


For one, Elite is extremely instanced. All that highly complex game logic? It's only computing for a very limited area around the player in one instance and the vehilce physics of the players in that instance. I'd even go as far as to say, that GTA even today has a far more compelx and demanding "world" simulation than Elite, and it manages in multiplayer as well.

A far more interesting notion is that the terrain geometry is uniform for all players:

I've mentioned it else where by just for clarity...

Terrain quality refers to geometry detail
Terrain material refers to the material applied to that geometry

The geometry detail is identical for all players in the area around themselves. This is due to it being a networked game, you all need to see the exact same terrain, some players can't have extra lumps or ridges or other players will see floating/hidden SRV's/ships etc so we have to guarantee that you all see the same physical terrain. The materials can be reduced in all areas with the material quality setting for the terrain. The terrain quality slider basically affects the LOD complexity of everything beyond the immediate area.

As for atmospheric worlds. Just prepare to buy a new GPU in a year or two.

 

[Felix Lighter]

Good grief.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Is a joystick/thruster a must? I tried key board and mouse (training) and ran screaming away.

The bet PvP players I've seen on Youtube are using KB&M. there still isn't an input method that can beat it. but a stick will always be more fun.

 

[Wreav]

Is now a bad time to buy a 970, guys? Keep hearing there's a new GPU around the corner that will drive prices down, but that's always the case, and my 660ti is on its death bed.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Is now a bad time to buy a 970, guys? Keep hearing there's a new GPU around the corner that will drive prices down, but that's always the case, and my 660ti is on its death bed.

if you can't experience the games you want to play at the level of quality you want to play them at, it's a good time to upgrade. though Black Friday would have been better. Might want to wait until the after-Christmas sales.

new GPUs? Probably March/April as usual. If you'd like to wait 90-120 days, that's up to you. how much suffering can you take, and will you be prepared at that time to drop $500 on something that will wow you?

 

[Felix Lighter]

Is now a bad time to buy a 970, guys? Keep hearing there's a new GPU around the corner that will drive prices down, but that's always the case, and my 660ti is on its death bed.

Are you in the US?

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

Is there a way to make it so that the W and S keys will go through null throttle when using KbM? The default setting has it where if you go full ahead when traveling backwards it will stop at 0 throttle, and you have to hit W to get the ship going again. It always fucks with me when I go back to FA on after sliding backwards in an FA off drift, and I end up sitting still for a moment while I remember to hit the stupid throttle button again.

It's a desk-banging frustration at times, I'll admit.

The bet PvP players I've seen on Youtube are using KB&M. there still isn't an input method that can beat it. but a stick will always be more fun.

Once you get used to it it feels very accurate (KbM) with FA on, but I still feel like it's very easy to fuck up with FA off. If you lose your "center" with the mouse the ship will quickly go into an unpredictable maneuver that you'll have to spend time recovering from, whereas I imagine it's easy to just let go of the joystick and return to neutral input.

I'm preeeetty decent at FA off maneuvering with KbM, but for the most part I'm forced to limit inputs to pitch up/down during those maneuvers; if I try to throw in roll and yaw all bets are off and I usually end up pointing the wrong way. When I can pull it off, though, I feel like fucking Starbuck. You can really mess with people in CQC who aren't used to FA off maneuvering.

 

[Pomerlaw]

Crater cuts through permafrost. Still look really bad because... Sharp knees!

 

[Burny]

Good grief.

Usually, I'm far from a graphics whore. I love many Nintendo games and don't care for them not rendering in FulHD etc.. I play Elite in 1600x900 and with low settings most of the time after all (nearly 60fps though!). Although that has something to do with the bloody AMD/Win10 issues making supercruise less than enjoyable on the gaming PC.


But expectation is a bitch. I've had very much hope for the planet surfaces. Having seen something that does it so much better and just how much the closeup details fall short, leaves a very bitter taste considering the planets are Horizons most prominent initial selling point. As well as them harping on about their procedural galaxy and being as scientifically accurate as they can. Then I see these unfinished looking surfaces, which very obviosuly use a technique that is incapable of rendering shapes, which make cliffs look realistic in the first place, and I feel short-changed. Utter radio silence from Frontier on whether they aim to improve that over time doesn't help.

It bothers me much more than it should, but that's what it is. ;p

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Crater cuts through permafrost. Still look really bad because... Sharp knees!

it's certainly coming along.

just as long as they keep adding complexity and diversity to the terran system, I'll be happy.

 

[Wreav]

Are you in the US?

Yup

 

[Mengy]

Crater cuts through permafrost. Still look really bad because... Sharp knees!

I think it looks great. Could it be better? Sure, but it's still better than I expected honestly.

But then, I still play Minecraft with default textures, so I might not be the best one to listen to....

 

[Burny]

Crater cuts through permafrost. Still look really bad because... Sharp knees!

It doesn't look bad. It looks unfinished. It's really obvious that the geometry is generated out of soft bumps that are vertically displaced. The overall impression is great, but due to lack of overhangs, texture variety, horizontally displaced details, sharp cracks or the likes, it also looks rather unspectacular, when you've seen a couple of dozen screenshots like it.

 

[Mengy]

Newsletter #102 is out.

 

[Wreav]

I get what some of you are saying about modifier buttons on controllers, or using a single analog stick like a joystick, but at any given time on a HOTAS you can:

-Control throttle speed
-Use boosters
-Yaw
-Pitch
-Roll
-Laterally thrust
-Adjust PIPS
-Toggle FA on or off

All in the same moment. That being said, I know plenty of friends that use their DS4 and love it, so to each their own.

 

[Serrato]

I like those :

 

[Pomerlaw]

The "looks bad" was sarcasm. I think it looks really good.