Elite: Dangerous Standard Beta (Starting Jul 29th - $75)

Soi-Fong said:
If you watch the video, it doesn't only concern the size of the planets, but the distance between planets themselves. They mention the example of the distance between Earth and Pluto being 1:100 scale.

Only thing is that's not even a guarantee with SC clearly having trouble moving to double bit precision. 1:100 is the most they can hope for in terms of scale.

And I feel like for some, yes, it's just another bullet point. But for others like me, it just says a lot about what Frontier has already accomplished this early on.
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In practice in E:D, when you go into supercruise, the system is dramatically shrunk down, not just in terms of the speed getting you places faster - but things are literally smaller/your ship much larger.

I'm not sure that you can even reach other planets while you're in normal speed. I recall one of the dev design dicussions was talking about supercruise and how it'd be a much harder to task to allow free supercruise. I think they solved it via this two-step system, reducing the size of the supercruise system, allowing for lower precision (less steps in a smaller system), and dropping into an instanced 'real scale' space.

Anyway... whatever the case is, the simple point I was trying to make is that gameplay design should trump all other factors. If to scale simulation holds back design (and it does when you simply can't generate enough variability), it shouldn't be an issue.

I personally quite like the E:D solution to the problem - pseudo scale - but when visiting a planet, I wouldn't mind exploring shrunken down planets with more environmental variations per square mile.
 
Just picked up my t.flight HOTAS X, man, what a difference this makes, might have to reinstall Falcon 4 (BMS version!) to give it a workout too :D
 
Zaptruder said:
After seeing this model, I was inspired to redesign the Imperial Courier. Not quite liking the way their sketch ended up looking - kinda lost too many elements to retain the sleeker more aggressive feel of the original. This one is basically the same silhouette as the original plus sketchy surfacing details to bring it into a more modern age.

What do you guys think? Worth putting more work into it? Was thinking about modeling it in 3D... but that's hard work man!

DINfqhu.jpg
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Pretty fucking nice ship design skills you have there. Reminds me of Frontier's empire courier design

Empire_Courier.jpg


Except your side weapons looks like they would harpoon into ships almost ala monster hunter, i prefer yours :)

Do you make concept art and 3D models for a living or just a side hobby?

And btw where did you see that the supercruise mode scaled down the solar system? From everything i've read its to scale. Braben even said if you had a long life ahead of you you could try to reach the nearest star without hyperspace. Wasnt there a guy that reached a brown dwarf in alpha 4 and it took him something like 19 hours and with speeds reaching 2500c ?
 
Buggy Loop said:
Pretty fucking nice ship design skills you have there. Reminds me of Frontier's empire courier design

Empire_Courier.jpg


Except your side weapons looks like they would harpoon into ships almost ala monster hunter, i prefer yours :)

Do you make concept art and 3D models for a living or just a side hobby?
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Cheers!

I'm a designer by trade (interior, product, graphics, whatever I'm flexible), but that design like I said is actually based largely off the design of the original Imperial Courier

See Frontier Elite 2 intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzEj4Gq7fT4

The one you've linked is the Imperial Courier version that I mentioned not liking - it's kinda derived from the original, but loses a lot of the proportional elements that make it such a beautiful design. Indeed... I think it looks a bit like a whale.

So I've decided to retain the original proportions and just sketch some lines on top to suggest details. I think it's worked out nicely.

The spear tip things are actually long range scanners. The two side mounts are mainly engines + 2x missile tubes (4 in total)... while the main body houses a couple large beam lasers. So the design mirrors the original intent of the Imperial Courier from Frontier canon; which is a long range self-sufficiency scout/superiority fighter. It's about twice the size of the Cobra, with a similar speed/maneuvering profile.

I'll work on it a bit more, see if I can make something that'll raise some eyebrows and hopefully maybe even get them to change the design of the courier into something that better matches the original design.

And btw where did you see that the supercruise mode scaled down the solar system? From everything i've read its to scale. Braben even said if you had a long life ahead of you you could try to reach the nearest star without hyperspace. Wasnt there a guy that reached a brown dwarf in alpha 4 and it took him something like 19 hours and with speeds reaching 2500c ?
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I can't recall the exact location... either one of the newsletters, interviews or design discussion archives. Which doesn't really help sorry! And your ship should be much larger in SC than in actual space. Which is part of the reason you can't get too close to planetary features I suppose?
 
I can't help but see this in reverse:

N-1_Starfighter.png



Which automatically makes me hate it. Sorry.


But it's probably because it's just a sketch and you can't really see many details other than the shape (which reminds me of that horrible movie we won't mention).
 
Boogdud said:
I can't help but see this in reverse (in the original design):

N-1_Starfighter.png



Which automatically makes me hate it. Sorry.
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If you gotta see a TPM ship in its design, it should really be this one.

screen-shot-2012-01-21-at-16-22-57.png

qa-ship2-dc.jpg


Which is a pretty ace looking ship, and since the Courier it predates TPM, and it looks better... it should be kept :P

I love the shit out of all the Elite and Frontier ship designs... they just did so much with so little. 30 years later and they're still such beautifully iconic ship designs. It's just a shame that the universe was only ever part of a fairly niche game.
 
Zaptruder said:
If you gotta see a TPM ship in its design, it should really be this one.

(snip royal ship)

Which is a pretty ace looking ship, and since the Courier it predates TPM, and it looks better... it should be kept :P

I love the shit out of all the Elite and Frontier ship designs... they just did so much with so little. 30 years later and they're still such beautifully iconic ship designs. It's just a shame that the universe was only ever part of a fairly niche game.
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I agree completely.

It's just that at first glance without seeing the pit location, the starfighter came right to mind (but backwards). After looking at it a while longer and seeing the details I like the courier design.

..and yeah that royal starship is a beautiful design.
 
Klyka said:
My friend and I tried for about 1 hour to play together yesterday, but it just didn't work even once. We never saw eachother and always ended up in different instances, even after making sure we were on the same server in the main menu.

Gotta wait till standard beta and grouping I guess :(
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Do we know when grouping is coming? Has there been a feature list for Beta 1?
 
Buggy Loop said:
Pretty fucking nice ship design skills you have there. Reminds me of Frontier's empire courier design

Empire_Courier.jpg


Except your side weapons looks like they would harpoon into ships almost ala monster hunter, i prefer yours :)

Do you make concept art and 3D models for a living or just a side hobby?

And btw where did you see that the supercruise mode scaled down the solar system? From everything i've read its to scale. Braben even said if you had a long life ahead of you you could try to reach the nearest star without hyperspace. Wasnt there a guy that reached a brown dwarf in alpha 4 and it took him something like 19 hours and with speeds reaching 2500c ?
Click to expand...

That ship looks very similar to the thunderhead ship from escape velocity nova
 
Saw this on the forums. Very useful for people who are wanting to upgrade and not sure which ship to upgrade to. Hasn't been updated for the Hauler though.


EDShipSpecs3_zps40a090d4.png
 
Man these videos is caving me in with my resolve!
Luckily my terrible connection will ground me.

Will the SP universe only come at launch? Or is there is some indication when this will happen in the Beta phases?
 
Twinduct said:
Man these videos is caving me in with my resolve!
Luckily my terrible connection will ground me.

Will the SP universe only come at launch? Or is there is some indication when this will happen in the Beta phases?
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There will be an SP portion come the 29th of July when standard beta hits.
 
The stealth scenario is kicking my ass, managed to get one of the fighters, but as soon as I do the Cobra nails me, even with silent running, need tips / advice!
 
I hope we get new ships in Beta 1.
And new enemies
And new new new newwwwww.

I just want to see more amazing stuff,the devs are keeping so much secret D:
 
2 more days until my replacement Saitek X52 Pro shows up (lost the first one in a move/got stolen). Soon I'll be able to fly properly...soon.

Klyka said:
I hope we get new ships in Beta 1.
And new enemies
And new new new newwwwww.

I just want to see more amazing stuff,the devs are keeping so much secret D:
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Yeah I wish they were more transparent about what's coming. I understand restraint due to the possibility of a last minute change but damn, I need more.
 
Osiris said:
The stealth scenario is kicking my ass, managed to get one of the fighters, but as soon as I do the Cobra nails me, even with silent running, need tips / advice!
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Nailed it! - man that one was challenging.

Not quite understanding heatsinks yet though, is there a limited amount of them, or is there an unlimited supply with cooldown?
 
Osiris said:
Nailed it! - man that one was challenging.

Not quite understanding heatsinks yet though, is there a limited amount of them, or is there an unlimited supply with cooldown?
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Limited supply. You also need to install a heat sink launcher to use them.
 
Heatsinks, ammunition if you have gun type weapons (more stealthy as they generate less heat and visual indication than lasers), and soon fuel, it'll be expensive to be a stealthy assassin/bounty hunter. I cant wait to see the development of the economy when mining, bounty hunting, escorts, etc are implemented fully.
 
Have done all the scenarios now, just gotta use them all for practice, and set-up my HOTAS & Nexus 7 a bit more for ultimate happiness.

I need more! - Roll on the 29th!
 
Finalized the reimagined design on the Imperial Courier. I'm chuffed with it.

Zlgzkso.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/3KnFOY6.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/OKkBH6e.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/H8LTIBK.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/MEIoQN9.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Ar0oFpv.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bRqo3rm.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/vP5yzpr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bm3JM7r.jpg

Also... my X52 Pro order fell through today... the retailer didn't have stock with the supplier so they cancelled my order. Can't find X52 Pros here either unfortunately, or they're all outrageously priced.

What's the diff between the X52 and X52Pro, other than the fact that the X52 looks like a toy? Or is the X55 worth going to?
 
My transducter amp arrived this weekend (I kinda wish I had bought a buttkicker just so I could actually say buttkicker instead of having to use language to explain that it's the same sort of product, just not the name brand lol) and my transducter should arrive today. I am so freaking stoked, but I can't really try it out until I get my seat in the mail so I can build it all together.

I might still just temporarily mount it on my swivel chair and see how it feels, though.
 
Zaptruder said:
What's the diff between the X52 and X52Pro, other than the fact that the X52 looks like a toy? Or is the X55 worth going to?
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http://www.saitekforum.com/showthread.php?t=17147

basically, the x52 Pro is better built, with metal parts, where the x52 is made of a lot of plastic. Sort of the difference between the Driving Force GT and a G27. Better built, higher quality, that sort of stuff. The screens and do-dads on the x52 pro are invisible if you're in VR anyways.

the x55 sounds awesome, but really expensive. If I were going to throw down more money for a flight stick, I'd probably go with a Thrustmaster Warthog, as those seem to get awesome reviews and there is a wheel stand pro kit specifically for that stick.

Worth noting that a number of games support the x52 and x52 Pro natively. Namely Elite, which comes with a preset config for those controllers.
 
Krejlooc said:
http://www.saitekforum.com/showthread.php?t=17147

basically, the x52 Pro is better built, with metal parts, where the x52 is made of a lot of plastic. Sort of the difference between the Driving Force GT and a G27. Better built, higher quality, that sort of stuff. The screens and do-dads on the x52 pro are invisible if you're in VR anyways.

the x55 sounds awesome, but really expensive. If I were going to throw down more money for a flight stick, I'd probably go with a Thrustmaster Warthog, as those seem to get awesome reviews and there is a wheel stand pro kit specifically for that stick.

Worth noting that a number of games support the x52 and x52 Pro natively. Namely Elite, which comes with a preset config for those controllers.
Click to expand...

So basically... look harder for an X52 Pro D:
 
Krejlooc said:
http://www.saitekforum.com/showthread.php?t=17147the x55 sounds awesome, but really expensive. If I were going to throw down more money for a flight stick, I'd probably go with a Thrustmaster Warthog, as those seem to get awesome reviews and there is a wheel stand pro kit specifically for that stick..
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Huuuge gap in price between X55 and warthog. Your X52 alternatives would be this in terms of price

X55 <= CH fighterstick + CH throttle <<< Warthog

If you look carefully, you could have CH hotas for less than X55. I highly suggest it, it was my hotas before the warthog, sadly it was from the 90's, without USB, and i never knew i could send the hotas for modification to USB and i had thrown the setup in the recycle because i thought it was simply not useful anymore. But i loved CH. X55 has a rubber coating too and personally, i avoid this as much as possible, it gets sticky after a while. 200$ CH hotas (amazon.com) to me is really the better option
 
Osiris said:
The stealth scenario is kicking my ass, managed to get one of the fighters, but as soon as I do the Cobra nails me, even with silent running, need tips / advice!
Click to expand...

Range is more important than heat it seems like when it comes to stealth, watch your radar and basically assume that if you can see him(the red icon), then he can see you in some capacity. Disappearing off of radar requires you to turn off your engines completely. Breaking line of sight and using a heatsink will throw him off of you for a short period of time.
 
Damn, this reminded i need to get a stick, aiming for a X52 Pro too - seems like they are selling pretty well now, stock at -14. Hope they are available again when my Rift ships.
 
Man, I used a Warthog before in the FLY ACES attraction at the Mall of America, and I fell in love with that kit.It was freakin' excellent.

All this talk about it on this page is really pushing me towards getting one myself.

My poor wallet. ;_;
 
If anyone gets a Warthog, please let me know how it fares with this game. I read that the triggers are actually very hard to press. This makes sense for a modern flight sim where you're almost never actually firing at things but space sims are ALL SPACE LASERS ALL THE TIME so it might get annoying!
 
ColonelSkills said:
Man, I used a Warthog before in the FLY ACES attraction at the Mall of America, and I fell in love with that kit.It was freakin' excellent.

All this talk about it on this page is really pushing me towards getting one myself.

My poor wallet. ;_;
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Only thing i wish is that Elite gave more options for the control setup, such as all actions having a toggle option, since otherwise it doesnt work well (as it should at least) with the flip switches on the throttle. I think some peoples made some crazy complete target files for Elite but i havent had time to try them out yet.

But its the best HOTAS feeling wise, only competitor is thrustmaster's cougar hotas. Metal feels completely different than plastic, and its heavy. Warthog also is the most precise joystick from simHQ tests.

epmode said:
If anyone gets a Warthog, please let me know how it fares with this game. I read that the triggers are actually very hard to press. This makes sense for a modern flight sim where you're almost never actually firing at things but space sims are ALL SPACE LASERS ALL THE TIME so it might get annoying!
Click to expand...

I play Elite with the warthog, the triggers are perfect, there's a nice "click" with tactile feedback when it finally reach the point of firing, like the real thing (A10) apparently.
 
Just picked this up yesterday (regular beta + expansion pass), man this has a just right level of being challenging without being overwhelming. It also definitely feels/works a lot better with a real stick over a gamepad or mouse/keyboard...

Speaking of which, Build quality/a few more buttons aside, can someone explain if a full HOTAS (like the HOTAS X) would be worth it over my current Logitech 3D Pro, considering I'm fine with using the mini-throttle/8 side buttons comfortably without having to look and like a twist stick (have ever since I had the original MS Sidewinder 3d pro)? I'm curious because I hear a lot of good stuff but aside from having a giant honking throttle (which I suppose gives better granular control but also is harder to flick-to-position if you know it well) and on the higher end model more switches/hats/buttons, I'm not seeing the $100+ difference over just learning my current stick right next to the keyboard for additional when-needed buttons, performance wise. I get the "feels more like a cockpit" arguments, but I'm talking purely from the perspective of adding to my ability to perform as a pilot.
 
Honestly, no. An analogy would be that a good guitar doesn't make someone a good guitar player. Its a question of how it feels and how much immersion you want. Shouldn't make a difference in your kill ratio.
 
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