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

First spin with the DK2 earlier. After some very helpful guides here and there on setting it up for ED, my mind has been roundly blown. Even just being sat in a space station on the pad, looking around out of the cockpit/side windows, hell... seeing the door behind my seat was unreal! And all the menu panels coming up as I looked in their direction? I think I actually let out a minor squeal of joy when that happened.

DK2 + X52 Pro, there is no going back for me now. This was the stuff of dreams when I was a kid, watching wireframes play out on my ZX Spectrum... and now it is a (virtual) reality.

(Sidenote: here's some pics of my X52 Pro in an attempt to coax more ED players into getting themselves a HOTAS. No arguments. You won't regret it!)

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That looks so amazing.... Shit.....I've been shooting money out like a leaf blower lately. See what you've done! ....

Curious: How do you thrust vertically with that?
 
That looks so amazing.... Shit.....I've been shooting money out like a leaf blower lately. See what you've done! ....

Curious: How do you thrust vertically with that?

Things I have learned this evening: It is really hard to find a decent shot of the X52 Pro's throttle to indicate what I use for vertical thrust. Hopefully you can make out the little directional switch I have illustrated here:

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That lets you thrust in 8 directions, and is a godsend (nay, essential) for fine-tuning, especially around station entrances.
 
What's the easiest way to start handling bounties and such? Just fly around looking for signal problems? I've done a bunch of trading and bought an Eagle, want to start shooting at things now.

Either go to an anarchy system or find a federal distress signal. I think Eranin 2 has a high intensity combat zone and Eranin 3 has a low intensity combat zone. When you fly in, both sides will be yellow on your radar. They'll ignore you until you choose a faction from one of the menus on your right. As soon as you choose a faction, you'll know who your targets are.
 
That looks so amazing.... Shit.....I've been shooting money out like a leaf blower lately. See what you've done! ....

Curious: How do you thrust vertically with that?

Hey wouldn't it be a great idea of the devs included an option to have that stick replicated in-game as part of your vehicle's controls? Would add even more to the immersion.
 
I've been having serious problems with random stuttering in this game.

Like, I just tried to fly into a city's dock, the game skipped a bunch of frames, and then I immediately exploded.

Game's well above 100fps as well.
 
I've been having serious problems with random stuttering in this game.

Like, I just tried to fly into a city's dock, the game skipped a bunch of frames, and then I immediately exploded.

Game's well above 100fps as well.
Probably boils down to "beta is beta". I just started playing this afternoon. The first couple times I got near the station, the game dropped to around 15-20fps until I moved away. But then everything would be fine on my next approach.

Can't wait for my stick to get here.. I had better luck with keyboard/mouse over gamepad, but it's still pretty unwieldy if you don't know what you're doing (which I don't).
 
Disengaging flight assist, ejecting a heat sink, engaging silent running and shutting down your non-essential systems and just floating away from pirates feels so damn good.

Edit: Anyone using Voice Attack that can give me some instructions as to how to stage multiple commands for a system shutdown routine? I can't get it to process more than 2 commands. For example Numpad 1 is the left menu so I've got a "Contacts" bind set it up like "Press and hold Num 1 for 0.01s then release "Press ] for 0.1 seconds and release" (] is my next menu keybind) and then the previous repeated again. But it ends up not processing the second UI advance.
 
Things I have learned this evening: It is really hard to find a decent shot of the X52 Pro's throttle to indicate what I use for vertical thrust. Hopefully you can make out the little directional switch I have illustrated here:

ibme8Cv3j4QkH5.jpg


That lets you thrust in 8 directions, and is a godsend (nay, essential) for fine-tuning, especially around station entrances.

I don't have the pro but they are mostly the same. I use the "Rotary 1" and "Rotary 2" wheels for horizontal and vertical thrust, it really is godsend to have those.
 
Hey wouldn't it be a great idea of the devs included an option to have that stick replicated in-game as part of your vehicle's controls? Would add even more to the immersion.

They did! It seems to have been modelled after the X52 so not everyone will have complete immersion with it...

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I can testify that It is eerily amazing while using the DK2. If you're sat in the correct position, you can actually look down and see 'your' chest in a space suit... and it's breathing, no less.
 
They did! It seems to have been modelled after the X52 so not everyone will have complete immersion with it...

elite-dangerous-9.png


I can testify that It is eerily amazing while using the DK2. If you're sat in the correct position, you can actually look down and see 'your' chest in a space suit... and it's breathing, no less.

And you can choose the female pilot and gawk at your own boobs.
 
Grabbed the beta yesterday now it's only £15 for backers/pre-orders. Got a Thrustmaster HOTAS X last week so I'm ready to disco.

I should be Commander MmmSkyscraper in game.
 
I'm still on the fence whether to jump in right now. Do you really need a flighstick to play well or would a gamepad suffice? It's because I don't have the money this month to buy both an X52 and E:D. What's the best flight stick for the job anyway? Is there a big difference between the X52 Pro and the X55?
 
I held off for as long as I could, but considering my birthday is next week I decided to buy myself an early birthday present. Downloading right now, I'm pretty damn excited, this game looks incredible!
 
I'm still on the fence whether to jump in right now. Do you really need a flighstick to play well or would a gamepad suffice? It's because I don't have the money this month to buy both an X52 and E:D. What's the best flight stick for the job anyway? Is there a big difference between the X52 Pro and the X55?

Go Pro. Better build quality. Better setup right off the bat. Just remember to uncheck the clutch box in the X52 Pro config. Cheaper.

Also harder to get a hold of nowadays.

But get the game first... play it till you're bored with it, then when you get your HOTAS, play it again till you're bored with it.
 
Go Pro. Better build quality. Better setup right off the bat. Just remember to uncheck the clutch box in the X52 Pro config. Cheaper.

Also harder to get a hold of nowadays.

But get the game first... play it till you're bored with it, then when you get your HOTAS, play it again till you're bored with it.

Just to confirm, are you saying that you think the X52 Pro is better than the X55 Rhino..? Maybe it has a more plasticky feel, but it should have the upper hand in most other aspects.
 
I'm still on the fence whether to jump in right now. Do you really need a flighstick to play well or would a gamepad suffice? It's because I don't have the money this month to buy both an X52 and E:D. What's the best flight stick for the job anyway? Is there a big difference between the X52 Pro and the X55?

Ive been playing with the mouse and keyboard but I ordered a flight stick. Personally you can do trade runs with the mouse and keyboard no issue but me personally I cant fight with the mouse. I did a few training mission with a control pad and it worked really well...but I want a flight stick lol.
 
Just to confirm, are you saying that you think the X52 Pro is better than the X55 Rhino..?

I can't give you an accurate answer based off first hand impressions... but if posts on the Elite Dangerous forum are credible, then the X55 has some build quality issues that aren't as present in the X52 Pro.

Also, the X52 Pro has the advantage of been the Elite Dangerous HOTAS development standard.

So in that sense, it's better.

The X55 appears to have more switches buttons and options, as well as better software programmability. Although I'm only just guessing here.
 
I can't give you an accurate answer based off first hand impressions... but if posts on the Elite Dangerous forum are credible, then the X55 has some build quality issues that aren't as present in the X52 Pro.

Also, the X52 Pro has the advantage of been the Elite Dangerous HOTAS development standard.

So in that sense, it's better.

The X55 appears to have more switches buttons and options, as well as better software programmability. Although I'm only just guessing here.

How about the WhartHog Controller? I was considering buying that instead
 
I'm planning on getting a HOTAS as well, Ive never owned one before and thought it might be best to start slow. I could if I want go full blown Saitek X52 but I am thinking about starting off with a Thrustmaster X. Should I go through with that?
 
I'm pretty happy with my 3-piece CH setup. It's not as flashy as the Saitek stuff but it will last until the end of time. It also has the benefit of Freespace Open compatibility.
 
How about the WhartHog Controller? I was considering buying that instead

Yeah I was looking at a Warthog too, but it's also twice as expensive as a X52 Pro. Maybe I just have to hold off on the stick for a while until I build my new PC, along with the CV1 whenever that releases.
 
If you live the life of a pirate in the asteroid fields, i would strongly suggest heat sinks, its your only savior against missiles and on top of that, it makes you stealthy. Missiles are brutal in this game. If i ever get an anaconda, for sure i'll reserve a hard point for missiles.
 
My friend had previously tried my early elite beta with my saitek on my desk, using rubber suction cups to keep it in place, no rudders, and a dk1. He got sick within minutes and described it as "neat."

Saturday, he came by to try my new stand mounted stick, with rudders, with dk2. After walking him through jumping through hyper space and getting into his first battle, he was sitting there, 2 hours into his play session, enormous grin on his face, telling me this was the coolest game he'd ever played.

My dad gave up playing games after the Sega genesis. Became too complex for him. Sat him down to try elite, without giving him any instructions. An hour and a half later, he docked for the first time.

Common refrain from my dad and friend? "That felt like I was only playing for 15 minutes!"

This game is magical.
 
What a great experience in the OR dk2 but the game is hard as balls to play with the Keyboard and mouse if a stick like the x52 was used can you use that solely or do you still need to use the Keyboard??
 
What a great experience in the OR dk2 but the game is hard as balls to play with the Keyboard and mouse if a stick like the x52 was used can you use that solely or do you still need to use the Keyboard??

X52 Pro here, and with a few alterations to the default profile within ED's settings, I have everything I need. The only thing I need the keyboard for is typing a location in the galaxy map, fortunately I'm pretty handy at touch typing so being able to look at the keyboard isn't really a problem for me:)
 
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