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

Finally got my HOTAS working again, so I played for a bit in the Oculus Rift tonight, tweaked the settings a bit for decent performance.

Holeeee SHIT

I don't think I'm ever going back. I was grinning like an idiot and actually saying "WOAH" out loud the first time I made a hyperspace jump. Spent about fifteen minutes just circling Aulin Enterprise and following another Viper around at close range, where I could just look out the window, totally different way of tracking and following another ship.

What ship would you guys recommend for the Rift? One that has a really wide view out of the cockpit. I think the Sidewinder has one, what about the Eagle? And the Lacon-6 has the "bubble" canopy where you can look down below you, but I don't have enough cash for a Lacon just yet.
hahahaha, yeah... the first time I had to make a jump and pushed that throttle forward to engage it, it's sublime.
 
Just got this for my bday from the fiance. Tagging this thread for when I actually have time to read through it and such.

Now I just need to get a HOTAS! Can't wait to try this with the DK2, will need to use a 360 controller for now. HYPED!
 
I just bought the X52. The Pro one here in Japan is about $200 which was too much for me, so I just went with the normal one.
It will arrive on Saturday (it's Thursday night now) so about a day and a half or so left. Can't wait to play this game with my first joystick in about... 20 years :/ (remember having one back when I was a kid playing Tie Fighter).

I will put my opinions for it here, from the point of view of a user that's been playing the game with a gamepad until now :P

I don't recommend anyone get the X-52. The quality is poor for the amount you pay for it. It is the cheapest HOTAS around in the market though. It seems like quality is based on luck which is disappointing. You'll hear/read this alot in the reviews.

Mine's working alright I guess but the sensitivity is all off and sometimes even the axis depending on what game you try to run it with.

I recommend the Thrustmaster HOTAS A-10 though you have to save FOR A LONG TIME. I'm saving for one for the past few months. The quality seems to be rock solid!

If you can live without a HOTAS, the old Microsoft Sidewinders are still some of the best sticks around...

just my $0.02
 
I don't recommend anyone get the X-52. The quality is poor for the amount you pay for it. It is the cheapest HOTAS around in the market though. It seems like quality is based on luck which is disappointing. You'll hear/read this alot in the reviews.

Mine's working alright I guess but the sensitivity is all off and sometimes even the axis depending on what game you try to run it with.

I recommend the Thrustmaster HOTAS A-10 though you have to save FOR A LONG TIME. I'm saving for one for the past few months. The quality seems to be rock solid!

If you can live without a HOTAS, the old Microsoft Sidewinders are still some of the best sticks around...

just my $0.02
Thrustmaster HOTAS-X is like a third of the cost of an X52.. that is the cheapest HOTAS you can get that I'm aware of, and it works great with Elite.
 
Hehehe, recommending the Thrustmaster warthog Hotas for its quality is always a no brainer, its probably my most beloved piece of equipment i have at home. But its ridiculously expensive.

So the alternative to saitek X52 pro to me is a solution that cost only ~40$ more (depending on where you look and buy), and its the CH fighterstick + CH pro throttle. Some of the best programmability, and if you buy the rudders too you can make an all-in-one device and play oldschool games like Freespace 2 (or whatever game that didnt have more support than 1 control device). Quality is way above saitek too.
 
Yesterday I received my X-52 (non- pro) that I got for reasonable money on Ebay. It's exactly what I was looking for, for the money I was willing to spend. As long as it stays reliable, I'll be perfectly content.

I played some Elite last night with it, and having a hotas just makes it that much more fun.
 
Hehehe, recommending the Thrustmaster warthog Hotas for its quality is always a no brainer, its probably my most beloved piece of equipment i have at home. But its ridiculously expensive.

So the alternative to saitek X52 pro to me is a solution that cost only ~40$ more (depending on where you look and buy), and its the CH fighterstick + CH pro throttle. Some of the best programmability, and if you buy the rudders too you can make an all-in-one device and play oldschool games like Freespace 2 (or whatever game that didnt have more support than 1 control device). Quality is way above saitek too.

I can vouch for CH's equipment. Build quality is excellent and the CH configuration manager is lovely. It's especially useful for getting all three pieces working in older games that don't recognize multiple controller devices (Freespace Open).

Unfortunately, I'm still getting a microstutter in Elite regardless of my graphics/audio settings or screen resolution. It really drags down the VR thing so I haven't been playing at all.
 
Beta 2 is out on September 30th.

This feature list sounds incredible:

elite beta 2 said:
We still have our collective foot firmly pressing the pedal to the metal on the development of Elite: Dangerous, both on ‘under the hood’ work and forward facing features to get the game ready for release before the end of 2014.

We’re delighted to announce that Beta 2, our second beta phase, will be released on Tuesday 30th September, as the culmination of our 10 days of celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the release of Elite on the BBC Micro - see what we did there…?!

It’s been quite a few weeks since we released Beta 1 on 29th July. Here’s why:

Elite: Dangerous wouldn’t be an Elite sequel without the ability to progress from ‘Harmless’ all the way to the exalted status of ‘Elite’. In Beta 2 all pilots have a visible combat rating, so now you can start to work your way up to ‘Elite’!


As well as a rank, in Beta 2 you have reputations. Your reputation is tracked within each system and separately against the galactic power blocs involved in that system. Reputation can be positive and negative, and affects the pricing of services offered to you in stations or outposts controlled by the Federation, Empire or Independent Alliance.

Beta 2 also allows you to start to discover and explore new star systems and planets and even to sell the data on them.

We have now added a detailed system map for each star system – this is populated for known systems, and the map is also the repository for distributing new exploration data as it comes in from those intrepid people pushing out the frontiers of human space.
The system maps are also the visible in-cockpit tip-of-the-iceberg of what has been a big step forward in the detail of the science used to model the creation of planetary bodies, their compositions, atmospheres – even life – within star systems and the systems used to determine their economies, placement of starports etc.
This work has in turn allowed us to open up around 500 star systems in Beta 2. The familiar 55 Beta 1 systems are still all there, with an additional approximately 100 light year push out to the frontier and beyond in the direction of unexplored space – after all, you need things to discover!

Another potential winner from the Lakon shipyards has been added, the Asp Explorer. The Asp Explorer is very versatile and its design parameters and layout can accommodate modules that make it a perfect ‘grand tourer’ for your voyages of exploration.

Beta 2 also provides much greater variety for modifying all types of ship. There are different Life Support modules, Engines, Hyperdrives, Power Distributors, Sensors, Shield Generators and Cargo Racks. You also are given much more information on upgrades to inform your choices. PRO-TIP: shields and drives are tuned for particular hull masses.

Ships and their systems are subject to gradual wear and tear in Beta 2 – the extent of this of course depends on how careful a pilot you are!

There are new Dumbfire Missile racks, Plasma Accelerators and Cannon. Oh – and the mine launcher first seen in the Beta 1 video has now been added - plus mines, too!
Whilst we are on the subject of weapons, there is a new class of non-lethal missile-deployed weapon in Beta 2 called a ‘cargo hatch disruptor’. If your target’s shields are down and you fire one of these, it will attach to the target and use targeted ECM to cause their cargo hatch to open. Cargo will then spill out involuntarily. Think of it as a means to fill your piratical boots with a slightly clearer conscience – the disruptor doesn’t explode so your victim lives to fight another day, and you get a correspondingly smaller bounty on your head.

Outposts, the exposed, isolated galactic equivalents of the run-down roadside café, the remote research base, the windswept motel that we described [in newsletter 37], are to be found in the more off-the-beaten-track places of Beta 2.

Beta 2 also contains the Occelus starport types. The Ocellus starport is stronger, better protected from radiation and more expensive than the Coriolis class stations and slightly smaller, and much smaller than the giant Orbis. The Occellus stations can be moved from place to place with the attachment of a giant drive system, and tend to appear at the end of the first ‘gold-rush’ phase in a new system, marking the start of a more law-abiding way of life. They were described in detail [in newsletter 38].

Beta 2 extends the visibility of other ships in supercruise, whether they are player or AI. You can also buy a module that allows you to track any other ship that jumps into supercruise or hyperspace by following their supercruise ‘wakes’.

As you can see, there is a whole lot more going on in Beta 2 - so there is also now a new live ‘newsfeed’ addition to station services which provides news items about happenings from the far flung reaches of the dynamic, connected Elite: Dangerous galaxy as well as player generated activity in the local system.

We have re-purposed the single player combat scenarios into a series of optional simulator tutorials to aid newcomers to Elite: Dangerous in developing their piloting skills. There are also new, safe simulator tutorials for docking and travel, so to learn these skills you no longer need to scrap a small pile of Sidewinders! A new pre-flight check system in the initial start-flow provides quick, basic instruction of the ship’s main controls, too.

There are also a host of general qualitative improvements in Beta 2 – some of the more obvious ones include the planetary rings that now have rock, ice and metal variants with matching dust motes and depth, and the response to lighting of distant views of ring systems has been improved.

There is a lot more music, and Backer’s names (from the appropriate crowd-funding reward tiers) have been added to the Beta 2 NPC database too!

Those of you who have the appropriate hardware will be pleased to know that SLI/Crossfire support in Beta 2 will allow those with suitable high-end rigs to play in 4K ultra-high definition. Never ones to waste the opportunity for another gratuitous 4K screenshot, here goes…:

Of course Elite: Dangerous is still very much a work-in-progress – we continue to work hard on more features, improvements and optimizations for the full release. Watch this space!

This game is seriously a dream come true. I can't believe it's so close to release.
 
Awesome update, cant wait to install that one.

Is there a TL;DR? ^^

For beta 2

-Explorable space jumps by 100 light years, giving access to 500 solar systems
-Solar system map, giving all kinds of info, linked with exploration
-Rank & faction implementation. Faction will change the way each space region will act towards you & price, etc.
-New ship, Asp explorer.
-New Dumbfire Missile racks, Plasma Accelerators and Cannon. Launchable mines too.
-Life Support modules, Engines, Hyperdrives, Power Distributors, Sensors, Shield Generators and Cargo Racks. Along with more information on all modules.
-cargo hatch disruptor for forcing loot out of peoples if their shields are down. Non lethal pirating basically.
-Outposts & Occelus starports
-Newsfeed
-Tutorial simulator in single player
-Rings now have rocks/ice/minerals with dust. With depth of field. And i think general upgrade of the graphic engine including its lighting.
-More music


Likely more features coming up, in next newsletter before beta probably. Mining has to be coming, they keep stressing the minerals found in rings.
 
Any mention of a wipe? If so, I'm going to buy and crash an anaconda into a spacestation.

But the feature list for Beta 2 makes me very excited!!
 
HighResScreenShot_2014-09-19_11-23-18.jpg


Ice_InRing.jpg


30th_Cobra.jpg


The new galaxy background is much better (or more realistic i should say) then beta 1. Less orange. more dusty. The wireframe paint job is so awesome, but way too expensive, 15$ sadly. I dont think i can :(

Any mention of a wipe? If so, I'm going to buy and crash an anaconda into a spacestation.

But the feature list for Beta 2 makes me very excited!!

No wipe apparently until gamma.
 
Crosspost from the star citizen thread about cheaper headtracking which works so good in ED too:

I got my Track IR Pro clip yesterday and spent the day testing things out.

Don't bother with freetrack (not supported by devs for a few years now, causes game crashing and has less functionality than the alternatives (although it has a cool skull thing that shows your head movements when you're setting it up)). Get FacetracknoIR instead and select the point tracking module (which is IR) and it works fantastically. --- There is an option to use Webcam only to track your face - it works better than I thought but I didn't spend long with it.

PS2 eyetoy works decently without modifications - at night or a dark set up perhaps.
PS3 eye (watch out, there are 2 versions and SLEH-00201 is the one needed to be able to remove the built in IR filter) works even better and is set it to 75fps at the same resolution (vs 30 on ps2 eyetoy) - no issues with daylight IR interference - I used floppydisc material to block normal light.

It's fucking sweet for flying games and great for racing games. Been meaning to get into ARMA 3, might get around to it now.

Takes a little while to remember not to look around so much when going fast (you'll crash in SC) but otherwise, so good, not much adjustment at all.
When racing I set deadzones so I can move my head some more while still being able to judge speed well. Can adjust the curves pretty easily, disable axis etc Very nice.

Space games, it's a must. Look around while still being in control, understand the situation you are in, or where you should go - much better.

£3 for the Sony eye (ps3) from C-E-X
£35 for the trackir pro clip, got mine from ebay - you can make your own IR source to wear if you prefer.
 
I did it. Fuck it, I've already spent so much on this stupid game that I might as well!

Maybe they'll fix the microstutter someday so I can finally play!

I did too, im too weak for this sort of stuff.

Btw, Cobra MkIII are 50% off in price, and you get 100% trade-in with whatever ship you have. I just did the switch from Viper to Cobra.
 
How did you manage to do that?

I just moved apartments. The x52 is just one of the many casualties of my terrible packing skills.

Edit: Back to an old Logitech Attack 3 + keyboard... it's actually pretty great! I miss the twist rudder but I guess that'll do for now.
Isn't there some cool new HOTAS coming out? With all these new space games you'd think someone would put out a space-themed stick. I'm kinda tempted to wait for that instead of replacing my x52 right away.
 
I just moved apartments. The x52 is just one of the many casualties of my terrible packing skills.

Edit: Back to an old Logitech Attack 3 + keyboard... it's actually pretty great! I miss the twist rudder but I guess that'll do for now.
Isn't there some cool new HOTAS coming out? With all these new space games you'd think someone would put out a space-themed stick. I'm kinda tempted to wait for that instead of replacing my x52 right away.

I think the X55 is the most recently released HOTAS
 
Getting kinda tired of my Type-6.. lol I might take advantage of the promotion and switch to the Cobra Mk III and trade in the Type-6. Not really sure yet. The next step-up for me is the Type-9 which is way out of my price range right now.

Only have about 800k saved up...
 
Just bought the beta. Without a tutorial, I managed to get me killed by a station by shooting at it, taking off and landing, jumping to another system, and buy hydrogen fuel that I sold at a loss of 4 credits.
I think I'll just wait for the tutorial drop next week.
 
So just how far out is this game's release? Is it still just a vague "2014"? I'm considering giving in to my impatience and just grabbing the beta.
 
I think the X55 is the most recently released HOTAS

It looks super cool but it also costs 199€ here. That's like 250$. If I'm spending that much money I might as well go all out and get the Warthog HOTAS.

I just ordered a Thrustmaster T.Flight instead. I'll get something better next year probably.
 
Just bought the beta. Without a tutorial, I managed to get me killed by a station by shooting at it, taking off and landing, jumping to another system, and buy hydrogen fuel that I sold at a loss of 4 credits.
I think I'll just wait for the tutorial drop next week.

Similar experience except it took me about 30 minutes to shoot some space debris. What's this tutorial you're speaking of?
 
Just bought the beta. Without a tutorial, I managed to get me killed by a station by shooting at it, taking off and landing, jumping to another system, and buy hydrogen fuel that I sold at a loss of 4 credits.
I think I'll just wait for the tutorial drop next week.
Ah they're going to reset everything at launch anyway I believe - keep going in Beta why not? It's a blank canvas to learn by mistake.

As an example I now know to be careful about whipping out my lasers while inside a space station, that there is an upper limit to how quickly I can race into a space station and dock without hitting something and that flying smack into bigger ships at speed can be unpleasant.

Also I've found that shooting first when being verbally accosted by a pirate Getz you a fine not them.
 
God its going to be so hard not playing beta 2 when it comes out...then again I am in Australia on hokiday . I'll be thinking of Elite though :)
 
Apparently in beta 2, the "single player" small missions will be replaced by a virtual training simulator, full fledged tutorial.

Soooo awesome. I am really overwhelmed and I don't know how people play this with a controller. I'm in desperate need of a HOTAS. I looked around and it sucks that no yaw on the CH Fighterstick. Probably will go with X52 Pro or X55 from a store I can return it to if I have issues.

Also sucks that this thread and the Reddit thread aren't too crowded. I imagine the official forums are probably the most active at this point.

Not in desperate need of a HOTAS anymore, I just ordered an X55 RHINO, got the 3 year plan from Amazon for $20 just in case if something fails on it.
 
I decided to play on the monitor today for Elite after having played on the Rift for about a month. Just wanted to see what the Lakon-6 looks like on the monitor!!

Goddamn! The game is soo beautiful!! The IQ is superb on the monitor playing it at 1440p...

Yet... It's very odd and not very surprising. The IQ is so much better on the monitor than on the Rift, yet I'd still rather play on the Rift. The feeling of being there inside your ship is clearly absent. But then also, you miss the positional tracking, being able to look at your HUD just by rotating your head. Seeing the scale of the Aulin Station. All that is absent.

But along with that! I hit the top of the airlock! I was having trouble landing.. Clearly the Rift adds so much to the gameplay as well in this game.

It's just really insane how much the Rift adds to this game.
 
It's true. I haven't even launched the game without the Rift since I first tried it. Space sims will never be the same.

IQ and hardware limitations are what's holding back the Rift right now, but with time that will be fixed.

Doubters be damned... I'm playing Destiny on PS4 and I'm having fun, but this shit is true next gen. Nothing comes close.
 
http://imgur.com/w6XZ5zQ

Beta 2 single player tutorials. Bad image quality but..

Pilots License Stage 1 - Docking
Pilots License Stage 2 - Target Practice
Pilots License Stage 3 - Basic Combat
Pilots License Stage 4 - Travel
Pilots License Stage 5 - Advanced Combat
Training Mission 1 - Sidewinder Face-Off
Training Mission 2 - Wolfpack Tactics
Training Mission 3 - Predator and Prey
Training Mission 4 - Supply Strike
Training Mission 5 - Incursion
 
I decided to play on the monitor today for Elite after having played on the Rift for about a month. Just wanted to see what the Lakon-6 looks like on the monitor!!

Goddamn! The game is soo beautiful!! The IQ is superb on the monitor playing it at 1440p...

Yet... It's very odd and not very surprising. The IQ is so much better on the monitor than on the Rift, yet I'd still rather play on the Rift. The feeling of being there inside your ship is clearly absent. But then also, you miss the positional tracking, being able to look at your HUD just by rotating your head. Seeing the scale of the Aulin Station. All that is absent.

But along with that! I hit the top of the airlock! I was having trouble landing.. Clearly the Rift adds so much to the gameplay as well in this game.

It's just really insane how much the Rift adds to this game.

I will have to take baby steps with the rift because it makes me pretty nauseuos when rolling and such.

I wish trackir wasn't so expensive because head tracking is the shit!
 
Wow, just did the second or third scenario where you have to fight a ship in the DK2. Using a 360 controller was a bitch since I don't have much fly time and I failed 3 times but holy shit that was intense. Almost gave myself whiplash trying to follow the ship around my hull.

Didn't get very sick this time (if at all) so hopefully it's kind of passing for me.
 
In regards to Rift disorientation, I've found it helps to have something to focus on outside the ship. For example, if you're just staring off into space, you get all loopy when you move, but if you're following another ship in a dogfight, and keeping your eyes on him, you can twist and flip the ship in every damn direction and it feels fine.

I tend to do better in open space, getting near the stations gives my brain something to reference, and the disorientation gets worse (like when I'm docking).
 
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