The Little Things

[FreeburnSage]

So the Gamma phase of Elite: Dangerous is coming to a close, release is due in just over a week now, and a lot of people are holding their breath in anticipation of seeing the large features of the game - the dynamic galaxy, the endless freedom, the choices and impact, the story... the list goes on. It goes without saying that Frontier are very stressed making sure everything is in working order, preparing and double-checking lists and goals to make sure the launch is a success and is true to their vision. However, it seems as though, through all this excitement, a few small things have been overlooked.

Now, I'm going to go ahead and throw in a disclaimer here: I'm not criticizing those at Frontier or the wonderful product that I've had the joy of testing/playing (Elite: Dangerous is my first space-simulation game to play; my introduction to the genre, and I'm been having a blast!). There's no way I'd be able to accomplish anything near what the team at Frontier have.

These small things are the fine details that really make you sit back and stare at your screen amazed, or, in a different sense, just make the game feel more complete. I wanted to ask the community (with whom I've sat back and silently observed by reading the forums) and see what little features the game needs to be complete in your eyes. (Note: This is NOT big features, such as offline, walking around, mining expansions, exploration payouts, etc.)

A few from me:

• Different failure states/ways to die. As of now, you just explode. Your ship gets torn to part? Explosion. You overheat? Explosion. Run out of life support and can't breath? Explosion. Personally, I think the only thing that should trigger an explosion is an overload of the power plant, or a critical failure in it.
• Better views when dying (This may go hand-in-hand with the above point.). Currently, your ship hits 0% hull, the camera quits moving, your ship flies forward a little bit, and explodes. Honestly, this is a bit of an immersion killer and angers me a little bit every time I die (Seeing as I'm a bit more combat-oriented than some, this is quite often.). I don't really mind dying, but it just seems thrown together at the last second. The entire game is in first-person by design. Why is dying not? Sitting in your seat, frantically looking around as your cockpit erupts in flames and your glass shatters outwards in a blinding explosion would be a very satisfying thing to see. Add to this the different deaths from the first point, and dying might just feel like a fully fleshed-out feature, rather than just an annoyance that happens.
• Hyperspace animation tweaking. Currently, if you watch the background to the right and left of the circular cloud thing in front of your ship when entering hyperspace, it just fades to black. Shouldn't it be flying past you as you hit thousands of times the speed of light? The same is probably applicable to supercruise, as well. When you watch someone else enter these speeds, you see them blast forward before they leave. Do we not do the same?

That's it from me. What details would you like to see in the game to help things feel more complete?

 

[Alric]

Bit of a mixed bag but here's some small things off the top of my head:
- NPCs initiating contact with you instead of loitering at a USS - and also on stations if they have an important mission.
- Wear & tear on your FSD so it need servicing every so often.
- Asteroid scanner to check composition.
- When you arrive in a fight, simulate how long it's been going on for. Instead of all the ships arriving fresh when you do, have some damaged and already engaged, etc.

 

[Armante]

It's been mentioned many times over in other threads, but I would really like a bit more life in and around the stations, platforms and planets.

* Those little cars that drive around inside stations are great. Now if we could flesh it out and add little moving people inside the lit-up rooms (even just silhouettes), shuttles and other craft darting about, maybe some maintenance crews or robots.
* Traffic drifting up from the planets bringing up the supplies we trade between systems.
* Lights on the dark side of inhabited planets.

 

[DaveB]

• Different failure states/ways to die. As of now, you just explode. Your ship gets torn to part? Explosion. You overheat? Explosion. Run out of life support and can't breath? Explosion. Personally, I think the only thing that should trigger an explosion is an overload of the power plant, or a critical failure in it.
• Better views when dying (This may go hand-in-hand with the above point.). Currently, your ship hits 0% hull, the camera quits moving, your ship flies forward a little bit, and explodes. Honestly, this is a bit of an immersion killer and angers me a little bit every time I die (Seeing as I'm a bit more combat-oriented than some, this is quite often.). I don't really mind dying, but it just seems thrown together at the last second. The entire game is in first-person by design. Why is dying not? Sitting in your seat, frantically looking around as your cockpit erupts in flames and your glass shatters outwards in a blinding explosion would be a very satisfying thing to see. Add to this the different deaths from the first point, and dying might just feel like a fully fleshed-out feature, rather than just an annoyance that happens.

Problem is, you don't really die. Your seat encapsulates and ejects and you end up being revived at a station. Sure, if your canopy blows out and you run out of O2 or your fuel runs out and life support goes down the same I'd love to see a visual of a ship with a frozen remlocked corpse spinning out into deep space with no nearby star in view.. but when the remlock goes critical the escape mechanism activates - which usually involves blowing your ship. You're sat inside a solid space-going structure the size of a moderately large building, not under the canopy of a relatively fragile aircraft.

It can happen by weapons fire or by automatic systems intended to "crack your shell" and allow the capsule to escape.. but whichever way it goes, your ship is going to blow up.

 

[Kerbal_Killer]

My one big ask would be to see more evidence of "Alien" life in the galaxy. No, I'm not talking about green scaly guys. I'd like to see derelict stations or ships that are thousands (even millions) of years old. The idea of exploration really grabs me in ED, but the fact that there appears to be no evidence of ancient civilizations is kind of a downer for me.
So ya, more reasons to explore beyond just finding astronomical curiosities.

 

[Momoka Azuka]

It's been mentioned many times over in other threads, but I would really like a bit more life in and around the stations, platforms and planets.

* Those little cars that drive around inside stations are great. Now if we could flesh it out and add little moving people inside the lit-up rooms (even just silhouettes), shuttles and other craft darting about, maybe some maintenance crews or robots.
* Traffic drifting up from the planets bringing up the supplies we trade between systems.
* Lights on the dark side of inhabited planets.

I made a thread about this and that's exactly what I want. especially the Lights on the dark side inhabited planets. I really can't deal if there's no lights on earth of all planets. If it's not in by launch I'm heading to the frontier as quickly as possible.

 

[imadot]

I would really like more situational awareness when in a fight. Yes I know these are ships, not jets, but when fighting the fight it is jet fighter guns only acted/related. But I remember one quote that is worth re mentioning here.. You must know where your target is at all times...Lose site, lose the fight.

 

[ste]

Increase overall persistance.
And The names of the station painted in the hangers seems to be floating off the wall.

 

[Kolato]

More life really.
Maybe some special super rare super expensive ships that you only can find at the edge of civilisation like in Galaxy On Fire.

 

[Armante]

Increase overall persistance.
And The names of the station painted in the hangers seems to be floating off the wall.

So I'm not just imagining it then? They made a change in the kerning they said, but you're right, the wall is curved and the text straight. Annoying.

 

[Erna Jedermann]

Shipnaming...
NPC Crew...
System/Planet Naming ....

 

[Sallen]

Dying needs some love right now (as do many effects that have basically been untouched since beta). I was showing the game to a friend of mine and while he was rightly amazed by most of it, when he saw the die animation he used the word "lame". And he wasn't talking about my dogfighting skills...

 

[easthamd]

Few thing's I would like to see:

- More station variety, as well as stations in various stages of construction. Would be even better if a station is being built, and by bringing it raw materials and metals that station slowly starts to become finished off.

- I agree with the idea of finding alien ruins above. Doesn't need to be anything useful, maybe a few 'alien artifacts' that can be scavenged but it gives a bit of purpose to exploration beyond looking at interesting rocks and stars.

- Perhaps the ability down the line to set up your own outposts, obviously not a huge Orbis station but just a little civilian outpost that you could help nurture. Pushing the frontier of your chosen faction.

- A little more variety in docking bays. Although I get that it makes sense that they are 'standardised', it would be nice for outposts to have more run down interiors while Orbis's have shiny green leafy ones and the like.

 

[Poseidal]

Some Orbis's do look different, I think Trading Post (Delta Phoenicis) looks different and has trees and different colours on the inside. It's the only one I've seen though.

 

[FuZion]

I agree, everything that Frontier have achieved so far is fantastic. The scope & scale alone are hard to comprehend so building it just blows the mind.

I'm spotting a couple of things here & there. I agree with the ship failure aspects. If certain systems fail maybe even just fade out while & let you know that rescue services are on the way. Some ship 'deaths' could even mean your cargo is also saved.

Something else too. The danger. Stars are dangerous, very hot & very dangerous. Black holes on the other hand don't seem very dangerous. That needs addressing. I want to fear black holes, not just head there for a photo shoot.

I'd also like to see buying & selling data done better. Buy/Sell All or maybe radio buttons to select the ones I want to buy or sell then hit some sort of transaction button. And while we're on the same screen a direct link of the galaxy map so we can see where the system is that we're considering buying. Maybe it's on our route, maybe not.

Cmdr FuZion.

 

[ste]

- I agree with the idea of finding alien ruins above. Doesn't need to be anything useful, maybe a few 'alien artifacts' that can be scavenged but it gives a bit of purpose to exploration beyond looking at interesting rocks and stars.

I found some yesterday.

 

[Sav112]

Not played this yet but I was always concerned the Damage model was poor. I always thought after a fight and heavily damaged it would be great to have to fight to save your ship trying to repair systems or limp home. You could send a signal for a repair ship that cost credits to come and help you out.

Just going bang your dead just does not do it for me if the game does that.

 

[ste]

Not played this yet but I was always concerned the Damage model was poor. I always thought after a fight and heavily damaged it would be great to have to fight to save your ship trying to repair systems or limp home. You could send a signal for a repair ship that cost credits to come and help you out.

Just going bang your dead just does not do it for me if the game does that.

You can destroy modules, parts of the ship. Twice I have been left without engines Just floating in space. I managed to dock once but it took 2 hours. There was no option for a rescue ship back then. I'm not sure if there is now either.

You can do repairs in flight with a repair module. Never tried it for ages though as it was pretty ineffectual, it could be better now.

 

[Oppenheimer]

Ship Health Every ship has a health value representing its hull integrity If a ship receives more damage to its hull than its hull integrity health value it breaks apart and is destroyed Larger ships have their hull integrity value split across several hull sections Once a section receives more damage than its total, further damage to it is reduced and spread to adjacent sections All ship modules have a health value representing their state of repair As modules receive damage they increase the probability of malfunctions occurring When a module’s health is reduced to zero it is disabled and cannot be used until repaired at an appropriate dock Some modules cause chain reaction damage on nearby modules when they are disabled Some modules cause catastrophic failure when disabled, destroying the ship in a fiery nova (the power plant, some exotic modules) The commander’s escape system (in normal mode) automatically engages when there is no possibility of ship recovery (power plant detonation, ship and personal life support failure) Damage There are two types of damage: direct damage and fatigue Direct damage occurs as the result of weapon attacks Fatigue occurs as the result of hazardous environments, ranging from running reactors past safety limits to damaging environments both inside and outside the ship Both types of damage affect the ship’s hull or modules health values There is one significant different between the two types of damage: only direct damage can trigger malfunctions in modules Normally, direct damage from weapons must break a shield before it can attack the hull Both the hull and shields are able to soak an amount of damage before it is applied The hull receives an amount of damage that hits it based on its current health (the less damaged the hull is, the more of the incoming damage is applied to it rather than penetrating) Any remaining damage penetrates through and hits a module in the vicinity of the hull strike If there are no modules in the vicinity of the hull strike, this penetrating damage is wasted Some weapons are penetrators, reducing the amount of damage that the hull receives and pushing more through to modules Targeting systems dramatically increase the likelihood of targeted modules receiving penetrating damage Maintenance Both ship hull and modules can be repaired at most docks for appropriate fees Repair modules can be fitted in a ship and used to repair modules flagged by the commander in the systems management interface Repair modules are loaded with a finite resource, which can be restocked at most docks Repair modules cannot repair hull integrity Repair drones can be stored in cargo racks and deployed to repair hull damage to a targeted ship within range (including the commander's ship) Repair drones have charges which can be restocked at most docks Malfunctions As a module’s health is reduced there is an increasing chance that it will suffer a temporary malfunction based off the following triggers The module suffers direct damage The module is powered up The module is activated Malfunctions are temporary debilitating effects The lower the module health the greater the potential severity of malfunction Malfunctions are module specific (e.g. an auto cannon might suffer an ammo feed jam, a sensor unit might display corrupted data, an engine might generate excessive heat Malfunctions can last for a few seconds to several minutes, based on the effect Malfunctions always generate visual/audio feedback so that it is clear abnormal behaviours are active Some malfunctions can be ended early by specific action that commanders can learn (such as switching a module off and back on, refraining from module activation, continuous fire etc.) Some malfunctions can cause additional fatigue or direct damage to other modules A manager oversees malfunctions and weights their occurrences to smooth the pacing of multiple malfunctions (reducing the likelihood of triggering too many malfunctions from minor damage) Most malfunctions can be ended early by repair Some weapons are specifically designed to increase the chance of malfunction when they deal damage directly to modules This then, is what we are currently heading towards. Again, the watchwords for us are interesting events and drama, along with clear meaningful choices. It should be fairly clear that destroying a ship is not going to be a single shot affair – taking into account shields, hull and modules there’s a fair bit of work to be done (as part of this philosophy you can expect to see NPC aggressors sometimes deciding to break off – victory does not necessarily require a grind until total annihilation). As for malfunctions, well, we like them because: They can be varied and offer interesting challenges to the commander Importantly, a commander can learn what they are and often mitigate their effects or work round them (even choosing different modules in an attempt to control what malfunctions can occur) They always trigger based on a legible event They are debilitating, keeping the advantage to the better combatant Because of their transitory and semi-random nature they keep open the potential for a commander to fight back right to the end They are easy for us, as developers to tweak, add and remove But now it’s time for you to concentrate and tell us what you think! Perhaps you have a great idea for an alternative/additive system, or maybe you just want to tell us that the whole thing sucks and is unnecessarily complex. Whether you like what you read or have worries, let us know, and remember, weekends always go down smooth!

[video=youtube;Xg9k7E4ngFw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg9k7E4ngFw[/video] WOW! ALL INGAME FOOTAGE, LOOK AT THE STEAM LEAKING OUT, FIRE, BIG HOLE, CARGO LEAKING OUT!!!! OMG!!! You can destroy modules, parts of the ship. Twice I have been left without engines Just floating in space. I managed to dock once but it took 2 hours. There was no option for a rescue ship back then. I'm not sure if there is now either. You can do repairs in flight with a repair module. Never tried it for ages though as it was pretty ineffectual, it could be better now. wow! awesomelol!

 

[FreeburnSage]

Problem is, you don't really die. Your seat encapsulates and ejects and you end up being revived at a station. Sure, if your canopy blows out and you run out of O2 or your fuel runs out and life support goes down the same I'd love to see a visual of a ship with a frozen remlocked corpse spinning out into deep space with no nearby star in view.. but when the remlock goes critical the escape mechanism activates - which usually involves blowing your ship. You're sat inside a solid space-going structure the size of a moderately large building, not under the canopy of a relatively fragile aircraft.

It can happen by weapons fire or by automatic systems intended to "crack your shell" and allow the capsule to escape.. but whichever way it goes, your ship is going to blow up.

Alright, thanks for the information. I previously did not know that. I had heard something about escape pods, but assumed they were just someone's own interpretation, as there is no animation in-game to lead me to believe it. It'd be nice, then, if we had an animation where we pull the escape pod or it ejects itself and we temporarily see our own ship and the battle we were in (Or just the area if out of fuel/life support) as we float away and lose consciousness.