OverCharged Weapons

[Elan]

I very much enjoy the Overcharged MC on my Cobra!

...I look forward to a time where I can fit them to more of my ships!

 

[Bostlabs]

rather sooner than later but, is there anything designed, planned and to be released sometime post 1.2 that would add depth to ED?

That's probably not a fair question to ask Mike.

 

[drwoo]

For the longest time I had no idea they'd even removed them, I thought people were just having a hard time finding them because they were inherently rare. It took a lot of work creating all those modules and it felt like it had all gone to waste and no one even told me. In any case the new system should be way better and can apply to everything, not just weapons. So you might find a shield generator that generates a much more powerful shield than normal but say isn't as resistant to collisions or something.

I mean no disrespect here.....

However, you work there and you didn't know they were removed? I mean, I get that communication with the community is lacking, but within the same office? That's really scary....

Thanks for letting us know though, been searching for a while for those weapons.

 

[Bostlabs]

It is pretty worrying.
I mean, a designer not being told that a specific gameplay element was outright removed does raise a few red flags.

At least the reason why the change was made was explained, and the fact that they are being open about this communication mishap is a very positive thing, especially in an industry where developers would rather alienate the fanbase rather than admitting any mistake that they made.

Hold on a sec here. As a developer myself (web applications, not game) I can tell you that there were many times that parts of a design were dropped due to one reason or another (too complex, won't fit within the deadline, too expensive...). This decision was made by the client and I don't recall them ever running back to inform the designer or run and tell their future user base. Same thing when the client is making decisions during design phase. I'm part of the project but I don't get informed on the back on forth on that phase (don't want to know either. I've been on projects where I've been both the designer and the developer. It's easier being the developer. None of this 'move this over here... no that doesn't work... move it back... no... move it over there... no.. it should be blue'. )

Sometimes these sections are planned as a later phase of the project. That's just the way it is. Something was causing concern on the overcharged weapons, during beta, that forced FD to remove them (for the time being). As Mike indicated there is a chance that these issues will be addressed and the overcharged weapons could return... Maybe!

BTW; it is always a pleasure working on a project with a Designer. It gives me a perfect model of what is desired.

 

[NeilF]

For the longest time I had no idea they'd even removed them, I thought people were just having a hard time finding them because they were inherently rare. It took a lot of work creating all those modules and it felt like it had all gone to waste and no one even told me. In any case the new system should be way better and can apply to everything, not just weapons. So you might find a shield generator that generates a much more powerful shield than normal but say isn't as resistant to collisions or something.

Sounds great! But I would hope the module information displayed will be improved so we can actually work out the pro's & con's of module mores accurately.

 

[Monk]

Classic...designers vs. developers

Gather your troops, the war continues!

I joke though. It is really good to see such an involved and excited designer. I wonder what kind of limitations development and the Cobra engine have when trying to develop these designs that leads to being cut.

It looks like variety is the name of the game after the basic feature implementations and fixes. Exactly what the game needs!

 

[Apostle]

Any chance of the originals coming back any time while we wait for this new system (that sounds great and would add a lot to the game)?

 

[Huros]

This is not a maybe for the players. It is a must happen. That said it does need prioritising properly on the internal road map.

 

[Poy]

I can speak clearly because we've designed it, but that's as far as it's gotten I'm afraid. I just wanted people to know that despite the variants being gone (for most people) that we were looking at a better way to handle them in future. I've deliberately not gone into too much detail about it because it's incredibly subject to change and/or won't even happen but I have the hope that it will see the light of day at some point. I just don't know when.

Roger that Mike, thanks for the heads up

 

[Cube]

Good lord that's a weight off my mind to hear.

But honestly? Frontier? i say this with utmost love, please understand that, but when your designers don't know a pretty large function has been removed from the game, and your Executive Producer doesn't know they've been removed from the game, you have a massive massive problem with internal communication and you need to get that fixed before you do anything else with the actual game. I mean it goes some way to explaining your external communication woes i guess, but fixing this should probably be top of the list before anything else.

 

[pdizzle]

Similarly, would be absolutely grand that if the station you were sent back to on dying didn't supply them, you lost that particular item (though not necessarily the cash) and had to go back to a standard one. Would give people a pause as to whether dying all the time was a good thing! - Making you watch your six and be wary of things.

Lets not turn this into 50 shades of elite, thanks.

 

[Tas Devil]

That's probably not a fair question to ask Mike.

It's not fair because it touches on such a core problem ?

 

[EUS]

Thanks for the official word, I can now stop looking for these things.

 

[DaveB]

I can speak clearly because we've designed it, but that's as far as it's gotten I'm afraid. I just wanted people to know that despite the variants being gone (for most people) that we were looking at a better way to handle them in future. I've deliberately not gone into too much detail about it because it's incredibly subject to change and/or won't even happen but I have the hope that it will see the light of day at some point. I just don't know when.

Without asking you to spill any more beans, because I know you probably can't/shouldn't, I'd be prepared to make a little wager that this is FAR from the only enhancement to the game that is designed, possibly even requirements-complete, and sitting there on the shelf all shiny and waiting for prioritization, functional spec and some dev-love.

The design team is hardly sitting on their hands all day after all In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if that metaphorical shelf is groaning under the weight.

 

[QuicksilverJPR]

Finally........a proper answer to one of the most asked weapon questions on the forum....Thank You Mike Evans !!!!
I do not mind the timeline for them, just that they are coming back in is fabulous news in itself, plus the little snippit of juicy news you gave us on the future possible module and weapon variants is welcome to many many players wondering what to do with their credits.
Now if Mike could just give us mere mortals an idea if the Large Class 3 and 4 Multi Cannons will ever make it into the game all my wishes will be granted...???????
Pretty please Mike.....with sugar on top and the possible bribe of pizza's and beer...????????
Are they likely to even exist in the game in the foreseeable future Mike.....?????

They wouldn't even have to be multi-cannons per se, but maybe something like the Bofors 40mm. I'd be good with a pair of those!

 

[Titus Balls]

Hold on a sec here. As a developer myself (web applications, not game) I can tell you that there were many times that parts of a design were dropped due to one reason or another (too complex, won't fit within the deadline, too expensive...). This decision was made by the client and I don't recall them ever running back to inform the designer or run and tell their future user base. Same thing when the client is making decisions during design phase. I'm part of the project but I don't get informed on the back on forth on that phase (don't want to know either. I've been on projects where I've been both the designer and the developer. It's easier being the developer. None of this 'move this over here... no that doesn't work... move it back... no... move it over there... no.. it should be blue'. )

Sometimes these sections are planned as a later phase of the project. That's just the way it is. Something was causing concern on the overcharged weapons, during beta, that forced FD to remove them (for the time being). As Mike indicated there is a chance that these issues will be addressed and the overcharged weapons could return... Maybe!

BTW; it is always a pleasure working on a project with a Designer. It gives me a perfect model of what is desired.

As someone who has worked in both game development and web development I can tell you they are not one and the same and actually this is quite concerning.

Websites take weeks to months to build, games take years - designers and developers can't be second guessing each other.

But at the end of this the biggest failure comes down to the project manager who failed to communicate this.

 

[.Stu.]

Wasn't there mission chains in the original Elite to get to things like Military Shields or even thargoid based tech that was better than the "stock?" Modules.

It would be nice to see mission chains with a good back story that take a lot of completing but result in access to other rare modules etc. they couln'dt be too OP due to balance I guess though.

For the longest time I had no idea they'd even removed them, I thought people were just having a hard time finding them because they were inherently rare. It took a lot of work creating all those modules and it felt like it had all gone to waste and no one even told me. In any case the new system should be way better and can apply to everything, not just weapons. So you might find a shield generator that generates a much more powerful shield than normal but say isn't as resistant to collisions or something.

 

[MrK]

I love people commenting like they never do large mistakes themselves every single day @work. Really....

 

[Non Grata]

A dev visits the forum:

Here's some info for you guys (we gather you like it when we share stuff with the community).

We're shocked by your internal communication issues

[wishes he'd never posted]

 

[QuicksilverJPR]

I love people commenting like they never do large mistakes themselves every single day @work. Really....

Umm, I can say with full confidence that I may make less then a singular mistake once a year at worst in my job. The system that I (and others that work with and for me) have put into place is a series of checks and balances, and the job does not go out the door unless those items are met.