Update Dev Update - 16.04.2015

[Blackfoxx]

It really was long overdue that mining got some love, it needed it on a major scale as it was without question an aspect of the game in ED that was pushed aside by anyone playing the game as something that was

a) too time consuming when you considered the return for effort put in
b) far too fiddly with regards chipping bits off asteroids to determine the content before proceeding to mine
c) Fiddly for recovery of the bits you chip off and not enough chipped off resulting mostly in point a)

Not sure if FD have opted to help in one or two other areas, but i wonder if any thought has been put towards the possibility of:

i) Allow for the hud to register the last 10 asteroids you've been to and allow you to mark them as either 'empty/dead', or 'of no interest'
ii) Missions for mining which result in higher returns for those people who return the items mined from asteroids
iii) Fossils (of high scientific value), high value random finds.

 

[Snicker]

Awesome news! Great for me who loves resource gathering. But I'm still VERY skeptical to the consumable drone thing.

 

[Tinman]

i guess thargoids didnt make this time around? i know there are other aliens species that were announced, perhaps of them made it?

IF (or when) they have "made it" I certainly hope FD won't tell us about it...that's something we should find out in-game.

 

[AgentK]

I reported a bug in pre-Alpha that still isn't fixed.

Are you playing Forum Bingo? That post was brilliant!

Spoiler

View attachment 29800

You missed Thargoids?

 

[Michael Brookes]

If this has been asked then I apologise. But with regards to drones taking up 1 cargo space, does that mean miners will now pick up 1 x ore instead of partial amounts? Otherwise you could use alot of drones to ore ratio.

No that hasn't changed - ore is put into the refinery hoppers. For mining I'd expect people to use the area collect mode so it can collect as many chunks as possible. Targeted mode is when you have to grab something quickly.

Michael

 

[CmdrPSB]

You missed Thargoids?

They'll be added soon.

 

[Steve50]

Awesome news! Great for me who loves resource gathering. But I'm still VERY skeptical to the consumable drone thing.

You and me both, I enjoy mining as-is, but of course they had to appease the ones who constantly moan it's too hard/slow/unprofitable. Because you know, it's not like they can ignore mining if they find it boring and do something else to earn credits, they simply have to insist on changing it for everyone.

..I personally find trading to be dull as dishwater and awful, maybe I should constantly moan about it and get that changed to suit me. ..oh wait no, I'll simply ignore it and do something I do like instead.

 

[Tinman]

You and me both, I enjoy mining as-is, but of course they had to appease the ones who constantly moan it's too hard/slow/unprofitable. Because you know, it's not like they can ignore mining if they find it boring and do something else to earn credits, they simply have to insist on changing it for everyone.

..I personally find trading to be dull as dishwater and awful, maybe I should constantly moan about it and get that changed to suit me. ..oh wait no, I'll simply ignore it and do something I do like instead.

By that logic you can of course also ignore the new drones and modules that 1.3 will bring and keep on mining as you have always done.

 

[Commander Halley]

That's correct, but the cargo space used by the drones would be filled by whatever they are collecting - more if they are in area collect mode.

Michael

Why not have one drone that redocks after you use it, like we'd expect?

 

[wstephenson]

Given the name I'm assuming Faulcon DeLacy, Lakon or ZPG.

In last night's twitch stream, Jim Croft lets slip that as the audio designer for Lakon vessels, he's done the Diamondback audio:

http://www.twitch.tv/elitedangerous/v/4063100

 

[Cosmo]

The detection of them makes no sense - Fly at 30 km/s and they'll pop up every few seconds. Fly at 2000c and guess what? They'll pop up every few seconds. And are these much bigger contacts that you can make out at that speed? Are you simply missing all the smaller ones you saw at 30km/s? Nope, they're exactly the same. So think about it, flying at 2000c, compared to 30km/s your screen should be literally full of USS if there was any sense behind their distribution. And they all contain the same few scenarios. And why are there trillions of people just sitting parked in space? And why can't other people see the same USS as me? It all screams cheap game mechanic. As a placeholder it was fine and I see Michael's update as a move into delivering things in a much better way. USS have their place but they need consistency (if I see 1 or 2 every few seconds at, say, 50c then it should take me hours or days to see one at 30km/s and their visibility should be tied to their size/signal). They should also be persistent (for a reasonable time). They should be visible to all players in the same instance. They should not be used as a primary delivery system for mission goals (this is coming, thankfully).

Yes there should be a limited amount of USS per star system and they should make sense in context to the star system. Each USS needs random scenarios and events. The NPCs shouldn't appear out of nowhere endlessly. Add a limit to NPCs per USS and when it's depleted a new USS could spawn somewhere else.

 

[Ben Ryder]

I almost posted in the basically happy thread.... must resist until smuggling get sorted

 

[Fyrd Judge]

Some great stuff coming, Impatiently waiting now for the surprises. Hope one of the surprises is a universal drone which was able to be used by explorers to swarm planets in a system.

 

[betc]

Sounding very good. Michael is the issue with not being able to select a star to plot course on the galaxy map getting fixed?

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Why not have one drone that redocks after you use it, like we'd expect?

It doesn't have docking space. It is placed into cargo bay when bought and replace itself with content it retrieves.

- - - Updated - - -

In last night's twitch stream, Jim Croft lets slip that as the audio designer for Lakon vessels, he's done the Diamondback audio:

http://www.twitch.tv/elitedangerous/v/4063100

I think it was identified unmistakenly as Lakon before Nice to see that confirmed (yes, I have to rewatch stream, I was busy during it).

 

[Weps]

Why not have one drone that redocks after you use it, like we'd expect?

I am wondering too why they chose this road. It can't be a matter of balance. Since you require additional equipment to control the drones, it's not like players don't have to make sacrifices to use them. Maybe it's a matter of implementation.

 

[jabokai]

It doesn't have docking space. It is placed into cargo bay when bought and replace itself with content it retrieves.

The whole "consumable drone" thing can easily be replaced with a small batch of reusable drones (e.g. 5) that take up 1 cargo slot. The idea that a 400 tonne mining vessel with go out with 400 tonnes of drones is a bit silly at best. Rather, it should have 50 drones (or whatever the player decides is prudent) and their accompanying docks/hardware that take up 10 slots permanently (for example). The drones would be destructible and subject to wear and tear, but not one-shot items currently planned.

IMHO.

 

[Snicker]

It doesn't have docking space. It is placed into cargo bay when bought and replace itself with content it retrieves.

And that sounds okei to you?

 

[wstephenson]

I am wondering too why they chose this road. It can't be a matter of balance. Since you require additional equipment to control the drones, it's not like players don't have to make sacrifices to use them. Maybe it's a matter of implementation.

I have a feeling that choosing one-shot drones solves a lot of hard entity replication and consistency issues, eg multiplying drones due to network disconnects.

 

[NeilF]

The whole "consumable drone" thing can easily be replaced with a small batch of reusable drones (e.g. 5) that take up 1 cargo slot. The idea that a 400 tonne mining vessel with go out with 400 tonnes of drones is a bit silly at best. Rather, it should have 50 drones (or whatever the player decides is prudent) and their accompanying docks/hardware that take up 10 slots permanently (for example). The drones would be destructible and subject to wear and tear, but not one-shot items currently planned.

IMHO.

It is the most obvious/logical approach... so there must be a game design/mechanic reason for not going down that path?

I too don't understand why we can't simply buy a module dedicated for drones, and it comes in different sizes with say 1-4 drones?

But hey, I guess we need to see the suggested disposable drones in action first?