For those who want to play Iron-Man
- Thread starter deMangler
- Start date
When playing Elite I always have a self-enforced IM commander and a casual one. When playing the IM one the first upgrade I buy (after enlarged cargo bay...) ok the second upgrade I buy is a docking computer - not because I am bad at docking but... If he dies... he dies, and what if I just get a finger twitch just as I am entering the bay, or a spider lands on the keyboard, or ...something? Better safe than sorry. 
I occasionly play a variant* of IM in Oolite, and I always dock manually.
*Session-long, no saving allowed.
I have tried playing IM in Oolite but my commanders never get very far. I think that partly due to the analog nature of the controls and partly because I learned to play Elite when I was 15 years old and have been playing ever since that I will never be as good with Oolite as I am with Elite. I have never really found a control method I like.
Also docking in Oolite is more fun than in Elite. In Elite it quickly becomes routine unless you are under fire.
When playing Elite I always have a self-enforced IM commander and a casual one. When playing the IM one the first upgrade I buy (after enlarged cargo bay...) ok the second upgrade I buy is a docking computer - not because I am bad at docking but... If he dies... he dies, and what if I just get a finger twitch just as I am entering the bay, or a spider lands on the keyboard, or ...something? Better safe than sorry.
Manual docking or Docking computer... lets have a flame war
I'll probably do both tbh, in Elite/Oolite I usually dock manually because its just faster but sometimes its cool to sit back and watch the world go by as the computer figures it out
As an inveterate contrabandista (in both BBC Elite and Oolite) I was/am often docking under fire.
For the real IM experience in Oolite, you gotta start in an Adder - and that is harsh!
I've just started doing this. It really is hard and very rewarding. No money at all to start, just a rusty old Adder and a cruddy pulse laser.
Get bustin them roids, boy!
Tip: when docked, check F4 for parcel delivery contracts (they require no cargo space).
<winks, touches nose>
Running narcotics, booze and machinery in the Ararus system. Trading between the Salvage gang, Loving Feline and the trade outpost. Turning a tidy profit too.
It's still going to take forever to buy that Cobra mkI.
After some empirical and quantitative-studies in DayZ ironman-mode will be very interesting to study and to play in. Even for pirates
I think communications will be important(and it will be even more dread/funny if the english is so-so), scanners, friends for protection on trading runs in unsafe areas and of course for the pirate "drop your cargo" (and hope the commander drop it without a fight calculation). And the importance of social skills ("if i let you have half my cargo we both will make a profit).
Those will be amazing moments, the five seconds after the opening of the weapon ports. Its gonna be great
And a really good way of getting friends. For some of us.
I think communications will be important(and it will be even more dread/funny if the english is so-so), scanners, friends for protection on trading runs in unsafe areas and of course for the pirate "drop your cargo" (and hope the commander drop it without a fight calculation). And the importance of social skills ("if i let you have half my cargo we both will make a profit).
Those will be amazing moments, the five seconds after the opening of the weapon ports. Its gonna be great
And a really good way of getting friends. For some of us.
I am hoping that missions etc are tested in E:D IM. It seems to make sense that they would need to be balanced for that, because for missions to be balanced to be beatable only after a few tries makes no sense.
Having said that, it does depend on the commander - you cannot protect players from taking on more than they can chew, and I suppose sometimes you just have to learn from the mistakes of others who died - even if that other was a previous commander of yours....
Having said that, it does depend on the commander - you cannot protect players from taking on more than they can chew, and I suppose sometimes you just have to learn from the mistakes of others who died - even if that other was a previous commander of yours....
I am hoping that missions etc are tested in E:D IM. It seems to make sense that they would need to be balanced for that, because for missions to be balanced to be beatable only after a few tries makes no sense.
Having said that, it does depend on the commander - you cannot protect players from taking on more than they can chew, and I suppose sometimes you just have to learn from the mistakes of others who died - even if that other was a previous commander of yours....
I would like to see mission difficulty be dependant on pay level, with rich missions being absurdly difficult to the point most people would sub-contract a wingman but could just be done by a skilled and lucky pilot alone.
Yep - a consistent correlation between pay and difficulty would be one thing to take into consideration for IM players assessing whether it is a do-able mission, or whether to try it and run at the first sign of trouble. This is important when you don't get a second chance.
I wonder if there will be "trap" missions - where a pilot is offered a mission that is portrayed as an easy run but it really an ambush. Hope there is a way of spotting them, or at least a chance of escape.
I refer you to Fansy the most famous Bard from Everquest who I will repsect and remember forever, and that was over 10 years ago
heh, i remember that bard - had a few tears when he kept on breaking servers and the GMs (game masters) could do nothing to him but because of the sheer volume of complaints they had to shut him down. Much amusement
But for ironman? Unless there is an invulnerable clause added to the game, then the "Fansy's" among us would be ineffective. Besides, the difference in game mechanics just wouldn't allow it.
Since "dying" in IM resets you to normal, i can't see the disadvantage of starting out that way. The real challenge would be in continuing, by the time you've an established ship then any basic starter ship would have to catch you afk to win... Maybe you'll annoy someone enough that they come hunting for you in a pack of IM starters
I think that is how griefing would not be too much of a problem in IM - Sure maybe someone goes psychotic and starts randomely killing in a starter system but he wouldn't last long enough to get hard. Even if a seasoned player with an Iron Ass goes mental he would either be run out to the frontier systems or killed. It would add richness and gameplay rather than detract from it.heh, i remember that bard - had a few tears when he kept on breaking servers and the GMs (game masters) could do nothing to him but because of the sheer volume of complaints they had to shut him down. Much amusement
But for ironman? Unless there is an invulnerable clause added to the game, then the "Fansy's" among us would be ineffective. Besides, the difference in game mechanics just wouldn't allow it.
Since "dying" in IM resets you to normal, i can't see the disadvantage of starting out that way. The real challenge would be in continuing, by the time you've an established ship then any basic starter ship would have to catch you afk to win... Maybe you'll annoy someone enough that they come hunting for you in a pack of IM starters
Gangs of gankers in starter ships would also be no match for a few well equipped bounty hunters so again it sorts itself out.
The only problem comes when players become immortal, so they can just respawn and keep their stuff and grief again.