True SP version

[Pyros]

No. The save file would be ridiculously big.

Actually, I'm not sure of this (the impact of perpetual player objects in the savegame size). I remember that in Morrowind/Oblivion your dropped items didn't disappear (well, mostly ) and the gamesaves were feasible.

And while Bethesda does make very good games, I don't consider them half good coders in terms of quality and producing efficient code.

 

[Jonbe54]

TBH I can see the merit of a single player version. I really, really dislike the current concept of fragmenting the userbase accross arbitrary groupings. Then allowing people to switch on a whim, thereby removing all sense of achievement. The 'everyone is ELITE they're just different' nonsense proposed is also irksome. Why not just stick to tradition and make ELITE actually mean something? I dislike Iron Man; I love and am Iron Manly, I just fail to see why its a good thing to further fragment the playerbase! If you want to play Iron Man, then just start again when you die. Also if you think you won't be murdered by a sociopath in Iron Man for lolz, using a throwaway character, you're mistaken..

A single player game built for all the people who don't want to play with others, who want zero real consequence, no real loss, managed risk and 'easy' ways to grind to Elite Trader or whatever nonsense, makes sense. By all means I respect your right to choose how you play! So. Since its impractical to develop two versions for what will be a small target audience please just make group selection permanent on each character profile. You at least then make it so folks have to play a certain way, that doesn't always suit them, if they opt in to certain groups. It also means being ELITE in the balls-deep group means something and is a meaningful and (sufficiently rare) worthy goal.

It also means those of us living remote from large servers have to put up with lag consequences.

One size doesn't fit all, and very far from it.

Having to be dependant on net based updates is my ONLY concern with the game, as I'm not only in Australia but 300K from my nearest capital city.

 

[Stachel]

It also means those of us living remote from large servers have to put up with lag consequences.

One size doesn't fit all, and very far from it.

Having to be dependant on net based updates is my ONLY concern with the game, as I'm not only in Australia but 300K from my nearest capital city.

I'm sorry you live on the dark side of the moon and/or in a third world country, but I'm afraid the rest of the western world has kinda moved on since 1997.

 

[Jonbe54]

I'm sorry you live on the dark side of the moon and/or in a third world country, but I'm afraid the rest of the western world has kinda moved on since 1997.

Sorry you are ignorant enough to think/say Australia is a third world country.

IGNORED.

 

[Stachel]

Sorry you are ignorant enough to think/say Australia is a third world country.

IGNORED.

You seem mad.

 

[Shishakli]

in a third world country,

That's AUSTRALIA to you

But seriously, Internet in Australia is embarrassing and will only get worse with the current government...

But I DID want to point out that the "matchmaking" system will prioritise based on latency... so you should find yourself paired up with people in your area (Remember that the multiplayer is Peer to Peer... so abysmal pings from AUS to UK shouldn't matter)

EDIT: I don't mind the colony bashers I'm convict and proud

 

[[VR] Shadowman]

I was wondering how many of us would love to get a true single player version of Elite Dangerous released. A game not held back by it's multiplayer big brother, but richer for all the single players out there due to the following features ;

- Stardreamer returns. The ability to pause, speed, or slow time in the game.
- No object speed limits, with the ability to implement faster drives to travel between star systems.
- Have multiple game state save options. Currently restricted to one (last dock point).
- Objects left in the game by the player are not reset. True perpetual universe.
- Moddable. Allowing customised changes and content from the Elite community. Options of new or modified ships, missions, weapons or even flight physics all developed and maintained by the Elite community.

I wouldn't imagine these features would be difficult to implement, and the MP crowd are kept happy as it does not affect their major release. As an SP offline version is going to happen anyway, why not do it right from the start ?

I'm just gonna leave <Link removed - Styggron> here...

 

[Stachel]

That's AUSTRALIA to you

But seriously, Internet in Australia is embarrassing and will only get worse with the current government...

But I DID want to point out that the "matchmaking" system will prioritise based on latency... so you should find yourself paired up with people in your area (Remember that the multiplayer is Peer to Peer... so abysmal pings from AUS to UK shouldn't matter)

EDIT: I don't mind the colony bashers I'm convict and proud

I would think that the P2P aspect will be quite effective at eliminating geographical based latency issues. It will probably actively sort people in to swarms where the latency is lower utilizing other's in the swarm as relays rather than sending 1 set of packets to a remote host etc.

Of course the elephant in the room is that if you use P2P for multiplayer instancing, you can pretty much guarantee packets will be injected/sniffed etc. Any kind of client side data processing is exploitable. The weakness of P2P. In short expect baggery of epic proportions before long unless there is some kind of sophisticated obfuscation or encryption. Which there won't be because that just creates more latency ..

 

[-o-]

Most changes will be made by the community via mods. Just look at what improvements the Skyrim, Freelancer, and Oolite modders have made to their games. I feel it would be wasted resource not to involve the passionate Elite community in customised code modifications. After all, its the community who KS funded ED, and FD have already allowed the community to contribute further at the design level.

If they don't have the resources to make any changes themselves, then at least they can allow enough scope for modders to do it. They have already indicated they will provide dev kits for such mods after the initial release. Without the requirement for MP consistency holding them back, my guess is that most of these mods will be for SP.

I do find it interesting that given the choice, most single players at this stage seem happy with what has been offered. That is, they prefer not to use the improved changes listed in the OP. From my understanding the only reason these features are not already in place (except perhaps the true persistent universe) is due to MP/networking reasons ... reasons irrelevant to the single player, but applied nonetheless. I can't help but wonder what this game could have been if it were not held back by it's MP needs. At the same time, I understand MP is important to many gamers, and more importantly, it's developer.

I am not suggesting any changes be made to the MP game, just that it's SP version be released from its shared cage and allowed to roar.

 

[Dejay]

then at least they can allow enough scope for modders to do it.

I really do hope they will make the game thoroughly moddable. It doesn't bode well that modding support isn't in the first release and DB said that something about modding support to be expensive to offer.
It all depends on what API the mod "sdk" will have and what will be hardcoded in the game itself. And what they might choose to restrict. I'm not sure if it's just the community or frontier development itself, but it seems there is bit of a "defensive" mindset about what the game should be, and what it absolutely never ever must be

 

[Styggron]

I was wondering how many of us would love to get a true single player version of Elite Dangerous released. A game not held back by it's multiplayer big brother, but richer for all the single players out there due to the following features ;

- Stardreamer returns. The ability to pause, speed, or slow time in the game.
- No object speed limits, with the ability to implement faster drives to travel between star systems.
- Have multiple game state save options. Currently restricted to one (last dock point).
- Objects left in the game by the player are not reset. True perpetual universe.
- Moddable. Allowing customised changes and content from the Elite community. Options of new or modified ships, missions, weapons or even flight physics all developed and maintained by the Elite community.

I wouldn't imagine these features would be difficult to implement, and the MP crowd are kept happy as it does not affect their major release. As an SP offline version is going to happen anyway, why not do it right from the start ?

In an ideal world.
Yes to most things you listed but reality sinks in and we can't get everything we want.

ED will have a great SP experience for people like us (SP offline) I'm sure.

Yes I would love the stardreamer back for SP offline people so I can sit and watch sunrises so I see your point fully.

 

[Styggron]

On another note.

Several posts have not been too kind on this thread. The OP has valid points and sniping comments do not serve anyone well.

I would remind everyone of the forum rules and please be respectful to each other.

 

[Karnak]

I think people are greatly overestimating the number of players they will be running into. The galaxy is a very, very, very, big place. I expect that the multiplayer game will be, for the most part, played in single player simply due to the scale of the game world.

 

[Stachel]

I think people are greatly overestimating the number of players they will be running into. The galaxy is a very, very, very, big place. I expect that the multiplayer game will be, for the most part, played in single player simply due to the scale of the game world.

Very very big ... and very very empty. The core 100 stars will be the most busy with the bulk of the player population centered on the key regional capitals and their satellite 20-30 systems. Very few people will venture beyond the frontier as there won't be any markets out there. The majority of players will want to interact with and encounter other players and of those the biggest group will be trading goods between stars and so won't venture too far off the beaten path.

 

[Styggron]

Yes the Elite universe will indeed be huge with MP interactions being significantly less the further out you get.

Ok now If we can please get back on topic with this thread please.

 

[-o-]

Dug up this Reddit Q&A to DB ...

" would you consider supporting time advancement in single player? If not, since I believe you are going to the trouble of modelling celestial bodies accurately (including their motion presumably), how would this be visible to the player, since with time running at normal speed orbital motion would be almost imperceptible?"

and his answer ...

"We have been thinking about this. We don't have a solid answer yet, but having an in-game orrery via the map may be possible."

Would have loved to have ears during the brainstorming at that meeting. Reading between the 2 lines, it seems like unless the improvement can also be technically applied to the MP game, it will not be applied at the SP mode by FD.

Seems like the only hope for an improved SP experience lies with the release of user developed mods, rather from FD themselves.

 

[Chock]

The galaxy is a very, very, very, big place.

Nah. Galaxy's weigh 125 grams, and they're only about six inches long. However, the foil wrapper can be used as makeshift re-entry shielding in a pinch if your ship is very tiny and you don't mind getting a bit of chocolate on its hull.

Look: http://www.galaxychocolate.co.uk/index.aspx

 

[Robert Maynard]

Nah. Galaxy's weigh 125 grams, and they're only about six inches long. However, the foil wrapper can be used as makeshift re-entry shielding in a pinch if your ship is very tiny and you don't mind getting a bit of chocolate on its hull.

Also available in 390g - if you need a bigger heat shield....

 

[Chock]

You could, for a bit of sartorial elegance use the foil from an aero, however, if you are not with the federation, and depending on the flavour, your ship may end up being a mint Imperial

 

[Stormprooter]

SP Offline with no internet connection required to start the game is a must for me, as I tend to spend a lot of the summer down my caravan, where there is no internet, apart from a very weak and intermittent gprs signal. Being able to play E : D in true SP offline mode would be great.