Modes The Solo vs Open vs Groups Thread - Mk III

[david6768]

This is where it all goes wrong - people see that blasted MMO tag and expect a scripted/ liner experience.
The term itself has become synonymous with turn your brain off and let someone else drive your imagination.

That term and the ideals of the Elite franchise were never going to mix well. A game that relies on the individual's imagination being sold as a game where people can just switch off and go through the motions of leveling / gear up / raiding and finally moving on to the next one to do the same again.

Even Mystic Meg could have predicted that wasn't going to work out well.

I don't know to me all those quotes about blazing your own trail and use your imagination just = missing content. There has to be an endgame to be able to reach the endgame
Otherwise. I got an adder ok I won the game. I blazed the trail I wanted to blaze. I'm done now move on to another game and I don't think that is the intention

 

[Faded Glory]

I don't know to me all those quotes about blazing your own trail and use your imagination just = missing content. There has to be an endgame to be able to reach the endgame
Otherwise. I got an adder ok I won the game. I blazed the trail I wanted to blaze. I'm done now move on to another game and I don't think that is the intention

There really isn't an 'end game' in Elite games, or at least there never was. You can keep playing after you've reached Elite, become an Admiral or a King, no one will ever tell you that you've won, at least I don't think they will. It's open ended.

To give an example, so far, since the game has been live, players have discovered just over 11 million star systems... Out of 400 billion. Still a bit of exploring to do out there if that's your thing.

 

[Asp Explorer]

I don't know to me all those quotes about blazing your own trail and use your imagination just = missing content. There has to be an endgame to be able to reach the endgame
Otherwise. I got an adder ok I won the game. I blazed the trail I wanted to blaze. I'm done now move on to another game and I don't think that is the intention

That's just it though - for some people, having a maxed-out Anaconda is "end-game" as all they can see is some form of progression and amassing the resources to buy and outfit such a ship to demonstrate a level of "achievement". For others, flying a Beginner Sidewinder repeatedly into the jaws of guaranteed death and escaping due to superior skills and ability is "end-game". For others, taking a ship and going to completely unimagined places is "end-game". For others, flying around and talking with their friends while they pirate n00bs is "end-game". There is no "end-game" in Elite apart from what you yourself decide what that is.

You cannot "win" Elite.

 

[Mouse]

I don't know to me all those quotes about blazing your own trail and use your imagination just = missing content. There has to be an endgame to be able to reach the endgame
Otherwise. I got an adder ok I won the game. I blazed the trail I wanted to blaze. I'm done now move on to another game and I don't think that is the intention

It is like Skyrim, there is so much to do in the world that you can play without ever completing the main quests. Here there is no main story line, any story line there is what you create

 

[Jockey79]

I don't know to me all those quotes about blazing your own trail and use your imagination just = missing content.

This is what separates old gamers from new gamers.



One required use of your own mind.
One requires the use of someone else's mind.

There has to be an endgame to be able to reach the endgame

Why? When I'm enjoying something, I hate it to "end".

Some of the most depressing times I've had in my life are when things ended;

Geared out in WOW, nothing left to reach for,
Max CR and BR in Planetside 1 (Combat Engineer, Werner),
Maxed out the Battleframes I like in Firefall

Looking in a Pizza box to realise I'd just eaten the last slice.
Going to the fridge to grab a beer and seeing the crate is empty (and the shop is closed).

When I enjoy something, I want it to last forever - that is why some people are still playing Freelancer (I was one, until I got ED).
Some folks still play Planetside 1, despite 2 being out. I remember SOE trying to get people to move to EQ2 from EQ1 for years with all sorts of offers and they refused.
I was playing SWG until the moment they turned the servers off.

 

[Asp Explorer]

Going to the fridge to grab a beer and seeing the crate is empty (and the shop is closed).

Urgh! The inhumanity! Always, always keep a bottle of vodka in the freezer for such dire emergencies!

Drunks of Sol approve!

 

[Faded Glory]

Drunks of Sol approve!

Hic.. Seconded.

And all that talk about pizza has gone and made me hungry.

 

[Jockey79]

Urgh! The inhumanity! Always, always keep a bottle of vodka in the freezer for such dire emergencies!

Drunks of Sol approve!

Well, in real dire emergencies, my wife keeps half a dozen WKD blue in for when she fancies a drink.
(She drinks alcohol maybe twice a year, even then 2 or 3 330ml bottles is her limit).

Needless to say, I get the odd telling off when she fancies a drink - and has to go to Asda as hers seem to just vanish into thin air

- - - Updated - - -

Hic.. Seconded.

And all that talk about pizza has gone and made me hungry.

Just finished a peppered ham and colemans mustard sandwich, was yummy

 

[DarkWalker]

I don't know to me all those quotes about blazing your own trail and use your imagination just = missing content. There has to be an endgame to be able to reach the endgame
Otherwise. I got an adder ok I won the game. I blazed the trail I wanted to blaze. I'm done now move on to another game and I don't think that is the intention

I can't tell if the intent with ED is the same, but previous Elite games were in that regard like Simcity, The Sims, Dwarf Fortress, Wing Commander Privateer outside the main story, X3 in sandbox mode, Flight Simulator, Skyrim and Oblivion when ignoring the main plot, etc; games where the player gets to decide what he wants to do, where he can get to. Or not decide and just go where his whims take him; I know I've spent more time just wandering aimlessly across the Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim landscape than I've spent playing any of those games that hold the player's hand the whole time.

So, yeah, not having an explicit end-game might very well be the intention, focusing on the kind of player that sees long lasting value in this kind of free form gameplay.

When I enjoy something, I want it to last forever - that is why some people are still playing Freelancer (I was one, until I got ED).
Some folks still play Planetside 1, despite 2 being out. I remember SOE trying to get people to move to EQ2 from EQ1 for years with all sorts of offers and they refused.
I was playing SWG until the moment they turned the servers off.

I still have Wing Commander Privateer installed, and play it from time to time

 

[Ism]

Solo vs Open Power Play suggestion.

Power Play is much more dangerous in open than solo when undermining for merits in an enemy control system.
A player is much more likely to get interdicted by a player or wing of players because of the huge bounty accumulated and loyalty to their power.
Plus it's a control system, there's a high probability that players will be visiting on a regular basis to redeem their own merits.
In solo, one would generally welcome interdictions since they mostly come from merit qualifying NPC.

Player interdictions are almost impossible to avoid. NPC interdictions rarely succeed.
Ergo, a player that is undermining a power in this way should get double or at least 1-1/2 times the merits for playing in open as the person that plays in solo.

 

[Cody]

Thing is, they nerfed the bacon!

 

[relayer]

The current system of if a fly flaps it wings in Africa it causes a hurricane off the coast of Florida indirect game mechanic just doesn't work for us!

The fact is that it seems to work for the majority of players...

 

[Asp Explorer]

Hic.. Seconded.

And all that talk about pizza has gone and made me hungry.

Have Guinness - booze and food in one

Grouchowinder, the Drunks of Sol mascot - heartily approves! Here is a perfect example of emergency fuel scooping.

 

[Jockey79]

Things that stand out looking at this now;

"superb three dimensional graphics"
"stunning graphics"
"amazing impression of realism"

And they are talking about;



This is why this thread exists, some of us grew up with the above and out of habit our minds are always working, building our own stories and seeing the wonders and treasures in the universe.

And some folks want to be handheld through the game, with big neon signs saying "trade this", "mine that", "shoot this" all over the place.

Nothing wrong with either play style, I have days I'm in the first group and days I'm in the second.
As long as each group leaves each other to get on with it, ED is a great game.

[Top picture is thanks to a Mobius member who posted that on the Mobius Facebook page]

 

[bluejay0013]

Hello all, this is my first post on the forums( well these forums, definitely not on the KSP Forums lol anyway ) I was wondering if capital ships pop up in private group or just in open play, and second question: does anyone have a current list of where these ships are in CZ's? Thanks

 

[relayer]

It is like Skyrim, there is so much to do in the world that you can play without ever completing the main quests. Here there is no main story line, any story line there is what you create

Just for funs, I created a completely-pacifist character in Skyrim - one whose armament was all defensive, did not build any direct combat skills (only evading skills), only used pacifist Spells and carried no weapon. Some of the quests were definitely unobtainable by that character, yet I built him up to lvl 28 before it started to be impossible for him to finish the game quests. Was still silly fun!

 

[Julissa Silver]

The fact is that it seems to work for the majority of players...

Perhaps it just takes an intelligent, creative, self-reliant sort of player to enjoy Elite to the fullest. I think I like that idea a lot.

Although I expect being a drunken, lone, sol-based wolf-like cat made of bacon probably helps too.

 

[Jockey79]

Hello all, this is my first post on the forums( well these forums, definitely not on the KSP Forums lol anyway ) I was wondering if capital ships pop up in private group or just in open play, and second question: does anyone have a current list of where these ships are in CZ's? Thanks

CZs and the content in them (Cap ships) show in Solo, Group and Open.
Each event creates new instances of itself as they are needed, for each player or groups of players.

I don't know where they all are, but Galnet normally has clues.

 

[relayer]

Urgh! The inhumanity! Always, always keep a bottle of vodka in the freezer for such dire emergencies!

Now this is a man who knows the meaning of "be prepared." *thinks about the bottle of vodka in the freezer*

 

[Jockey79]

Just for funs, I created a completely-pacifist character in Skyrim - one whose armament was all defensive, did not build any direct combat skills (only evading skills), only used pacifist Spells and carried no weapon. Some of the quests were definitely unobtainable by that character, yet I built him up to lvl 28 before it started to be impossible for him to finish the game quests. Was still silly fun!

Leveling up in Star Trek Online - only using a shuttle for space missions.
(I'm LTS, so I get the captain's yacht )

Alas, due to trolls, you cannot take them into STFs now (end game raids)