EGX revelation questions/concerns - On board fighters | Faces | Loot & Crafting

[anikaiful]

While faces for missions and pilot chatter would be nice, it would really only matter to me if there was a persistent NPC element involved so you come to recognize faces.

For example, let's take missions at a station - instead of every mission having a different random face, what if every minor faction had a consistent representative offering missions? So a Station X, where you have three minor factions, any mission provided by X Conservatives uses the same face, while Liberals for X has another face, and the X Gold Gang has a piratey-looking face (alter RNG parameters so that criminal factions get certain features). And you could leave Station X for a month, come back, and those same reps faces would be there.

Otherwise you're just going to recognize that any face you see is utterly meaningless and you will never see it again once you leave the screen.

And in case of some missions which are present now, the station's Commander (or whatever they are called in different jurisdictions), has a "unique" and seldom changing appearance (until he/she gets replaced by a more competent one...).

- - - Updated - - -

My *guess* is that adding a Condor/Insert small ship that fits into Anaconda here, will not tak eup cargo space. I think that space has already been set aside in the location of that cargo door at the bottom of ships that are slated to be able to carry small ships.

ie - That space that is earmarked to carry a ship has been unused space up to this point.

Z...

Some cargo storage should/would/could be used to represent fuel/ammo/etc storage for the craft(s) which are on board (if any).

 

[Zeeman]

For me the Persistent NPC with actual 'supply' and 'loss' values for star system might be enough to get me back into the game. I just don't get excited blasting the same random NPC'c over and over without actually accomplishing anything (other than my fake rank going up).

I also raised...not concerns, maybe restraint is a better term... for the features. Wait and see. I don't really see many people doing inane 'jobs' at a console for hours and hours of super cruise. If they added more features such as directable shields, power routing etc that might create excitement for those firefights you have, but, again...super-snooze could be pretty dull. We will have to see.

Edit: Persistent NPC crew that you can train up would be, I think, more balanced and worthwhile in the long run. Imagine having a valued crew member not like you ethical stance (too many pirate activities) and they decide to leave? Offer them more money, kill them, kill the shipp they take a job with....gotta stop getting positive...keep the neutrality.....

Just to play devil's advocate....

I actually think I prefer the "A man and his ship" thing in this instance. The last thing I want when exploring the galaxy/pirating/trading/bounty hunting is to have some sort of daytime soap opera going down between me, the navigator and the engineer, forcing me to return to base to boot one of them off the ship and hire a new crewmember.

Perhaps a "co-operative crew only" mode for those of us that don't actually want to deal with this sort of drama.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure your idea would be interesting and wonderful, for some, but, like Powerplay, it would be nice if participation was a choice.

Some cargo storage should/would/could be used to represent fuel/ammo/etc storage for the craft(s) which are on board (if any).

all ships are already self contained, though. they already have guns/ammo/fuel...

Unless you mean additional stuff to let you re-supply it? That's fair enough (and a cool concept). Though I suspect a trader, as mentione dbefore, wouldn't give up a single T of cargo for small fighter, or anything to supply it. But we'll see. I like the idea of being able to carry small ships in an Anaconda, even if it means transporting a small ship across the bubble, so I can take my F63 into a conflict zone or something...


Z...

 

[Oheck]

I'm hoping that Cmdrs/NPC faces might appear as a thumbnail during comms, would help the world feel much more alive. Could maybe appear on the display that shows the targeted object or just as an overlay on the HUD.

If they want to place to feel more alive, they simply need to allow us all to be able to communicate, and see each other while online. Simple. There is no global communication or 'lounge' where people can get together or chat (Even though they are once again advertising Elites as a MMO on Steam).

Segregation of player types (Solo, Open). Just think how many more ships we would see flying around if we could also see those players that stay in Solo mode. They should have simply allowed players to opt into a PvP mode or NonPvP mode and keep us all in the same universe and visible.

 

[Zeeman]

If they want to place to feel more alive, they simply need to allow us all to be able to communicate, and see each other while online. Simple. There is no global communication or 'lounge' where people can get together or chat (Even though they are once again advertising Elites as a MMO on Steam).

Segregation of player types (Solo, Open). Just think how many more ships we would see flying around if we could also see those players that stay in Solo mode. They should have simply allowed players to opt into a PvP mode or NonPvP mode and keep us all in the same universe and visible.

Actually, yes. Being able to tlak with my voice instead of *stopping everything* so I can type... ARGH!

I know there are those people that claim they don't want to be bombarded with Xbox kiddies with PC's screaming "do yo noobzez!!!!1111oneoneone", but I'm sure there are ways that can be avoided easily enough. Allow hails to be audible, visual, or both (or neither for those that really don't want to communicate - and fair enough).

But nothing drives me more crazy than having to type to talk to people.

PvP piracy would take on a whole new dimension for those who choose to play open. actually being able to keeps your hands ont he controls (both as pirater and piratee) are of benefit to both. Your negotiation skills will be more able to help you out. Communication between wingmates in battle leads to better co-ordination.


Heck, just chatting to someone on my friends list whilst 65k Ly from Sol means I don't have to waste time sitting dead in space whilst typing, when I could be plotting my next jump....

Z...

 

[Raile]

Now I'm sure everyone is excited about all these new features but there are problems. For example, docked fighters. I'm guessing only small ships can fit in the mouth of the Anaconda. Even so, I'd like to see some bodging action going on, such as jamming a Vulture in there and keeping it locked in place with as much rope, bungee cord and ducttape you can find on station. Maybe we can mount the Cobra as a giant rear spoiler for extra style points and it never hurts to try and glue a clipper on the underside.

Should war ships be the only one to benefit from new docking technology? No, of course not. Let's give the T9 special T6 docking slots along the outer wing so that if you run into pirate trouble, they can undock and scatter to the winds. That said, other ships should be dockable or even stackable. T6's for example. They're already brick shape, let's attach 6 of them in a giant doom block of cargo space and death. We could even dock clipper to clipper pylons and create a geometric nightmare of Imperial might.

 

[excalibus]

While faces for missions and pilot chatter would be nice, it would really only matter to me if there was a persistent NPC element involved so you come to recognize faces.

For example, let's take missions at a station - instead of every mission having a different random face, what if every minor faction had a consistent representative offering missions? So a Station X, where you have three minor factions, any mission provided by X Conservatives uses the same face, while Liberals for X has another face, and the X Gold Gang has a piratey-looking face (alter RNG parameters so that criminal factions get certain features). And you could leave Station X for a month, come back, and those same reps faces would be there.

Otherwise you're just going to recognize that any face you see is utterly meaningless and you will never see it again once you leave the screen.

yes exactly that there should be persistent NPC faces where it matters... that said... not all the BBS missions should be the same faces always... follow me on this a moment

I take on a lot of missions... in the same region of space typically the same stations and same systems involved (growing a minor faction takes dedication no)
Anyway there a some of those mission which would rightly be the same faces... for example a delivery mission or collection mission that only involves the one minor faction should come through their normal mission person, but I also get missions that could be seen as counter acting my minor factions influence in another system (deliver goods from A to B but from minor faction C to minor faction D instead of Minor Faction C to Minor Faction C in the target system... those missions should not really be through the same mission giver, same for assassinations of same faction members should not always come from the same face....

Persistent faces / NPC's should exist I do agree whole heartedly, like in the earlier games where once you found a black market dealer in a system he would always be there on the BBS (same name etc) so really that aspect should stay constant.. perhaps military mission givers should be constant at a given system and this same giver could give assassination missions for rogue military commanders, pirate lords and military advancement missions etc...

Each station on occasion has station named mission givers (XYZ stations Cheif Medical Officer for example) and they should probably be persistant...

There should aslo be an NPC bounties list similar to the current top 5 bounties list, but for persistent NPC's

 

[anikaiful]

But nothing drives me more crazy than having to type to talk to people.

I've never tried, but there's this option to open voice comm instead/in conjunction with typing... Saying, "never tried", because me and my friends use Mumble for comms by default, so, never typing anything... (unless someone's audio system totally borks).

 

[[HJ]-RedRaven]

In a combat situation, sounds good.

But again, if your Condor gets blown up? What happens?


But again, for traders, if there's any real penalty in carrying a fighter, I suspect most simply won't. Why take a big hit on profits to carry a fighter you don't really need?

I'm thinking Condor pilots will have to improve... fast.

Also, I see many more Anaconda's taking fighter support on missions/RES/CZ (with human or AI crew to fly the fighter or the carrier ship) over the T-9. T-9's are cut for freight, not to be pocket carriers.

 

[Calebe]

I see adding faces as something needed, so may as well add them sooner rather then later. The argument Neil can always be made why not do that later and work on something else instead sooner. The thing is you wanted it later, some wanted it sooner, and some wanted it yesterday.
.
The same thing for bobble heads, there have been multiple posts asking for their return. Since they were in Alpha the code was there for them, they just needed an artist to make the new ones and activate the code. I don't see that as a huge job as the work to implement them and place them in the ship was done long ago. All it took was an artist to make the new figures and probably modify the code for location, but I am sure it wasn't a huge job as things go, and I imagine they had a lot of fun working on it and surprising David when done to show off their art talents (as well as get his approval). I am sure there was a lot of smiles all around and people laughing. So I am sure that was a moment of fun for all involved. So I think on many levels this was there way of having some fun with the game, and we are the winners for it that wanted the bobble heads to come back. So a win/win in that respect and lets not deny FD from having a bit of fun making the game. I am sure the entire staff had a lot of fun when they showed it off.
.
As for fighter, there are a lot of reasons a T9 may want one. Want to explore a moon take your fighter down for a look around. Ok so you say you can land your T9 and do the same thing. So you land take the buggy out and find hostile npc's guarding a wreck. They are to strong for your buggy but the fighter in your T9 is perfect for the job so you get it, take them out and get the rewards. Just one scenario I can see where it is useful. One more thing perhaps you can load more then one fighter in a T9? So your go out and are attacked, but not 1 but maybe 3-4-5 fighters launch from your T9. Now your T9 is not just a hauler but also a perfect bounty hunting ship. Can it launch more then one ship? If it can then suddenly the T9 is not such an easy prey if it has multiple fighters. It can be possible. Even if it can hold only 1, who is to say the fighter doesn't have better shields and weapons then in CQC? Perhaps you can buy different versions with enhanced performance and weapons/defenses? Time will tgell of course, but try to thing positive and look beyond the normal and think outside the box.
.
Calebe

 

[NeilF]

Actually on the reason for getting in face generation....



AI is an illegal banned technology in the Elite universe.

This means if the deployed ships are "AI" it's likely not to be in game AI but an NPC, ie a member of your "virtual crew" doing the flying.

So perhaps the face generation is going in at this point to provide a platform from which to generate crew members that are more than just a bit of text?

Yes, I was wondering about that too! And I wondered if that's another reason why they've gone to the lengths of putting in "faces".

Clearly they have AI for NPCs so it wouldn't be a huge leap to have an NPC (AI) take control of your fighter or indeed main ship. And it would be nice to put a face to your NPC

What suggests FD are not thinking of this though is in an interview they're still unclear of what your main ship does if you fly the fighter. Clearly if they were thinking of an NPC taking control of your main ship for you, no such dilemma would exist. Indeed it sounds at the moment FD don't have the answers to the questions being asked along the lines of, what happens to your (main) ship if you fly off in your fighter...

 

[NeilF]

I'm thinking Condor pilots will have to improve... fast.

Indeed (in a CZ) - How long will a Condor last in battle for with 2 or 3 Class 3 lasers hitting it?

I'm thinking Condor pilots will have to improve... fast.

I'm thinking Condor pilots will have to improve... fast.

Also, I see many more Anaconda's taking fighter support on missions/RES/CZ (with human or AI crew to fly the fighter or the carrier ship) over the T-9. T-9's are cut for freight, not to be pocket carriers.[/QUOTE]
Bit confused with this?

Why put yourself in a very weak fighter that could be destroyed in a few seconds, leaving your X hundred million CR Anaconda under AI control? Indeed it would seem even FD aren't quite sure yet what your main ship will being doing when you fly off in the fighter. ie: Will it have AI take over, or will it just sit there doing nothing. Clearly the latter isn't ideal for combat


An obvious use for a fighter would be with a T9 or such, with the option then for the CMDR to leave the T9 (firing away with turrets set to fire at will) and use the fighter for additional defense. This sound viable but:-
- FD seem a little unclear on what your main ship will do. ie: Defend itself or basically do nothing?
- as I mentioned in my OP, if the fighter means a big enough dent on cargo capacity (and/or jump range?) then many CMDRs simply want to dent their trading bottom line I suspect. ie: They can just submit to interdictions and jump away quickly, or even just combat log.

If crime, punishment and piracy was sorted so traders became truly accountable for their own defense, and CMDRS could practice piracy properly, then maybe a lot of this stuff would click into place better. But at the moment it's too vague so traders are happy to even fly around without shields and the like, which doesn't seem right.

 

[nosscar]

Players have been moaning for ages about ED's lack of content, i see some great content in season 2.
Bobbleheads, yeh not too bothered about them, but a great way to raise funds for elite for those that want them, more funds = more features added later.
Faces, too early you say, people have groaned for ages about faceless missions, everything just text based, Faces can change all that, and how can you have multi crew without faces, and also this is a great way to personalise the game just for the player, everyone can be different now. And this brings me to crafting and looting, again this will offer many ways to personalise your ships/weapons.
Looks to me like FD has been listening to the player base, and giving them what they asked for, but as usual you will get some saying oh no, too soon, i didn't want that before this. You can't please everyone all the time, but i think this is at least a good attempt.
From these updates, i can see the opening salvo of lots more gameplay coming out of these alone, and then we also have planetary landings, adding much more content.

 

[Hawkmoon]

I didn't understand the Faces feature. Without being able to get up and walk around the faces part seems a little pointless. I guess the idea is that when you multi-crew you can turn around and look at each other?

Just seems like it's too early.

Everything else I think looks great, especially launching a Condor from an Anaconda

edit: Oh and I have no idea when this is all arriving. They were describing the whole of the season right? So it may be 6 months or so for some of the features. Or are we getting all of the above before the end of the year?

It would make sence for them to get the character generation developed before we get the walkabout features so that is sorted before the next step.

 

[Jason S]

I wonder if the line up of features apart from planetary landings is in response to what SC showed at E3.

 

[NeilF]

From these updates, i can see the opening salvo of lots more gameplay coming out of these alone, and then we also have planetary landings, adding much more content.

Fingers crossed! The worry is the new planetary content is a variation on the current theme. ie: Ground based USS. Imagine if:-
- Finding stuff in your Scarab means firing off a Discovery Scanner highlighting nearby USS?
- Exploiting wrecks means finding them, going to them, and using a "mining laser" to get alloys/metals.
- Finding valuable material on planetary surfaces means finding them, going to them, and using a "mining laser" to get alloys/metals.

Hopefully there's going to be some solid depth/challenge to the new mechanics and environments. My worry would be if they're akin to the depth/style of what's been delivered in Season 1.

- - - Updated - - -

I wonder if the line up of features apart from planetary landings is in response to what SC showed at E3.

When I saw faces, I wondered how much of that choice is a "tactical" move. ie: To give an suggestion of first person play/support.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

I wonder if the line up of features apart from planetary landings is in response to what SC showed at E3.

Considering they have been working on features since last December - no, not really. Also CIG has been going on about multicrew for 2 years now.

 

[Hawkmoon]

Multi-crew is tricky.

How do you make multi-crew worth it more than just bringing a second ship?

Seriously, it's not like cost is a deciding factor - because you can afford everything in the game less then 1-2 weeks.

I think this is more for people who want to have a "party" experience all sitting at their computers but play in the same ship, when the FED Corvette come along I think we might find that a dedicated weapons operator could make a difference over IA control for turrets and while in combat having a second pair of hands for damage control could make all the difference. But in a most of the current ships it would be more of a buddy thing.

 

[nosscar]

I think multi-crew will need more features for ship/weapons control.
It will need new UI's for one thing, like a dedicated weapons panel, or maybe we will get a better scanning mechanic, with more sensors, played on a dedicated panel much like a mini game.
Mining could be much more complicated and skillful, one flying the ship in close, another using a much more complicated mining laser, scanning for the quality cuts.
Turrets could be seperated into port/starboard ect, able to direct all power to one side of the ship by the weapons officer. Lots of possibilities with this for content to be added.

 

[NeilF]

I think multi-crew will need more features for ship/weapons control.
It will need new UI's for one thing, like a dedicated weapons panel, or maybe we will get a better scanning mechanic, with more sensors, played on a dedicated panel much like a mini game.
Mining could be much more complicated and skillful, one flying the ship in close, another using a much more complicated mining laser, scanning for the quality cuts.
Turrets could be seperated into port/starboard ect, able to direct all power to one side of the ship by the weapons officer. Lots of possibilities with this for content to be added.

That's the nub of it! If your other crew have interesting things to do, and can truly contribute to what's being undertake, great!

Clearly no one wants to sit there for an hour move PIP allocation between three capacitors, so it needs to be engaging

If firing a turret can be made fun... Great


But other questions must be:-
- what do the other CMDRs get out of it? Who gets the CRs and kills etc? Just the ship owner?
- how do you get onto their ship? Do you have to be in the same station?
- how do you get off their ship? Be in a station where you have a ship to get off into?
- what happens if your ships CMDRs is not online?
- what if the ships CMDR flies off to the other side of the universe with you?


I suspect it will only work if when you dock (or at the main menu) if you are then invited to a friends ship and you teleport?

 

[nosscar]

That's the nub of it! If your other crew have interesting things to do, and can truly contribute to what's being undertake, great!

Clearly no one wants to sit there for an hour move PIP allocation between three capacitors, so it needs to be engaging

If firing a turret can be made fun... Great


But other questions must be:-
- what do the other CMDRs get out of it? Who gets the CRs and kills etc? Just the ship owner?
- how do you get onto their ship? Do you have to be in the same station?
- how do you get off their ship? Be in a station where you have a ship to get off into?
- what happens if your ships CMDRs is not online?
- what if the ships CMDR flies off to the other side of the universe with you?


I suspect it will only work if when you dock (or at the main menu) if you are then invited to a friends ship and you teleport?

yes lots of questions, as usual with FD, we are teased and it raises lots of questions.
Even this screenshot, what is the panel being used for by the other player.


if anyone can get a clearer close up, would be better.