How will 1.5 and Horizons "interact" (if at all)?

[EDbubba]

When Horizons lands, there will be two cohorts of players, those with "Classic" ED, locked at 1.5, and those with Horizons.

Will they be two distinctly different games, with players of either being in different, but parallel universes, or will 1.5 players just not "see" Horizons additions?

Will a Horizons player be able to move back & forth between releases, keeping their character intact? (if they wanted to play with 1.5 players for a bit, for example...)


Although there would be a virtual mutiny, Horizons looks like a good opportunity to wipe the slate and start everyone back at zero, removing the litany of exploits and dumb development decisions that led to massive wealth generation "hacks" in releases pre 1.4

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Was answered in a live-stream. All in same galaxy but there will be a barrier to those without Horizons entering planets.
Imagine it like not having a permit to get into Sol system, your wingmate who has the permit gets in without issue, you without get an "access denied".

There is a thread somewhere about an optional re-set, it seems some players will be if you fancy joining them.

 

[Sugarat]

They will all be in the same game, just as now.. except Horizons owners can land on planets..

 

[andrak]

When Horizons lands, there will be two cohorts of players, those with "Classic" ED, locked at 1.5, and those with Horizons.

Will they be two distinctly different games, with players of either being in different, but parallel universes, or will 1.5 players just not "see" Horizons additions?

Will a Horizons player be able to move back & forth between releases, keeping their character intact? (if they wanted to play with 1.5 players for a bit, for example...)


Although there would be a virtual mutiny, Horizons looks like a good opportunity to wipe the slate and start everyone back at zero, removing the litany of exploits and dumb development decisions that led to massive wealth generation "hacks" in releases pre 1.4

What about the people who have poured 1000s of hours into the game to earn their wealth legitimately, just screw them eh?

To do a wipe would be corporate suicide for the game, never going to happen.

 

[Scruluse]

Although there would be a virtual mutiny, Horizons looks like a good opportunity to wipe the slate and start everyone back at zero, removing the litany of exploits and dumb development decisions that led to massive wealth generation "hacks" in releases pre 1.4

Personally I don't give a squat how many credits another player has accumulated. It doesn't affect me in the slightest.

 

[EDbubba]

Was answered in a live-stream. All in same galaxy but there will be a barrier to those without Horizons entering planets.
Imagine it like not having a permit to get into Sol system, your wingmate who has the permit gets in without issue, you without get an "access denied".

OK, but at some point it's going to get weird as the two streams diverge even further.

Would the ability to "walk around" your ship be limited to Horizons (or higher) owners, or is it just the moon-landing "feature"?

There's a lot more to this that appears at first; trying to maintain parallel, but distinct feature-sets, and allow interaction between the two (particularly at a player-level) is going to be a very difficult process, rife with risks and compromises.

I guess we'll see how it goes, but it could get messy, or in the long-term turn into another "We've decided to drop the single-player aspect" debacle.

 

[smintili]

I've been asking myself for the past few days if it'll be possible if I have Horizons and a friend hasn't, can I still invite him onto my bridge once the multi-crew update (which is part of Horizons, for those who have forgotten because of OH MY GOD PLANETS! ) is released?

 

[Cynaqq]

OK, but at some point it's going to get weird as the two streams diverge even further.

Would the ability to "walk around" your ship be limited to Horizons (or higher) owners, or is it just the moon-landing "feature"?

There's a lot more to this that appears at first; trying to maintain parallel, but distinct feature-sets, and allow interaction between the two (particularly at a player-level) is going to be a very difficult process, rife with risks and compromises.

I guess we'll see how it goes, but it could get messy, or in the long-term turn into another "We've decided to drop the single-player aspect" debacle.

You are overthinking things. Some people will get to land on planets and do stuff with things they obtain from there. Other people will not be able to do those things. If they really want to do those things, then they'll have to cough up the money and get on the next ship to a planet surface.

You expect the developers to make it so there's just no incentive to buy expansions? They somehow have to continue to make money. Therefore they somehow make it interesting enough so people will buy stuff. If you don't think the additions are not worth a purchase, then by all means, hold on to your money.

 

[Wescott]

OK, but at some point it's going to get weird as the two streams diverge even further.

Would the ability to "walk around" your ship be limited to Horizons (or higher) owners, or is it just the moon-landing "feature"?

There's a lot more to this that appears at first; trying to maintain parallel, but distinct feature-sets, and allow interaction between the two (particularly at a player-level) is going to be a very difficult process, rife with risks and compromises.

I guess we'll see how it goes, but it could get messy, or in the long-term turn into another "We've decided to drop the single-player aspect" debacle.

Perhaps in time Horizons will become available to all either at a very discounted price or for free when the next latest season is developed, this is just my speculation mind, not fact. but it may be one possibility FD would consider.
Also don't forget, Horizons is aimed at 64 bit systems, so keeping the main game at 32 bit helps those who are at a disadvantage currently in not having 64 bit system atm thus buying them some more time to consider the upgrade required, and avoids alienating them away from a game they may be really enjoying.

 

[Hexcaliber]

Horizons does more than add landing on planets, over time it will include a crafting system and other changes, 12 months worth of updates not available to owners of the base game.

Then, at this time next year there will be another paid for season of updates introduced under a different name adding more planned content, and so it will continue until they have included everything they have planned for the game. Such as FPS combat, AI wingmen, and AI crew, ship boarding combat and a stack of other features; most of which can be found by trolling through the design discussion archive which contains an archive of the threads outlining their plans as they were presented back in closed beta.

The lifetime pass cost £130 and that was offered to reduce the overall cost of having to pay for all the planned seasons updates, Horizons is just the first of many.

 

[EDbubba]

You are overthinking things. Some people will get to land on planets and do stuff with things they obtain from there. Other people will not be able to do those things. If they really want to do those things, then they'll have to cough up the money and get on the next ship to a planet surface.

You expect the developers to make it so there's just no incentive to buy expansions? They somehow have to continue to make money. Therefore they somehow make it interesting enough so people will buy stuff. If you don't think the additions are not worth a purchase, then by all means, hold on to your money.

I have two accounts with Horizons already, but the real issue is how the two "versions" will interact (if at all).

I had assumed that it would simply be two distinct, but parallel universes that each game occupies, 1.5 being as we experience it now, and Horizons being an extended "feature-set", but having zero connection back to 1.5 players or vice-versa. That, to me, would be a very big motivator for people to upgrade since they would have no interaction with the Horizons players, and the 1.5 player base would slowly dwindle as time went by.

Having to maintain "compatibility" between user "levels" seems like a lot of unnecessary and complex work.

 

[babelfisch]

I have two accounts with Horizons already, but the real issue is how the two "versions" will interact (if at all).

I had assumed that it would simply be two distinct, but parallel universes that each game occupies, 1.5 being as we experience it now, and Horizons being an extended "feature-set", but having zero connection back to 1.5 players or vice-versa. That, to me, would be a very big motivator for people to upgrade since they would have no interaction with the Horizons players, and the 1.5 player base would slowly dwindle as time went by.

Having to maintain "compatibility" between user "levels" seems like a lot of unnecessary and complex work.

It's the other way around. Maintaining two different universes with different states, PP and developing story would be unnecessary and complex work. Allowing someone to buy a planetary approach module is not so difficult.

 

[DaveB]

Non-horizons will play exactly as it does now. You will never know if the player you encounter has horizons or not until the pair of you approach a planet in SC and while you emergency drop at the green line and find yourself in normal space, he swans off into orbital cruise. Similarly, he won't ever know that you don't have horizons unless you tell him up until that same point. You're in the same universe, can be instanced together if the conditions for it are met just as now.

I fully expect this principle to extend into other seasons, with season 1, season 2 and season 3 players all being able to play together so long as they are playing somewhere that the season 1 player can reach. Fly down to a planet and the season 1 player is scraped off at the orbital cruise boundary. Land and drive their SRVs to the lip of a crater containing a base and (assuming that walking around the environment is a season 3 feature) the season 2 player gets to stay put in their SRV and occupy the base defenses while the season three player has the option of sneaking in on foot to disable the defense control center, but will have to walk back to their SRV and get back in before they can interact with their season 2 team-mate again.

 

[Bacalao]

Although there would be a virtual mutiny, Horizons looks like a good opportunity to wipe the slate and start everyone back at zero, removing the litany of exploits and dumb development decisions that led to massive wealth generation "hacks" in releases pre 1.4

Why does this keep coming up? I've never seen this in another game forum. It's so preposterous. Should they wipe all WoW toons every xpac (a game with much heavier inter-player dependencies, no solo mode there). Should they have reset all my Destiny characters when TTK launched because at some point in year one there was a "loot cave"(google it if you care)? Should they have reset all Borderlands characters every expansion? What about Skyrim and Fallout? Should they reset all those characters? Oh, wait, Bethesda games never have bugs or exploits that let players advance quickly or get advanced gear that actually breaks/trivializes the game rather than just leapfrogging some of a grind....
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Seriously, I just don't understand where this universal reset idea keeps coming from, it's ridiculous.

 

[Kayweg]

Horizons does more than add landing on planets, over time it will include a crafting system and other changes, 12 months worth of updates not available to owners of the base game.

Then, at this time next year there will be another paid for season of updates introduced under a different name adding more planned content, and so it will continue until they have included everything they have planned for the game. Such as FPS combat, AI wingmen, and AI crew, ship boarding combat and a stack of other features; most of which can be found by trolling through the design discussion archive which contains an archive of the threads outlining their plans as they were presented back in closed beta.

The lifetime pass cost £130 and that was offered to reduce the overall cost of having to pay for all the planned seasons updates, Horizons is just the first of many.

Not all season 2 content will be exclusive to season 2 owners.
Crafting will also be accessible to base ED players.
Also the synthesis materials will eventually become available to them, even though they initially only can be found planet side in Horizons.
They will become obtainable from elsewhere in the future.
When and how hasn't been stated yet though.
I don't share the OP's worries, not for now anyway.
Even Horizons players won't just disappear and keep sharing the same universe as base ED players, especially after the initial PL fascination has worn off a bit.
I have played and play various MMOs to which i don't own all expansions, if any, and i haven't had any of the problems OP is concerned about.

 

[SpitTheDog]

I have two accounts with Horizons already, but the real issue is how the two "versions" will interact (if at all).

I had assumed that it would simply be two distinct, but parallel universes that each game occupies, 1.5 being as we experience it now, and Horizons being an extended "feature-set", but having zero connection back to 1.5 players or vice-versa. That, to me, would be a very big motivator for people to upgrade since they would have no interaction with the Horizons players, and the 1.5 player base would slowly dwindle as time went by.

Having to maintain "compatibility" between user "levels" seems like a lot of unnecessary and complex work.

There isn't a compatibility issue here. The fact they have them co-existing is them delivering on a promise to support those that bought ED. It means as the new seasons get added, those that stay on the original season will get incremental updates so that everyone can still play together.

ED as it is today is the base game engine. Everything else is just a new area in which to play.

I've played hundreds and hundreds of hours on this game. I'm not resetting for anyone!

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I have two accounts with Horizons already, but the real issue is how the two "versions" will interact (if at all).

I had assumed that it would simply be two distinct, but parallel universes that each game occupies, 1.5 being as we experience it now, and Horizons being an extended "feature-set", but having zero connection back to 1.5 players or vice-versa. That, to me, would be a very big motivator for people to upgrade since they would have no interaction with the Horizons players, and the 1.5 player base would slowly dwindle as time went by.

Having to maintain "compatibility" between user "levels" seems like a lot of unnecessary and complex work.

There isn't a compatibility issue here. The fact they have them co-existing is them delivering on a promise to support those that bought ED. It means as the new seasons get added, those that stay on the original season will get incremental updates so that everyone can still play together.

ED as it is today is the base game engine. Everything else is just a new area in which to play.

I've played hundreds and hundreds of hours on this game. I'm not resetting for anyone!

 

[Jex =TE=]

What about the people who have poured 1000s of hours into the game to earn their wealth legitimately, just screw them eh?

To do a wipe would be corporate suicide for the game, never going to happen.

It's laughable to think people think this is a fair option as well. Who are these mysterious people that got so much money and who gives a stuff. At some point everyone is going to have more money than they can use and it will be pointless but that's not the real point which is that another players wealth doesn't affect us. If it really was that bad, people playing the game 10 times more than anyone else would be playing unfairly?

Though I fully support an FD April Fools joke to put us all back in sidewinders! God, that would be hilarious

 

[jabberwalkie]

I have two accounts with Horizons already, but the real issue is how the two "versions" will interact (if at all).

I had assumed that it would simply be two distinct, but parallel universes that each game occupies, 1.5 being as we experience it now, and Horizons being an extended "feature-set", but having zero connection back to 1.5 players or vice-versa. That, to me, would be a very big motivator for people to upgrade since they would have no interaction with the Horizons players, and the 1.5 player base would slowly dwindle as time went by.

Having to maintain "compatibility" between user "levels" seems like a lot of unnecessary and complex work.

I see no reason for two parallel universes to exist. You will still have to traverse in space to stations and planets so there will still be player to player interaction to some degree.

 

[Sugarat]

removing the litany of exploits and dumb development decisions that led to massive wealth generation "hacks" in releases pre 1.4

This is laughable tbh.. it is far easier to make credits in game now than ever before, especially since 1.4

 

[thesnowdog]

Well I'm in. With that tenner's worth of discount until tomorrow it would be rude not to lol

Not too sure if my iGPU on my i7 6700K will be able to handle things though, but I'm getting a proper, meaty GPU in May next year so I won't have to wait for too long if it can't hack it.