The concept of time in Elite Dangerous!

Would you like a Auto Pilot function?

  • Yes, give it to me!

    Votes: 97 36.5%
  • No, I like dat jump button.

    Votes: 169 63.5%

  • Total voters
    266
  • Poll closed .
"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space."

"Looking up into the night sky is looking into infinity—distance is incomprehensible and therefore meaningless."

---The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy---


So the megathread regarding Instant ship transfer in Elite Dangerous are still going strong, the pros and cons exchange fire, like the trench wars in WW1.

I would like to discuss something that relates to time spend in the Elite Universe, because all of us are spending precious time, we could use on other matters like family, other games, sleeping, getting drunk or whatever is on your "to do" list.

AutoPilot!

This feature was actually discussed back in 2013, it didn't reach the final released version of the game <insert reason> and we now see that "for gameplay reasons" will form precedence to reopen this case.

I present AutoPilot in Elite Dangerous.

If the journey consists of more than one jump the hyperdrive automatically begins to charge for the next jump
The player can cancel the journey at this point


These multiple jumps for a journey go via dark systems, rogue bodies surrounded by lightless, dust-filled space, which will:

• support all sorts of interesting encounters in their own right
• become useful physical star map locations to discover
• Allow multiple routes to a destination
• allow players to meet each other far from civilisation

We also have an “under the hood” match-making requirement, to allow the game to silently hook up players with each as much as possible. The reason we all need to be very aware of this is that it limits the precision to which players can choose their arrival point – we need to keep it somewhat vague so players can “happen upon” each other.

Multiple Jumps

Journeys that require multiple jumps can be mapped out in advance (you will have a delay at each jump destination whilst your drive recharges)
Beacons in core systems (less regularly on the frontier) that you can use as ‘bookmarks’ for future jumps

Now, that sounds gorgeous doesn't it?


to explores this feature will make long distance travel much more fun, and for GAMEPLAY reason it will make the game more complete and fun to play.

Plotting a route to distance world's, engage the autopilot and travel among the stars while you spend you precious time on other thing, like completing that report you have pushed to next week because you would like to play Elite Dangerous instead. Of course you can get attacked and destroyed if unlucky, however for the overall GAMEPLAY reasons your time will not be used to jump and repeat all the time.

There will still be fuel management, and so on that is already plotted into the NAV computer so that when its time to refuel, the ship will get into orbit of the sun, release the fuel scope and you can manage the ship until its refueled. Then you simply resume the travel on AutoPilot until you reach the final destination.

Travels will be more FUN, and for GAMEPLAY reasons we will have a more FUN game to play.

UPDATE!: This is only star to star travels, not to the station or planet, you will need to do that as we normally do, manually.

Source
 
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Whats this. Players want to auto travel around whilst offline. Why not just throw in an auto scan whilst your at it and you'll need auto refuel aswell. Why bother playing.

Not offline, you will need to monitor the ship, plan and execute your plan. It's called tactical game play.
 
This would be a step too far. A simple buy a ticket between (large) stations (sans any cargo etc), would resolve most of the problems. You could relocate to a different area and then carry on with the game.

If you're not out exploring, the single most boring part of this game is transferring yourself from one location to another in order to take part in something going on.

I've recently started playing again to do a Sag A* trip, but before that it was the travelling that made me stop. I'd spend my evening travelling to wherever the current event was happening. By the time I was there I had little interest in playing any more, and usually the event was over before I could get my teeth stuck into it.

A station-to-station transfer would solve this problem without removing the necessity to travel. It would have to take a similar in-game time to transport your vessel and you wouldn't be able to take anything that wasn't bolted down with you. So no using it for cargo runs or anything., just a way to relocate and carry on playing with minimal boredom.

Heck, even add a limited range so it can't be used to get to Jacques if people are       about that. 100ly range or something and you have to buy another ticket.
 
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This would be a step too far. A simple buy a ticket between (large) stations (sans any cargo etc), would resolve most of the problems. You could relocate to a different area and then carry on with the game.

If you're not out exploring, the single most boring part of this game is transferring yourself from one location to another in order to take part in something going on.

I've recently started playing again to do a Sag A* trip, but before that it was the travelling that made me stop. I'd spend my evening travelling to wherever the current event was happening. By the time I was there I had little interest in playing any more, and usually the event was over before I could get my teeth stuck into it.

A station-to-station transfer would solve this problem without removing the necessity to travel. It would have to take a similar in-game time to transport your vessel and you wouldn't be able to take anything that wasn't bolted down with you. So no using it for cargo runs or anything., just a way to relocate and carry on playing with minimal boredom.

Heck, even add a limited range so it can't be used to get to Jacques if people are       about that. 100ly range or something and you have to buy another ticket.

I'm not talking about the instant ship transfer, I'm talking about travel time in general. When you are on a route that take more than one jump, there should be an autopilot function. You will still be exposed to attacks, however if nothing happens the AutoPilot will do all the boring jumps for you. The your precious time was spend in a more fun way. The we have the GAMEPLAY reason, would also weigh in here.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Why go through that hassle? Implement a shuttle service where you can select a destination and then - because gameplay - you will be instantly teleported there...

If I'm out exploring, and need to cover a lot of distance I've already scanned, why would I need to do that again. AutoPilot would just do the boring part and I would still need to manage and monitor my ship during the travel time.
 
I'm not talking about the instant ship transfer, I'm talking about travel time in general. When you are on a route that take more than one jump, there should be an autopilot function. You will still be exposed to attacks, however if nothing happens the AutoPilot will do all the boring jumps for you. The your precious time was spend in a more fun way. The we have the GAMEPLAY reason, would also weigh in here.

YouTube is plenty of videos of people doing exploration and trading routes if you want to watch a ship going places.

for an explorer I don't see the point, now, for tourist drivers..
 
You are a very smart person Lysander, the timing of this thread couldn't be more perfect and your style is impeccable ;)

No wonder you are one of my favorite members of the community :D
 
Mwahahahaha, no it's not. It's called instant gratification because I can't be bothered to play the game as intended.

Do you play Pokemon Go with a GPS spoofer by any chance...?

I don't play pokemon, it's too complicated for me ;)

And yes its tactical gameplay, due to the fact that you need to managed the route, fuel etc. (buzzword managed)
 
You are a very smart person Lysander, the timing of this thread couldn't be more perfect and your style is impeccable ;)

No wonder you are one of my favorite members of the community :D

Doesn't mean said member is right though.

No autopilot necessary, let me prefix with that 'at the moment'. Eventually when you are playing Holochess with Chewie in the back you might want it sure. But then it could be another 'crew' member doing it for you, which isnt the same thing.
 
Good luck FD, flood gates have been opened. Everyone and their cat is now penning a letter in gold pen in an attempt to move the game further down the slippery slope.

Give it 6 months and we will end up with a win button:
-Why do we pay insurance, for gameplay reasons there shouldn't be penalties for death
-Why can't my weapons shoot infinite distances for gameplay reasons
-Why can't I teleport to a community goal for gameplay reasons

Sometimes I wish FD would decide one way or the other if they are going to be a Simulator with gameplay elements or an arcade game with simulator elements.

Oh and my thoughts are no both to this and the megathread. Elite is an MMO/Simulator last I checked and has only started moving towards arcade game since launch. MMO's true currency is time sprinkled with skill. Taking the time and simulator elements away for gameplay shouldn't be a thing imho. Stick to the roots/core basis at least for any and all initial concepts. Move away from the roots only if needed (feedback).
 
Ah so if i make a game where you have to wake up and walk to the coffeemachine and wash my face with water it's called tactical. Come on....[heart]
 
Doesn't mean said member is right though.

No autopilot necessary, let me prefix with that 'at the moment'. Eventually when you are playing Holochess with Chewie in the back you might want it sure. But then it could be another 'crew' member doing it for you, which isnt the same thing.

I'm back white person, some like me others hate me :D

Well, it was in the DDF, FD did think about it, however I think it's time to rediscuss this feature. Ofc for GAMEPLAY reasons, and people's precious time spent in this game, I have a lot of respect for people's time spent in Elite Dangerous.
 
Yes I would like that. Autopilot is also in Eve Online. The downside of autopilot is that if you're not paying attention you could get interdicted and destroyed so it's balanced.

Autopilot doesn't take away from voyages, because the required time is the same. It doesn't cheapen the experience like ship teleportation.
 
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If you're not going to fly your ship, why bother with autopilot at all? Might as well have instant transport of the pilot as well as the ship. We can just warp everything, everywhere.

I think that would turn ED into just a shooter. Travel, trade, exploration, etc would all be diminished by this.
 
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