Horizons Any advantage to NOT buying Horizons while (re)learning the game?

Believe it or not, I was a backer for this great game, but time/life got in the way a lot and I never had the time to learn to play it properly. (The 1985 version on my ZX Spectrum was a lot easier!) I don't have Horizons, so does that help or hinder me?

I fail the second combat mission in the beginner Training area every time, just to show how bad I am [uhh]

I'm going to try HOTAS tonight to see if it helps more than KB/M. (Even that was easier than I remember tapping that rubber key membrane on the Speccy was).

So, considering that I'm 56yo and have the lightning-like reactions of a fat Sloth after a big dinner, does Horizons add anything that will help me? :S
 
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You should definitely get a HOTAS, the Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X Joystick is a bargain on Amazon at the moment.
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Horizons won't add anything to help you get back up to speed but is worth having. Maybe wait until the Frontier store has a sale on and get 33% off.
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It's not mandatory to play through the training missions. I haven't, and I'm Dangerous in Combat, Elite in Exploration and Trading. Just play Elite the way you like and see what kind of gameplay fits you best. :)
 
Thanks for the replies,

I plugged my HOTAS in and I am still bad at combat, but better than with a mouse ;) so I jumped back into the game to find myself in a Mk III Cobra sitting many light years away from anything I recognised, with illicit Wolf Fesh among other goods in the hold. Headed for Zaonce to see if they'd buy it, but it was a 200ly wasted trip for that part. Managed to sell the other stuff and just ditched the Fesh since the total buy price was a few K Cr. No big deal.

I seemed to get interdicted more often than I used to, but running away still works [up]

I now have an empty ship, just under a Mill and no idea what has happened to the bubble politically in the last year or more. Plenty of reading and catching up to follow.
 
If I wasn't a Premium Beta backer and already had a lifetime pass I would have bought Horizons for the planet landings and SRV alone. With the addition of ship launched fighter it's even better. SO much fun just running around on airless planets and the SLF is such a welcome bonus, for me. I'd recommend Horizons, but it's not needed.
 
If I wasn't a Premium Beta backer and already had a lifetime pass I would have bought Horizons for the planet landings and SRV alone. With the addition of ship launched fighter it's even better. SO much fun just running around on airless planets and the SLF is such a welcome bonus, for me. I'd recommend Horizons, but it's not needed.

Bought it today. Off to do the SRV tutorial, then I'll start playing 'live' again. Twenty quid? I spend more on take-away on a Saturday night. [up] :D
 
I wasn't able to back the game on Kickstarter, but I picked up a coveted Lifetime pass when they were available last year. The disappointment of not being able to play Horizons on my Mac subsided when I managed to work out Boot camp and I definitely think it's worth having now. I bought a HOTAS but I'm still flying and fighting better with mouse + keyboard it seems.
 
AI combat is harder now. Maybe practice a bit at nav beacons. Avoid pvp combat with engineered ships if your ships aren't engineered (if anything interdicts you, it's probably engineered).
 
Well, I am 63 and still enjoy the game. I fly a Python kitted for combat and passenger missions. HOTAS is a must for me, I used an MS Sidewinder for a while but bought the Thrustmaster T flight about a year ago, such good value. I make roughly 2 million credits an hour doing passenger missions but I would say about 50% require planetary landings so Horizons is a must. When I get bored I have a good old drive about in my SRV which can be fun.

My combat skills aren't great, been playing for about one and a half years now and just about coming up to deadly. I have been destroyed a total of 13 times, but I am very choosy over who I engage (especially recently with powerful AI interdictions). What I have noticed is doing passenger missions and scanning systems as you go contributes to your explorer rank which is a bonus.

I think that there are quite a few senior spacers out there... it would be interesting for some clever lad (or lass) to create a poll of different age groups. I bet all the open players that say combat is way too easy are mostly under 40!

Cheers GD.
 
Well, I am 63 and still enjoy the game. I fly a Python kitted for combat and passenger missions. HOTAS is a must for me, I used an MS Sidewinder for a while but bought the Thrustmaster T flight about a year ago, such good value. I make roughly 2 million credits an hour doing passenger missions but I would say about 50% require planetary landings so Horizons is a must. When I get bored I have a good old drive about in my SRV which can be fun.

My combat skills aren't great, been playing for about one and a half years now and just about coming up to deadly. I have been destroyed a total of 13 times, but I am very choosy over who I engage (especially recently with powerful AI interdictions). What I have noticed is doing passenger missions and scanning systems as you go contributes to your explorer rank which is a bonus.

I think that there are quite a few senior spacers out there... it would be interesting for some clever lad (or lass) to create a poll of different age groups. I bet all the open players that say combat is way too easy are mostly under 40!

Cheers GD.

There's an old Poll here:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/86095-Poll-Age-range-of-players
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and people talking about it here:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/144565-Average-age-of-ED-player
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Well, I am 63 and still enjoy the game. I fly a Python kitted for combat and passenger missions. HOTAS is a must for me, I used an MS Sidewinder for a while but bought the Thrustmaster T flight about a year ago, such good value. I make roughly 2 million credits an hour doing passenger missions but I would say about 50% require planetary landings so Horizons is a must. When I get bored I have a good old drive about in my SRV which can be fun.

My combat skills aren't great, been playing for about one and a half years now and just about coming up to deadly. I have been destroyed a total of 13 times, but I am very choosy over who I engage (especially recently with powerful AI interdictions). What I have noticed is doing passenger missions and scanning systems as you go contributes to your explorer rank which is a bonus.

I think that there are quite a few senior spacers out there... it would be interesting for some clever lad (or lass) to create a poll of different age groups. I bet all the open players that say combat is way too easy are mostly under 40!

Cheers GD.

I can only dream of the Python - that's a long term goal.

Combat-wise, I make the training NPC enemies look good with my lack of skills. The HOTAS helps, but I think it is down to reactions. I may just give up on combat, buy a flight Yoke and settle for being a Space Trucker and learn Exploration later.

Someone mentioned an 'engineered ship' and I have no idea what that is or how you'd do it, so something else to learn in the future, but it just makes me even more certain that I'm not cut out for combat. :x

Game is great fun though, even when you run away from every fight. [wacky]
 
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