Has MultiCrew gone the way of the Dodo too?
- Thread starter Globusdiablo
- Start date
Multicrew sadly its another failed update. I was hoping 2.3 to be THE BEST update but with only turret management without any complexity and no engineer/science/NON PEW PEW crew the update went right to the toilet.
No one talks about multicrew anymore because it was too short, only a turret guy? really?
I don't agree with the way FD is developing the game. I hope 3.0 change things dramatically.
No one talks about multicrew anymore because it was too short, only a turret guy? really?
I don't agree with the way FD is developing the game. I hope 3.0 change things dramatically.
I always thought it was weird frontier worked on this instead of NPC multi crew. That would be so much less effort to make. If you could hire different npc and they gave your ship a bonus in weapons, engine and shield depending on what npc you hired, I think would be something most people would use.In a game solely focused on flying a spaceship, why would I want to be the passenger in one? I never understood why FDev even worked on this
In a game solely focused on flying a spaceship, why would I want to be the passenger in one? I never understood why FDev even worked on this
Sadly have to agree, when FD speak about how legs and atmos planets need to be carefully thought out to offer new or expanding gameplay opportunities I feel like they missed the beat with MC and wonder whether they'd offered the same diligence. It just flies in the face of the whole "blaze your own trail" thing that people constantly harp on about. If you're the pilot, it's no new gameplay. If you're the passenger, it's basically a watered down version of what you yourself do in your own ship.
With or without friends, I just can't ever see myself doing it.
On my list of things I wish FD didn't make or made better this sits at the top. The miniscule amount of time I spent with powerplay is more than the zero hours I have given this.
This I would enjoy.
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i think the problem is trying to pander to new players. Which is kind of rational where business is concerned - but does not take account what is Elite.
I can't imagine many folks coming to elite and putting up with the 80s style learning curve without any in advance knowledge of what Elite and Elite Universe is exactly. If, however, they know - they are looking for that particular world and experience.
This is why headlining mechanics, especially somewat isolated ones, does not work as it would in Titanfall or Overwatch.
I went to Lavecon last weekend - loved it but loved it in full awareness of what sort of Lords of Holy Terra conference mixed on an Xcom Ethereal tea ceremony it is. And i look in the mirror and i guess i fit right in. No point being in denial about what is Elite community like. And the game itself will never be The Next Hot Thing, not 2 years after release. Still, things happen, people join - but they join knowing in advance, and would be more attracted by more fleshing out and exciting mysteries and goings on than for this or that headline feature. It is not a downside Elite never became an esport or doesn't get reviews in YA media - that's a path too many other games are a better fit for. But take into account that one does not stay in those environments forever and without a sell-by date, and that eventually EVERYONE has to look for something different, possibly more complex and possibly more meditative -and you see how Elite is in a good place to be that something. No need to socially engineer the hell out of it.
I can't imagine many folks coming to elite and putting up with the 80s style learning curve without any in advance knowledge of what Elite and Elite Universe is exactly. If, however, they know - they are looking for that particular world and experience.
This is why headlining mechanics, especially somewat isolated ones, does not work as it would in Titanfall or Overwatch.
I went to Lavecon last weekend - loved it but loved it in full awareness of what sort of Lords of Holy Terra conference mixed on an Xcom Ethereal tea ceremony it is. And i look in the mirror and i guess i fit right in. No point being in denial about what is Elite community like. And the game itself will never be The Next Hot Thing, not 2 years after release. Still, things happen, people join - but they join knowing in advance, and would be more attracted by more fleshing out and exciting mysteries and goings on than for this or that headline feature. It is not a downside Elite never became an esport or doesn't get reviews in YA media - that's a path too many other games are a better fit for. But take into account that one does not stay in those environments forever and without a sell-by date, and that eventually EVERYONE has to look for something different, possibly more complex and possibly more meditative -and you see how Elite is in a good place to be that something. No need to socially engineer the hell out of it.
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Deleted member 38366
D
I'm also hoping for V3 to fill MultiCrew with meat.
And for me that means :
- ability to man different Positions with actual Tasks (not just SLF jockey or Arcade Turret Gunner)
- ability to use hired NPC Crews to become actual Crews
- NPCs filling out every single Position, Role and Function that otherwise any Player could
- Full NPC capability for every Task... even if I order the NPC to take an SLF and try to locate POIs on a Planet Surface or task the NPC to scoop up specific Materials floating in a USS... or "Cover me" while I'm in the SRV on the Ground.
And for me that means :
- ability to man different Positions with actual Tasks (not just SLF jockey or Arcade Turret Gunner)
- ability to use hired NPC Crews to become actual Crews
- NPCs filling out every single Position, Role and Function that otherwise any Player could
- Full NPC capability for every Task... even if I order the NPC to take an SLF and try to locate POIs on a Planet Surface or task the NPC to scoop up specific Materials floating in a USS... or "Cover me" while I'm in the SRV on the Ground.
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Disagree that is a weird programming decision at stage because NPC mutlicrew .. if they are to have roles and skill levels to give bonuses .. would end up taking multicrew seats (otherwise used by players) and multicrew also nests the player commander (avatar) insdie the ship (so 'your character' is no longer the ship), as it was.
I feel, as with any of these features, mutli-crew is a slow burn. Of course it's a headliner when it's new but it also sits in the game now, as a feature that some won't, some people will and others will pick up / put down again when the feature suits the game they want to play at any given time.
I'm really glad to see it as a feature, even though it doesn't fit with my game at the moment. Partly because it's fun (I have tried it) and partly because it's a very powerful piece of code architecture. I don't think we'll ever see such a massive core code update again, even when apparentloy massive assets are added in time.
Deep Blue stuff, I think it's great.
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Is it though? It can still be leveraged. Avs + networking additions = platform for Legs. But in terms of the mechanic itself, it may have a big saving grace in the short-term on the combat front at least. IE:
Badass 2.4 alien swarms vs turrets & SLFs could be a blast
Can def see a resurgence there. (Although may have to wait until the arms race balances out, or some kind of Guardians vs Thargs scenario where we just chip in and run maybe? Otherwise Big 3 owners may not fancy all the rebuys
)
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![[VR] Bac Ho](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/74/74720.jpg?1553527113){kind=avatar}
I think Multipew is going to end up like some of the other half baked features (Yes I'm looking at you CQC & PP). On paper they should great features that add great amounts of gameplay, but they were poorly implemented.
After watching the beta live stream for multipew my heart sank, even the FDev team on the stream looked embarrassed what they were showing, and when one of them was quoted saying "if your not going to play it, then we won't contuine to develop it" or something along those line, my jaw hit the floor. Talk about putting the cart before the horse. [wacko]
Don't get me wrong I love this game, but Frontier had a golden opportyunity to enrich the game by adding NPC crew and also NPC wings, here somes examples just off the top of my head.
Ok, we have SLF which is the step in the right direction, but just imagine the game possibilities if had a fully fleshed out NPC crew & wings feature and not just for combat. Even to the point that Frontier could introduce ships that can ONLY be flown by mutlicrew, NPC or players (Panther Clipper).
I just hope that Frontier take note that the is a very large percentage of the player base is crying out for more love towards NPC crew & wings. Both of these would enrich the game across all the game modes (Open/Group & Solo) so wouldn't it be better to implement a feature that benefits the largest percentage of the player base?.
After watching the beta live stream for multipew my heart sank, even the FDev team on the stream looked embarrassed what they were showing, and when one of them was quoted saying "if your not going to play it, then we won't contuine to develop it" or something along those line, my jaw hit the floor. Talk about putting the cart before the horse. [wacko]
Don't get me wrong I love this game, but Frontier had a golden opportyunity to enrich the game by adding NPC crew and also NPC wings, here somes examples just off the top of my head.
- Developing NPC careers
- NPC management & ordering
- NPC back stories with link missions
- NPC wing missions where you fly your ship
- NPC wing missions where you fly NPC ships or crew them, like Naval or police missions.
Ok, we have SLF which is the step in the right direction, but just imagine the game possibilities if had a fully fleshed out NPC crew & wings feature and not just for combat. Even to the point that Frontier could introduce ships that can ONLY be flown by mutlicrew, NPC or players (Panther Clipper)
.I just hope that Frontier take note that the is a very large percentage of the player base is crying out for more love towards NPC crew & wings. Both of these would enrich the game across all the game modes (Open/Group & Solo) so wouldn't it be better to implement a feature that benefits the largest percentage of the player base?.
That would be Starflight on the C64:
I played a ton of Starflight back in the day....
All the people I see complaining about multicrew being dead are those that are trying to pug with it. The feature is still alive and well for me, I get someone on my ship every time I use it (since I'm using it with friends)
Try to think of the pug feature as just a bonus. I'm sure it was only put there because people complained before multicrew was released, that the patch would contain no content for them.
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I think criticism of Sandro for saying if it isn't used, we won't develop it further is a bit rich. He was being completely frank with us on that one, and that is refreshing. Then he gets damned for saying it
It was - frankly - biowaste idea from the start. It sounds cool, but since the roles are pretty restricted and the concept of solo piloting so part of Elite it was never going to work out well.
If it'd been introduced from Day 1 as something pilots of big ships HAD to do (like it was in earlier Elite games) then it would work. Provided NPC crewmen were available. If you couldn't fly your Anaconda or Python without crew, great, it makes sense. But since each ship is -essentially - a variation on a Cobra MKIII (oh, yes they are) there is no real benefit from multicrew. If a lumbering freighter needed gunners and wasn't cable of outrunning or outgunning fighters, it'd make more sense. Also if there were specialist roles like engineer or navigator or whatever - great. Or the ability to put a friend in the SRV an you in the Ship. Great. As it is, other players basically just replace automated turrets, as far as the commander is concerned.
As it was it felt like someone had just hacked a multicrew option into a game that it didn't belong in. I think its because the feature wasn't added at launch, so the bigger ships had to be pilotable by single crew - and once that was the case they couldn't really change that. So it's unnecessary to add multicrew. Maybe they should have left the biggest ships out of the game until this feature was necessary, and then made it mandatory for them?
The fact that it didn't work reliably was the icing on the turd. But it was a dead duck from day one. I wouldn't invest further energy in it unless it's enough energy to create new, specialist ships to support it.
Anyway. Thargoids seem cool. :-D
If it'd been introduced from Day 1 as something pilots of big ships HAD to do (like it was in earlier Elite games) then it would work. Provided NPC crewmen were available. If you couldn't fly your Anaconda or Python without crew, great, it makes sense. But since each ship is -essentially - a variation on a Cobra MKIII (oh, yes they are) there is no real benefit from multicrew. If a lumbering freighter needed gunners and wasn't cable of outrunning or outgunning fighters, it'd make more sense. Also if there were specialist roles like engineer or navigator or whatever - great. Or the ability to put a friend in the SRV an you in the Ship. Great. As it is, other players basically just replace automated turrets, as far as the commander is concerned.
As it was it felt like someone had just hacked a multicrew option into a game that it didn't belong in. I think its because the feature wasn't added at launch, so the bigger ships had to be pilotable by single crew - and once that was the case they couldn't really change that. So it's unnecessary to add multicrew. Maybe they should have left the biggest ships out of the game until this feature was necessary, and then made it mandatory for them?
The fact that it didn't work reliably was the icing on the turd. But it was a dead duck from day one. I wouldn't invest further energy in it unless it's enough energy to create new, specialist ships to support it.
Anyway. Thargoids seem cool. :-D
Maybe because it's a completely tone deaf and fundamentally flawed position to take?I think criticism of Sandro for saying if it isn't used, we won't develop it further is a bit rich. He was being completely frank with us on that one, and that is refreshing. Then he gets damned for saying it
How about this: I'll go make a "lasagna" every day for the next 6 months...but without the meat, no sauce and no pasta. If you and your friends eat that bowl of wet cheese every day, I might expand the next round of lasagna to include some pasta. If you guys eat that every day for a couple of months, I might consider adding meat. 3 months of that daily, and I might add some sauce. Oh and if you and your friends don't eat it all regularly for those 10 months, I'm going to conclude that you guys just don't like lasagna and will stop trying to make it. En we will start this process over again with meatloaf. With no meat. Or maybe I concluded half way through the 10 months of lasagna that it was goood enough because you guys were eating so much of it! Why bother with meat and seasoning? Glad you liked it and get ready for the meatloaf beta!
This is where we are with that Sandro comment and with the development experience of this game generally.
If you don't see how inherently problematic it is to say, "I'm going to serve you guys this half cooked feature and if you don't play it vigorously then we won't make it a fully cooked feature..." and then to assert the conclusion that people must just not want the feature at all... I'm not sure what to say. Multi crew is maybe 1/5th of what people wanted or expected. So is Power Play. So is CQC. So is _______ (fill in the feature). If it isn't being played it's because it's not good enough yet, not because people don't want the feature. I'd rather have no new feature and a fleshed out base game than big roll-outs like Power Play, CQC and MC sent out to simply die. Give these features the love and depth they deserve and if that takes more time so be it.
Serve a full plate of well-made, 3 layer lasagna is all I ask. And understand that's what the people want to eat. Build it right and with depth and the people will enjoy it.
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