News Frontier Expo 2017 Recap

mono

mono
Chieftain reminds me of the HK Vtol in Terminator. No bad thing.

Now I'm much better at giving criticism than praise but to be fair, if these updates come to fruition as described, then fair play and many thanks (in advance).
 

Daynen

D
Well I'll be damn...these promises are quite the grab bag of things I've been talking about for some time...I think I might be quite impressed to see all these things implemented. I can be a harsh critic though; don't cut corners and we just might see something incredible, Fdev.
 

Marc_Hicks

Marc_Hicks
Dale Emasiri said:
Greetings Commanders,

On 7th October at Here East, in London, we hosted the very first Frontier Expo. More than 1,000 community members turned up to celebrate everything Frontier Developments, watch talks from guest speakers, meet the developers, mingle with other community members and watch the special content reveals on the main stage.

Lead Designer Sandro Sammarco, Art Director Chris Gregory, and Game Director Laurence Oldham joined Senior Community Manager Edward Lewis on stage to talk about the year ahead for Elite Dangerous. We’ll be uploading the Elite Dangerous section to the official Elite Dangerous channel in the following week, and you can watch the full show here, but for now, here’s a quick roundup of some of the things we talked about on stage. Make sure to visit our social media channels to see some screenshots of the event and the things we announced.

Everything we talked about on stage at FX2017 will be coming to all Elite Dangerous: Horizons players for free.

Beyond

In 2018 we’re launching a series of updates called Beyond. In Quarter 1 and Quarter 4 we’ll have two larger content drops, and in between that there will be smaller updates that will also add new content, ships, and quality of life improvements.

Beyond will focus on three things: narrative progression, enhancements and development of the core experience and adding new features and content to the game.


Quarter 1 update

Here are just a few things we talked about coming as part of the Quarter 1 update in the Beyond series.
Engineering - We’re going to make sure that every upgrade you craft with engineers will be an improvement on what you currently have

Crime and Punishment - We’re going to add teeth to system authority ships response to better support meaningful consequence for criminal activities

Trade - We’re going to improve trade data information to let you make more informed decisions when trying to buy low and sell high

Wings - We’re going to add challenging wing missions you will be able to take on with your friends.

Planetary tech improvements – We are revisiting the shaders and the graphs that generate our planets. We’ll be adding detail, contrast and colour for a richer more detailed, more realistic look. You’ll start to see that variety throughout the Elite Galaxy from our Q1 update.

Continuing Narrative - From update 1 in the Beyond series you’ll see all of the current story threads continue to develop. The story will continue to influence the content and gameplay of Elite Dangerous. As the community explore the locations progressing the global narrative this will also unlock items for individual Commanders.

GalNet Audio – A new way to enjoy the narrative threads of Elite Dangerous. GalNet audio will read the news to you as you explore the galaxy in your ship.

Content updates

more information coming but this will include things such as new ships, missions, scenarios and other new content.

New Ships

New ships will be released throughout the Beyond series of updates, and we showed off two of them at FX2017. We’re bringing back a much-loved classic from the original Elite with the Krait, and giving the Alliance some love with the combat-leaning Chieftain.


Quarter 4 update

Here are just a few things we talked about coming as part of the Quarter 4 update in the Beyond series.

Squadrons - Players like working together, w so we’re going to add a new organisation structure for player groups, called Squadrons. You’ll be able to create your own squadron with tools to manage its hierarchy and membership. Squadrons will feature enhanced communication options, making it easier to coordinate your efforts, whether you’re doing completing community goals, supporting your power or manipulating the background simulation. And as a little treat, squadrons will be able to purchase a fleet carrier, giving members a mobile base of operations where they can restock, refuel and respawn.


Mining - A big focus of these updates is core gameplay, so we want to take another look at mining. We want to make the processes of mining more involving and satisfying. It needs to be more than just lasering an asteroid. We want to expand the ways in which you detect and extract resources, give you a tool set, variety and choice in how you mine. Importantly, we want invoke the feeling of Wild West prospecting: jeopardy from crises and challenges out in the void, and the potential for striking it big finding the mother lode in special asteroids. Our goal is to make mining a fully-fledged career, something that you can progress and work on.


Planetary Tech Improvements – Leading up to the Q4 update we’ll be making Improvements to our lighting model, our scatter rock system, improving ambient effects, planetary phenomena, volumetric effects and vapour. These techniques will combine to create richer environments to explore in our Q4 update. These are important steps in our ongoing planetary development.


Exploration - we’re going to significantly improve and build on exploration. The exploring flow will be more involved, more efficient and more satisfying. These new mechanics will also improve the experience for anyone searching for something, be that a mission or a particular resource. To support exploration we’re adding the Codex, an archive that logs your exploration achievements and acts as a repository for game lore. There will also be new phenomena, anomalies and other exciting things to discover.

Click to expand...

That is all great stuff......but do the exploration mechanics improvements *really* need to be delayed to Q4? Exploration is the area in most dire need of a mechanical upgrade, & the connection of the mechanic to missions makes this even more the case. I do hope you guys reconsider on this front.

In all other respects, though, it looks like a great year ahead. Look forward to hearing more soon.......maybe via some regular Dev Updates?
 

Nick Sticks

Nick Sticks
Marc_Hicks said:
That is all great stuff......but do the exploration mechanics improvements *really* need to be delayed to Q4? Exploration is the area in most dire need of a mechanical upgrade, & the connection of the mechanic to missions makes this even more the case. I do hope you guys reconsider on this front.

In all other respects, though, it looks like a great year ahead. Look forward to hearing more soon.......maybe via some regular Dev Updates?
Click to expand...

You have a point of course, but if the planet detail updates in Q1 are as good as those pictures we saw, then the wait for better exploration mechanics will be easier.
 

Gunnet

G
Thanks for the recap. Couldn't follow the event since my internet has been down for several days, so it's nice to have all the info in one place.

I do hope a squadron consisting of a single player will be eligible to purchase a carrier if they can get the funds/materials together.
 

Marc_Hicks

Marc_Hicks
Nick Sticks said:
You have a point of course, but if the planet detail updates in Q1 are as good as those pictures we saw, then the wait for better exploration mechanics will be easier.
Click to expand...

I understand, but I do hope that-if the new mechanics are ready earlier, that they won't be afraid to release them earlier than expected.....or maybe even do a phased release, if possible.

Either way, I am very hopeful that-by around this time next year-all the various career paths (exploration, piracy, bounty hunting, mining, trading) will all be at relative parity regarding risk vs reward :).
 

Nick Sticks

Nick Sticks
Marc_Hicks said:
I understand, but I do hope that-if the new mechanics are ready earlier, that they won't be afraid to release them earlier than expected.....or maybe even do a phased release, if possible.

Either way, I am very hopeful that-by around this time next year-all the various career paths (exploration, piracy, bounty hunting, mining, trading) will all be at relative parity regarding risk vs reward :).
Click to expand...

I agree.
 

I PORKCH0P I

I
It seems like fd have pretty much all aspects of the ed experience covered in these improvements, sounds pretty dam sweet to me.
Now I just need confirmation that there will be a paid for season or a group of dlc's after this is done.
 
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Deleted member 38366

D
Just feedback after reading these things, many of which sound very good :)

Engineering - We’re going to make sure that every upgrade you craft with engineers will be an improvement on what you currently have
Click to expand...

I think it's been discussed to some point, I guess this will open the path to Primary "god-rolls" with only Secondary effects lagging behind to achieve absolute "god-rolls" (?)
Just makes me wonder how non-Horizons/Mac owners will cope with that, sounds like the Delta between V1.x Players and V2+ Players will quickly get stretched to the maximum possible.

Idea : Permit V1.x Players to access generic "Tuning", comparable to let's say Grade 1 Engineer level. Just to keep them onboard.

Crime and Punishment - We’re going to add teeth to system authority ships response to better support meaningful consequence for criminal activities
Click to expand...

Sounds excellent, long long overdue.
If your next CG Livestream under these new circumstances can showcase System Authority successfully fending off attacking Players trying to snipe the poor Staff - you'll know you did things right ;)

Trade - We’re going to improve trade data information to let you make more informed decisions when trying to buy low and sell high
Click to expand...

Idea from an "oldfart" Player : please make it count, i.e. permit Players to Trade to actually help Systems/Stations etc. Let it have an actual and tangible effect, such as permanently improving Quality of the Trade Hub.
Example : After successful Trade support, Local News beginning to hint to an opportunity that the Place might invest in improved Facilities (better Outfitting, Shipyard selection, missing Facilities - or eventually maybe even grow Population & Economy size)
An incentive to perform Trading not just for profit - but to improve the place. Home Improvement. Something for endgame (or BGS) guys to take interest in, something other than naked Credits.

Continuing Narrative - From update 1 in the Beyond series you’ll see all of the current story threads continue to develop. The story will continue to influence the content and gameplay of Elite Dangerous. As the community explore the locations progressing the global narrative this will also unlock items for individual Commanders.[/b]
Click to expand...

Story threads as in plural?
No offense but apart from the ongoing Thargoid narrative, I'd be hard-pressed to identify a "second thread", let alone more than that (honestly) (?)
Maybe just me, but I think it'd be useful to... hmm... "improve visibility" of those. Give them more presence, more color. More character. To me, they seem too obscured and almost hidden from view.

Mining - A big focus of these updates is core gameplay, so we want to take another look at mining. We want to make the processes of mining more involving and satisfying. It needs to be more than just lasering an asteroid. We want to expand the ways in which you detect and extract resources, give you a tool set, variety and choice in how you mine. Importantly, we want invoke the feeling of Wild West prospecting: jeopardy from crises and challenges out in the void, and the potential for striking it big finding the mother lode in special asteroids. Our goal is to make mining a fully-fledged career, something that you can progress and work on.
Click to expand...

Hmm.... Planetary Mining? Pretty pretty please with a sugar-coated cherry on top? :D
Otherwise, I'd love to have a real incentive to go prospecting in Deep Space and find my "mother lode" Asteroid Belt somewhere out there. "Diamond City". "7 Cities of Gold". Unobtainium. Alpha Rares.
The stuff I'd be happy to throw a big Fuel Scoop onto my Mining Rig and travel hundreds of LY to, knowing I can return with a load worth a full Day trip.
And the stuff I'd be willing to navigate my Heavy Mining Rig through dangerous phenomenon for.
Or see my Mining Lasers potentially cause a feedback cascade in one of those weird, rare Crystalline Cluster Asteroids - but continue mining, because it's worth the risk of facing a Cat 3 EMP shockwave sending me tumbleweed or something :D

Exploration - we’re going to significantly improve and build on exploration. The exploring flow will be more involved, more efficient and more satisfying. These new mechanics will also improve the experience for anyone searching for something, be that a mission or a particular resource. To support exploration we’re adding the Codex, an archive that logs your exploration achievements and acts as a repository for game lore. There will also be new phenomena, anomalies and other exciting things to discover.
Click to expand...

Consider me hooked :)

PS.
What's taken you guys so long to move into what sounds like exactly the right direction? ;)
 
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Akarana

Akarana
Dale Emasiri said:
Exploration - we’re going to significantly improve and build on exploration. The exploring flow will be more involved, more efficient and more satisfying. These new mechanics will also improve the experience for anyone searching for something, be that a mission or a particular resource. To support exploration we’re adding the Codex, an archive that logs your exploration achievements and acts as a repository for game lore. There will also be new phenomena, anomalies and other exciting things to discover.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Dale. Reading this has made an avid explorer very happy indeed (as did everything else announced yesterday). Just a small question. I appreciate it's probably far too early to say or know, but could the Codex be populated with everyone's previous first discoveries when it launches? This is going to be a feature with massive potential and it'll be even better if it already has a complete record of a commander's exploration history from the start.

Also, could the behind the scenes video shown in the content reveal be posted please? This was absolutely wonderful and FD's passion both for the game and its community really shone through. It would be great if we could have short videos like this more regularly... maybe bring back the Dev Updates and feature content like this there?
 

Mengy

Mengy
Dale, Dale....DALE!!!!!!! You forgot to add the absolute best preview pic from the entire Frontier Expo to your post:


5VvBFUS.png



COLORFUL PLANETS!!!! NO MORE BEIGE!!!!!!!!

OxCCHpx.gif
 
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Pest

Pest
Looks to me as if FDev has assigned its resources to Jurassic World as "beyond" seems pretty featureless. I was hoping for space legs, landing on volcanic planets or even atmospheric ones. With what I see here it's just "new ships" and bug fixes to me.
 

Iori

Iori
Owq9cCH.jpg


This is wrong, they put the 2.1 and 2.2 updates between 2017 and 2018, when they should have been placed between 2016 and 2017.
 
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