Will Elite Dangerous have Atmospheric Landings, Space Legs or Procedural Cities by 2019?

[Iskariot]

Well, JPE will be the prototype for all that since it will be using the same engine.

I think so too.
I think FDEV is very smart with the games they choose to make.
They are very different from each other, but the tech that is developed for them all fits together.
Planet coaster has very interesting crowd mechanics for example that can be used for JPE and also for ED in the future.
And the tech used for the incredible dinosaurs FD showed for JPE will be of good use for fauna in ED too.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

80% of people played dogfighting module instead of ED Alpha when they released within weeks of each other. Then 80% of the remaining Elite players played SC when they released the same year leaving just a tiny core of Elite diehards. 100% of those people live in a parallel universe however. The universe where as predicted, No Man's Sky blew them both out of the water.

We live in the universe where as 2017 draws to a close we're still waiting to see what SC can deliver. We're still complaining that Elite lacks deep gameplay that keeps us interested after years of play, while holding up SC on the basis of videos and keynotes.

Complaining about relationship you are in is easy and dreaming about some other relationship that will paint over cracks is even easier.

It is just human nature. My problem only is that majority of moaners just don't give a crack about real life.

 

[Vardaugas]

Maybe 6.0, SC is a loooong journey.

Aren't versions normally counted as 0.xx until you reach your gold release? And only then you go with full numbers for every major expansion.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Aren't versions normally counted as 0.xx until you reach your gold release? And only then you go with full numbers for every major expansion.

Not with Star Citizen

To be fair, ED Alphas were numbered with 1.x, 2.x too.

 

[Ian Phillips]

There is a thread for Star Citizen discussions here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/384948-Star-Citizen-Discussions-v7

Please use it if you want to talk about Star Citizen.

Here, please lets get back on topic. Thank you.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

As for answer to OP - yes, no, and no.

Atmospheric landings is clearly next thing for FD to tackle on and they have indicated they are working torwards that. As when it will come it is unclear but I expect next paid for expansion to cover this in 2019.

Space legs will come in steps and might appear surprisingly in ships first sooner than we though, although I am not fully sure in 2019.

Procedural cities is clearly post 2019 material, as it will make lot of work to make them to look interesting.

 

[Jack Schitt]

Tonnes of features it has will actually make introducing space legs much harder (like passengers).

I read that and for some reason thought of this:

Spoiler

"All those holo-me generated avatars look like copypasta."

Everyone keeps mentioning non existent SC planets and ignoring game that is miles ahead in this subject: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/150306-Infinity-Battlescape/page79
If any game will drag ED players away is this one I think.

Battlescape is impressive for what it is, but it's multiplayer only, combat focussed and in a single star system. Not really a rival for ED unless you only play ED for PVP combat. Some players will love it. Others not so much.

 

[Tadeus72]

I read that and for some reason thought of this:

Spoiler

http://ed.pubimg.co.uk/passengers.jpg​

"All those holo-me generated avatars look like copypasta."
.

Yeah, it's much more difficult. 30 refugees, 15 aid workers, a head of state, a celebrity, a criminal mastermind - in all the hundreds of combinations of passenger cabin types and sizes. Also, all the other modules that would have a big influence of what the inside of the ship will look like, and if they are undersized or not, all their combinations in the totally different forms and sizes of hulls - Star Citizen is much simpler build, when it comes to what they will have to show.

Even if Fdev takes the year or more off from core game development to make it work in a natural not "here is the cube with the passenger unit, and here is the cube with the cargo hold" way, than it will seriously hamper any additions of space ship content in the future, cause introducing anything will just take much more time and some great space ship ideas will never see the light of the day because it will be awkward or not doable with space legs functionality.

So yeah. I'm glad I don't have the problems Frontier has

 

[Rochester]

We wont get space legs nor atmosphere until SC launches. FD aren't stupid; if SC ever does launch its going to chew a hole in their market place. So I think their intentionally holding back. If their not...

Still love ED.

 

[Vasious]

I do wonder why FE2's atmospheric planets are held up as, "FE2 had them ED is incomplete until it has them too" or "look it was in FE2, why isn't the same implementation in ED?"

Other than having an atmosphere and thus needing atmospheric shielding to not explode, they weren't that much different to airless world.

Each star port had a small city about them, but the rest of the plants were just greens and blues, vs what ever other colours the airless worlds were.
And that is for earth like garden worlds.

The only real game play difference was open air pads vs docking with an Airlock, that and you could land on the sea and mine water.

Scooping from Gas giants is akin to fuel scooping now.

But would people really be happy with that?
Or do people want something more from atmospheric worlds, be it the different temperature, pressure, composition, actually creating different in game effects and challenges, just for still lifeless bodies?

Do we want fuel scooping from gas giants to be a unique experience from solar scooping, does the gas giant class matter, will storms be a thing, as weather appeared not in FE2

If Horizons maid not added enough depth for planetary game play, as some say on this forum, then holding up FE2s atmospheric planets with the question of why don't we have it already, won't be an answer to the death of game play planet side

 

[Darkfyre99]

I anticipate that we'll be able to enter the atmosphere that doesn't have life by 2019. Frontier has the ability to do any of the things you listed it right now. The problem they want to solve is having unique experiences while doing these things. That's the hard part. If atmospheric entry was simply the same as "glide", only with "special effects", I would be very disappointed.

 

[Tadeus72]

Well, I woudln't mind them going the easy way and reusing what they already have for starters.

- We already have large area fog effects in many surface locations - do an atmosphere out of them, make it denser to impair visibility on some planets
- We already have corrosive damage - use it for corrosive atmospheres and pressure damage, just start with the external modules
- We already have turbulence effects on landings - use it for wind
- We already have a heat system - make it more pronounced on planets close to the sun
- Add a lot of resources that will be only available on the new planet types. The more severe the problems (super strong wind, heat, pressure, no visibility) the better the price for them, cause it's more dangerous to get them. Also, missions to them should have a higher payout. Even if they would be no habitation, there could be a lot of crashed ships to salvage

There, added gameplay with current mechanics and engine.

And use the saved time to actually turn all the parts of the core game, that still aren't fun into a great experience.

 

[Drelthar]

No it wont.

 

[knowles2]

Once 3.0 gets released, i bet you 80% of Elite players will migrate to Star Citizen.

Why would I trade elite for a game with one incomplete system, a flight model I can't stand, pay to win model, zero exploration potential, a buggy mess that is still going to be buggy long into the future and with network code that doesn't functions with more than 8 players and playing with 8 players means frame rate is slowed down to a just 15fps or even slower.

I think with them fixing their lighting systems atmosphere planets at the beginning of 2019, around easter is the most likely.

 

[LKx]

By 2019? Maybe gas giants and, if we are lucky, some basic barelands low atmo planets.

 

[Lightspeed]

We wont get space legs nor atmosphere until SC launches. FD aren't stupid; if SC ever does launch its going to chew a hole in their market place. So I think their intentionally holding back. If their not...

Still love ED.

At last, somebody who sees the bigger picture +1

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Also I have counter question to OP - do you want features for feature sake or you want to good gameplay around them?

Because if you want later then it will take longer time than you know simple mechanics you see in SC.

 

[flyauburn41]

Short - No.

Long - If you think that cities, legs and atmospheres are some miracle features that will "save Elite" (from whatever you think it needs saving) you're mistaken. These things are yet another eye-candy. We don't need more eye-candy at the moment, nor in near future. Beyond is FAR more important for Elite than legs and cities.

I don’t think anyone is worried about ‘saving’ Elite. I think we all just want these features to make it even more awesome!

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

I don’t think anyone is worried about ‘saving’ Elite. I think we all just want these features to make it even more awesome!

Repped for positivity. Seriously.

 

[flyauburn41]

Also I have counter question to OP - do you want features for feature sake or you want to good gameplay around them?

Because if you want later then it will take longer time than you know simple mechanics you see in SC.

I know your question was for the OP, but I think it goes without saying that we want good gameplay with these features.

Take for example space legs, you’d have on foot cave and underground exploration, exploring the rim of an active volcano on foot, FPS mechanics, mini games at bar/saloon settings, EVA for ship repair and ambush of enemy ships, spacewalks for mining prospecting, EVA space FPS battles, fighting aliens on foot, walking around these amazing stations Mass Effect style, walking around your hangar full of your fleet; the list goes on.

Atmospheres would add untold layers of gameplay to this. DB already talked about things like hunting. What about fishing? Sports? What about bounty hunting Blade Runner style? Walking around cities? Having a picnic on top of your ASP, in front of things?

People have been asking for Exploration to get better since the beginning. It won’t until these features are added, and when they are I suspect it will become the #1 feature and the game will see a big resurgence. IF they commit to doing it and actually pull it off.