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

[Soon(TM)]

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.

This makes sense, if SC 3.0 launches and the ED player base bombs then FD might decide not no bother expanding the game any further.
Why waste money flogging a dead horse.

 

[Novaenergy2]

The thing is with cities, on ELWs i'm expecting to have REAL cities/suburbs/rural towns like we do now IRL, instead of the colonial cities on the dead planets. Considering how many cities are in our world, and how diversified they are (compare NYC to somewhere like Mumbai) the task would be daunting. I would hate for cities on ELWs to be all the same, small, and only have a handful of them on each planet. I doubt we'll see PG cities for a long time.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

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.

But is it gameplay though?

I think there's some interesting clash - and not only in ED - because lot of people think it is zero gameplay and content. While in same time people claim SC is very deep just for allowing to fool around with space legs - while not giving anything to resemble gameplay loop.

There's good question - do people are ready pay for that? And I don't mean selling ships.

I personally don't believe that's the case.

The thing is with cities, on ELWs i'm expecting to have REAL cities/suburbs/rural towns like we do now IRL, instead of the colonial cities on the dead planets. Considering how many cities are in our world, and how diversified they are (compare NYC to somewhere like Mumbai) the task would be daunting. I would hate for cities on ELWs to be all the same, small, and only have a handful of them on each planet. I doubt we'll see PG cities for a long time.

Considering it is very far in future, there will be less diversity because with time it will become more unified - also most of planets will be post WWIII Earth colonies.

So when cities come they will be quite unified. Hopefully with enough variation.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Because 'we want'/'we demand' sounds way better and poses better. it is all about numbers.

Alternatively, simply express yourself and don't hide behind what you think are the thoughts of the "community". You are you and pretty small at that, not even half the size of the whole "we".

If he doesn't do that, chances are that devs can dismiss as something only he wants.

That's not the way you boss devs into your bidding.

Or at least that's what I am told.

 

[Vardaugas]

Because 'we want'/'we demand' sounds way better and poses better. it is all about numbers.



If he doesn't do that, chances are that devs can dismiss as something only he wants.

That's not the way you boss devs into your bidding.

Or at least that's what I am told.

Whenever someone posts with "we" as a single person with an opinion I always think: "We? Who is we? You and your three headmates?". It just sounds overly pretentious.

 

[[DOOK] Droogie]

 

[Vasea Azure]

I'm always baffled when people use the words "we want". As if there was an election to an official community speaker somewhere in the past. Did I miss something? This always arise the questions: Did this guy asked me before he threw me into this large pot called "we"? Am I not part of this community? Where does this mysterious knowledge about what the community really wants came from? Perhaps just some personal desires mixed with a selective perception of forum posts while extracting an imaginary majority from that? Has this guy never realized how divided our community actually is?

Questions over questions... Tell me your secrets man or step out of your echo chamber!

Alternatively, simply express yourself and don't hide behind what you think are the thoughts of the "community". You are you and pretty small at that, not even half the size of the whole "we".

You are nitpicking to the extreme I think, features that are discussed here are hot topic atm so its safe to assume that lots of commanders wants them. But I have a suspicion that you are here just for commotion so... moving on.

 

[Darkfyre99]

The thing is with cities, on ELWs i'm expecting to have REAL cities/suburbs/rural towns like we do now IRL, instead of the colonial cities on the dead planets. Considering how many cities are in our world, and how diversified they are (compare NYC to somewhere like Mumbai) the task would be daunting. I would hate for cities on ELWs to be all the same, small, and only have a handful of them on each planet. I doubt we'll see PG cities for a long time.

Look at the night side of any inhabited ELW. Examine the distribution of lights across its surface. Those are cities and towns, from high density urban centers, to medium density suburbs, to isolated communities. Frontier has already done the hard work, procedurally generating where people live on a world. From there, as has been demonstrated by titles like FSX, procedurally generating cities, towns, and villages can proceed.

 

[LeoBartlet]

THe real question is how many threads like this will be created between now and 2019.

Personally I try not to concern myself with what will happen in a game two years from now.

 

[Arindor]

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

Pretty much this. +1!

I've said something similar before, if FD are planning to implement legs, flora and fauna in a future release, then they may be waiting for technology to improve where they can make it look "believable" and do it on a galactic scale rather than in a smaller, localized area.

 

[govny]

Alive or dead, Elite will still bleed. 80% is 80% lol

and where have you taken this percentage?
have you made a poll survey or are you using your crystal ball?
anyway I plan to try 3.0 (not that I expect too much from it) and also play ED. You know, humans are multitasking.

 

[askavir]

and where have you taken this percentage?
have you made a poll survey or are you using your crystal ball?
anyway I plan to try 3.0 (not that I expect too much from it) and also play ED. You know, humans are multitasking.

He took that percentage from his backside, obviously.

I find the notion that any relevant amount of players will "leave ED" for a buggy early access title with barely anything at all available to actually do, and with only a handful of locations to visit, completely hilarious.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

and where have you taken this percentage?
have you made a poll survey or are you using your crystal ball?
anyway I plan to try 3.0 (not that I expect too much from it) and also play ED. You know, humans are multitasking.

Numbers does not matter. Message "you will be dead, there's big daddy in town' matters.

I know, crazy, but some SC fans claims they backed game for very same reason.

 

[nexxo]

I think (for what it's worth) that Fdev are concentrating on the right thing right now: refinement of game play and graphics.
Consider EvE Online: no space legs, no cities, not even planetary landings. Just ships, stations and space. However it has been going strong for over a decade on a mind-meltingly detailed economy and combat game play. Entire Game of Thrones epics are lived out in that game.

Consider No Man' Sky: millions of PG planets each with a unique lush ecosystem that you can walk around and explore. Yet initially it came in for some heavy criticism because there was really not that much to do.

Elite Dangerous needs a lot of activities fleshing out, with a better simulated economy (trading, mining, crafting) and community social interaction and team game play. It needs a better designed security system: nice, affluent democracies need to have a strong security ship presence and substantial penalties and bounties to create safe havens for new players to enjoy exploring and learning the game without getting griefed (but offering more modest trading/mining earnings), while gradually poorer, more anarchic systems are more fly-at-your-own-risk for experienced and well-equipped players (but offering potentially more rewards in trading and mining to entice people to venture out).

It also really needs a revamp of its artwork. I am pleased to see that the Chieftain looks like a professional designed it, rather than a twelve-year old as many of the other ships (and a few outposts) do (and let's not mention some of the paint packs and those body kits, and custom-coloured lasers and exhausts? No! Just... no!). Let's hope it will also inform other game assets. I am also pleased that the lighting system is being reworked as I saw Fdev painting themselves into a corner with atmospheric planets (those stars simply do not look bright enough --and are way too exaggerated in colour-- to make for a credible-looking skyscape, and planetary rings don't cast shadows, which also will look immediately off when on the planet surface).

 

[Tadeus72]

I agree with most things.

Well, other than the art assets. For me they are still by far the best in the genre, even if you compare them to the newest games that are still in development.

And the economy, if it's supposed to mean a player economy. I love EVE, but a player economy has as many benefits as it has downsides, even more so if there is no skill system, which means you can use everything you buy to its full effectiveness. But if a better economy means refining what we have now (especially the influence of system states and world events on the economy and better trading tools) than sure. I'm all with you.

Whis doesn't mean I wouldn't want to see some lifeless atmospherics with new mechanics after Beyond.

 

[buzzx]

What has made the biggest difference to my experience of ED has been the move to VR.
This change in technology has had a far greater impact on my immersion than any of the ingame developments such as horizons, wings, holo me etc. If this holds true going forward into 2018 then maybe we should be asking what are the big tech Devs we can expect? 40k VR seems likely? New bigger graphics cards and faster processors will allow procedural generation to do so much more. Look back at where Elite started just over 30 years ago (wire frame models) or even 3 years ago (not much more than one ship type, one station type and a few different star types).
ED DBOBEness was always about making the most of the available technology. Space legs, atmospheric landings, giant cities are going to require massive computing power. The tech demos of all of these things are already out there, we just need the majority of our PCs to catch up. Keep the faith Cmdrs o7

I agree I'm VR only and can't go back to a screen. Hence Star Citizen won't get me until it's VR. I'd love to know the VR percentage of players in ED.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

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

Precisely this. While FFE2 was ground breaking at the time. Doing what FFE2 did but with more realistic mechanics, graphics and better gameplay you can do on planets is going to take time.

But I still suspect that we may be getting basic atmospherics at the end of 2018, which will be the new premium paid for for content that has been discussed, possibly coming at the same time as the Q4 update.

 

[Cupcake]

ED is a very different style of game to SC .

I would beg to differ. BOTH space flight based games, BOTH have combat elements, BOTH multiplayer......... They are VERY MUCH the same type of game and anyone who says different is just crazy. The only difference is that one is being created THEN sold as opposed to sold then created

 

[LKx]

I would beg to differ. BOTH space flight based games, BOTH have combat elements, BOTH multiplayer......... They are VERY MUCH the same type of game and anyone who says different is just crazy. The only difference is that one is being created THEN sold as opposed to sold then created

To be fair, both were sold long before being created

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I would beg to differ. BOTH space flight based games, BOTH have combat elements, BOTH multiplayer......... They are VERY MUCH the same type of game and anyone who says different is just crazy. The only difference is that one is being created THEN sold as opposed to sold then created

i would say SC is far more down the traditional mmo rabit hole with all the guild rubbis........... er content.

ED however i am worried seems to be veering off down that path too.