Still as Inconvenient as Possible to Play
- Thread starter Blackcompany
- Start date
I think this could be made much clearer for players if there were npc non-jump capable ships in systems, inter-planetary transports, shuttles etc.
Highlighting the difference between players (pilot federation members licenced for interstellar travel) and the normal plebs who can only fly about in system.
Regarding the OP I agree with the main points (minus some of the dramatic overtones), especially as a VR player, not a huge deal for me but a pain. Hopefully will be addressed at some point in the future
It is quite annoying that you cant look up the location of ships and modules in game.
The ability to do this should have been added in long ago considering ships are the core aspect of the game.
The ability to do this should have been added in long ago considering ships are the core aspect of the game.
I'm just going to assume that you have never played World of Warcraft. I'm really not sure what people would do if their 3rd-party UI's and wowhead.com disappeared.
Have you heard of that game? It has been moderately successful for a few years now, and made by a company that has a small reputation for excellence and polish.
Riôt
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It's perfectly playable without 3rd party software. I don't use any since I played.
I'm quite sure they will let you know when they've remade the game JUST for you ... keep an eye on your email ....
Cheers ...
Chief
Hello, all... 
... and hello, Adhock. Thank you for the information.
Industrial, eh? I've been playing since launch and didn't know this. I just presumed high-tech would be the place to go, because that's how it worked in the original game. I'm very pleased the truth makes more sense than I falsely assumed it would, if a bit put out that I didn't notice this for myself. I suppose having Jameson Memorial always available has meant I've had little incentive to find out, but even so.
It's worth noting that this topic's come up in Suggestions, several times - I'm not about to go back and check, but I don't recall anyone else offering this information*, so it might not be as widely-known as you would think.
Thanks again for your advice, Adhock. I'll be sure to keep it in mind, next time I want to buy ships and equipment away from Jameson.
*(Disclaimer: I might be wrong. DocLooshkin's recall of informations previously communicated is dependent on DocLooshkin's impertinently-soggy and ill-advised choice of brain. Sold as seen.)
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Here's a page from the Acornsoft manual for the original Elite.
All the information needed for successful trading, upgrading, bounty-hunting and piracy is here, shown in that little screenshot. It was freely given for every system in the game, you just moved the cursor to a star on the map and pressed the Planetary data key ('P' or 'F6', I think, depending on the platform).
The Tech. Level was literally all we ever needed for finding new equipment.
Elite used to be so much more accessible, but events move along, I suppose. FD have greatly increased the data-management demands for players, but have not been providing tools to make that process once again accessible, until now.
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While OP might well be of trollish persuasion, the general point made is a sound one: finding stuff in ED is often a tiresome business that most of us don't want to engage in. If I don't find what I want after docking at a few stations, I either make the trip back to Jameson or I go to third-parties, with little hesitation. Trawling through shipyard after shipyard for hours, with no guarantee of finding what I want, is not something I'm going to choose to do. That so many of the replies in defence of the status quo are dependent upon obscure prior knowledge and third-party resources is very telling, I think.
I wonder, does anyone even at Frontier ever use it as players are expected to, outside of functional testing to make sure it still works? If it's not terribly rude to say so, I'd say it doesn't seem likely, at the very least not without them already knowing Adhock's rule of thumb for what lies where.
If the overwhelming majority of a mechanic's supporters - and, speculatively, perhaps even it's own creators - don't use that mechanic in the way FD intended and expected it to be used, I think it might be worth at least reconsidering whether or not the information exposed to the player is sufficient for Frontier's goals.
I suspect FD already agrees in some part with the OP's general sentiment, or the current - and very welcome - round of trade data changes would presumably not be happening. I find the idea of comparable improvements for locating ships and equipment to be equally welcome.
... and hello, Adhock. Thank you for the information.
Industrial, eh? I've been playing since launch and didn't know this. I just presumed high-tech would be the place to go, because that's how it worked in the original game. I'm very pleased the truth makes more sense than I falsely assumed it would, if a bit put out that I didn't notice this for myself. I suppose having Jameson Memorial always available has meant I've had little incentive to find out, but even so.
It's worth noting that this topic's come up in Suggestions, several times - I'm not about to go back and check, but I don't recall anyone else offering this information*, so it might not be as widely-known as you would think.
Thanks again for your advice, Adhock. I'll be sure to keep it in mind, next time I want to buy ships and equipment away from Jameson.
*(Disclaimer: I might be wrong. DocLooshkin's recall of informations previously communicated is dependent on DocLooshkin's impertinently-soggy and ill-advised choice of brain. Sold as seen.)
- - - - -
Here's a page from the Acornsoft manual for the original Elite.
All the information needed for successful trading, upgrading, bounty-hunting and piracy is here, shown in that little screenshot. It was freely given for every system in the game, you just moved the cursor to a star on the map and pressed the Planetary data key ('P' or 'F6', I think, depending on the platform).
The Tech. Level was literally all we ever needed for finding new equipment.
Elite used to be so much more accessible, but events move along, I suppose. FD have greatly increased the data-management demands for players, but have not been providing tools to make that process once again accessible, until now.
- - - - -
While OP might well be of trollish persuasion, the general point made is a sound one: finding stuff in ED is often a tiresome business that most of us don't want to engage in. If I don't find what I want after docking at a few stations, I either make the trip back to Jameson or I go to third-parties, with little hesitation. Trawling through shipyard after shipyard for hours, with no guarantee of finding what I want, is not something I'm going to choose to do. That so many of the replies in defence of the status quo are dependent upon obscure prior knowledge and third-party resources is very telling, I think.
I wonder, does anyone even at Frontier ever use it as players are expected to, outside of functional testing to make sure it still works? If it's not terribly rude to say so, I'd say it doesn't seem likely, at the very least not without them already knowing Adhock's rule of thumb for what lies where.
If the overwhelming majority of a mechanic's supporters - and, speculatively, perhaps even it's own creators - don't use that mechanic in the way FD intended and expected it to be used, I think it might be worth at least reconsidering whether or not the information exposed to the player is sufficient for Frontier's goals.
I suspect FD already agrees in some part with the OP's general sentiment, or the current - and very welcome - round of trade data changes would presumably not be happening. I find the idea of comparable improvements for locating ships and equipment to be equally welcome.
Throwing my lot in with OP. Having basic information to make the game playable would seem to be obvious, but the fun-hating forum dad crowd deems simple game features as "entitlement" for some reason. I wonder what happened to them to make them all hate fun so much. Maybe they've been playing Elite so long that they've forgotten what a fun video game that doesn't deliberately make things as boring and inconvenient as possible for no reason is like.
Randomly flying around hoping to find what you're looking for with no information to go on other than "you have a better chance in this kind of system" is not good game play. It's not even game play at all, it's just a pointless inconvenience that adds nothing to the game except wasting the player's time.
Randomly flying around hoping to find what you're looking for with no information to go on other than "you have a better chance in this kind of system" is not good game play. It's not even game play at all, it's just a pointless inconvenience that adds nothing to the game except wasting the player's time.
Thanks again for your advice, Adhock. I'll be sure to keep it in mind, next time I want to buy ships and equipment away from Jameson.
....Oh yeah. Most of you grind immediately for Elite status and spoil yourself for choice.
I will say that it's not always a guarantee you'll find what you're looking for but you'll greatly increase your odds by following that basic formula.
A few more advanced tips. If you're looking for faction specific ships. Check to see the allegiance of the minor faction that controls that station. If a minor faction is aligned with a Superpower. Odds are much greater they'll have faction specific ships for sale.
Case in point when my PMF had control of the Industrial station in the system we were in. Being Federation aligned added the FDS, FAS, and FGS to the roster without removing any of the ships currently available INCREASING the number of ships for sale. When we lost control of the station, those ships were removed from the roster. (Working to unlock them again. Blasted BGS bugs!)
So if you're looking for Federation Ships, Empire Ships, or Alliance Ships. Check to see which minor faction has control of the INDUSTRIAL station. They don't have to control the system, just control the station in question. You don't even have to go there to confirm who's in control. The galaxy map will tell you all that as long as you have the system data and for the most part you can buy the data right there in the map if you've never been to the system.
Keep an eye out on the shipyards though. I found an Agri/Tourism system where both Tourist stations were offering Pythons. Never thought I'd see them there! I bookmarked it for future reference. It did confirm though that Tourism systems do not always sell Dophins.
Third bit of advice. Keep an eye on the state of the controlling faction of the station. If they're in a Boom state you're in luck! Boom states tend to unlock additional outfitting options so if a station didn't have equipment before, they might have what you're looking for now!
I can't confirm but I would theorize that the opposite "Bust" state might also lock things that were previously available.
Various other states might also have effects on what's available and might even affect the price on such. It's only speculation but something I'm sure someone else has tested. If not I certainly plan to find out!
Who was it said "game design trumps realism"? Oh yeah... Michael Brooks.
Ooooh, which game?
Candy Crush.
LOL, somehow i don't think that is it. But as they say, different folks, different strokes.
It would be nice if this info was in game, but now playing the game without EDMC running, EDDB, Inra, ETN, and EDSM open in tabs it wouldnt fell like playing elite, this is if im in the bubble, if im in the black its just EDMC and EDSM. Kudos to those who play the game without any of the above but for me it goes a long way to making the game fun for me.
I do however get the OP's point, and am hopeing the new trade tools are what I hope they are as for me that is going back to way Elitle was. Ive played a lot of games over the years and its become almost comman place now to use youtube or 3rd party sites for them. Grim Dawn is a game me and the wife play great game and the 3rd party sites go a long way to refineing what is already there, a bit like the ones for ED.
I do however get the OP's point, and am hopeing the new trade tools are what I hope they are as for me that is going back to way Elitle was. Ive played a lot of games over the years and its become almost comman place now to use youtube or 3rd party sites for them. Grim Dawn is a game me and the wife play great game and the 3rd party sites go a long way to refineing what is already there, a bit like the ones for ED.
Don't worry, OP will be back
Not in this thread he won't (going by past behaviour).
He'll just create another thread whinging about something else in about 4-6 weeks.
Great and now what? Other arguments and reasons invalidated?
This is on point. Even if you refuse to use third party tools, ED forces you to make notes or spreadsheets, for trading, Engineers or the mission from Ram Tah. And this is a problem from day one. Remember when not even the target system for missions where shown, but only in the mission description.
Regarding "there are third party sites for other games as well": Do they provide the same basic information as the sites for ED do? Just look at Engineers and how much info you actually need to progress.
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