Stop killing immersion for the sake of Atari gameplay.

[Vingtetun]

I suppose my point is that your original post is based on subjective opinion. I find the game delivers all the reasons I need for the way things are in the course of creating a fun social gaming environment. Politics work (they aren't always logical but look at modern global politics, the theory and practice are far from ideal), stock markets (again, seem to be illogical and prone to pitchfork wielding mob mentality being the largest creator of swings other than natural disasters), the utterly illogical use of personal motor vehicles and not public transportation (a parallel with why we all own diddly little spaceships and not just hop on top off those top 1 percent of liners).

It is an imperfect simulation if you are looking for a totally logical, theoretical tel life simulator of being a Starship captain but as a game, it rides the union of the two waves between realism and gameplay very nicely. Dips to one side or the other occasionally but in reality, delivers an awful lot that is suitable for both needs

 

[Vasea Azure]

I dont get some of the decisions by FD too OP, Elite has a serious identity crisis between wanting to be mmo/sim like and console friendly game at once. It does not work well so far.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

Why only two fire buttons? Because.
Why no autopilot? Because.
Why no selective vector flight assistance? Because
And why all those and other things I can do on my home PC are unavailable in 3300 or whatever? JUST BECAUSE. Do I have to imagine that things are more complicated than I see, even in areas they clearly cannot be such?
Why no business/property opportunities? BECAUSE.
Why an increase in investments does not increase your profit?? BECAUSE.
Why there are so many *Corporations* with no signs of stock markets? Because.
Material traders exchange rates?? Because.
Why have I to scavenge for destroyed ship parts despite having about billion? JUST BECAUSE.

A lot of truth there, but I see the community has already cracked out the caustic cannons So I'm not going to wade through all of this thread, but thought I'd chime in with my supporting opinion on some of what you've said.

There is a lot of low hanging fruit that could be added to the game's immersion such as conversation with NPC's through a selection of a couple of choices of sentences like we used to get in FE2 and FFE (previous versions of the elite franchise). But I dont even think they are on the cards for season 3, whcih is thankfully mostly consolidating what is already in game with some narrative overlaid onto it. The fire button one is a particular sore point for me, just how many buttons does a KeyBoard And Mouse (KBAM) player have? What about your average HOTAS? Heck even an XB1 controller can manage an impressive rake of combopresses and that is before we tack on the chatpad in the middle which would mean every button could be a fire button and every key could be a function.

As a Oculus Rift CV1 owner, I agree that playing in VR amps your immersion by a couple of orders of magnitude, so is money well spent. But no amount of stereostropic head tracking head mounted display seeing the gameverse through your pilots eyes counters the gaminess of looking for hours on a planets surface for a couple of grams of cadmium which you know full well you've thrown out more of that in dud nicad batteries...

 

[Shadowdancer]

I have no problem playing X3 immersed.

https://www.amazon.com/Total-Immersion/dp/B005MR3IVO

Just make sure you keep any electronics dry I guess.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

I just don't get this obsession some people have with 'stock market' gameplay - I can't imagine anything more tedious.

 

[Valorin]

I've lived quite some time and learned some history to know that there are always were some causes for human and society behavior, rules, laws and so on, as well as reasons for which things are way they are. And I might say that unnatural and inefficient things do not survive for long unchanged.

And I see too little of cause and effect thing going in Elite. I mean I understand why all this mess happened, it is because FD tries to build immersive competitive casual hardcore space simulator game for consoles or something like while orienting to 1984 gameplay roots at that. A balance between those things can be achieved, but its a long way from being done. But that understanding doesn't help my immersion in any way whatsoever. Things are just too blatant and obvious.

I do understand that some limitations and simplifications such as the absence of relativistic time model or speed limitations are necessary. But some of the limitations are either placed due to unfinished game play or for the sake of *spirit* I do not really share, and frankly, sometimes are just look so devs are just lazy and/or incompetent and make up excuses.

I have no problem playing X3 immersed. Also, I might add that I was quite okay with no property runs in that game, despite the economy being its main part. Although I understand that even its economy, the core part, quite far from being realistic, it doesn't break immersion as hard as things in Elite do. Because this game doesn't look more realistic than society and economy in this game are.
And I have no way of playing Elite the same way. I was fully immersed for first two weeks or so, then it got shattered as the stupidity of some things became too obvious.

Why only two fire buttons? Because.
Why no autopilot? Because.
Why no selective vector flight assistance? Because
And why all those and other things I can do on my home PC are unavailable in 3300 or whatever? JUST BECAUSE. Do I have to imagine that things are more complicated than I see, even in areas they clearly cannot be such?
Why no business/property opportunities? BECAUSE.
Why an increase in investments does not increase your profit?? BECAUSE.
Why there are so many *Corporations* with no signs of stock markets? Because.
Material traders exchange rates?? Because.
Why have I to scavenge for destroyed ship parts despite having about billion? JUST BECAUSE.

I can go on and on. Its too obvious to me that whoever or whichever caused reasons for limitations like 2 fire triggers would be overthrown instantly IRL. This would work if a player was presented as part of the military, but that's not the case in this game, as military statutes quite often are stupid and go overboard.
And people with alternative rates for materials would INSTANTLY show up. And they would be simply purchasable.

You don't make a Super Mario game with open world and realistic graphics.
Imagine if dudes in FFXV would line up and attack in turns, with the level of graphics in this game. Would this work? No.
Imagine GTA without all those arcades and bowling and stuff. Would it be as good as it is? No. Those things help immersion, even more, they create immersion. Who cares if almost no one uses them more than once. They just have to be there.

I wish FD would give everything they do with the game a reality check FIRST, rather than taking only "difficulty" and "time to achieve" parameters into account. Also, they have to understand that difficulty in a computer game should NOT have man-hours as its main measure.

On material system for example. Firstly, why on Earth in space I should scavenge for iron or broken conductors? Those things easily could be made purchasable, narrowing the search to rare ones. Polonium, for example. Procure it yourself or find some black market which would sell some for a price. On traders - ideal is 1-1 for the same rarity, 2^n for downwards or upwards exchange, with some transaction fee. Worse is 2^n from the same rarity, 2^n +1 for upwards. And material types should be just abolished.
Do I want to make things easier? Not necessarily. Balance with material drops can be shifted, more rare types added. But not being able to buy iron makes no sense from Adder stage, let alone having a bil.

I don't even understand why I have to explain why in a game with most detailed space so far and such amazing combat such naive videogamey things should not be present. It's actually the first time I see that people say that things should deliberately make no sense. Does things making some sence hurt gameplay in any way? Again, I understand than some of those things needed for good gameplay. But some of things could at least be "rephrased" so they make sence, with gameplay being same essentialy.

I've dropped Elite a while ago, but returned as some steps in the right direction are clearly being made. The game started to give hope. But I am far from playing immersed as things are now.

I don't really like the way it is delivered, but I have to agree to many things said about Elite and gameplay vs logic.
The game completely being a simulation would kill it off as a game I guess, but many systems in it have been build on gameplay logic and for the sake of balancing, but defy simple logic, which I don't like. Starting with lore explanation like telepresence for multicrew and 3D printing for ship launched fighters. If that tech was available many, many things would use those as well. Telepresence for controling drones for fighting without loss of lives, 3D printing for SRVs and limpets and whatsnot (yeah, we can synthesize limpets, so that's basically in the game).
I miss a lot of the science aspect of the game. Scientific tools, ship functions that are in line with the tech we are supposed to possess. Information about markets, star systems, factions and all this stuff should be something that is easily available. It is as if mankind went back to telephones and couriers and forgot about information transfer when it's not about issuing bounties and fines. Those are perfectly delivered whereever youi are.

There's a discrepancy between what is shown off to be working and how other things relying on the same tech are actually working for us. That's basically what I don't like. Of course many of these things also come down to development time, but others have been decided to be the way they are, and that's kind of a shame.
Yeah, it's still a game, and I like it a lot and will continue playing a lot, but whenever I come across these things I wished it would have been made differently.

 

[Quantis Trap]

...Why only two fire buttons?...

Yes why why why!

 

[Susanna]

Page 2 and I'll add Can I haz your stuff?

You will eventually become climatized to how ED works and how the ship controls are designed. They do eventually make sense and can be used effectively as is.

Your comments are common for those new to the game. If you are seriously expecting any of your ship control suggestions in the next 2-5 years, I would uninstall now.

Hi GG7, I don't think the OPs comments are specifically aimed at 'ship controls', but more broadly around game mechanics. Even if the OP is new to the game his comments should be given value, maybe more because he is new... He hasn't because blind to the many weaknesses in ED yet...

Why only two fire buttons? Because.
Why no autopilot? Because.
Why no selective vector flight assistance? Because
And why all those and other things I can do on my home PC are unavailable in 3300 or whatever? JUST BECAUSE. Do I have to imagine that things are more complicated than I see, even in areas they clearly cannot be such?
Why no business/property opportunities? BECAUSE.
Why an increase in investments does not increase your profit?? BECAUSE.
Why there are so many *Corporations* with no signs of stock markets? Because.
Material traders exchange rates?? Because.
Why have I to scavenge for destroyed ship parts despite having about billion? JUST BECAUSE.

I can go on and on.

I've dropped Elite a while ago, but returned as some steps in the right direction are clearly being made. The game started to give hope. But I am far from playing immersed as things are now.

Because ED has a very large handful of Handwavium thrown into the mix. Given this basis, why bother with the stupid attempts at providing immersion with things like time delays to ship modules and ships around? How is taking an hour and a quarter to transfer a thruster module to Prof. Palin in any way improving my game play? IT DOESN'T! IT JUST MEANS THAT I PACK UP FOR THE NIGHT BECAUSE THERE IS SOD ALL I CAN DO BUT WAIT!

There are a lot of things like this that I just shake my head at while rolling my eyes! It's plain stupid and dumb in a video game! Please get your immersion kick somewhere else (within the game)! But don't lecture on how adding time delays in any way improves game play! It doesn't, it just completely stalls it!

I can't wait until they introduce essential realism/immersion features such as waiting two hours for cargo to be loaded on to our ship and waiting a week or more for it to be repaired. They should also get rid of rebuys and respawns, or at least have you floating around in an escape pod for several days until someone happens to rescue or enslave you. And you should get sent to prison for breaking the law and non-payment of fines. Oh and your avatar should have to take regular toilet breaks.

They already have... This is a GAME. Immersion should not be about adding RL elements, it should be about adding elements that pull you into its own universe, not relive RL deficiencies!

Amen

Same here.

Don't really see the point in starting another thread, although I do agree with most of what you say. don't expect anything to change though.

I enjoy ED, find it incredibly immersive for me. But to be honest it is more about the VR, amazing flight model and graphics. I'll always have ED on my hard drive, but I am hoping these other space developers get things into gear. Recently saw the Reclaimer in Star Citizen, hopefully that game will be finished by the time I hit 50 in 2028..

The immersion breaking RL elements need to go imo. Let ED pull you into its own universe, don't impose your RL expectations on to it.

Well OP, we already have driverless cars and trains, and airplanes can virtually themselves, so I imagine in 3300 space ships would be completely unmanned - flown and managed by sophisticated AIs. So maybe ED should just be a game about managing a freight business or something? Then again, we could probably just leave that to the computers as well.

ED should stand within its own universe and if that allows a mix of automation via autopilot etc and manual flight, great both camps are happy. Why impose your view upon me?

Funny you should mention this. My current theory is that we are actually the AI created by the Guardians, though we are unaware of this.

Been there, done that.

Well if we are the height of their AI creation no wonder they got destroyed by the thargoids...

With people like Trump getting into power... Very believable!

"If it moans, hit it as hard as you can"?

That's been a very funny side-thread so far...

The original Elite and Frontier: Elite 2 did also get an Atari ST release and they were both very well-received games.

I didn't know that... Interesting.

Then their AI is pants, have you seen my flying?

On that side-thread point... Random flying...

Spoiler

[video=youtube_share;7l3Bky5wnSc]https://youtu.be/7l3Bky5wnSc[/video]

Is it just me or was there a glitch in the matrix?

You see those letters and symbols falling down the screen, that is the game play melt down while we wait for ages for anything to be shipped around because some people think that RL elements improve the GAME PLAY.

Totally. I'm not sure if the OP is even serious, given that he thinks realistic wait times of two hours or more to load cargo would be an improvement.

AGREED. That would kill the game for me! Trading would stop overnight!

Actually if they listened to a reasonably toned suggestion i think the forums at least would look different.

Ah, I actually have an example of that. Two, in fact, in my own personal experience.

1. I suggested once that Alliance factions should be using their new toys, the Type-10 and the Chieftain, in combat zones. Alliance, and some Independent, factions now use those ships in combat zones. I've also been seeing them be used by Alliance Powerplay NPCs, and by bounty hunters.

2. I pointed out that the radial menus on the PS4 supply incorrect info. Not only did they fix that, but they revamped the look of them, at least when using the Thrustmaster 4.

And the docking computer got fixed by MoM after demonstrating how broken it was... They can fix this stuff if there is the will to do it.

I claim it. The OP's stuff. I want it.

Not good enough. It's has to be, 'Can I haz your stuff'. So again, OP can I haz your stuff?

Its interesting that you compare elite to the x series of games, i do that myself sometimes and see elite just not measuring up in some areas.
What i think the dev team are failing to see is that technical sufficiency isnt the whole of the battle when you are trying to make a good game. One of the things that made the x games as good as they were was the creative effort that went in to creating the back story and fleshed out the in game features.
In the x games, things like the encyclopedia, the trade command software, the weapons all had some little blurb or back story that pulled you into the game.
If you add the game unbalancing grind of the engineers to Elites creative deficiencies, imo there is no amount of technical proficiency thats going to make ED a satisfying game experience.
I played the x games for weeks straight every waking moment, i cant play elite more than an hour or two tops without finding something broken, but that would be forgivable i think if the game had some creative depth to it.

In game universe immersion is the way to go. Not RL immersion.

As someone who recently got into VR, i can say that it was. However, it wears off. While I would never go back to playing it in 2d, flying around in SC for hours hoping RNG goes your way and that HGE finally spawns is the same in 3d as it is in 2d.

Oh so true! I was totally WoWed by ED in VR. Sadly I can't properly play in VR. But it's game mechanics like HGEs that break ED more than anything for me. Yes it's in-game universe centric, but it's a really crappy mechanic!

Because this is a game about *flying* a spaceship. You might as well ask for "auto-aim" in a First Person Shooter game...
Selective what???
Because it would leave you with nothing to DO in the game, if it was all automated.
Because this is a game about flying a spaceship? Not a business/property simulator.
Because FDev wanted to give players with billions of credits something to do. If everything was purchasable with money, once you have billions you'd have everything, and therefore have no further reason to play the game.

To be honest, I think you have two options:
1. Delete your commander, and start again from scratch. Having billions of credits has warped your view of the game.
or
2. Permanently drop Elite, as it's not the kind of space game you are looking for.

Or convince people with your kind of viewpoint that you are warping ED into a horrible mess of a game. There is nothing wrong with wanting an autopilot! If manually flying is all ED is to you, you have a very sad viewpoint of what ED is... there are times when it would increase immersion!

 

[zombieapocalypse]

Page 2 and I'll add Can I haz your stuff?



Hi GG7, I don't think the OPs comments are specifically aimed at 'ship controls', but more broadly around game mechanics. Even if the OP is new to the game his comments should be given value, maybe more because he is new... He hasn't because blind to the many weaknesses in ED yet...




Because ED has a very large handful of Handwavium thrown into the mix. Given this basis, why bother with the stupid attempts at providing immersion with things like time delays to ship modules and ships around? How is taking an hour and a quarter to transfer a thruster module to Prof. Palin in any way improving my game play? IT DOESN'T! IT JUST MEANS THAT I PACK UP FOR THE NIGHT BECAUSE THERE IS SOD ALL I CAN DO BUT WAIT!

There are a lot of things like this that I just shake my head at while rolling my eyes! It's plain stupid and dumb in a video game! Please get your immersion kick somewhere else (within the game)! But don't lecture on how adding time delays in any way improves game play! It doesn't, it just completely stalls it!




They already have... This is a GAME. Immersion should not be about adding RL elements, it should be about adding elements that pull you into its own universe, not relive RL deficiencies!




Same here.




The immersion breaking RL elements need to go imo. Let ED pull you into its own universe, don't impose your RL expectations on to it.




ED should stand within its own universe and if that allows a mix of automation via autopilot etc and manual flight, great both camps are happy. Why impose your view upon me?




Been there, done that.




With people like Trump getting into power... Very believable!




That's been a very funny side-thread so far...




I didn't know that... Interesting.




On that side-thread point... Random flying...

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/7l3Bky5wnSc

You see those letters and symbols falling down the screen, that is the game play melt down while we wait for ages for anything to be shipped around because some people think that RL elements improve the GAME PLAY.




AGREED. That would kill the game for me! Trading would stop overnight!





And the docking computer got fixed by MoM after demonstrating how broken it was... They can fix this stuff if there is the will to do it.




Not good enough. It's has to be, 'Can I haz your stuff'. So again, OP can I haz your stuff?




In game universe immersion is the way to go. Not RL immersion.




Oh so true! I was totally WoWed by ED in VR. Sadly I can't properly play in VR. But it's game mechanics like HGEs that break ED more than anything for me. Yes it's in-game universe centric, but it's a really crappy mechanic!




Or convince people with your kind of viewpoint that you are warping ED into a horrible mess of a game. There is nothing wrong with wanting an autopilot! If manually flying is all ED is to you, you have a very sad viewpoint of what ED is... there are times when it would increase immersion!

I think you were taking my points at face value/literally.

My argument was just because you can do something in real life, doesn't mean it should be in the game. And that realism doesn't necessarily equal good/fun/rewarding gameplay or better immersion. All games require a certain amount "suspension of disbelief". After all, I'm not really sat in a space ship or living in the distant future, am I?

 

[EISENHORN01]

If it’s on the Atari it better bloody well be coming out on the Sony Mega Drive if not il want to know WHY

 

[Susanna]

IMHO alot of the "manual things" have to do with us still being treated as "just one lonely guy in a single Spaceship".

That works like a charm for new CMDRs owning only 1 or 2 Ships.

Problems arise, however, when CMDRs have progressed from worker bees (literally) hunting mini-jobs to being high-ranked Members of the Pilots Federation, Allied to & high-hanked with SuperPowers & countless Factions.
Such CMDRs are wealthy Tycoons, Billionaires, operate dozens of expensive and exclusive assets and actually employ NPCs.
They're makers, employers, Wing & Fleet Operators, Managers.. Not tiny worker bees anymore.

And yet - they're still expected to act like some, simply due to the fact that alternative Options do no exist. There is no scaling beyond that at this point.

So there you are, instead of giving orders to NPCs to perform tasks you personally don't enjoy and find dull - and still have to do them yourselves. Just like in old times, no alternatives.
IMHO that's the point where two worlds collide - and immersion keeps losing out badly, since things that made perfect sense in the Newbie Days at some point turn around - and just stop making any sense.

This... Exactly this. Repped.

Looks like another, 'I am not happy with this game' rant; like you made the other day, regrading auto-pilots.

if it is that much of an issue to you, why not play another game?

Why not simply provide one so that you can stick your nose in the air and assert that you are never going to be little yourself to use it!

 

[Susanna]

The best solution to that would be to only allow us to own and fly one ship

I like the X series reference

 

[Herbrand]

Because gameplay balance and development resources constraints.

 

[Susanna]

OP... SRSLY?

I was kinda nodding to a few things you said, then you went and dropped a clanger....

Places like Hutton Orbital couldn't be profitable.

It takes less than an hour to reach Hutton Orbital... There are plenty of towns in the real world today that take more than an hour to reach.
The fact that everyone knows it and most have made the pilgrimage once.... Some many more times...
That's one of the most interesting and "realistic" locations in the game... Actually Famous for something physical rather than some made up Power Play generic cookie cutter "famous."

Sorry, but you blew it with that argument.... Just sunk the whole boat.

Sorry GraXXoR, you are showing your ignorance by saying it takes less than an hour to get to Hutton orbital. Hutton orbital officially takes 1hour 26min to SC over... For me it takes 1 hour and 28 min but I'll not quibble over two minutes.

And I have no issue with it taking an hour and a half to get to Hutton orbital. I've done it many times because it pays 85mil per trip. I am actively doing something, even if it's just being in SC towards a destination (albeit I'm watching a movie in the living room at the same time until the last 5 min of the flight time).

I do have an issue with the dumb transfer wait times however, that doesn't add anything for me other than killing my game play for the rest of the evening.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

IMHO alot of the "manual things" have to do with us still being treated as "just one lonely guy in a single Spaceship".

That works like a charm for new CMDRs owning only 1 or 2 Ships.

Problems arise, however, when CMDRs have progressed from worker bees (literally) hunting mini-jobs to being high-ranked Members of the Pilots Federation, Allied to & high-hanked with SuperPowers & countless Factions.
Such CMDRs are wealthy Tycoons, Billionaires, operate dozens of expensive and exclusive assets and actually employ NPCs.
They're makers, employers, Wing & Fleet Operators, Managers.. Not tiny worker bees anymore.

And yet - they're still expected to act like some, simply due to the fact that alternative Options do no exist. There is no scaling beyond that at this point.

So there you are, instead of giving orders to NPCs to perform tasks you personally don't enjoy and find dull - and still have to do them yourselves. Just like in old times, no alternatives.
IMHO that's the point where two worlds collide - and immersion keeps losing out badly, since things that made perfect sense in the Newbie Days at some point turn around - and just stop making any sense.

I partially agree with this - but the issue is not that we are not treated as 'fleet owners' who can order our assets around. That really isn't the game.
The issue that I see is the dead time involved in changing gameplay styles to take advantage of our fleet.

It's great that we can own a lot of specialized ships for different roles - the issue comes in the opportunity cost involved in utilizing them.

I believe this would be solved by replacing ship transfer with the simple ability to log in to any ship you own.
That would enable you to build all the specialized ships required for the gameplay you enjoy and to manually deploy them to where they will be most useful.

Removing the need to shlep all over the galaxy whenever you want a change of pace would truly liberate the game.

Some changes would be required to avoid obvious exploits - things that are now directly associated with the commander would instead need to be directly associated with the ships themselves in the same way that bounties are now.

 

[Susanna]

I also do not believe that he would lobby for x-rated video content to be added either (can't use the 'p' word that sounds like corn for some reason).

I know this one! I know this one!... Popcorn!

 

[Susanna]

"For me, magic was gone when I've got to Python stage at 3rd week of playing. No ways to conveniently use my belly plasma was outrageous in its inconsequence. And discontent just were increasing futher I went."

Sounds like youve just rushed through the game by grinding it, & learned nowhere near enough about using smaller ships that give you the experience you need to enjoy & make the most of larger ships when you get them. You've ruined the game for yourself as a consequence. It seems that all you have to teach others is a cautionary lesson on how not to start playing the game. If this describes what youve done, im sorry for you. Playing the game is letting the game take its own pace. You end up trying a bit of everything, and naturally gravitate to the things you enjoy & pickup the skills you need as you go. If you try to fasttrack everything you are effectively trying to break the game, and strangely enough it then seems broken to you.

Your version of reality, it's not mine.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Sorry GraXXoR, you are showing your ignorance by saying it takes less than an hour to get to Hutton orbital. Hutton orbital officially takes 1hour 26min to SC over... For me it takes 1 hour and 28 min but I'll not quibble over two minutes.

And I have no issue with it taking an hour and a half to get to Hutton orbital. I've done it many times because it pays 85mil per trip. I am actively doing something, even if it's just being in SC towards a destination (albeit I'm watching a movie in the living room at the same time until the last 5 min of the flight time).

I do have an issue with the dumb transfer wait times however, that doesn't add anything for me other than killing my game play for the rest of the evening.

Transfer wait times are there for a reason. Not because of immersion, but so mechanics such as mission restrictions have a purpose. Ship outfitting consequences exist and also ship consequences exist. It also means that you have an option, whether to go and get that module/ship yourself or get it transported. Options are good.

Having instant transfer of ships/modules removes a lot of the consequences from the game, it will make instant transfer of modules/ships the default way of moving stuff around. The only way to mitigate that would be to make it so expensive that only the very wealthy could use it, therefore making it something that virtually nobody would use.

As it stands now, it has it's uses that everybody can use. What you do while your ship/module is in transport is up to you, but the game certainly does not force you to log off and whether it kills your game or not is really down to your own choices. That is all on you.

 

[crushdepth]

I partially agree with this - but the issue is not that we are not treated as 'fleet owners' who can order our assets around. That really isn't the game.
The issue that I see is the dead time involved in changing gameplay styles to take advantage of our fleet.

It's great that we can own a lot of specialized ships for different roles - the issue comes in the opportunity cost involved in utilizing them.

I believe this would be solved by replacing ship transfer with the simple ability to log in to any ship you own.
That would enable you to build all the specialized ships required for the gameplay you enjoy and to manually deploy them to where they will be most useful.

Removing the need to shlep all over the galaxy whenever you want a change of pace would truly liberate the game.

Some changes would be required to avoid obvious exploits - things that are now directly associated with the commander would instead need to be directly associated with the ships themselves in the same way that bounties are now.

I agree about logging in to any ship. Being able to *stop* exploring for a while when you're kylies from anywhere would be an improvement.

I wonder how many explorers have flipped up the safety cover and pressed that self destruct button.

 

[StiTch]

TL;DR: "I have a different vision of what ED should be to the devs, and the devs are stoopid because they went with their vision and not mine. Stoopid I tell you! STOOOOPID!"