I was right, you were wrong

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Can some people get over it already? CQC was part of a quarterly update, and mostly introduced stuff they were planning to get into the main game (and did put into the main game) anyway. One would almost get the idea that FD spend years developing CQC. CQC was just a combination of several new things for the main game (SLF, installations), functioned as a 'demo', brought some extra income to FD when it was sold stand-alone and provides fun to a bunch of people to this day. Seems like a fine way to spend a few weeks of dev time, even if you yourself don't happen to like it.

Honestly, the incessant whining about CQC is a prime example of why FD unfortunately would do best to be as silent as possible.
And still I want a dedicated CQC system with ingame assets. And bets. And popcorn.
 
And yes, a roadmap (a proper roadmap, not a document hastily put together to placate the mob) should be guarantee of implementation and timescale. If in the context of an official roadmap I promise, say, that in Q2 2020 I will offer you the ability to build surface bases...I better give you the ability to build surface bases no later than the 31st of June.

And this is another excellent reason why FD is being silent. One beautiful day I hope sufficient gamers will understand that game development is a fluid process where things rarely go according to plans and roadmaps are in a constant state of flux. I'd love it if FD would tell us what they are trying to do, and what they are hoping to accomplish at which moments in time.

But you excellently demonstrated that people cannot understand that there is no such thing as 'guarantee' when making plans for the next years. Okay, if you insist that roadmaps should be guarantees then no roadmap for you. :)
 

Viajero

Volunteer Moderator
No. Because it's indefinite (ie never).

Hello Commanders,

Wanted to jump in here and say that Fleet Carriers are not cancelled, and while we cannot give you more details on them at this time, they are still planned in our development roadmap. We do understand that waiting without much information can be frustrating, so as soon as we can give you more info, we will.

So does this mean that it was Rambojambo who was wrong?
 

rootsrat

Volunteer Moderator
Hello Commanders,

Wanted to jump in here and say that Fleet Carriers are not cancelled, and while we cannot give you more details on them at this time, they are still planned in our development roadmap. We do understand that waiting without much information can be frustrating, so as soon as we can give you more info, we will.

Beautiful, thanks for the information Paige. This is really good news even without a date - just knowing that you are still planning to implement them at some point. Nice one!
 
No, that was not a clear and transparent roadmap. It was a placeholder "hey look, we'll get to this stuff eventually" kind of announcement. That's not how you make a solid business plan.

It was a consumer-facing roadmap with the basic blocks fleshed out. Due to changes on the 'business end' of things two of those blocks got pushed. The whole fricking thing was a free update, and yet the winge has been epic.

I'd happily see them release detailed roadmaps. And I'd be fine with them changing as they progress. (Sometimes retaining flexibility and changing tack is both good business and good artistic practice).

But stating that a fixed, fine-grained roadmap is both best design practice and a panacea against online drama is daft.
 
And this is another excellent reason why FD is being silent. One beautiful day I hope sufficient gamers will understand that game development is a fluid process where things rarely go according to plans and roadmaps are in a constant state of flux. I'd love it if FD would tell us what they are trying to do, and what they are hoping to accomplish at which moments in time.

But you excellently demonstrated that people cannot understand that there is no such thing as 'guarantee' when making plans for the next years. Okay, if you insist that roadmaps should be guarantees then no roadmap for you. :)

Sorry but no. If your idea of Roadmap is (on November 24th at 10:34am we will drop spacelegs) you might be right. But the world of software development, hard as it is, is not a completely haphazard process. There are set dates, and more often than not (although delays happen, sure) they are respected.

If it was like you say, we'd never get an announcement for a new game, they'd only drop it one fine day when they've finally overcome all problems: SURPRISE! Here's your new unannounced videogame!

It doesn't work like this. If you know what you're doing, and take the time you need, and consider contingencies and possible problems you can give a launch window for a new feature that you are reasonably confident you can meet. Or a list of such launch windows. Which is nothing but a roadmap.

And besides, what they've done so far -- showcase/announce stuff without any sort of commitment and then be quiet about it for a very long time -- is clearly the opposite of what they should be doing if they want to avoid polemics.
 
And this is another excellent reason why FD is being silent. One beautiful day I hope sufficient gamers will understand that game development is a fluid process where things rarely go according to plans and roadmaps are in a constant state of flux. I'd love it if FD would tell us what they are trying to do, and what they are hoping to accomplish at which moments in time.

But you excellently demonstrated that people cannot understand that there is no such thing as 'guarantee' when making plans for the next years. Okay, if you insist that roadmaps should be guarantees then no roadmap for you. :)

Yeah that sounds reasonable. Unless frontier are only shooting for left4dead with thargoids, they're going to have to do something with their home made network code which sounds like a more risky change. They also have a new full release out between now and then, so probably reserving the right to pull all hands to planet zoo in case something goes wrong before launch. If true that would be very reasonable reasons to not say anything and have it into the distant future.
 
And this is another excellent reason why FD is being silent. One beautiful day I hope sufficient gamers will understand that game development is a fluid process where things rarely go according to plans and roadmaps are in a constant state of flux. I'd love it if FD would tell us what they are trying to do, and what they are hoping to accomplish at which moments in time.

But you excellently demonstrated that people cannot understand that there is no such thing as 'guarantee' when making plans for the next years. Okay, if you insist that roadmaps should be guarantees then no roadmap for you. :)
Osborn’s Law:

Variables won’t; constants aren’t.

How to estimate time needed for a software project: take the developers' estimate, multiply by two and increase the measurement unit. So the initial estimate of 2 weeks turns into 5 months. :)
 
It's almost June 2019 and still no indication of fleet carriers. Evidently they were not delayed but cancelled. FDev did nothing to clarify this, again opting to mislead the player base in order to generate revenue.

That is a hell of a claim. Do you have any actual proof or are you just talking out of your butt because you are mad they aren't out yet?

EDIT: Nevermind just saw the staff post about Fleet carriers not being cancelled.


@Rambojambo Next time maybe try to not jump to baseless conclusions and simply just make a thread asking the Devs whats going on?
 
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Hello Commanders,

Wanted to jump in here and say that Fleet Carriers are not cancelled, and while we cannot give you more details on them at this time, they are still planned in our development roadmap. We do understand that waiting without much information can be frustrating, so as soon as we can give you more info, we will.

I would just ask - then why can't you? You obviously want to I guess. If you can't give any info then why not just say why can't you?
 
I'd argue that the tone of the arguments set by a segment of bitter people on the forums shouldn't dictate the overall policy.

Many games do extremely well by setting a clear roadmap. If bitter people are going to be bitter no matter what, then surely it's best to ignore them and instead focus on those who would appreciate the information.

I was about to post the exact same thing.

A LOT of developpers present a clear roadmap and it's good for their game visibility and for their community fidelity, hype and trust in the future of the project. Bitter people will be bitter no matter what is said.

After over 1 year following closely ED development I still can't understand why FDev manage communication like they do...it just doesn't make any sense.

The only thing I see is that the lack of transparency and (real) communication from them is really destroying player trust and inscreases frustration from the player base.

Sometimes the way they manage communication makes me think of politicians.

FDev :

"Dear customers,

we've decided that we are reprioritizating Fleet Carriers & Icy planet overhaul.

We won't say why, we won't say when it will come but hey, cheer-up, we are very excited about stuff coming that we won't talk about before - atleast - one year.

Sincerely,

FDev"

FDev have choosen to make ED an evolving game. This mean that they want to keep their playerbase on long term. Well, communication and transparency is the key for a long lasting relationship ;)

Just take a look at the "likes" ratio on all their livestreams, the negatives comments on facebook & youtube videos...it's sad to see but to be expected...

I see so many devs posting weekly videos on what they are working on, giving feedbacks about some bug fixes, challenges they had developing some features, etc.
No need to give us every details and precise date, just make us feel part of this project (and I'm not asking you to involve us in the dev decision - just to let us know what you're working on, the challenges you're meeting, etc.).

Damn, we are adults and if we are given clear information on the why we'll understand (and cry-babys will stay cry-babys). I really think that FDev underestimate the importance of communication (not talking about "We hear you but can't say more") and transparency.

We're not in 1990 anymore.

o7
 
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rootsrat

Volunteer Moderator
I was about to post the exact same thing.

A LOT of developpers present a clear roadmap and it's good for their game visibility and for their community fidelity, hype and trust in the future of the project. Bitter people will be bitter no matter what is said.

After over 1 year following closely ED development I still can't understand why FDev manage communication like they do...it just doesn't make any sense.

The only thing I see is that the lack of transparency and (real) communication from them is really destroying player trust and inscreases frustration from the player base.

Sometimes the way they manage communication makes me think of politicians.

FDev :

"Dear customers,

we've decided that we are reprioritizating Fleet Carriers & Icy planet overhaul.

We won't say why, we won't say when it will come but hey, cheer-up, we are very excited about stuff coming that we won't talk about before - atleast - one year.

Sincerely,

FDev"

FDev have choosen to make ED an evolving game. This mean that they want to keep their playerbase on long term. Well, communication and transparency is the key for a long lasting relationship ;)

Just take a look at the "likes" ratio on all their livestreams, the negatives comments on facebook & youtube videos...it's sad to see but to be expected...

I see so many devs posting weekly videos on what they are working on, giving feedbacks about some bug fixes, challenges they had developing some features, etc
No need to give us every details and precise date, just make us feel part of this project (and I'm not asking you to involve us in the dev decision - just to let us know what you're working on, the challenges you're meeting).

Damn, we are adults and if we are given clear information on the why we'll understand (and cry-babys will stay cry-babys). I really think that FDev underestimate the importance of communication (not talking about "We hear you but can't say more") and transparency. We're not in 1990 anymore.

o7

VERY well said!
 
Sorry but no. If your idea of Roadmap is (on November 24th at 10:34am we will drop spacelegs) you might be right. But the world of software development, hard as it is, is not a completely haphazard process. There are set dates, and more often than not (although delays happen, sure) they are respected.

It doesn't work like this. If you know what you're doing, and take the time you need, and consider contingencies and possible problems you can give a launch window for a new feature that you are reasonably confident you can meet. Or a list of such launch windows. Which is nothing but a roadmap.

I bolded the part where your logic breaks apart. You demanded 'guarantees' in your earlier post. And they 'better deliver' on it, presumable 'or else...'. But to be able to guarantee anything you need to be certain. Now you concede that they can, at best, be 'reasonably confident'. But that is very much not the same. Lets give a simple example. Let us suppose they give us a roadmap until end of 2020, with twenty things on it. They are 'reasonably confident' (lets say 90% sure) about each item on the roadmap. That means the odds of them delivering the entire package is .9^20=.12, or 12%. In other words, the odds of you being upset and frustrated even when they are 90% sure about each individual item will be 88%. So if they are reasonably confident about those things, they would at the same time be reasonably confident they won't be able to deliver all of it! But with each individual item being at 90%, they would also be reasonably confident that they would be unable to point out which one will be undelivered. :)

To actually be 'reasonably confident' about the entire package they would need to be x^20=.9 confident about each individual part. That resolves to a required certainty of 99,5% about every single thing on the roadmap. Unfortately that level of confidence simply doesn't exist in reality. So either you demand guarantees, or you expect 'reasonable confidence'. But you cant have both, how tempting it may intuitively sound
 
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