Bored in Space: 5K LY to unlock Palin

[DDastardly00]

I love sims. I love flight sims and racing sims. There's autopilot in flight sims because it exists in real life.

Almost every sim I have allows you access to all the vehicles. There is no progression. There is just the simulation of the vehicle and environment.

Elite Dangerous is not a sim. There would be no engineers in a sim. You would be free to modify your ship any way you like and use any ship you like. That's not a bad thing. I prefer when sims add some game elements to them.

I don't understand why anyone would object to an autopilot feature that you don't have to use. I don't use auto docking computer but I don't oppose its existence. Why would you object to autopilot?

Elite Dangerous is categorized as a Space Simulation whether you view it as one or not. Also, I don't see what engineers has to do with it, perhaps you could elaborate on your point so I can understand why you are making it.

+1 Well said. Waiting is not gameplay.

Also, if time is a measure of space then why does it take longer to travel to some planets than to the next system?

I guess you don't play stealth games, lot's of waiting involved in the gameplay.

 

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

What I am getting from you. You are complaining about Distance. Jump after Jump. But you are not Exploring. That would make it boring. You are not using Neutron stars which would make distance shorter.

I already did exploring to get my Sirius permit. I went out about 1K LY and did lots of exploring and turned over the 15M exploration data to become allied with Sirius Corp. I enjoyed it for the first 15 or 20 systems, then it became really repetitive..ice world, rocky world, metal rich world...yay water world.

Now if I explore for 5K LY, I can't self-destruct. So, my number of jumps doubles, plus I'll spend a ton of time exploring. It would make everything worse.

I decided against the Neutron stars only because I'm not familiar with the process and I don't want to die and have to start over. I did some research which suggested it doesn't cut the time much because of the extra effort needed to do a neutron jump vs a regular jump.

 

[Drelthar]

I guess you don't play stealth games, lot's of waiting involved in the gameplay.

Waiting while analysing a situation, and then reacting to the surroundings, could potentially be classified differently.

 

[Drelthar]

I decided against the Neutron stars only because I'm not familiar with the process and I don't want to die and have to start over. I did some research which suggested it doesn't cut the time much because of the extra effort needed to do a neutron jump vs a regular jump.

Nuetron stars make it much more interesting though, great mechanic they added - glad they listened and made them have a much greater effect than originally intended, would have been a huge waste if they hadn't.

The galaxy needs more of this kind of thing to make exploration - and travel in general (which are indeed two different things) more interesting.

 

[DDastardly00]

Waiting while analysing a situation, and then reacting to the surroundings, could potentially be classified differently.

Technically you are not waiting in Elite when you are traveling through witch space or in supercruise, flying in a straight line (or not performing maneuvers) does not equal waiting.

 

[Lestat]

I decided against the Neutron stars only because I'm not familiar with the process and I don't want to die and have to start over. I did some research which suggested it doesn't cut the time much because of the extra effort needed to do a neutron jump vs a regular jump.

Look at the Video I have in my Sig. 107 Jumps to Colonia in less than 2 hours.

 

[Schmack]

So don't bother with it then, it's optional for a reason. Not everyone is going to like exploration just like not everyone is going to like Mining. Access to grades 1-3 is a fair compromise for those that don't feel putting in the extra work for Grades 4-5.

For the record I found the way back tedious and boring which I said in my post on the first page, I'm not arguing that point at all, Of course I didn't give myself anything to do on the way back which is probably why. I should've planned my return trip like I did for the trip out there, it is what you make of it, like anything else in life. If you just scoop and jump 200 times then yes it is going to be tedious and boring, why not at least make the best of it? I took in the sights, saw cool things, tagged my first undiscovered planet, took great pics... at least on the way out there, I have no regrets.

This keeps circling back to the strawman of not liking exploration. OP states he might not finish. He isnt exploring if he is watching YT. Why is that so hard to grasp?

 

[Schmack]

Technically you are not waiting in Elite when you are traveling through witch space or in supercruise, flying in a straight line (or not performing maneuvers) does not equal waiting.

Lol ok

 

[[VR] M4st0d0n]

It's certainly better designed in certain areas. In my opinion Frontier is pretty good at creating technology but they don't really now how to create engaging gameplay.

Too bad mod support was ditched... In less than a week I read on the forum a full fledged Elite novel and the new sagittarius eye. Cant help then but find the engineers "flavour" text blobs a bit meh.

 

[aRJay]

The OP is not an explorer period. I do not think another Forum Post Rant will help with anything. If the OP does not like this part of the game then he will become disappointed when he gets to the "Endgame". I believe there are games which suit his needs better (cough cough Call of Duty)

Anyone looking for an endgame in Elite is going to be as disappointed as I am when I see people posting about an endgame in Elite.

One of the great joys of Elite is there is no endgame that is why there is no external pressure to do things quickly or to grind for rank or materials or unlocks.

Do things you want to do at a pace that works for you.

 

[DDastardly00]

This keeps circling back to the strawman of not liking exploration. OP states he might not finish. He isnt exploring if he is watching YT. Why is that so hard to grasp?

Speaking of circling back, it's optional, if you don't like it then don't do it. I mean, how many times does this need to be said in the same thread? No one is forcing you to endure something you don't want to do.

Lol ok

Ok what? Care to explain how flying in a straight line is waiting then? You can't because it's not. No it's not exciting, but every moment spent in this game is not going to equal the pinnacle moment in a dog fight.

 

[aRJay]

Or don't got to Barnards loop, or go around the locked systems when you do.

Or start from somewhere else.

I started my 5000Ly trip from the farside of the California Nebula, by picking somewhere boring looking that wasn't going to take me back to the bubble. When I got the message I had reached the distance I tried to plot a track straight back to the bubble, I wanted to get back in time for the next CG, it turns out I had gone behind some of the locked systems from the side and had to do a lot more plotting than I anticipated to head back.

 

[aRJay]

+1 Well said. Waiting is not gameplay.

Also, if time is a measure of space then why does it take longer to travel to some planets than to the next system?

Because we don't travel through space to jump between the stars.

 

[Tikanderoga]

Too bad the stupid game doesn't have some kinda autopilot.
If they're gonna give us this grind, at least give us an option to bypass it by letting automation take over.
It's the 34th century. Jesus Christ. And there's no autopilot in sight.

Needs one big time.
Doing it a few times is Ok. Big question is, how many is a few to be OK? 5? 10?

yeah... I think WAITING simulation is more appropriate.

 

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

Elite Dangerous is categorized as a Space Simulation whether you view it as one or not. Also, I don't see what engineers has to do with it, perhaps you could elaborate on your point so I can understand why you are making it.

There are games and there are simulators. In a simulator you pick a vehicle and pick and environment (track or map location) and you fly/drive. Powerplay and Engineers are game elements not simulation. In real life you don't need to collect raw materials for your mechanic. You don't have to unlock mechanics. This is a game not a simulation element.

There are games that are a mix of simulator and game. Forza and Gran Turismo are two that come to mind. You start out in a starter car and run races to earn credits to buy better cars and car upgrades. Elite is a mix of game and simulator elements.

 

[Tikanderoga]

I recall on one long exploration trip, I ended up watching every episode of Doogie Howser, inbetween, J, J, J, J

It's really sad that watching a show/movies is basically an essential component of this game, really any kind of entertainment to keep the player entertained. The game is more of an icing on the cake, while the cake being the show you are watching. Sad statement, but true.
While playing Elite, I have watched:
All of Family matters, Married with Children, South Park, Scrubs, House MD, Simpsons, Family guy and countless movies.
This is how I slot in watching movies: Lets's fire up Elite so I can catch up on my movies.

That is a really sad statement for the game!

 

[Skip Rockbounder]

To be honest I think that there should be more than one way to skin a chicken, if Palin and exploration ain't your thing you shouldn't really have to jump through the hoop to get the bonus that many enjoy, there should be an alternative for each of the 'main' paths, a Merchant or 'bubble' combateer should be able to get the max drives or whatnot without being 'forced' into a task that they have no interest in, the same should apply to shields scanners weapons, you name it, they should be available for all walks of life.

 

[varonica]

I'm saying two things:-
1) Personally I think the Engineers was a poor design choice. IMHO:-

Same here, when the engineers were first announced I was thinking there would be some sort of engaging story line of introduction that you would go through over a couple of weeks, not a simple collect X number of Y, that's just a single quest in most MMO's. However the thing that's driven FDEV to this is the basic design of the game, allowing open PvP between all players, even unwilling targets. In Lotro, for instance, it doesn't matter if you haven't done the raid to get that best in class armour, because you are never going to be compelled to fight anyone wearing that armour, the only thing that armour is needed for is raiding.

In Elite you just may be facing a player with the ultimate engineered gear, so to put that gear behind any sort of lengthy story line or difficult tasks is just putting everyone who doesn't want to do that at a disadvantage, so accessing the engineers had to be made into what is basically trivial single quest tasks easy enough for anyone to do fairly quickly. The end driver of engineers is the Open PvP model, I mean they even had to remove the original way it worked because people would make thousands of rolls to get the very best, but now everyone can have something exactly the same as everyone else, whoopee. There are still players flying around with legacy engineered gear though, funny that!

 

[varonica]

It's really sad that watching a show/movies is basically an essential component of this game, really any kind of entertainment to keep the player entertained. The game is more of an icing on the cake, while the cake being the show you are watching. Sad statement, but true.
While playing Elite, I have watched:
All of Family matters, Married with Children, South Park, Scrubs, House MD, Simpsons, Family guy and countless movies.
This is how I slot in watching movies: Lets's fire up Elite so I can catch up on my movies.

That is a really sad statement for the game!

And yet I have never watched TV shows or movies while exploring, there's always something I would have missed by not paying attention, that's not something I would ever do. If I watch a show or movie I do that, it just wouldn't occur to me to fire up elite at the same time. To claim that's an essential component seems to ignore the players who don't find it an essential component.

 

[DDastardly00]

There are games and there are simulators. In a simulator you pick a vehicle and pick and environment (track or map location) and you fly/drive. Powerplay and Engineers are game elements not simulation. In real life you don't need to collect raw materials for your mechanic. You don't have to unlock mechanics. This is a game not a simulation element.

There are games that are a mix of simulator and game. Forza and Gran Turismo are two that come to mind. You start out in a starter car and run races to earn credits to buy better cars and car upgrades. Elite is a mix of game and simulator elements.

I buy that explanation, there are very few true simulations GT and Forza certainly have those elements but are not complete simulations, I would say that is a fair description for Elite as well.