Now, I know a lot of us want space legs. I admit it, I think it would be very cool, and if they had space legs ready to go I would be ecstatic, because I don't think they would do it in half measures. With that being said, nothing leads me to believe that the Next Era is going to be the one. Let me explain this thought process.
Back when Frontier first announced Fleet Carriers, I had a thought. Look at the story of Elite so far. What has been the biggest focus for the plot? Unknown artefacts, strange alien attacks, structures made by a long-dead precursor race leaving the last remnants of their technology to whomever comes next; Humanity is at war. Whatever it is that we did to annoy them, we stirred a hornet's nest and then they stirred one right back. And what does man do in war? What do we do with Thargoid Interceptors, in
this war? You find the still-beating heart of the enemy, and you rip it out. The heart of the Thargoid race is their home, and I expect Fleet Carriers will be the vanguard against the Thargoid homeworlds. I said it back then, but I don't expect I was the first person to say so. Now, this prospect sounds pretty exciting. Often when I talk to people about Elite they ask, "But what's the endgame like? What do you do with all those credits you've just earned?" How about attacking an alien homeworld on the other side of the galaxy? Using player-controlled capital ships to stage strikes on powerful, well reinforced enemy positions. Sound like an end-game to you? It does to me.
Recently, though, I got to thinking, "What if there's more to it than that?" There's a of couple things that keep nagging at me. The first is the community update posted on March 1st of this year. In particular, the section titled "Development supported events," a section conspicuously under the Next Era information, which leads me to believe the update to community goals will be related. For your convenience, I will post the relevant text here.
Combine this with the aforementioned, and we have event-supported war campaigns across the entire galaxy. That sounds pretty exciting, I think. But then there's the other thing that's nagging at me... Now, bear with me here, because I admit this part is a stretch.
I realize that decals don't necessarily mean anything, and maybe they only got added to appease some players, but there is a sizable and/or loud enough portion of the player base that would absolutely love to try their hand at making friends with the unknowable horrors from beyond space. What if these "ongoing, engaging, and varied sets of content that are supported by the development team" are community goals that can actually shape the future of the game in a very real, very meaningful way? There is a significant possibility that our Fleet Carriers won't just be the vanguard against the thargoids,
but also against each other. Because I guarantee you that for every person fighting the thargoids, there is a player asking, "But what did they ever do to us that we didn't do to them first?" What if the Next Era is one where the players can work to impact the story in such a powerful way that I can't think of any precedent from a commercially successful game, save maybe EVE if you count Nullsec shenanigans. What if the Next Era puts players with opposing viewpoints on opposite sides, some scurrying off to the far reaches of traversable space to create their own small bubble of civilization, safe from the prying eyes of their enemies, only to return in force to help determine the outcome of an entire civilization? It sounds like a tall glass, but when you think about it, the mechanics are all already there. Colonia, Canonn and the Gnosis (as a conceptual touchstone for the impact of Fleet Carriers), the background simulation... It all exists, and that's before considering what the development team will have been working on for two years when the Next Era drops. The Next Era could be Our Era.
Well, here's hoping anyway. Fly dangerous, Commanders.
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