What to do in this game?

[DionDiBlank]

From the outside I like the look of this game but I'm kind of struggling to figure out things to do. I've got all the basics down and ran a number of missions but is that pretty much all to the game at the moment? Running mission after mission gets a bit tedious.

Certain missions require to go to a system that's out of my reach - how can I get to them when I have access to a Sidewinder/Eagle?

 

[ste]

You can try to lose weight, sell stuff you dont need, buy a better ship, buy a better jump drive. Or dont take missions that are impossible for you to complete.

What to do in the game? Test it. No point grinding stuff like missions when they arent in finished form, have no branching career ladder added yet or proper reputation and factions factored in, and in a fortnight everything you did is erased anyway.

Mess about. See what happens if you try to shoot an anaconda in a no fire zone. Try some mining, see if it works. Explore sell the data and buy a better ship while trading inbetween or pirating.

 

[Zephyr]

From the outside I like the look of this game but I'm kind of struggling to figure out things to do. I've got all the basics down and ran a number of missions but is that pretty much all to the game at the moment? Running mission after mission gets a bit tedious.

Certain missions require to go to a system that's out of my reach - how can I get to them when I have access to a Sidewinder/Eagle?

Unfortunately, the only meaningful long term goal in the game is to upgrade your ship. Why would you upgrade your ship you ask? So you can more easily get more money to upgrade your ship more of course. Sure, there are a handful of professions, each of which offers a way to make money to upgrade your ship. But I wouldn't say they are fun in their own right. As you've observed, missions are a grind after the novelty wears off, as is bounty-hunting, as is mining, as is trading. You can make your own purpose in the game, but I'm not exactly sure what that would be. The only reason to grind is so you can grind more effectively.

 

[atlas974]

You can:

dogfight (bigger ship not needed)
trade (trade shipp means bigger gains)
bounty hunt (bigger ship not needed)
pirate (risky mainly for good skilled players) smuggle and scoop (cobra mk3 or asp excel here)
mine (scooping is easier with tiny ships)
explore
courier mission
And the main focus for myself is beauty shots/ space reporter, i mean i play a space sim because i love space and Elite is jaw dropping for this

A side note on missions: if you do missions like doing quests in WOW-like MMO then missions gets boring because you're not immerse yourself in the RPG component of the game, there is no guide line, you must create your own. When i need to break embargo on some trade goods i act like a smuggler in all the ways of the game (sneaky and very suspicous of scans and all)

 

[Yabba Addict]

immerse yourself in the RPG component of the game, there is no guide line, you must create your own. When i need to break embargo on some trade goods i act like a smuggler in all the ways of the game (sneaky and very suspicous of scans and all)

Thats not roleplaying. If I'm carrying stolen goods I avoid interdictions and scans like the plague, silent running all the way to the docking bay because if I'm caught I'll receive a fine wiping out any profit I might make. If I was roleplaying I'd be avoiding interdictions....just a sec, have I been roleplaying?

 

[cptzipzap]

Similar Sandbox games where for example the Elder scrolls saga (Morrowind / Skyrim). Some people - including me - loved them to death (much much more than Dragon age for example) cause you can project your own fantasy into the game. It has plenty of immerive things like caves, beautiful landscapes and sceneries. Small towns bigger cities that all scream: "Mysterie".. in TES Games you dont follow a narrow road, you are more like an explorer - you find stuff by chance.

now translate this into a space sci-fi game and you have Elite. With more time Elite will get more features. Of course a 100M $ game is more fleshed out from the start - but Elite also comes with modding and already lots of plans for features after the "release".

The only thing missing is a single player story, but only some people will miss this - its nowadays modern for games to have an SP part (even the Battlefield Series got one..). Maybe instead of a SP story they could implement smaller missions that build up etc. - but for hardcore fans thats not needed.

Maybe more space ship customization will help to increase immersion. Custom Huds, colours, shapes etc.

To come back to the initial comparison with TES: what made people explore the TES world? it felt big, but it was very small, you only had to walk 5 minutes to come from sunny sommer to icy snow mountains. Whereever you went there was some sort of "atmospheric" beauty to it - and of course caves / riddles / mysteries to solve. The more "options" you have while walking / flying around - the bigger a "level" feels..

For Elite this could translate into Options coming up while in SC. WHat we have now are options: distress calls, Warzones, Interdictions etc. But what they are missing is - they dont feel special, they just pop up. Maybe add a little minigame to them etc. Find special point of interests - interdict traders etc. Stuff that makes the player feel and believe that what happens now is truly special and not some random option from a list. Maybe a different visual style would help too - while in supercruise we have a super sharp pitcture of the system with all lines etc. - why not make the view more blurry - while in supercruise we are faster than light, maybe we shouldnt be able to see such great detail (maybe for starter systems that are well cartographed such detail is okay - but for far away systems we shouldnt know so much - instead of planets we should see center of gravity and blurry colours etc..)..

So in my eyes its more a thing of "presenting" options rather than the options itself or the amount.

- what you should do is to believe / feel immersed. The game helps to an amount, but you have to invest too.

 

[Jexter]

Unfortunately, the only meaningful long term goal in the game is to upgrade your ship. Why would you upgrade your ship you ask? So you can more easily get more money to upgrade your ship more of course. Sure, there are a handful of professions, each of which offers a way to make money to upgrade your ship. But I wouldn't say they are fun in their own right. As you've observed, missions are a grind after the novelty wears off, as is bounty-hunting, as is mining, as is trading. You can make your own purpose in the game, but I'm not exactly sure what that would be. The only reason to grind is so you can grind more effectively.

You kinda just described pretty much every game in existence, or at least all MMOs. Don't like missions? Nor do I, and that's why I'm not going to be doing a lot of them. But I don't see a long term goal of owning all ships, maybe even two of each to allow for different roles, to be especially boring or 'unfortunate' as you put it. How about attaining the rank of Elite? Exploring? My god man, I almost pee a little every time I think of december 16:th and just cannot understand how you don't feel the same!

 

[CDR TSquared]

Run small missions or attack novice wanted AI until you get afford a better ship
Do more of what you like with the better ship
Get out there and explore the galaxy looking for more challenges (pay attention to the news feed; Eranin has some combat sites near some planets and this should expand in gamma)

2 days ago I was exploring to the edge of the beta playable area then I was attacked and almost destroyed 100ly from the nearest station with dozens of systems' scan data in my ship. Hauled butt back to populated space and decided to do a little mining and look for a choice system I could pick clean of rare metals. The best I found was silver but I found a LOT of it. Did that for a few hours and got bored with it eventually (and I still wanted to even the score with some criminals) so I outfitted my Cobra for bounty hunting/combat and started skipping around various systems looking for ships with bounties, jumping into the random UI signal locations and hitting stations to look for those reclusive ship upgrades. I tried hitting a mining site in a ring and had an Anaconda jump into the fight to save his novice friend in a sidewinder. Barely escaped and decided to leave those rings for someone else! Bounty hunting isn't quite as lucrative as running a good trade route in a Type 6, but it sure is challenging!

Search youtube for every ED video you can find and watch/learn from them. They will give you some ideas for your own gameplay and show you things to do in certain situations (usually far beyond my current skill level with a keyboard and mouse).

Some of my favorite people posting videos are:

Titus Balls (space is purty.....)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi2SUDPDmTO8NoUFDJs1tWg

Kornelius Breidis (the ED learning channel)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_8QbBLzUa9ceFNvEAuO7iw

Squadb CEO Pyrex and Trouble (you will laugh... and laugh some more)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvM6TnwjRRqUzoRNocvtO0Q

Isinona (dude can fly... seriously...)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjgBlzLxsgbVuHfZPe0AeIg

LOOK INVERTED (another learning channel)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyN1Fc9WYQ_P1RRu2xUzeYg

Lukozer (A true ELITE Commander must have his tea and his s. The beard is optional. Very educational and funny. He is a master of finding lucrative trade runs.)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGye8JjMa5RF4XVu9auYhEg

Tim Wheatley (another learning channel and good place to learn combat strategies and see examples of situations)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGye8JjMa5RF4XVu9auYhEg

 

[Iskariot]

From the outside I like the look of this game but I'm kind of struggling to figure out things to do. I've got all the basics down and ran a number of missions but is that pretty much all to the game at the moment? Running mission after mission gets a bit tedious.

Don't think in terms of long term goals. Just take in the Elite universe. Improve your skills. Take on contracts. Trade. Explore. Mine. Feel the awe when visiting the rings around a planet, take in all the beautiful detail. Just be there, immerse yourself. When you do that you will discover the needs that arise out of being there. You will have to work to fulfill those needs, because the universe is greedy and deadly.

When I read some of the comments, not just in this thread, but also in other threads, I am starting to believe that you need a certain kind of brain for this game. You need a brain that is able to take the universe the game is offering you and that is able to create its own stories with that. You need to be able to dream. That is how I played Frontier and it is how I play ED. Unfortunately this ability seems to have atrophied in many gamers because the way modern games are constructed. Modern games tend to force feed you. They constantly push you in directions you have to go, because there is nothing else. Gamers' brains have been trained and shaped to submit to this type of gaming. Many people now want others to set the goals for them, to dictate long term goals, to constantly and quickly feed them events and action, because their own imagination can't do it anymore and they can't stand the immersive moments of silent, peaceful just being there that Elite is filled with. Elite demands a completely different mindset. If you can make the switch you will have the time of your life and you will play the game for years to come. And of course do not forget about the great stuff that will be added in the near future. The game's world will increase in depth in a way that is hard to imagine.

Certain missions require to go to a system that's out of my reach - how can I get to them when I have access to a Sidewinder/Eagle?

Let those missions be for now. Take on what you can. Start out with a bit of trading. Take on some wanted, less skilled pirates in smaller ships, do some more trading. Then upgrade your ship and/or get rid of mass and make the jump to new hunting grounds.

 

[Siggi]

Planetary landings (and being able to walk around the ships and stations) is where this game will go from extremely good to OMFG! I aim to have a high-spec Anaconda by then (just in case the natives take umbrage at me nicking their minerals).

 

[atlas974]

When I read some of the comments, not just in this thread, but also in other threads, I am starting to believe that you need a certain kind of brain for this game. You need a brain that is able to take the universe the game is offering you and that is able to create its own stories with that. You need to be able to dream. That is how I played Frontier and it is how I play ED. Unfortunately this ability seems to have atrophied in many gamers because the way modern games are constructed. Modern games tend to force feed you. They constantly push you in directions you have to go, because there is nothing else. Gamers' brains have been trained and shaped to submit to this type of gaming. Many people now want others to set the goals for them, to dictate long term goals, to constantly and quickly feed them events and action, because their own imagination can't do it anymore and they can't stand the immersive moments of silent, peaceful just being there that Elite is filled with. Elite demands a completely different mindset. If you can make the switch you will have the time of your life and you will play the game for years to come. And of course do not forget about the great stuff that will be added in the near future. The game's world will increase in depth in a way that is hard to imagine.

That is so so true! En glish isn't my native language but you expressed there my feelings toward a certain generation / part of the gaming world. I feel lucky that i can still that powerful trick that is my own imagination.

 

[FoxTwo]

When I read some of the comments, not just in this thread, but also in other threads, I am starting to believe that you need a certain kind of brain for this game. You need a brain that is able to take the universe the game is offering you and that is able to create its own stories with that. You need to be able to dream. That is how I played Frontier and it is how I play ED. Unfortunately this ability seems to have atrophied in many gamers because the way modern games are constructed. Modern games tend to force feed you. They constantly push you in directions you have to go, because there is nothing else. Gamers' brains have been trained and shaped to submit to this type of gaming. Many people now want others to set the goals for them, to dictate long term goals, to constantly and quickly feed them events and action, because their own imagination can't do it anymore and they can't stand the immersive moments of silent, peaceful just being there that Elite is filled with. Elite demands a completely different mindset. If you can make the switch you will have the time of your life and you will play the game for years to come. And of course do not forget about the great stuff that will be added in the near future. The game's world will increase in depth in a way that is hard to imagine.

I was just lamenting about this very thing the other day to a gamer friend of mine. We're so used to seeing "Quest markers", "Waypoints", shiny glowy thingy to click on to advance the story etc. Then when a game like ED comes along, just gives you a mission "Take this thing here and go to Azeban City, Eranin" and people get completely lost cuz there isn't a quest marker pointing to Eranin on your HUD, nor is there a waypoint on the Galaxy Map.

Then when the game has no "story" and no "campaign", people are again lost - "what do I do?". The answer of "anything you want" gives rise to the next question - "What's the End Game?"

Sigh...

 

[ste]

Most of these What to do threads are people who have spent 100s of hours grinding a beta then it slowly dawning on them it was all for nothing.

Trying to play the beta like its finished then the slow realisation kicking in thats it not finished.

The game has probably the longest SP in the history of gaming, but its also the most open ended SP in history.

You dont need a special brain to play it, you just need to let go of the devs hand you are so use to holding. And also a finished copy of the game.

 

[ykza5]

Let me say I love ED and been playing a lot of it but I do agree with the op.

Theres nothing to do here. I dont need a story or an actual endgame but something meaningful to do.
A sandbox doesnt have story but has rewarding things to do and by this I dont mean achievemnts or upgrades. Someone mentioned skyrim well here is an example: I see thiefs giving trouble to a local traveler aa
nd what do I do? Kill the thiefs and get a thank you from the saved traveler, no reward but the knowledge I had an impact on someon in the world That is inmersion!!!!. The fact that my actions change the world no necesarily giving me anything in return.
You cant do that in elite. Missions are just a bunch of text and when you finish them is just a thank you note and nothing happened. You had no impact on anything it was just text, even so that you can do the same mission over and over and will still show up.
Use my imagination? Come on we are in 2014. This is not the first elite were everything was little dots and text and you had to imagine the rest. I dont want cutscenes I want interaction and some impact on the world.

I was hoping the game would be delayed for adding more content but now gamma is so close that well maybe thats all there is.

 

[ste]

Let me say I love ED and been playing a lot of it but I do agree with the op.

Theres nothing to do here. I dont need a story or an actual endgame but something meaningful to do.
A sandbox doesnt have story but has rewarding things to do and by this I dont mean achievemnts or upgrades. Someone mentioned skyrim well here is an example: I see thiefs giving trouble to a local traveler aa
nd what do I do? Kill the thiefs and get a thank you from the saved traveler, no reward but the knowledge I had an impact on someon in the world That is inmersion!!!!. The fact that my actions change the world no necesarily giving me anything in return.
You cant do that in elite. Missions are just a bunch of text and when you finish them is just a thank you note and nothing happened. You had no impact on anything it was just text, even so that you can do the same mission over and over and will still show up.
Use my imagination? Come on we are in 2014. This is not the first elite were everything was little dots and text and you had to imagine the rest. I dont want cutscenes I want interaction and some impact on the world.

I was hoping the game would be delayed for adding more content but now gamma is so close that well maybe thats all there is.

You cant do that in the beta, you will be able to do it in Elite, when its finished.

I do not believe for one second no matter how close it is to release that frontier would release the game without such a basic core feature implemented.

 

[Hellhawk666]

Don't think in terms of long term goals. Just take in the Elite universe. Improve your skills. Take on contracts. Trade. Explore. Mine. Feel the awe when visiting the rings around a planet, take in all the beautiful detail. Just be there, immerse yourself. When you do that you will discover the needs that arise out of being there. You will have to work to fulfill those needs, because the universe is greedy and deadly.
...

+1. Elite is about the journey, not the destination.

 

[ykza5]

You cant do that in the beta, you will be able to do it in Elite, when its finished.

I do not believe for one second no matter how close it is to release that frontier would release the game without such a basic core feature implemented.

Fingers crossed for that my friend.

Edit: To expand a little more on my point and the OP.
In Galaxy on fire II you could take escort or defense missions, where are those missions here? The conflict zone with the capital ship on eranin is just and endless spawn of npcs with no impact what so ever, what about defend a big ship that is coming to the station for trading? a little game for iOS did, it I figure FD would've done it for ED even better but I see that's not the case, where are the missions where you can have a fight like in one of the trailers defending a ship?

 

[kilvenny]

@picommander
Agree totally, exploring is the name of the game in whatever way you see that inside the game. The only structure is if you choose to take missions. I feel as if after 30 years gaming to the developers structure I have been freed again. Only played the first Elite and ED because I was pc less when the other games came out.

 

[ykza5]

Can any of the o posters claiming exploring as the game feature tell me how? I find it pointless maybe Im not doing it right. You have a scaner and scan the planets then what? How does your discovery impact the world? Do you get to name the planet or influence it in any way? Or is it just discovering for the sake of doing it?

 

[edukainc]

I hope that FD implements (sooner rather than later) things like:
Comets
Super Nova's
Black holes
Quasars
Pulsars
Nebulas
Aliens
Artifacts from advanced civilizations
That will give the galaxy much more diversity for exploration and up the 'WOW, COOL!' factor for exploring.
Also, giving missions for above events would give those events even more purpose..Example: Missions where you need to collect comet tail dust, etc..
Cheers!