News 2.3 Dev Update

[heinekev]

With everyone talking about telepresence as an explanation for transferring across the galaxy to play with people I would like to ask FDev why don't ships work like that in the first place? Why bother with actual pilots in ships at all?

There are so many things in this game that already break the immersion, please please PLEASE don't push to punish those who would LOVE to multicrew with friends but have limited playtime. PLEASE.

 

[CMDR IPL Victim]

Will the Commander Creator be per LOGIN or per LAUNCHER installation?
I ask because of players (or families) with multiple commanders who desire a different appearance for each of their discreet commanders. The current build fixes the pilot gender in the options when the game launches regardless of which commander is logging in. It is persistent across commanders until the option is changed.

It will be somewhat obnoxious to craft a new avatar for commander 1, only to have it overwritten by the new avatar for commander 2 when that is crafted...

 

[Adept]

What about womens hair though? I need info on this. I need options for longer hair that what the current npcs in game have

Hey, while my current hair is fairly shortish, I had hair almost down to my bum for over a decade. It's not just a female thing.

Like this, but longer

 

[PashPliskin]

Judging by the concept art, it's most likely a shield/systems/engineer type role. Really unfortunate that didn't make the initial release, but I suspect we'll see it eventually.

Having a crewmember repair the shields while you fight would be really helpful and nice.

 

[Chrras]

I had really hoped for some more roles - espcially also because having only 3 CMDRs (and only 2 of them being able to control the ship directly) in a ship is not a lot (you can be 4 in a wing, and if you're playing this with friends, you can easily be a lot of people).

Only a helmsman, a gunner and a fighter sounds bit dull for me. What about engineering (power optimization, repair, cargo, mining) and science (scanning, targeting, route plotting), defence (shields, limpet control)? An Anaconda with only two operational roles (helm and gunner) and possibly a fighter to launch seems a bit disappointing with such a big ship - there should surely be more stuff to do on that big of a ship.

And it seems like I'm not the only one with that opinion:

Does multicrew just involve combat roles then, judging by the initial post? That sounds like a lot of fun, but I was also hoping for additional roles for other aspects of the game. For example a navigator, that can enhance your jump range/fsd operation speed (lower cooldowns), enhance your supercruise, have access to more detailed scanners, maybe heatmaps/better POI location on planets etc. Is multicrew limited to these three roles, or will there be more?

Please can we have an exploration role with advanced surface scanning? The ruins hunt has shown how much that'd be appreciated

I like all of ideas so far but it feels short to me in several aspects:

- The fact that only the owner can be at the helm as I don't see any reason why can I let a friend pilot my ship, knowing it could go bad
- No navigator/surveyor/non-combat role(s)
- Missed opportunity to create player-side rescue operations by allowing other SRVs to dock to our ship and physically transporting another player out of a rock (Bomba Luigi anyone?)
- I'm seeing cases of abuse when you can take turns making two friends earn money while they are sleeping or playing other games

I hope we can see more information soon and that any of these issues are, at least, considered for a future update.

I was expecting some kind of defensive role too. As in "aiming" or diverting the shield energy to a specific fraction of the ship's surface. Another missed opportunity.

Ok, good and bad.

Restricting the ship owner to the pilot role is a big mistake. Swapping pilot and gunner roles is a huge part of the fun in Allegiance multicrew, and in Elite it would let commanders try the feel of their friends ships. Since the Engineering customisation and upgrade options make the ships more unique these days, it would be an extremely welcome feature. To me this decision speaks of a lack of ambition, and possibly lack of vision in the implementation.

Turret control. I expected a stabilised view from inside the ship, but so you can see through bulkheads (maybe utilising a 1984 Elite style vector view). Other than that the turret control sounds ok. Why not let the pilot decide who targets gimbaled weapons as well though? This seems like another missed opportunity.

Personal power distributor. Er... ok. It's a huge level of abstraction (as is the instant teleportation of course). I would have added functionality to whatever systems a dedicated operator is using. Longer range for scanners, more efficient power distribution to weapons etc, but I guess abstracting it all to "more power" is acceptable.

Does the ship re-buy (with reduced premiums) only apply to the ship owner, or are the crew members also responsible? What about re-arm and repair costs?

Where are the engineer options or nav/com . for explorers miner or large traders navigation and scanners are the most important . leave the combat stuff alone for now .
you create military internals but again ignore the miners explorers and traders .

Where are the internals which can hold sensors for mining or planetary exploration /research .this is what multicrew would come in nicely .

No navigation coms officer is the greatest crime for a largely exploration and trade based game. scanning a planet with multi-crew and no navigation officer to scan or plot the surroundings for points of interest or plot routes .

This concept makes mining in multicrew useless , exploration dull combat maybe a bit more interesting but overall a poor implementation .

This means that the simple simulator called artimis bridge simulator a 5,95 game is better than multi crew of frontier.

Please visit a full maritime trainer or flight school and rethink your options . this is already horrible before its released.

The multicrew is not even in beta and already lost my interest .

The last quote is maybe a bit too much - I haven't lost my interest, but I am definitely disappointed. I have played Artemis for years, and I thought this might be a bit like that, which would be awesome.

When I started reading this thread, I hoped that these were only the roles which had been presented yet. But sadly, this was the answer we got:

Hey. No additional roles, other than those outlined in the post

Really dissapointing, especially because Frontier said about a year ago that there would be more roles than these. You can hear it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_qwOcL1PUU&t=2h16m0s. And that promise was what initially sold me Horizons.

---

In regards of the instant transportation - well, for game play it might be good, but it's killing the immersion. Sure, it is ridiculous to travel thousands of light years for crewing up together, but that's how it works now with wings. I have played with lots of friends in wings, and it have worked fine, even though we might spend some time traveling to each other. If I can get instantly teleported into a ship in the bubble when I am out exploring at the other site of the galaxy, it really kills the immersion, and removes the consequences of the actions you take (which is a nice aspect of Elite).

Again, a lot of other CMDRs have the same view on things:

I'm again torn between the ''easy plug&play'' aspect and the '' I need to bleed to have fun'' side. Being able to travel from one ship to the other, while being in ''Telepresence''... I mean, yeah would probably cut our preparation time in half when we do something in group... but how? How can you explain that you magically appear on the other side of the galaxy... I'm torn...

My only thought (echoing some in here already) is that being able to jump into somebody's ship even though your far far away might well lead to early burnout for some.

If it's TOO easy to go check out Jacques, Sag a and Beagle Point within a week, it takes the excitement away and (most importantly) takes away that part of a players journey. Admittedly folks would only really be cheating themselves out of things, but might it be considered to have a 500ly or 1000ly range you must be within in order to jump in? This way people can still play together generally, but there's no risk of somebody seeing all there is to see within a month and giving up on the game.

I'm a bit disappointed. I expected more out of this.

I think the whole "telepresence" thing should be optional.

I want to carry my friends to other systems, making "space taxi" a thing.

And if I do disconnect, then give them a choice of either "travel" (aka loadscreen) back to the station I picked them up from, or a nearest one, with options to either call their ship in, or get a freewinder.

Honestly that makes more sense to me than "telepresence" to Beagle Point.

I think both ways have their ups and downs, but why limit us to just one?

So.. when im at Beagle Point, my friend in the bubble can just magically transport next to me in my ship?

Wow.

I truly, TRULY hope that theres some max distance player can magically transport, otherwise... bah.

This was a lot of quotes, but I really feel like Frontier needs to listen to it's players.

 

[Jacobus Franconium]

that's why I commented exploring with multiple players could or would have been fun

the t 9 has 3 seats btw . but these smaller ships are more fun.

 

[bitstorm]

Hmm multicrew.

It is an insteresting proposition for the solo CMDR.

I mean it's fine I know there are other people besides me in the game, I just hope there's a bunch of smaller QoL features in for those of us who likely won't be using multicrew much.

 

[Godsailsaqueen]

There's no engineer role, it evidently got discarded in the development process.

I am... So disappointed right now. So basically, FD was not capable of creating a new UI with shield strength, or orientation, and repairs handling, navigation (this last piece could have been very practical). They could not differentiate between different turrets. All that they did was, I guess, porting the turret control from the SRV to the ship. And that required half of all these months...

Geez, glad that it involves playing with friends because there's intrinsically no fun in that "gameplay", at all.

 

[Von Elsner]

There are so many things in this game that already break the immersion, please please PLEASE don't push to punish those who would LOVE to multicrew with friends but have limited playtime. PLEASE.

I not trying to punish you, get over yourself.

 

[bitstorm]

Wat I not understand right is ship rebuy,

let say I fly a cutter alone with rebuy 35 million and Im attacked by a wing of multicrew cutters does this mean when Im destroyed I pay full 35 million,
and when I destroy one of the cutters they are discounted in rebuy, how is this fair play?

I am confuse.

Why do you think destroying a ship that's being run via multicrew means they pay less insurance?

 

[Adept]

Having a crewmember repair the shields while you fight would be really helpful and nice.

It would (will?) be even better if multiple shield generators and shield facings eventually arrive. They were supposed to.

 

[LKx]

Hey. No additional roles, other than those outlined in the post

Oh, that's a shame. So for non SLF-capable ships there's only helm and gunner.
That's quite underwhelming for a so anticipated feature.
I was expecting at list a shield operator (something like directing a shield focus in a specific direction, but i guess is too similar to what you made for the gunner now.... still would like it though)

 

[X-Terminator]

Traders wanted Automation. However, even Multicrew will NOT allow passing the Helm even if the Cappytan demands it for a pee break!

 

[dannysquid]

For me, however, as for lot of us folks the ED is about a lone jorney so ... of course I'll try that over the beta with few random friends I'll encounter

The way it sounds, its arguably quite a good way to dip your toe into playing with others without having to make any long term commitment. Commitment-phobe that I am!

 

[Cavindar]

So in a large ship with multicrew and carrying passengers will one of the crew be a stewardess serving the passengers.

 

[PashPliskin]

It would (will?) be even better if multiple shield generators and shield facings eventually arrive. They were supposed to.

Multiple shield generators?
Never heard that one before.

 

[Kyokushin]

I have readed first post.
In one hand i cant belive... but in second its just as i expected.

1. Insta-CMDR-transfer? Wel.. its a most immersive breaking thing what i can have imagine. Just jump to a commander in SgrA and then back to the bubble...
Joining ship should be possible only from a station where everyone are docked. Nothing more and nothing less.
This is the main issue, and its completely breaking a phillars of playing Elite.
Make insta-join on CQC, not in the main game.

2. Mercy please! A profits are cloned? Money comes from WORK not from a printer. If there are 3 comanders on ship, then they should earn by a crew number or ship owner should divide it. Its a totally economy/logic/immersive breaking.

3. Rebuy should be all on the owner or divided by a crew number.

 

[X-Terminator]

I think a Co-Pilot should do Navigation and all Module Management duties.

 

[bitstorm]

With everyone talking about telepresence as an explanation for transferring across the galaxy to play with people I would like to ask FDev why don't ships work like that in the first place? Why bother with actual pilots in ships at all?

Said this previously.

I think trying to add multicrew in a way that isn't handwavium isn't practical.

It would just mean a whole bunch of arbitary limitations that would get in the way, and would actually mean more dev work to add these barriers.

Better just to let people drop in and drop out as they want, like player "death" I think this is something the players can easily overlook.

 

[Taimaru]

Thank you Sandro, Ed, and everyone at Frontier. 2.3 sounds awesome! I can't wait