News 2.3 Dev Update

[Athan]

Good questions... I know that Sandy will be reading this thread a lot so he's sure to see them. We've got a livestream coming up in a couple of weeks, I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunity to answer as many questions as possible

But yeah - it's telepresence!

That doesn't jive well with the official lore often insisting that any FTL comms are of limited bandwidth.

 

[Kerrash]

Ed. Please tell me the control menu is going to get a filter/search function for this update
All those new options...

 

[Hesson]

Just registering my disapproval. If you want to fly on a ship with strangers you meet, do so. If you want to fly with friends, arrange to meet. If you want to fly to Beagle Point, then insta-zap back whenever you feel like it..

Yeah, that's not for me. I like my decisions to have consequences. Otherwise it devalues anything I do in game. "IMO".

So then YOU go meet with your friends when you want to multi-crew.

Every other sane, normal player can just use the mechanic as it's been described.

 

[Chrysophylax]

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.

Why are you even concerned about someone else's experience of the game? Let them do that if it's what they want.

 

[Shadowdancer]

that feels a little unfair on those people who choose not to have other players with them, especially as we have 3 slots for NPC crew already.

They could just have brought their own ship, maybe with their other fighter… suddenly 4 active ships instead of 3. It's not any more of an advantage that winging up would be already.

 

[[VR] Deggial]

Hooray! A dev update!

...
Additional Multicrew Benefits and Rules
Every crewmember also has access to a power distributor pip that they can assign dynamically. This is in addition to the standard pips that the helm controls. This extra power distribution allows the ship to operate more effectively, increasing its capabilities in combat.
...

Told you so!

I also anticipated the "instant travel" solution (while I expected a game menue option) and I agree with the approach. Gamepaly > immersion here.
On the other hand: I predicted splitted shields and the ability to juggle energy between shield sectors. (I think, this would have been interesting & fun.)
Also not expected: multiple SLFs (including NPC piloted)

So, my prophecy level is 50% at best.


Question:
Does the Avatar's movement reflect the "new, fully-fledged camera system (interesting!)"? And if so (I bet it will) - does the player's head movement in VR play into this?

 

[sabujo]

Why can't we have both physicial boarding AND telepresence as options? Rescuing/transporting players would be a major new comunity driven feature on par with the Fuel Rats.

 

[tarragon]

Yep! That's correct.

So you cannot get commodity prices when hovering 100m from outpost, but you can telepresence across the galaxy to another ship? What's the problem of having to both park in single shipyard to be able to fly together. This is a game about being a pilot and this part of the experience. It should not be approaching CQC insta gameplay, that people long since abandoned, including FDev.
Somebody(senior game designers) sacrificed game integrity on the altar of convenience and instant gratification.

 

[Monk]

Will I be able to set a preference list for the ships I want to crew with?

Like, I don't want to end up on a Federal Corvette...or I want to make sure I end up in an Imperial Clipper.

EDIT: I'm going to assume there will be more dev updates reagarding 2.3. Is that a correct assumption?

 

[RadActiveLobster]

We didn't even make it past the first reply before the "mah immurshun" crowd was already complaining.

I'm glad that they've decided to put gameplay first this time (though there is still plenty of time for them to cave like they did with ship transfers) and not cater to the crowd that would rather we need to schedule multi-crew gameplay weeks in advance just to make it work.

 

[Tikas]

Oh... OH MY GOD! "And with a new, fully-fledged camera system, they’ll be able to view themselves and their crew in real time as they adventure across the galaxy." This is going to be amazing! THANK YOU FDEV!

 

[CMNDR_Aldin]

Wow! This sounds absolutely amazing. This is going to be a huge buff, especially to big ships, so there's definitely a reason to use the feature. Everything in these notes sounds perfect. I am really looking forward to this update. I will be interested to see how the "looking for ship" feature works, as this could take care of all the people saying they only play solo and don't have people to wing up with.

 

[Genar-Hofoen]

"You must first install an Ansible Module before inviting multiple crew members"

 

[Darth Raijiin]

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.

you do know i can fly to any of those within a day right?? not a week, a day. I dont think thsi is a problem.

 

[Bzek]

This is a really sensible implementation that makes it sound incredibly fun, and practical to participate in.

Props, guys. Really cool.

A bit bummed that there is no NPC multicrew, though

 

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

When joining a crew, a Commander will log out of their current vessel and transfer to the multicrew vessel, regardless of distance. They can also leave at any time (or be evicted by the ship’s owner) at which point they can return to where their ship was last, making the whole affair a very friendly, drop in – drop out procedure.

OMG YES
THEY LISTENED

 

[Edward Lewis]

So multi crewed ships can launch 2 fighters, and have additional power control and targetting options available? That's great if you have 3 friends to play Elite with. What if you're a lone player. Do NPC's get these options? Will I come across NPC Elite Anacondas that can launch 2 fighters? Will NPCs get the fire control and power benefits?
How can I get access to these as a lone player?
If NPC's don't get the options, then bounty hunting as Multicrew becomes a lot easier, if they do then the life of a lone player just got a lot harder. And if I can't use NPC crew to multicrew, aren't you basically forcing me into Solo mode in order to avoid getting my kicked by a multicrewed ship with all of its advantages?

Hey,

AI won't use the multicrew feature.

 

[tarragon]

Why can't we have both physicial boarding AND telepresence as options? Rescuing/transporting players would be a major new comunity driven feature on par with the Fuel Rats.

Because fdev game design is notoriously distrustful and disdainful of actual gameplay.

 

[ShiftedX]

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

I think the whole "telepresence" thing should be optional. Not removed, just optional.

I want to carry my friends to other systems, making "space taxi" a thing. Not being able to do that seriously limits gameplay opportunities. In a sandbox game, you want to have as many choices as possible.

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?

Let us choose.

 

[Edward Lewis]

Just an FYI for everyone, we won't be able to answer all the questions in the thread today, but there will be plenty of time in future to answer as many questions as possible...

...and there will be livestreams showing off the cool new stuff, too, of course!