400+ Billion Stars but to what end?
- Thread starter N-Zed
- Start date
...To what end does it matter how big this place really is?
From gameplay perspective it doesnt matter at all. The game can work in the same way with 1000 sectors and some may say it will work better. But is cool to have all that space if you want to just fly there.
We won't ever fly to every star in the game. If you visited one system per second, it would take you 4,629,629 days to see all, which is roughly 152,106 months, which is roughly 12,675 years... and a half. No human will visit all 400 billion star systems in normal gameplay. However, a (re-he-heally large) group of dedicated players may visit every single star in the span of 5 years or so.
It's good to have a lot of options.
It's good to have a lot of options.
I think you guys need to understand that this is a GAME. It's not Universe Sandbox. This means that systems implemented in game should support and reinforce gameplay. 400 billion stars is a cool number to throw out there for marketing, but 99% of those systems will never be seen by 99.9% of the player base and thus server absolutely no purpose. They could have just had all the stars that all 3 major factions currently control and it would have been overkill anyways.
The game currently has almost no depth compared to how big it is. It boils down to:
Space Trucker running Rare commodities runs ad nauseam
Kill the NPC Anaconda ad nauseam
Interdict Space Truckers to make their game time miserable ad nauseam
In-between all of these sitting in Super-Cruise watching numbers for X minutes (who's idea was it to have stations or outposts literally 30+ real time mins away from nav points?? This may be "realistic" but it's not fun and froma gameplay design perspective, criminal)
Instead of 400 billion sameish star systems, the game would need more compelling ways to interact with players, with more interesting things to do and spend credits on. Now it's make credits to buy bigger ship to make more credits to buy bigger better ship to make more credits.....
The game currently has almost no depth compared to how big it is. It boils down to:
Space Trucker running Rare commodities runs ad nauseam
Kill the NPC Anaconda ad nauseam
Interdict Space Truckers to make their game time miserable ad nauseam
In-between all of these sitting in Super-Cruise watching numbers for X minutes (who's idea was it to have stations or outposts literally 30+ real time mins away from nav points?? This may be "realistic" but it's not fun and froma gameplay design perspective, criminal)
Instead of 400 billion sameish star systems, the game would need more compelling ways to interact with players, with more interesting things to do and spend credits on. Now it's make credits to buy bigger ship to make more credits to buy bigger better ship to make more credits.....
It's both, actually.
Then it doesn't do either very effectively. Either be a Universe Sandbox clone or be a game. Frankly the 400 billion stars doesn't serve gameplay at all, and I doubt it ever will.
They need to add a lot more depth to mechanics. Like most things in life: Quality over quantity.
You are very close to grasping the insignificance of our existence in relation to the vastness of space and time! Is it daunting? It should be!
As a pure simulation that's fine, I guess. But it doesn't make for a compelling game.
It would be like playing a game of chess, with 1 billion pieces. You can't have any cohesive strategy, but boy you can have fun sliding the pieces around aimlessly.
1) depends. They're there already, so too late to cry a river. They don't reduce gameplay options, even, quite the opposite.
2) will happen.
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You have a lot of complaints about the structure of the galaxy in there; I suggest you take it up with the developer.
But I have to ask: do you ever look up at night and wonder why anyone bothered with making quite so many stars? I mean, most of them just sit there not doing anything...
One thing I'll say for ED is that it really inspires passion in players. Like, the large flocks of gomers on the forums who are so passionate about ED that they have nothing they'd rather do than hang around posting "this is a game killer" or "such and such sucks I quit!" etc. Usually when I encounter a game that's so-so, I just quit and do something else. So, ED has touched these people's hearts, in a strange way, that apparently they just have to stick around and make sure the rest of us, who are happy with the game, share their unhappiness, or shed a bitter tear over their impending departure. Yeah, like that'll happen.
Nicely worded. +1
First, Andromeda would be a different game. It would be a much more ambitious game than Elite, as it's the largest galaxy in the local group with over a trillion stars. It would literally make ED look small.
Second, it doesn't really thin the players out. Once you get past inhabited space, it's an explorer's paradise, but alas no ports so you can't stay there forever. The explorer game is to see how far out you can push into uninhabited space and still make it back with your ship in one piece.
I won't deny that the game is quite empty compared to it's vastness. However, it isn't very different from other space games. And thankfully, there are still many features that will be added, as well as tweaking. But this will always be a space game, and like other space games, there won't be the same amount of action compared to a FPS game with all the ranks and gold-plated weapons.
I would like to also mention that games like Euro Truck Simulator 2 has very little gameplay, if you don't count hauling trailers around back and forth as gameplay.
Some people like hauling trailers for the rest of their play-time in a game. Some like mashing buttons, others like flying with jetpacks while shooting bad-guys left and right. Then some people like flying in space staring at a blackhole. Again, I'm not denying the "lack of content", but my point is some games aren't meant to have action in every corner. It's not wrong, it's not right.
Those who chose exploring as their in-game vocation would probably have a bone to pick with everything you wrote. Doesn't seem like interacting with other players or spending credits is their cup of tea, as they spend so much of their time willingly avoiding both.
have some rep!!
Thing is, how large the galaxy is is irrelevant. The players have been fragmented anyways across three different play modes. There are thousands of players you will never see because they are in their own instance of the game, flying around in the same systems you visit.
I think the bread and butter will be in the planets. You expect to see things there. Space is full of.....well, space. A lot of space. Peppered throughout are stars and planets and the like. Millions upon millions of objects that resemble each other. Thats a reality, though it may not make for the most exciting gameplay over time.
Who doesn't grow tired of listening to the same song over and over again? Eventually we all do. So we look for something different to stimulate us. Question is does FD have the manpower to deliver engaging content that will continually draw people in to play, in a time frame that isn't too far stretched to maintain interest?We are all aware there is a lot of work left to be done on the game. Add a ton of content, add missing features and the expansions. I personally bought the game in part because of the galaxy model and it's 400 billion stars, I bought it for the nostalgia and because it is a completely open game like the one I played in 1984 that inspired wonder in my childhood.
This isn't everyone's cup of tea but many, perhaps even the majority, of people here are like me and choose to see the possibilities this game offers.
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