A problem that I have with this game is that it's too slow

[MrRockboy222]

Is this thread still going on? Wow

I've only really had a quick skim through the replies, I may have a full look and post a reply if I remember to

 

[MrRockboy222]

I think I made a lot of mistakes in my original post. My biggest mistake was probably with the speed thing. I'll compare this game to crossing the map in GTA 5. In GTA 5, you use your car to get around and you dodge other cars. The danger in traveling in that game is crashing into something. In Elite Dangerous, you use your spaceship to get around and... go forward until you reach your destination. The danger is getting interdicted, which is a completely random chance that may not even happen. Which one sounds more fun? That is just one part of each game, but in both games it will be something you will be doing a lot. I've just used ED's supercruise, but hyperspace brings me onto another problem, the game is to repetitive. In hyperspace, you come out if it only to get back into it. This is not fun to do which is a problem. Bounty hunting is another example of something repetitive, cause there are very few places to actually bounty hunt (mostly RES sites) so it's very repetitive. As (I think) I said, new ships keep up the variety of the game, and when you start the game you get them at a quite good rate. I think it's sort of when you reach 15 million credits when the ships take a lot longer to get, and the profits you make don't seem to go up as much as they use to. Then that's when people start looking to exploity sort of ways to earn money. They are usually quite dull

Did any of this make any sense? Did I make a good point? Probably not, but I just wanted to get all that out there

 

[Para Handy]

...................

Did any of this make any sense? Did I make a good point? Probably not, but I just wanted to get all that out there

No, No and I hope you feel better now.

 

[Blackcompany]

The "not for you" crowd, at it again and mistakenly thinking their multi year MMO can.survive as the same niche game older Elite games were.

It can't. It won't.

Braben chose the online, multi year MMO approach. This game NEEDS a larger audience. That means it going to have to make some compromises. Of it doesn't, two years from now, no one will be playing it, as the servers will go dark.

- - - Updated - - -

I think I made a lot of mistakes in my original post. My biggest mistake was probably with the speed thing. I'll compare this game to crossing the map in GTA 5. In GTA 5, you use your car to get around and you dodge other cars. The danger in traveling in that game is crashing into something. In Elite Dangerous, you use your spaceship to get around and... go forward until you reach your destination. The danger is getting interdicted, which is a completely random chance that may not even happen. Which one sounds more fun? That is just one part of each game, but in both games it will be something you will be doing a lot. I've just used ED's supercruise, but hyperspace brings me onto another problem, the game is to repetitive. In hyperspace, you come out if it only to get back into it. This is not fun to do which is a problem. Bounty hunting is another example of something repetitive, cause there are very few places to actually bounty hunt (mostly RES sites) so it's very repetitive. As (I think) I said, new ships keep up the variety of the game, and when you start the game you get them at a quite good rate. I think it's sort of when you reach 15 million credits when the ships take a lot longer to get, and the profits you make don't seem to go up as much as they use to. Then that's when people start looking to exploity sort of ways to earn money. They are usually quite dull

Did any of this make any sense? Did I make a good point? Probably not, but I just wanted to get all that out there

Excellent points all. The game is in desperate need of actual depth and game play.

 

[Ford Solo]

It seems to me opinions on this matter fall into whether one enjoys simming or not. Simmers rejoice in the same things that make others cry boring or tedious. Frankly I wish it were more technical: for example I want to actually be able to spool up my power plant from a completely cold state before exiting a hangar just like I enjoy having to manually start my A10 in DCS from a completely cold state. I want to completely shut down the ship in it's hangar when I'm logging off for the night: I'm talking zero life coming from the ship, no HUD, no life support, nothing. Yes I can do a lot of that from the Modules tab but why not the Power Plant and HUD?? And then I want to turn that all back on again when I come back the next day. For me the sheer joy comes from the immersion. In the real world, just the mere act of flying one of these ships would blow your mind; you wouldn't even need to do anything with it besides just fly it to have an amazing time. I'm not saying ED should be like that, I'm just saying, lol. Simming scatches a different itch.

To that end, I would not enjoy this game nearly as much if I did not have TrackIR and a HOTAS with literally all functions mapped to it (the only time I ever touch a keyboard while playing is to hit "esc" to quit.) I can see why people who only play with a controller and no head tracking might not get much joy from the sim aspect. Thank god Frontier rewards those of us who invest in our passion with peripherals that elevate the experience. Although I prefer TrackIR for most ED activities, combat in a Rift is one of the most sublime experiences I've ever had gaming and I've been gaming since Pong in the late 70's. EVERY person I've talked to who's played with a Rift (there's been three of 'em) say DOCKING, yes DOCKING at a station was "a dream come true." Docking at stations, from the very beginning, could have simply been a loading screen like every other similar game, but no, Frontier decided to take us through every aspect of the process, including ASKING FOR CLEARANCE, getting in queue (even though nobody does), threading the slot, finding the pad, forcing you to move slowly and carefully, etc. That there alone is an indication of who they designed this game for. The standard docking computer was their nod to those who find this tedious, but at least we have a choice!

The point being, "space-sim" is a more accurate description of this game than "space trading game" or "space combat game" (do I really need to say "IMO"?) and if simulations are generally not your thing, well there's plenty of other titles to sate your desires. Can't we simmers have a space-place to call our own? Hasn't Frontier done enough to cater to gameplay over realism? (thinking of telepresence here and the fact that ships can go faster than 1.0c). I personally find it ridiculous that we will be able to be at Sag A and somebody in Sol will be able to Multicrew with us once 2.3 goes gold, but I don't complain because I can empathize with the other side. It's be nice if the other side could empathize with us simmers who finally have our game. We don't want COMPLETE realism (a speed limit of 1.0c would obviously kill this game) but I think there simply MUST be a significant investment of time in order to appreciate the unfathomable vastness of the game world and the complexity of the game's systems.

I played EVE for years and the reason I'm here now instead is not because EVE was too slow, but because it wasn't immersive enough (no cockpit view for starters, combat has more in common with real-time strategy than actual dogfighting). Frontier has done a fantastic job of balancing the desire to be as realistic/immersive as possible while still providing fun gameplay. It's hard to get that balance just right, but Frontier is doing an excellent job. This game has gotten so much better as time has passed.

Most of my games are played for a few weeks before they gather dust on my HD, never to be touched again. The complexity and pace of ED is why I'm still playing it heavy, years after release. This game is an onion and taking the time to savor it is incredibly rewarding. I would be heartbroken if it became more arcadey, especially when the market is already saturated with arcadey space games.

For the record, I have a professional career, a mortgage, a family, other hobbies, volunteer search and rescue, etc etc etc and I still find at least 15 hours a week to play.

Somebody else on this thread made a good point that there is a difference between slow and boring. ED's got the pace right, but yes there could be more to do, more mission variety etc. Considering the pace of improvements that have been added to the game since release, I'm confident they're doing a pretty good job of balancing the priorities of hundreds of different play styles. For example I've wanted to Multicrew since the beginning; I am glad I am getting it and even though Frontier made some choices about it I don't agree with, I acknowledge that my desires aren't the only ones Frontier has to consider and so I am simply happy that I am getting it, regardless of whether it's in exactly the form I would prefer.

Peace to all of you and your varied play styles, but I like ED _almost_ exactly as it is, pacing-wise.

P.S. I know we can turn off the HUD, but not without touching the keyboard and inputting a clunky ctrl-alt command. I want to be able to map that function.

 

[Vasco Sapien]

It's slower then it should be to travel through a system, it's slower than it should be to go from a RES and back, it's slow to earn money. This is the biggest problem with the game, since getting a new ship doesn't happen as often as it should. I don't think you should get a new ship every session, but the current time to get a new ship is a bit too slow. New ships keep the game varied, and when you are in the same ship for too long the game loses that variety. But anyway, that's my problem with the game out

Ohhh not this again. The quick gratification mentality is a minority opinion.
You're playing the wrong game.

 

[Darkfyre99]

I think I made a lot of mistakes in my original post. My biggest mistake was probably with the speed thing. I'll compare this game to crossing the map in GTA 5. In GTA 5, you use your car to get around and you dodge other cars. The danger in traveling in that game is crashing into something. In Elite Dangerous, you use your spaceship to get around and... go forward until you reach your destination. The danger is getting interdicted, which is a completely random chance that may not even happen. Which one sounds more fun?

Part of the problem, I'd guess, is you may be using the slowest, most boring approach to Supercruise travel, the "70% at 7" method, AKA cruise control. Try planetary braking instead. Rather than throttling down before the seven second mark, keep your throttle on full, and try to get as close to the planet as possible, where you can slow down much quicker.

If you thread the needle correctly, and have chosen a good approach angle, you'll arrive at your destination several minutes quicker. If you don't, you either slam into the planet, or overshoot and have to loop back... either way, you'll still get there quicker than the cruise control method.

That is just one part of each game, but in both games it will be something you will be doing a lot. I've just used ED's supercruise, but hyperspace brings me onto another problem, the game is to repetitive. In hyperspace, you come out if it only to get back into it. This is not fun to do which is a problem. Bounty hunting is another example of something repetitive, cause there are very few places to actually bounty hunt (mostly RES sites) so it's very repetitive. As (I think) I said, new ships keep up the variety of the game, and when you start the game you get them at a quite good rate. I think it's sort of when you reach 15 million credits when the ships take a lot longer to get, and the profits you make don't seem to go up as much as they use to. Then that's when people start looking to exploity sort of ways to earn money. They are usually quite dull

Did any of this make any sense? Did I make a good point? Probably not, but I just wanted to get all that out there

I think this game plays better when you're pursuing your goals in parallel, as opposed to serially. Anything can get boring if you do it over, and over, and over again. That's why I don't try to game the system, and just play the game, taking opportunities as they come. If I'm doing a sightseeing mission, I'll land nearby and take some suface samples. If I'm just travelling, I'll abort my next jump if I see a signal source in my path. If I'm armed, I'll stop and blow up that pirate who's after my "tasty cargo."

 

[fossil]

It's slower then it should be to travel through a system, it's slower than it should be to go from a RES and back, it's slow to earn money. This is the biggest problem with the game, since getting a new ship doesn't happen as often as it should. I don't think you should get a new ship every session, but the current time to get a new ship is a bit too slow. New ships keep the game varied, and when you are in the same ship for too long the game loses that variety. But anyway, that's my problem with the game out

You should find a different game.

 

[MAAD DAWG]

It seems to me opinions on this matter fall into whether one enjoys simming or not. Simmers rejoice in the same things that make others cry boring or tedious. Frankly I wish it were more technical: for example I want to actually be able to spool up my power plant from a completely cold state before exiting a hangar just like I enjoy having to manually start my A10 in DCS from a completely cold state. For me the sheer joy comes from the immersion. In the real world, just the mere act of flying one of these ships would blow your mind; you wouldn't even need to do anything with it besides just fly it to have an amazing time. I'm not saying ED should be like that, I'm just saying, lol. Simming scatches a different itch.

To that end, I would not enjoy this game nearly as much if I did not have TrackIR and a HOTAS with literally all functions mapped to it (the only time I ever touch a keyboard while playing is to hit "esc" to quit.) I can see why people who only play with a controller and no head tracking might not get much joy from the sim aspect. Thank god Frontier rewards those of us who invest in our passion with peripherals that elevate the experience. Although I prefer TrackIR for most game activities, combat in a Rift is one of the most sublime experiences I've ever had gaming and I've been gaming since Pong in the late 70's. EVERY person I've talked to who's played with a Rift (there's been three of 'em) says DOCKING, yes DOCKING at a station was "a dream come true." Docking at stations, from the very beginning, could have simply been a loading screen like every other similar game, but no, Frontier decided to take us through every aspect of the process, including ASKING FOR CLEARANCE, getting in queue (even though nobody does), threading the slot, finding the pad, forcing you to move slowly and carefully, etc. That there alone is an indication of who they designed this game for. The standard docking computer was their nod to those who find this tedious, but at least we have a choice!

The point being, "space-sim" is a more accurate description of this game than "space trading game" or "space combat game" (do I really need to say "IMO"?) and if simulations are generally not your thing, well there's plenty of other titles to sate your desires. Can't we simmers have a space-place to call our own? Hasn't Frontier done enough to cater to gameplay over realism? (thinking of telepresence here and the fact that ships can go faster than 1.0c). I personally find it ridiculous that we will be able to be at Sag A and somebody in Sol will be able to Multicrew with us once 2.3 goes gold, but I don't complain because I can empathize with the other side. It's be nice if the other side could empathize with us simmers who finally have our game. We don't want COMPLETE realism (a speed limit of 1.0c would obviously kill this game) but I think there simply MUST be a significant investment of time in order to appreciate the unfathomable vastness of the game world and the complexity of the game's systems.

I played EVE for years and the reason I'm here now instead is not because EVE was too slow, but because it wasn't immersive enough (no cockpit view for starters, combat has more in common with real-time strategy than actual dogfighting). Frontier has done a fantastic job of balancing the desire to be as realistic/immersive as possible while still providing fun gameplay. It's hard to get that balance just right, but Frontier is doing an excellent job. This game has gotten so much better as time has passed.

Most of my games are played for a few weeks before they gather dust on my HD, never to be touched again. The complexity and pace of ED is why I'm still playing it heavy, years after release. This game is an onion and taking the time to savor it is incredibly rewarding. I would be heartbroken if it became more arcadey, especially when the market is already saturated with arcadey space games.

For the record, I have a professional career, a mortgage, a family, other hobbies, volunteer search and rescue, etc etc etc and I still find at least 15 hours a week to play.

Somebody else on this thread made a good point that there is a difference between slow and boring. ED's got the pace right, but yes there could be more to do, more mission variety etc. Considering the pace of improvements that have been added to the game since release, I'm confident they're doing a pretty good job of balancing the priorities of hundreds of different play styles. For example I've wanted to Multicrew since the beginning; I am glad I am getting it and even though Frontier made some choices about it I don't agree with, I acknowledge that my desires aren't the only ones Frontier has to consider and so I am simply happy that I am getting it, regardless of whether it's in exactly the form I would prefer.

Peace to all of you and your varied play styles, but I like ED _almost_ exactly as it is, pacing-wise.

Your response was one of the best I've ever read on this forum, definitely food for thought. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

Your description of ED as a "space sim" is the most accurate I've ever read. That is truly what it is.

Think about all the things in the game that are compressed: ship repairs, ship outfitting, ship fueling, ship loading and unloading, and even space travel. All of these activities would be slow in reality. FD has compressed all of them, sped them up considerably, so it is difficult to say the game is too slow because so many things in the game are not. Slow compared to what? Certainly not to reality.

Space travel is compressed, too, but one of the things I first noticed about ED is that even with hyperspace drives, outer space is REALLY BIG. It takes a long time to get anywhere in this game.

FD has managed to convey the sense of the vastness of space and still compress it into a game that we can play in real time. That is an impressive accomplishment and one of the things that keeps me playing the game, although sometimes I curse it. Sometimes it takes half an evening just to reach a particular destination. But without that. the sense of vastness would probably be lost, so that's why it has to stay that way. The vastness of space and the time it takes to traverse it has tempered my choices in the game and forced me to do careful planning with my resources, especially time.

Space-time, Einstein said they were the same thing. ED seems to have captured the essence of that reality because the game is so focused on space, and for me, the time it takes to traverse it.

Almost everyone wishes something about the game was different. In so big a game, I think that's a universal truth. No one is going to like everything.

But, after we've all commented on it, the game is still what it is, and that's the reason I play it, even if I can't fully articulate why I like it so much. I like it for what it is, although I wish they'd fix the bugs.

 

[Ford Solo]

FD has managed to convey the sense of the vastness of space and still compress it into a game that we can play in real time. That is an impressive accomplishment and one of the things that keeps me playing the game, although sometimes I curse it. Sometimes it takes half an evening just to reach a particular destination. But without that. the sense of vastness would probably be lost, so that's why it has to stay that way. The vastness of space and the time it takes to traverse it has tempered my choices in the game and forced me to do careful planning with my resources, especially time.

Yes, this is where the satisfaction for us simmers comes from. The satisfaction I get from exploration is precisely BECAUSE of the time investment it takes. Going out to visit ancient ruins, etc SHOULD feel like it's a long way from home, it SHOULD be an investment in time. I might still be sitting in a chair in my office the entire time, but because of the time investment, I FEEL like I'm light-years away from home when I finally arrive. When I arrive at an ancient crash site and fill with dread at the bizarre sounds emanating from it, part of the reason I am able to feel that dread is because I do truly feel like no one could get there quickly to help me should anything go wrong.

Destination vs Journey and all that.

Thanks for the support. Rep right back atcha.

 

[Starkiller_]

Sounds like you may have picked the wrong game. ?

ED tries to bring some realism to a space sim by reinforcing the vast distances involved in interstellar space travel. But even when they turn the pretend faster than light physics on, that still isn't fast enough for some. While some video games measure their progress in hours and minutes, ED's main areas of progress are measured in weeks, months and years.

Either you will come to enjoy the pace of ED or you won't. It definitely doesn't cater to the instant gratification crowd. (THANK GOD!) We have plenty of shallow video games that do, and that might be the place to look for something quicker paced that gives you everything with very little time or effort put into it. Much less rewarding or accurate... but definitely faster for sure.

But speaking as someone who has spent a lifetime actively involved in space and astronomy, it doesn't get much better than this in a video game. I find the balance just about right between reality and forced magic for gameplay's sake.

Elite is pretty contentless. I feel sorry for those people without Horizons that get the Camera Suite as a main feature for 1.8, that being said it still is a main feature which is quite frankly ridiculous.

- - - Updated - - -

You should find a different game.

Star Citizen is pretty good when it comes to traveling.

 

[JetsonRING]

It's slower then it should be to travel through a system, it's slower than it should be to go from a RES and back, it's slow to earn money. This is the biggest problem with the game, since getting a new ship doesn't happen as often as it should. I don't think you should get a new ship every session, but the current time to get a new ship is a bit too slow. New ships keep the game varied, and when you are in the same ship for too long the game loses that variety. But anyway, that's my problem with the game out

Love when new users try and dictate how long things "should" take, how much things "should" cost and how the game "should" work as if they know better than the developers how the video game "should" be. Travelling through systems is fairly quick, unless you go to Hutton. Even 30,000 light-seconds only takes 5 or 6 minutes. Earning money is not slow unless you choose a slow method to earn. There are several "quick" methods to earn credits, none easy, all fairly fast.

"More ships" is a pretty crummy goal, too general, you'll get frustrated and rage-quit in fact, I advise new players NOT to buy new ships because it is such a huge credit-sink for new players and to keep upgrading their current ship as much as possible and identifying a definite NEED for another ship before purchasing another ship. Maybe set a single long-term goal to work towards, such as for example, owning a Federal Corvette (or a Cutter, etc.). Achieving that goal will require you so set and achieve about a dozen smaller, shorter-term goals and achieving those short-term goals on the way to reaching a long-term goal will (help ward off boredom and) give you repeated jolts of accomplishment that may help motivate you towards completing whatever long-term goal you choose. Using the FED Corvette as an example I had to farm local REP, become Allied with the local FED-aligned factions, run a bunch of very lucrative missions, build REP and FED RANK until I had my Corvette, which motivated me to start grinding Engineers, which requires me to mine rings & surfaces, perform combat, go exploring. etc. etc. Maybe elect to unlock all the Engineers, working to achieve that goal will force you to try pretty much every aspect of Elite Dangerous. o7

 

[Mark Lock]

OP is wrong, the game is not slow, getting to places take no time at all actually considering that's lys and ls we are talking about, you travel several times faster than light, it doesn't take so much time to travel around considering the distances... Earning money gets quicker and quicker as you rank up and you get trusted by factions, the higher your status with them the higher are the chances they will give you rewarding missions... Ships LOL , I tried the biggest ships in the game, I reverted back to medium and small ones cause of the costs and far lower speed and maneuverability, and no, you actually get to buy ships very quickly, just do the right missions or trade to get huge amount of money in no time or simply enjoy the game and your ship as I'm doing , I've been playing on FDL, ASP EXP and Eagle for months now and I'm not looking to get a bigger ship, I tried them but for now they are just a money sink to me and they are slow, medium ships are better for me.

 

[cmdr m0kn]

The only thing that bothers me is supercruise.
Let's say we increase the speed of acceleration and decceleration, BUT cap the speedlimit at 100c (or at some optimized value), then in small "boring" systems we get to places faster, however in bigger systems we have to travel more, so the feeling of distance and vastness remains! Hutton stays Hutton!
Everybody wins.

 

[Darkfyre99]

The only thing that bothers me is supercruise.
Let's say we increase the speed of acceleration and decceleration, BUT cap the speedlimit at 100c (or at some optimized value), then in small "boring" systems we get to places faster, however in bigger systems we have to travel more, so the feeling of distance and vastness remains! Hutton stays Hutton!
Everybody wins.

The way supercruise works is that acceleration and deceleration are both a side effect of mass lock in our FSDs. Our ships accelerate as they climb out of a gravity well due to our FSDs operating more efficiently, and they decelerate as they descend deeper into a gravity well due to our FSDs operating less efficiently. If you increase one, you decrease the other.

This was the effect of the last time Frontier "sped up" supercruise. By increasing speeding up travel as you leave a star, it becomes that much harder to stop when you arrive at your destination. Even worse, IMO, was that before Frontier "sped up" supercruise, systems had terrain. There were optimal routes through a system, as well areas you wanted to avoid, because they were natural choke points for pirates to wait in ambush. Flying in Supercruise required active piloting if you wanted to go somewhere in a hurry. Systems these days have fairly flat, and therefore uninteresting, terrain to fly through. Active flying can still shave tens of seconds off your travel time, as opposed to the minutes a good route could save, over flying directly to your destination.

 

[Blackcompany]

It seems to me opinions on this matter fall into whether one enjoys simming or not. Simmers rejoice in the same things that make others cry boring or tedious. Frankly I wish it were more technical: for example I want to actually be able to spool up my power plant from a completely cold state before exiting a hangar just like I enjoy having to manually start my A10 in DCS from a completely cold state. I want to completely shut down the ship in it's hangar when I'm logging off for the night: I'm talking zero life coming from the ship, no HUD, no life support, nothing. Yes I can do a lot of that from the Modules tab but why not the Power Plant and HUD?? And then I want to turn that all back on again when I come back the next day. For me the sheer joy comes from the immersion. In the real world, just the mere act of flying one of these ships would blow your mind; you wouldn't even need to do anything with it besides just fly it to have an amazing time. I'm not saying ED should be like that, I'm just saying, lol. Simming scatches a different itch.

To that end, I would not enjoy this game nearly as much if I did not have TrackIR and a HOTAS with literally all functions mapped to it (the only time I ever touch a keyboard while playing is to hit "esc" to quit.) I can see why people who only play with a controller and no head tracking might not get much joy from the sim aspect. Thank god Frontier rewards those of us who invest in our passion with peripherals that elevate the experience. Although I prefer TrackIR for most ED activities, combat in a Rift is one of the most sublime experiences I've ever had gaming and I've been gaming since Pong in the late 70's. EVERY person I've talked to who's played with a Rift (there's been three of 'em) say DOCKING, yes DOCKING at a station was "a dream come true." Docking at stations, from the very beginning, could have simply been a loading screen like every other similar game, but no, Frontier decided to take us through every aspect of the process, including ASKING FOR CLEARANCE, getting in queue (even though nobody does), threading the slot, finding the pad, forcing you to move slowly and carefully, etc. That there alone is an indication of who they designed this game for. The standard docking computer was their nod to those who find this tedious, but at least we have a choice!

The point being, "space-sim" is a more accurate description of this game than "space trading game" or "space combat game" (do I really need to say "IMO"?) and if simulations are generally not your thing, well there's plenty of other titles to sate your desires. Can't we simmers have a space-place to call our own? Hasn't Frontier done enough to cater to gameplay over realism? (thinking of telepresence here and the fact that ships can go faster than 1.0c). I personally find it ridiculous that we will be able to be at Sag A and somebody in Sol will be able to Multicrew with us once 2.3 goes gold, but I don't complain because I can empathize with the other side. It's be nice if the other side could empathize with us simmers who finally have our game. We don't want COMPLETE realism (a speed limit of 1.0c would obviously kill this game) but I think there simply MUST be a significant investment of time in order to appreciate the unfathomable vastness of the game world and the complexity of the game's systems.

I played EVE for years and the reason I'm here now instead is not because EVE was too slow, but because it wasn't immersive enough (no cockpit view for starters, combat has more in common with real-time strategy than actual dogfighting). Frontier has done a fantastic job of balancing the desire to be as realistic/immersive as possible while still providing fun gameplay. It's hard to get that balance just right, but Frontier is doing an excellent job. This game has gotten so much better as time has passed.

Most of my games are played for a few weeks before they gather dust on my HD, never to be touched again. The complexity and pace of ED is why I'm still playing it heavy, years after release. This game is an onion and taking the time to savor it is incredibly rewarding. I would be heartbroken if it became more arcadey, especially when the market is already saturated with arcadey space games.

For the record, I have a professional career, a mortgage, a family, other hobbies, volunteer search and rescue, etc etc etc and I still find at least 15 hours a week to play.

Somebody else on this thread made a good point that there is a difference between slow and boring. ED's got the pace right, but yes there could be more to do, more mission variety etc. Considering the pace of improvements that have been added to the game since release, I'm confident they're doing a pretty good job of balancing the priorities of hundreds of different play styles. For example I've wanted to Multicrew since the beginning; I am glad I am getting it and even though Frontier made some choices about it I don't agree with, I acknowledge that my desires aren't the only ones Frontier has to consider and so I am simply happy that I am getting it, regardless of whether it's in exactly the form I would prefer.

Peace to all of you and your varied play styles, but I like ED _almost_ exactly as it is, pacing-wise.

P.S. I know we can turn off the HUD, but not without touching the keyboard and inputting a clunky ctrl-alt command. I want to be able to map that function.

Fair to say.

The investment of time isn't the issue. My problem with Elite is HOW that time is spent.

Right now, entirely too much of it is spent watching, not playing. Every jump, 20+ seconds of loading. Same for SC transition, glide mode, etc. SC "flight" is just a boring straight line.

The game needs things to DO if it's going to ask us for a time investment. And it needs reasons to.do them beyond soulless credit and RNG grinding.

Of course then.theres the larger issue: trying to turn a niche game with limited game play into a massive, multi year MMO. Will you bring in enough new fans? Will compromise drive away older fans? How accessible do you make the game?

The MMO/Online direction was a bad decision. Period. As an offline, fully developed game, Elite could have kept it's purely niche game play. But now...It's going to have to draw in a larger crowd or its doomed. And.in trying to do that, how much of what older fans love, will it need to sacrifice?

 

[MAAD DAWG]

Fair to say.

The investment of time isn't the issue. My problem with Elite is HOW that time is spent.

Right now, entirely too much of it is spent watching, not playing. Every jump, 20+ seconds of loading. Same for SC transition, glide mode, etc. SC "flight" is just a boring straight line.

The game needs things to DO if it's going to ask us for a time investment. And it needs reasons to.do them beyond soulless credit and RNG grinding.

Of course then.theres the larger issue: trying to turn a niche game with limited game play into a massive, multi year MMO. Will you bring in enough new fans? Will compromise drive away older fans? How accessible do you make the game?

The MMO/Online direction was a bad decision. Period. As an offline, fully developed game, Elite could have kept it's purely niche game play. But now...It's going to have to draw in a larger crowd or its doomed. And.in trying to do that, how much of what older fans love, will it need to sacrifice?

I think the actual experience of deep space travel, even with Faster Than Light drives, is going to be one of patience, and to some degree boredom. Long periods with nothing to do, yet you must be observant to be prepared for the unexpected (like interdictions or ship component failures). I think deep spacers will be a special breed of human being. Not everyone will want to live that way, just as not everyone wants to play this game. It's a matter of personal preference and a conscious choice, as it is now if you play the game, and as it will be in a future reality, should you choose to be a starship pilot. (Galactic gypsies, we are.)

Regarding intra-system travel in Super Cruise, I usually find a way to make it not just straight line boring. I'll warp into a system, turn my ship's back to the star, accelerate to about 1.0c, locate my destination on the compass, align my trajectory toward it, then perform a horseshoe maneuver. I'll turn the ship's nose directly perpendicular to plane of the solar system, usually until I'm moving at about 15+c, then tip the ship's nose over toward my destination, arriving there from the top (or bottom) of the plane of the solar system. This does 2 things: 1) it makes a boring journey something that requires some effort and skill, and 2) it helps me avoid the major freight and traffic lanes, thereby avoiding most opportunities for interdiction. If I get interdicted, I submit, boost away, re-jump to Super Cruise, and then begin to take evasive actions to leave a wake trail that (I'm pretty sure) a Wake Interdictor has a very difficult time locking onto. I've even done 360 degree loops while in Super Cruise to make it all but impossible to track me.

Intra-star system travel can be boring or a challenge. Like the game, it's what we make it.

 

[dayrth]

One of the biggest problems with the time commit to successfully play the game is that I believe it is limiting FD's sales of the game.

Ordinary people work for a living...Consider a player that can earn $1 million credits per hour. To buy an A-rated Python will require upwards of 200 million credits. If an ordinary person can only play 5 hours per week, that means they will have to play for 40 weeks to buy that ship. That's too long for most people to stay focused...Most people have lives. They don't live to play games.

I see this argument put forward a lot by those who want a faster, easier game. I am an ordinary person. I work for a living. I have a family. I have many comitments and I even manage a bit of a social life. I am lucky if I can play more than an hour of ED at a time, but I wouldnt want to make it any quicker or easier to achieve any thing.

I find the flying enjoyable, as I do most of the game play so why would I want to skip any of it? The fact that it takes a long time to achieve someting means I get more time enjoying the game. If you are not enjoying it, perhaps you need to find a game you do enjoy.

 

[Runnybabbit]

Yes, this is where the satisfaction for us simmers comes from. The satisfaction I get from exploration is precisely BECAUSE of the time investment it takes. Going out to visit ancient ruins, etc SHOULD feel like it's a long way from home, it SHOULD be an investment in time. I might still be sitting in a chair in my office the entire time, but because of the time investment, I FEEL like I'm light-years away from home when I finally arrive. When I arrive at an ancient crash site and fill with dread at the bizarre sounds emanating from it, part of the reason I am able to feel that dread is because I do truly feel like no one could get there quickly to help me should anything go wrong.

Destination vs Journey and all that.

Thanks for the support. Rep right back atcha.

Bang on with this, and with your previous post, I feel the balance is very, very good indeed.. Like yourself (and lots of others) I've found that instead of picking up the game for a few weeks/a couple of months at best, I've been playing it nightly/daily for a couple of hours at least, since Dec 14, and continue to enjoy every aspect of the game I try. Not far off Elite in trading and exploration, and only slightly behind those in combat, I never thought I would get this far, but it's engrossed me. I now find my DCS World, and Rise of Flight take a back seat to ED, and I haven't found my interest waning up to now either..

Lastly, it's nice to see positive posts instead of the usual doom and gloom!

 

[Wizlon]

Having played the whole Elite series (All 5. E, E+, E2F, FFE & now ED) over more than 30 yrs I enjoy the pace of the game, I get to choose what I do and how I do it.

For me the jumps and SC are an excuse to reach for a beer or go to the head, just set the jump, wait for the countdown then throttle to zero with FA on. Never been interdicted when doing this, which has been a surprise.

Even if the pace is too slow for you have you tried >>> Simple... Quick... And sometimes just the frenetic pew pew fest needed.