Casual gaming

[GuardianBoD]

Hi,

I was wondering, why not include a game option, for casual gamers, so that travel does not consum so much time anymore ?
A pilot with that option could be excluded from multiplaying experience, or only form a squad with others who set that option.

That way, there would not be a balance change to the current game, while still giving players the option to have the game experience without spending hours looking at the travelling animation.

It owuld be a great feature for casual gamers, and by creating differnet pilot profiles, everyone could choose on a daily basis if he wants to travel for hours, or just jump into the action.

 

[CMDR X]

The BGS wont allow for it. They can't speed up the game for individuals for the reason you can't pause the game.

It would cause a devastating warp in the Elite time space continuum and everyone's computer would explode.

 

[GuardianBoD]

So why not, link that option, to a localy hosted game ?
That way, it would not influence others and only detonate a single computer at a time.
I am sure Intel would aprreciate it.

And in case of someone with that option wanting to play with friends, one of the group has to invite the others, and host the game for all.

It would also allow for a pause button

I think it would allow for more players to enjoy a really great game, which, is in its current state, a wee bit too time consuming for some

 

[SteveLaw]

So why not, link that option, to a localy hosted game ?

Old, old debate that actually pre-dates release. It was originally planned/promised but won't happen.

 

[GuardianBoD]

Oh, that is actually quite sad.

I think I only got around to play about 2-3 hours since the game released, since it simply is no game to start for just half an hour ... at least ... not with these travel times.
I thought the devs, were taking the community into account ?

So, maybe we just need to have enough interested players for that feature

 

[CMDR X]

I'm all for a pause feature. Make it only available when you aren't in a BGS influencing state. I.e not in SuperCruise, Interdiction or Combat, etc.

After a 10-15 minute timeout (an extra long visit to the loo) the game would automatically log you off.

 

[c00ky1970]

The game architecture revolves around all stuff being stored or validated online - your CMDR save is not stored on your PC, but in the cloud. So when playing the game it regularly needs to contact the cloud servers to update whatever you have done.

This happens when you jump, when you buy and sell stuff, when you kill a ship, or get killed.

2nd part is the calculation of the star field and system when you jump to that system. This is done by the client and is "hidden" by the loading screen of the jump animation. So depending on the power of the players PC (not everyone will have an i9 32GB 2030i super machine) this will take some time - probably not the 20 sec animation that is played, but sometimes it can take longer as it needs to register your movement with the cloud based servers.

So making it offline is great, but the architecture isnt offline capable - so you will still have time issues playing it offline - this lack of offline caused some backers to ask for refunds as it was originally touted during kickstarter as having an offline mode then removed.

Maybe as and when Frontier drop Elite, people might be able to create a workaround that allows players to set up their own Milky Way and play solo offline, but that isnt likely to happen any time soon....

 

[starman]

Have you tried Dress Up Cmdr. I understand some cmdrs find it quite fun.

 

[GuardianBoD]

Ok, so without changing the architecture, everything still could be saved online, while having a lot shorter travel times, for a solo play, by just having the 20 second animation instead of several minutes of travel time.

 

[Para Handy]

If you don't have time to travel - don't travel.

Just do activities in your local area.

These complaints about travel times in a game that emulates astronomical distances really are amazing to me.

 

[Bigmaec]

There is a casual gameplay mode called CQC

 

[enonymous]

Ok, so without changing the architecture, everything still could be saved online, while having a lot shorter travel times, for a solo play, by just having the 20 second animation instead of several minutes of travel time.

Let's say you're just interested in hauling goods. Long distance trade You jump back and forth with this quick travel.

You're impacting the BGS. You're helping the factions you're trading with. People that want to hurt those factions are indirectly fighting you. This is why those interested in powerplay keep crying about solo and PG.

They'd have to remove you from the background simulation completely. Nothing you do could have any impact. It would be little more than a tutorial mission. I'd go so far to argue you shouldn't be allowed to see anything in the BGS either; faction states, mission boards, market demands, which planets are mapped, etc. You can't jump around gathering information, then jump into the normal game to use it to your advantage.

You'd need your own instance of the BGS or a game stripped to nothing more than looking at nameless, featureless planets.