News Dangerous Fiction Diary #2

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DobrijZmej

DobrijZmej

Hi eveeryone,

Michael Brookes said:
Michael here with the latest fiction diary. In this video I discuss the Elite story approvals process, the history of the Pilot's Federation and answer some questions posted in the DDF.

​

In other Elite: Dangerous news we're pleased to announce that the physical add-ons will start going out this week as the deal has now been finalised. We apologise that this this has taken longer than we expected. If you haven't ordered anything and still want to (or you hadn't provided the required information needed for this round) then we will have another opportunity in the next few months for you to do so.

You can still pledge to support the game via our website at http:///elite.frontier.co.uk if you still wish to get your hands on any goodies.

The latest newsletter will also be sent out very soon (hopefully later today!).

To finish this update I've included a drabble based in the Elite universe. Drabbles are 100 word stories, that have to be exactly 100 words. We'll be featuring some from our other Elite authors in future newsletters and fiction diaries:

Homecoming by Michael Brookes

The observation deck was the best place to watch the ships at Lave station. It was always busy with ships from all over the galaxy. Dirk spent every hour he could sat on the bench, his feet not quite reaching the floor.

He watched the ships come and go, marking each on his personal slate. The security guards joked that the boy’s records were more accurate than the station computer’s. But it was one ship in particular he waited for. Seeing the battered old trader he’d leap from the seat and rush to the arrival bays.

His daddy was home.

Thanks everyone for watching, I'll be back soon with further updates.

Michael
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In Russian language / Перевод выпуска на русский язык
YouTube has not added subtitles, so the video is not dubbed into Russian.
Как только переведу субтитры на русский, займусь озвучкой.
 
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Selezen

Selezen
OK, thanks. I did wonder.

Odd that you beat Michael to it. Mind you, he's busy fielding infinitely picky questions from me at the moment. ;)
 

DobrijZmej

DobrijZmej
YouTube has long something today creates subtitles for video.
Ashley, you can check, please, whether all parameters are specified for this video on YouTube to create automatic subtitles?
 

Ian Phillips

Volunteer Moderator
Ian Phillips
Transcript :D

00:08 Hi there, Michael here for the second of the Elite Dangerous Fiction diaries.
00:12 In this diary I am going to talk to you about the approvals process that our authors are currently working through
00:18 I'm also going to be looking into a bit more detail on the Pilot's Federation
00:22 and we will finish up like we did last time with some questions from the DDF.
00:29 So starting with the approvals process
00:32 one of the thing that we are trying to make sure with the elite fiction is
00:36 that it is all consistant, that it follows all the same rules in the universe
00:40 that the characters fit and the stories fit in with how the universe works.
00:46 Now this is obviously quite a task for thirty odd stories
00:50 including short stories and novels
00:52 but thanks to the help of the authors that are already working with us
00:56 we are getting through this process
01:00 which, a reminder for those of you who are writers
01:04 whether on the anthology, in the RPG or any of the novels
01:09 and you have not sent us your story proposal yet then you should do so as soon as possible.
01:13 Best to get it approved before you start doing any real work on it.
01:16 So what does the process of approval entail?
01:20 At it's very basic there is the private writers forum
01:23 where people can discuss ideas if they want and we also provide background information
01:26 for much of the universe.
01:29 That work is still ongoing but every week we add another little bit of information
01:35 and we also respond to peoples questions and try to fill in the blanks that they need to know for their stories.
01:42 So the approval process really starts when we get sent a synopsis
01:46 for the story. So this is a brief overview of what the story entails,
01:52 what technology it needs, what the characters are going to do.
01:55 So we take a look at that and see how it fits in Elite.
02:03 If it all fits great then the story is immediatly approved,
02:06 if not then we basically go into a feedback loop where we
02:10 highlight the bits that we think don't work or would be problematic.
02:14 Sometimes we are able to say 'OK, actually that is a pretty good idea so lets roll that into the game', which is nice
02:19 One of the things we do want to be sure about is that the
02:23 writers are contributing to the rich lore that Elite has.
02:29 So yes but in some cases
02:31 there are issues that we need to resolve so
02:34 we go back and forth until
02:37 those issues have been resolved one way or the other.
02:40 So when that is all done
02:42 the synopsis is approved and the writer can go ahead and write their story.
02:48 If they have any questions then obviously they can speak to us about it
02:50 and all other writers as well
02:54 and then when we come to the final draft which is some months away yet
02:59 we will have to read through each and every one
03:02 and just do final approvals before they can be released.
03:06 So that is going to be a busy time for us here as there are thirty odd stories that we need to review.
03:12 Which is pretty good. So we are quite lucky with lots of good writers in amongst the group,
03:16 so I am quite looking forward to it.
03:19 Although I think I am going to be lacking sleep for a few months while that goes on on.
03:24 So as I mentioned previously we are expanding the background of the universe
03:32 and one of the major organisations that I am sure many of you will know is the Pilot's Federation.
03:37 So this is the organisation that provides your rankings
03:41 and sorts out the bounties in the game.
03:45 To give you a little bit of history about the Pilot's Federation
03:49 It started back in 2805
03:54 and so in the 29th century
03:56 and basically started as a small cooperative for independent starship pilots,
04:03 where at the time it was quite a new occurance, people were just expanding out into space.
04:09 There was no real organisation that helped
04:14 pilots look after each other
04:17 and it also saw that new rise of independent ships also brought a new menace to the galaxy
04:23 and that was pirates.
04:25 Now pirates were really an issue for the independent starship owners
04:30 so they banded together to try and
04:34 combat this new menace and also share information
04:38 and act as a trade collective so they could get cheaper
04:40 supplies for their ships and parts and new ships and so forth.
04:45 And eventually they work against piracy and in helping with pilot safety
04:52 gaining them a bit of respectability with the wider population.
04:55 Up until that point independent starship captians were seen as a more itinerent,
05:02 a bit on the outskirts of society. They were rogues,
05:06 and I think in some ways you could compare it to
05:08 the independent truckers back in the seventies and eighties in the United States
05:13 there is a similar ethos there.
05:19 Part of the measures for battling piracy was that they introduced the bounty system
05:25 so whenever a pirate was recorded attacking a member
05:30 a bounty was put on that pirate which could then be collected by another one of the members
05:36 of the Pilot's (Federation).
05:39 So, yes that helped, but more controversially they started doing
05:44 rankings based on the kills
05:47 that their members pilots achieved
05:49 on the pirates, and some outside of the organisation saw that as
05:54 quite bloodthirsty.
05:56 So over the years that has slowly changed and
06:00 as you play the new game you will see that the rating system
06:02 is a little biy different although no less controversial.
06:06 But you will see why when you start playing the game.
06:12 In 3100 they formalised the rankings of the pilots
06:18 They started off as a little bit of a joke
06:21 so they had some early prizes where if you got a few kills
06:24 you would get a little award of being 'Mostly Harmless'
06:27 which I am sure many of you remember being ranked at.
06:32 But that process became more formalised and around the same time of 3100
06:37 there was the first Elite pilot, Commander Peter Jameson
06:41 who was the first ever Elite pilot, and he actually had his badge emblazoned on his ship.
06:47 Which isn't something most people would do but he was the first so I think that was fine.
06:53 So as the years progressed, I mean Elite pilots were obviously something special
06:58 and the Federation discovered that there was not really
07:02 enough pilots to go around
07:04 and they made what was a controversial decision at the time
07:07 was to invite pilots who were not Elite rated but were deadly or dangerous
07:11 but they were very competent pilots
07:14 into this new Elite Federation of pilots
07:18 so that they had greater man power to be able to respond to the issues
07:22 that the federation had to deal with.
07:26 Still a controversial
07:29 aspect of the federation is that
07:32 they are very ubiquitous. Whereever you go in human controled space
07:37 the Pilot's Federation is there.
07:39 So even in Imperial space in Federation space
07:42 the shipboard systems that you use are powered by the Pilot's Federation.
07:47 The bounty system is used everywhere
07:50 and some have seen this as being too
07:53 they have too much level of control
07:56 but they are a very trusted organisation and
07:59 in some ways they do more for the safety of pilots and people who are in
08:03 the fringes of human patrolled space than the government militaries do,
08:08 so not too much to say to that
08:11 but you will certainly be able to explore some of these facets in some of the fiction
08:16 and also in the game.
08:22 So lets go on to the DDF questions, sorry that I need to glance down at these I have not memorised them.
08:28 So the first question is from Gimi
08:30 Will the Elite universe background documentation given to the fiction writers
08:34 be released to all players after the game has been released?
08:39 So, that is probably 'No',
08:41 the background information we have provided
08:44 actually contains a lot of the sensitive information about things that might happen in the future
08:49 so we won't be releaseing those to people generally.
08:53 It is possible that we might do a sanitised version
08:56 at some time in the future, but we will have to see.
09:01 So our second question
09:07 is from COMANDANTE 'Will there be other planet like earths, capable of sustaining life?'
09:12 Yes, habitable worlds are quite common,
09:16 well, not necessarily habitable but ones that can be terraformed.
09:20 They are quite common in the galaxy
09:22 Life is pretty common but as I mentioned in the last
09:25 fiction diary
09:27 sentient life is not that common
09:29 although there is intelligent life to the level of primates and dolphins, that kind of thing.
09:35 And the last question is from DUSTY
09:37 To what extent will nano-tech work?
09:42 Nano-tech is one of those things
09:44 that hasn't quite fulfilled the potential that people imagined it would
09:48 in the history of the Elite universe.
09:51 It is quite commonplace in industrial processes.
09:55 Not as much in medical use as there are better alternatives,
09:58 so bio-engineerd viruses that kind of work, gene therapies and so forth.
10:04 The problem with it is that it is actually quite expensive
10:07 so there are more efficient ways from a cost point of view
10:10 especially as energy is very cheap in the Elite universe.
10:15 However it does have it's niche uses
10:17 so long range explorers utilise nano tech
10:20 for repairing ships systems and
10:23 structural damage and so forth
10:25 so it does have it's uses but it is not the
10:28 world changing tech that people here in the 21st century think it might become.
10:33 So thank you very much for listening and watching this fiction diary
10:38 I'll be back in a few weeks with a new one
10:40 and yes, look forward to it. Thanks very much.
 

breakpointUK

breakpointUK
Something that occurred to me while watching this video...

Elite pilots can align to Federation, Empire and Alliance factions (or of course non at all).

But I think the Empire (and indeed, the Alliance) would have a problem with the term The ELITE Federation of Pilots

I think they would object to their enemies name in the title! And indeed pilots that consider themselves Empire born and bred wouldn't like the word Federation in their title. "Yes, I kill the Federation scum... I am part of The ELITE Federation of Pilots", doesn't work!

Personally I think the global name of the Elite pilots collective would be known as something different...

Does this make sense to anyone else or am I thinking about Elite lore a bit too deeply?
 
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Slawkenbergius

Slawkenbergius
breakpointUK said:
Does this make sense to anyone else or am I thinking about Elite lore a bit too deeply?
Click to expand...

It makes sense in terms of the Empire not liking the term. There are real-world examples of organisations changing their name because of negative, or out-dated associations. However, the strength of the Pilot's Federation might mean that they can't be compelled to change it on political grounds. That kind of petty friction seems to add to the lore, rather than take it away.
 

Selezen

Selezen
It's been referred to as the Pilot's Federation, the Pilot's Foundation, the Elite Federation of Pilots and the Elite Federation.

I don't think another name for it will be out of the realms of possibility.

However, the powers that be may disagree. If it's one of those things that's set in stone, then so be it.
 
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