Dear FD, I'd like to politely ask that you consider making "Silent running" matter more.....

[Sanderson]

Dear FD, I'd like to politely ask that you consider making "Silent running" matter more.....

Dear FD, I'd like to politely ask that you consider making "Silent running" matter more and be a viable "stealth" option again, like in the old videos where people would actually use it.

Remember the videos you guys used in your newsletters of the fantastic commander that used it a lot? I do, and I'm still wondering why this mechanic was suddenly rendered essentially useless?

Thank you, have a great day!

 

[CMDR Atmosfera]

yeah i kinda wish it would be used more,seems like a waste and overheats your systems so much

 

[CaptainKremmen]

Yes, heat in general is so marginalised it's barely a Thing.

That "signature" signal/noise display thing in the bottom right of the HUD? Who - seriously, who - ever looks at that in the released version, and bases any gameplay decision-making whatsoever on it?


Beyond, "Is It Blue or Is It Orange?"




There's so much potential locked up in this game... amazing pockets of functionality hidden in the code. But offhand decisions were taken that nullified the entire development effort put into them.

In this case, heat. Heat signature. Radar stealth. Iced up canopy glass (visual, audio).



In beta, you watched that heat signature display like a hawk. If you could get the orange line near-flat, you could make it hard for hostile CMDRs to resolve your radar image.


Gameplay like switching off everything except shields and being able to go "cold but shielded" was incredible.

You could pair it with your knowledge of FA OFF and become "cold, shielded and dead-drifting". So many cool things you could do.

Bringing the ship back to life one menu click at a time was time-consuming, and you were vulnerable due to your lack of thruster power. But if you could pull it off, you could sneak up on people, stations, whatever in an amazing way, and have shields at the ready.



But then FD changed the heat output of various modules, and made it so that shields heated you way more than before. With all other modules off, you didn't ice up any more.


Now, for stealth, you press A Button. Drops your shields, that button.

Who in their right minds would try to sneak up on someone now unshielded? With no functional armour in terms of module damage, powerplant targetting, etc.


Its most advanced use right now, save for smuggling-mode station approach, is to switch on SR after your shields have dropped, as you flee... because how could it possibly be worse by then?


Referring back...

I *really* miss the complex gameplay from Going COLD by selectively disabling systems

 

[Sanderson]

It used to be so cool and exciting, then it changed. I have no idea why it changed but, I wish it was more of a meaningful mechanic.

 

[MarcusKross]

Yes, heat in general is so marginalised it's barely a Thing.

That "signature" signal/noise display thing in the bottom right of the HUD? Who - seriously, who - ever looks at that in the released version, and bases any gameplay decision-making whatsoever on it?


Beyond, "Is It Blue or Is It Orange?"




There's so much potential locked up in this game... amazing pockets of functionality hidden in the code. But offhand decisions were taken that nullified the entire development effort put into them.

In this case, heat. Heat signature. Radar stealth. Iced up canopy glass (visual, audio).



In beta, you watched that heat signature display like a hawk. If you could get the orange line near-flat, you could make it hard for hostile CMDRs to resolve your radar image.


Gameplay like switching off everything except shields and being able to go "cold but shielded" was incredible.

You could pair it with your knowledge of FA OFF and become "cold, shielded and dead-drifting". So many cool things you could do.

Bringing the ship back to life one menu click at a time was time-consuming, and you were vulnerable due to your lack of thruster power. But if you could pull it off, you could sneak up on people, stations, whatever in an amazing way, and have shields at the ready.



But then FD changed the heat output of various modules, and made it so that shields heated you way more than before. With all other modules off, you didn't ice up any more.


Now, for stealth, you press A Button. Drops your shields, that button.

Who in their right minds would try to sneak up on someone now unshielded? With no functional armour in terms of module damage, powerplant targetting, etc.


Its most advanced use right now, save for smuggling-mode station approach, is to switch on SR after your shields have dropped, as you flee... because how could it possibly be worse by then?


Referring back...

I *really* miss the complex gameplay from Going COLD by selectively disabling systems

If they ever fix the shield meta and tissue paper hulls maybe then it would be viable again.

 

[Jmanis]

Delivery missions where the requisite for accepting the mission is that the destination station is hostile to you would be awesome. You absolutely must use silent running to do that.

 

[Sanderson]

Yes, heat in general is so marginalised it's barely a Thing.

That "signature" signal/noise display thing in the bottom right of the HUD? Who - seriously, who - ever looks at that in the released version, and bases any gameplay decision-making whatsoever on it?


Beyond, "Is It Blue or Is It Orange?"




There's so much potential locked up in this game... amazing pockets of functionality hidden in the code. But offhand decisions were taken that nullified the entire development effort put into them.

In this case, heat. Heat signature. Radar stealth. Iced up canopy glass (visual, audio).



In beta, you watched that heat signature display like a hawk. If you could get the orange line near-flat, you could make it hard for hostile CMDRs to resolve your radar image.


Gameplay like switching off everything except shields and being able to go "cold but shielded" was incredible.

You could pair it with your knowledge of FA OFF and become "cold, shielded and dead-drifting". So many cool things you could do.

Bringing the ship back to life one menu click at a time was time-consuming, and you were vulnerable due to your lack of thruster power. But if you could pull it off, you could sneak up on people, stations, whatever in an amazing way, and have shields at the ready.



But then FD changed the heat output of various modules, and made it so that shields heated you way more than before. With all other modules off, you didn't ice up any more.


Now, for stealth, you press A Button. Drops your shields, that button.

Who in their right minds would try to sneak up on someone now unshielded? With no functional armour in terms of module damage, powerplant targetting, etc.


Its most advanced use right now, save for smuggling-mode station approach, is to switch on SR after your shields have dropped, as you flee... because how could it possibly be worse by then?


Referring back...

I *really* miss the complex gameplay from Going COLD by selectively disabling systems

Ahh.....those were the days. Floating, frosted, like a good night at the pub

 

[Zeeman]

Much easier to boost like mad, that's why.

I'd use it if I needed to... And I'd like to see it be made "needed". But when it takes 10 minutes to get my shields up on my Python, I'll skip going cold for my smuggling runs, and just make my "dock or flight" call depending on when (if) a scan starts..

Ona side note, I wish you could see the ship go frosty from the outside. I wanted to do a "los tin space" shot a few months back, turned everything off, waited for windows to freeze up, went to external view and... No change externally (ie, can't see the windows frosted from outside).

Z...

 

[Sanderson]

Much easier to boost like mad, that's why.

I'd use it if I needed to... And I'd like to see it be made "needed". But when it takes 10 minutes to get my shields up on my Python, I'll skip going cold for my smuggling runs, and just make my "dock or flight" call depending on when (if) a scan starts..

Z...

Exactly, there's really no reason to use it anymore. It was such an exciting feature back in the premium beta days. I hope FD will consider making it "useful" again.

 

[deMangler]

...There's so much potential locked up in this game... amazing pockets of functionality hidden in the code. But offhand decisions were taken that nullified the entire development effort put into them.

In this case, heat. Heat signature. Radar stealth. Iced up canopy glass (visual, audio).

I hope they re-visit some of those decisions. Even the small ones that are hard to notice individualy but seem to add up to a more sterile experience. I tend to use the docking computer to dock now, but it is not just because the AI has improved, which it has, it is mainly because flying the ship feels so much less... exciting? There must be a better word - in the early stages flying felt fun, like I imagined flying a cobra on modern computer hardware, a more advanced experience but still exciting and raw. Now it feels like... lifeless...
Is it just me? Such a subjective thing. But it could simply be the result of all the little changes to the flight model, heat mechanic, FA/Off.
Seems I do nothing but complain lately. Maybe it is time to give it up - Start doing something I actually enjoy instead of clinging to an out-dated view of what I thought ED was going to be.

 

[X-Terminator]

You just use Heat Sink + Silent Running if you need stealth.

 

[Jmanis]

You just use Heat Sink + Silent Running if you need stealth.

No problem doing it, just there's not really any reason to.

 

[Vasious]

For smuggling I use an Eagle with down sized thrusters and an A rated Power plant, switch all the non essentials off; I don't ice up the the signature is very small to begin with and with silent running, no issues for several minutes, more than enough time to do what ever needs to be done.
Slow ish speed lined up correct and you can come in from 4.5 kms and ice up if only life support is on, request docking first though before switching the sensors off

 

[certhas]

tbh i never used it till yesterday, just tried it out of curiosity and then i thought about how handy it would be to escape an unwanted fight... then i saw that your radar ping doesnt disappear when you turn on silent running... pretty useless then... (well the vids were beta vids, so im not entirely sure it still behaves like that)

 

[BigFW]

Isinoma wasn't it? Going cold then hell for leather through the letter box.

I still use silent running and heatsinks for smuggling. Surely it's just the proper way.

 

[CMDR Hagglebeard]

Well, in Eravate a few weeks ago, I drifted with all modules off and FAoff through the nav beacon, which had at least 7 police NPCs and plenty of bounty hunters unnoticed. I flew under the nose of a police Eagle at about 170 meters like this and then over his cockpit at 360 meters, and it was fun being completely unnoticed.

It was fun to assault CMDRs and get away with it. Wish it could get better, as it just stopped working halfway through and I was chased by an NPC Anaconda who was 7 km back, when my Sidewinder had about 0% heat emission.

 

[Arjin]

I always thought that customizable profiles for silent running would be awesome. Like profile #1 will turn off selected modules, and turn them back on after silent running is turned off Profile #2 for a whole different setup etc...

 

[Fost]

Yes! I never use it and it would be great to have more reasons to or even missions.
I love the idea of modules profiles above as well.

Please bring back the old (AMAZING) ice effect too!

 

[Lobstris]

I always thought that customizable profiles for silent running would be awesome. Like profile #1 will turn off selected modules, and turn them back on after silent running is turned off Profile #2 for a whole different setup etc...

This. The game Starshatter had separate Emission Control 'Emcon' levels [1-5] which altered what ship systems were on (such as active scanning), which in turn, altered observability. E: D with it's short weapons (favouring lasers and guns over missiles) and scanner ranges never really gives stealth gameplay any chance to shine.
.
*Edit* I'd still like to see shielded smuggling compartments and EMP weapons (you can't scan something when your systems are 'whited-out' ), as well as cloaking devices (not energy fields, but actual physical EM-absorbent fabric material, cast in-front of the ship, implemented. All of which feature in Mr Brooke's Elite fiction - so could be considered canon.

 

[X-Terminator]

Granted in my thread of "useless items and mechanics" some have been explained further but they are mostly useless because there is a greater need for the Shields instead. Limit these (or just rid boosters & SCBs altogether) then we can sensibly configure ships (even small ones) to make actual good use of features instead of just trying them out because they are there to buy or just saying here on the forum "chaffs work against turrets" etc. On a small ship you are still better with Shields than anything else even if you are always going to run. Make it tactical in every level and for all players instead of these fantasy players and clever folk stating what they do (but daren't if it means losing!).
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=162089