Update Dev Update - 16.04.2015

[uncle bulgaria]

Really looking forward to the big announcement but I like the changes announced here. I just hope BT get their finger out of their derriére and fix my internet/phoneline after some idiot builder next door cut it

If anyone here words for BT in SW London and could help a commander out?

 

[charognard]

Your less likely to encounter other ships.

Michael

Thx, i can't wait for the next week announcements You make my day MB

 

[Cosmo]

Good that mining is getting some love.

 

[Steve50]

If i correctly understand it, dropping in a ring will be less interresting compared to news extraction sites ???

are they trying to nudge miners into combat zones. Eek!

I'll just accept less credits and stick to random areas of the rings.

 

[RGS]

Your less likely to encounter other ships.

Michael

But otherwise the yields will be the same as for a RES?

(provided you pick a good ring/belt cluster of course)

 

[CMDR Nick]

On that note, firing slug-throwers or missiles should put a force on our ships, such if you are sitting still and fire a multi-cannon mounted only on one hard-point the ship should be pushed back with equal and opposite force.

Same force, yes, but weapons don't do damage primarily with force, a better measure of their effect is their energy. It is possible to impart a huge amount of energy into a projectile with hardly any effect on the firing platform because it scales as V squared. You can fire a gun from your shoulder and project a round without killing yourself because the bullet velocity is so high. The KE of the bullet far exceeds the KE of the gun - even though the magnitude of the momentum of the bullet and the gun are the same.

 

[Hydrino]

Some feedback.

Well, if its very rare and much sought after, a probable justification would be that non-fringe systems are much more explored, prospected and..mined (out). It just makes sense man.

There is really no reason for humanity NOT to build the Hutton Orbital research station.

1. It is the first system that really got explored I think (and the closest star system to earth). Hutton Orbital is a research station (also one of the first built/maintained), and you put these out where there is actually something to research. Not where it is convenient for trade or colonization.

2. With the advancement of the FSD (lore-wise), getting to the station takes mere hours. Before it, it would take months. If humanity put a research station there (as per FE2/FFE lore) and then kept resupplying it with multi-month duration missions, would they even blink if the traveling time went down to hours?

Thus, I think you are equating your gameplay time with what would seem probable, plausible or appropriate in the game world lore.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see in the future micro jumps between the stars of a multiple star system (FDEV have hinted on that). But that does not make HO improbable from a universe/lore point of view imo. Far from it.

Let me restate. Rare minerals should be rare everywhere, period. I will grant that a few systems, like Sol and Achenar, should perhaps be almost completely mined out and we should not see mining there. But with 400 billion asteroids in any given solar system even that might be unlikely in only a thousand years and given that common minerals will be almost every system. Rares might require something rare nearby to be produced, like a neutron star- if they could be linked to stellar forge in that way it could give more 'meta gaming' flavor to mining; miners would learn that to find osmium they have to go to Neutron star systems and won't find it elsewhere.

Hutton Orbital I basically agree with what you say. Hutton Orbital is OK for lore or "realism" reasons even. But we are playing a game. So if there is no incentive for players to make the long trek it is just really annoying, especially if you start there and take a mission that requires you to return- I remember that was my first experience- surprise, sit for 10 minutes or more and do nothing but watch the distance count down just to keep from failing the mission and spoiling my reputation. So if FDev make something special there, like rare mineral, that can only be found there and that has a high market price, players can better deal with the "reality of the situation" so to say.

- - - Updated - - -

Same force, yes, but weapons don't do damage primarily with force, a better measure of their effect is their energy. It is possible to impart a huge amount of energy into a projectile with hardly any effect on the firing platform because it scales as V squared. You can fire a gun from your shoulder and project a round without killing yourself because the bullet velocity is so high. The KE of the bullet far exceeds the KE of the gun - even though the magnitude of the momentum of the bullet and the gun are the same.

Equal and opposite and all that Sir Newton stuff. What you said.

- - - Updated - - -

I believe that in 1.3 we will get mailboxes and will be able send and receive email to other commanders, this was what they meant by another way of interacting within the galaxy.

Wot?! I have enough email IRL, just what I need, manage the inbox in a game.

Someone will surely complain of it. New Bingo square plz...

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

Hi Michael,
Wow, I feel that this update will be truly amazing!
Thank you so much for listening to our suggestions and for going toward using progressively the full potential of this game!

One more suggestion (if not already implemented actually): make the hatch breaker limpets effective against a cargo hatch, even if the target ship disabled it in the module panel. I have heard that you cannot hack a powered down computer, which somehow makes sense...but it impacts the gameplay in PvP and, one could also tell that the limpet could hack into the ship computer and enable briefly the cargo hatch to allow the siphon to succeed, no?

EDIT: Also if I may add, you mentionned "At low intensity sites there is lower output for mining, but also a heavier system authority presence and lower pirate presence. For the high intensity sites this is reversed". While this is great for the gameplay higher reward/higher challenge, I would prefer to see regular system authority + low pirate activity in low intensity RES, and higher authority + very high pirate activity in high intensity RES.
THis, to me, would sound way more realistic.

EDIT: (oops, I have just realized that the above EDIT has already been mentioned earlier)

 

[LARY STARKEEPER]

I hope to see "Power Play" early May (Beta April 18th, release May 5th or 12th). Am I right Michael ? Can we expect something like that ? Sounds possible ?
We didn't get any new feature on PC since more than a month..... Will be 2 months early may....

 

[Weps]

Question: can drones be used in prospector mode (with the limpet controller I assume) and area collect mode combined? As in, you fire a drone, it scans all asteroids in it's activity radius and provides you with information (or something similar). This would also mean that some player skill is involved: firing the drone in the right spot so that it will scan/prospect as many asteroids as possible.

The reason I ask is because of the old debate: persistent vs. expandable drones. Finding the right asteroid can be very tricky, and a player can end up using a lot of drones (if each one is consumed per asteroid) just for this purpose, with very little return (one asteroid won't yield the same number of tons of mineral).

 

[Hydrino]

My pet theory is that Powerplay will include walking around your ship. I think that maybe the "new way to interact with the galaxy".

I've been wrong before.

You will be wrong again. That will be a "paid expansion" and multiple times FD has said that is still in the future.

Rest assured, 4 weeks from beta test Michael will make a post informing us of the new feature. And not until. The honeymoon period of 2013 is over.

 

[Michael Brookes]

But otherwise the yields will be the same as for a RES?

(provided you pick a good ring/belt cluster of course)

Resource sites are weighted to provide better returns, outside of the RES returns are the same as they are now.

Michael

 

[Monk]

Nice...the mining updates should make mining viable for my Clipper.

1 week for Powerplay info...any information on when 1.3 beta starts?

 

[Michael Brookes]

Question: can drones be used in prospector mode (with the limpet controller I assume) and area collect mode combined? As in, you fire a drone, it scans all asteroids in it's activity radius and provides you with information (or something similar). This would also mean that some player skill is involved: firing the drone in the right spot so that it will scan/prospect as many asteroids as possible.

The reason I ask is because of the old debate: persistent vs. expandable drones. Finding the right asteroid can be very tricky, and a player can end up using a lot of drones (if each one is consumed per asteroid) just for this purpose, with very little return (one asteroid won't yield the same number of tons of mineral).

Prospector drones only operate in targeted mode.

Michael

 

[LARY STARKEEPER]

1 week for Powerplay info...any information on when 1.3 beta starts?

I hope April 28th.

 

[Monk]

I hope April 28th.

Of course...Frontier is wanting to celebrate my 30th birthday by releasing powerplay on the 28th. Giving it time to download and be ready for birthday morning on the 29th!

LOL, I hate myself




EDIT: holy numerology batman...28th, 29th for 30th b-day

 

[LARY STARKEEPER]

Of course...Frontier is wanting to celebrate my 30th birthday by releasing powerplay on the 28th. Giving it time to download and be ready for birthday morning on the 29th!

LOL, I hate myself




EDIT: holy numerology batman...28th, 29th for 30th b-day

Would be a good gift indeed

 

[Hydrino]

Nice...the mining updates should make mining viable for my Clipper.

1 week for Powerplay info...any information on when 1.3 beta starts?

I hope April 28th.

Of course...Frontier is wanting to celebrate my 30th birthday by releasing powerplay on the 28th. Giving it time to download and be ready for birthday morning!

LOL, I hate myself

Going on past practice, Beta will be 4 weeks after the announcement. April 28 is less than highly unlikely.

XBox interview clearly stated all platforms would not be synced for feature releases, so possibly 1.3 rolls to Windoze first, maybe before Mac beta is completed (depending on their progress with that).

 

[RGS]

Resource sites are weighted to provide better returns, outside of the RES returns are the same as they are now.

Michael

OK, thanks for the reply Michael. I guess if that wasn't the case they'd be no incentive for a miner to visit a specifically designated RES.

Cheers!

 

[Alec Turner]

Two boxes.

I've got five so far, only two in a row tho.

P.S. could a forum mod' please pm me if I've overstepped the mark with this bingo thing ... it was only meant to be a bit of fun but I do see that it's kinda off topic and I really don't want to get banned again.