Elite dangerous features Wishlist (just dreaming)

[CorvenDallas]

Posted on reddit, comments there or here wellcome.

https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/19b90hb

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/19b90hb/elite_dangerous_features_wishlist_just_dreaming/

While I know the actual situation of Frontier and Elite in particular, I can't stop thinking of things that could improve the game experience.
I already know that Im no game developer (but I am a software developer), and don't know the cost of implementing some of these things, some of them should be doable with less effort, others can be serious changes, and others maybe are totally impossible, but I cant hold the need of sharing them among you, my fellow commanders, so here I go.
English not my native language (Spanish is), so sorry in advance if not well redacted or expressed.
QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS
SHIP

• Posibility of a third/fourth weapon button
• Target screen (tab on the left panel) show distance to different targets/items
• Rear view option (even our cars have those now...)
• Match speed with target option
• Better indication of Planet G's
• Warning of high G planet {show G}
• Maybe above 2 or 3? maybe configurable?
• Middle of screen message when descending, like ones when jumping to other system where it shows security, fuel star, etc... but with Gs (red flashing for G alert), number of POI detected, maybe number of settlements... just some info when gliding for a few seconds.
• A quick button for SRV <-> Transfer all cargo to/from ship.
• On surface ports, possibility of exit on foot, I know that you can exit on SRV from your ship while on surface station, but... there are no doors???
• CG events with on foot activities or mixed ship/on foot needs.
• Daily/Weekly/Monthly missions: Some list of 3-5 activities like find some type of planet, scan X ships, defeat X wanted on spot X, ... just if you dont know what to do next, like a suggestion/guide with a reward.

ON FOOT/SRV

• Posibility of stablish a desired direction by coordinates and have a marker on the compass.
• On foot radar mark of pickable elements in certain radius, maybe once discovered they stay marked
• Related with the above, maybe possibility of marking things detected on SRV so they stay marked while on foot -> Good
• Also mark the things pickable with SRV with a different icon or something, just to know there is something around and you need the vehicle.
• Better SRV range to pickup things
  • Maybe some short range tractor beam
  • SRV kind of limpets, with ammo not occuping cargo, with only 4 cargo on scarab having to carry limpets would be nonsense.
• Fauna: Its time to start finding some kind of creatures, scanneable with Artemis, some of the creatures are aggressive, so carriying Artemis and some weapons now becomes a thing. Handy for instances (see Instances below)
• On foot mining: Possibility of taking materials on foot, iron, nickel, and the like, usage of some kind of mining tool, or variant of the Maverick arch cutter.

SHIP MISSIONS/EVENTS

• Somekind of travel point out of Supercruise, like 2 or 3 spots scattered so you have to travel them on normal space
• Specific Ship missions: Missions that require some specific ship, so you have a reason to have and equip other ships than your favourite one.
• Other possibility: Extra reward if mission done with ship X
• Dock on the other space stations around that currently only offer ship activities and do stuff there (see Instances below)
• Dock on NPC megaships, lost/abandoned megaship could be cool instances.
• Missjumps: Some kind of event that happens if you jump with some damage on the FSD, or maybe the possibility of overcharging the FSD "cheap mode" that adds these possibility. The missjump could lead to damage on the ship, and maybe the "Ship crashed" mission (see below)
• Distress calls: What can you do when found a Distress call and have nothing to help? Well, a Distress call could be reworked to always have some possibility of helping so, I feel bad when I find one guy asking for help and I can say/do nothing for him:
  • I think there is already a possibility of the Distress Call to be an ambush of pirates, if not, that could be one thing
  • "I can help you carrying a message for you": This leads to a courier mission, so you grab important info that this NPC needs to deliver, or his position to the Rescue Rangers, so they can find him.
  • "Carry me to nearest/X station/settlement": This leads to the ship dropping an "occupied escape pod" that you have to carry where the NPC wants.

ON FOOT MISSIONS/EVENTS

• Distress Calls on foot: A guy you find on a wreckage and, if you have a second seat, carry him to a desired station/settlement.

[SKIPABLE]: Possibility of not doing these kind of missions are go as regular, these could be done asking on the death screen - Possibility of X mission, want to try?

• Ship crashed[SKIPABLE]: When your ship is destroyed, possibility of appear on a nearby planet near ship wreackage, a timer sets on for Rescue Rangers to arrive, you have to resist some waves of scavengers/pirates coming for you. The success could lead to reduced rebuy costs, dont lose exploration data, or only random data is lost.
  • EXTRA: Escape pod crashing sequence, like in some battle royale or survival games where you start on a escape pod landing, for flavour.
• Crashing on very remote systems possibility, but someone has to come rescue you, that leads to:
  • The Rescue Rangers Player Faction: Im sure Fuel Rats and Hull Seals would make a section for these ones.
• Captured[SKIPABLE]: When you are killed you appear on a special generated POI, surrounded by scavengers/pirates with landed ship around, or maybe some small outpost, you start as you have subdued a guard and have a pistol weapon only, have low battery, maybe low ammo. If you can reach the ship can call for help (Rescue Rangers again). Possibility of not losing things, fail onfoot jobs, etc...
• Capture alive:Non lethal possibility of defeating opponent, have to carry (on shoulder?) to your ship/srv
  • Carry on shoulder (you can only use pistol meanwhile) and "Transfer to ship" so it becomes some kind of "occupied escape pod", but with other name like "prisoner pod" or something.
  • Dropable on "Search and Rescue" contact.

MIXED MISSIONS: Elite now have on Ship Missions and On foot missions, but no missions takes advantage of this two things together, like a chain of events, also will offer narrative possibilities for CG events.

Examples:

• Mission could be mixed as that you have to find a guy on foot (alive) but he tries to run and reach his ship (or srv?) so you have to chase him, with a timer for the guy to consider that he has escaped from you.
• Mission chain that ask you for things on foot, leading to space combat
• Mission of space combat that leads to on foot activity, like pirates defeated on space so they reveal data of a POI that has hostages (escape pods surrounded by landed ships and on foot npc)
• Instances (see below) could do well with mixed missions, fight around some stations and then have to land and fight on the rooms of the station.

INSTANCES:

• Settlements doors that seem some kind of underground access: This could lead to an instance kindof dungeon where you defeat npcs and loot things. Maybe procedural or some sort of pre-established variations.
• Caves: Like the previous point, could be a pirate/scavenger cave, or infested of creatures, so you have to fight/scan them, also finding mining spots, that leads to good group missions with a guy with dominator for combat, maverick for mining and artemis to scan.
• Elevators: Instances in space stations can lead to instanced missions. Could be a engineer floor, some streets, a warehouse, etc...

OTHER STUFF:

• Possibility of open dialog with other ships that could lead to missions or component trading
• Around Thargoid/Guardian systems some chance of component trading of these specific components, high price, but some extra way of farming those componentes (hey buddy, interested in obelisk beta data? Thargoid stuff?)
• Possibility of open dialog with people on foot that asks for in-foot components trade, kind of barmans but with different more varied catalogue.
• Maybe some kind of shops in settlements, can be a variant of the previous point.
• There are barmans on settlements? I dont remember, but if dont, they should be implemented.

 

[aRJay]

Posted on reddit, comments there or here wellcome.

https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/19b90hb

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/19b90hb/elite_dangerous_features_wishlist_just_dreaming/

While I know the actual situation of Frontier and Elite in particular, I can't stop thinking of things that could improve the game experience.
I already know that Im no game developer (but I am a software developer), and don't know the cost of implementing some of these things, some of them should be doable with less effort, others can be serious changes, and others maybe are totally impossible, but I cant hold the need of sharing them among you, my fellow commanders, so here I go.
English not my native language (Spanish is), so sorry in advance if not well redacted or expressed.
QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS
SHIP

• Posibility of a third/fourth weapon button
• Target screen (tab on the left panel) show distance to different targets/items
• Rear view option (even our cars have those now...)
• Match speed with target option
• Better indication of Planet G's
• Warning of high G planet {show G}
• Maybe above 2 or 3? maybe configurable?
• Middle of screen message when descending, like ones when jumping to other system where it shows security, fuel star, etc... but with Gs (red flashing for G alert), number of POI detected, maybe number of settlements... just some info when gliding for a few seconds.
• A quick button for SRV <-> Transfer all cargo to/from ship.

Transfer all has issues when the source has more cargo than the destination has space, wth ships and SRVs it is likely the ship has more storage than the SRV but it might not have.

• On surface ports, possibility of exit on foot, I know that you can exit on SRV from your ship while on surface station, but... there are no doors???
• CG events with on foot activities or mixed ship/on foot needs.

Not everyone has Odyssey so mixed activities are problematic.

• Daily/Weekly/Monthly missions: Some list of 3-5 activities like find some type of planet, scan X ships, defeat X wanted on spot X, ... just if you dont know what to do next, like a suggestion/guide with a reward.

ON FOOT/SRV

• Posibility of stablish a desired direction by coordinates and have a marker on the compass.
• On foot radar mark of pickable elements in certain radius, maybe once discovered they stay marked
• Related with the above, maybe possibility of marking things detected on SRV so they stay marked while on foot -> Good
• Also mark the things pickable with SRV with a different icon or something, just to know there is something around and you need the vehicle.
• Better SRV range to pickup things
  • Maybe some short range tractor beam
  • SRV kind of limpets, with ammo not occuping cargo, with only 4 cargo on scarab having to carry limpets would be nonsense.
• Fauna: Its time to start finding some kind of creatures, scanneable with Artemis, some of the creatures are aggressive, so carriying Artemis and some weapons now becomes a thing. Handy for instances (see Instances below)

Fauna are problematic while we only have access to near vacuum worlds.

• On foot mining: Possibility of taking materials on foot, iron, nickel, and the like, usage of some kind of mining tool, or variant of the Maverick arch cutter.

SHIP MISSIONS/EVENTS

• Somekind of travel point out of Supercruise, like 2 or 3 spots scattered so you have to travel them on normal space
• Specific Ship missions: Missions that require some specific ship, so you have a reason to have and equip other ships than your favourite one.
• Other possibility: Extra reward if mission done with ship X
• Dock on the other space stations around that currently only offer ship activities and do stuff there (see Instances below)
• Dock on NPC megaships, lost/abandoned megaship could be cool instances.
• Missjumps: Some kind of event that happens if you jump with some damage on the FSD, or maybe the possibility of overcharging the FSD "cheap mode" that adds these possibility. The missjump could lead to damage on the ship, and maybe the "Ship crashed" mission (see below)
• Distress calls: What can you do when found a Distress call and have nothing to help? Well, a Distress call could be reworked to always have some possibility of helping so, I feel bad when I find one guy asking for help and I can say/do nothing for him:
  • I think there is already a possibility of the Distress Call to be an ambush of pirates, if not, that could be one thing
  • "I can help you carrying a message for you": This leads to a courier mission, so you grab important info that this NPC needs to deliver, or his position to the Rescue Rangers, so they can find him.
  • "Carry me to nearest/X station/settlement": This leads to the ship dropping an "occupied escape pod" that you have to carry where the NPC wants.

ON FOOT MISSIONS/EVENTS

• Distress Calls on foot: A guy you find on a wreckage and, if you have a second seat, carry him to a desired station/settlement.

[SKIPABLE]: Possibility of not doing these kind of missions are go as regular, these could be done asking on the death screen - Possibility of X mission, want to try?

• Ship crashed[SKIPABLE]: When your ship is destroyed, possibility of appear on a nearby planet near ship wreackage, a timer sets on for Rescue Rangers to arrive, you have to resist some waves of scavengers/pirates coming for you. The success could lead to reduced rebuy costs, dont lose exploration data, or only random data is lost.
  • EXTRA: Escape pod crashing sequence, like in some battle royale or survival games where you start on a escape pod landing, for flavour.
• Crashing on very remote systems possibility, but someone has to come rescue you, that leads to:
  • The Rescue Rangers Player Faction: Im sure Fuel Rats and Hull Seals would make a section for these ones.
• Captured[SKIPABLE]: When you are killed you appear on a special generated POI, surrounded by scavengers/pirates with landed ship around, or maybe some small outpost, you start as you have subdued a guard and have a pistol weapon only, have low battery, maybe low ammo. If you can reach the ship can call for help (Rescue Rangers again). Possibility of not losing things, fail onfoot jobs, etc...
• Capture alive:Non lethal possibility of defeating opponent, have to carry (on shoulder?) to your ship/srv
  • Carry on shoulder (you can only use pistol meanwhile) and "Transfer to ship" so it becomes some kind of "occupied escape pod", but with other name like "prisoner pod" or something.
  • Dropable on "Search and Rescue" contact.

MIXED MISSIONS: Elite now have on Ship Missions and On foot missions, but no missions takes advantage of this two things together, like a chain of events, also will offer narrative possibilities for CG events.

As above Horizons players cannot take part.

Examples:

• Mission could be mixed as that you have to find a guy on foot (alive) but he tries to run and reach his ship (or srv?) so you have to chase him, with a timer for the guy to consider that he has escaped from you.
• Mission chain that ask you for things on foot, leading to space combat
• Mission of space combat that leads to on foot activity, like pirates defeated on space so they reveal data of a POI that has hostages (escape pods surrounded by landed ships and on foot npc)
• Instances (see below) could do well with mixed missions, fight around some stations and then have to land and fight on the rooms of the station.

INSTANCES:

• Settlements doors that seem some kind of underground access: This could lead to an instance kindof dungeon where you defeat npcs and loot things. Maybe procedural or some sort of pre-established variations.
• Caves: Like the previous point, could be a pirate/scavenger cave, or infested of creatures, so you have to fight/scan them, also finding mining spots, that leads to good group missions with a guy with dominator for combat, maverick for mining and artemis to scan.
• Elevators: Instances in space stations can lead to instanced missions. Could be a engineer floor, some streets, a warehouse, etc...

OTHER STUFF:

• Possibility of open dialog with other ships that could lead to missions or component trading
• Around Thargoid/Guardian systems some chance of component trading of these specific components, high price, but some extra way of farming those componentes (hey buddy, interested in obelisk beta data? Thargoid stuff?)
• Possibility of open dialog with people on foot that asks for in-foot components trade, kind of barmans but with different more varied catalogue.
• Maybe some kind of shops in settlements, can be a variant of the previous point.
• There are barmans on settlements? I dont remember, but if dont, they should be implemented.

 

[CorvenDallas]

Transfer all has issues when the source has more cargo than the destination has space, wth ships and SRVs it is likely the ship has more storage than the SRV but it might not have.


Not everyone has Odyssey so mixed activities are problematic.


Fauna are problematic while we only have access to near vacuum worlds.


As above Horizons players cannot take part.

• On transfer all is easy to check if target has cargo space > source, so in this case you disable the option or show an error message
• Mixed activities should be active only for Odyssey player, once again, just check, if no Odyssey, show as unavailable
• That's right, maybe only in instanced caves
• Once again, Horizons players would not have access to all on foot content, on don't see a problem here, actually there are features out of the Horizon's players range, but others features would be common. All patches and updates have things common to all players and others Odyssey only.

 

[Jack Winter]

FWIW, I don't really see any problem in introducing more gameplay that is Odyssey only..

 

[Schmack]

Some of these wish list items already exist in the game, some are non starters. But I like the idea of collecting raw mats on foot if the raw mat wasn't the size of the player.

 

[metatheurgist]

• On transfer all is easy to check if target has cargo space > source, so in this case you disable the option or show an error message

You'd think so but Frontier often just doesn't give you the option, like with ship switching....

 

[Ezra Bishop]

Some of my own wish list

Earth-likes & Water Worlds
Entry generates heat based on speed, size, therm spread, active modules
ww surface floats/sub modules/URV, surface/underwater-citys
uw-cities may have tether to surface landing?
cities limit pilots to certain districts?, sec based on planet pop, econ, gov
missions to location most often illegal, thargoid/pirate defense force, trophy hunting
cities have 'no unauthorized flying/landing zone' - 5km, shields?
landing outside exclusion zone allowed on most planets, fines/bounty for landing/hunting on others

Planet Expansion
Volcanoes/Cryovolcanoes - Enlarge magma/gas spouts, add caustic gases/damage in addition to heat buildup
Caves - Larger raw mats deposits, Mining SRV
Dangerous terrain - magma lakes, fields of razor-sharp crystals/ice/metal, sinkholes?,

Settlements
settled planets have 'roads' between nearby settlements - 600km?
Invest in/purchase settlements, 3 max, passive mat gathering, subject to raids/sys sec,
Settlements expanded - existing infastructure improved/expand outwards, new building types (vehicle repair depo, armory, ), combine different layouts/types

Xeno-Fauna
artists/animators/etc from planet zoo, jurrasic world (Planet Xeno-zoo, anyone?)
Thargoid Soldier Ground combat units
non/dangerous xeno-fauna, trophy hunting/specimen missions, scanning dead & alive provides details, rare varients
suad kruger trophy room ship modules, vip passenger mission credit payout increase

Ship additions
Engineering expansion - new effects, eletric dmg, long range limpets
new modules - Meta-alloy armor (high hp, caustic resistance,), e-war, large railgun, mines/shock mines moved to utility
Experimental weapons become standard/ new experimental weapons (caustic lightning, weapon drones) - Shock cannon engineering, more basic version?, Synth costs rework
Ship/Station/outpost Interiors - Boarding Actions, Crew/squad expansion, co-pilots visible, space/planetary derelicts, Outpost raiding, EVA

• larger manu/encoded mats source
• credit heists

Ship decals - use name plate images, monthly/quarterly player contest?, flip/mirror option

Ship-launched Fighters
Customize loadouts
engineering
cutter/corvette/t10 two-fighter deployment
ax flak-equiped fighter

SRVs
Engineering - high traction, speed, defense, jump boost, fuel efficiency, structural reinforcement, Turret/hud zoom, radar range
weapon options - sniper railgun, dual-grenade launcher,
more types

• large 'slow' sandcrawler-like w/ a scoop on the front, breaks/gathers small deposits/mats it runs over, can tow cargo trailer (settlement missions to guard/transport surface cargo to nearby bases)
• xeno-research vehicle, assist tracking genetic samples, can transport live specimens for missions, trophy-hunter variant

On-foot
sniper railgun
Proper interactions between on-foot and srv/ship materials/components
Suit damage?, repair in role panel/suit interface, uses mats from ody
speeder bikes, ship module like PVH, customizable like ships w/ engineering
Knocked-out status is non-lethel, restrain KO, hide/move bodies, less/no bounty/fine, can wake up?

Guardians
G-ruins/sites - Mining/Excavation Vehicles (destroyable walls set into layers) - Research bases built at sites
G-armory - guns, suits, surface combat vehicle, Guardians in stasis, ships/ship hybrids

Constructs
G-ruins become active and start rebuilding/changing, guarded by strong ship/ground forces/war machines
Mobile fortress attack platform (carrier/capitol style combat)
AI shuts down modules randomly, ecm-like countermeasure/shutdown limpet module
players hack into databases/networks, obtain mats/info, disrupt power grids/disable iff/disguise self

General
Player-based servers/offline mode
better vr support

 

[Jmanis]

• Daily/Weekly/Monthly missions: Some list of 3-5 activities like find some type of planet, scan X ships, defeat X wanted on spot X, ... just if you dont know what to do next, like a suggestion/guide with a reward.

is this not just.... missions? Sure there's some things it listed that aren't missions per sé,

• On foot radar mark of pickable elements in certain radius, maybe once discovered they stay marked
• Related with the above, maybe possibility of marking things detected on SRV so they stay marked while on foot -> Good
• Also mark the things pickable with SRV with a different icon or something, just to know there is something around and you need the vehicle.

So, you can tag a distinct point of interest from a terminal... my first concern is that there's mechanics around that; how would they not be made redundant by this?

Second, even if that part were resolved, how long should they persist? Till you get back on an srv/ship? Until you log out? Forever? (at which point they're just bookmarks, and subject to all the baggage that comes with that). I can imagine arguments for all three, and so whatever comes won't be right for most people.

Also if you "scan" people (the same as you "scan" other ships in a ship)... looking at them for a while til their name/rank resolves... they permanently appear on your radar.

• Better SRV range to pickup things
  • Maybe some short range tractor beam
  • SRV kind of limpets, with ammo not occuping cargo, with only 4 cargo on scarab having to carry limpets would be nonsense.

With only 4 cargo, extended range and auto pickups are also kindof useless. Sure, materials are a different bag.. but really this feels like the realm of a new srv dedicated to cargo hauling.

• On foot mining: Possibility of taking materials on foot, iron, nickel, and the like, usage of some kind of mining tool, or variant of the Maverick arch cutter.

I guess the difficulty here is distinguishing between scoopable with SRV vs by person, and how those two types of material could be usable in a functionally identical way when one is human portable only, another is machine portable only.

But agreed... i get frustrated when i can pop open one of those cargo racks with six materials in it, usually in some pretty awkward spot.. the gotta go back in the srv to scoop... but usually they pop out too close to the container so between that and the arduous terrain around the wreck, it's pretty time consuming to scoop them.

SHIP MISSIONS/EVENTS

• Specific Ship missions: Missions that require some specific ship, so you have a reason to have and equip other ships than your favourite one.

Yeah.. elite has been a bit bad at creating effective diversity for its activities. Ship transfers also really ruined some aspects that should actually be considerations.

• Dock on the other space stations around that currently only offer ship activities and do stuff there (see Instances below)
• Dock on NPC megaships, lost/abandoned megaship could be cool instances.

I don't necessarily think making them dockable is the answer... though, USS with stricken megaships, outposts and such would be interesting. I get the Odyssey tie- in potential, but there's a pretty strict "embarrassingly optional dlc" approach which FD have that means they don't do integrated content like that... having gone down that path now it's hard for them to break it. I'll probably just refer to this for some others as "breaks Odyssey as optional dlc" for a few others.

there's definitely more that could be done with these assets in a purely space based situation though. They're kinda just bolt- on atm.

• Missjumps: Some kind of event that happens if you jump with some damage on the FSD, or maybe the possibility of overcharging the FSD "cheap mode" that adds these possibility. The missjump could lead to damage on the ship, and maybe the "Ship crashed" mission (see below)

I'm only really keen for that sort of thing if you're knowingly in dangerous areas doing dangerous things.

Random accidents for no reason, outside the players control are just kinda naff.

but this gets to a whole other thing of environmental hazards, which I'd love. HIP22460 is a great example of FD experimenting with system- wide hazards, while Thargoid maelstroms/ Titan clouds are a great activity hooked around a larger sublighr threat environment.

We've got lagrange storm clouds which are mildly dangerous, but offer no real activity, white dwarf/neutron streams which are very dangerous if you mess it up but are ultimately fairly safe... and wrecked stations offer hazardous environments but never a reason to be delivering into them. Then anomalies offer all sorts of hazardous effects, but ultimately triggering them is a novelty.

• Distress calls: What can you do when found a Distress call and have nothing to help? Well, a Distress call could be reworked to always have some possibility of helping so, I feel bad when I find one guy asking for help and I can say/do nothing for him:
  • I think there is already a possibility of the Distress Call to be an ambush of pirates, if not, that could be one thing
  • "I can help you carrying a message for you": This leads to a courier mission, so you grab important info that this NPC needs to deliver, or his position to the Rescue Rangers, so they can find him.
  • "Carry me to nearest/X station/settlement": This leads to the ship dropping an "occupied escape pod" that you have to carry where the NPC wants.

There def needs to be more love for search and rescue in that regard. In the tune of this part,, FD haven't leaned into the procedural enough.

• when we rescue a trader from a pirate, we used to be able to repair them and get a rep bonus. Would be cool to do that again... and also scoop a black box from the pirate ship to locate their base at a uss.
• or, when scooping an escape pod from a pirate ship, have a split option to return the occupant for a bounty, or take them back to a refuge for some other reward.

There's lots of hooks to add procedural tasks into.

MIXED MISSIONS: Elite now have on Ship Missions and On foot missions, but no missions takes advantage of this two things together, like a chain of events, also will offer narrative possibilities for CG events.

Examples:

• Mission could be mixed as that you have to find a guy on foot (alive) but he tries to run and reach his ship (or srv?) so you have to chase him, with a timer for the guy to consider that he has escaped from you.
• Mission chain that ask you for things on foot, leading to space combat
• Mission of space combat that leads to on foot activity, like pirates defeated on space so they reveal data of a POI that has hostages (escape pods surrounded by landed ships and on foot npc)
• Instances (see below) could do well with mixed missions, fight around some stations and then have to land and fight on the rooms of the station.

Wont happen because of hard split as optional DLC.

INSTANCES:

I'm just generally not keen on instances.

OTHER STUFF:

• Possibility of open dialog with other ships that could lead to missions or component trading

Dialog and the contacts panel is under baked. The mechanism for requesting docking feels like it was the boilerplate but never got expanded further.

• Around Thargoid/Guardian systems some chance of component trading of these specific components, high price, but some extra way of farming those componentes (hey buddy, interested in obelisk beta data? Thargoid stuff?)

Yeh.. there's a trick missed which is some mix of engineers (which are basically tier 3 npcs), the absence of tier 2 npcs, and the general impact of bgs states which fails to offer the dynamism and opprtunities needed for these sorts of things.

Yes, there are opportunities, but in general they're contrived and rely on design oversights in the game, instead of considered mechanics.

• Possibility of open dialog with people on foot that asks for in-foot components trade, kind of barmans but with different more varied catalogue.

Yep. The mission contacts on stations/ in outposts are a missed trick. Again, tier 2 npcs...

 

[Lionking]

I'll also add my little wish here:

for the Alliance Crusader, please change the 3x class 4 military restricted compartments to normal 2-3x class 3-4 compartments. The ship is not a first choice for combat compared to the Chieftain / Crusader anyway, but with the flexibility gained it would at least be a nice little fun drop ship for 3-4 multiplayer teams for ground missions (SLF + SRV + 4 man multi crew capacity). No other medium ship could offer this (next best Krait MK II with SLF + 3 man crew, but much more expensive), so it would finally have some use.

 

[Schmack]

I want to be able to launch a nuke at a settlement, and split a planet in half.

 

[JakXLT]

I wish there was more of an ingame connection between PMFs and Squadrons, and more recognition from NPCs. If I'm in a squadron who's related PMF is in control of the space, I should be hearing some bowing and scraping when I go dock at a station, and when I dock at my carrier where is my damned welcoming party? They should be lined up like the good little crewmen they are, saluting and hoping I don't kill them for bad posture.

 

[Kira Goto]

hoping I don't kill them for bad posture.

I mean, maybe that’s why they don’t show up and remain at their work stations.

 

[Ezra Bishop]

Not everyone has Odyssey so mixed activities are problematic.

As above Horizons players cannot take part.

You say these as though it wouldn't be a reason to buy the expansion. Almost kinda like how horizons players cant participate in on-foot content right now. As though fdev can't add to what they've already added with odyssey, with numerous updates, to make that purchase worth it to the players who complained and stuck their noses up at the whole thing.

I will forever and always point to no man's sky as proof that even a bad game/expansion can become the amazing thing it promised to be, given time and support from both players and developers/publishers.

 

[Jmanis]

You say these as though it wouldn't be a reason to buy the expansion. Almost kinda like how horizons players cant participate in on-foot content right now. As though fdev can't add to what they've already added with odyssey, with numerous updates, to make that purchase worth it to the players who complained and stuck their noses up at the whole thing.

I will forever and always point to no man's sky as proof that even a bad game/expansion can become the amazing thing it promised to be, given time and support from both players and developers/publishers.

While i don't think "Horizons players can't do it" isn't the right reason specifically, as i alluded to in my reply, Odyssey was pitched as being optional DLC... between the lines it's what i referred to as "embarrassingly optional DLC" as a subtle reference to "embarrassingly parallel"... Horizons (before it became part of the mainline game) was no different, with the "planetary approach module" being the gate between the two.

Likewise, the gate between Odyssey and Base Game is disembarking from the ship. This might seem like a suck-eggs comment, but it's way more pervasive than you may think.

"Embarrassingly optional" in this context means having as little bleedthrough as possible. So having activities which present in the base game but are only progressable in Odyssey is a non-starter... firstly because of the impact on wings, and the incongruence of hitting a point of an activity where the next step is "disembark from the ship... oh lol you can't", but also that integrated content means either:

• having the base game assets modified to be the dlc assets (very bad for the base game); or
• maintaining two separate asset bases to work with the different versions (bad for both); just doubled the amount of work.

Take a long- asked- for feature of something like "EVAing out of your ship to fix a part of it, which can't be fixed by an afmu"... what if you don't have the dlc? You just stranded now? Or does that sort of thing just not happen? Since we can flit between the two modes, is there then an advantage to just not use the dlc when travelling far? Suddenly, things look dicey.

I do get the need to incentivise getting the DLC, but it's bad business to do so by trashing your base game at the same time with integrated content that you can go down and then hit a point of "oops, can't go further, get the dlc!".

Whatever the reason (and i can think of a few, none of them positive), FD have gone down the path of the DLC being embarrassingly optional. Both Horizons and Odyssey have the proven history of being embarrassingly parallel... now that horizons is mainline, we're seeing more integration between the two... by until the same happens for Odyssey, i wouldn't expect to see much, if any, integration between the two.

The players who complained and stuck their noses up at Odyssey didn't realise this with Horizons. Much of what was wanted by those people was that integrated content experience... but a quick look at what horizons delivered would've made it obvious that wouldn't have been the case.

Not saying it's unreasonable to have expected that, just that the writing was always on the wall. But people dream.

Tl;dr NMS expansions build on the base game. FDs expansions are optional. This results in very different outcomes.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Horizons (before it became part of the mainline game) was no different, with the "planetary approach module" being the gate between the two.

Horizons had quite a bit more integration than Odyssey did, though, even early on.

- most of the non-SRV synthesis recipes affected things outside planetary flight
- the Engineers upgrade your ship for use in space activities as well as planetary; Guardian upgrades similarly
- missions requiring Horizons just appeared on the regular mission board even at space stations
- the Thargoids mostly appeared in space, it was just the weapons you needed to fire back which were locked to planets
- fixing (space-found) UA interference at space stations required meta-alloys from planets
- Horizons-required CGs showed up about 2 weeks in
- the new surface-only trade goods could be sold in orbital stations and often for a better average profit

There was certainly the gating between the two at the orbital cruise line, but you could productively take far more things across that line in either direction than you can with the disembark line.

Put another way, there were plenty of reasons to get Horizons, even before it was "finished", if you weren't interested in planetary landings in their own right; there's basically no reason to get Odyssey if you're not interested in walking about in its own right.

 

[Jmanis]

Horizons had quite a bit more integration than Odyssey did, though, even early on.

- most of the non-SRV synthesis recipes affected things outside planetary flight
- the Engineers upgrade your ship for use in space activities as well as planetary; Guardian upgrades similarly
- missions requiring Horizons just appeared on the regular mission board even at space stations
- the Thargoids mostly appeared in space, it was just the weapons you needed to fire back which were locked to planets
- fixing (space-found) UA interference at space stations required meta-alloys from planets
- Horizons-required CGs showed up about 2 weeks in
- the new surface-only trade goods could be sold in orbital stations and often for a better average profit

There was certainly the gating between the two at the orbital cruise line, but you could productively take far more things across that line in either direction than you can with the disembark line.

Put another way, there were plenty of reasons to get Horizons, even before it was "finished", if you weren't interested in planetary landings in their own right; there's basically no reason to get Odyssey if you're not interested in walking about in its own right.

I'd disagree with that to an extent, since a good deal of those references simply weren't there in non- Horizons ED.

• Engineers essentially didn't exist in non-horizons, as they were all planetary based. It's not like there were space based engineers you could see but not touch.
• synthesis was gated exclusively by surface minerals for most of the time. Only 2.4(?) things such as tech brokers started to bleed through in minor ways.
• horizons missions didn't appear if you didn't have Horizons... but also overall mission quantities were fewer (so less likely to hit that tech issue)
• Thargoids... yeah... same same for guardians.
• CGs (and meta alloys) were about the only real exception. CGs being non repeatable injections by FD give it a whole different lens outside of the point i was aiming for.
• the trade goods thing is fairly minor compared to, say, finding a drifting megaship, docking at it, but not being able to interact further because LT Dan got no legs.

I think a good deal of these only really started to emerge in Beyond, which as we'd find out later, was probably at least when planning for Odyssey would've started... at some point after that, if not already, they'd already determined Horizons would become mainline.

Reasons to get Horizons are distinct from Horizons being, at least pre- beyond embarrassingly optional.

Edit: succinctly, i think a lot of those things were able to be done fairly incongruously, again, embarrassingly optional being they're easily separable. The sorts of things i feel like people want from integrated content, like what the op listed, could not be done incongrously.

 

[Planewalker]

• Better indication of Planet G's
• Warning of high G planet {show G}

Already in the game, right below the GPS. (High gravity warning given in SRV too)
Planet gravity is listed multiple places so that is entirely on the player at this point.

 

[yianniv]

I'd disagree with that to an extent, since a good deal of those references simply weren't there in non- Horizons ED.

• horizons missions didn't appear if you didn't have Horizons... but also overall mission quantities were fewer (so less likely to hit that tech issue)

When I first got the base game in March 2017, there was a bug that offered Horizons missions to non-horizons users. Being a newbie and unfamiliar with the game, I felt obliged to buy Horizons to avoid failing missions (yeah, I knew nothing about the game and consequences). I bet it was a profitable bug for Frontier at the time

 

[Jmanis]

When I first got the base game in March 2017, there was a bug that offered Horizons missions to non-horizons users. Being a newbie and unfamiliar with the game, I felt obliged to buy Horizons to avoid failing missions (yeah, I knew nothing about the game and consequences). I bet it was a profitable bug for Frontier at the time

Yeah, i remember that bug

 

[Fizzatron]

I guess the difficulty here is distinguishing between scoopable with SRV vs by person, and how those two types of material could be usable in a functionally identical way when one is human portable only, another is machine portable only.


But agreed... i get frustrated when i can pop open one of those cargo racks with six materials in it, usually in some pretty awkward spot.. the gotta go back in the srv to scoop... but usually they pop out too close to the container so between that and the arduous terrain around the wreck, it's pretty time consuming to scoop them.

I think being able to grab onto materials and carry/drag them around would fix a lot of issues, possibly even allow a CMDR to pick up and carry a material/canister to an SRV and manually load it into the cargo rack or drop in front of the scoop.