Elite Dangerous Update 15 NOW LIVE - Release Notes

[Untilting]

Scouts have defiantly been buffed, Wonder if this is a Stealth Buff or a Bug....

In my second Maelstrom run last night I only dropped to 92% hull, but on that run only two of the interceptions were by scouts. Each time I get intercepted by scouts I now lose 3-4% hull in the few shots they land while I accelerate away - before update 15 it was dropping maybe 1% after two scout interceptions, so as a guesstimate that's 600%-800% more damage being done.

Wonder what's going on. I will definitely need to revisit my AX builds if this is the new normal....

 

[Ozric]

Thanks for the Heads up but I'm pretty sure that the amount of research that has gone into the pulse neutraliser shows it to be very important to the war effort.

The new Pulse Neutraliser doesn't have an AoE range, so it can only be used on yourself. That means for general day to day fighting in the war around Conflict Zones it is not as good as the existing Shutdown Field Neutraliser because you can't protect others. So while getting to the centre of the Maelstrom will probably help the war in some way, given the lack of AoE and the increased Mass and Power Draw it is definitely worse for normal war efforts.

Thargoids are certainly reacquiring the air of menace they had in the first game. Whether Fdev have over egged them a touch remains to be seen. For now we seem to be holding our ground amongst the populated systems within the Bubble so the trade loop shouldn't be too affected. Their spread through the uninhabited systems on the other hand might prove an issue for new explorers if left unchecked for too long.

That's not even the biggest issue though. Since the UAs were first found in the game and since I've been investigating them all the way back in 2015 we have progressed the story through Science and Investigation. From finding the Morse Code and deciphering it, to finding and decoding the Probes, to finding the Surface Sites and then working out the device and the Link and studying the Thargoids when they first appeared (plus all the Guardian stuff). Everything to move the story forwards has been done through non-combat means.

Even with Update 13 and making the Unclassified Relics and discovering you could sell them to Palin and Tah. But the swing to full on combat had started before that and with Update 14 and the general feeling around Update 15 the only path we're being given now is combat.

So it's taken things that some of us have been working on for 8 years, out of our hands and basically saying this is not for you anymore. I am sure some will see it as melodramatic, but given the thousands of hours put in to progressing the story to this point, it really isn't.

 

[Northpin]

Using spansh to calculate the number of jumps an average 30ly ship would take to travel to the systems for Guardian Sites, Crashed Thargoid Ships from Sol.

30ly isn't average for more than 6 years already
A non-engineered DBX does 37ly while a lightweight DBX using only the 5A FSD v1 from tech brokers (purchasable with no engineers involved) does 62ly

 

[HappyMoonMonkey]

Using spansh to calculate the number of jumps an average 30ly ship would take to travel to the systems for Guardian Sites, Crashed Thargoid Ships from Sol.

Sol	0.00	354.94		0
	HIP 17125	354.94	0.00		14
	HIP 14909	137.63	0.00		6
	HIP 20567	288.73	0.00		11
	Synuefe XR-H d11-102	370.96	0.00		14
	Totals	1,152.25			45

1 jump per min on average = 45 mins.
Lets say 20 mins per activity, on average. 20x5 = 100 mins.


So I guess 145 mins - say 2.5 hours per module, optimistically; assuming no rebuys, failures, interdictions and not accounting for Super Cruise. I'd add an average of 5-10 mins per system for SC.

For those who are "time poor" this is a fairly significant barrier to entry just to unlock the module on one ship, not accounting for the time needed to engineer that ship sufficiently (which is going to be a lot more).

But where's the grind in this? Apart from the fact that you've artificially limited yourself to a 30ly explorer ship which seems madness. Up that to 60ly which is perfectly achievable with little engineering and an cheap AspX or DBX. Then it's only 20-25 mins jumping in total.

And there you have it. 2 hours of gameplay and content, exploring space, guardians, crash sites and thargoid sites.

 

[zimms]

Using spansh to calculate the number of jumps an average 30ly ship would take to travel to the systems for Guardian Sites, Crashed Thargoid Ships from Sol.

Sol	0.00	354.94		0
	HIP 17125	354.94	0.00		14
	HIP 14909	137.63	0.00		6
	HIP 20567	288.73	0.00		11
	Synuefe XR-H d11-102	370.96	0.00		14
	Totals	1,152.25			45

1 jump per min on average = 45 mins.
Lets say 20 mins per activity, on average. 20x5 = 100 mins.


So I guess 145 mins - say 2.5 hours per module, optimistically; assuming no rebuys, failures, interdictions and not accounting for Super Cruise. I'd add an average of 5-10 mins per system for SC.

For those who are "time poor" this is a fairly significant barrier to entry just to unlock the module on one ship, not accounting for the time needed to engineer that ship sufficiently (which is going to be a lot more).

People who play for hours each and every day will always smugly tell you that the grind is only in your mind.

If you only have let's say 45m of game time in the evening, more often you shouldn't even bother with Elite. It could take you that long to just get to a maelstrom with the constant interdictions.

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

How's performance?

I cannot back it up with numbers, but performance felt much better in VR yesterday, and I think I got less reprojection and more often the full 90 fps. Only the ground AX CZ was pretty much like before, i.e. pretty stuttery near the port and less than 45 fps, but okay once I got a few km up. I have not yet visited a populated Odyssey settlement, those were still very stuttery but bearable for me before U15.

 

[Northpin]

People who play for hours each and every day will always smugly tell you that the grind is only in your mind.

If you only have let's say 45m of game time in the evening, more often you shouldn't even bother with Elite. It could take you that long to just get to a maelstrom with the constant interdictions.

If i only have 60 minutes of game time in an evening, i dont even bother starting Elite.
My usual game sessions in Elite are at least 2 hours

Which should not be taken as a complain. Nope.
ED is a career game with a long time investment.
It's definitely not an arcade game that can be played in short gaming sessions

 

[ThinkingPortals]

...
It's definitely not an arcade game that can be played in short gaming sessions

That seems quite limiting, given how lucrative the market for games with 20-40 minute matches have been (fortnite, dota, PUBG, etc).
Multicrew/CQC is one of the easiest ways for people with limited time to play Elite, but they're both basically abandonware.

 

[Bandee]

The new ax on foot don't work well. 90% of the time it doesn't say that I completed the mission and I can't claim the reward either!!!


I turn on the power, but nothing indicates that I have completed it. I download the data, but I don't get feedback that it was successful. Objects thrown in ax onfoot areas disappear for the wingmate, sink into the ground, and cannot be picked up.

 

[Alan Flotsam]

ED is a career game with a long time investment.
It's definitely not an arcade game that can be played in short gaming sessions

I already have a job - don't need another one - but I'd like to engage with the new content.

 

[MQC]

Using spansh to calculate the number of jumps an average 30ly ship would take to travel to the systems for Guardian Sites, Crashed Thargoid Ships from Sol.

Sol	0.00	354.94		0
	HIP 17125	354.94	0.00		14
	HIP 14909	137.63	0.00		6
	HIP 20567	288.73	0.00		11
	Synuefe XR-H d11-102	370.96	0.00		14
	Totals	1,152.25			45

1 jump per min on average = 45 mins.
Lets say 20 mins per activity, on average. 20x5 = 100 mins.


So I guess 145 mins - say 2.5 hours per module, optimistically; assuming no rebuys, failures, interdictions and not accounting for Super Cruise. I'd add an average of 5-10 mins per system for SC.

For those who are "time poor" this is a fairly significant barrier to entry just to unlock the module on one ship, not accounting for the time needed to engineer that ship sufficiently (which is going to be a lot more).

Is 2.5 hours a barrier in a game like ED?

Sadly in recent months I am also a "time poor" player because of real life, but I think it is not fair to say that taking 2-3 hours to get a special module that allows you to access a new game area with new mechanics and mysteries is a barrier, nor is it really something to criticize.

Also, the green relics have been in the game for months (as many as the war with the Thargoids), there are already many people who had them, in fact there were many people who already had all those necessary materials. It's 2.5 hours if you do it in one run, but really, if you do it in several days, it's a small portion of time each day... a normal game session for a "time poor" player.

In fact, there are already people complaining that they have entered "too fast" in the center of the Maelstroms after the update was released yesterday.

What is clear is that it is impossible to please everyone, but if a game like ED, with more than 8 years behind it, that has to be able to entertain and keep the player active, on top of that you "give away" the requirements to make the new playable mechanics (which FDEV have been developing for months), then it is even less time to invest in it. Sincerely, in my personal opinion (everyone has their own, and it is respectable and understandable) I think that talking about grind in this case seems to me not very accurate.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

That's not even the biggest issue though. Since the UAs were first found in the game and since I've been investigating them all the way back in 2015 we have progressed the story through Science and Investigation. From finding the Morse Code and deciphering it, to finding and decoding the Probes, to finding the Surface Sites and then working out the device and the Link and studying the Thargoids when they first appeared (plus all the Guardian stuff). Everything to move the story forwards has been done through non-combat means.

Even with Update 13 and making the Unclassified Relics and discovering you could sell them to Palin and Tah. But the swing to full on combat had started before that and with Update 14 and the general feeling around Update 15 the only path we're being given now is combat.

So it's taken things that some of us have been working on for 8 years, out of our hands and basically saying this is not for you anymore. I am sure some will see it as melodramatic, but given the thousands of hours put in to progressing the story to this point, it really isn't.

It's an inevitable progression with discovery-based stories, I think: either at some point you solve the mystery and it stops being mysterious, or they just keep throwing in endless "solving this mystery reveals another" steps and you never really discover anything meaningful.

That said, at the moment it seems like the main things to do with the Maelstrom environment - both in U14 and now - involve sampling, exploration (in a more hazardous environment than most "Exploration" takes place, sure), and so on. Yes, you can shoot things in there as well, but there doesn't appear - yet, anyway - to be any formal benefit to doing so for non-research purposes. So it seems like the "solving mysteries" part of it is still going on.

Not that I think we've seen everything from U15 so far by a long way, of course, but so far the additions to the war side of it appear to be some new missions for Odyssey players, and the additions to the research side of it appear quite a bit more substantial. So far, of course.


As an aside: I also find it interesting to read this message alongside the complaints from the combat fans that returning the Thargoids in convenient 1t chunks for research is more effective in the war effort than shooting them, which is also a valid point! Is that research or war content? Presumably you wouldn't regard it as "discovery" in the same sense, though?

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

I already have a job - don't need another one - but I'd like to engage with the new content.

I hate that expression. Nobody gives you a second job but yourself, if you say "I want it all and I want it now, and also within a maximum play session of 20 to 45 minutes".

ED is not Fortnite, it is not the kind of quick match game you play for 20 minutes and then put aside. You need to commit, and that is okay. If you don't have the time to invest, you will have to be okay with breaking down activities into multiple sessions (see below).

For those who are "time poor" this is a fairly significant barrier to entry just to unlock the module on one ship, not accounting for the time needed to engineer that ship sufficiently (which is going to be a lot more).

Is 2.5 hours a barrier in a game like ED?

If you are "time poor" I think you will have to live with the fact that you cannot (as an example) unlock the Guardian FSD Booster in one play session, but have to do it in three: First session - travel out there, second session - get the blueprint and materials, third session - travel back and unlock.

There are things that just take time. Making everything obtainable in half an hour trivializes everything, and I am strongly against that.

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

To add: I view ED more as a hobby than a game. To make a bad comparison: You don't go hiking in 20 minutes. You get into your car, drive out to the wilderness, go hiking, drive back. That's hours of commitment you cannot do on a whim. ED is the hiking of computer games .

 

[aRJay]

FDev should capitalize on all this good will with a new Odyssey sale.

How's performance? I've read a few reports that people feel it's smoother and faster. Is that a consensus with the majority of players?

Depends where you take your baseline for performance.

Apart from HUD colour issues I was seeing no performance or graphical problems but my FPS was way down, checking revealed that my laptop was probably running the game using the wrong graphics more checks later today.

One new thing I did notice while flying low over the planets surface was sun glints on the canopy first thought was meteor or comet.

 

[Hellrider]

I already have a job - don't need another one - but I'd like to engage with the new content.

So you picked wrong game.

Sorry, but if hour or two is to much for you to interact with new content this game definetely isn't for you.

Elite community is truly amazing.

Having issues with fact, that goind to the mothership of hostile aliens, which assaulted hundreds humanity systems require...yes.
Combat, and fancy technology from their old enemies

What next, complaining on fact, that space content require landing on planet?
Or maybe just "let us buy everything with billions credits farmet via goldrushes"?

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

What next, complaining on fact, that space content require landing on planet?
Or maybe just "let us buy everything with billions credits farmet via goldrushes"?

people are campaigning for fast travel, because supercruise and "pressing J for an hour" is too long . There are some who complain the game is not deep enough, and then there are those who want to make it completely arcade-y and trivial. If both of those extremes are dissatisfied, seems the balance must be right .

 

[Lyamecron]

For the last few patches I noticed that while my frames stayed consistent - my gpu load was reduced further and further. The display latency also plays a huge role and what once was 50ms (which felt absolutely horrible) now is around 12ms - where it should be. GPU load sits at 68% max. For comparison, it was at 100% all the time before update 11. So yeah - its pretty alright now, for me at least

Whats y'alls AA settings? I did notice some improvements, but the jagged orbit lines still persist on my end.

 

[Helmut Grokenberger]

Whats y'alls AA settings? I did notice some improvements, but the jagged orbit lines still persist on my end.

People keep saying that AA has improved... I really need to check that. I didn't really pay attention, I was busy gawking at the Titan . AA is horrible in VR, it would be really nice if it was improved.

 

[Northpin]

That seems quite limiting, given how lucrative the market for games with 20-40 minute matches have been (fortnite, dota, PUBG, etc).
Multicrew/CQC is one of the easiest ways for people with limited time to play Elite, but they're both basically abandonware.

Which is one of the many things that makes Elite a niche nerdy game instead a PUBG/Fortnite/Dota type of game that is played by millions and millions of people and that "sold" (read: downloads) hundreds of millions of copies.

I already have a job - don't need another one - but I'd like to engage with the new content.

So do I.
But Elite is basically the only game i play and yea - it's more like a hobby than a game.
Basically this

To add: I view ED more as a hobby than a game. To make a bad comparison: You don't go hiking in 20 minutes. You get into your car, drive out to the wilderness, go hiking, drive back. That's hours of commitment you cannot do on a whim. ED is the hiking of computer games .