Hi, I'm Nick aka cmdr Imolen.
I've been playing in my free time since Monday when I joined premium beta.
I have read various posts that this beta experience is very hard for newbies so thought I would post my thoughts so far as I am only 5 days in to my ED experience and hope it might encourage other new players who are perhaps frustrated.
This game is niche, pc gamers are niche in today's terms, I imagine that's why FD's latest titles were for xbox and ipad... This is fine, embrace it and thank you FD for re-addressing our niche market. My wife will NEVER try ED, but she will try Sweetie Mush...
I loved Elite on the spectrum when I was a kid. I was pretty rubbish at it though. Anyone who thinks ED is hard really missed out on the 80's! Remember jet set willy? That was hard!
I have tried various games to replicate my Elite experience, Even EVE some years ago and was quite shocked that it was basically a spreadsheet with graphical cut scenes, multiplayer spreadsheets, accountants dream perhaps? The closest I came was Galaxy on Fire 2 on ipad. Probably the best game I ever played on ipad, truly excellent but clearly no Elite.
Anyway I digress sorry.
So my experience with ED so far:
I spent my first 2 hours working on key bindings. This is essential I feel to enjoy such a game. I sketched them out on paper too for quick reference.
Since I am a leftie HOTAS suck for me, show me a decent throttle that's not biased to be used in the left hand please! However, I did invest in a 16000m and set it up for left hand mode, fantastic stick, only a shame the hat control is not analogue for looking around. Unfortunately the throttle sucks because there is no sense of middle which would be zero in ED. Therefore I use the keyboard for throttle control. Interestingly it works very well, I like to think it is by deliberate design that there is a lag between setting throttle and the engines powering up to that, it is good since it helps level the playing field for different controllers.
I use numbers 1-9 for throttle, 5 being zero, 1 is -ve 100% and 9 +ve 100%. Additionally I use the number pad + and - for fine grain control. The throttle presets work great, want max manoverability in a dogfight? Hit 7 instant sweet spot...
Joystick twist provides yaw and keyboard arrow keys provide thruster control. I may revisit this at some point because in dogfights it is handy to quickly make a throttle change and use thrusters. Going from numbers to arrows is quite a large hand movement and I'm not a kid anymore
I'm considering a second number pad as I've seen USB versions...
I'm using the number pad for ui control. Eg. To get to the ui On the left I hit home key, then the number pad provides a second set of arrow keys with 5 as select. 8 up 2 down etc. works well and provides easy eyes off keyboard control for the ui menus. 7 and 9 are used to tab left and right.
My point of stating this is for newbies it is important not to under estimate how you will interact with the controls. There actually aren't that many, but they are key to your enjoyment. (Might be handy for lefties too?)
So some quick tips I learned through trial and error this week:
1. Dogfighting NPCs, be sure to only do the last third or so of damage when they are in easy range and lasers are cool. My joystick has been encouraged to visit the other side of the desk several times when I get frustrated by them jumping away with 1% (and I swear 0%) hull at the last minute.
2. Don't bother trading, beta is just not ready for this with the size of market. Instead try point 3.
3. Go to a resource extraction site and pick up canisters that you can sometimes find floating around after battles. Take them somewhere like Freeport and go to black market to sell. Even with 4 cargo slots it is quite easy to get enough credits to buy your second laser this way without actually fighting. Just take note of point 4.
4. When carrying "stolen" cargo (maritime laws don't seem to apply in ED) when interdicted en-route to port just put all power to engines keep boosting and enter super cruise to continue on your way. Even if it's the authorities wanting to scan you! You will not die this way, it is easy to get away (unless sweetie smash is really your thing).
5. Buy a second laser ASAP and go to the resource extraction zones to try fighting some NPCs. Some reward 100cr, some over 1000. Try and start by picking lonely ones off at the edges, not ones engaged in battle with others. Keep at least 1 or 2 extra levels of power to weapons when engaged in fire, when being hit put them back to systems to give shields a chance. Takes some practice but you will get there, I even managed to kill an anaconda by staying behind it, unfortunately I got zero credits for that
6. Another hot tip to avoid joystick levitating frustrations... When in super cruise to a station, if on getting close it looks like it will be the other side of the planet, do not point at the planet! Aim high and when you get close the curve of the proximity indicator will show up, stay above it and you won't emergency stop, just continue to curve around until on the right side. This is no kerbal space program, we don't enter orbit! (Thankfully as that would make it really hard and laborious!) tweaking speed to not overshoot just needs practice, haven't yet mastered that as it seems the gravity of objects is pulling me faster or slower...
Most important points to remember:
A. You will lose everything often, due to crashes, death and I understand upcoming resets. So don't get attached to anything just yet.
B. minimise to desktop will crash the game (always for me)
C. I read of people waiting a very long time to join multiplayer. If that is happening minimise to desktop and let it crash then try again. With this method I have never waited more than a few minutes.
D. If on exiting hyper space or super cruise you get the shakey screen of doom, just wait, go make a cup of tea. For me it is frustrating but seldom results in a catastrophic crash unless you get impatient and minimise to desktop. (But it does have to resort to this sometimes, I won't wait more than 5 minutes).
I have enjoyed the experience so far and look forward to patches and more content/functionality.
Incidentally I have been known to also have a go on sugar squish...
Thanks for reading.
Nick.
I've been playing in my free time since Monday when I joined premium beta.
I have read various posts that this beta experience is very hard for newbies so thought I would post my thoughts so far as I am only 5 days in to my ED experience and hope it might encourage other new players who are perhaps frustrated.
This game is niche, pc gamers are niche in today's terms, I imagine that's why FD's latest titles were for xbox and ipad... This is fine, embrace it and thank you FD for re-addressing our niche market. My wife will NEVER try ED, but she will try Sweetie Mush...
I loved Elite on the spectrum when I was a kid. I was pretty rubbish at it though. Anyone who thinks ED is hard really missed out on the 80's! Remember jet set willy? That was hard!
I have tried various games to replicate my Elite experience, Even EVE some years ago and was quite shocked that it was basically a spreadsheet with graphical cut scenes, multiplayer spreadsheets, accountants dream perhaps? The closest I came was Galaxy on Fire 2 on ipad. Probably the best game I ever played on ipad, truly excellent but clearly no Elite.
Anyway I digress sorry.
So my experience with ED so far:
I spent my first 2 hours working on key bindings. This is essential I feel to enjoy such a game. I sketched them out on paper too for quick reference.
Since I am a leftie HOTAS suck for me, show me a decent throttle that's not biased to be used in the left hand please! However, I did invest in a 16000m and set it up for left hand mode, fantastic stick, only a shame the hat control is not analogue for looking around. Unfortunately the throttle sucks because there is no sense of middle which would be zero in ED. Therefore I use the keyboard for throttle control. Interestingly it works very well, I like to think it is by deliberate design that there is a lag between setting throttle and the engines powering up to that, it is good since it helps level the playing field for different controllers.
I use numbers 1-9 for throttle, 5 being zero, 1 is -ve 100% and 9 +ve 100%. Additionally I use the number pad + and - for fine grain control. The throttle presets work great, want max manoverability in a dogfight? Hit 7 instant sweet spot...
Joystick twist provides yaw and keyboard arrow keys provide thruster control. I may revisit this at some point because in dogfights it is handy to quickly make a throttle change and use thrusters. Going from numbers to arrows is quite a large hand movement and I'm not a kid anymore
I'm considering a second number pad as I've seen USB versions...
I'm using the number pad for ui control. Eg. To get to the ui On the left I hit home key, then the number pad provides a second set of arrow keys with 5 as select. 8 up 2 down etc. works well and provides easy eyes off keyboard control for the ui menus. 7 and 9 are used to tab left and right.
My point of stating this is for newbies it is important not to under estimate how you will interact with the controls. There actually aren't that many, but they are key to your enjoyment. (Might be handy for lefties too?)
So some quick tips I learned through trial and error this week:
1. Dogfighting NPCs, be sure to only do the last third or so of damage when they are in easy range and lasers are cool. My joystick has been encouraged to visit the other side of the desk several times
when I get frustrated by them jumping away with 1% (and I swear 0%) hull at the last minute. 2. Don't bother trading, beta is just not ready for this with the size of market. Instead try point 3.
3. Go to a resource extraction site and pick up canisters that you can sometimes find floating around after battles. Take them somewhere like Freeport and go to black market to sell. Even with 4 cargo slots it is quite easy to get enough credits to buy your second laser this way without actually fighting. Just take note of point 4.
4. When carrying "stolen" cargo (maritime laws don't seem to apply in ED) when interdicted en-route to port just put all power to engines keep boosting and enter super cruise to continue on your way. Even if it's the authorities wanting to scan you! You will not die this way, it is easy to get away (unless sweetie smash is really your thing).
5. Buy a second laser ASAP and go to the resource extraction zones to try fighting some NPCs. Some reward 100cr, some over 1000. Try and start by picking lonely ones off at the edges, not ones engaged in battle with others. Keep at least 1 or 2 extra levels of power to weapons when engaged in fire, when being hit put them back to systems to give shields a chance. Takes some practice but you will get there, I even managed to kill an anaconda by staying behind it, unfortunately I got zero credits for that
6. Another hot tip to avoid joystick levitating frustrations... When in super cruise to a station, if on getting close it looks like it will be the other side of the planet, do not point at the planet! Aim high and when you get close the curve of the proximity indicator will show up, stay above it and you won't emergency stop, just continue to curve around until on the right side. This is no kerbal space program, we don't enter orbit! (Thankfully as that would make it really hard and laborious!) tweaking speed to not overshoot just needs practice, haven't yet mastered that as it seems the gravity of objects is pulling me faster or slower...
Most important points to remember:
A. You will lose everything often, due to crashes, death and I understand upcoming resets. So don't get attached to anything just yet.
B. minimise to desktop will crash the game (always for me)
C. I read of people waiting a very long time to join multiplayer. If that is happening minimise to desktop and let it crash then try again. With this method I have never waited more than a few minutes.
D. If on exiting hyper space or super cruise you get the shakey screen of doom, just wait, go make a cup of tea. For me it is frustrating but seldom results in a catastrophic crash unless you get impatient and minimise to desktop. (But it does have to resort to this sometimes, I won't wait more than 5 minutes).
I have enjoyed the experience so far and look forward to patches and more content/functionality.
Incidentally I have been known to also have a go on sugar squish...
Thanks for reading.
Nick.
