IF Space Legs, Atmospheric Planets and Base Building are not part of New Era...

-VR- Max Factor

-VR- Max Factor
Ezren said:
Biggest challenge for legs in VR is going to be controlling/moving in VR. There's no universal method for movement in VR, so it's not as easy as just a first-person camera moving around. That's probably going to be the greatest challenge to making it work for VR.
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Well, I played alien isolation without issues. If it's anything like that I will be fine. As to others, I don't really know.
 

-VR- Max Factor

-VR- Max Factor
Tharrn said:
Right now it absolutely doesn't matter for production if demand is met. Only BGS states do. I don't expect an EVE Online style player driven economy (as we have no manufacturing obviously), but it would be nice if consistently hauling needed commodities to a system would have an effect on the supply of said station - be it commodities or equipment/ships.
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So you think one person would make a huge difference in a system of 100s of millions. I'm not so sure that would be a "real" economy either. Remember, us commanders are just a drop in the ocean in regards to the population and the commodities that are traded.
 
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-VR- Max Factor

-VR- Max Factor
Red Anders said:
That is very much the key to space legs; not simply having them but having something to do with them. I'd have to hope that one of the reasons for the delay has been that IF it's a feature of the end-of-year update, they've learned the lessons from powerplay/multiplayer/[insert salt source of your choice] and this time aren't going to go with the 'introduce barebones new mechanics > content will be fleshed out over time > oops we forgot about that bit' model that we've seen in the past.

I've said before, if space legs gameplay at day 0 consists of allowing me to walk round a station in order to do things I can currently do from a menu in my ship and walk from the cockpit to my cargo hold where I can look at some boxes whilst sobbing quietly, that's not a £30-£40 DLC. It's something you introduce as a free update before then releasing the £30-40 DLC which provides actual content with which to use the new mechanics.

Given the fact it's going to be five years since a major paid-for DLC for Elite by the end of the year, I think it would be commercial suicide to expect players to pay for a DLC which doesn't provide significantly increased gameplay at release. Not for FDev as a company, they'll be doing fine with Planet Zoo DLC and the Coaster console release, but for this game specifically because it will be difficult for them to justify allocating significant dev resources to any further updates if the DLC sells poorly.

So yeah, here's hoping.

As for what would I hope for if the new update/Era doesn't include any of space legs, base building or atmospheric planets/planetary landings, given the amount of time it's taken you'd have to expect something like a serious engine overhaul and greatly expanded gameplay options within the current space-bound setting because otherwise, I just can't see how they could expect a DLC to be met with anything other than a lukewarm reception after this long a wait. They must also be aware that by referring to it as a 'new Era' and so on, they have raised expectations quite high - I'm not one to go crazy over marketing hype but when the game's developers refer to a future update in those kind of terms, in their financial filings as well as in direct communication to players, you'd have to say it's reasonable for players to think there's literally a gamechanger on the way and they're setting themselves up for a fall if they don't have something truly significant in the pipeline.
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Whatever it is, as its an optional expansion, it needs to be easily gated. I can't see engine overhauls or updates of the current gameplay easy to gate.
 

Leadfoot

Leadfoot
I have to assume FD knows that if they add space legs into the game, we WILL need some sort of reason for them. Heading into abandoned bases armed with a space-gun (yes, we HAVE to haz them because space) and a space-flashlight (or space-torch for our British friends), trying to find out what was in that base, looking for clues in and around the desk, checking the basement hatch, finding a bunch of space-zombies (because what good is a FPS without zombies) and shooting our way to victory through them all and then locating a locked box that you have to shoot open in order to obtain the clue to the location of the Laser of a Thousand Truths will be lots of fun.

Of course, there's that other, high metal content world that you didn't know was inhabited by living robots, escaped from a high-tech world and settled here. If they capture you before you make it back to your ship, you lose both arms since they need the dexterity of your fingers to create more of their kind. Your re-buy screen will offer you the choice of plastic or metallic replacement arms/hands.

On atmospheric planets, gas giants with water-based life would be interesting. Mission: Go to planet 5 in blah blah system, dive in, scoop up 5 tons of fish to help famine. Just watch out for the whale coming at the same school of fish that's not paying attention to you.

On planets with high water vapor atmospheres you could have small things floating about that can be harvested, provided those little things don't harvest YOU first (those tiny teeth aren't bad but when you have 2,000 sets of them all over you, well, hello re-buy screen).

Lava worlds with highly corrosive atmospheres would mean landing quickly, deploy that new corrosive-resistant SRV, dismiss the ship before you get too much damage on it, then spent a maximum of two hours on the surface picking up diamonds, rubies, gold, platinum, etc and get back to the ship before your SRV starts to melt.

Ammonia worlds? Yeah, let's see what kinds of insects FD can come up with. I'm sure they've had lots of practice with Jurassic World and Planet Zoo. I'm certain there's something crawling down there we can shoot.

Water worlds? Fish. Find an island, put a worm on the hook under a swaying palm tree and enjoy the double-star sunset.

I did forget to mention, out exploring right now, even planets with atmospheres (including gas giants) are listing what resources are available during the FSS scan. Why bother to list that if they don't intend for us to eventually go GET that stuff?
 
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Stigbob

Stigbob
Max Factor said:
Whatever it is, as its an optional expansion, it needs to be easily gated. I can't see engine overhauls or updates of the current gameplay easy to gate.
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Any DLC usually comes with an overhaul that everyone gets as standard. Only the DLC specific content is gated.

A DLC called "a bit of an overhaul" wouldn't really sell so its an imaginary problem as the new era will include specific content.
 

Tharrn

Tharrn
Max Factor said:
So you think one person would make a huge difference in a system of 100s of millions. I'm not so sure that would be a "real" economy either. Remember, us commanders are just a drop in the ocean in regards to the population and the commodities that are traded.
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If the one commander can meet a significant part of the demand... yep.
 

Red Anders

Red Anders
Max Factor said:
Whatever it is, as its an optional expansion, it needs to be easily gated. I can't see engine overhauls or updates of the current gameplay easy to gate.
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I agree. So with regard to OP's original question, I can't think anything they could include in the DLC that isn't space legs, atmospheric planets, bases or any combination thereof, or doesn't include a sigificant engine update and expanded gameplay options, yet would still make me want to buy it for anything like the cost of Horizons. So I supposed we can reasonably infer one or more of the following:
  • The update has space legs
  • The update has atmospheric planetary landings
  • The update has base building
  • I have a limited imagination
 

Nomadski

Nomadski
Max Factor said:
Is it. I haven't played space legs yet. Looks like we have the real identity of commander thrust from Bradford here as he has already played elite feet and knows all about it..


I very much doubt it. If there are to be missions on stations, I expect them to be unique to the ones we get on our ships with unique gameplay. What I wish for is nothing like what you describe, so please don't presume to think you know.
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There are four space games Im aware of where you pilot ships and get out on your feet, 1 has no gameplay beyond what I described, 1 is a tiny focussed puzzle game in effect, the others have boring mile wide, inch deep pointless gameplay.

None of the games closest to Elite has any real benefit to having space legs, and if you think FD can put together something even as "comprehensive" (/s) as Star Citizen you are fooling yourself.

Legs will neither fix the issues people have with the current gameplay in ships, and will introduce a whole threadnoughts worth of new criticism of the mile wide, inch deep kind.

Just come back to this thread if we do get space legs, i'll write it now:

TOLD YOU.
 
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