IF Space Legs, Atmospheric Planets and Base Building are not part of New Era...
- Thread starter VR SenseiMatty
- Start date
Didn't you quit three years back after engineers V1 ?, I'm not sure how valuable your input on the current game is really.
That's what I would like to see as well. However, I believe Stigbob is also right that people wouldn't pay for it. Or maybe they would pay for it but complain anyway.I guess you've misinterpreted what I'm describing. Procedural generation of these... there is no static "campaign" systems in that sort of thing. Yes "Procedural Generation" != RNG... but Procedural Generation is human algorithms combined with random generation, and it's still sticking with the "dowhateveryouwantulator" theme. But a dowhateveryouwantulator is not mutually exclusive to a system that generates activities around a particular activity you want to do.
A basic system is,
- run some missions, get a tipoff to rando location X (like currently happens)
- Find a shipwreck (this is where it currently ends), get a message prompt much like an inbox mission "Ship seems to have information about a derelict mining outpost, upload?" (y/n)
- Gives you a timerless "mission" which you can abandon at any time, no penalty, to go check out some uninhabited system within 1,000LY.
- Get to the system,mission USS in system, it's a (powered down) CQC asset, requiring you to hack access doors using recon limpets, deactivating power cores to get to a hatch with some cargo inside with a few mil worth of cargo[1] and a "Large Survey Data Cache". All these things are currently in the game. You could even throw over the environmental effects like heating up inside a damaged station, if you wanted to, while inside the superstructure, to add a bit of urgency to the operation.
- Additionally, a data point has information identifying the faction of pirates who raided this station. You can upload that... start a mission arc to take down a threat 5/6 or 7 pirate USS in some rando inhabited system if you want. Obviously, you can go retool to a new ship before undertaking this.
- Oh, and that Large Survey Data Cache? Adds a "rumor" to your codex (
) to something in the galaxy you've never (personally) discovered before, whether that's as mundane as an ice planet in a region, or void hearts in some undiscovered neck of the woods. Get there in your own leisure.
Darting back to your comment about engineers, they are also totally underused.
- Where's regular missions from Palin offered from a missionboard (not that silly "dock at OO" mechanic, bit dumb since he's not even there now).
- Where's Ram-tah offering missions to retrieve guardian items
- Where's the regular, unique interactions with all these characters that extend beyond "Right, G5'ed them, now just pin their blueprints and forget they exist".
These are the sorts of hooks and procedurally generatedstorycontent that are starkly missing.
[1] Of course, the disaster that was FD not addressing core mining for a year has ruined any value to such finds because "I could just mine that in minutes"
I agree with him though. If that's the yardstick to measure Engineers with, I have to say it's the worst single player campaign I've ever played.
Luckily for me I don't see how those unlocks would count as a single player campaign at all. (Or personal narrative.)
I have my own personal narrative on that.
I have to come back to this. Got up with a real grumpy mood today. Until this. It really brightened my day. Because it's funny. It's sad, too, but I rather look at the funny part of it because I really could use the laugh.
I don't normally post memes but I just have to this time - it's just too funny.
That's what I would like to see as well. However, I believe Stigbob is also right that people wouldn't pay for it. Or maybe they would pay for it but complain anyway.
If they added some voice acted comms panel mini video's like Freespace2 had that would be enough to push it from a "Meh" to a "woohoo" on the Stigbob scale of campaign fun as represented by daft noises.
The complaining is the only certainty.
You keep telling me and everyone else you've hated everything after 2.1 or/and engineers V1 (which was about three years back IIRC) and then you stopped bothering. I don't think that's super relevant to anything anymore tbh.
I never said I hated the exploration update. I think I even might like it.
Sure... though we kinda come full-circle here, as like i suggested before, if all we're getting is atmospheric planets and spacelegs offering no more "content" than what the game currently offers (instead of scanning a beacon, I get out and scan it on my legs?), and if base building is a "self licking icecream", I'd argue that's not really something people would pay for either.That's what I would like to see as well. However, I believe Stigbob is also right that people wouldn't pay for it. Or maybe they would pay for it but complain anyway.
Realistically, if we're somehow already down the path of getting these things, then they must be done in conjunction with the things I've mentioned, otherwise it's nothing more than buying a paintjob for a ship. I'd just prefer to be a bit more realistic, that development of the content using the currently available (and abhorrently underused) mechanics would be more beneficial to the game than any of these other things (which is kinda the point of the Op right? If we're not getting legs, bases or atmos, what would we get?)
Hi
I see comments asking for QOL and work on things like powerplay, wings, telepresence, addons that are already in the game.
I agree that those things would be great. but that is not something you should pay for.
If it is a payed DLC then headlines like.
I would throw money at stuff like that.
Best Regards
Xai
I see comments asking for QOL and work on things like powerplay, wings, telepresence, addons that are already in the game.
I agree that those things would be great. but that is not something you should pay for.
If it is a payed DLC then headlines like.
- A campaign with a story (designed so any player can enjoy it, not just read about it, so a bid like how bioware would do it)
- Major mechanic addons, that add gameplay and entry on new worlds (not barebone) (atmo, gas, populated worlds)
- Gameplay mechanic addon for first person. (fully developed with gameplay) (i would add base building here)
- Gameplay mechanic addon like RTS (styles: homeoworld, master of orion, could give use for players with fleets)
- Offline mode.
I would throw money at stuff like that.
Best Regards
Xai
My dream would be that Frontier adds all sorts of mechanics like space legs, atmospheric planets, NPC crew and wings, etc. Then they would hire a studio like Obsidian to write and integrate some story campaigns for it. Just a dream though...
... but a huge number of people bought NMS, and millions have been donated to the 'Infamous Alpha'....
Some people will throw their money at anything shiny
Whatever 'New Era' brings, while it may not please everone - it is highly likely to pay its development cost...Yes, ideally they do both. But doing both doesn't necessarily mean you will get what you hope for / people will suddenly be happy.
I think a good example is the USS system. It used to be horrible. Me and some other people from camp fanboy constantly asked for an overhaul. When we finally got it I expected that people would be quite happy about it, it's one of the most important mechanics in the game after all. Making it persistent is exactly what lots of people asked for. But the change was completely ignored. I didn't see anyone saying how much the system improved, instead people just complained about the delay of FCs or something (funnily, almost nobody asked for FCs before they were announced...).
Not sure what exactly I am trying to say here, maybe you can't impress people unless it's shiny and new? Or people shouldn't pay attention to random complaints on the internet? How about: What's best for the game isn't necessarily what people ask for.
The thing is the games just too big for fleshed out NPC's IMO.
In skyrim you get a fair amount of character and individual behaviour from a couple of hundred NPC's, in Mount and blade you don't even get facial expressions because of the numbers visible at one time, ED has 20,000 inhabited star systems IIRC so the sheer scale means it can't possibly be handcrafted.
On foot ED NPC's will be RNG if feet ever happens, except dedicated mission ones which we'll all start mocking as the top 1% of NPC's out there after the first afternoon.
Not a bad thing, just reflects what I think is possible/probable as a layman.
Mini-movie briefings in the comms panel on the fly is easier to do and really works to add immurshun I think, we can already accept or decline there so you could have dialogue options and choices.
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You wouldn't need to handcraft everything. Frontier would finish the development of the game, including procedurally generated NPCs, missions and stuff. After that a different studio could create a few story campaigns within the Elite universe and sell them as DLC. You just need the right framework and dev tools for that.
For my mini movie campaign briefing plan the frameworks already pretty much there.
And I see nothing wrong with it.
In terms of personal narrative, partly it’s whether you just did what someone was asking, regardless of what was involved and how morally dubious it was, because they were offering you some goodies, or whether you did otherwise.
It’s also a case of how much you paid attention to what you were being asked to do and where it lead you.
Some have a lot more to them than others do.
Some of that then ties back in to key aspects of the overall narrative.
On the single player campaign front, I’d have to say that it isn’t. The personal narrative stuff above is partly contingent on considering not just your own actions, but the effect of player actions en masse. Which is not something that usually forms a consideration in a single player campaign. Treating it as a single player campaign is probably not a good way to do it, as expectations of how it should work will probably lead to missing/disregarding various aspects of how it is in the game.
I think the USS system is a good example definitely, and I certainly think having the USS become persistent was a great idea, but I also think FD had a completely different idea of what the game would be back then.
Game on-release was, IMO, a modern version of FE2, with the added bonus of a BGS (though you couldn't guarantee finding missions for your faction), USS and the formalised exploration aspects. Nothing connected anything, no "Unregistered comms beacons" gave you stories, no abandoned generation ships with voice-acted comms logs, Galnet was literally just fluff on top just like the old FFE journals (I remember the death of the emperor over a major update cycle was actually a 'big deal' even though there was nothing in the game representing it)
Literally, it was all just backdrop to do whatever you wanted. (Un?)fortunately, many other games between FE2/FFE and ED, being things like Freelancer, EVE Online, had kinda shaped that a bit more, building worlds where you could go seek out your own activities, but that unstructured gameplay which is core to FE2/FFE was augmented with structured gameplay that linked aspects of the game together in a natural and fun way. So of course, many wanted the good aspects of those styles of games in what people probably saw as a reliable title (historically speaking).
I think FD genuinely didn't think people need or want in-game narrative and structured activities and events... that's why things as simple as "Are there missions for the faction I want to support on the boards?" weren't there in the first place... again... FD never thought players would get emotional ties to the minor factions[1]; supporting the relevant superpower would be good enough.
At some point FD, imo, decided "we need to get some more of that structure and narrative tie-in"... so we got CGs, current mission boards, tip-offs, all this other stuff that's, frankly, been kinda piecemeal. It doesn't seem to be effectively planned, and for me, that's evidenced by how under-utilised all the new things they've added are.
I hang round and continue to play the game because I really think FD are on the tip of producing something really awesome, but it's not something that'll be realised by spacelegs, atmos or base building. Those things will enrich (i.e multiply) the current experience, but while that current experience is incomplete as it currently is, you'll just be left with a much more weakened experience overall compared to the effort you expended.
[1] That got mentioned in a livestream I forget, but other people remember the same quote.