If you think ED's too difficult...

[Captain Zoe E Summers]

...then you can't do it.

Why does everything think it (everything) should be easy, or even if they accept it's a learning curve, why does everything think they will eventually be ABLE to do it?

You don't watch gymnastics and then pull your overweight hairy ass off the couch and start doing tumbles and flips... you're lucky if you can get up the stairs to the loo! I tried for years as a little girl to do the splits - never could do it. Does that mean we should call 'doing the splits' standing with your legs shoulder width apart so that every talking ape can do it?

Of course not!

So if you understand that not everyone is able to do gymnastics - whether they aren't born the right body shape, or they have no hand-eye coordination, then why do you think you can all play a game that's based on (relatively dumbed down) flight mechanics, trading, THINKING and PATIENCE!?

Some of you are colour blind - you could never be pilots - does that mean then that the aviation industry should be changed so there is no red / green colours on maps / lights etc?

Some of you didn't finish school, university or struggled to get a D in English. So do you accept you'll never be a professor at Oxford for Literature?

So of you will have watched House, Casualty or gods forbid Grey's Anatomy - so why can't you get a job down the local hospital as a Doctor?!

BECAUSE YOU CAN'T DO IT!

If you can accept all that - then just accept that if you can't land / trade / fly / work out HOW to PLAY the game without videos, instructions and point and click success - then you just can't do it.

No shame in it. That's why Angry Birds and FarmVille is so popular.

But... and here's the big BUT... if you WANT to stick at it - invest TIME, MONEY AND THOUGHT into in, practice, and ACCEPT you're going to get blown to kingdom come more times than you've had hot dinners UNTIL you learn some nifty fighting / trading / hiding techniques OF YOUR OWN... then welcome and lets have a great experience together.

 

[Erik Marcaigh]

Yes. Practice, folks. Practice makes perfect.

Playing Elite is a lot like gambling too, especially when you put all your chips on the table (in cargo). You make that "one more" trade run, but you're tired. Or distracted. Or you decide to get too "bold" with a pirate who just interdicted you. And everything changes suddenly.

I can't even count how many times that happened to me in the original Elite. Of course, I can't count how many times cuz it was 30 years ago and I've had a lot of alcohol in-between.

So if you're not really ready to start from scratch, then don't invest all your credits. I went into Federal Distress Signal yesterday with a 2nd pulse laser and enough credits for insurance and more cargo just in case. And I had to cash in that insurance...

 

[Renaissance0321]

...then you can't do it.

Why does everything think it (everything) should be easy, or even if they accept it's a learning curve, why does everything think they will eventually be ABLE to do it?

You don't watch gymnastics and then pull your overweight hairy ass off the couch and start doing tumbles and flips... you're lucky if you can get up the stairs to the loo! I tried for years as a little girl to do the splits - never could do it. Does that mean we should call 'doing the splits' standing with your legs shoulder width apart so that every talking ape can do it?

Of course not!

So if you understand that not everyone is able to do gymnastics - whether they aren't born the right body shape, or they have no hand-eye coordination, then why do you think you can all play a game that's based on (relatively dumbed down) flight mechanics, trading, THINKING and PATIENCE!?

Some of you are colour blind - you could never be pilots - does that mean then that the aviation industry should be changed so there is no red / green colours on maps / lights etc?

Some of you didn't finish school, university or struggled to get a D in English. So do you accept you'll never be a professor at Oxford for Literature?

So of you will have watched House, Casualty or gods forbid Grey's Anatomy - so why can't you get a job down the local hospital as a Doctor?!

BECAUSE YOU CAN'T DO IT!

If you can accept all that - then just accept that if you can't land / trade / fly / work out HOW to PLAY the game without videos, instructions and point and click success - then you just can't do it.

No shame in it. That's why Angry Birds and FarmVille is so popular.

But... and here's the big BUT... if you WANT to stick at it - invest TIME, MONEY AND THOUGHT into in, practice, and ACCEPT you're going to get blown to kingdom come more times than you've had hot dinners UNTIL you learn some nifty fighting / trading / hiding techniques OF YOUR OWN... then welcome and lets have a great experience together.

1. I'm not fat and hairy.

2. I'm 99.9% positive there are no females playing this game <Moderation Edit>.

3. I'm an extra .1% sure of both number 2's points.

4. You are correct about HEC. It has been narrowed down to a portion of the brain that is either developed or not developed from birth or a young age. Therefore you either have excellent hand-eye coordination or you don't and there is a theoretical maximum to how good you can be at it no matter how much practice you put in.

 

[MikeSnos]

Agree with OP.... Here's my view :

Stick with it, don't give up, learn to fly straight and keep practising... Then, when Gamma comes along and a gamma player asks the same question you'll be saying 'Why change it? It doesn't need changing... Keep practising and you soon won't notice it...'

As has been said before just practise, practise and practise some more... When you first drove a car it took a while to get confident driving in those narrow spaces but now you're probably bombing through them at 60mph... Same applies in game... Don't give up, stick with it!

Docking is like walking. We didn't start walking straight off, we crashed, fell over and hurt ourselves numerous times before we got any good... Did we give up? No of course not... same applies to docking...

 

[Cody]

2. I'm 99.9% positive there are no females playing this game<Moderation Edit: Residual Cleanup>.

3. I'm an extra .1% sure of both number 2's points.

Hmm... I wouldn't be so sure about that.

 

[MikeSnos]

Hmm... I wouldn't be so sure about that.

Agreed!

 

[Kodan Tor]

i think so long as you go into the game with your eyes wide open about it you shouldnt be disappointed. its not a throwaway blastem-up its a long slow slog from a nobody to an elite, a member of the few - not like taking a driving test which gets handed out to most. i remember when i finally became elite and you do get a sense of achievement ;-)

 

[Geraldine]

Hi Folks
I have had to perform some moderation to this thread. Lets leave out off topic comments please and stick to the subject of the thread, thanks.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

Well said Zoe, it's a tough galaxy out there which makes your successes all the more rewarding. Work on the single player missions until you're confident to be able to defend yourself. It's worth it.

Personally, it's the most exhilarating experience since the original Elite. Frontier, don't ever change; make your stand.

B

 

[Faerie]

I absolutely agree with OP. I played both Elite & Frontier, & at first they were HARD, but by practice & paying attention to the game world's mechanics I became frighteningly good. (Only wish I was like that now ! lol)
Damn ! Instead of fearing thargoids I used to hunt them ! Pirates ? I was like "Great ! Twelve of them ! Lots of bounty & free cargo !"
If I could do it then so can anyone, so stick with it !

 

[mamolian]

Hmm I'm quite happy with the game mechanics of Elite Dangerous other than the fact I am tied to a pitch/roll flight model rather than a pitch/yaw model. I find this infuriating to be perfectly honest! I really do hope they change this before release!

 

[Siggi]

...then you can't do it.

Why does everything think it (everything) should be easy, or even if they accept it's a learning curve, why does everything think they will eventually be ABLE to do it?

You don't watch gymnastics and then pull your overweight hairy ass off the couch and start doing tumbles and flips... you're lucky if you can get up the stairs to the loo! I tried for years as a little girl to do the splits - never could do it. Does that mean we should call 'doing the splits' standing with your legs shoulder width apart so that every talking ape can do it?

Of course not!

So if you understand that not everyone is able to do gymnastics - whether they aren't born the right body shape, or they have no hand-eye coordination, then why do you think you can all play a game that's based on (relatively dumbed down) flight mechanics, trading, THINKING and PATIENCE!?

Some of you are colour blind - you could never be pilots - does that mean then that the aviation industry should be changed so there is no red / green colours on maps / lights etc?

Some of you didn't finish school, university or struggled to get a D in English. So do you accept you'll never be a professor at Oxford for Literature?

So of you will have watched House, Casualty or gods forbid Grey's Anatomy - so why can't you get a job down the local hospital as a Doctor?!

BECAUSE YOU CAN'T DO IT!

If you can accept all that - then just accept that if you can't land / trade / fly / work out HOW to PLAY the game without videos, instructions and point and click success - then you just can't do it.

No shame in it. That's why Angry Birds and FarmVille is so popular.

But... and here's the big BUT... if you WANT to stick at it - invest TIME, MONEY AND THOUGHT into in, practice, and ACCEPT you're going to get blown to kingdom come more times than you've had hot dinners UNTIL you learn some nifty fighting / trading / hiding techniques OF YOUR OWN... then welcome and lets have a great experience together.

Well said!

 

[Cody]

I really do hope they change this before release!

Little chance of that - none, in fact!

 

[Khavi]

Agree with the OP. So many games are being dumbed down to make it "easier" for players that just want everything handed to them. Look at War Thunder. There use to be three modes of combat - Arcade, Realistic, and Simulator. Then people started complaining about Realistic and Simulator - that they were too hard. Now you can barely tell the difference between the three.

I realize that there are going to be people that are of different skill levels, but you don't get good unless you practice. First time I got on a snowboard, I almost died getting down the mountain. I wiped out so many times. It was a painful experience. By my third time down the mountain I made it without crashing once. Now snowboarding is like putting on my trainers.

It applies to everything you do. You must learn and practice.

 

[Calebe]

When docking first came out it was more crashing then docking. eventually it got to the point I would swerve, careen off the pad, back up, move left and right and finally dock. It was totally hit or miss for a long time.

Flash forward to premium beta I now land on my first try 95% of the time, and the others I just need to back up a bit or move forward some. My big mistake was my throttle was full motion forward and reverse at first. Now it is forward only and using the stop button I can hover over the pad and lower down gently. Works well, just took a bit of fine tuning. That is how it will be with most. As said practice, practice, practice, and don't give up, for docking, fighting and everything soon to be added.

There are a lot of options, but you don't need to use them all, get the flying down and docking then worry about the extra's you can add in. One step at a time. You have a free sidewinder practice docking, flying then move on, and report any and all bugs if not already known. Most of all enjoy yourself. It is a beta so no winning or losing, in fact in Elite there is no winning it is all about the journey.

Calebe

 

[Athelred10]

Well I disagree with you all, for the last couple of hours I've tried to dock at a space station, and I am finding it impossible. I hear you all saying your glad it's not an easy game, but I'm buying Elite to trade and fight, not to play world of docking craft, and to make decent money you do have to appeal to the masses.

I don't understand why they went with manual docking, and what is even more irritating is the stupid loitering mechanic, so I can't even practice properly, without getting warnings all over the place. What they should have is a practice scenario for docking, like the combat scenarios, where there is no time or loitering constraints so I can improve and get better.

 

[ubermick]

I'm noticing most of the people having a go at those complaining about the difficulty level (most, not all) are alpha backers. And what you lads need to remember is that you've been slowly but surely getting exposed to the game beyond the initial combat missions. Landing, docking, interdiction, hyperspace, supercruise etc are all things you lot have gotten used to over the past few weeks and months. Premium Betans have had about 24 hours.

I loved the original Frontier for it's difficulty, BUT there was a path to ease yourself into the game. Doing the milk run between Barnard's Star and Sol allowed players to raise a bit of cash, upgrade their basic loadout a bit, and then progress from there. This is a bit of getting chucked in at the deep end. The sidewinder with a pulse laser when you come up against a squad of Eagles or Cobras is like tossing a cherry at an elephant. The only viable "target" for a beginner are other beginners - and since most have no bounty on them, it's a bit pointless. At the moment it's basically a case of keep your head down, try to earn a crust, so you can at least upgrade your ship a wee bit to give yourself a fighting chance. And in a confined area of space like we have, doing that isn't easy since the profit margins are so tight, and the cargo capacity of the sidewinder isn't tremendous.

Trading is a bit baffling too. I found a few canisters of Coltan floating about. Nice one, a bit of cash finally - so I scooped 'em up. Only to not be able to sell them anywhere, since they were immediately classed as stolen, and even at Freeport it wouldn't let me offload them.

BUT - and it's a big but - this is just Beta. The point of this isn't to progress in the game, earn your way up, manage your rankings. It's to get a feel for the game, test it out, find the problems, and report them in. I would expect that in the final game, you'll start in the core systems like Frontier, and have a lot more protection and ability to trade, working your way up, until you've gotten enough experience, money, and kit to stand a fighting chance in the more dangerous spots.

 

[Captain Zoe E Summers]

I'm noticing most of the people having a go at those complaining about the difficulty level (most, not all) are alpha backers. And what you lads need to remember is that you've been slowly but surely getting exposed to the game beyond the initial combat missions. Landing, docking, interdiction, hyperspace, supercruise etc are all things you lot have gotten used to over the past few weeks and months. Premium Betans have had about 24 hours.

I loved the original Frontier for it's difficulty, BUT there was a path to ease yourself into the game. Doing the milk run between Barnard's Star and Sol allowed players to raise a bit of cash, upgrade their basic loadout a bit, and then progress from there. This is a bit of getting chucked in at the deep end. The sidewinder with a pulse laser when you come up against a squad of Eagles or Cobras is like tossing a cherry at an elephant. The only viable "target" for a beginner are other beginners - and since most have no bounty on them, it's a bit pointless. At the moment it's basically a case of keep your head down, try to earn a crust, so you can at least upgrade your ship a wee bit to give yourself a fighting chance. And in a confined area of space like we have, doing that isn't easy since the profit margins are so tight, and the cargo capacity of the sidewinder isn't tremendous.

Trading is a bit baffling too. I found a few canisters of Coltan floating about. Nice one, a bit of cash finally - so I scooped 'em up. Only to not be able to sell them anywhere, since they were immediately classed as stolen, and even at Freeport it wouldn't let me offload them.

BUT - and it's a big but - this is just Beta. The point of this isn't to progress in the game, earn your way up, manage your rankings. It's to get a feel for the game, test it out, find the problems, and report them in. I would expect that in the final game, you'll start in the core systems like Frontier, and have a lot more protection and ability to trade, working your way up, until you've gotten enough experience, money, and kit to stand a fighting chance in the more dangerous spots.

LADS???? C'mon BOY... doesn't the name at least give you a clue that it's not just a 'willy club' around here?

And as for us being Alpha backers and having more time with it - I can see why you'd say that, despite being wrong.

It's true, those of us who ponied up the 200 quid were probably old Elite players from the 80's - when games were immersive and hard or they didn't sell.

So we are more likely to be able to just jump right in, but also, to those of us used to joysticks and 'real' gaming... this game isn't that hard - at least at the moment.

Docking and landing are trivial; FSD is cool and simple; Interdictions are a minor inconvenience and literally nothing to worry about even with a noob sidewinder and no weapons.

It boils down to - if you can't pick this game up within an hour, and understand it out of the box, either it's not for you, or more likely, you're just not trying hard enough and expecting to have your hand held.

That's what's really REALLY annoying.

That and the undercurrent of it being a 'willy club'.

 

[Renaissance0321]

Well I disagree with you all, for the last couple of hours I've tried to dock at a space station, and I am finding it impossible. I hear you all saying your glad it's not an easy game, but I'm buying Elite to trade and fight, not to play world of docking craft, and to make decent money you do have to appeal to the masses.

I don't understand why they went with manual docking, and what is even more irritating is the stupid loitering mechanic, so I can't even practice properly, without getting warnings all over the place. What they should have is a practice scenario for docking, like the combat scenarios, where there is no time or loitering constraints so I can improve and get better.

Are you kidding me? You fly into the light, use lateral, forward and back thrusters until you're over the pad then go down. That's it. That's literally it. First time I did it, it took about 5 seconds.

If you can't handle docking in this game then you probably shouldn't be driving a car because that requires a lot more hand-eye coordination (ie: positioning your vehicle in a parking space comes to mind). I'm sorry if that sounds harsh but it's apparent Frontier is going for a game that requires a certain amount of skill and the last thing I wanna see is them dumb it down with automatic docking.

 

[Memnoch]

I hear you all saying your glad it's not an easy game, but I'm buying Elite to trade and fight, not to play world of docking craft, and to make decent money you do have to appeal to the masses.

This is the last thing we need I think, making the game even easier. All I can say is keep practising. It really is easy and that is no boast. In fact I have fun coming around from the backside of the station in FAOFF mode, in effect powersliding round to the front and try to snap FAON again just as I appear in front of the docking portal an in the correct orientation. All possible if you know your control scheme well enough and with a HOTAS its not all that difficult.

Have you watch any docking video tutorials on YouTube?

If not you should watch some of our very own Iain M Normans videos.

Docking sideways
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz1pT70Vf8g

Docking belly flop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FbZa-KU8xc

Docking backwards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf6iny9pSVc

There are easier ways to dock of course!