I'm a fan of Elite since the first game came out in the mid-80's, as well as a fan of the Wing Commander and Privateer series. And I'm a big fan of Elite: Dangerous. It's a good game, and has the potential of being a great game. I play solo, and haven't yet tried Power Play. But the things I've read about it don't entice me to want to try at this point -- probably will once the bugs are worked out. I don't like the idea of repetitive tasks. I've never been a gamer that tries to max out all my stats. I play for fun, when I feel like it, and don't need another "job". I love open play RPGs and this space sim has elements of that in there. I'm not here to complain, to rant, but to plea for some simple things that would improve our game experience. I believe these things would be relatively easy to implement -- at least compared to a major update like Power Play:
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(1) Make ship component upgrades really meaningful.
(a) My Cobra kitted with 4E Thrusters has a maximum speed of 281 vs 4A Thrusters that has a top speed of 302 -- a 7.5% difference. And I can't tell that there's anything else different about them. A 1.6 million credit investment should show a significant improvement in capability. And provide other differences in the progression to higher quality thrusters such as better acceleration. And different audio effects such that more powerful engines sound more powerful. For most components, it seems that the higher quality components weigh more -- well my general experience is that higher quality components weigh less, not more, or even the same. Each step up should provide some advantage, maybe not always an increase in speed, but some significant advantage. It would even be ok with me to start the top speed of the 4E thrusters at a lower value and leave the top speed of 4A alone, just to give a wider spread.
(b) Same goes for shields, power supply, sensors, etc. For example the only difference in sensors is each upgrade provides a 0.5 km range increase. Well how about making higher quality sensors scan faster? Weigh less? Upgrading from a 4E to a 4A Shield Generator, increases the shield capacity from 94 to 126. Couldn't the range be a bit wider than that? Or couldn't some shield upgrades provide a faster recharge rate. Or perhaps faster recharge should come from higher quality Power Distributors.
(c) A wider variety of weapons, with different advantages. Perhaps a tachyon beam (or give it some other name) that is more effective vs hulls. Some beams that have a longer range, but maybe less powerful. Missiles that are actually effective in combat and requires us to use that ECM. And ECM upgrades where the lower grades have lower chance of success. And more variety of missiles and capabilities -- like speed, warhead strength, maximum travel distance before they simply explode, etc.
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(2) And while we're on the topic, give us numbers and stats on the components in game. I don't want to see bars showing weapon strength. Often the comparison bars are the same length, yet the new weapon is green or red because it's better or worse than what's fitted. Well give me the number so I can see how much better or worse.
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(3) There needs to be a "bad guy". I guess Thargoids will fit that bill, but let's have them widely seen throughout space just like the Kilrathi were. They shouldn't be overpowered, but a challenge.
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(4) More variety of missions in the Bulletin Board (or through Power Play). Escort missions, defend base missions, patrol missions. And maybe some changes to existing missions -- like why are all the data retrieval missions considered illegal. I know some play as pirates, smugglers, and don't mind crossing the law but my play style is to accept missions that don't give me Wanted status -- especially now that there's up to a 7 day wait before you can pay off the bounty (don't like that new rule at all). And I haven't accepted an assassination mission because the targets aren't "wanted" and I've read they're all flying in Anacondas -- which I don't want to tackle with my lowly Cobra. If these missions are sanctioned then they shouldn't result in wanted status. And for those players that enjoy that, perhaps for example Federation missions don't result in wanted status but other allegiance missions do result in wanted status. And can't some less lucrative assassination missions be for targets in smaller ships -- Cobras, Asps, Pythons -- and not all Anacondas. Perhaps there could be missions to take advantage of the ship capability Silent Running. We need to sneak into a system and intercept a communication and return it. Or choose to barge in, guns blazing and intercept the message that way.
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(5) And related to missions, the ability to hire NPC wingmen. Ones that are reasonably capable (or different skill levels that cost different amounts) and have them accompany us on missions, or when we're mining, or trading Rares.
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I realize I'm not very imaginative when it comes to game design -- I think all of these ideas came from those previous games I played. I reserve my imagination for playing the game and just would like to have a few more tools to exercise that.
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(1) Make ship component upgrades really meaningful.
(a) My Cobra kitted with 4E Thrusters has a maximum speed of 281 vs 4A Thrusters that has a top speed of 302 -- a 7.5% difference. And I can't tell that there's anything else different about them. A 1.6 million credit investment should show a significant improvement in capability. And provide other differences in the progression to higher quality thrusters such as better acceleration. And different audio effects such that more powerful engines sound more powerful. For most components, it seems that the higher quality components weigh more -- well my general experience is that higher quality components weigh less, not more, or even the same. Each step up should provide some advantage, maybe not always an increase in speed, but some significant advantage. It would even be ok with me to start the top speed of the 4E thrusters at a lower value and leave the top speed of 4A alone, just to give a wider spread.
(b) Same goes for shields, power supply, sensors, etc. For example the only difference in sensors is each upgrade provides a 0.5 km range increase. Well how about making higher quality sensors scan faster? Weigh less? Upgrading from a 4E to a 4A Shield Generator, increases the shield capacity from 94 to 126. Couldn't the range be a bit wider than that? Or couldn't some shield upgrades provide a faster recharge rate. Or perhaps faster recharge should come from higher quality Power Distributors.
(c) A wider variety of weapons, with different advantages. Perhaps a tachyon beam (or give it some other name) that is more effective vs hulls. Some beams that have a longer range, but maybe less powerful. Missiles that are actually effective in combat and requires us to use that ECM. And ECM upgrades where the lower grades have lower chance of success. And more variety of missiles and capabilities -- like speed, warhead strength, maximum travel distance before they simply explode, etc.
_
(2) And while we're on the topic, give us numbers and stats on the components in game. I don't want to see bars showing weapon strength. Often the comparison bars are the same length, yet the new weapon is green or red because it's better or worse than what's fitted. Well give me the number so I can see how much better or worse.
_
(3) There needs to be a "bad guy". I guess Thargoids will fit that bill, but let's have them widely seen throughout space just like the Kilrathi were. They shouldn't be overpowered, but a challenge.
_
(4) More variety of missions in the Bulletin Board (or through Power Play). Escort missions, defend base missions, patrol missions. And maybe some changes to existing missions -- like why are all the data retrieval missions considered illegal. I know some play as pirates, smugglers, and don't mind crossing the law but my play style is to accept missions that don't give me Wanted status -- especially now that there's up to a 7 day wait before you can pay off the bounty (don't like that new rule at all). And I haven't accepted an assassination mission because the targets aren't "wanted" and I've read they're all flying in Anacondas -- which I don't want to tackle with my lowly Cobra. If these missions are sanctioned then they shouldn't result in wanted status. And for those players that enjoy that, perhaps for example Federation missions don't result in wanted status but other allegiance missions do result in wanted status. And can't some less lucrative assassination missions be for targets in smaller ships -- Cobras, Asps, Pythons -- and not all Anacondas. Perhaps there could be missions to take advantage of the ship capability Silent Running. We need to sneak into a system and intercept a communication and return it. Or choose to barge in, guns blazing and intercept the message that way.
_
(5) And related to missions, the ability to hire NPC wingmen. Ones that are reasonably capable (or different skill levels that cost different amounts) and have them accompany us on missions, or when we're mining, or trading Rares.
_
I realize I'm not very imaginative when it comes to game design -- I think all of these ideas came from those previous games I played. I reserve my imagination for playing the game and just would like to have a few more tools to exercise that.
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