Elite 3.x Beyond suggestions
These are some of my thoughts regarding the state of Beyond and some simple improvements to make it flow better and deepen the immersion. I’ve been playing for a number of years now and I’m sure with the combined community suggestions we can achieve a truly great game with joined-up ideas.
Make each region of space feel different.
Give an actual reason to visit different regions of the Bubble.
Each region controlled by one of the super powers should "feel" different than another. This could be achieved in a number of ways:
1. Shipyards.
Only offer "appropriate" ships for sale (or limited types of others). eg, Federation space should sell Fed ships but absolutely not Empire.
Alliance areas should sell mainly independent ships, but not Fed or Emp ships.
2. Mission differentiation.
Each Super Power should have certain types of missions that only they offer.
For example Imperial slaves missions only for Empire controlled space, but in each case the missions reflect the characteristics of the leader.
Another example is that political assassination missions are more likely available in Fed & Imp space but "kill pirate lord" would NEVER be found in Archon controlled areas.
Really differentiate the missions and place according to characteristics of the minor factions and their respective super powers:
The feds have two 'powers': the right-leaning militaristic Hudson, and the left-leaning Winters.
The imps have four powers, all various shades of evil
Pranav is a utopia-promising cult-leader
Li Yong-Rui is a business mogul
Mahon is the leader of the independents
Archon is the pirate lord
Yuri leads the first player-created power
3. Minor factions
Ensure Super Power pledged minor factions are not in the wrong region of space. We shouldn't have both Empire and Federation aligned minor factions in the heart of Alliance controlled space and certainly not at the same system, for example.
Systems on the edge of super power regions would be influenced by their neighbour and thus could have minor factions from different super powers.
Un-affiliated minor factions should not be affected by the above, but their missions should be in alignment with their government type and industry of the station, unless of course they are offering illegal missions to undermine the other factions in the system!
4. Commodities
The markets at each station should be aligned according to the Industry and Government type.
Make an effort not to just offer the same goods everywhere.
Ensure the markets are updated with the BGS tick.
5. NPC ships / security
Ensure ships at star ports are the correct kind for the super power (if aligned) and not Empire/Federation if unaligned.
So we're talking:
Generic: Sidewinder,Eagle,Adder,Viper,Python,Anaconda,Type-10
Empire: iEagle,iCourier, iClipper, iCutter
Federation: Dropship,Gunship,Assaultship,Corvette
Alliance: Cheiftan,Challenger,Cruisader
6. Thargoid Infestation
Make stations/regions that are infested "feel" infested. Improve player immersion.
Stop offering "generic" missions, but instead only offer missions that would realistically benefit that faction in a state of war with the Thargoids, eg Kill scouts, fetch supplies, run data missions
7. USS
Ensure High Grade Emissions:
Combat - Threat Levels
The Threat Levels are supposed to give an indication of the level of danger to the player. With the Thargoids I feel the current system is very close to working as intended, but a bit more tweaking is required for mission based threat levels.
Each level should represent a harder skill level requirement for the player / better ship requirement.
Mission-based Threat Levels: (eg Massacre XXX faction pirates)
Allow these missions (at levels 1 - 2) to be completed by new and experienced players regardless of skill and ship choice.
These should consist of a “swarm” of between 7 to 12 NPC ships spread apart over 2-4 Km.
They should be “busy” going about their own business – perhaps scanning/killing some local NPCs in the area when we jump in. Because they are ‘occupied’ they won’t immediately start scanning and attacking the player.
They should “react” to players in the instance according to the players (in a wing) combined Combat Rank and engineering level (specifically no engineering if none of the players are engineered).
Currently, all ships go crazy and fire on the player if he/she has a ‘wanted’ status (I tried this yesterday (May 2019) and nearly lost my G5 Corvette ;-) Good fun, but more control over the NPC AI is required so that they don’t ALL go crazy simultaneously.
Level 1
Maximum of 1 ship firing on you at any time.
Non-engineered ships only
Low rank pilots only
Mainly small ships, occasionally a medium
Level 2
Maximum of 2 ships firing on you at any time.
Non-engineered ships only
Low and medium rank pilots dominate. A couple of Dangerous pilots (in small ships)
Mainly small ships, occasionally a medium but more than level 1.
Level 3
Maximum of 3 ships firing on you at any time.
A few light engineered ships at most with medium skill pilots
Medium rank pilot skill, a few higher (non are Elite)
Mainly small ships, a few medium (more than level 2)
Level 4
Maximum of 4 ships firing on you at any time.
A few (1 to 3) light or moderate engineered ships only (either defensive, offensive, but not both)
Medium and high rank pilots - mostly.
A couple of Elite pilots
Mixture of small and medium ships
Level 5
Maximum of 4 ships firing on you at any time.
A few (2 to 4) light or moderate engineered ships only (either defensive, offensive, but not both)
All pilot ranks.
Mixture of small and medium ships with one large (Anaconda, T-10)
Level 6 or above
Maximum of 4 ships firing on you at any time.
A few (3 to 5) light or moderate engineered ships only (random defensive, offensive, or both)
Random rank pilots but none are very low rank
Mixture of all ships with 1 or 2 large (Anaconda, T-10, Cutter, Corvette)
Thargoid Mission Threat Levels (NHSS)
These work nicely as they are now, but a few minor tweaks make them more accessible to all pilots of varying skill and ship loadouts.
Levels 1 -3
A bit more variation with the number of scouts and scout types prevents the NHSS from becoming repetitive.
Level 4
Increased numbers of scouts. Perhaps a second “wave” of them approach from 30-40Km and arrive whether or not you have managed to kill off the ones which spawned when you first arrived.
Level 5
Simple to kill interceptor (current interceptors are far too difficult and take way too long)
A few scouts in addition to single interceptor
Level 6 and above as they are now
Missions
Offer missions appropriate for the minor faction and aligned super power (see above)
Wing missions –
payouts should be rebalanced
should be achievable by solo players (mission completion should be determined by the player at any time and thus the reward scaled linearly)
Introduce scenario based missions – like the trainer missions. Available from one minor faction at the station.
Different scenarios for each kind of player career:
Fly missions with the Federal or Imperial navy (big battles, huge ships),
Thargoid scout hunting,
Pirating,
Cargo hauling (meet contact, exchange goods in secret)
Cargo runs, preventing pirates from killing XX number of NPC comrades
Smuggling, smuggling without detection
Rare commodities – combo of Cargo and smuggling undetected.
OutPosts
Outposts should offer different kinds of missions than main stations. Perhaps these should be illegal activities (pirating, smuggling - undermining the controlling faction at the main star port in the system)
Make Ship stealth an actual play style (especially for NPC interaction)
This is essential for the smuggling aspect of the game play.
Ensure NPCs don’t cheat by respecting silent running and non-shielded ships / low emission / low heat ships; these should be hard to see on radar (even for human players). Radar flickers when attempting to scan low emission ships, thus can’t get a lock on their position.
Pirate Controlled Areas of Space
Anarchy systems could be controlled by Pirates. This means interdiction chances would and should be much higher. Higher interdiction chance if you are actually carrying cargo.
Not all interdictions are the same, various attacks could happen from solo to pirate gangs (see threat levels for kinds of variation on this theme). More likely to be pirate gangs if you are approaching a pirate base system.
Pirate Bases - Asteroid
Asteroid bases are exclusively the only kind of bases operated by pirate gangs / factions.
These are high security areas – patrolled by loyal pirates and are HOSTILE to any approaches.
These security forces are top-tier engineered ships and pilots.
Very hard to get into station without getting killed.
Once inside, you can dock, but can’t yet repair until you have enough rank.
Earn rank with the Pirate Lord.
If you manage to smuggle yourself into a pirate base, then you can earn your right to stay by completing missions offered by the mission board (exclusively pirate / smuggling activities).
These are some of my thoughts regarding the state of Beyond and some simple improvements to make it flow better and deepen the immersion. I’ve been playing for a number of years now and I’m sure with the combined community suggestions we can achieve a truly great game with joined-up ideas.
Make each region of space feel different.
Give an actual reason to visit different regions of the Bubble.
Each region controlled by one of the super powers should "feel" different than another. This could be achieved in a number of ways:
1. Shipyards.
Only offer "appropriate" ships for sale (or limited types of others). eg, Federation space should sell Fed ships but absolutely not Empire.
Alliance areas should sell mainly independent ships, but not Fed or Emp ships.
2. Mission differentiation.
Each Super Power should have certain types of missions that only they offer.
For example Imperial slaves missions only for Empire controlled space, but in each case the missions reflect the characteristics of the leader.
Another example is that political assassination missions are more likely available in Fed & Imp space but "kill pirate lord" would NEVER be found in Archon controlled areas.
Really differentiate the missions and place according to characteristics of the minor factions and their respective super powers:
The feds have two 'powers': the right-leaning militaristic Hudson, and the left-leaning Winters.
The imps have four powers, all various shades of evil
Pranav is a utopia-promising cult-leader
Li Yong-Rui is a business mogul
Mahon is the leader of the independents
Archon is the pirate lord
Yuri leads the first player-created power
3. Minor factions
Ensure Super Power pledged minor factions are not in the wrong region of space. We shouldn't have both Empire and Federation aligned minor factions in the heart of Alliance controlled space and certainly not at the same system, for example.
Systems on the edge of super power regions would be influenced by their neighbour and thus could have minor factions from different super powers.
Un-affiliated minor factions should not be affected by the above, but their missions should be in alignment with their government type and industry of the station, unless of course they are offering illegal missions to undermine the other factions in the system!
4. Commodities
The markets at each station should be aligned according to the Industry and Government type.
Make an effort not to just offer the same goods everywhere.
Ensure the markets are updated with the BGS tick.
5. NPC ships / security
Ensure ships at star ports are the correct kind for the super power (if aligned) and not Empire/Federation if unaligned.
So we're talking:
Generic: Sidewinder,Eagle,Adder,Viper,Python,Anaconda,Type-10
Empire: iEagle,iCourier, iClipper, iCutter
Federation: Dropship,Gunship,Assaultship,Corvette
Alliance: Cheiftan,Challenger,Cruisader
6. Thargoid Infestation
Make stations/regions that are infested "feel" infested. Improve player immersion.
Stop offering "generic" missions, but instead only offer missions that would realistically benefit that faction in a state of war with the Thargoids, eg Kill scouts, fetch supplies, run data missions
7. USS
Ensure High Grade Emissions:
- Spawn correctly as intended (fully tested)
- Spawn different materials according to the state of the system and government type
Combat - Threat Levels
The Threat Levels are supposed to give an indication of the level of danger to the player. With the Thargoids I feel the current system is very close to working as intended, but a bit more tweaking is required for mission based threat levels.
Each level should represent a harder skill level requirement for the player / better ship requirement.
Mission-based Threat Levels: (eg Massacre XXX faction pirates)
Allow these missions (at levels 1 - 2) to be completed by new and experienced players regardless of skill and ship choice.
These should consist of a “swarm” of between 7 to 12 NPC ships spread apart over 2-4 Km.
They should be “busy” going about their own business – perhaps scanning/killing some local NPCs in the area when we jump in. Because they are ‘occupied’ they won’t immediately start scanning and attacking the player.
They should “react” to players in the instance according to the players (in a wing) combined Combat Rank and engineering level (specifically no engineering if none of the players are engineered).
Currently, all ships go crazy and fire on the player if he/she has a ‘wanted’ status (I tried this yesterday (May 2019) and nearly lost my G5 Corvette ;-) Good fun, but more control over the NPC AI is required so that they don’t ALL go crazy simultaneously.
Level 1
Maximum of 1 ship firing on you at any time.
Non-engineered ships only
Low rank pilots only
Mainly small ships, occasionally a medium
Level 2
Maximum of 2 ships firing on you at any time.
Non-engineered ships only
Low and medium rank pilots dominate. A couple of Dangerous pilots (in small ships)
Mainly small ships, occasionally a medium but more than level 1.
Level 3
Maximum of 3 ships firing on you at any time.
A few light engineered ships at most with medium skill pilots
Medium rank pilot skill, a few higher (non are Elite)
Mainly small ships, a few medium (more than level 2)
Level 4
Maximum of 4 ships firing on you at any time.
A few (1 to 3) light or moderate engineered ships only (either defensive, offensive, but not both)
Medium and high rank pilots - mostly.
A couple of Elite pilots
Mixture of small and medium ships
Level 5
Maximum of 4 ships firing on you at any time.
A few (2 to 4) light or moderate engineered ships only (either defensive, offensive, but not both)
All pilot ranks.
Mixture of small and medium ships with one large (Anaconda, T-10)
Level 6 or above
Maximum of 4 ships firing on you at any time.
A few (3 to 5) light or moderate engineered ships only (random defensive, offensive, or both)
Random rank pilots but none are very low rank
Mixture of all ships with 1 or 2 large (Anaconda, T-10, Cutter, Corvette)
Thargoid Mission Threat Levels (NHSS)
These work nicely as they are now, but a few minor tweaks make them more accessible to all pilots of varying skill and ship loadouts.
Levels 1 -3
A bit more variation with the number of scouts and scout types prevents the NHSS from becoming repetitive.
Level 4
Increased numbers of scouts. Perhaps a second “wave” of them approach from 30-40Km and arrive whether or not you have managed to kill off the ones which spawned when you first arrived.
Level 5
Simple to kill interceptor (current interceptors are far too difficult and take way too long)
A few scouts in addition to single interceptor
Level 6 and above as they are now
Missions
Offer missions appropriate for the minor faction and aligned super power (see above)
Wing missions –
payouts should be rebalanced
should be achievable by solo players (mission completion should be determined by the player at any time and thus the reward scaled linearly)
Introduce scenario based missions – like the trainer missions. Available from one minor faction at the station.
Different scenarios for each kind of player career:
Fly missions with the Federal or Imperial navy (big battles, huge ships),
Thargoid scout hunting,
Pirating,
Cargo hauling (meet contact, exchange goods in secret)
Cargo runs, preventing pirates from killing XX number of NPC comrades
Smuggling, smuggling without detection
Rare commodities – combo of Cargo and smuggling undetected.
OutPosts
Outposts should offer different kinds of missions than main stations. Perhaps these should be illegal activities (pirating, smuggling - undermining the controlling faction at the main star port in the system)
Make Ship stealth an actual play style (especially for NPC interaction)
This is essential for the smuggling aspect of the game play.
Ensure NPCs don’t cheat by respecting silent running and non-shielded ships / low emission / low heat ships; these should be hard to see on radar (even for human players). Radar flickers when attempting to scan low emission ships, thus can’t get a lock on their position.
Pirate Controlled Areas of Space
Anarchy systems could be controlled by Pirates. This means interdiction chances would and should be much higher. Higher interdiction chance if you are actually carrying cargo.
Not all interdictions are the same, various attacks could happen from solo to pirate gangs (see threat levels for kinds of variation on this theme). More likely to be pirate gangs if you are approaching a pirate base system.
Pirate Bases - Asteroid
Asteroid bases are exclusively the only kind of bases operated by pirate gangs / factions.
These are high security areas – patrolled by loyal pirates and are HOSTILE to any approaches.
These security forces are top-tier engineered ships and pilots.
Very hard to get into station without getting killed.
Once inside, you can dock, but can’t yet repair until you have enough rank.
Earn rank with the Pirate Lord.
If you manage to smuggle yourself into a pirate base, then you can earn your right to stay by completing missions offered by the mission board (exclusively pirate / smuggling activities).
- Earn rank and unlock access to other pirate bases.
- Earn rank and unlock exclusive weapons and modules.
- Earn rank and unlock ability add extra cargo slot to ship / extra utility slot. Perhaps these aren’t regular slots, but smaller slots that limit the bonus to a non-grade A item, or a small cargo slot.
