Interested in Elite. Some questions.

[Chomag]

I haven't played the original Elite game but I did play a lot of X2.

Now.
1. Are the ships easy to control or are there lots of keys and gimmicks?
2. Are there more playable ship classes, like battlecruisers, transport barges, etc, or are we stuck with fighters and small transports forever?
3. Is there an end-game, like raid-like group missions against npcs, or is the game a sandbox like EVE?
4. I haven't seen any voice acting in any vids. Is there a decent single player component, like quests, story and such, or is it at a very basic level like in EVE?

 

[Zavijah]

1. Pretty easy to control, you can get most functionality off an Xbox controller, with only a couple other important ones needed on a nearby keyboard, hopefully. Or as the Pro's seem to enjoy, the joysticks - but they don't seem to do things by halves and get the Saitek's with all the bells and whistles. That or support additional button use with voice command.

2. There's going to be 25 total planned at this point. But the premise of Elite, and how the developers have always envisioned their game since the beginning is that you are the pilot of your own, smaller ship. Like you I come from an X background, having played X3. In terms of ship variety? No, nothing alike.
To give you a direct relation. You'll be flying M5's, M6's, M3's and the Anaconda is kind of like an M7 (think hyperion... but not)

3. No end game. Just your imagination. It's kind of sand boxish? But definitely not like Eve. In fact, remove any comparison to Eve from your mind.

4. It's basic level at this point in time because they haven't developed single player 'quest' content as yet. I can't comment on that development but they do intend to create a localised and reactive environment depending on where you are. Think of I guess Rift events, or GW2 events, in so far as I understand.. I think long term they'll be investing in that type of content as it is going to be a procedurally generated universe and that will be a self perpetuating type of optional entertainment. But unlike Eve which is a player driven experience, this is about you and what you want. Think about what you know of the original Elite and how this game would hold up to the original spirit of that.... not as a comparison to Eve.

 

[Toumal]

I haven't played the original Elite game but I did play a lot of X2.

Now.
1. Are the ships easy to control or are there lots of keys and gimmicks?

The basic ship operation is totally easy to grasp. There's additional functions for when you're bored with the basic controls, and they give you additional features and abilities, but if you don't wanna meddle with them you don't have to.

I had my brother, who hasn't played a space game for over a decade (or other computer games for that matter), flying and docking within 5 minutes.

2. Are there more playable ship classes, like battlecruisers, transport barges, etc, or are we stuck with fighters and small transports forever?

The smallest fighter is already as big as a mid-sized ship in Star Citizen. The largest ships are many times larger than the biggest ones in SC. You can already fly an Anaconda which is a HUGE ship. There are even larger ships in the game, and Frontier have said we'd gain controllability via orders. However whether we'll be able to directly pilot them too we don't know yet.

Multi-crewing larger ships has been confirmed by Frontier however.

Here's a size comparison:

Spoiler

3. Is there an end-game, like raid-like group missions against npcs, or is the game a sandbox like EVE?

Sandbox. There's going to be larger missions and also political stuff going on, but currently the mission system is a very early version.

4. I haven't seen any voice acting in any vids. Is there a decent single player component, like quests, story and such, or is it at a very basic level like in EVE?

Very basic. Right now missions have already a good variety but they're coming in the form of text briefings only.

 

[Rhaedas]

Wouldn't call EvE a sandbox. Maybe it was as close to one as there was before, but there's a new kid on the block.