Greetings Frontier Staff!!! First and foremost, 2024/3310 was an INCREDIBLE year for Elite Dangerous. I would like to thank each and every person, from the CEO to the people taking out the trash at FDEV for everything that you've done to make this game better and more fun. Of course there were some bumps along the way, but that comes with any type of growth. With me being such a big fan of this game, or course I have a lot of ideas... some of which I hope you'll consider and possibly implement into the game. I realize that some of my ideas could very well CRASH the game so, ya know, consider them and hopefully I'll see you folks work your magic. I'm a proud member of the PALADIN CONSORTIUM Squadron, which, as you know, has a stable presence in the game. We're a very active squad and participate in all aspects of the game and many of us are hoping that our efforts are on your radar. Anyway....on to my ideas....and several of them tie into other ideas that will be mentioned.
IDEA #1: LIVE COSMIC PHENOMENA AND EVENTS
I don't know how often you all take a look at the NASA website and other space programs but NASA is open to the public and has tons of info. That being said...give us some astral events such as COMETS and METEOR SHOWERS, dangerous nebulas and anomalies that we need to actively avoid. Yep, kind of a nod to Star Trek...Kirk, Picard and others managed to get into and out of a lot of situations due to crazy things taking place in the galaxy. Can we get that sort of thing? To add to that...is there a way to have actual LIVE EVENTS take place in Open Play? What do I mean? I mean...Is it possible that we could actually witness something take place in game, similar but not QUITE as organized as the Titan explosions. Basically...when we log back in after the weekly Thursday maintenance, SOMETHING has taken place and we're reading about what happened in Galnet. Let us EXPERIENCE IT LIVE. Now, the key is to let only those in OPEN PLAY have this experience when something happens and yes, the galaxy is so huge that there's a good chance that no one will be there to witness the event depending on where it takes place. But how awesome would it be that if while we're doing our random things that we all do in the game and suddenly there's a Priority 1 Distress Signal sent out across all channels about something you guys have planned to seriously impact the game. Pilots then have the opportunity to get to that particular location within a certain amount of time to physically witness a major event taking place in the game. How awesome would it have been to have players present in HIP 22460 at the time of the Proteus Wave and THEN Shut the servers down for maintenance, leaving EVERYONE on edge. You guys have the opportunity to have us in a cliffhanger WHENEVER YOU WANT!!!!! I just realized that this is technically 2 ideas listed here but...yeah...there's my first one.
IDEA #2: MORE DAMAGE. If the Live astral phenomena is possible such as meteor showers, let that cause visible damage to our ships. Currently, the only ship in the game that shows visible battle damage is the Anaconda...none of the other ships show damage other than caustic patches....BORING! Show us some bent metal and scaring from lasers, bullet holes from multi-cannons, disintegrations from plasma with sparks and whatnot coming from the breaches...exposed wiring harnesses. Let's see a true difference in our ship when we press that REPAIR button at the station. But what if there's no station around for these repairs....that leads me to my next idea...
IDEA #3: Manual repairs. This may require a new SUIT and TOOL. Sure, you've been in a battle in the bubble and you hobble along to the nearest station or fleet carrier for repairs. But what if the damage is too extensive and you don't have the module onboard to do repairs? Maybe you need to land on the nearest planet and put on the new suit with an arc WELDER to fix some things or drop out of super cruise and do a SPACE WALK, tethered to your ship to make the repairs manually. This is definitely a scenario that I could see taking place for an explorer in the black, LYs away from any station or fleet carrier. If you don't have the materials or modules onboard, you've got to do a temporary fix that will suffice until you get to a proper repair facility. This idea came from the movie The Martian because I'm reminded of a line that was said right at the end of the movie..."This is space...it DOES NOT cooperate." That being the case and in the tradition of the many GRINDS that are in this game...I like this. Annnnnnd, having to float around outside of your ship in space, or walk/hop around it on the surface of a planet leads me to the next idea...you know it's coming....
IDEA #4: SHIP INTERIORS. I'm not going to harp on this. You know there are SOOOOOOO many of us who want this. And I honestly think that you're already working on it because you've teased it a bit with the new ships and how we're able to walk up the boarding ramps of all of them. So....PLEASE??????!!!!!!!!!
IDEA #5: Living dangers on the surface of planets. Folks...my Artemis Suit lets me carry 2 weapons and has a shield...what am I shooting at while I'm scanning for exo-bio? Put some DANGER in it!
IDEA #6: An engineering overhaul that optimizes the old ships for SCO so that we're not having to use valuable slots for heat sinks AND so we're not barreling all over space. Possible new engineer for this? Make it cost a lot of credits as well as materials (ship schematics perhaps) and maybe some ARX? Hey...I want you guys to make some money too!!!!!
IDEA #7: Two-front Conflict Zones. Contrary to what I've heard from others, I absolutely LOVE doing ground CZs and missions. Make the CZs take place on the ground and in the air over the Odyssey settlements...IN ATMOSPHERE, not in space. Have that create an added danger of FALLING DEBRIS from ships crashing to the settlements...make it a TRUE WAR ZONE so we can REALLY make that new Scorpion SRV useful. And unlock the Rhino SRV. It's on SOMEBODY'S desk...come on...let us have it, please!!!!
IDEA #8: True Anarchy Odyssey Settlements. You can guess where this idea came from. Of COURSE I'm a Star Wars fan. "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious." So, my idea here involves combining the Odyssey settlement with one of the small planetary bases that has multiple landing pads. I can't tell you how much I want to be able to walk around the space stations but I realize that's going t tad too far. But you've done such a great job with designing those planetary ports that have a skyscraper at the center (not the full circle ones...the smaller ports on the squared layout) let us walk around those! Combine those with an Odyssey settlement in an Anarchy system and make them dangerous. This is where you can find the MOST pre-engineered weapons and suits for credits as well as RARE COSMETICS for ARX. And the difference here....you can pull your weapons out here cuz you just might get into a tussle. The bartenders here let you trade MORE than what you can trade at a controlled system station....you can trade everything like on the Fleet Carriers...for the right price and if you can make it out alive. Each building is a business....Pioneer, the bar, maybe the ship outfitter has some 'salvaged' modules for sale. This is probably the craziest of all my ideas listed and I am MORE THAN WILLING to get on a Zoom call or whatever to discuss the details with you. THAT'S HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS GAME!!!!!!
IDEA #9: ADD ON AND MORE CUSTOMIZATIONS TO THE FLEET CARRIER. Now this right here, my friends, is an ARX GOLD MINE. PEOPLE WILL PAY FOR THIS IDEA!!!! Now guys, come on....we've paid 5 billion PLUS to get these FCs and the tower docking agent doesn't even say "Welcome Home" or "Welcome to YOUR carrier, Commander." It says, "Welcome to OUR carrier..." As much as players have worked for and paid for that thing, I think we deserve a bit more personalization...that part should be free. The other parts of this idea can be paid for with ARX. Again....5 billion PLUS for this thing...WHY am I landing my ships with everyone else? Why don't I have a private hangar aboard this thing that has ALL OF MY SHIPS ON DISPLAY inside it? And a private turbo lift that take me straight to whichever floor I choose...service deck or command deck. And also, my office/ready room...it should be more detailed like the large living quarters on an Odyssey settlement and have a separate sleeping area (the big bed.) Let us customize it with color and other various decorations that can be bought with ARX
Finally...not an idea...but a plea. Please bring console back into the fold. I was introduced to and fell in love with this game on Playstation 4. In a period of 7 months, I managed to unlock the Cutter, the Corvette, buy a Fleet Carrier and do a good portion of the Guardian grind. When the announcement was made that Odyssey would not be released on consoles, I was devastated. But then you announced the transfer portal. Two days later, I bought a gaming PC and HOTAS setup. I was fortunate enough to be able to afford to be able to do that. Everyone can't do that. The console players are stuck in limbo in an endless war that they were able to see the beginning of but not see through to the end. As more and more games are made by all developers, I'm noticing that the platform barrier is beginning to fall and gamers are allowed to play with each other no matter what they own. I know it's difficult. I know it's expensive. I'm pretty sure it's also a royal P.I.T.A. (you can figure that out) but I'm sincerely asking you to reconsider. PLEASE...bring them back into the fold and LET US FLY TOGETHER.
That's all I've got for now. I'm sure I'll come up with more crazy things as time goes on. I hope that you'll consider these ideas and, if attainable, implement them. Again...I LOVE THIS GAME. The work you've done over the past year has made me no longer really care about the lack of anything meaningful from Rockstar about GTA VI (which used to be my favorite game...it's now Elite Dangerous.) The interaction and feedback that you give to the players is incredible and I thank you for it. Keep up the good work and I look forward to what this year brings. Until next time...see you in the black. o7
--Commander RemyLebeau3
IDEA #1: LIVE COSMIC PHENOMENA AND EVENTS
I don't know how often you all take a look at the NASA website and other space programs but NASA is open to the public and has tons of info. That being said...give us some astral events such as COMETS and METEOR SHOWERS, dangerous nebulas and anomalies that we need to actively avoid. Yep, kind of a nod to Star Trek...Kirk, Picard and others managed to get into and out of a lot of situations due to crazy things taking place in the galaxy. Can we get that sort of thing? To add to that...is there a way to have actual LIVE EVENTS take place in Open Play? What do I mean? I mean...Is it possible that we could actually witness something take place in game, similar but not QUITE as organized as the Titan explosions. Basically...when we log back in after the weekly Thursday maintenance, SOMETHING has taken place and we're reading about what happened in Galnet. Let us EXPERIENCE IT LIVE. Now, the key is to let only those in OPEN PLAY have this experience when something happens and yes, the galaxy is so huge that there's a good chance that no one will be there to witness the event depending on where it takes place. But how awesome would it be that if while we're doing our random things that we all do in the game and suddenly there's a Priority 1 Distress Signal sent out across all channels about something you guys have planned to seriously impact the game. Pilots then have the opportunity to get to that particular location within a certain amount of time to physically witness a major event taking place in the game. How awesome would it have been to have players present in HIP 22460 at the time of the Proteus Wave and THEN Shut the servers down for maintenance, leaving EVERYONE on edge. You guys have the opportunity to have us in a cliffhanger WHENEVER YOU WANT!!!!! I just realized that this is technically 2 ideas listed here but...yeah...there's my first one.
IDEA #2: MORE DAMAGE. If the Live astral phenomena is possible such as meteor showers, let that cause visible damage to our ships. Currently, the only ship in the game that shows visible battle damage is the Anaconda...none of the other ships show damage other than caustic patches....BORING! Show us some bent metal and scaring from lasers, bullet holes from multi-cannons, disintegrations from plasma with sparks and whatnot coming from the breaches...exposed wiring harnesses. Let's see a true difference in our ship when we press that REPAIR button at the station. But what if there's no station around for these repairs....that leads me to my next idea...
IDEA #3: Manual repairs. This may require a new SUIT and TOOL. Sure, you've been in a battle in the bubble and you hobble along to the nearest station or fleet carrier for repairs. But what if the damage is too extensive and you don't have the module onboard to do repairs? Maybe you need to land on the nearest planet and put on the new suit with an arc WELDER to fix some things or drop out of super cruise and do a SPACE WALK, tethered to your ship to make the repairs manually. This is definitely a scenario that I could see taking place for an explorer in the black, LYs away from any station or fleet carrier. If you don't have the materials or modules onboard, you've got to do a temporary fix that will suffice until you get to a proper repair facility. This idea came from the movie The Martian because I'm reminded of a line that was said right at the end of the movie..."This is space...it DOES NOT cooperate." That being the case and in the tradition of the many GRINDS that are in this game...I like this. Annnnnnd, having to float around outside of your ship in space, or walk/hop around it on the surface of a planet leads me to the next idea...you know it's coming....
IDEA #4: SHIP INTERIORS. I'm not going to harp on this. You know there are SOOOOOOO many of us who want this. And I honestly think that you're already working on it because you've teased it a bit with the new ships and how we're able to walk up the boarding ramps of all of them. So....PLEASE??????!!!!!!!!!
IDEA #5: Living dangers on the surface of planets. Folks...my Artemis Suit lets me carry 2 weapons and has a shield...what am I shooting at while I'm scanning for exo-bio? Put some DANGER in it!
IDEA #6: An engineering overhaul that optimizes the old ships for SCO so that we're not having to use valuable slots for heat sinks AND so we're not barreling all over space. Possible new engineer for this? Make it cost a lot of credits as well as materials (ship schematics perhaps) and maybe some ARX? Hey...I want you guys to make some money too!!!!!
IDEA #7: Two-front Conflict Zones. Contrary to what I've heard from others, I absolutely LOVE doing ground CZs and missions. Make the CZs take place on the ground and in the air over the Odyssey settlements...IN ATMOSPHERE, not in space. Have that create an added danger of FALLING DEBRIS from ships crashing to the settlements...make it a TRUE WAR ZONE so we can REALLY make that new Scorpion SRV useful. And unlock the Rhino SRV. It's on SOMEBODY'S desk...come on...let us have it, please!!!!
IDEA #8: True Anarchy Odyssey Settlements. You can guess where this idea came from. Of COURSE I'm a Star Wars fan. "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious." So, my idea here involves combining the Odyssey settlement with one of the small planetary bases that has multiple landing pads. I can't tell you how much I want to be able to walk around the space stations but I realize that's going t tad too far. But you've done such a great job with designing those planetary ports that have a skyscraper at the center (not the full circle ones...the smaller ports on the squared layout) let us walk around those! Combine those with an Odyssey settlement in an Anarchy system and make them dangerous. This is where you can find the MOST pre-engineered weapons and suits for credits as well as RARE COSMETICS for ARX. And the difference here....you can pull your weapons out here cuz you just might get into a tussle. The bartenders here let you trade MORE than what you can trade at a controlled system station....you can trade everything like on the Fleet Carriers...for the right price and if you can make it out alive. Each building is a business....Pioneer, the bar, maybe the ship outfitter has some 'salvaged' modules for sale. This is probably the craziest of all my ideas listed and I am MORE THAN WILLING to get on a Zoom call or whatever to discuss the details with you. THAT'S HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS GAME!!!!!!
IDEA #9: ADD ON AND MORE CUSTOMIZATIONS TO THE FLEET CARRIER. Now this right here, my friends, is an ARX GOLD MINE. PEOPLE WILL PAY FOR THIS IDEA!!!! Now guys, come on....we've paid 5 billion PLUS to get these FCs and the tower docking agent doesn't even say "Welcome Home" or "Welcome to YOUR carrier, Commander." It says, "Welcome to OUR carrier..." As much as players have worked for and paid for that thing, I think we deserve a bit more personalization...that part should be free. The other parts of this idea can be paid for with ARX. Again....5 billion PLUS for this thing...WHY am I landing my ships with everyone else? Why don't I have a private hangar aboard this thing that has ALL OF MY SHIPS ON DISPLAY inside it? And a private turbo lift that take me straight to whichever floor I choose...service deck or command deck. And also, my office/ready room...it should be more detailed like the large living quarters on an Odyssey settlement and have a separate sleeping area (the big bed.) Let us customize it with color and other various decorations that can be bought with ARX
Finally...not an idea...but a plea. Please bring console back into the fold. I was introduced to and fell in love with this game on Playstation 4. In a period of 7 months, I managed to unlock the Cutter, the Corvette, buy a Fleet Carrier and do a good portion of the Guardian grind. When the announcement was made that Odyssey would not be released on consoles, I was devastated. But then you announced the transfer portal. Two days later, I bought a gaming PC and HOTAS setup. I was fortunate enough to be able to afford to be able to do that. Everyone can't do that. The console players are stuck in limbo in an endless war that they were able to see the beginning of but not see through to the end. As more and more games are made by all developers, I'm noticing that the platform barrier is beginning to fall and gamers are allowed to play with each other no matter what they own. I know it's difficult. I know it's expensive. I'm pretty sure it's also a royal P.I.T.A. (you can figure that out) but I'm sincerely asking you to reconsider. PLEASE...bring them back into the fold and LET US FLY TOGETHER.
That's all I've got for now. I'm sure I'll come up with more crazy things as time goes on. I hope that you'll consider these ideas and, if attainable, implement them. Again...I LOVE THIS GAME. The work you've done over the past year has made me no longer really care about the lack of anything meaningful from Rockstar about GTA VI (which used to be my favorite game...it's now Elite Dangerous.) The interaction and feedback that you give to the players is incredible and I thank you for it. Keep up the good work and I look forward to what this year brings. Until next time...see you in the black. o7
--Commander RemyLebeau3