Hello everyone,
New player both to the game and the Elite universe. The amount of content already in this game is purely staggering for the scale and it can be a whole lot of fun. I see a lot of veterans around so I was hoping I could give some perspective on entry into this vast magical game.
1) I think the game should start off with the player obtaining their "Commander's License"
Nothing overly intrusive or lenghty and it doesn't need to be a step by step tutorial on how to use every button. I know immersion is important to this game but I am sure that there would be some sort of entry to flying an expensive ship around expensive space stations should this universe
be real. I spent the first hour getting tresspass warnings at Azeban city and trying to figure out why I could not dock only to figure out eventaully I had to request docking.
Im thinking a short thing that goes over the "Traffic rules" of space like docking would go a long way to getting new players comfortable. This and perhaps a simple trade run to Arsellus prime would help the understanding
of how simple trading works in the game because you are going to be doing lots of it. Which brings me to my next point.
2) It does not take long to realize that you are going to be spending a lot of time up front in your little sidewinder. I get why there is a large grind in this game but I don't think your time in this little ship has to be such a struggle. As I mentioned before you are going to spend a lot of time trading for pennies with your tiny cargo hold.
The reason I say this is because combat is a bit of a gamble in this little guy. Any well equipped better ship is going to drop your shields in one pass and then you use your maneuverability to get away in time. Any combat missions you have limited capacity to engage multiple targets and repairs can be expensive (relative to your starting income and the amount of money available to make early on) that engaging in combat is hardly worth it.
I was on this prate hunting mission and I searched for hours to find 2 pirates. I avoided anything that wasn't another sidewinder essentially. Alas I found one in the Eranin system and thought I was getting my last kill. Well this little NPC sidewinder was equipped with some bad a** weapon that essentially dropped my shields in one shot and broke my canopy with the follow
up (Nice touch btw, realy scary). I assumed he had a railgun or something. This is pure evil to put newer player up against, like a sucker punch. Knowing that the repairs were going to cost more than what I was going to make on my cargo I just self destructed and took my free sidewinder for my troubles.
I realize the sidewinder is the entry ship but I think it could be adjusted so everyone isn't trying to get out of one as fast as possible. It should be competitive even for veterans even if it has a high skill cieling to achieve its full potential. Sure its hull and shields can remain weak but maybe it's speed and maneuverability can be buffed to keep it competitive. Take that with a grain of salt because I don't know much about the game yet so I am open
for educating.
3) The missions at the station are too limiting. As mentioned before combat is risky business in your little sidewinder. If you do chose to go that route you come across a few of the higher paying missions that allow you to sortie in a combat zone and align with one side. The problem here is there is no description on where the combat zone is or what to do when you get there. For immersion purposes, it is likely that if someone were to task you with such
a mission, they would include some details as to the coordinates rather than just "fly aimlessly around space until you find something that looks like a combat zone."
Most missions available to you when you start out paying about 300cr. These are the short range courier missions and such which basically serve as a little bonus for your trade runs. Every once in awhile you accross the 500 or 600 cr ones...yayyyy -_-
But you are locked out of the long haul missions, some of which, are well within a reasonable range for the sidewinder with multiple jumps. I think to stay in the spirit of the game you shouldn't lock players out of missions just because of the range of their ship. You should let the player decide whether or not they can make it within the time limit. I would say that if I think I can make it to that system by making a couple quick docks for refueling you should let me have at it. If I get stranded in space. Well thats my own problem.
The reason I say this is because some of these mission are very lucrative, typically in the 2000cr to 4000cr range. Thats money that can be very useful to a starting pilot.
tl;dr The game is very fun, immersive, and impressive but for the un-ititiated can be very daunting and I can see it turning a lot of new people away. The instructionon what a person should do when entering the game is non-existent. When you do figure it out your options are very limited and the starting grind shipping 4 tons of cargo back and forth can be a bit tedious.To be clear I don't want the game to be easier, but I think there are ways
to make it more fun for new players without dumbing it down.
Hopefully im not completely off the mark here but I am open to education.
New player both to the game and the Elite universe. The amount of content already in this game is purely staggering for the scale and it can be a whole lot of fun. I see a lot of veterans around so I was hoping I could give some perspective on entry into this vast magical game.
1) I think the game should start off with the player obtaining their "Commander's License"
Nothing overly intrusive or lenghty and it doesn't need to be a step by step tutorial on how to use every button. I know immersion is important to this game but I am sure that there would be some sort of entry to flying an expensive ship around expensive space stations should this universe
be real. I spent the first hour getting tresspass warnings at Azeban city and trying to figure out why I could not dock only to figure out eventaully I had to request docking.
Im thinking a short thing that goes over the "Traffic rules" of space like docking would go a long way to getting new players comfortable. This and perhaps a simple trade run to Arsellus prime would help the understanding
of how simple trading works in the game because you are going to be doing lots of it. Which brings me to my next point.
2) It does not take long to realize that you are going to be spending a lot of time up front in your little sidewinder. I get why there is a large grind in this game but I don't think your time in this little ship has to be such a struggle. As I mentioned before you are going to spend a lot of time trading for pennies with your tiny cargo hold.
The reason I say this is because combat is a bit of a gamble in this little guy. Any well equipped better ship is going to drop your shields in one pass and then you use your maneuverability to get away in time. Any combat missions you have limited capacity to engage multiple targets and repairs can be expensive (relative to your starting income and the amount of money available to make early on) that engaging in combat is hardly worth it.
I was on this prate hunting mission and I searched for hours to find 2 pirates. I avoided anything that wasn't another sidewinder essentially. Alas I found one in the Eranin system and thought I was getting my last kill. Well this little NPC sidewinder was equipped with some bad a** weapon that essentially dropped my shields in one shot and broke my canopy with the follow
up (Nice touch btw, realy scary). I assumed he had a railgun or something. This is pure evil to put newer player up against, like a sucker punch. Knowing that the repairs were going to cost more than what I was going to make on my cargo I just self destructed and took my free sidewinder for my troubles.
I realize the sidewinder is the entry ship but I think it could be adjusted so everyone isn't trying to get out of one as fast as possible. It should be competitive even for veterans even if it has a high skill cieling to achieve its full potential. Sure its hull and shields can remain weak but maybe it's speed and maneuverability can be buffed to keep it competitive. Take that with a grain of salt because I don't know much about the game yet so I am open
for educating.
3) The missions at the station are too limiting. As mentioned before combat is risky business in your little sidewinder. If you do chose to go that route you come across a few of the higher paying missions that allow you to sortie in a combat zone and align with one side. The problem here is there is no description on where the combat zone is or what to do when you get there. For immersion purposes, it is likely that if someone were to task you with such
a mission, they would include some details as to the coordinates rather than just "fly aimlessly around space until you find something that looks like a combat zone."
Most missions available to you when you start out paying about 300cr. These are the short range courier missions and such which basically serve as a little bonus for your trade runs. Every once in awhile you accross the 500 or 600 cr ones...yayyyy -_-
But you are locked out of the long haul missions, some of which, are well within a reasonable range for the sidewinder with multiple jumps. I think to stay in the spirit of the game you shouldn't lock players out of missions just because of the range of their ship. You should let the player decide whether or not they can make it within the time limit. I would say that if I think I can make it to that system by making a couple quick docks for refueling you should let me have at it. If I get stranded in space. Well thats my own problem.
The reason I say this is because some of these mission are very lucrative, typically in the 2000cr to 4000cr range. Thats money that can be very useful to a starting pilot.
tl;dr The game is very fun, immersive, and impressive but for the un-ititiated can be very daunting and I can see it turning a lot of new people away. The instructionon what a person should do when entering the game is non-existent. When you do figure it out your options are very limited and the starting grind shipping 4 tons of cargo back and forth can be a bit tedious.To be clear I don't want the game to be easier, but I think there are ways
to make it more fun for new players without dumbing it down.
Hopefully im not completely off the mark here but I am open to education.
