looking forward: the FP(S) expansion

[Mucka]

I think FPS is really secondary to other aspects of the game that aren't even slated as part of the standard release.
For example I consider being able to fly in planet atmospheres and land on them far more important and until you can do this there is no real need for FPS.
So FPS will probably be an add on of add on and a long way down the line.

I guess the only other aspect where FPS could have a use is boarding and the problems with that as an optional expansion have already been mentioned.
I don't see anyway you can have an optional expansion that affects gameplay in such a way.
No expansion = no risk of being boarded or being boarded without being able to defend. Both are completely undesirable and the experience should be the same and equal for all players.
With a planetary landing expansion obviously only players with the expansion are going to be able to land on the surface so you have a self contained environment in which only players with the expansion exist.

Perhaps a solution would be to host folk with a boarding expansion on separate server but that has its own problems too.
Best solution make boarding part of the game but then that means FPS is part of the game at launch and that seems extremely unlikely.

I think the first FP aspects will be non combat anyway, as in walking around your ship or a station that are safe environments.

As for actual FP combat, absolutely no overpowered weapons, no sniping, keep it close and personal.
Also have weapon free areas where you need to turn your weapons in and collect again when leaving.

How to handle death?
Well nobody really complains that surviving the complete destruction of your ship breaks the immersion so it is just a matter of explaining away your survival and respawning you at your ship.

 

[Zephyriel]

There is a solution to the boarding problem for those who don't have the expansion. Some might say it would be unfair, but it's probably better than isolating players on different servers or just blocking the function against certain players.

So there it is : all players including those who don't buy the expansion will get an update with all the necessary files ; people without the expansion will be able to defend against players who board them, BUT won't be able to board other players or do any of the other FPS stuff. Kinda like in those fighting games where you can fight DLC characters whom other players have bought, but can't use them yourself.

So those with the expansion can use it to its full extent, without restrictions against certain players, and those without it get to defend themselves, AND get a glimpse of what they'll get if they actually buy the expansion. It will be like a demo for them, keeping the incentive to buy the whole thing.

 

[Stavro Mueller]

First of all, I think that FPS is worth doing right. I think it's something a long way down the line, a couple of years. Because planetary landings have to come first.

The idea where we have 'grunts' boarding the ships, and you play each in turn, is awful. As a respondent said, the whole idea of Elite is that it is your life in space, i.e., you, one person. Mass Effect managed the one person thing well, but of course that was heavily scripted. If it could be done with that kind of mechanic (though not 3rd person) that would be good. I was gonna say Quake, because that's the most fun ever, but it's probably too arcadey. Maybe RAGE? In fact, definitely RAGE.

But this should be a game that could stand on its own, IMO. Certainly combined with planetary landings. It should absolutely not be some awful bolted-on thing that fits the criteria for FPS but is totally half-baked, like X-Rebirth's painful running around segments.

Finally, as for boarding ships: How do you board a ship? How do you dock with it? Short of teleporters, if it were real, I don't think it could ever be possible to hostilely board a Cobra from another Cobra - how do you get the other guy to stand still? How do you keep your unmanned ship alive long enough for you to kill the other pilot? If they make it so your ship can fly on its own, why can't you get it to during normal play?

So we're left with smaller craft boarding 'capital' ships, which don't exist yet. So I think you should be able to buy an expansion which allows you to own capital ships, and which also allows you to make boarding runs. This is possibly P2W, but I think it would make another class of player which existed independently of the normal players, so it wouldn't be to their detriment.

That said, it might be a terrible idea, and teleporters might be the only fun solution. If that's so, then the other idea someone had, which was to only maintain instances of players with the same expansions (which, actually, solves all possible expansion-related issues at one stroke), is the best.

Ramble on.

 

[Vasious]

I too am looking forward to it, but as others have said, no rush, there is plenty of game to be played when the full release comes.

I do hope it isn't too focused on combat as others have raised there are plenty of other activities that don't involve combat.

"Boarding" wrecks to explore and salvage, etc etc.

Arma seems to be a good baseline, interesting to see how it would go in Zero G 6DoF.

As for people who don't take the expansion, I think a solution to being boarded would be to allow them to move about their own ship but never leave, allowing them to defend hostile actions.

I wonder what the lore hand weapons are, will my Character be able find the Imperial equivalent of Holland and Holland for a Big Game double rifle?

Will the 1851 Navy have a modern Imperial counterpart as a nod to the Lematt as the base for Mal's handgun from Firefly?

You'll excuse that SASS shooter in me there

 

[insanephoton]

To those of you that say planetary landing must come first, you've got it completely wrong.

The last that we heard from the devs about planetary landings is that it would be done in 3 stages. First stage allows landing on airless moons, the next is planets with atmosphere and finally planets with breathable atmosphere and presumably ecosystems. The walking around expansion comes before all of them.

If you really stop and think about it, it has to be this way round. Frontier can't get away with the simplistic planets they used in the 90's. People's expectations have changed. The level of detail needed for the walking around expansion has to be in place by the time you can fly low enough to see things. With airless moons you could have ground vehicles. Planets with atmosphere would give you weather and earth-like planets have to appear to be living breathing planets with people and wildlife.

I'm not sure where the boarding idea comes from. I don't think it's ever been specifically mentioned with ED, perhaps people are confusing it with SC? What has been mention is the possibility of stowing away on ships or stealing them. You would do this in space stations. Quite simply, even if boarding was an option, you wouldn't be boarding a moving ship. You might be boarding a derelict or the other ship would somehow be disabled (e.g. the drives destroyed)

 

[JamesBondage]

The chances of someone landing on the same planet at the same time in the same spot! Are pretty slim, if that's not enough of a slim chance I'm sure you could find a cave or something you could land your ship and hide it naturally.

 

[Vasious]

To those of you that say planetary landing must come first, you've got it completely wrong.

The last that we heard from the devs about planetary landings is that it would be done in 3 stages. First stage allows landing on airless moons, the next is planets with atmosphere and finally planets with breathable atmosphere and presumably ecosystems. The walking around expansion comes before all of them.

If you really stop and think about it, it has to be this way round. Frontier can't get away with the simplistic planets they used in the 90's. People's expectations have changed. The level of detail needed for the walking around expansion has to be in place by the time you can fly low enough to see things. With airless moons you could have ground vehicles. Planets with atmosphere would give you weather and earth-like planets have to appear to be living breathing planets with people and wildlife.

I'm not sure where the boarding idea comes from. I don't think it's ever been specifically mentioned with ED, perhaps people are confusing it with SC? What has been mention is the possibility of stowing away on ships or stealing them. You would do this in space stations. Quite simply, even if boarding was an option, you wouldn't be boarding a moving ship. You might be boarding a derelict or the other ship would somehow be disabled (e.g. the drives destroyed)

Or Boarding might be a misinterpretation of a Boarding action vs. embarkation.
As in a hostile take over vs. being allowed to board a friend's ship to fly together.