Michael Brooks can you please answer my question?

[Shepard]

Do you guys in any foreseeable future plan to update Bulletin Board (Galnet whatever) with a real newsfeed? What I mean is currently you seem to be updating it manually. You place a static event/warzone and then update newsfeed manually. Do you guys plan to add some kind of mechanics in game that would create hot zones for players to participate and have newsfeed automatically updated based on specific triggers?

Example:

Disaster on a planet - blah blah - traders hint.
System attacked by pirates - blah blah - bounty hunter hint

I believe that David once told that he wants players to engage into conflicts with each other. Without the automatic newsfeed or events of different kind that pop up here and there players wont know where to go or what to do. The slavery war that started with release definitely attracted attention and people went there.

But will there be a newsfeed on regular basis updating about smaller events/statuses etc, or you will only be doing this of big scale manual custom events without allowing any kind of disasters on planets, or NPC pirates blockading systems etc etc. I guess what I am looking for is more frequent but smaller events that regular player can participate in without trying to turn some wheels of war.

Thanks for your answer.

 

[Michael Brookes]

It's already in there. When there's a local state change then it's reported in the system's newsfeed. The global stuff is for our manual storylines. We might well expand the automatic system but the core is in.

Michael

 

[Shepard]

Ok thanks! Yes if you dont mind and have resources please please add some random events that would happen in the systems where players are in. It would be really awesome to read about random events happening around the galaxy and that us players could actually do something about. This would make the game feel very alive. Thank you again for all your hard work and thank you for answering my question . Peace!

 

[Kaspur]

Yeah, some more news in the feed would definitely help in immersion. Also, I think that a local state change should also be visible in the news feed of surrounding systems. I would want to know if my neighbours just got taken over by some band of extremists.

 

[SentineI]

We might well expand the automatic system but the core is in.

Please do. It would be great for Galnet to list the nearest 5 events (local state changes). That way everyone would know where interesting things were happening near them, and go there if they wish. If there wasn't anything interesting in (say) a 50 light year radius, then Galnet could list the nearest places which were nearly ready for a state change (e.g. Civil War might break out).

At the moment it's almost 'impossible' for me to go to the two manual game events, as they are hundreds of light years away & I've got a rubbish Eagle (the automatic route planner doesn't work that far, and I don't have huge amounts of gameplay time to waste). At least if there was a Civil War 20 light years away I would know about it, and could consider flying there to take advantage of it.

 

[ciger]

Please do. It would be great for Galnet to list the nearest 5 events (local state changes). That way everyone would know where interesting things were happening near them, and go there if they wish. If there wasn't anything interesting in (say) a 50 light year radius, then Galnet could list the nearest places which were nearly ready for a state change (e.g. Civil War might break out).

At the moment it's almost 'impossible' for me to go to the two manual game events, as they are hundreds of light years away & I've got a rubbish Eagle (the automatic route planner doesn't work that far, and I don't have huge amounts of gameplay time to waste). At least if there was a Civil War 20 light years away I would know about it, and could consider flying there to take advantage of it.

+1 for this suggestion. Would really like something like this implemented.

 

[[LG] Khan]

something like this would be awesome

http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Snoopers

. maybe even with player content submitted

 

[finchywinchy]

It's already in there. When there's a local state change then it's reported in the system's newsfeed. The global stuff is for our manual storylines. We might well expand the automatic system but the core is in.

Michael

Forgive me for being non-plussed, but a galaxy with 400bn solar systems and magnitudes more people should have more than one big story per galaxy, and one little story per system.

Two choices, in my book -

1) a very complex and voluminous automatic mission generation system. What is in the game is not one of these - from the quote, what is in the game is considered 'good enough'.

2) huge amounts of manually created content. This would require manpower of a certain type which FD don't have/can't afford.

Then there is the option of user created content. This could have been a winner, taking care of both cost and manpower. This option could have been used from the outset, at the risk of making ED look like a fan-project to investors and possibly diluting the financial return for FD. Trying to retro-fit a procedure for users to create storylines in the galaxy at this stage....I just don't think it'll happen. The game would, in my opinion, have to have been designed from the ground-up with that in mind.

 

[SentineI]

Two choices, in my book -

1) a very complex and voluminous automatic mission generation system. What is in the game is not one of these - from the quote, what is in the game is considered 'good enough'.

I am hopeful that Frontier will continue to gradually add new mission templates, especially as their mission system grows more capabilities. e.g. They recently added branching missions, which opens a huge amount of interesting possibilities.

I really hope that they concentrate on adding new missions (templates), as otherwise Elite risks getting stale over time (for new players - it's already a bit stale for me).

 

[cmdr awesome]

At the moment it's almost 'impossible' for me to go to the two manual game events, as they are hundreds of light years away & I've got a rubbish Eagle (the automatic route planner doesn't work that far, and I don't have huge amounts of gameplay time to waste). At least if there was a Civil War 20 light years away I would know about it, and could consider flying there to take advantage of it.

Get a fuel scoop. Shed some weight. Plot your route in 50LY chunks. You'll make it, and have fun doing so.
I managed 130LY runs before we had route plotting - it's so much easier now.

 

[Jaykay]

All this Galactic news information that we can act on if we wish should be available via Galnet right?

Presumably Galnet will be added to the official app? Also any idea when it will be available on android?

Failing that could there be a RSS feed of Galnet made available?

 

[Sallen]

I am hopeful that Frontier will continue to gradually add new mission templates, especially as their mission system grows more capabilities. e.g. They recently added branching missions, which opens a huge amount of interesting possibilities.

I really hope that they concentrate on adding new missions (templates), as otherwise Elite risks getting stale over time (for new players - it's already a bit stale for me).

How can I get one of those fancy branching missions? I've been running around and all I get are the regular randomised ones.

 

[FX2K]

How can I get one of those fancy branching missions? I've been running around and all I get are the regular randomised ones.

If during a mission you stop off at Unidentified Signal Sources, sometimes you are offered an alternative path for the mission from an NPC ship... Resulting in different payouts / rep etc. It's up to you if you decide to take it or not.

 

[Quietman]

Displaying the top 5 traders/bounty hunters/assassins/explorers/etc in the same fashion as the pirates would be a simple addition that would add more life to the news.

 

[Sallen]

If during a mission you stop off at Unidentified Signal Sources, sometimes you are offered an alternative path for the mission from an NPC ship... Resulting in different payouts / rep etc. It's up to you if you decide to take it or not.

Nice, will do. I remember reading something about these choices being bugged, or being able to take both at the same time or something like that. Is there something I should be wary of?

 

[euclydian]

Nice, will do. I remember reading something about these choices being bugged, or being able to take both at the same time or something like that. Is there something I should be wary of?

I have just done a couple and seemingly got negative rep with the issuing faction despite ignoring the alternative choice presented in a USS. I've also heard that they can reset any progress made (such as kills) once dropping into the USS. So yes, they seem quite bugged.

 

[Shepard]

Thank you all who participated in this thread. Michael said that core for this type of things is already in game. Now they just have to generate some events. We already have missions but having events pop up in star systems here and there would only make the game more rich. That is what i consider a dynamic content. Something that happens in game because of specific criteria has been met with or without players involvement. Because the galaxy is so big and there is only fixed number of players only a small part of the people will actually be able to make it to the 'main events'.

Currently the slavery war between Empire and Federation is way too small for this vast galaxy. For a game of this scale there should be intrigues going on in many many star systems between the smaller sub factions that are members of Federation, Alliance and Empire. Its very saemless the way AI logic is working currently in the background. For example in the solar system where I am based on the missions I have available it seems to be some civil war is brewing. But those missions seem very static. It almost feels like they tell me - fill this bottle with water and then it will fall and there is no other outcome.

Again because the galaxy is so big this logic behind missions has to be more dynamic otherwise players seemly won't be able to get involved in anything. For example if I don't complete key events civil war may never happen in the star system I am in. I mean I don't even know what are the core events. I just run trading runs, I have no idea if there is a way to trigger areal civil war. Nobody is talking to me or asking me any help with anything. I mean there are missions but do I need to take them? I wish there were messages specific to local situation of the star systems as well as global messages on newsfeed. I honestly have no idea whats going on where unless devs post something on the newsfeed and everyone starts to hype about it. Currently newsfeed only shows player bounties, commodity trends and ship type frequency, which of course gives me no good. And the big event that devs I guess posted manually about.

Would be nice if there were dynamic events happening that even one player can participate in if they can't make it to the main big event. Those smaller events could be related pretty much to anything. Disasters on the planets, stations, local military conflicts, local conflicts with pirates etc etc. It sorta already happens but its all through missions its something I have to accept which is less interesting if for example on approaching a planet /station I was given some comms instead. I guess when someone is communicating with you it makes things feel more immersive and world more alive than if you'd just go to mission board and accept what you like. I guess the main confusion is lack of information of which missions in specific station can lead you to something more involving and interesting than defeating a pocket of bandits.

I like doing trade runs and improve faction standing which in result opens better missions etc. But I'd rather be a part of something bigger than boring trade runs. I've earned enough money to do something bigger but not sure where to go or how to start a bigger event. I'll try to do some civil war related missions from the station but not sure if that will really change the situation in star system. And I can't make it to the slavery big event, I also am not sure I want to at least right now since they say that bounties for those ships are much smaller than regular bounty hunting and reputation is out of whack... so yeah. There is definitely a fan factor there but things kinda feel disconnected and I don't feel that I really am missing something big especially since it seems that things are currently bugged with rep and bounty pay offs?

Since game is so big and there are only so many players I believe along with big events there should be an AI mechanics that would trigger smaller events in star systems where players are or some kind of a newsfeed that would allow player to understand what is going on in current star system and how to trigger something more interesting.

 

[Michael Brookes]

Forgive me for being non-plussed, but a galaxy with 400bn solar systems and magnitudes more people should have more than one big story per galaxy, and one little story per system.

Two choices, in my book -

1) a very complex and voluminous automatic mission generation system. What is in the game is not one of these - from the quote, what is in the game is considered 'good enough'.

2) huge amounts of manually created content. This would require manpower of a certain type which FD don't have/can't afford.

Then there is the option of user created content. This could have been a winner, taking care of both cost and manpower. This option could have been used from the outset, at the risk of making ED look like a fan-project to investors and possibly diluting the financial return for FD. Trying to retro-fit a procedure for users to create storylines in the galaxy at this stage....I just don't think it'll happen. The game would, in my opinion, have to have been designed from the ground-up with that in mind.

It will, but the intention is to get things moving and then expand. There's no point going wide until you know the system works. We also want to see what players do for a while and expand on that. The efforts in Lugh are a good example of that.

Michael

 

[Tronicus]

It will, but the intention is to get things moving and then expand. There's no point going wide until you know the system works. We also want to see what players do for a while and expand on that. The efforts in Lugh are a good example of that.

Michael

Lugh has stagnated, not due to lack of player effort. Are you willing to elaborate on how these mechanics are intended to work? Will the situation in Lugh change on its own, or is that something that you have to manually inject into the game?

 

[Brophy77]

Regarding Galnet, is there any chance of there being a news ticker feed on the website or forums that posts the latest news for those of us not currently in game? That way it can keep people informed of what is going on and possibly encourage more to join in on an event.