I see what you mean, and to a degree I think you're right. Though when I see the call for more ships, I wonder if it is possibly more to do with visual variety rather than functional variety, which is something that ship kits provide to a degree, and I would like to see them expanded for more variation, but at the same time, I don't think that just offering ship kits goes all the way to satiate the desire to see new cool stuff in the game. Variety is the spice of life as they say an all that.
General Open Letter to Fdev – Suggestion for a New Paid DLC Release
- Thread starter Endealon
- Start date
That was in relation to Odyssey, specifically.
Then they should create a "ship builder" function, where you can design your own ships... Traveller tabletop RPG (that Elite is based on) had starship-building mechanics, adn you could do the shapes too with deck plans. There were lots of trade-offs - power, performance, mass, weapons/hardpoints, cost, technology levels. You couldn't mae an "I win" ship, every strength would result in a weakness elsewhere.
Odyssey has soured me on any future DLC because it released in such an incomplete state. Resulting in most of the post-launch development effort justifiably going towards fixing bugs instead of fun gameplay content.
The performance and lighting in odyssey are still awful and the unchanged from launch gameplay doesn't hold up when you learn the layouts and AI behaviors.
To me there's nothing yet to indicate the next DLC would be any better. Some games or expansions manage to find their footing and eventually become good despite a bad launch - arguably Elite Dangerous itself with the grind (but I started playing after that). Odyssey has only managed to become barely playable after all this time.
The performance and lighting in odyssey are still awful and the unchanged from launch gameplay doesn't hold up when you learn the layouts and AI behaviors.
To me there's nothing yet to indicate the next DLC would be any better. Some games or expansions manage to find their footing and eventually become good despite a bad launch - arguably Elite Dangerous itself with the grind (but I started playing after that). Odyssey has only managed to become barely playable after all this time.
this leap frogs over the ability of players to cause npcs to build new bases and expand out. Beyond hand-placed instances.
I think any such feature, due to the nature of how populations and such are implemented in systems, would have to be initiated by npcs and only potentially directed by players. Sort of like how powerplay expands only this would involve unpopulated systems or new outposts in a populated system.
Having players own settlements and such brings it too far away from fdev's vision (in so much as they have one) where the player is an insignificant bystander.
NPC crew should have been implemented from day 1 of wings. So, yes, this is something that should happen either in a paid expansion or part of odyssey's updates. Their reasons for excluding it are short sighted and weak. Get rid of the buffs provided to ships when they have multi-crew when it comes to power distribution while they're at it.
HUD customization i always thought should have an identity tied to the manufacturer of the ships. And the reason why all of ours looks identical is because fdev didn't have the money to create unique ones for each manufacturer. Colors i wouldn't mind being user selectable ..but i think the layout and look and feel should be unique to each manufacturer and it would offer another facet of distinction beyond min-max'd ship attributes to differentiate ships in the game.
new ships are definitely something the game needs. I always preferred less module customization available to players (for the core and hardpoint modules) ...allowing fdev to create a near infinite variety of variants that can be assigned to various factions and only purchasable thru those factions. And if the ship skin mechanic could be extended, via procedural generation, even the look of those variants can be different. This would drive players to interact more with what it means for a faction to be a faction. They wouldn't be just pointless variations of names that players can totally ignore because they dont matter really.
But beyond that i still want my flyable - customizable - craftable - dredger that sits at a size that's maybe 1/3 the size of the carrier and acts as the ultimate end-game activity. Buliding your own dredger would involve a lot of steps that take you all around the game's various roles and have you visiting a number of different systems with specialized new shipyard stations to craft and ship the large pieces to special dredger factories. Each dredger would be visually unique because it's a combination of user defined subsections and procedural generated ship kit. it's not a station that is persistent that other players can dock in, only the owner can dock and it only accepts the current ship. It's destroyable and can destroy others. It can be setup to salvage ship parts or strip-mine roid fields or munch on thargoids. all maintenance and repairs have to be crafted. If a dredger is destroyed you can have the parts insured, but you would have to re-assemble it a dredger factory and lose any engineering mods done to the components.
Dredgers would be incapable of dogfighting. Instead they would rely on fighter squads and brute force, using it's maw as it's primary weapon and bulk as it's defense. However they would be supplied with several hardpoints that can be populated by the owner and potentially manned by npc or human crew. The owner can of course also undock and let npc crew pilot the dredger while they use their ship.
This would be like a player capship. And it would involve new game play loops separate from what you do currently in the game. I could see that being a paid expansion.
I'm sure there are a lot of players who would have happily subscribed to elite for the past 8 years if the issue was funding the features that seemingly weren't getting done in the game. At the same time, we see a bunch of investment in something that seemingly got no user input (odyssey, and earlier cqc). I dont know why fdev does what they do or doesn't do what they dont do. But it doesn't seem to be related to not being aware they can charge money to fund it. There's certainly player interest in more updates to this game...but perhaps we're massively overestimating that interest if fdev doesn't seem to share that view of a slam dunk profitable expansion. or maybe they're not interested in hiring the kind of people they'd need to in order to make that expansion a quality one and as a company they are moving in a different direction ...limiting what can be done with elite going forward.
keep hope alive though.... imagining "what if's" is basically what elite dangerous has survived on since fdev abandoned finishing powerplay.
Definitely not. If anything it probably has too many now, with not enough emphasis on improving the ones we have got. The Alliance ships were a bit pointless, duplicating roles that existing Federation, Empire and Independent ships have. The endless stream of new Thargoid ship classes don't seem to offer much added gameplay, just new ways to pew-pew or die.
I've said it many times before in other posts, but I personally attribute the covid lockdowns a lot of responsibility for that, which isn't to say that Frontier should have released Odyssey in its original form and not delayed it further, but I don't know the specifics as to how and why that decision was made/compelled, so either way, I've let it go. Based on more normal conditions, I will judge the (hopefully still to come) next DLC/expansion as I would any normal release, which hopefully will have been developed with some of the Odyssey lessons learned.
Both things could be better overall, I much prefer the lighting of Odyssey but it can glitch here and there which would be good to see gone, but that could be tied into other performance issues.
As I said above, the next DLC will hopefully not have the same outside pressures hampering the development so I would expect it to be better by default. Overall, I'm happy that Frontier have stuck to it, especially in regards to dealing with the console fallout, which I think they couldn't have reasonable be expected to do more.
For a more to the point example...
where to report cheaters?
right, but i tried to figure out where and how to report. my first approach was not fitting the forums rules, ok. but moderators could be a little more helpful and let me know where and how to report, after giving me a warning. it should be their job and not the job of other cmdrs reading in the...
there is value to having different ships in the same way there is value to having different painted ships.
there's a bunch of cars available to buy even though nearly all of them are only used to move less than a handful of people to and from a handful of the same kind of places. yet people prefer the option of choosing the particular look and details. the same holds true for what amounts to your character in a game. in elite, the ship is your character. nobody prefers less ability to have something that better identifies your character.
Not since space legs.
i ignore space legs like i ignore cqc.
+1 for more contents, the game aint fixing it self without money and resource. also potential business.
10 Ferdelance outfitted with 50 different kits is still a Ferdelance. while i do my self have multiple design in the same bulkhead on some ships, i'd rather have more specialized design such as keelback, crusader, krait phantom T10 etc or new ships ofcourse. 07
10 Ferdelance outfitted with 50 different kits is still a Ferdelance. while i do my self have multiple design in the same bulkhead on some ships, i'd rather have more specialized design such as keelback, crusader, krait phantom T10 etc or new ships ofcourse. 07
Try engineering different combinations of modules with different blueprints and experimental effects. You will get far more variation than a simple body shape change can provide.
Wasn't this kind of the plan all along though. Expansions (DLC) that add new content. Its just that they come with huge gaps between them and separate the playerbase when they do, then FD spend the next year or two figuring out how to get players back into a single version of the game, and eventually pull support for the non-expansion version, because it seems like they can't handle people having different features playing together in the same instances.
At this point, i'd just be happy for any sort of significant new gameplay options, DLC or otherwise. I don't give a damn about 100 new ways to kill Thargoids or new variants of Thargoids.
I would love for FD to focus on opening up more worlds to be landable. I'd love NPC wingmen who can fly your other ships (with more encounters designed for this sort of play). I'd love for more flora and fauna to be added (well, literally, any sort of fauna on planets).
However, i fear FD are no longer interested in adding significant content to the game, for whatever business reasons they have, and so i don't expect anything from them now.
At this point, i'd just be happy for any sort of significant new gameplay options, DLC or otherwise. I don't give a damn about 100 new ways to kill Thargoids or new variants of Thargoids.
I would love for FD to focus on opening up more worlds to be landable. I'd love NPC wingmen who can fly your other ships (with more encounters designed for this sort of play). I'd love for more flora and fauna to be added (well, literally, any sort of fauna on planets).
However, i fear FD are no longer interested in adding significant content to the game, for whatever business reasons they have, and so i don't expect anything from them now.
That's the key part, right there. One man's trash is another man's treasure, hence why most developers only go with the most popular DLC items.
With Odyssey falling short of both Player's and certain FDev's expectations, returning with a quality DLC that gets heaps of praise for introducing new, fun game features would be welcomed by all I imagine. The Thargoid narrative has been quite entertaining to read about, but playing it not so much for me. Caveat: I engaged with this content at a time the servers were...not happy for some reason, so my experience was quite buggy, and not the intended bugs lol.
When looking purely at today, Odyssey is the only thing my Lifetime pass thingy gives me, I'd not otherwise have, outside of a few paint jobs. As Odyssey is not for me - I want to place space ships, in space, not foot soldiers on the ground - I'd be great to get something that was more to my liking. No expectations, but a little "Oh, that'd be cool" is that hope? Or am I being overly-optimistic. Oh, and space ships, I want some more space ships. To fly. In space. Space ships that have qualities that help them stand out from the crowd a bit more, perhaps that excel in a certain role, or can dock smaller ships...which can then be piloted by crew... you know, stuff that's interesting.
When looking purely at today, Odyssey is the only thing my Lifetime pass thingy gives me, I'd not otherwise have, outside of a few paint jobs. As Odyssey is not for me - I want to place space ships, in space, not foot soldiers on the ground - I'd be great to get something that was more to my liking. No expectations, but a little "Oh, that'd be cool" is that hope? Or am I being overly-optimistic. Oh, and space ships, I want some more space ships. To fly. In space. Space ships that have qualities that help them stand out from the crowd a bit more, perhaps that excel in a certain role, or can dock smaller ships...which can then be piloted by crew... you know, stuff that's interesting.
i tried, i did, and i do mention that in there
So it's just the body shape you're after?
10 Ferdelance outfitted with 50 different kits is still a Ferdelance. while i do my self have multiple design in the same bulkhead on some ships, i'd rather have more specialized design such as keelback, crusader, krait phantom T10 etc or new ships ofcourse. 07
should be pretty clear from my opinion above.
beside is cheaper compared to what your opinion i quote below :
Then they should create a "ship builder" function, where you can design your own ships... Traveller tabletop RPG (that Elite is based on) had starship-building mechanics, adn you could do the shapes too with deck plans. There were lots of trade-offs - power, performance, mass, weapons/hardpoints, cost, technology levels. You couldn't mae an "I win" ship, every strength would result in a weakness elsewhere.
all in all is just our opinion and suggestion it will not mean a dim for everyone, and i believe Elite Devs forseen more than we do, and as a fellow members all i can do is to appreciate.