Welcome to Part 2 of my suggestions and proposed changes for Elite Dangerous that will make the game better! But first before I start talking about the new topics let me go back to some of the topics I've approached in the Part 1 of this thread.
First regarding GRIND: one Cmdr pointed out that I made look like as I wanted engineering to become cheaper! And to that I want to clarify that I don't necessarily want to make engineering cheaper! I just want it to be more consistent! for example: now lets say you are engineering 2 beam lasers with long range and in G1 to complete the circle you use 1 material then to complete the circle in G2 it takes 3 or 4 usages, then G3 takes 4 or 5, G4 5 or 6 and then G5 you waste 6 or 7 of your materials. Now you go and start engineering your second beam laser and suddenly this becomes inconsistent! lets say G1 to G3 goes kind of the same but then in G4 where you used 5 or 6 materials now you had to use 7 or 8 and then on G5 instead of 6 or 7 all of a sudden you wasted 12 or 14! that's crazy! I just want that to be more defined I don't care if I will have to use 6 or 20 material to complete a G5 circle... I just want to know the number I need! make it fixed, idk!!!
Second regarding the ATTACHMENTS: The same Cmdr pointed out concerns related to powercreep and overpowering about having armor packages and shield boosters moved to the ship Hull in CORE INTERNALS and SHIELD GENERATOR in OPTIONAL INTERNALS respectively as attachments. And during this discussion he told me about how the military ships e.g (Chieftain, Crusader, Corvette, Cutter and etc...) got the military restricted slots... so apparently they had less OPTIONAL INTERNALS slots than the Multi-Role ships so they were less capable of carrying armor packages than your typical Anaconda for example. Thinking about that instead of having the armor packages moved to the ship hull as attachments they could remain in the military slots! But in the military slots ONLY! So now only the military ships would be able to carry armor packages and only 1 or 2 just like the amount of this type of slots they have now. At the same time I still think the Shield booster could become attachment in the shield generator but the amount you get is based on the size of your shield so they could be 2 less than the size of the shield!
So starting from a size 3 shield generator you get one slot, up to 6 shield boosters slots if you have a size 8 shield generator! and also limiting to only one shield cell bank fitted on the ship at a time! to mitigate a bit of this nerf maybe the standard ammo capacity of the shield cell bank could be increased! Now while this changes would slightly benefit the military ships by emphasizing their combat role and tone down the defensive capabilities of all ships in the game; this could be a welcome nerf to the FDL? And maybe as a result of this defensive capability nerf, the so called OVERPOWER combat related engineering could receive some nerfs too! Making the guns less broken. And while talking about the guns....
Third regarding Ship Weapons sizes: another Cmdr said that it wouldn't be viable to have Large or Huge of some weapons specially Rail Guns as they would be insanely broken! to that I say... well FDev can make them but in terms of stats make the gap of damage between sizes to be minimal! a size 2 Rail Gun after engineering with sturdy and oversized can do 42.7 of dmg per shot! just make a size 4 having lets say 48 dmg per shot post engineering with a smaller dps! now while this cmdr disagreed with me about the sizes of guns he did say that some guns could benefit from some adjustments to become more viable, mainly the Cannons! And I agree with him! FDev could either increase the dmg or the shell velocity of them or both! personally to me shell velocity would be good enough! Ok now moving on the the new TOPCIS!!!
I want to talk about the "boots on the ground" part of ED now. After they do all the updates to fix the game and really make Odyssey look as a properly $40 bucks worth expansion. The ground combat needs a full and I mean Full rework! throw through the window what the ground combat is right now. Let me start with this image first...
SHIELDS ON SUITS! What a horrible thing! the HUMANS are not SHIPS! the combat shouldn't be like ships! it should be very different. While I hate the shields on suits I really like the concept of the shield generator grenades! So for that congratulations FDev!!! So here's my first proposal
COVER SYSTEM: Instead of having shield on the body make a cover system! copy for example the system from a very old fps now; Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway! in that fps every time you get into cover your perspective switches from 1st to 3rd person. Or you could use the system of a 3rd person shooter like Metal Gear Solid where you get in the cover but when you "peek" around to shoot you can immediately aim down your sights in 1st person and when you release your aim button to go back to cover you return to 3rd person! You can also make the same as GTAV and Red Dead Redemption 2 where you have the full cover animations for both perspectives! btw it would be cool if we could get a toggle to switch between 1st and 3rd person perspective while in or out of combat!
So for now forget that concept introduced in the Odyssey tutorial that goes "remember lasers for shields; bullets for bodies". No... so long you have some thing that can do boo boos in the flesh of a human you can use anything you see fit!
MOBILITY AND VERSATILITY: Along side the Cover System give us the ability to go prone too, instead of just crouch! this is something you can do in any fps to reduce your hitbox and increase your accuracy depending on the gun! as for versatility set a timer and give us the option to revive allies in multicrew, the option to revive NPC's and be revived by them in combat zones for example! and also in terms of versatility think about the shields for example it would be nice if besides the shield generator grenade we also could use a hand held shield projector! like the bulletproof shields in call of duty for example... this would allow for some interesting team play with allies! this could also be done as a script action for npc's too as they could engage you like a swat team with a guy carrying a shield in the front while being supported by his allies in the back. I know you can make these animations FDev! if you can perfectly make the animal behaviors of the dinosaurs in the Jurassic World Evolved then you can do this!
Still thinking about Versatility, we have the AA turrets in settlements and conflict zones, would be nice if we could have mounted weapons spread in theses places too to be manned, like a laser turret or a minigun for example.
ENGINEERING: I think engineering for suits and weapons should be removed or reduced! Listen we have enough engineering in this game as it is! we don't need more... instead we could buy accessories for the suit like we buy modules to ships! sure you can go to the pioneer store and upgrade your suit to have more slots but what you put on the slots is up to you as you buy, like a bigger backpack, a night vision for your helmet and some other useful stuff idk!!! if you are to have engineering for suits than just let it be for stats like increased health or environment resistance or less fall dmg and etc... the same goes for weapons! they don't need an engineer to "fabricate a bigger clip for your gun" you could just buy a bigger clip, if you are to have an engineering for guns be just for stats too like reload speed or dmg or whatever.
WEAPONS: While on the topic of weapons let me go a bit to how they should be handled without or with reduced engineers in the processes:
it could be like this that you have in GTAV or Fallout 4! a weapons workbench!!! you could go to one of these in a station or settlement/megaship or in your ship if we had SHIP INTERIORS!!!
More on that later haha. Anyway; in the workbench is the place where you would modify your gun! changing scopes, clip sizes, ammo types, barrels, stocks, muzzle and etc...
Now weapons: First REWORK THE VISUALS OF THE GUNS!!! take the TAKADA ZENITH laser pistol for example:
This thing looks either like those supermarket pistols to see the price of stuff or a freaking squirt gun you get as gift in a laundry detergent box! I'm not kidding I had one just like this when I was a Kid lol! Idk why FDev came with this design but what was wrong with having the guns looking more realistic and serious? like this that the laser pistol could look like:
or the manticore weapons... the intimidator a bulk looking double barrel shotgun with plasma ammo when it could be way more simpler with regular ammo and prettier too like the new MP-155 ULTIMA from Kalashnikov group! a weapon that is beautiful looks futuristic and exists TODAY!
the same goes for the Rocket Launcher we have and the manticore executioner which is supposed to be a sniper rifle? firing a plasma shot slower than my dead grandma? and with a scope that barely has any zoom! that's why a weapons workbench would be awesome! and these 2 weapons should look more like this instead of what they are now...
Guns That look like guns! not TOYS! take the Karma AR-50 from the game for example... older ppl like me will look at that and remember the bazooka controller from super nintendo! those controller guns that we would use to play Duck Hunt for example or the guns in the arcade you used to beat Time Crisis or House of the Dead 3 haha! aside from rework the visuals also give us more guns "I NEED GUNS... LOTS OF GUNS" Neo reference anyone? no?
give us a minigun, we already have in ships so why not? give us a revolver that shoots regular ammo or plasma or something... a heavy caliber sniper! a grenade launcher a seeking capable RPG and of course a RAIL GUN!!! like the one from Metal Gear 2 and 4 for example:
I know... I have a thing for Railguns!!! and Desert Eagles for that matter hahaha....
Anyway we need more and they need to look better! imagine if with these mechanics of handling your guns in a workbench, being able to take cover or go prone, you could go into an assassination mission in a settlement, but instead of going guns blazing you instead find a nice mountain, lie down on the ground with your Anti-Material Rifle and Snipe the target from 2 km away hahaha this would be awesome!
Shame... there's still more that I want to talk about in terms of equipment additions and "boots on the ground interaction" but unfortunately there's that limit again of 10 archives... sigh....
No problem I will continue soon! Consider This The Part 2 of the quality of life changes and additions that will make this the best game! SUGGESTION! ALLOW MORE THAN 10 ARCHIVES IN THE FORUMS!!! hahaha.
BEFORE I go to the Next Part I want to mention that I saw a thread from a Cmdr where he suggests we get a separated mouse configuration for when you fly FA-OFF! And I have to say I double down on that as trying to do FA-OFF when you don't have a HOTAS is quite difficult so if we could get a toggle or something for the mouse it would be great.
See you soon in Part 3.
First regarding GRIND: one Cmdr pointed out that I made look like as I wanted engineering to become cheaper! And to that I want to clarify that I don't necessarily want to make engineering cheaper! I just want it to be more consistent! for example: now lets say you are engineering 2 beam lasers with long range and in G1 to complete the circle you use 1 material then to complete the circle in G2 it takes 3 or 4 usages, then G3 takes 4 or 5, G4 5 or 6 and then G5 you waste 6 or 7 of your materials. Now you go and start engineering your second beam laser and suddenly this becomes inconsistent! lets say G1 to G3 goes kind of the same but then in G4 where you used 5 or 6 materials now you had to use 7 or 8 and then on G5 instead of 6 or 7 all of a sudden you wasted 12 or 14! that's crazy! I just want that to be more defined I don't care if I will have to use 6 or 20 material to complete a G5 circle... I just want to know the number I need! make it fixed, idk!!!
Second regarding the ATTACHMENTS: The same Cmdr pointed out concerns related to powercreep and overpowering about having armor packages and shield boosters moved to the ship Hull in CORE INTERNALS and SHIELD GENERATOR in OPTIONAL INTERNALS respectively as attachments. And during this discussion he told me about how the military ships e.g (Chieftain, Crusader, Corvette, Cutter and etc...) got the military restricted slots... so apparently they had less OPTIONAL INTERNALS slots than the Multi-Role ships so they were less capable of carrying armor packages than your typical Anaconda for example. Thinking about that instead of having the armor packages moved to the ship hull as attachments they could remain in the military slots! But in the military slots ONLY! So now only the military ships would be able to carry armor packages and only 1 or 2 just like the amount of this type of slots they have now. At the same time I still think the Shield booster could become attachment in the shield generator but the amount you get is based on the size of your shield so they could be 2 less than the size of the shield!
So starting from a size 3 shield generator you get one slot, up to 6 shield boosters slots if you have a size 8 shield generator! and also limiting to only one shield cell bank fitted on the ship at a time! to mitigate a bit of this nerf maybe the standard ammo capacity of the shield cell bank could be increased! Now while this changes would slightly benefit the military ships by emphasizing their combat role and tone down the defensive capabilities of all ships in the game; this could be a welcome nerf to the FDL? And maybe as a result of this defensive capability nerf, the so called OVERPOWER combat related engineering could receive some nerfs too! Making the guns less broken. And while talking about the guns....
Third regarding Ship Weapons sizes: another Cmdr said that it wouldn't be viable to have Large or Huge of some weapons specially Rail Guns as they would be insanely broken! to that I say... well FDev can make them but in terms of stats make the gap of damage between sizes to be minimal! a size 2 Rail Gun after engineering with sturdy and oversized can do 42.7 of dmg per shot! just make a size 4 having lets say 48 dmg per shot post engineering with a smaller dps! now while this cmdr disagreed with me about the sizes of guns he did say that some guns could benefit from some adjustments to become more viable, mainly the Cannons! And I agree with him! FDev could either increase the dmg or the shell velocity of them or both! personally to me shell velocity would be good enough! Ok now moving on the the new TOPCIS!!!
I want to talk about the "boots on the ground" part of ED now. After they do all the updates to fix the game and really make Odyssey look as a properly $40 bucks worth expansion. The ground combat needs a full and I mean Full rework! throw through the window what the ground combat is right now. Let me start with this image first...
COVER SYSTEM: Instead of having shield on the body make a cover system! copy for example the system from a very old fps now; Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway! in that fps every time you get into cover your perspective switches from 1st to 3rd person. Or you could use the system of a 3rd person shooter like Metal Gear Solid where you get in the cover but when you "peek" around to shoot you can immediately aim down your sights in 1st person and when you release your aim button to go back to cover you return to 3rd person! You can also make the same as GTAV and Red Dead Redemption 2 where you have the full cover animations for both perspectives! btw it would be cool if we could get a toggle to switch between 1st and 3rd person perspective while in or out of combat!
So for now forget that concept introduced in the Odyssey tutorial that goes "remember lasers for shields; bullets for bodies". No... so long you have some thing that can do boo boos in the flesh of a human you can use anything you see fit!
MOBILITY AND VERSATILITY: Along side the Cover System give us the ability to go prone too, instead of just crouch! this is something you can do in any fps to reduce your hitbox and increase your accuracy depending on the gun! as for versatility set a timer and give us the option to revive allies in multicrew, the option to revive NPC's and be revived by them in combat zones for example! and also in terms of versatility think about the shields for example it would be nice if besides the shield generator grenade we also could use a hand held shield projector! like the bulletproof shields in call of duty for example... this would allow for some interesting team play with allies! this could also be done as a script action for npc's too as they could engage you like a swat team with a guy carrying a shield in the front while being supported by his allies in the back. I know you can make these animations FDev! if you can perfectly make the animal behaviors of the dinosaurs in the Jurassic World Evolved then you can do this!
Still thinking about Versatility, we have the AA turrets in settlements and conflict zones, would be nice if we could have mounted weapons spread in theses places too to be manned, like a laser turret or a minigun for example.
ENGINEERING: I think engineering for suits and weapons should be removed or reduced! Listen we have enough engineering in this game as it is! we don't need more... instead we could buy accessories for the suit like we buy modules to ships! sure you can go to the pioneer store and upgrade your suit to have more slots but what you put on the slots is up to you as you buy, like a bigger backpack, a night vision for your helmet and some other useful stuff idk!!! if you are to have engineering for suits than just let it be for stats like increased health or environment resistance or less fall dmg and etc... the same goes for weapons! they don't need an engineer to "fabricate a bigger clip for your gun" you could just buy a bigger clip, if you are to have an engineering for guns be just for stats too like reload speed or dmg or whatever.
WEAPONS: While on the topic of weapons let me go a bit to how they should be handled without or with reduced engineers in the processes:
it could be like this that you have in GTAV or Fallout 4! a weapons workbench!!! you could go to one of these in a station or settlement/megaship or in your ship if we had SHIP INTERIORS!!!
More on that later haha. Anyway; in the workbench is the place where you would modify your gun! changing scopes, clip sizes, ammo types, barrels, stocks, muzzle and etc...Now weapons: First REWORK THE VISUALS OF THE GUNS!!! take the TAKADA ZENITH laser pistol for example:
This thing looks either like those supermarket pistols to see the price of stuff or a freaking squirt gun you get as gift in a laundry detergent box! I'm not kidding I had one just like this when I was a Kid lol! Idk why FDev came with this design but what was wrong with having the guns looking more realistic and serious? like this that the laser pistol could look like:
or the manticore weapons... the intimidator a bulk looking double barrel shotgun with plasma ammo when it could be way more simpler with regular ammo and prettier too like the new MP-155 ULTIMA from Kalashnikov group! a weapon that is beautiful looks futuristic and exists TODAY!
Guns That look like guns! not TOYS! take the Karma AR-50 from the game for example... older ppl like me will look at that and remember the bazooka controller from super nintendo! those controller guns that we would use to play Duck Hunt for example or the guns in the arcade you used to beat Time Crisis or House of the Dead 3 haha! aside from rework the visuals also give us more guns "I NEED GUNS... LOTS OF GUNS" Neo reference anyone? no?
give us a minigun, we already have in ships so why not? give us a revolver that shoots regular ammo or plasma or something... a heavy caliber sniper! a grenade launcher a seeking capable RPG and of course a RAIL GUN!!! like the one from Metal Gear 2 and 4 for example:
I know... I have a thing for Railguns!!! and Desert Eagles for that matter hahaha....
Anyway we need more and they need to look better! imagine if with these mechanics of handling your guns in a workbench, being able to take cover or go prone, you could go into an assassination mission in a settlement, but instead of going guns blazing you instead find a nice mountain, lie down on the ground with your Anti-Material Rifle and Snipe the target from 2 km away hahaha this would be awesome!
Shame... there's still more that I want to talk about in terms of equipment additions and "boots on the ground interaction" but unfortunately there's that limit again of 10 archives... sigh....
No problem I will continue soon! Consider This The Part 2 of the quality of life changes and additions that will make this the best game! SUGGESTION! ALLOW MORE THAN 10 ARCHIVES IN THE FORUMS!!! hahaha.
BEFORE I go to the Next Part I want to mention that I saw a thread from a Cmdr where he suggests we get a separated mouse configuration for when you fly FA-OFF! And I have to say I double down on that as trying to do FA-OFF when you don't have a HOTAS is quite difficult so if we could get a toggle or something for the mouse it would be great.
See you soon in Part 3.