Newcomer / Intro Quick question on gaming history.

Xavier Young · Mar 19, 2015

So, how many of you cmndrs come from a high fidelity flight sim background?
And found the learning curve to be nonexistent?

I found that coming from the DCS side of things helped me feel right at home in the cockpit.

Lupin · Mar 20, 2015

Helped playing original Elite (BBC & Amiga), do I has some idea what to expect.
But not much for flight sims mainly platform games & adventure games (Mario & Tomb Raider).

Joe Spivey · Mar 20, 2015

I came from the original Elite... I found the learning curve quite easy.

Dommarraa · Mar 20, 2015

Likewise, original Elite on BBC
Mouse control was just impossible so I went back to the old school methods, and fly exclusively with keyboard quite successfully.
The game world was all very obvious to me. Some of it because of my Elite history, and the rest I just went with "WWJD". It all makes sense if you consider it a world simulation and not as a game, as soon as you try and "understand" it, you will get confused and annoyed that it does not work the way you expect/want.

Hardly any learning curve once I abandoned trying to use the mouse.

Starnr · Mar 20, 2015

I played old version, with keyboard and mouse in the past and I continue to do so, because I spend most of the time on the laptop in my living room while the better half is entertained by the TV.
Wine or rum on the side table, me in a recliner, lap top on my lap, headphones on my head and my mind in the stars, makes for Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat entertainment

Fly safe CMDR. my era is in my sig

Cybrdroyd · Mar 20, 2015

I played the original Xwing games, Tie Fighter, X-wing vs. Tie-fighter, Falcon 4, MS Flight Simulator Series, F15 Strike Eagle, War Thunder. I use the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick. I imagine I will get a Saitek Hotas setup before too long. I don't mind the learning curve so much. It just means I won't get bored too easily.

Kuroshio · Mar 20, 2015

I have a couple of hundreds of hours, probably more, in MS Flight Simulator, Falcon 4.0, the old Longbow Apache(?), Aces over Europe, Tornado and EF2000. No real Elite history besides childhood memories.

All of which makes me unfairly judgemental towards people complaining about ED's learning curve in regards to its flight model.

kilvenny · Mar 20, 2015

I cut my teeth on a game called Nightflight by Hewson Consultants on the Spectrum - It literally was landing and taking off in the dark. The graphics were just white dots. I have too many hours on the original Elite but I found converting to mouse a challenge, but I couldn't do keyboard any more because of arthritis it was just too painful.

carlisle · Mar 20, 2015

I have no hi-fidelity flight-simming background, although I have played both MS Flight Sim and Orbiter I only have a basic joystick while I once managed to sucessfully fly a Delta Glider from Mars to Earth that was only once I'm no hardcore player in either game. I did play the old Elites back in the day, but I was quite young and didn't have the patience back then for a game you had to learn to play so I just launched into orbit a few times and explored the galactic map a lot.

I still didn't find there was much of a learning curve to speak of when I first played Elite Dangerous, but I guess that not being a hardcore gamer at all I could tolerate a game where you maybe had to try something (like docking) a few times before you nailed it.

I don't think it's so much that the game has a steep learning curve. There's nothing in it that's particularly onerous to learn, even if there are a few things tips that you don't pick up until you've been playing a while. I think it's more that many gamers consider having to learn anything at all a flaw. They're used to games that tell you everything you need to know about how to play in a short tutorial. I love those games but Elite was always going to be very different, the learning is half the fun.

Evyl Minkey · Mar 20, 2015

The last few years most of my gaming has been strategy based (Total War, Hearts of Iron types stuff) but I did try DCS last year and I'veplayed another couple of famous flight sims. Also used to play the Silent Hunter series so have no problem with games that take time and patience.

I have been looking for Elite or something like it since I played a game no one seems to have played/liked called Spaceforce: Rogue Universe. I got my joystick for that game and it reminded me of Elite when I was a kid.

the100thmonkey · Mar 20, 2015

Nope. No flight sim history to speak of. You're not as 1337 as you think.

It's not the experience in those games that makes the learning curve easier, it's down to not having played exclusivley for the last ten years on the Xbox/PS3 and therefore having experience with complex control schemes.

Your DCS experience might come to the fore in PvP fights, but that's about it.

Kuroshio · Mar 20, 2015

Or maybe that.

Anyone remember those control scheme cardboard cutouts for the keyboard that flight sims used to have?

cmdr lowest · Mar 20, 2015

DoubtOutLoud said:
Or maybe that. Anyone remember those control scheme cardboard cutouts for the keyboard that flight sims used to have?

I'm sure I had such a thing for F19 Stealth Fighter on the Amiga...

I come from some time with '84 Elite on the BBC Micro and a LOT of Elite II: Frontier on the Amiga. The difficulty curve wasn't that steep for me.

Salentine · Mar 20, 2015

Elite on the spectrum in '85 and many PC games since '91 but not really any flight sim's, space ones that i can remember include freelancer, freespace, homeworld, dark star one and starlancer, as far as mmo's go, it was miniclip's 8 ball multipalyer and recently world of tanks...

Zieman · Mar 20, 2015

Xavier Young said:
So, how many of you cmndrs come from a high fidelity flight sim background?
And found the learning curve to be nonexistent?

I found that coming from the DCS side of things helped me feel right at home in the cockpit.

No such backgound.

Too many hours playing C64 Elite & Space Rogue and more recently Oolite on PC helped me feel at home in E: D cockpit right away.

Oh yes, I did play FE2 & FFE quite a lot too, but those control schemes were alien enough to not disturb the gut feeling of Elite.

Crassus_ · Mar 20, 2015

I've got no background in flight sim stuff. I just messed around in War Thunder for a bit, around last year in April with a flight stick. Was alright, I got bored.. Picked this up yesterday, Already have my hauler, learning the trade maps and what not, plus a little more.

Flying with a stick is much better than mouse/keyboard. I have the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. I'm thinking about upgrading..

Bluefalcon8560 · Mar 20, 2015

Have over 20 years in Flight simulator as well as else flying. Very short learning curve.

Surly_Badger · Mar 20, 2015

Elite's got a steep learning curve compared to Asteroids!