Single player - is it worth it?

[Clifford]

....I did pledge a Kickstarter amount to cover a pre-order when there was a very clear single-player goal stated in the Kickstarter campaign.

Well, as much as things have been upset lately, I don't even feel there is any "guarantee" that Single Player (Solo) will stay in the game, as much as Offline was promised but then cut.
In their justification of removing Offline mode, the game's developers said that they wanted people to play Multiplayer.

Has anyone here being playing single-player? If so, is it enjoyable? Are there still missions and such?

Don't know what the future versions will do, but As of now: the only way to play "Single Player" is to be connected to the internet and FD's servers and select "Solo Mode" when you play the game.
This is exactly the same as playing in "Open" play but you never see any other Player Characters.
All missions and trading and exploring and everything else works exactly the same as in Open play, except in Solo you only see NPCs; whereas in Open play you would see NPCs with a few PC's occasionally.

 

[Space Dandy]

I played the beta starting with 3.5 and thought things were just fine. Then when 3.9 rolled in this week I heard thing like OMG interdictions ahve gone nuts stupid been increased etc but sadly busy with work and real life I wasn't able to try it out for myself.

Now we are in gamma 1.0 so are interdictions still like people were claiming in 3.9 or did they tone it down some? Kind of worried about this as I am not into the combat aspect of the game and just want to explore the verse.

 

[Martin1956]

Just because you get successfully interdicted, does not automatically mean death. You can still, give up your cargo, fight your way out, dodge and weave until you can re-enter supercruise. I have been interdicted 10 or 12 times. Only failed to get away once, and I killed that fool. So your calculations are baloney.

Well said, I'm far from convinced that all the people commenting on here are actually playing the same game that I am....

 

[Koranis]

The real problem with the current mission system is that there are only two types of missions/activites. The first one is an excuse to go from point A to point B. Although the feel is great you can make only so much hyperjumps before it starts to feel really samey. These missions are "go - fetch - comeback" and "go-to" types acquired from BB. Plus all your trading runs. You just go there to get more money, so that you can repeat those activies with a better ship and better gear.

The second type of mission is an excuse to go to point A and blow ships. Rinse and repeat. Again, you can blow only so much Player/NPS before a) it again starts to feel samey b) you encounter a much better player who blow you to smithereens which means a step back for you. Rinse and repeat.

I love the game to bits but I'm not blind enough to not see that the missions are really simplistic compared to other games. I would like to see some "predictable" missions offering some more unpredictable outcomes, like the guy who you were supposed to hunt down is in reality a political figure in the local system which means that now you are hunted by the government. Maybe an escort a cargo mission where it turns out that you're escorting a ship full of escaped prisoners or a hold full of contraband etc.

Maybe the multiplayer will offer some more emergent gameplay, but until ship-boarding, planetary landings and clan system are included I very much doubt it. Most of the players will just shoot the others, make trading runs or just attempt some daring long-range voyages to map unexplored systems. But singleplayer? It needs a better mission system and more events during trading runs to be a long-term fun. This would also improve multiplayer as well.

BUT... the game is still young and FD has still a lot to add, so I'm sure it will improve eventually.

 

[MarcusReed]

Time waster.. just adds to the grind time..

If you look at ED as a grind ? you are playing the game the wrong way.

 

[GeneralIdea1964]

I agree, Solo Mode is not any different, the missions would be the same, the galaxy is the same one. Only difference is that there is nobody else there to interfere with your enjoyment.

I like the on-line idea, but currently it's effectively a single player game there. I've only every been shot at by another player about 3 times and that was in a conflict zone.
Other than that, as the game takes quite a bit of concentration and many fingers to fly your craft, you don't often have time to communicate with other players. There is a voice chat option, but I think many people don't have mikes set up or are possibly concerned how they might sound to a stranger or some other reason.

So play Solo mode it's not that much different at the moment.
-
Oh .. one last point. They went and fixed the broken docking delay system so you don't have time to waste sitting around and chatting waiting for docking clearance.

 

[orange_apecs]

Played three hours this evening. Played all of Premium Beta in solo to test stuff, decided to play gamma multiplayer to see if griefing was even possible.
In three hours I met not one other human player. Got interdicted about 5 times (all in Anarchy or Feudal systems) by NPCs. However a lot of that time I wasn't carrying cargo.
Picked up two bounties for wanted pirates who interdicted, told me to drop cargo (of which I had none) and then the opened fire anyway. Luckily they were novice or harmless (no shields).

 

[PIXEL]

Interesting... and there was me thinking single player was easy..

Sounds like it's not and def not an easy option to play & then take all your credits/ship into 'all play' - I must try it one day