Some ideas on getting the most out of the upcoming content

[Han Zulu]

To push a solution to this problem, I propose we gather the entire DW2 roster and squat FD's lawn for a few days Bring BBQs and beer!

Or we take all our anacondas and squat in Open outside Shinrarta... all 5 of us that can manage to stay in same instance... hmm... I think I like your idea better.

 

[Numenor1379]

At least this is better than the PS4 planet bug. Since 3.0 we can't have more than 2 SRVs in an instance. The moment a 3rd joins everyone's game crashes...

So much for big meetups. =(

 

[Henkka77]

At least this is better than the PS4 planet bug. Since 3.0 we can't have more than 2 SRVs in an instance. The moment a 3rd joins everyone's game crashes...

So much for big meetups. =(

Theres still plenty of time until DW2 starts, so im confident that Fdev will fix that bug by then.

Dont have the same faith regarding the general instancing problems though..

 

[Rudi Raumkraut]

not sure if that was already suggested...

shouldn't it be possible to crreate an DW2 plug-in for one of that "stats logging tools" ? (something like the hutton truckers one for EDMC is in my mind)

such thing could deliver lots of stats ( for science! - na, actually I just love stats )
but also offer ways for competitions, like Most Scans, Highest Scan, Most Travelled etc....

well, I think this is already under investigation by that outstanding orga team of DW*

 

[woop2000]

Uhm, they said they are not going to release fleet cariers in q4... it is a problem, isn't it?

 

[Erimus Kamzel]

Uhm, they said they are not going to release fleet cariers in q4... it is a problem, isn't it?

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...gn-Up-Thread?p=6971206&viewfull=1#post6971206

It would have been cool to utilize them somehow, but they were always considered to be bonus content for DW2, not the heart of the event. The core of DW2 rests on existing game content (CGs and a Megaship), with proposals and ideas on what we suspect is coming with Q4 built around that core.

 

[Chrystoph]

Trying not to read anything into the statement, Erimus, so I'll just ask. Is the Megaship and CGs methodology confirmed?

 

[drkaii]

Hi, no nothing is confirmed. We expect to find out a lot more in the coming weeks. Bare in mind we made our announcement for DW2 in direct response to the Beyond roadmap announcement. So now that that roadmap is changing, we are looking at how this will affect our own plans. More to come so watch this space o7

 

[ShadowWolf Kell]

I have an i7 as well, 32 GB, 1080Ti card, SSD, dedicated internet for gaming (40+ Mbps), still having problems with the instances. And the same problem exited before on my smaller GPU, as well on my laptop and on a different ISP. The problem is in the game code and P2P netcode.

Even though I'd like to see instances of 100+ people, I think the first and more important fix is to get the freeze/crash handled. It's really annoying to have to bring up task manager, click and kill process, restart game, wait... click menu, get the right group, wait... try to find the location again, jump in, do a wing request in game or in discord, wait... get wing, get into instance, and stop breathing because every little click on the keyboard might crash you again... and all is fine until you spool the FSD for the jump, and then full throttle... and wait... oh... game froze again and pixels all over... dang how anticlimactic.

I stopped recording video in meetups for the most part. Every time I started recording in Distant Stars, because the instances were around 30 people it'd lock up my system. I was doing a lot of Alt-Tabbing back and forth between Discord and ED though. It was especially bad on Hades Edge with all the SRVs and SLFs. Didn't seem to have that problem heading to the Blue Snowball Nebula except once. Our instances were smaller though.

 

[Henkka77]

I will post this in this thread because the sign-up thread is completely wrong area for this..

We've been told the proposals have been read and meetings held internally about them at FD, but so far the organizers haven't been contacted by FD on whether the CG/Megaship plans are viable or not. We would like to know one way or the other soon, as we can't just throw something as large as DW2 together at the last minute.

Ed Lewis has my email address, and Dr. Kaii's too. So the ball is in FD's court at the moment.

I gave a long hard thought do i write this or not, as i want to avoid any controversies but here goes..


There's a reason i really didnt like the idea of involving Fdev with DW2 in the first place.. Yep, you guessed it, they kinda have this problem with communication.

First of all, expeditions should be player created events, not "depending-on-developer" events. I'm starting to think that DW2 is starting to sound like an event where it wont be player created and the fact that you are now dependant on Fdev's response, kind of proves it.
But, i know how much you are trying to make something different out of DW2, and thats something we all can appreciate..
.. but there's also few things you might want to keep in mind:

-That some of us still enjoy exploration as it is, without any fancy stuff.
-That not all of us are constantly whining around the forums how Fdev hates explorers or how Fdev disses the explorers or how exploration dont get any love from Fdev, etc..
-That not all of us needs a fleet carrier with expedition for it to be "something different".
-That not all of us needs a community goal, megaship, Fdev involvement or any of those fancy stuff you talked about.
-That not all of us has exploration burnout, as it seems to be the case with the organizing crew..

What most of us wants is just a nice mass expedition to Beagle Point with familiar cmdrs, meetups, shenanigans, Kumbayaas, beer and pretzels, thats all.
I guess i'm just trying to say here that dont count on Fdev for making a great event out of DW2. Dont get your hopes on Fdev promising some extra content.

Players make the expeditions, not anyone else. Just keep that in your mind.


Just my 2c.

 

[VerticalBlank]

...
There's a reason i really didnt like the idea of involving Fdev with DW2 in the first place.. Yep, you guessed it, they kinda have this problem with communication.

First of all, expeditions should be player created events, not "depending-on-developer" events. I'm starting to think that DW2 is starting to sound like an event where it wont be player created and the fact that you are now dependant on Fdev's response, kind of proves it.

...

-That some of us still enjoy exploration as it is, without any fancy stuff.
-That not all of us are constantly whining around the forums how Fdev hates explorers or how Fdev disses the explorers or how exploration dont get any love from Fdev, etc..
-That not all of us needs a fleet carrier with expedition for it to be "something different".
-That not all of us needs a community goal, megaship, Fdev involvement or any of those fancy stuff you talked about.
-That not all of us has exploration burnout, as it seems to be the case with the organizing crew..

What most of us wants is just a nice mass expedition to Beagle Point with familiar cmdrs, meetups, shenanigans, Kumbayaas, beer and pretzels, thats all.
I guess i'm just trying to say here that dont count on Fdev for making a great event out of DW2. Dont get your hopes on Fdev promising some extra content.

Players make the expeditions, not anyone else. Just keep that in your mind.


Just my 2c.

This. All this talk about fleet carriers, megaships. community goals, etc is IMHO deeply misconceived.

It's really very simple:

1. Are you up for a trip to Beagle Point?
2. Would you like come with us, see some sights, and have some fun along the way?
3. Excellent, awesome.

I'm afraid I have to say that all the puff about fleet carriers, megaships. community goals, etc should be dropped. It adds no value and is clearly adding a dependency that the expedition does not need.

 

[VerticalBlank]

And when it comes to people suggesting to ban limpet synthesis: I have a few pithy phrases, all of with end in "right off".

 

[drkaii]

the fact that you are now dependant on Fdev's response, kind of proves it.

All I want to say is that the spirit of Distant Worlds is to break new grounds. This is its legacy. Hence, we DO rely on FD to update their game to give us new things to pioneer. Distant Stars went off when we got the 4x jumps, Sudden Mystery when we got even further range.

Distant Worlds 2 needs to be bigger than both of those. I am getting worried that it's going to be absolutely nothing different. Just a repeat of Distant Worlds 1, with slightly improved planet colours and a few new discovery techniques. We are watching this space.

If FD can incorporate the megaship proposals and some of the CG stuff, that could be a saving grace for the expedition, give it something new and unique and a reason to go. Maybe. We are waiting to hear from them on many fronts, not just this one, before deciding if it's worth going yet or better to delay!

If some people just want to go to Beagle point and make an expedition out of it, by all means, I might even tag along - make an expedition out of it. But Distant Worlds has 3000 people waiting for something amazing. Going to beagle point is special, but not amazing in that sense. Ya feels me?

 

[Erimus Kamzel]

When DW2 was announced, it was in the wake of the Expo 17 announcements regarding the commitment from FD to flesh out exploration. Like with DW1 and the newly released Horizons at the time, we were keen to incorporate as much of the new content as possible and create a social event that would challenge its participants, as well as enable them to find fun and exciting ways to use the new content and provide a variety of roles for players to get wrapped up in. We've seen in the past how enjoyable the social aspects of deep space fleet exploration can be, and how it opens the door to creative ideas and events.

To make these events work well though, there has to be some tools or some content that everything is built around. On DW1, what fired the imagination more than anything was the novelty of planetary landings coupled with the thought of fleet exploration (which was still in its infancy at the time), along with the challenges of endurance and visiting some hard to reach locations.

But like with everything, things need to evolve to keep them interesting and worthy of committing considerable time to (both on the organization front and as participants). The introduction of engineered FSD's and Boosters has somewhat lessened the challenge to reach the galaxies furthest recesses, and mass expeditions over the last few years haven't really had much scope to serve up new things for players to do out there in the black. So here we are nearly 3 years into the fleet expedition era, trying to create something different to what has gone before. We said right from the beginning that DW2 should not be a re-run of DW1 - there has to be more gameplay, more content, more social interaction, and a variety of gameplay opportunities for players to undertake to justify putting in the amount of time it takes to set these events in motion, and actually see them through to the end. You're talking months and months of peoples spare time.

There are around 50 people on the DW organisation team and all of them would like the opportunity to push the envelope a little further on what large scale expeditions could incorporate and offer its participants, and they're fully committed and prepared to put in a lot of hard work to provide a blueprint for the next generation of these events. We hoped expeditionary events would be allowed to evolve from what they've been for the past 4 years, and the ideas and proposals we presented are just one set of ideas that could help lay a foundation for that.

As Dr Kaii says, if people just want to go to Beagle Point, then go. Get some friends together and create a social event and go. Or keep an eye on the Expedition Hub and wait for someone to set another large event up that you can join. This community has been extremely creative in squeezing fun gameplay out of minimal game mechanics, but there comes a time when developer input is needed to help freshen things up and provide a platform for players to try new ideas. We've asked FD to have a look at some of those ideas and see if they have any merit. If they do, then great, we have some interesting events and projects written that would compliment whatever FD can offer, if FD aint interested then we regroup and have a rethink on whether the time investment for a DW2 (that can't offer much more than what DW1 did) is worth it, and we make a decision and announce that decision in due course. But if people like the status quo and just want a simple jaunt to the far side and back, there's nothing stopping them doing just that. You don't need to wait around to join a Distant Worlds event to do that.

 

[roryclague]

Just want to chime in and say that I appreciate the efforts of the organisers to make DW2 really unique and groundbreaking. This will be the biggest event for explorers in the history of the game. All the events, community initiatives, group expeditions, the colonia project (CCN and all the other groups), astronomical databases, and mapping projects that have come before have each contributed something special to the exploration community. FGE, DW1, Canonn, and CCN, however, were milestone initiatives that each broke new ground in defining what the game and its community can be. I agree that just going out on a big expedition with a group of people to a remote destination is a lot of fun. Indeed, the best moments I've had in the game were in some of these group expeditions based on the fantastic DW1 template: LOG-E and the Minerva Centaurus Expedition, for example, were amazing and I met some really great CMDRs on those expeditions. But I respect the DW2 organisers for wanting to create a new template. They deserve feedback and cooperation from FDev. They have made the game better, and have attracted some of the game's best press. With all the grumbling lately amongst explorers, we should at least all agree that DW2 should be the best event possible, and I for one hope that Frontier cooperates.

 

[drkaii]

Just want to chime in and say that I appreciate the efforts of the organisers to make DW2 really unique and groundbreaking. This will be the biggest event for explorers in the history of the game. All the events, community initiatives, group expeditions, the colonia project (CCN and all the other groups), astronomical databases, and mapping projects that have come before have each contributed something special to the exploration community. FGE, DW1, Canonn, and CCN, however, were milestone initiatives that each broke new ground in defining what the game and its community can be. I agree that just going out on a big expedition with a group of people to a remote destination is a lot of fun. Indeed, the best moments I've had in the game were in some of these group expeditions based on the fantastic DW1 template: LOG-E and the Minerva Centaurus Expedition, for example, were amazing and I met some really great CMDRs on those expeditions. But I respect the DW2 organisers for wanting to create a new template. They deserve feedback and cooperation from FDev. They have made the game better, and have attracted some of the game's best press. With all the grumbling lately amongst explorers, we should at least all agree that DW2 should be the best event possible, and I for one hope that Frontier cooperates.

You put it way better than I feebly attempted to, thank you sir! You too Erimus, of course. That's the full explanation

 

[iain666]

All I want to say is that the spirit of Distant Worlds is to break new grounds. This is its legacy. Hence, we DO rely on FD to update their game to give us new things to pioneer. Distant Stars went off when we got the 4x jumps, Sudden Mystery when we got even further range.

I feel ya, what I think is the important distinction, that Henkka was also going for, is the difference between FDev dropping something new into the game and an expedition being organised relying on the new thing that is now there and building something up on the foundations of mechanics or features announced but not yet realised.

It's a tricky balance - the new stuff can drive the sign ups that can demonstrate the support to FDev and increase the drive to get the new stuff actually implemented but at the same time being too tied to currently unimplemented features can jeopardise the expedition actually happening (or happening as advertised at least) and that can damage the reputation of the DW team and the ability to mobilise that support the next time.

You've made yourselves a tightrope

 

[Mengy]

Distant Worlds 2 needs to be bigger than both of those. I am getting worried that it's going to be absolutely nothing different. Just a repeat of Distant Worlds 1, with slightly improved planet colours and a few new discovery techniques. We are watching this space.

I can understand this fear, especially with Frontier already dropping content from 3.3 and obviously in crunch mode. They might not be able to support the proposal to build science outposts at Sag A and Beagle.

If that comes to pass, and DW2 ends up being similar to DW1, meaning a trip to Beagle and back without the extra content via Frontier, then maybe a Plan B could be to shake the flight plan up a bit instead? As an alternative backup plan? For example, instead of going to Beagle and back, maybe a mass expedition to the "four corners" of the galaxy instead? That would make the trip bigger (longer) than the first, thereby more ambitious. Just a thought.

In the end I'm going no matter what happens just because I had so much fun on the first one. it still remains my favorite time spent in the game so far. I'm just proposing that the destination or what we do is less important than the fact that we do it together, no matter what it is.

 

[Henkka77]

All I want to say is that the spirit of Distant Worlds is to break new grounds. This is its legacy. Hence, we DO rely on FD to update their game to give us new things to pioneer. Distant Stars went off when we got the 4x jumps, Sudden Mystery when we got even further range.

Distant Worlds 2 needs to be bigger than both of those. I am getting worried that it's going to be absolutely nothing different. Just a repeat of Distant Worlds 1, with slightly improved planet colours and a few new discovery techniques. We are watching this space.

If FD can incorporate the megaship proposals and some of the CG stuff, that could be a saving grace for the expedition, give it something new and unique and a reason to go. Maybe. We are waiting to hear from them on many fronts, not just this one, before deciding if it's worth going yet or better to delay!

If some people just want to go to Beagle point and make an expedition out of it, by all means, I might even tag along - make an expedition out of it. But Distant Worlds has 3000 people waiting for something amazing. Going to beagle point is special, but not amazing in that sense. Ya feels me?

All i'm saying is that it's not the end of the world even if Fdev doesnt deliver what you have asked from them, and even more than that, no one wants to see DW2 postponed or even worse, canceled because of that stuff missing.
Yes, you, me and many of us has seen "everything there is", but for me it seems that you also forget those 2300 mass expedition first timers, who havent seen what we have seen at DWE and at many other expeditions. You really need to step into their shoes also, instead of constantly reminding how theres "nothing different" for you personally. I can see wheres that coming from, but after all, you are organizing an event for 3000 cmdrs, not just for yourself.

Trust me when i say that even without those big plans including fleet carriers, megaships and cg's, you would still have those 3000 cmdrs in roster.

 

[Maro-Val]

I am really happy to see Dr Kaii and Erimus to stand their ground. Instead of procceding to "just another" expedition for the sake of their announcement, they are waiting for FD to give them the "tools" to create AGAIN something magnificent and ground braking, that thousands of people will be part of.

I pretty much prefer a thousand times that this expedition doesn't take place at all, than to be another simple Beagle Point visit. I 've been to Beagle Point once allready and i didn't signed up here to do again just that.. I signed up to be part of something that will be remembered like the first Distant Worlds and Distant Stars.

This community has done SO MUCH good to this game, and especially the exploration community, have done wonders in creating content and creating so much good material for others to see and this game has been benefited the most, while explorers and expedition organizers never had plethora of in-game tools to work with, instead they doubled their love of exploring and they doubled their love to this game, in order to create true memories that are even mentioned in real life not just in gaming discords and forums.

I personally believe that the organizers of DW2 didn't used the success of previous expeditions to put pressure on Frontier in terms of time and they had perfect timing to their announcement (plenty of time for preperations on both sides) and provided a trully proffesional and complete ideas package that CAN BE DONE, concerning the game's possibilities. I would dare to say that they are willing to do much if not most of the work for this expedition. Frontier just HAS to do their part, not because the players are asking or the organizers, but because here in front of us lies an oppurtunity of something trully majestic to happen. The organizers are ready, the Commanders are ready, so Frontier... please do your part.