Story/PvP lore?

[Enride]

Being new to Elite as a whole, I do understand that this is a game, both single player and multiplayer, that will be heavily player driven. I understand that it will be up to a player to create his own story and see where it takes him/her in the universe.

But I still wonder, will there be any main story that unfolds?
And in Multiplayer, will there be any sort of PvP lore to keep players fighting for different factions/alliances?
Like a sort of "galactic map" where systems change allegiance depending on who controls the capital planet?

 

[JeffRyan]

Being new to Elite as a whole, I do understand that this is a game, both single player and multiplayer, that will be heavily player driven. I understand that it will be up to a player to create his own story and see where it takes him/her in the universe.

But I still wonder, will there be any main story that unfolds?
And in Multiplayer, will there be any sort of PvP lore to keep players fighting for different factions/alliances?
Like a sort of "galactic map" where systems change allegiance depending on who controls the capital planet?

I imagine so

 

[Susimetsa]

It will be a living universe and there will be local wars etc. where players can take sides.

 

[HaB1971]

What? welcome aboard...

Main story... no... this is up to you to do what you will...

I am always perplexed by peoples need for backstory and lore but there are books and articles on this kind of stuff...

Sorry I can't provide links or more info as I'm sure others will be able to assist you with that...

To me it is a game, there's a ship.. pew pew trade trade...

 

[Bob_H]

Being new to Elite as a whole, I do understand that this is a game, both single player and multiplayer, that will be heavily player driven. I understand that it will be up to a player to create his own story and see where it takes him/her in the universe.

But I still wonder, will there be any main story that unfolds?
And in Multiplayer, will there be any sort of PvP lore to keep players fighting for different factions/alliances?
Like a sort of "galactic map" where systems change allegiance depending on who controls the capital planet?

The game is heavily simulation driven but the simulation can be influenced to some extent by player actions and not as you understand it. The factions will be doing their own thing in the background simulation regardless of direct player actions or the results of any PvP combat. It's up to the players whether or not they get involved or even if they pick a side at all while they're involved. Elite is not really a PvP game. There are opportinities for players to interact, possibly ending up in fisty-cuffs but PvP is not the be-all-and-end-all of contacts, if any, between players.

The universe goes on regardless. The factions play their political games regardless. The players hope to survive through and possibly make some credits from the machinations as they unfold.

 

[Phaedra]

This Dev Diary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uKD1ap5hsI gives some idea of how player actions will impact on the background simulation and how this might in turn generate events that lead to player conflict. This thread from the DDA http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6305 gives more info on how the background simulation will use player actions to generate in game system events.

On more general lore, there have been a number of elite novels published since the 1980s and there is a whole section of the forum devoted to discussing them. I'm no expert, but I expect there will be some tweaking of the lore to accommodate the new game.

 

[Riedquat]

some light reading on the history of some of the systems here.

http://www.frontierastro.co.uk/Gazetteer/intro.html

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

As far as I know there *will* be lore, it is very hidden at this point to avoid spoilers. It will bind together with official novel, sequel of "Dark Wheel", and other official books.

Player itself won't be part of the story directly, but he will have a choice to take part in events to shape future of story of the game.

 

[HaiderGill]

Being new to Elite as a whole, I do understand that this is a game, both single player and multiplayer, that will be heavily player driven. I understand that it will be up to a player to create his own story and see where it takes him/her in the universe.

But I still wonder, will there be any main story that unfolds?
And in Multiplayer, will there be any sort of PvP lore to keep players fighting for different factions/alliances?
Like a sort of "galactic map" where systems change allegiance depending on who controls the capital planet?

Hmmm I think the devs can put some bones together but it's up to the players to put the meat on. For example I've got the Cobra pack. I'll be looking to increase my combat skills then align with a gang fighters and other transports to do some profitable trading. Trading being a supply and demand business really we'll want to have our 'turf'. Around that we can build alliances with other teams to carve up territory and also protect each other from other gangs. You attack my ally and my gang will attack you. This where the technicalities come into play. Apparently players can form groups who shall remain in the same 'dimension' of the virtual world. That is how I understand it anyway. I don't want FD creating the richness of a world give the players the ability to do that. There can be 'background' given by FD but it should be down to us.

 

[Enride]

Tnx for replies everyone, ill check out the links and read some more about the game.
When I'm mentioning Story, i don't mean I want a set row of missions that will take me through a story to end in some final fight.

But as an example, say I want to be a fighter pilot. Will there be a gamedriven army I can enlist into, from which ill be put to work or will I have to look for a player driver faction that mainly does fighting?

 

[Ayo]

Tnx for replies everyone, ill check out the links and read some more about the game.
When I'm mentioning Story, i don't mean I want a set row of missions that will take me through a story to end in some final fight.

But as an example, say I want to be a fighter pilot. Will there be a gamedriven army I can enlist into, from which ill be put to work or will I have to look for a player driver faction that mainly does fighting?

The factions in Fronter Elite 2 allowed you to do missions for their military. I suspect there will be plenty of NPC/faction missions that are related to the ongoing political/economic "story" that is being simulated and effected by players and injected events.

 

[Associat0r]

As far as I know there *will* be lore, it is very hidden at this point to avoid spoilers. It will bind together with official novel, sequel of "Dark Wheel", and other official books.

Player itself won't be part of the story directly, but he will have a choice to take part in events to shape future of story of the game.

Players will get their names mentioned in the news feeds and for discoveries shaping the in-game stories.

 

[Jon Jaymes]

Check http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Timeline for an overview of the timeline from 1950s to 3250s. ED starts around 3300.

That's actually far more lore than many are interested in, but gives a good background to the factions and various ships. In the eternal Cold War, the Federation is like the USA with all the evil that goes along with that. The Empire is the glorious power attempting to civilize space and make it safe for everybody (post-Soviet oligarchy with an Emperor on top). The Alliance is a kind of wishy-washy pinko commie organisation (the EU for short). Guess who I'll be flying for :smilie:

It's your own story as you fly around trying not to get your ass spread across several million km of vacuum

Jon Jaymes

 

[Andrew Sayers]

will there be any main story that unfolds?

Given the huge scale of the game, I expect we're more likely to see a whole range of little stories than one overarching one. Frontier's Factions and Causes proposal and Example Statuses proposal are probably the best guide to their thinking on the matter.

 

[Patrick_68000]

Events will be injected by the developers at regular intervals. Trade should also influence the evolution of factions. Render services to a particular faction, should improve your reputation in the faction. If you kill many senators of the empire, it is certain that you will not be greeted as a hero into the Empire

 

[Patrick_68000]

I think the story in the game will put in place itself automatically depending on the behavior of players

 

[VR jefranklin18]

Being new to Elite as a whole, I do understand that this is a game, both single player and multiplayer, that will be heavily player driven. I understand that it will be up to a player to create his own story and see where it takes him/her in the universe.

But I still wonder, will there be any main story that unfolds?
And in Multiplayer, will there be any sort of PvP lore to keep players fighting for different factions/alliances?
Like a sort of "galactic map" where systems change allegiance depending on who controls the capital planet?

Typically in the Elite universe, your destiny is pretty much in your own hands.

However, Frontier First Encounters contained a number of missions that you could choose to take on if you so wished and these are described in detail at http://www.jades.org/missions.htm

It may be worth giving this a read as it will give you some back story regarding the Empire vs the Federation, Thargoids, etc. There are also some incomplete missions described here: http://www.jades.org/brokmiss.htm

 

[Hamerstein]

Like a sort of "galactic map" where systems change allegiance depending on who controls the capital planet?

I sincerely hope this is the case.

One of the things I find frustrating when it comes to MMO games and PvP is that conflicts are static, you never get to feel that winning a battle makes any difference to the overall scheme of things - unless the game is patch updated by the developers (and then the decision is arbitrary). It makes battles feel like mini-games rather than part of the whole (which they often are). I may be wrong in this (I didn't play it much) but I think Dark Ages of Camelot had a player influenced territorial dynamic and it's rated as one of the best examples of PvP combat in an MMO.

The whole background simulation model gives me hope that we'll see something that's more credible and dynamic from ED.

EDIT - I should also add that I don't regard this as solely a PvP issue, PvPvE would be more accurate.

 

[Enride]

I sincerely hope this is the case.

One of the things I find frustrating when it comes to MMO games and PvP is that conflicts are static, you never get to feel that winning a battle makes any difference to the overall scheme of things - unless the game is patch updated by the developers (and then the decision is arbitrary). It makes battles feel like mini-games rather than part of the whole (which they often are). I may be wrong in this (I didn't play it much) but I think Dark Ages of Camelot had a player influenced territorial dynamic and it's rated as one of the best examples of PvP combat in an MMO.

The whole background simulation model gives me hope that we'll see something that's more credible and dynamic from ED.

EDIT - I should also add that I don't regard this as solely a PvP issue, PvPvE would be more accurate.

Yes, DAOC seem to have had a pretty good PvP mechanic, I'm currently playing a little ESO which apparently features very similar pvp created by some of those who was involved with DAOC back in those days.
Planetside1 (and somewhat Planetside2) are also good examples of a good pvp that triggers the player to keep fighting for a greater cause.

But in a game like this, I guess it would be too limiting to force players to choose one empire and then more or less be unable to travel to the opposing empires systems.
But possibly, one could be enlisted in one of the empires armies, go out and help the fight by defending/conquering systems, and still be able to travel wherever when not "on duty".