Horizons Strange game

[sirdir]

Hi!

I love Elite, it has been my first original game as a kid (~1984).
But some things are really annoying:
- The navigation system is worse than it was on my first GPS. When you travel between the 2 same stations, you lose a lot of time. Why can't you load/save favorites? Why are there no 'previous destinations'? When you are close to anlave, why do you have to write the whole name, why doesn't it show up after an a? (selecting it directly from the map often doesn't work on the xbox).

- Why is there a docking computer, but no auto pilot / auto thrust? when you drop out of hyperspace, the ship accelerates directly into the sun, very clever.
when flying towards a station, the ship decelerates, but if you don't pay close attention, you always overshoot. It takes quite some time and most of the time nothing happens. It's just sort of boring. with a working auto pilot you could at least play a little clash of clans in the mean time

maybe the worst:
- getting the merits just to keep lvl 4 (not even to think about lvl5) in your power leaves me no time to do anything else. I walk up to the xbox, turn on the tv and get my 25 informations... most of the time I need to end the game and restart it first, as otherwise the sound is not playing and when it comes to loading the game the ship in the splash screen just turns forever, the game never fully loads. This repeats 8 times a day, then you have to make a trip to another system, get back and continue with that chore. It would like to fight a little etc. but as I'd have to change the ship for that etc. I don't have time.
Before, I tried to earn some merits with military strikes, but they got so hard now I don't even try.

So, the last months, I didn't really 'play' at all, just earned those darned merits.
It's somewhat a pity, isn't it?

Regards
Patrick

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

If what you are doing in the ED sandbox is not fun then don't do it! If you want to grind then there are an awful lot of ways to choose to grind, and as you are finding that is not much fun.
.
It is easy to not overshoot in SC, just put the throttle in the blue zone before time to destination hits 6s and you won't overshoot (unless you are AFK). The lack of computers that fly the ship for you is intentional, it would not be much of a game if you just programmed some co-ordinates and the ship flew itself.

 

[777Driver]

Hi!

I love Elite, it has been my first original game as a kid (~1984).
But some things are really annoying:
- The navigation system is worse than it was on my first GPS. When you travel between the 2 same stations, you lose a lot of time. Why can't you load/save favorites? Why are there no 'previous destinations'? When you are close to anlave, why do you have to write the whole name, why doesn't it show up after an a? (selecting it directly from the map often doesn't work on the xbox).

- Why is there a docking computer, but no auto pilot / auto thrust? when you drop out of hyperspace, the ship accelerates directly into the sun, very clever.
when flying towards a station, the ship decelerates, but if you don't pay close attention, you always overshoot. It takes quite some time and most of the time nothing happens. It's just sort of boring. with a working auto pilot you could at least play a little clash of clans in the mean time

maybe the worst:
- getting the merits just to keep lvl 4 (not even to think about lvl5) in your power leaves me no time to do anything else. I walk up to the xbox, turn on the tv and get my 25 informations... most of the time I need to end the game and restart it first, as otherwise the sound is not playing and when it comes to loading the game the ship in the splash screen just turns forever, the game never fully loads. This repeats 8 times a day, then you have to make a trip to another system, get back and continue with that chore. It would like to fight a little etc. but as I'd have to change the ship for that etc. I don't have time.
Before, I tried to earn some merits with military strikes, but they got so hard now I don't even try.

So, the last months, I didn't really 'play' at all, just earned those darned merits.
It's somewhat a pity, isn't it?

Regards
Patrick

Hey Patrick, in supercruise you have the equivalent of autothrust. Bind a key to 75% throttle, when engaged it will provide optimum deceleration to your target.

As far as navigation goes, yes it is very poor ingame. Even a basic flight management system would be better than what we have.

 

[xondk]

Hi!
So, the last months, I didn't really 'play' at all, just earned those darned merits.
It's somewhat a pity, isn't it?

Regards
Patrick

So, on system map, how do you lose time? if something is 2 jumps, its 2 jumps, 2 jumps always take the same time? could you elaborate? though yes, it would be nice to be able to save routes and map them out separately and such.

'auto thrust' as you call it is basically what flight assist is, though currently the ship only automatically stop if you aren't focused on the screen when jumping into a system, meaning you've alt tabbed or similar, then it will auto stop the ship, otherwise, it won't, which is a bit weird, though you can at countdown just hit zero throttle and it will do that upon arrival.

As for ship control no auto pilot, that's a tricky issue, the general thing said is no ai's allowed, and that docking computer is guided by stations, which is amongst other things how it can wait in queue. Personally I don't think there should be an auto pilot, I really don't see any reason for it, aim and set throttle at 75% just in blue, and you will arrive just fine, and only need to hit the jump button yourself..

And yeah, powerplay is...powerplay, merit thing is what it is, way way way too much work to keep rank 5 especially if for example your rank 5 bonus is, exploration payout. Exploration + powerplay is nearly impossible unless you do nothing but Elite? But Braben have said they are working on it.

 

[Pville_Piper]

- The navigation system is worse than it was on my first GPS. When you travel between the 2 same stations, you lose a lot of time. Why can't you load/save favorites? Why are there no 'previous destinations'? When you are close to anlave, why do you have to write the whole name, why doesn't it show up after an a? (selecting it directly from the map often doesn't work on the xbox).

Valid points... Someone will tell you it is all a place holder to be finished in later builds or that it breaks their "immersion"... The reality is your points are good but are pretty much emblematic of the game, good bones but needs fleshing out.

Why is there a docking computer, but no auto pilot / auto thrust? when you drop out of hyperspace, the ship accelerates directly into the sun, very clever.
when flying towards a station, the ship decelerates, but if you don't pay close attention, you always overshoot. It takes quite some time and most of the time nothing happens. It's just sort of boring. with a working auto pilot you could at least play a little clash of clans in the mean time

Sure, go ahead and let the autopilot (if we had one) take control... Maybe they could spruce up the insurance screen as well seeing how you will be spending a lot of time there. Interdictions and all that, unless you want to have the autopilot fight for you too... Maybe the game can play it's self as well! I suggest you check out a couple of videos and basic flying and then have a go at it. I'm hotshot pilot but it really isn't all that hard.

maybe the worst:
- getting the merits just to keep lvl 4 (not even to think about lvl5) in your power leaves me no time to do anything else. I walk up to the xbox, turn on the tv and get my 25 informations... most of the time I need to end the game and restart it first, as otherwise the sound is not playing and when it comes to loading the game the ship in the splash screen just turns forever, the game never fully loads. This repeats 8 times a day, then you have to make a trip to another system, get back and continue with that chore. It would like to fight a little etc. but as I'd have to change the ship for that etc. I don't have time.
Before, I tried to earn some merits with military strikes, but they got so hard now I don't even try.

So, the last months, I didn't really 'play' at all, just earned those darned merits.
It's somewhat a pity, isn't it?

Regards
Patrick

I don't play the Galactic Powers game, just doesn't amuse me to have to figure out how to please a bunch of computer generated pyschos. There are a lot of loose ends in the game but there are a lot of very enjoyable moments as well. I really love the flying part, I love to get out in the SRV and do some driving like the Dukes of Hazzard on steroids (or is that asteroids), jumping and boosting my way along the planet surface. I've found that the grind isn't for me and with 250 hours in, 5 million in credits and 2 well kitted ships I'm having a good time. I do a little Res busting, bounty hunting in my Diamondback Scout and surface exploration/cargo runs in my Asp Explorer.
Maybe the game isn't for you?

 

[sirdir]

So, on system map, how do you lose time? if something is 2 jumps, its 2 jumps, 2 jumps always take the same time? could you elaborate? though yes, it would be nice to be able to save routes and map them out separately and such.

Can it be a lot of you people are playing on PC, not on xbox? I guess a lot of points aren't as bad, there. Even to open up the galaxy or systems map is breaking the 'immersion' for me, as the game locks up for several seconds before opening up those screens. And typing 'anlave' on the xbox takes far too long...


'auto thrust' as you call it is basically what flight assist is, though currently the ship only automatically stop if you aren't focused on the screen when jumping into a system, meaning you've alt tabbed or similar, then it will auto stop the ship, otherwise, it won't, which is a bit weird, though you can at countdown just hit zero throttle and it will do that upon arrival.

As for ship control no auto pilot, that's a tricky issue, the general thing said is no ai's allowed, and that docking computer is guided by stations, which is amongst other things how it can wait in queue. Personally I don't think there should be an auto pilot, I really don't see any reason for it, aim and set throttle at 75% just in blue, and you will arrive just fine, and only need to hit the jump button yourself..

I just find the basic flying boring. Then I get distracted and miss the station.
And I find it hard to believe that something that every plane has today isn't standard in 32xx or whenever the game plays. Of course the auto pilot shouldn't fight, it could just warn that you are interdicted or attacked and then you have to take over. Whatever.
Hitting 75% isn't that easy on the xbox (I also don't see how I could bind 'a key to it' as 777Driver states). I keep waiting till time to destination is down to ~10 seconds and set the power in a way that it stays more or less that way. But still I find it cumbersome.
Also this 'never correct' ETA is something I find disturbing.

 

[sirdir]

I don't play the Galactic Powers game, just doesn't amuse me to have to figure out how to please a bunch of computer generated pyschos. There are a lot of loose ends in the game but there are a lot of very enjoyable moments as well. I really love the flying part, I love to get out in the SRV and do some driving like the Dukes of Hazzard on steroids (or is that asteroids), jumping and boosting my way along the planet surface. I've found that the grind isn't for me and with 250 hours in, 5 million in credits and 2 well kitted ships I'm having a good time. I do a little Res busting, bounty hunting in my Diamondback Scout and surface exploration/cargo runs in my Asp Explorer.
Maybe the game isn't for you?

Sorry for the wrong quoting in the last post, it seems I'm not allowed to edit it.
Anyway, as I said, it was my first (original) game and even because of that I like to play it. But there are just some points that could make it so much more enjoyable to me. Maybe I shouldn't have started with the merits, I enjoyed it much more before, but it's kind of hard to stop. Anyway, when I'm away for holidays I'll drop out of merits anyway and maybe that's the moment to stop.

I also find the ships strengths somewhat unbalanced. The Cobra is OK so far, but the Viper Mk IV is very weak, even fully upgraded. I can fire on them forever and they barely lose shields, but if I use it myself 2 seconds and the shields are gone.

I also don't understand why you can't have your ships moved between stations (make it cost a little, somebody will do it for you ). Or offer taxi flights. I don't think you should have to buy a new ship and abandon that just to rearrange your ships.

Thousands of hours of hard work have gone into that game and so much has been achieved, but it seems that everything that would make the game more enjoyable has been left out ^^

Of course that the game doesn't properly work most of the time when the xbox is coming out of power safe mode doesn't help, either.

BTW, my rank is master, it's not that I haven't played yet.

 

[sirdir]

BTW if the profile would be interchangeable between PC, XBOX (and hopefully, one day ps4, I never use the xbox except for Elite) that would be the best thing ever. I'd build me a top level gaming PC (haven't done that in a decade) and play with an oculus or something... I fear on the xbox VR won't be really that great.

 

[Sapient6]

meaning you've alt tabbed or similar, then it will auto stop the ship, otherwise, it won't, which is a bit weird

This isn't weird.

If you're traveling a long distance, which I would qualify as anything over 50 hyperspace jumps on the "Fastest" setting (as opposed to "Economical", and your goal is to make those jumps as quickly as possible (without running out of fuel), then you don't want to let off the throttle. You want your ship to begin accelerating ASAP upon jumping in because this is the best way to scoop enough fuel to keep going, and still be able to begin the hyperspace countdown the moment the FSD comes off cooldown.

Automatically zeroing the throttle would be super obnoxious.

 

[sirdir]

Automatically zeroing the throttle would be super obnoxious.

The first versions of the xbox beta (I think until release) were doing exactly this. Suddenly the behavior changed.

 

[Pazmino]

Hi!

I love Elite, it has been my first original game as a kid (~1984).

Same here

But some things are really annoying:
- The navigation system is worse than it was on my first GPS. When you travel between the 2 same stations, you lose a lot of time. Why can't you load/save favorites? Why are there no 'previous destinations'? When you are close to anlave, why do you have to write the whole name, why doesn't it show up after an a? (selecting it directly from the map often doesn't work on the xbox).

Yes, that is annoying an a lot of players hope this is addressed soon^TM

- Why is there a docking computer, but no auto pilot / auto thrust? when you drop out of hyperspace, the ship accelerates directly into the sun, very clever.

Bind a key to set zero throttle. The moment the lovely lady starts counting, hit it and you arrive with zero throttle. Don't know if FA Off sets speed to zero after a jump.

when flying towards a station, the ship decelerates, but if you don't pay close attention, you always overshoot. It takes quite some time and most of the time nothing happens. It's just sort of boring. with a working auto pilot you could at least play a little clash of clans in the mean time

Bind a key to 50% throttle when not in super cruise to get best ship control. When SC, bind a key to 75% throttle. This turns on the auto-speed function.
Maybe EvE is the game you are looking for? That is why I stopped playing EvE, among other reasons - no imminent ship control and not players skill based, only avatar based skill counted.

maybe the worst:
- getting the merits just to keep lvl 4 (not even to think about lvl5) in your power leaves me no time to do anything else. I walk up to the xbox, turn on the tv and get my 25 informations... most of the time I need to end the game and restart it first, as otherwise the sound is not playing and when it comes to loading the game the ship in the splash screen just turns forever, the game never fully loads. This repeats 8 times a day, then you have to make a trip to another system, get back and continue with that chore. It would like to fight a little etc. but as I'd have to change the ship for that etc. I don't have time.
Before, I tried to earn some merits with military strikes, but they got so hard now I don't even try.

So, the last months, I didn't really 'play' at all, just earned those darned merits.
It's somewhat a pity, isn't it?

Well, I wasted a good month in PP and it totally took away the joy of ED. I quit PP and all was good. Go mining, RES hunting, etc. all more fun than PP. I only now pledged since I'm on an exploration trip and get 1k a week for the fun of doing so and getting the messages Your power needs you. lol
Free yourself and enjoy the game.

 

[CDR Michael Darkmoor]

....
Automatically zeroing the throttle would be super obnoxious.

-
Unless you are exploring unknown systems... then it becomes almost a necessity (at least for some people). Especially, when spending several hours going system to system at high speed can wear even the sharpest pilot and best outfitted ship down...
-
Having the option to do so (auto stop on jump) would be of great benefit to those without an AI to help.