Horizons The Great Time Eater

[Pville_Piper]

Usually I play mostly first person shooter with some internet friends I’ve met over the years and it is a blast as we chat on TS and rib each other. But they started playing racing games, which I hate, and BF4 was getting boring so I looked for something else. After reading the reviews I decided to give Elite Dangerous a try. I love flight sims but I’m generally not very good at combat and thought the space angle would be interesting. As everyone here knows it was a steep learning curve. In fact, if it wasn’t for the forums I would have given up the game a long time ago. But I grew to love the game and it was my weekend morning’s game that I could get lost in for a couple of hours before the gang got on the web. I played only solo and traded mostly and it became the game I played for me. I was on the fence about Horizons but decided to get it as well. Again, the steep learning curve and, let’s face it, the game is broken.
<RANT ON>
The missions and the concepts behind them are just broken and huge time eaters. One of the issues I have with this game is missions. If you accept a mission that has a time limit, that time limit expires in REAL TIME, not game time. Hey developers… NEWS FLASH!!! The game is what I do to relax, I don’t live my life around or for the game. If I log out, the mission timer should stop. Period. It should not continue to count and cost me credits or reputation just because it was time to do other things like living my life.
The main 2 missions I have tried in Horizons is search and rescue and the 3 step locate and transport items.
The transport wants you source an item, purchase it and then deliver to a port where you will receive another item to source and deliver. What I hate is half of the time the second item needs to be delivered to a port that is 100,000 + light seconds away from the system start point. It just takes too long to complete the mission. And that that is if you don’t decide that you want to fill up your hold and sell it at the delivery point which is a loser because:

1. No information exists on said delivery point and may not even be on the system charts.
2. The delivery point has no commodity market.
3. The port sells exactly the same commodities so no profit could be made so you have to go to yet another system to purchase trade goods to sell there. A HUGE time eater.

The missing pilot mission is a joke. You fly till you see a blue blob, land and run around till you find the wreckage, which is usually guarded by skimmers… Who are Wanted!??? If you scan them and they come up wanted, you will get a bounty for destroying them… And you then become wanted for shooting them. They were wanted in this system and you become wanted for destroying them… But only after you hyper jump out. After which you will not be wanted in the system anymore. But you will have to pay a fine for destroying wanted robots… It MAKES NO SENSE!!! Who makes this crap up?!!! My 6 year old grandson makes up better story lines than this!
Not to mention that there is often more survival canisters that you can either sell for 4000 (bad idea) or to the next station for 40,000 to 120,000 credits. I have become an expert at finding them and usually have a good stock of missing pilots on hand.
And don’t get me started on the whole time delayed bounty thing which makes no sense and most of the time I have no idea on why I’m being fined or have had a bounty placed on me. Nor can you find that information out.
So much of this game relies on 3^{[SIZE=2]rd[/SIZE]} party information such as Thrudds tools that it is pathetic. What amazes me is that a people who can devise and map space routes can’t and even put a marker on a planetary body so that you could return to the same spot and finish retrieving or salvaging items.
Another thing that bugs me is that so many missions start out in an agricultural system (for instance) to take goods to an agricultural system so you have to go to another system just to get some items to fill your hold. Or even worse. You are in an agricultural system and you have a mission to a system that has no food sources in that system (example: an extraction). So you load up on meat, tea, coffee and fly there only to find that you will LOSE credits if you sell to that port! Somebody needs to think that one out a little better.
So much of this game requires you to play for 2 to 4 hours just to accomplish missions that the game almost isn’t worth playing if you want to be a good guy with a clean rep. The game pretty much forces you to get into smuggling, bounty hunting, or pirating, things I have little use for. I hate having to keep up with what fraction wants me dead ect…
Which is all so disappointing because the game has really good bones to it… Just no meat on those bones.
Oh well, <RANT OFF> soap box yielded…

 

[InMemoriamSirocco]

It MAKES NO SENSE!!! Who makes this crap up?!!! My 6 year old grandson makes up better story lines than this!

I have screamed that at the screen while playing Elite Dangerous very often. It is particularly astonishing if you consider the fact that science fiction authors who have written several novels are working core members of the development team.

Yep... I didn't read those novels yet, but judging from the storytelling in this game, they cannot be good. Either that or I have no explanation for the lack of credibility in every single aspect of the game, especially missions.

 

[yukkerz]

Maybe a little research before you invest in a game? It seems like you are not sure what you were looking for in this game. This game does require some long play time on the first time you start playing. Don't expect to get millions doing simple missions. I have 90 hours in ED Horizons and have yet to use a 3rd party site, and only ran into a few problems with missions (mainly when I rank up in Empire.) Not sure what you are talking about that it takes 2-4 hours to complete a mission. As far as selling to other ports you have to see what that port exports and imports. Of course you won't make a profit if you are sending food and whatnot to a port that is agricultural. I do agree that the game is missions a lot more different type of missions and imo more ships, and I am hoping we see more in the coming months.

 

[Pville_Piper]

Maybe a little research before youinvest in a game? It seems like you are not sure what you were looking for inthis game. This game does require some long play time on the first time youstart playing. Don't expect to get millions doing simple missions. I have 90hours in ED Horizons and have yet to use a 3rd party site, and only ran into afew problems with missions (mainly when I rank up in Empire.) Not sure what youare talking about that it takes 2-4 hours to complete a mission. As far asselling to other ports you have to see what that port exports and imports. Ofcourse you won't make a profit if you are sending food and whatnot to a portthat is agricultural. I do agree that the game is missions a lot more differenttype of missions and imo more ships, and I am hoping we see more in the comingmonths.

I did research the and it was one of the qualms I had going into it. In thestandard game I would just not accept missions to stations that were over 1000Ls. But in Horizons, you can't always get the information on the station orsystem location. I never expected to make millions on simple missions, however,as a trader, it behooves me to fill up my hold and maximize my profit. Whichtakes forever to do with the 3 step trading mission. If you just fly themission, not trying to make extra, it takes a lot less time but you looseat least 20,000 in extra credits. Which is a lot... Because you are not makingmillions. I don't disagree that you won't make much or anything at all fromsending from an agricultural planet to another... Except, for instance, thesystem that I'm flying to produce coffee for instance. If it doesn’t produce itwon’t buy any either. Which makes sense in an extraction system that theywouldn’t buy minerals or metals as they are supplying those to industries andwouldn’t have any use for them. But everybody who doesn’t produce food shouldhave as a standard the market to sell them unless it is prohibited. A few otheritems such as consumer goods, legal narcotics should always be available forsale in all systems that don’t produce them or ports that are not orbitingagricultural planets. As a trader, you are basically bringing supplies to thestore. You are like the waggoneers of the old west. Bringing the goods that youare paid to haul, and a few luxuries that the “company store” doesn’t sell.
While I enjoy the piloting of the ships I don’t enjoy superlong slogs to a remote station only to find it won’t even buy items like food,wine or beer for more than I paid for them. I also don’t like lifting off aplanet and traveling to a station that is 52 Ls and it takes as long as orlonger to fly from the sun to a station 1800 Ls away. If they would fix theshort distance speed issue as well as making it so you can rotate the ship,while landing, faster it would be a lot less of a time consumer.

 

[bootsam]

BF4 vs ED is a mismatch. I play BF4 too for some insta action. But its getting a bit wierd as the hacks, macro kiddies & glitchers run freely. So I too have binned it. But I jump in now and again for some action.

ED is a more relaxed game. For Gentlemen. Unless you hail from Lave. Furthermore you have to figure it out for yourself. How to go about things etc. You get better and better at it but its a steep curve. It sure is a time eater. But its a relaxed time eater and for me thats what I enjoy about it. I dont have to rush about like a madman, checking my 6 and keeping an eye on my flanks like some paranoid and jumpy trigger happy sociopath.

Plus the game is in evolution, what we have is the spine of the game and some vital organs but there are still many parts to come. So there are a few oddities and bugs and some unfinished content. The galaxy is huge. Really huge. See Douglas Adams for just how mind boggingly huge it is. You think Silk Road is a big map? Thats peanuts to ED. Plus there are no hill humping snipers or tank es so alls well.

There are many tools available to assist you with trading, to help you check etc. Many are listed on this forum.

But expect life to be quiet with sudden emergencies that will kill the unawares. But it is no BF4.

 

[Zeromancer]

One of the issues I have with this game is missions. If you accept a mission that has a time limit, that time limit expires in REAL TIME, not game time.

Well, this is a space SIM. Time and space do not shut down just because you logg off..

 

[Quester91]

I agree, mission time has to flow even if the player logs off. It adds to the immersion.

That said, the missions are terrible and a complete no sense,they have to be rewritten from scratch or fixed with some crazy mindblowing ideas.

 

[bitstorm]

which is usually guarded by skimmers… Who are Wanted!??? If you scan them and they come up wanted

Heh this is actually a good point.

Wanted drones in a world where AI has been outlawed. Hmmm.

I guess changing "wanted" to something more appropriate makes sense here, I added a bug : https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=223312

 

[Ddraig]

I agree with you on the wanted, fines and stuff on skimmers, it makes no sense at all.
The missions, yeah some are very idiotic, no doubt.
However, I do enjoy long distance deliveries because it makes sense considering the nature of a fictitious market on the galaxy, and usually those pay quite well too.
And it is alright to be time consuming, the game works ok like that, is not an instant gratification one like a shooter.
I wont white knight the game, but I do think that sometimes it simply does not work for a type of person.

 

[Jezzah]

Well said in general there OP. Dont listen to those that say you should have done research or other guff. You play the game you needed forums to understand a lot of it and you are seeing it's flaws.

The same sorts of flaws we have seen in the game since season one alpha way bacckkkkk. So yeah keep on with the constructive criticism where possible.

 

[Greyhawk]

Never needed any third party tools to trade. Often I can trade within the same system. The tools are there to find who needs what. I've also never got a bounty or fine on me for destroying wanted skimmers. You just need to make sure they are scanned first and are definitely wanted. You can destroy all skimmers in anarchy systems with no penalty.

Missions aren't great though - I think that most players would agree on that one. I'd prefer some exploration related missions such as "retrieve seismic probe at coordinates xyz" or "survey crater deposits at location xyz", "deploy science package at four locations" etc.

 

[Pville_Piper]

Never needed any third party tools to trade.

You don't, but I have found if you want to maximize your trading and have a crap memory (like I do) it really helps.

I've also never got a bounty or fine on me for destroying wanted skimmers. You just need to make sure they are scanned first and are definitely wanted.

I always scan them, rarely are they clean. It's gotten to the point I don't bother to shot them unless the terrain is too difficult to retrieve the items without the skimmers opening fire on you.

You can destroy all skimmers in anarchy systems with no penalty.

Thanks for the tip... good too know.

Missions aren't great though - I think that most players would agree on that one. I'd prefer some exploration related missions such as "retrieve seismic probe at coordinates xyz" or "survey crater deposits at location xyz", "deploy science package at four locations" etc.

Good ideas, the missions do need to be fleshed out and have reasons and story lines to them.

Look, don't get me wrong, I never expected the game to be like BF4. In fact I was expressly looking for something different to play. The game has great bones and I overall enjoy the game. The issue of the clock always running is a pain as it costs you rep and credits. Like I said, life happens, the game is secondary to life and should make allowances for life, not the other way around. I really hate it when I've put in 3 hours, I'm ready to do other things and a really good paying mission pops up. It won't be there when I log back hours later nor can I accept it without penalty. I could see if I was doing the power play thing but I'm playing solo so what does it matter?
I have enjoyed the grind a bit because I enjoy flying the ships.The flight mechanics have improved quite a bit since I started playing the game. The biggest issues I have is how long it takes to rotate the ship when hovering above the pad or how long it takes to fly short distances in a system. But other than that I'm excited to get back home and try out my new ship, the Diamondback Scout. I just bought it before it went on the road for work. I traded in my Cobra IV for it. I like the Cobra for its hauling capacity and fire power but dislike it's speed and agility. I am also looking forward to better visibility out of the cockpit which I have missed since flying the Sidewinders and Eagles.
I took a short trip in the DBS and was impressed with it. I have fitted it out with for light trading and combat. Can't wait to get back in the cockpit!

 

[Greyhawk]

Flying a Diamondback Explorer right now. Its ok but not enough internal compartments to be a true explorer ship. Have to fit mine with no cargo racks just to get it to minimum exploration equipment levels.

Regarding trading, to be honest I dont really do it anymore. I'm having more fun planet scavenging when I'm not exploring. I'm not really all that bothered about making loads of cash, just zooming around, taking in the sights and relaxing. Just drove down a 10km high mountain - 65 degree slope. That was fun. I had to repair in mid air when I mistimed a jump and started tumbling down the side of the mountain before regaining control!

 

[Deleted member 38366]

The missing pilot mission is a joke. You fly till you see a blue blob, land and run around till you find the wreckage, which is usually guarded by skimmers… Who are Wanted!??? If you scan them and they come up wanted, you will get a bounty for destroying them… And you then become wanted for shooting them. They were wanted in this system and you become wanted for destroying them… But only after you hyper jump out. After which you will not be wanted in the system anymore. But you will have to pay a fine for destroying wanted robots… It MAKES NO SENSE!!! Who makes this crap up?!!! My 6 year old grandson makes up better story lines than this!

The new V1.5/2.0 Missions are frequently broken indeed right now, tons of issues with them.
Until they are fixed for good, better simply stay away from them.

The WANTED issue on Skimmers is another issue and acknowledged by the Devs (unintended behaviour). Expect a fix for that soon.

On the "it doesn't make sense" issue.
*uhm*
Don't know how to say it, I only know one way.

Tons of things in ELITE don't make any sense. Big things. Small things. Weird things. Ridiculous things. In many places, if you look under the hood or take a closer look. The list has grown long.
Some of these are Design Decisions(tm), some of them simply are that way (often since V1.0 Release or even earlier from Pre-Release Beta/Gamma).
Asked to be fixed countless times, never happened.

Try to ignore it or you'll go crazy. See it as a Game, just go along and don't even think in terms of immersion during these moments.
Expect a fix for that as soon(tm) as Frontier hires that needed Common Sense Specialist I'm often joking about. Unsure if they'll ever do, though.

PS.
And +1 for mentioning that a smart 6yo indeed often could come up with more reasonable and logical implementation.
Sad but true in many cases, it's often stuff that would be easy to fix (and even easier not to create these logical breaks in the 1st place during concepting & initial implementation)...

Bottom line : go with and enjoy what works for you. Ignore everything else whenever possible.

 

[Pville_Piper]

Sad but true in many cases, it's often stuff that would be easy to fix (and even easier not to create these logical breaks in the 1st place during concepting & initial implementation)...

Bottom line : go with and enjoy what works for you. Ignore everything else whenever possible.

It is sad that it doesn't seem like it would take much to fix a lot of these issues. It seems to be a trend these days with games in general. Just take a look at how broken the latest Batman game came out to name one. It part of it is trying to do too much with too few resources.
I do try to just roll with the punches, like making the broken missing pilot thing work for me by stocking up in pilots. My wife gets a laugh when I say "oh look, they have a missing pilot, I just happen to have few!"

 

[Ian Skippy]

If they would [snip] make it so you can rotate the ship,while landing, faster it would be a lot less of a time consumer.

Dont use yaw. Point your ship straight down at the pad, roll 180, pitch back up. Takes four seconds or so. And if you plan your flight route you can do this on your approach.

 

[Pville_Piper]

That's what I generally do but there is a bug in the planetary landings. You're pointed in the correct orientation but you're ship on the pad simulator is backwards and you have to rotate 180 to get the lock to grip you.

 

[Jaeger]

I have screamed that at the screen while playing Elite Dangerous very often. It is particularly astonishing if you consider the fact that science fiction authors who have written several novels are working core members of the development team.

Yep... I didn't read those novels yet, but judging from the storytelling in this game, they cannot be good. Either that or I have no explanation for the lack of credibility in every single aspect of the game, especially missions.

This bothers me as well -- FDev obviously have the talent... what happened that turned them into a cash cow milking monster with no regard for the core game ?

The mission and faction system in Frontier was a similar buggy disaster... It has to be the man himself dictating. Makes me think that Ian Bell was the one who brought humanity to the enterprise back in the day. Invented the secret missions etc..

80s grind fest and a muddled mission/faction system.. pffft