The Planetary landing and planetside missions discussion Thread

I'm so tired of people asking for planetary landings. A feature like like would cost Frontier months and months to develop. What are you going to do when you get down to the planet? Collect samples? First person shooter? Seriously go play a different game instead.

I have a few ideas of things that would be much easier and faster to implement and a lot more fun:

Please add more ideas and lets forget about boring stuff like planetary landings and walking around space ships.

Your ideas are interesting, but not really what I'm looking for. You should go play a different game if those are the things you want as that's not what Elite is about. (See what I did there?)

We backed Elite Dangerous for things like planetary landings. It's one of the core aspects of what makes Elite and Frontier what they are / were.
 
Why wouldn't they wouldn't the series to include a major feature that was included over 20 years ago?

This is what we had 20 years ago. Is this what you want or something a little more advanced?

[video=youtube;3ta0l94B9hs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ta0l94B9hs[/video]
 
The last two games in the series had free-form planetary landing and were praised for the feeling of freedom it gave even if there wasn't that much to do.

Why wouldn't they wouldn't the series to include a major feature that was included over 20 years ago?

The expansion packs are (presumably) being developed by a separate team or at least in some isolation from the main game. It's essentially another game Frontier have in development. They are a long standing studio capable of developing many projects. I don't see why they wouldn't be able to have this development going on alongside the main game development without much impact. The idea is for the expansions to provide a good return, and it probably will.

Good reasoning
 
I have a few ideas of things that would be much easier and faster to implement and a lot more fun:



  1. Boss fights : a wing of commanders take on a capitol ship and try to destroy it.
  2. Defend the space station : shoot rebel/alien ships that are attacking a space station
  3. Defend the planet : scoop escape pod canisters escaping the surface of a planet that's under attack and deliver them to safety
  4. pvp battlegrounds (I guess these are already coming)
  5. Inter ship docking : Dock your viper into an Anaconda and fly with them – may man one of the turret weapons
  6. Ship tow bar module : allow ships to be towed from one station to another – to move your own ships or other people's ships for credits


Please add more ideas and lets forget about boring stuff like planetary landings and walking around space ships.

Your ideas are good- and some would be able to be implemented using existing assets. More diverse missions will be crucial to the longevity of the game, so good job :)

Planetary landings are coming though ;)
 
To some though its just a transition that once you've seen a few times it wears thin. For me its not so much PL that's exciting more what you can do once you get there. EVA should be developed first then PL. The former gives purpose and meaning to the latter beyond a 5 minute thrill.
 
My most anticipated feature is being able to walk around ships, stations and planets in first person. I got no need for it to turn into a shooter - I wouldn't mind if FD actually makes it illegal to carry a sidearm (or any weapon) on most stations and planets that isn't Anarchy. So like with airports, your character need go through a security-check before gaining access to the station/planet proper.

Anyway, I'm digressing. My point is, I'm looking forward to the game becoming more immersive. Planet-landings is a big part of that, but the biggest by far is to not be glued to the Captains-Chair (Yes, most my ships got a Bridge, not a puny cockpit :p )
 
meh,,i just need a microwave and im ok.
Fishtanks though. thats something i would pledge an insane amount of money for.

Why go to the trouble and expense of transporting live fish into space if you're just going to microwave them? :(

To be ot (really).. Things like 'planetary/station defense' missions could be great fun if done well. Missions in general need to be made far more interesting, let's just hope they have some decent ideas and plan to implement them in the not oo distant future.
 
If landing on a planet gave a different, challenging and fun flying experience that'd be very cool. But I'd want no more than a planet-based station, similar to space stations, once landed. No fps stuff. FD have enough of a challenge finishing what they've already done.

Agree.
Might be nice to be able to bomb pirate bases or engage in some combat in the atmosphere.
Also build your own home base and employ a butler that can fly your ships to wherever you are and take a taxi home :)
 
I'm so tired of people asking for planetary landings. A feature like like would cost Frontier months and months to develop. What are you going to do when you get down to the planet? Collect samples? First person shooter? Seriously go play a different game instead.

It is, sort of, a different game. It is going to be big enough (or so the story goes) that it has to be an expansion, and one you should expect a hefty price tag for. It already has a separate development team. Things are already about as isolated as you could hope for those that do not want planetary landing.

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My most anticipated feature is being able to walk around ships, stations and planets in first person. I got no need for it to turn into a shooter - I wouldn't mind if FD actually makes it illegal to carry a sidearm (or any weapon) on most stations and planets that isn't Anarchy. So like with airports, your character need go through a security-check before gaining access to the station/planet proper.

Anyway, I'm digressing. My point is, I'm looking forward to the game becoming more immersive. Planet-landings is a big part of that, but the biggest by far is to not be glued to the Captains-Chair (Yes, most my ships got a Bridge, not a puny cockpit :p )
As we discussed as some length in the DDA, there is a big problem with a FPS: you can get shot. The lore is that you never get killed in your ship: when it is about to explode, your escape capsule (which, wonder of wonders, is indestructible) whisks you back to the last place you docked. FD wanted to avoid 'magic' wherever possible, so no cloning, etc. So how does the 'dead but not really dead' work in an FPS bit of E: D?
 
It's been 6 months and core, base areas of the game are still need of revamps and substantial upgrades. I just cannot imagine Planetary Landings coming within the next year or two, or at all.
 
To some though its just a transition that once you've seen a few times it wears thin. For me its not so much PL that's exciting more what you can do once you get there. EVA should be developed first then PL. The former gives purpose and meaning to the latter beyond a 5 minute thrill.

This is the thing though. We already have a whole galaxy like that. Lots of "ooh, ahh" which wears thin after a little while. I'd much prefer to see all that filled in with more of "what you can do once you get there". Adding just another thing that needs filling in doesn't fill me with a lot of excitement. If they can show us the sort of creative, engaging content they can fill all the other features with first, then I might get excited about new features to fill with more content. Landing on planets is not content, it should only be a means to access more content that isn't available elsewhere. Hopefully it will amount to more than just "big game hunting".
 
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This is the thing though. We already have a whole galaxy like that. Lots of "ooh, ahh" which wears thin after a little while. I'd much prefer to see all that filled in with more of "what you can do once you get there". Adding just another thing that needs filling in doesn't fill me with a lot of excitement. If they can show us the sort of creative, engaging content they can fill all the other features with first, then I might get excited about new features to fill with more content. Landing on planets is not content, it should only be a means to access more content that isn't available elsewhere. Hopefully it will amount to more than just "big game hunting".

Quite - timelines suggest FD work on major things in parallel but have issues with integration / bug testing. I wouldn't be surprised if FD already have PL working albeit rudimentary. What next is the key thing.

I do hope part of FD is devoted to filling in ED with more from DDA - piracy as a role; ironman; exploration made interesting; salvage rights; the list is long and if they can develop some of this for those not interested in PL it may help towards the inevitable complaint threads too
 
It's been 6 months and core, base areas of the game are still need of revamps and substantial upgrades. I just cannot imagine Planetary Landings coming within the next year or two, or at all.

I can certainly imagine it. FD have shown that they are perfectly willing to pile new shiny stuff (well, what is supposed to be shiny stuff) on top of that incomplete foundation. I see no particular reason why they would think they need to change that policy - they have ignored those of us screaming for the core to be finished for a year or so. I think it would be dumb, but then I am hardly a fan of what they have done i the last year anyway.

There is a separate development team working on the expansions. The core team has not shrunk because expansions have come along. Thus, in a sense, they are not preventing that core infrastructure work happening if they work on expansions. Of course, many of us would argue that they should throw those extra resources at the core game, to get it up to scratch, and then move on to the expansions. But I doubt it will happen.
 
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