I think you're missing the point, Seamless Planetary Landings IS a priority. It is very important to a lot of people, me included. I am encouraged by David saying he wants planetary landings, I have faith Frontier can do it, and do it well.
The Planetary landing and planetside missions discussion Thread
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Again. They are a multi title studio perfectly capable of handling separate ongoing projects. Do you really think they are working on all ED work before lunch and then switch to Planet Coaster in the afternoon?
I hope not
Sorry thats no totally correct. As long as you have constant thrust that counteracts gravity you can reach space going any speed. It will just use a load more fuel.
Also it would take a lot longer as well.
Count me in the not interested camp - as a PreBeta backer i'm going to get this anyway I just hope I can opt out
FPS games I cant play due to the controls needed to play that style it scares me thinking about it
^^this^^
That just had me thinking of a question, maybe Michael can answer (or someone at Frontier) ... do Frontier switch people around after, say, a week or two to keep people fresh and not let them get bored or whatever on one project all the time?Again. They are a multi title studio perfectly capable of handling separate ongoing projects. Do you really think they are working on all ED work before lunch and then switch to Planet Coaster in the afternoon?
I hope not
Robert Maynard
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.... if you're going to switch the engines off when you get there, yes.
With enough fuel, a craft could leave the surface at 1 m/s upwards and leave the atmosphere about five-and-a-half days later, never exceeding 1m/s upwards.
Again. They are a multi title studio perfectly capable of handling separate ongoing projects. Do you really think they are working on all ED work before lunch and then switch to Planet Coaster in the afternoon?
I hope not
Besides which, look at the perspective of the bean counters. They can easily see that development effort put into building a new sku on their products to sell will generate a return. They can have an argument about how many copies they will sell, what the price should be, and so on, but new product = new sales is an easy thing for everyone to get behind. It is much harder to push the argument that putting in, say, a proper exploration feature, or, even more so, persistent NPCs, would generate sufficient extra sales to pay for the cost of doing them. We know how important those things are, but their importance is to existing players (who will not buy it again) not to prospective buyers. You have to get int arguments about how you have to do these things to stop bad feedback and decay of existing players causing prospective new players not to buy - a much harder argument to win (though one we all know they must win). I am not worried that the expansions are at risk. I am much more worried that work on the core game is at risk.
FD/David always said Planetary Landings would be included (and as part of a paid expansion).
Personally I have never doubted it would be included but always later on down the line when FD have put in the core of the space flight part. I understood that it would start with minor landing on airless bodies and expand from there - although how you roll that out if it is supposed to be a paid expansion?
I suspect we have a few other updates to come before we get hints of any paid expansion.
Is is important? Yes very, it is a crucial part of the overall game structure.
Is is a priority? That is a tougher question - there are many other aspects that still need to be added that are more of a priority (IMO) like Persistent NPC contacts and more structured missions trees. Perhaps even walking/floating around on ships is more of a priority?
(This last question is more personal than the first I think).
Actually its a good idea to do that because having a single point of expertise on any one part of a project is extremely risky in case they get run over by a bus.
Well, in most development organisations they move around, yes. But not after a week or two. Small teams come together for a project that is a small subset of the product as a whole. Size and length will vary, but a few weeks is more likely than one or two. When that small project is done, they may stay together and move on to another project, or they may disband and go out into other projects. I assume FD is similar - they do suggest they are 'agile' (a techy buzz word).
Not everyone will be getting free expansions for life, so it is a potential source of income for Frontier ... on that alone, I'd say it is a priority. Sooner or later, they (Frontier) are going to want or need that money.
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Excuse my lack of knowledge but if you can maintain a speed of 1cm/s away from the centre of the earth wouldn't you eventually escape the earth's gravity? Whether or not that is a practical possibility?
In RL isn't the escape velocity about reaching a speed that will allow you to escape without continual thrust?
Also the core game being "ready" is really ambiguous. Every-time they add new content it adds bugs and messes with the balance. It'll probably never reach any particular level that people are completely satisfied with. That does seem to be part and parcel with big online games that people look to as a second life experience.
I personally like to imagine Frontier have a small team working on the next expansion because they've calculated that even if only 10% of existing ED owners purchase it; it'll break even and sell more core packages.
+1 rep for you...
The "boring stuff" is happening. It was planned from day 1, and to be implemented once they knew how.
However, the mission modes you describe, and other features, should also be considered. Indeed, XBONE players already have CQC, a form of deathmatch with other modes as well, and this is coming to computer platforms too.
DBOBE also made a possible hint at Anacondas carrying small ships in a recent video interview, but only once other gameplay elements were in place (I think it might involve things like passenger facilities, multiple CMDRs in ships either as crew or passengers, and both of those would need walking around ships too; plus enhanced ship identification and wing management, even ship names).
The defend missions would have to make sense in the story context. Right now, we have conflict zones arouns stations which serve that purpose in systems plunged into war and civil war. Depending on how well or badly the war goes, station defence might have to become an event in the style of a community goal, the prize being maintenance or takeover of a station by brute force by a minor faction - stations are too valuable to be destroyed. If Power Play hots up into full blown War between the superpowers or between Powers, I can see something like this happen, and especially if hostile aliens appear in the game.
In fact, your "save the planet" option might work better if planetary landings were implemented.
Good points. If a supercruise-like system is implemented, it would mean having to change the way players fly towards planetary surfaces, and having to take atmospheric friction and gravity into account, although I can imagine a system similar to the current stellar black hole format where one can supercruise and then fly up to 25km of the event horizon. Having to arrange settlements around this, though, so that they appear more seamlessly, may be trickier, especially if such settlements are large cities many kilometres in diameter, not to mention civilisation networks such as roads and transport conduits or whatever is used in the future. It may even mean, if done successfully, that the supercruise in and out system for stations may have to be overhauled too.
Yes of course you are right, they will want that money.
Until then though, if the player base keeps increasing (as it is at the moment) then FD have money coming in + when they finally release that expansion they get a larger boost to their income as the vast majority of the existing (increased) player base will be buying the expansion.
Oh look, we have been buried in another thread. Jut when it was going so well.
I honestly doubt the transition will be seamless, or it would mean a huge increase in hyperspace loading times.