Modes The Solo vs Open vs Groups Thread - Mk III

[nexxo]

Personally IF there was to be player owned stuff i would like player own stuff to be stored on our own personal save, and so are NOT actually part of the PU. This would mean they do not really exist as far as anyone else is concerned but still means i can have stuff, with no downsides to anyone else.

when I flew into the vicinity of my base to everyone else it would just look like i logged out. Maybe i could have a flag to allow friends access IF they are in my instance or wing.

That could kind of work as a compromise. The player owned structures I think of would be tiny, planet based and really hard to find without a thorough sweep of the surface. The idea would be that finding one would be a rare event, and deliberately looking for one like looking for a needle in a haystack.

There was a game i used to play on the amiga, and all i remember doing was finding stuff to put in my house (this was not the point of the game at all) I think it was maybe damocles but not sure.

Emergent gameplay FTW. (I really like Damocles, actually.)

but my point is, having a home base we can get stuff for and deck out could be cool, esp if on a planet - but again, this is not really elite in the truest sense and imo anything we did should be stored on our personal save and not the PU imo. would be fab to have all our ships parked around our home however.

I'd think of it as a base camp --either for long range expeditions, as pirate lair or just a nice quiet place to store your stuff. It would not have any more functionality or impact beyond that.

 

[DaveB]

...This design causes some real problems...no doubt...and we are stuck with them.

Any design causes "problems" but mostly they are viewed as part of the challenge of the game. Just like I don't complain about knights being able to jump other pieces in chess being "OP" and "needing a nerf" but instead adapt my play to take account of the fact that they can, I don't see a problem with mode switching in ED - it's a feature of the game that as players we adapt to in order to play the game. And yes, "adapting to" a feature like that does include using it.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

I'd think of it as a base camp --either for long range expeditions, as pirate lair or just a nice quiet place to store your stuff. It would not have any more functionality or impact beyond that.

I was thinking about this a little over lunch......... IMO what FD dont want is a star wars galaxies type thing where everyone could make their own base, and then leave the game for what ever reason and the place just get littered with empty abodes.

with this in mind how about an alternative where if you find a quite unexplored planet you could pay for an expedition to that planet. You would run the people there and drop them off with a small survival module.
you would then be informed that in 1 months time give or take, they will need X tones of food, xtons of ............ etc etc etc. Assuming you keep supplying them on time, that small colony will expand and because you are the one supplying them you get what ever they are producing at a discounted rate, and the bigger they get, eventually they will allow you to store your ships there - at 1st room for 1 small ship, but eventually room for everything. As you would be the person who seeded the base it would only be you who would be able to park up there permanently and for free.... but even so it is NOT our base.

however if you do not service them, they will simply fail, or will not expand quickly at all.

IF you service them really well you will gain a reputation as someone to be trusted and maybe down the road later on, you will be offered a mission to set up another colony on a different type of world - so they would have different needs and produce different items - however if you let your base go to ruin then you will get a rep for that also and then not get offered that kind of mission again.

the incentive for players doing this could be combined with us actually starting to have to pay berthing charges for storing our ships in normal stations.

 

[The Wallet Inspector]

I play a lot of SWTOR, when EA/Bioware introduced the player housing in that to say I was underwhelmed would be an understatement. The problem this instanced housing has is that it really has no purpose that relates to the game in any way, and ironically, that is probably one of the reasons I can live with it. Though playing 'house barbies' does not interest me in any way it has zero effect on my game if I chose not to take part/interact with it. To be honest, I think the only reason that EA/Bioware introduced such a feature was to boost sells in the cartel market, (the non pay to win MT's in SWTOR), again this does not detract from my game, or my wallet, but no doubt brings cash in for EA/Bioware. In Elite D, the above sort of solution would be the only variation of player owned bases I could live with, and it could bring money into Frontier via the shop. But, on the other hand, I'm really not sure I want developer time and money spent on something that brings nothing to the core game in itself, sure, we can debate the shop bringing in cash if it was developed but I feel there are much more pressing issues, and many of them, that should come way before 'player housing'.

I think having a small base on a rocky moon (one that has no impact on the economy/powerplay) can still have huge positive impact on player experience. Given all that is left for me is to save up for an Anaconda (Powerplay is irrelevant to my core experience), something like this would be a welcome goal for me. Just to be clear, i am not talking just about cosmetics here. You would be able to stock the hanger, and repair/rearm etc..

 

[DarkWalker]

Stations and outposts exist (for a given value of existing) independent of the player's instance. They are manifested in a player's instance but they are constants on the galaxy server.

I guess the solution might be that other players have to join the instance of the first player present at the base's location, thus manifesting it.

Stations and Outposts are static, indestructible* elements in the Galaxy. They might even be stored locally. Solutions done for them might not be appropriate for dynamic or destructible content.

Also, no way to have all players join the instance of the first player present there. XBox players can never join the instance of a PC player, for example, and trying to put someone from Australia together with someone from the US is asking for trouble because of the high mutual latency. Atop that, routing issues (or intentional meddling with the network traffic) might prevent players from being put in the same instance. So, what do you do when someone is already in an instance with the base, the base owner gets back to it, but the game can't put the owner in the instance that already has the base?

The game's networking architecture, and the fact players on different platforms share the Galaxy but can never directly meet each other, more or less mandates that any solution done for player-built content needs to work well even when players can't, or won't, meet each other. That being the case, and barring an unlikely change in the networking architecture (which would likely mandate creating different galaxies for different parts of the real world), any solution that actually works for the Open mode should also work for Solo and Group modes.

* The devs can always set a community goal to destroy a station, of course, but without dev involvement the stations and outposts are, for all intents and purposes, indestructible.

 

[Jockey79]

Here is a reason I like modes / switching;

I'm training a new pilot for the game, in my (brand new) Anaconda!



The worst part is, she is 6 years old and earnt more money in that CZ than I have doing anything else.
Oh, and now I'm forever getting asked when she can play "her" ship....

H-E-R ship......

Just like her mother

 

[Mouse]

Here is a reason I like modes / switching;

I'm training a new pilot for the game, in my (brand new) Anaconda!

View attachment 57326

The worst part is, she is 6 years old and earnt more money in that CZ than I have doing anything else.
Oh, and now I'm forever getting asked when she can play "her" ship....

H-E-R ship......

Just like her mother

Always glad to welcome a new commander to a game, and Yup it's her ship ^,^.

 

[EUS]

You should be worried about those black hole-rectangles on your desk.
Don't let her stick her hands on them.

 

[Julissa Silver]

H-E-R ship......

Just like her mother

Give that young space-terror some razorback bacon. The Baconatrix commands it!

 

[Roybe]

Here is a reason I like modes / switching;

I'm training a new pilot for the game, in my (brand new) Anaconda!

View attachment 57326

The worst part is, she is 6 years old and earnt more money in that CZ than I have doing anything else.
Oh, and now I'm forever getting asked when she can play "her" ship....

H-E-R ship......

His note.

Just like her mother

I can just imagine the first boy that takes an interest:

'Do you like me? Y or N'

Her response
'How many ships do you have, what's your current assets, PvP or PvE, and do you play Open or Private?'

Good to see the 'next gen' getting some rep around here....carry on! o7

 

[Jockey79]

I can just imagine the first boy that takes an interest:

'Do you like me? Y or N'

Her response
'How many ships do you have, what's your current assets, PvP or PvE, and do you play Open or Private?'

Good to see the 'next gen' getting some rep around here....carry on! o7

LOL, sounds about right.

My 3 year old is as bad - she loves her Sidey with Merc paint.
I just hope FD don't do an Anaconda paint that is pink.... because that will cause an argument in this house.

 

[Mouse]

LOL, sounds about right.

My 3 year old is as bad - she loves her Sidey with Merc paint.
I just hope FD don't do an Anaconda paint that is pink.... because that will cause an argument in this house.

Hah! When I played Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries.. my youngest sister wanted to play.. Hot Pink Mad Cat.. was ensured when I went overseas ... I was supposed to leave my computer with her so she could play it apparently.

 

[DarkWalker]

I can just imagine the first boy that takes an interest:

'Do you like me? Y or N'

Her response
'How many ships do you have, what's your current assets, PvP or PvE, and do you play Open or Private?'

Good to see the 'next gen' getting some rep around here....carry on! o7

PvP or PvE, and which kind, might actually be a meaningful question. It speaks of the personality, and I believe those that match have a better chance of liking each other. Both as friends and as... something more.

I actually believe this is behind some of the PvP versus PvE fights you see in the forums of so many games. People have a tendency to seek friendship among those that think in similar ways, which in turn causes confirmation bias and makes each side feel like they have more players supporting them.

 

[Syax]

An example:

I started out in Open mode. I mainly play as a trader. Made it to a T7, at which point I got tired of being blown to bits when flying on known trade routes. Never a "stand and deliver" or a cargo scan.

I've since settled in to a nice private group with like minded commanders, and enjoy my space time there very much.

But I also have a T6 parked up at Leesti which I use for rp in Open. I fly a tub of gold, and if anyone can catch me I stop and see what the encounter will bring. Some blow me up on sight (sad reminder), while some banter. Those I can parlay with get what they want and we both go our merry way, those who are rude and obnoxious get nout and can blow me up (how awesome they are... /sarcasm).

Playing mainly in Group mode means I can afford to rp as a trader in Open and give the dogs something to chase.

The Open commanders should be thankful for my possibillity to switch, or they would not see me at all.

Yeah i joined a group called Mobius....still trying to work out how to load/run/play in that private server. says I have them listed but nothing to click to join. Guess im a bit thick lol wana try private groups once i get my braincell to fire up.

 

[Julissa Silver]

I just hope FD don't do an Anaconda paint that is pink.... because that will cause an argument in this house.

Hey, you got a problem with pink? Don't make me embargo all your bacon deliveries, Mister.

 

[mugendo]

Yeah i joined a group called Mobius....still trying to work out how to load/run/play in that private server. says I have them listed but nothing to click to join. Guess im a bit thick lol wana try private groups once i get my braincell to fire up.

At your start screen you choose login to open,solo,group...some groups send you a password when you apply.

 

[Mouse]

Yeah i joined a group called Mobius....still trying to work out how to load/run/play in that private server. says I have them listed but nothing to click to join. Guess im a bit thick lol wana try private groups once i get my braincell to fire up.

If you've joined then all you should have to do is click "Start" on the main menu then "Private Group", and then Mobius

 

[Cowboy Bats]

Hey, you got a problem with pink? Don't make me embargo all your bacon deliveries, Mister.

Who would have thought that you like pink? They should absolutely put pink paint jobs in, not just for you, but for anyone who likes pink.

 

[Mouse]

Who would have thought that you like pink? They should absolutely put pink paint jobs in, not just for you, but for anyone who likes pink.

I would love a lot more colors.. ^,^

 

[Cody]

Purple! I need a purple Cobra!