The year is 2020 and Elite Dangerous is still P2P. Let's discuss PvE and PvP servers.

For about half of the potential playerbase, i.e. those without Horizons, it's play in Open unengineered or don't play in Open.

Noting that the disparity in ships optimised for different roles existed before engineering was introduced - it got much worse afterwards though.
Do you think that changes my expectation about getting lolstomped? Anyway, everything and they dog was buffed due to the power creep and it's a g bulletsponge fest in the best case scenario. Not very compelling outlook to play the game in the first place.
 
People sometimes just want to be left alone, some of us sometimes, others always. This is also in the nature of the game, in its original spirit: to play a lone commander lost in the vastness of space. Some love the game for that very reason, while others hate it for much the same reason.

And now it's your turn, my friend: tell me, why do you seem to automatically associate gaming with social activities? I understand why sociability could be the highlight of your playing. What I don't understand is why you seem to have difficulty recognising other preferences...
I have no difficulty recognizing others preferences. What gave you that idea?
I have no problem with understanding why people play the way they play, I just enjoy hearing the various reasons why.

I have a very hard time staying interested in MMO's without having a community to play with but I don't need a social aspect to be interested in every game.
My favorite games of all time are the Metroid games, with Super Metroid being my favorite game of all time, and the MechWarrior games, which are all single player games.
I've been playing multiplayer games since the original Halo and have been very competitive with every multiplayer game I've played since then.
I then got into sim racing games where I fell in love with racing against people online. I race cars in real life so sim racers allowed me to race and be competitive all the time.

Elder Scrolls Online was the first MMO that I really got into and I did so because I had a bunch of friends to play it with and eventually got into the larger community and loved it.

For the first 1000 hours of my Elite Dangerous career I only played in PG with about a dozen of my racing friends but eventually got burned out and gave open a try, despite my friends telling me I would just get ganked all the time. I then found the PvP community and the rest is history. Having done almost everything the game has to offer, except for long term exploration, there's nothing that really keeps me interested other than PvP, the community and helping others.
 
I'm curious - how does that particular exercise start ?

Do you form a wing first and start from there ?

I've seen people struggle to find each other even when they want to fight.

Space really is a big place and never is that more apparent than when playing ED in open :)
It starts with someone in my discord wanting to take the mentor role. I have them build a Cobra III with no engineering then we meet up in either Shinrarta or LFT 926. Then I interdict them with my ganking ship (Krait Phantom with two, overcharged/incen pacifiers, a Grom bomb and a super pen rail) and show them no mercy. If they survive and are able to high wake, they become a mentor. If they die, we continue training.
 
It starts with someone in my discord wanting to take the mentor role. I have them build a Cobra III with no engineering then we meet up in either Shinrarta or LFT 926. Then I interdict them with my ganking ship (Krait Phantom with two, overcharged/incen pacifiers, a Grom bomb and a super pen rail) and show them no mercy. If they survive and are able to high wake, they become a mentor. If they die, we continue training.
What if they beat you with the cobra ? =D
 
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Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
To become a mentor in my gank evasion academy you have to survive a gank in an unengineered Cobra III against my G5 death machine and many have done it.
I'd expect that, even not engineered, the build is pre-prepared and optimised for resilience and speed. Noting that there are many ships slower and less manoeuvrable than the CMIII
 
What if they beat you in with the cobra ? =D
It's never happened but considering my pacifiers usually knock out their shields in one shot, they would probably be one of the best pvpers in the game if they could pull it off.

I'd expect that, even not engineered, the build is pre-prepared and optimised for resilience and speed.
Well, part of the test is to test their ship building skills as well. I don't give them a build ahead of time so they have to figure it out.

Noting that there are many ships slower and less manoeuvrable than the CMIII
Oh yeah definitely. I chose an unengineered Cobra III because I survived a gank in one when I was just getting started on PC but something like a DBS probably wouldn't survive.
Just making the point that it is possible, though I understand why someone would want to play in solo or PG instead.
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Well, part of the test is to test their ship building skills as well. I don't give them a build ahead of time so they have to figure it out.
Indeed - and they have as much time as they need to build the ship ahead of a pre-arranged test.
Oh yeah definitely. I chose an unengineered Cobra III because I survived a gank in one when I was just getting started on PC but something like a DBS probably wouldn't survive.
Just making the point that it is possible, though I understand why someone would want to play in solo or PG instead.
Of course - avoiding unwanted encounters is possible, in some cases - but not in others - dependent on the ship and build, all else being equal.
 
I actually have them try to fight the interdiction because I teach that as well, then submit just before they're about to lose.
In my relatively short career as a pvp pirate, I have found that some ships, such as the T7, are quite good at fighting interdictions, in fact I have lost against 2 T7s and a Krait mkII so far. In the case of the krait I started from 90 deg with slow throttle, so I could see why, but those T7s beat me fair and square. So I could probably do with some training in that regard :D
 
And you fly what exactly ?

Perhaps more people would confidently fly in open if they knew just how difficult it is to intercept a specific unwilling target :)
 
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too condescending, that way they will never really harden up. you should ask them to build a cobra 4.
Well I just need to have them demonstrate their ability to escape a gank. Doesn't need to be too difficult.
For my trainees, I have them use whatever ship they use as their taxi.
 
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