A recent thread on these forums about updates and content got me thinking about how the game could improve on what is already here. I came up with a few suggestions that would help tie various elements of content together:
1: Beacons- we travel around planets resource gathering and finding POI beacons and other locations. The beacons could give us coordinates to a location on planet as a a form of scavenger/treasure hunt. 'treasure' could be anything from commodities of some kind to a rare resource, or even another manmade object like abandoned camps or crashed ships.
2: Passenger missions- Passengers tend to send us out to find some random tourist beacon usually at great distance and with demands, Those passenger missions could also send us to planets to find crashed ships, beacons or personal effects, escape pods, and other items of personal value to the passenger. the premise being that the passenger is hiring us to locate that missing relative, that lost shipment of goods, that data from that crashed ship lending a sense of adventure and focus to those missions rather than simply flying out to some nav beacon and back exclusively.
3: Rescue missions and resupply missions- I arrive at a damaged starport to extract evacuees and land on the rescue ship, that rescue ship should need supplies for all those people fleeing that station. This would give more dynamic mission based objectives to do within that rescue effort.
4: There should be more communication with tower when landing and taking off from stations, the new landing modules are interesting, but it seems odd that there seems to be no actual comms between ships and tower or queue system for those two functions without that module. Its odd to me that in a future civilization that we somehow forgot the function of radio contact. Those stations should act far more like airports for landing and leaving stations. even without that module. Also the ability to target lock the landing pad we are individually assigned especially on those rotating interior stations would be extremely helpful and logical. Its a space ship, with sensors and targeting array we should be able to use it.
5:long distance shipping and shopping galactic market. In 2019 we can order an item and have it shipped to our door. In 3305 this should also be the case. When I need something that should be searchable on an actual trade market menu and be able to be shipped to my location, with a logical time frame to wait on delivery (after all it has to be shipped to me), all those NPC traders flying around consistently being in the players way would at least then feel like they have a purpose.
6: ground targets locations should be targetable and we should be able to mark that target and retain it when transfering to srv, or from srv to the ship. Our srv computer should be tied in to our highly sophisticated space ship with futuristic technologically advanced computer systems and targeting arrays. Also we should be able to designate the landing location for our ship when we recall it, rather than the random 1500KM range it likes to land away from us even when there is a perfectly viable landing spot right in front us.
There is no need to elongate, stretch out or slow down the processes with arbitrary inhibitive mechanics designed to stall the player. More substance, better coordination, involved activities with a sense of focus would do far more to insure and improve gameplay and retain players longer.
When I first started this game it was a novel idea hearing how this is a simulation of a possible future of mankind. This is untrue in reality how ever. Our galaxy is a backdrop around which Elite Dangerous has been rebuilt. It is not a reflection of our possible future. I remember when people would make suggestions about improvements to areas of gameplay and it is always met with the same "maybe this isn't for you", "this is a sim" responses. Neither of those responses are a valid conversation. This is neither a sim nor is someones suggestions about ways to improve it a mistake.
I do not personally know how much other content could be derived from the past titles in this games history but I am sure that there is more to the background lore than what is being presented to us in the game itself. Provide more of this in the game. Ruins of other civilizations, mission 'story' arcs which send us on adventures or feel like they lead somewhere is fundamental to building substance within the galaxy. giving us more to find gives us more to imagine.
FDev you have built a graphically stunning game. It is a technically functional program. to use an analogy, you built a house framework. the house needs interior walls, wiring, plumbing, windows and doors as well.
Lots of people are asking for more content. I submit that more is not of itself the only approach to expanding on the content you already have in place. Tying that content together in a meaningful way lends substance and focus to all of those separate elements and would provide a sense of continuity and progressive mission based effort for the player. Certainly an amount of imagination and focus is on the player to provide how ever the better the framework for us the player to use the more of that we can do.
1: Beacons- we travel around planets resource gathering and finding POI beacons and other locations. The beacons could give us coordinates to a location on planet as a a form of scavenger/treasure hunt. 'treasure' could be anything from commodities of some kind to a rare resource, or even another manmade object like abandoned camps or crashed ships.
2: Passenger missions- Passengers tend to send us out to find some random tourist beacon usually at great distance and with demands, Those passenger missions could also send us to planets to find crashed ships, beacons or personal effects, escape pods, and other items of personal value to the passenger. the premise being that the passenger is hiring us to locate that missing relative, that lost shipment of goods, that data from that crashed ship lending a sense of adventure and focus to those missions rather than simply flying out to some nav beacon and back exclusively.
3: Rescue missions and resupply missions- I arrive at a damaged starport to extract evacuees and land on the rescue ship, that rescue ship should need supplies for all those people fleeing that station. This would give more dynamic mission based objectives to do within that rescue effort.
4: There should be more communication with tower when landing and taking off from stations, the new landing modules are interesting, but it seems odd that there seems to be no actual comms between ships and tower or queue system for those two functions without that module. Its odd to me that in a future civilization that we somehow forgot the function of radio contact. Those stations should act far more like airports for landing and leaving stations. even without that module. Also the ability to target lock the landing pad we are individually assigned especially on those rotating interior stations would be extremely helpful and logical. Its a space ship, with sensors and targeting array we should be able to use it.
5:long distance shipping and shopping galactic market. In 2019 we can order an item and have it shipped to our door. In 3305 this should also be the case. When I need something that should be searchable on an actual trade market menu and be able to be shipped to my location, with a logical time frame to wait on delivery (after all it has to be shipped to me), all those NPC traders flying around consistently being in the players way would at least then feel like they have a purpose.
6: ground targets locations should be targetable and we should be able to mark that target and retain it when transfering to srv, or from srv to the ship. Our srv computer should be tied in to our highly sophisticated space ship with futuristic technologically advanced computer systems and targeting arrays. Also we should be able to designate the landing location for our ship when we recall it, rather than the random 1500KM range it likes to land away from us even when there is a perfectly viable landing spot right in front us.
There is no need to elongate, stretch out or slow down the processes with arbitrary inhibitive mechanics designed to stall the player. More substance, better coordination, involved activities with a sense of focus would do far more to insure and improve gameplay and retain players longer.
When I first started this game it was a novel idea hearing how this is a simulation of a possible future of mankind. This is untrue in reality how ever. Our galaxy is a backdrop around which Elite Dangerous has been rebuilt. It is not a reflection of our possible future. I remember when people would make suggestions about improvements to areas of gameplay and it is always met with the same "maybe this isn't for you", "this is a sim" responses. Neither of those responses are a valid conversation. This is neither a sim nor is someones suggestions about ways to improve it a mistake.
I do not personally know how much other content could be derived from the past titles in this games history but I am sure that there is more to the background lore than what is being presented to us in the game itself. Provide more of this in the game. Ruins of other civilizations, mission 'story' arcs which send us on adventures or feel like they lead somewhere is fundamental to building substance within the galaxy. giving us more to find gives us more to imagine.
FDev you have built a graphically stunning game. It is a technically functional program. to use an analogy, you built a house framework. the house needs interior walls, wiring, plumbing, windows and doors as well.
Lots of people are asking for more content. I submit that more is not of itself the only approach to expanding on the content you already have in place. Tying that content together in a meaningful way lends substance and focus to all of those separate elements and would provide a sense of continuity and progressive mission based effort for the player. Certainly an amount of imagination and focus is on the player to provide how ever the better the framework for us the player to use the more of that we can do.
