Update 13, Narrative and Access to 4.0

[Titler]

I've not properly played in about a year; I have no idea what's happening with this arc, or the future of "narratives"; is there a summary somewhere someone can point to please?

The Steam annoucement just mentions going to HIP 22460, and watching it via Twitch over 3 days to unlock a skin; I'm assuming there's no carrier room there already, but if I fly over do I need a combat ship? I equipped an anti-thargoid ship without shields but have never actually fought one...

 

[Afterglow [SecB]]

I've not properly played in about a year; I have no idea what's happening with this arc, or the future of "narratives"; is there a summary somewhere someone can point to please?

The Steam annoucement just mentions going to HIP 22460, and watching it via Twitch over 3 days to unlock a skin; I'm assuming there's no carrier room there already, but if I fly over do I need a combat ship? I equipped an anti-thargoid ship without shields but have never actually fought one...

The Azimuth Saga: The Story So Far

Greetings Commanders, and welcome to the Azimuth Saga! Many of you will have caught wind of the various machinations of Aegis, Salvation, and other factions or individuals in recent times. This post will summarise these events as they unfold, so if you've missed anything or want to get involved...

forums.frontier.co.uk

Fighting Thargoids has never been easier than it is now. You should try it.

 

[Darkcyde]

I've not properly played in about a year; I have no idea what's happening with this arc, or the future of "narratives"; is there a summary somewhere someone can point to please?

The Steam annoucement just mentions going to HIP 22460, and watching it via Twitch over 3 days to unlock a skin; I'm assuming there's no carrier room there already, but if I fly over do I need a combat ship? I equipped an anti-thargoid ship without shields but have never actually fought one...

Yep, there is a full summary of the Saga here:

The Azimuth Saga: The Story So Far

Greetings Commanders, and welcome to the Azimuth Saga! Many of you will have caught wind of the various machinations of Aegis, Salvation, and other factions or individuals in recent times. This post will summarise these events as they unfold, so if you've missed anything or want to get involved...

forums.frontier.co.uk

As for the future of narratives, if you're on console, it's unlikely you'll see much after Update 14. If you're on PC, you'll get a version of Horizons that will use the Odyssey code base (v4.0) so that future narrative can be enjoyed by Horizons players. FDev want to do narrative things that will only work on the v4.0 codebase, hence why consoles (who are on v3.8) and original Horizons (on v3.8) will probably not get any narrative anymore.

That's a quick run down of it anyway.

Edit: Gah, beaten to it!

 

[Old Duck]

As for the future of narratives, if you're on console, it's unlikely you'll see much after Update 14.

What do we "see" now?

• Articles in Galnet - check.
• Effects on BGS (including things like burning stations) - check.
• Boring CGs - check.

Those things will probably remain in 3.8 even after the new narrative arrives. The only thing I think Horizons 3.8 players will be missing is new ground-based CGs, which admittedly have the potential to be really cool. Thing is, H4 players will also miss out on that, unless the CGs take place on airless worlds and allow H4 commanders to participate in their SRVs.

I also would not be surprised if future CG rewards like decals, paint jobs, etc are limited to H4 and Odyssey. I actually think this is the main reason for Froniter to encourage players to move to H4, because it requires modifications to the game itself to introduce new cosmetics and other rewards, and cosmetics are different between 3.8 and 4.0 (due to new PBR & lighting system). Frontier has to also, if not primarily, be thinking about the Arx store, though I doubt they want to lead with, "We're giving you H4 for free so we can sell you more Arx for the new 4.0 exclusive cosmetics we're working on." Hence the narrative is the hand Frontier wants you to focus on while they pull some Arx from behind your ear. I'm not judging them - it's a good and logical business move.

Is there anything I'm missing?

 

[Darkcyde]

What do we "see" now?

• Articles in Galnet - check.
• Effects on BGS (including things like burning stations) - check.
• Boring CGs - check.

Those things will probably remain in 3.8 even after the new narrative arrives. The only thing I think Horizons 3.8 players will be missing is new ground-based CGs, which admittedly have the potential to be really cool. Thing is, H4 players will also miss out on that, unless the CGs take place on airless worlds and allow H4 commanders to participate in their SRVs.

Whether a CG is boring or not is entirely subjective to your own feelings towards them. When you see several thousand participants, they're clearly not boring to most people, or at least not boring enough that they don't do them. People like 'free' stuff, so that's why a lot do them though.

The articles in Galnet are platform/version agnostic, and give players something to notify them of events if they are unable to participate, or if the event is something that just can't be 'done in game'. Effects on BGS will probably still exist in 3.8, but there's been no official word on that, so that's just my guess, although I don't see why it wouldn't.

As for the CGs in 3.8, personally I think that some will be, but (possibly) the majority not, with those being 4.0 specific. That is, after all, the primary reason FDev have given for the move to add a 4.0 version of Horizons. The question comes down to how much of a conspiracy theorist you are, and how much you think that's just smoke and mirrors, because right now, no one but FDev really knows.

 

[Bonesaw]

Geforce now Will get alot of users.. It got way better and runs on Xbox native with Xbox web browser and controller...
Fibre support in towns has come a long way since 2017... So many who were on DSL now have discounted Fibre ISP now were there was none... and access is not a monopoly so the prices are Lower when you can pick who the access provider is...
You dont need A modern PC but anything that can run chrome. so most PCs from 2010 CPU and GPU will work fine with geforce now...

So how can it work with GeForce, but not as a stand alone on console ?

 

[Darkcyde]

So how can it work with GeForce, but not as a stand alone on console ?

All the processing power (CPU & GPU) are all on remote servers, and that's where the game is running. It's like having an interactive video. The server sends the video to you, and you send the server what controls you are pressing. Imagine your console is like a cable TV box, you're just controlling what you see on screen.

 

[Bonesaw]

All the processing power (CPU & GPU) are all on remote servers, and that's where the game is running. It's like having an interactive video. The server sends the video to you, and you send the server what controls you are pressing. Imagine your console is like a cable TV box, you're just controlling what you see on screen.

So why doesn't Frontier do the same thing for the console version?

 

[Darkcyde]

So why doesn't Frontier do the same thing for the console version?

That I can't answer, as I don't know much about the service. I don't know if Elite is on it or not. I did find out that it is possible to run GForce Now on Xbox, although apparently that was in a beta form back in October last year, so I don't know about now. That would be something to look into, that is, if Elite is even on the service.

Edit: If you mean why can't FDev run Elite on an external server, then no, it won't be possible. It would be far too expensive for them. That's a completely different thing to just running a server for a game like Elite. Besides, I believe they rent servers from Amazon to do the central BGS and other data related things, but a lot of the network traffic is distributed between players, and is decentralised (no main server for everything, or something like that anyway).

 

[Jack Winter]

What do we "see" now?

• Articles in Galnet - check.
• Effects on BGS (including things like burning stations) - check.
• Boring CGs - check.

Those things will probably remain in 3.8 even after the new narrative arrives. The only thing I think Horizons 3.8 players will be missing is new ground-based CGs, which admittedly have the potential to be really cool. Thing is, H4 players will also miss out on that, unless the CGs take place on airless worlds and allow H4 commanders to participate in their SRVs.

I also would not be surprised if future CG rewards like decals, paint jobs, etc are limited to H4 and Odyssey. I actually think this is the main reason for Froniter to encourage players to move to H4, because it requires modifications to the game itself to introduce new cosmetics and other rewards, and cosmetics are different between 3.8 and 4.0 (due to new PBR & lighting system). Frontier has to also, if not primarily, be thinking about the Arx store, though I doubt they want to lead with, "We're giving you H4 for free so we can sell you more Arx for the new 4.0 exclusive cosmetics we're working on." Hence the narrative is the hand Frontier wants you to focus on while they pull some Arx from behind your ear. I'm not judging them - it's a good and logical business move.

Is there anything I'm missing?

Not everyone is out to scam others. ARX are given freely by the game and purchases are voluntary..

 

[GraphiteGB]

So how can it work with GeForce, but not as a stand alone on console ?

Geforce now is a server farm full of Nvidia RTX GPUs Virtual PC machines you are intended to pay a monthly fee.. .
You run a Virtual PC machine and it feeds a video feed back to you,on your web browser this is why Good fibre ISP is recommended...
All Console owners come september will have a choice off a "Cloning off your accounts to PC option... If you allready had the free Epic games version your clone account can be able to be added to that PC account.. If you did not pick up that free version... You can pick up a steam or epic games cheap... You then have 2 accounts that run independent of each PC and Console...
Word of warning - Gefore now has a free tier and free to play titles once you go down that rabbit hole you may not want to play EDO at all any way...

It costs Nvidia but load of money to run and the free tier is there to make you want to pay for the Full price service...
Geforce now does not run on web kit browsers at all well...
PS5 does not have a User web browser.
PS4 uses web kit..
Xbox/ series s/x uses chrome render engine under a "Edge" logo... Its the only console platform to support Chrome browsers...

 

[Willyum-71]

I've seen some of the 'cracked mud' bits which seem deep and tight enough to possibly be good for racing but the Buckballers seem rather dismissive of them. As such I'm not inclined to put them forward. Be prepared for a negative response if you do.

Hold my beer....
Did it... come post your finds so they can dismiss us together lol...
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/canyon-planets-of-odyssey-shared.606556/

 

[tanner1ie]

The Azimuth Saga: The Story So Far

Greetings Commanders, and welcome to the Azimuth Saga! Many of you will have caught wind of the various machinations of Aegis, Salvation, and other factions or individuals in recent times. This post will summarise these events as they unfold, so if you've missed anything or want to get involved...

forums.frontier.co.uk

Fighting Thargoids has never been easier than it is now. You should try it.

Hopefully this new Thargoid fighting featuring friendly battleships will last as long as it takes ME to get back from the Soul nebula*, I want to try it - I tried fighting Thargoids in my engineered Anaconda once, thinking I was ready and got pretty shredded, being lucky to get out of the fight alive!

*It's about 8,000 light years from the bubble, which took me a few weeks to travel, while I'm not sure where the special Thargoid fighting sector is - is it in Hip 22460? .

 

[Darkcyde]

*It's about 8,000 light years from the bubble, which took me a few weeks to travel, while I'm not sure where the special Thargoid fighting sector is - is it in Hip 22460? .

Yes, it's in HIP 22460. However, the Azimuth Saga will probably end sometime next week, so if you want to fight there, you 'll need to get back fast. On the other hand, most people think that this won't be the end of Thargoid fighting, so...

 

[tanner1ie]

Yes, it's in HIP 22460. However, the Azimuth Saga will probably end sometime next week, so if you want to fight there, you 'll need to get back fast. On the other hand, most people think that this won't be the end of Thargoid fighting, so...

Does anybody know was the proposed taxi Fleet Carrier network every set up and if so where the nearest one going to the bubble is to the Soul Nebula? ...

 

[alexzk]

@Bruce G
While you're at 3.8 / 4.0 thing. Please allow to delete Horizons version from PC completely and save SSD space. Right now, steam or launcher keeps downloading it even if deleted manually which doubles game size. And well, haven't used Horizons since Ody came.

 

[Jack Winter]

Hopefully this new Thargoid fighting featuring friendly battleships will last as long as it takes ME to get back from the Soul nebula*, I want to try it - I tried fighting Thargoids in my engineered Anaconda once, thinking I was ready and got pretty shredded, being lucky to get out of the fight alive!

*It's about 8,000 light years from the bubble, which took me a few weeks to travel, while I'm not sure where the special Thargoid fighting sector is - is it in Hip 22460? .

Could you take the neutron highway? Spansh shows just around 100 jumps from the Soul nebula to HIP 22460 for a 50ly ship, of course you'll have to divert every once in a while for refuelling. Should be possible to do in a few hours.

 

[tanner1ie]

Could you take the neutron highway? Spansh shows just around 100 jumps from the Soul nebula to HIP 22460 for a 50ly ship, of course you'll have to divert every once in a while for refuelling. Should be possible to do in a few hours.

I've never tried jumping from a neutron star and I'd be afraid I'd cook myself in the process...

Also I didn't engineer my Anaconda to be a pure exploration ship, making it more of a combat/mission running ship with decent jump range, while I didn't strip it to the bones for max jump range either.

I'm still carrying a class four shield, two SRV modules and a full set of weapons, "just in case", so it "only" gets 37 light years with extra fuel tanks (current) range and 38.5 unladen jump range right now - which is still my longest jumping ship .

I "only" have 210 jumps back, if I can find the time to play the game enough, I MIGHT make it in a week, but if I don't, I don't .

 

[Jack Winter]

If you don't have an AFMU, it's probably a bad idea to do much neutron star jumping. Best of luck!

 

[nemolomen]

I've never tried jumping from a neutron star and I'd be afraid I'd cook myself in the process...

...

If you don't have an AFMU, it's probably a bad idea to do much neutron star jumping. Best of luck!

I once jumped 6 NS in a row successfully. On the 7th, I parked a little too close to the NS when I went into repair mode, but it was too late...lost 2.5 months worth of explo data...

Ooops....I guess in addition to the AFMU, I also needed some additional attention to detail...

When I was doing the 6 jumps, a friend of mine was watching me move across the galaxy map...

All in all, fun times. Wouldn't trade them in for anything...