What you need to know you back early access on an unfinished game.

[Krait_79]

Basically you are backing a concept a project and not a set in stone finished game. As such the developers reserve the right to make changes whether they be additions or omissions as they see fit or necessary.

You bought into an evolving idea not an end product. I'm also a little bemused by the whole my Internet connection sucks thing because whilst that may be true, to have been playing the game so far means you would have had to have downloaded it and of course have a connection!

Given the more mature demographic of this forum I'm also quite surprised by the naivety of people in relation to the above. Further more I'm frankly embarrassed by the toys out the pram ranting I've seen, something akin to a toddlers rant in a supermarket when Mummy says no you can't have these sweets!! Voice your concerns and complaints by all means but keep in perspective what exactly you have bought into and that childish tantrums rather than getting you what you want just makes you look silly!

One final point. Just because offline will not be present at launch does not mean that it will not be considered or indeed implemented at some future point.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Basically you are backing a concept a project and not a set in stone finished game. As such the developers reserve the right to make changes whether they be additions or omissions as they see fit or necessary.

You bought into an evolving idea not an end product. I'm also a little bemused by the whole my Internet connection sucks thing because whilst that may be true, to have been playing the game so far means you would have had to have downloaded it and of course have a connection!

Given the more mature demographic of this forum I'm also quite surprised by the naivety of people in relation to the above. Further more I'm frankly embarrassed by the toys out the pram ranting I've seen, something akin to a toddlers rant in a supermarket when Mummy says no you can't have these sweets!! Voice your concerns and complaints by all means but keep in perspective what exactly you have bought into and that childish tantrums rather than getting you what you want just makes you look silly!

One final point. Just because offline will not be present at launch does not mean that it will not be considered or indeed implemented at some future point.

Ok, but what about people who pre-ordered before the newsletter went out? Until then, all information, everywhere, pointed to a fully offline mode. A pre-order is a retail purchase, not early access, not testing.

 

[Krait_79]

Ok, but what about people who pre-ordered before the newsletter went out? Until then, all information, everywhere, pointed to a fully offline mode. A pre-order is a retail purchase, not early access, not testing.

Fair point but are we talking about pre ordering based on planned or 100% guaranteed features? There is a subtle difference.

 

[vonFelty]

That is word weaseling. How can any company ever say they 100% promised a feature with that criteria.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Fair point but are we talking about pre ordering based on planned or 100% guaranteed features? There is a subtle difference.

Planetary landing is a planned feature. Supplying servers for us to play on past 2014 is a planned feature. Think about that.

Offline play, and how it would work, was detailed in the Q&A on the Elite store Web site. It has been mentioned on media Web sites, this forum - everywhere. Using words like can, will, etc. There has been nothing to say that it even might not happen. It was literally a core feature.

 

[Andurol]

I'll just do this. Was gonna post agreeing with you about every aspect, OP. Only thing I have a problem with is the offline, because my uncle, who years ago I played the circles and squares with, has crappy satellite innanet. I dont have to go online with him, but I want him to get back into this game, because it's still awesome. Still havent figured out the bandwidth and network usage for solo, but hopefully it will won't be too much.

Anyways, aside from the nostalgia of olden days, .. I've got no problem whatsoever with the company that is making this as it should be. Only problem I have is the stuttering in supercruise near certain types of planets. Hopefully it will be fixed.

(Make some sort of settiing where every planet I get close to in SC is like the one at Chango Dock, I Bootis. Never had a lick of stutter there.)

 

[Krait_79]

Planetary landing is a planned feature. Supplying servers for us to play on past 2014 is a planned feature. Think about that.

Offline play, and how it would work, was detailed in the Q&A on the Elite store Web site. It has been mentioned on media Web sites, this forum - everywhere. Using words like can, will, etc. There has been nothing to say that it even might not happen. It was literally a core feature.

So what do you feel is the reason they pulled it as a core feature then? I'm sure it wasn't a decision taken lightly. People say the must have known weeks ago, I'm sure they did. But they would have debated and tried to find a solution right up to the last minute, hence why we only know now.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

So what do you feel is the reason they pulled it as a core feature then? I'm sure it wasn't a decision taken lightly. People say the must have known weeks ago, I'm sure they did. But they would have debated and tried to find a solution right up to the last minute, hence why we only kniw now.

The reason stated, it seems, is that if they gave us the server information, we'd be able to cheat and find the secrets of the galaxy.

 

[Krait_79]

The reason stated, it seems, is that if they gave us the server information, we'd be able to cheat and find the secrets of the galaxy.

Seems fair enough except for people will still probably try and access this anyway. Actually quite excited by that statement as it means we've got stuff to find out there which must be significant if they want to keep it secret.

 

[Diziet Sma]

So what do you feel is the reason they pulled it as a core feature then? I'm sure it wasn't a decision taken lightly.

My guess? The mission generator is on the servers, not in the game. And for whatever reason, they can't/won't put it into the game, for the offline players.

 

[Vasious]

Fair point but are we talking about pre ordering based on planned or 100% guaranteed features? There is a subtle difference.

If they have pre-ordered, then they can request a refund if they haven't downloaded it, can they not?

 

[Hellhawk666]

My guess? The mission generator is on the servers, not in the game. And for whatever reason, they can't/won't put it into the game, for the offline players.

Yeah, something along those lines. The game has evolved over the last two years and the mechanisms that support it as a multiplayer game have probably required design decisions that now make offline play very difficult or impossible. Add the problems of piracy and access to the universe data for hacking and the sum result has been the decision to can offline play.

I'm sure it was a very difficult decision, and they knew the backlash would be huge, but they are most likely so far down this road there is no going back.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Seems fair enough except for people will still probably try and access this anyway. Actually quite excited by that statement as it means we've got stuff to find out there which must be significant if they want to keep it secret.

Yep, I can understand it. But it still makes me unhappy. If that's the reason, then they designed their product in a way that a core feature (offline play) wouldn't work without that issue.

 

[Krait_79]

If they have pre-ordered, then they can request a refund if they haven't downloaded it, can they not?

I would imagine so although my original points were more to do with backers than pre orderers.

 

[Vasious]

I would imagine so although my original points were more to do with backers than pre orderers.

Ops, Yes, I was supposed to be replying to Tim Wheatley and quoted you by mistake

 

[Tim Wheatley]

If they have pre-ordered, then they can request a refund if they haven't downloaded it, can they not?

No idea. I've asked for clarification. Only people I know of who have their money are people who did chargebacks via their bank, and I wouldn't want to do that to a company.

 

[Diziet Sma]

Yeah, something along those lines. The game has evolved over the last two years and the mechanisms that support it as a multiplayer game have probably required design decisions that now make offline play very difficult or impossible. Add the problems of piracy and access to the universe data for hacking and the sum result has been the decision to can offline play.

I'm sure it was a very difficult decision, and they knew the backlash would be huge, but they are most likely so far down this road there is no going back.

Bingo.

The problem is that the galaxy mechanics all sit on the online servers. The data set and processes are huge and not something that would translate offline without considerable compromise to the vision. Trust me we didn't sit down and think what would annoy people the most! It's a choice we've had to make and so we've taken it.

Michael

Colour me severely disappointed.

 

[Diziet Sma]

The online servers provide all of the data and processing for the galaxy, interactions between players and all transactions of value. Without it there isn't a game. We always intended that the way to play the game would be online. We had hoped that we could do an offline variant, but as the game progressed the online requirement superseded that. It wasn't an easy choice to make, but to stay true to the game we set out to make we had to make this choice.

Michael

Translation:

The day FD turns the servers off, ED dies. The game will no longer be playable.

 

[Diziet Sma]

Michael, could you detail how often "from time to time" is - in regards to when the client needs to connect to the server? (And will the game work if I unplug my Internet connection after one of these "updates").

Thanks for taking the time to reply here...

At the moment it's whenever you need to conduct a server moderated transaction like trading.

Michael

In other words, if every transaction has to be moderated by the server, there IS no offline mode.