Whats the current group switching status?

[Bromley86]

I've been trying to figure this out, but there's just so much stuff to go through.

Does anyone know what the (subject to change) plan is regarding switching from the All to a restricted (even singleplayer) group and then back? Thanks.

 

[Robert Maynard]

Group switching was mentioned as a feature during the Kickstarter:

You simply play the game, and depending on your configuration (your choice) some of the other ships you meet as you travel around are real players as opposed to computer-controlled ships. It may be a friend you have agreed to rendezvous with here, or it may be another real player you have encountered by chance. All players will be part of a “Pilot’s Federation” – that is how they are distinguished from non-players – so you will be able to tell who is a player and who is a non-player easily.
You will be able to save your position in certain key places (probably just in space stations, but possibly while in hyperspace too, if we feel it is needed). A save-and-quit option will be freely available at those points, as will the subsequent reload, but there will be a game cost for a reload following player death. Your ship will still be intact in the condition it was when the save occurred, but there will be a game currency charge (referred to as an insurance policy) for this. This is to prevent the obvious exploit of friends cooperating and killing each other to get each other’s cargo. If you can’t pay, then it will accumulate as an in-game debt, and the police may chase you!
There are no multiplayer lobbies, and the game will be played across many servers, augmented by peer-to-peer traffic for fast responses. Session creation and destruction happens during the long-range hyperspace countdown and hyperspace effect (which is a few seconds only), so is transparent to the player.
We have the concept of “groups”. They can be private groups just of your friends or open groups (that form part of the game) based on the play styles people prefer, and the rules in each can be different. Players will begin in the group “All” but can change groups at will, though it will be possible to be banned from groups due to antisocial behaviour, and you will only meet others in that group.

So, switching between the All Group, private groups or even solo-online (and back again) will be possible. There will be no switching out of solo-offline, however.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

As far as I know you will be able to switch between those groups, except in certain cases like gaining bounty on attacking other player you will be forced to play all.

 

[Bromley86]

Thanks guys. Has there been any recent Dev or DDF discussion on limiting that switching (because of the "fairness" of people switching to singpleplayer (online) to make a risky run to an anarchy system and then switching back to All once they've made their money).

Or is the consensus that there's no problem if people want to do that?

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Thanks guys. Has there been any recent Dev or DDF discussion on limiting that switching (because of the "fairness" of people switching to singpleplayer (online) to make a risky run to an anarchy system and then switching back to All once they've made their money).

Or is the consensus that there's no problem if people want to do that?

DDF discussion on this is fairly old, but no one have been expressed wishes to revisit that. We will have to wait and see what FD comes up in implementation.

 

[Steve_T]

Thanks guys. Has there been any recent Dev or DDF discussion on limiting that switching (because of the "fairness" of people switching to singpleplayer (online) to make a risky run to an anarchy system and then switching back to All once they've made their money).

Or is the consensus that there's no problem if people want to do that?

My take on this is that it will be possible to do what you're saying. When the galaxy is opened up, it's going to be much less likely to meet a PC anyway (IMHO) so doing that run in single player (online) mode wouldn't really give you an unfair advantage.