Where has all the research and speculation gone?

Maybe I missed it but why will they not have you anymore?
Back then, it was Mr. Wagar who decided to part ways. As he wrote in an anniversary blog post: "After 5 years, it was time for me to move on from ED. Yes, this event and the response to it contributed to my decision on that score, but it wasn’t the sole consideration." Judging by the "I have offered" comment in this thread, it appears he changed his mind later, but why Frontier wouldn't take up his offer is anyone's guess.
Personally, I'd find it most likely that they already have their own employees working on whatever story content they'll want to put out in this era between Beyond and the next expansion, and they simply don't need any more writers.
 
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Folks. I'm not speaking for Fdev, it's more an observation on what has been in GalNet over the last year. Characters popping up with no particular preamble, some rather dodgy science (uber powerful portable nuclear bombs spring to mind), no long term story threads - at least none I can decipher. Power play characters not doing much etc. All the recent GalNet articles look like little snippets of text, flavour and nothing much more.

Obviously *somebody* is writing this stuff, so there are some writers in the literal sense of the word. Perhaps I should have been clearer - there is very little emphasis on writing a compelling overaching lore/story/narrative in the game at the present time and hasn't been for a while. Focus appears to be elsewhere. :)

Sorry for the upset.

Would I write some stuff again? Of course I would. I have offered, but it doesn't seem to be a priority for the time being.

Cheers,

Drew.

Thanks Drew, more than I was hoping to hear, and thanks for the clarification.
 
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Back then, it was Mr. Wagar who decided to part ways. As he wrote in an anniversary blog post: "After 5 years, it was time for me to move on from ED. Yes, this event and the response to it contributed to my decision on that score, but it wasn’t the sole consideration." Judging by the "I have offered" comment in this thread, it appears he changed his mind later, but why Frontier wouldn't take up his offer is anyone's guess.
Personally, I'd find it most likely that they already have their own employees working on whatever story content they'll want to put out in this era between Beyond and the next expansion, and they simply don't need any more writers.

That's entirely possible. They have said they are working on some sort of 'events'. :)

Cheers,

Drew.
 
That's entirely possible. They have said they are working on some sort of 'events'. :)

Cheers,

Drew.

Let's hope the events in question are attached to an actual storyline and isn't just so much fluff. Thank you for your meaningful contributions earlier in Elite's history, Drew - and hope to see more from you. It's theoretically possible that FDev changes their mind about things. :)
 
Folks. I'm not speaking for Fdev, it's more an observation on what has been in GalNet over the last year. Characters popping up with no particular preamble, some rather dodgy science (uber powerful portable nuclear bombs spring to mind), no long term story threads - at least none I can decipher. Power play characters not doing much etc. All the recent GalNet articles look like little snippets of text, flavour and nothing much more.

Obviously *somebody* is writing this stuff, so there are some writers in the literal sense of the word. Perhaps I should have been clearer - there is very little emphasis on writing a compelling overaching lore/story/narrative in the game at the present time and hasn't been for a while. Focus appears to be elsewhere. :)

Sorry for the upset.

Would I write some stuff again? Of course I would. I have offered, but it doesn't seem to be a priority for the time being.

Cheers,

Drew.

It is a really sad state right now. As a player who has started really playing the game just over a year ago and currently reading your novels, it is kinda depressing to just hear about all the stuff that was going and isn't anymore. Makes me want to go back in time and play from the beginning, when there still was so much action going on. Also reading how many player names have made it into Premonition… it's a really cool thing so I would love to see something like that happen again.
But yeah, I came too late and missed everything. So only hopes that in the future, something will happen, remains.
 
Back then, it was Mr. Wagar who decided to part ways. As he wrote in an anniversary blog post: "After 5 years, it was time for me to move on from ED. Yes, this event and the response to it contributed to my decision on that score, but it wasn’t the sole consideration." Judging by the "I have offered" comment in this thread, it appears he changed his mind later, but why Frontier wouldn't take up his offer is anyone's guess.
Personally, I'd find it most likely that they already have their own employees working on whatever story content they'll want to put out in this era between Beyond and the next expansion, and they simply don't need any more writers.

I suspect that’s oretty likely the reason, but personally (speaking for myself and my own opinions, others may agree or not) I really wish they would take up DW’s offer to do more work for them. Since the end of that era of story telling there is no history or continuation of any story in the game. Things get added (Thargoid sites, ships, guardian sites, beacons etc) there’s a little mini game attached that occupies the community for a week or so then it’s over until the next thing is added in and the previous content is left to rot on the vine (not even to mention the original stuff that seems to have been forgotten) Characters are introduced to the game and what story it has that have no history, they’re just *poof* there. And I would tend to agree that the science parts of the newer narratives are not... great.
That’s not to stuff it in the faces of the writers they do currently employ. I’m sure, like game designers etc, they’re working within the confines of what FDev tells them to make and sometimes there’s not much given to work with. But even if that’s the case, Drew then must have at least been much better at pulling the right strings and levers to get them to allow in a much more compelling narritive that also involved player interaction (and novels to boot).
And if it is that perhaps they feel they don’t need a bigger story before the launch of the new expansion I also think that’s a mistake. Because that would very likely amount to the same *poof* new people and stuff without history problem the game now has. If they want to bring back more compelling story lines and player interaction, the story has to baked into the game and follow smoothly from one era to the next, not just thrown on top of a game once it’s finished as flavoring.
 
If they want to bring back more compelling story lines and player interaction, the story has to baked into the game and follow smoothly from one era to the next, not just thrown on top of a game once it’s finished as flavoring.

"Blending in is a statement" They said it, and it's true. Whoever writes the story, needs to know what has already been baked in. Because players know, and in a way it must be scary. Otherwise new stuff breaks the illusion.
 
I guess that's why they now only write completely random and arbitrary stories for Galnet. They don't tie in with the world of Elite at all and could be put into any other SciFi game. Heck, it doesn't even need to be SciFi at all.

"Guy wins lottery"

"Wealthy person loses fortune due to gambling addiction"

"Terrorists steal bomb"

Come on...
 
Folks. I'm not speaking for Fdev, it's more an observation on what has been in GalNet over the last year. Characters popping up with no particular preamble, some rather dodgy science (uber powerful portable nuclear bombs spring to mind), no long term story threads - at least none I can decipher. Power play characters not doing much etc. All the recent GalNet articles look like little snippets of text, flavour and nothing much more.

Obviously *somebody* is writing this stuff, so there are some writers in the literal sense of the word. Perhaps I should have been clearer - there is very little emphasis on writing a compelling overaching lore/story/narrative in the game at the present time and hasn't been for a while. Focus appears to be elsewhere. :)
Spot on.

It reminds me of something I read a while back about the authors of Expanse. One of the authors focus on the big story, the big story-arc, while the other author write the dialogues and details. It's probably why the story and series is so successful. It's more alive and real when the big story hangs together and is interesting, while the details are perfected and well written. Elite is missing the big story(ies).
 
To be honest I think we have a few unsolved mysteries, that people have gave up on or believe have already been solved.

Thargoid Probe points to Merope 5c and we don't know why.

That same probe has more artifacts in the picture that have gone without explanation because they have been written off as transmission "echoes".

Col 70 sector where the transmission seems tethered too, has been permit locked for two years.

The Thargoid Link has even more artifacts that have largely gone completely ignored.

I honestly believe the ball is on our court and they are waiting for our move.

Problem is that with FDEVs silence on this we will never know if this is true or not.
 
To be honest I think we have a few unsolved mysteries, that people have gave up on or believe have already been solved.

Thargoid Probe points to Merope 5c and we don't know why.

That same probe has more artifacts in the picture that have gone without explanation because they have been written off as transmission "echoes".

Col 70 sector where the transmission seems tethered too, has been permit locked for two years.

The Thargoid Link has even more artifacts that have largely gone completely ignored.

I honestly believe the ball is on our court and they are waiting for our move.

Problem is that with FDEVs silence on this we will never know if this is true or not.

Here's the rub. Let's turn back the clock for a bit.

Remember when Horizons was first released? What was the hint there was something on the planet's surface to discover, of the procedurally generated variety? We'd see a blue ring appear on the planet's surface.
poi-from-air.jpg

Remember how we'd find Barnacles? Ignore the blue circles and explore some rando planet in rando locations and hope to stumble upon one with no indication that there's something there.

Now... if you run missions with factions you get Tip-Offs to "strange things", usually a shipwreck or a semi-fixed installtion, usually with a "mysterious message" that leads nowhere.

Remember how you'd *actually* find mysterious things? Fly around rando systems hoping you spot an unauthorised transmission tower which is one of a three-step triangulation process.

Guardian Ruins? Hunt in rando systems, ignore blue circles.

Thargoid Structures? Hunt in rando systems, ignore blue circles.

If my point isn't being emphatic enough... what I'm trying to say is that FD are amazing at giving us a bunch of tools and systems of play which could lead naturally into discovering cool and interesting things, and proceeds to use none of them to actually enable logical discovery-based gameplay.

To address your points in-turn:

Thargoid Probe points to Merope 5C? Thing is, we *know* nothing is there thanks to the new exploration mechanics.
Col 70 Sector? We *know* Wreaken Construction operate in that sector, and typically, you get allied with a relevant faction to get a permit for their region. Getting allied with Wreaken Construction does not result in a permit.
Further, we *tried* to get into the Cone Sector, which was not permit locked, via the Gnosis. FD prevent it and permit lock the region, solidifying the fact FD want us to look at Unknown Permit Regions and *know* we cannot go into them.

The ball may well be in our court, but if it is, FD sure as hell are making whatever we have to do so absurdly unintuitive they might as well not have put it in the game. I may not be an expert in game design, but I know enough game theory to understand that your game should intuitively teach you basic mechanics that can later on be applied to unintuitive situations, like how you defeat your mirror-image in Prince of Persia. FD does none of that, encouraging you to become better and better at the various systems in the game, and completely discards them for the discovery of anything plot-related.

So yeah, as far as I'm concerned, if the game teaches me that the DSS reveals signals of interest on a planet, and there's nothing unusual that shows up on Merope 5C according to the DSS which is *meant to* tell us about all the signal sources on the planet and can discover guardian ruins, thargoid structures, barnacles etc., then there's nothing there, even if the Thargoid Probe points there. And if there is something there, then FD's done some trash-bin game design to find it.
 
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[...]
I honestly believe the ball is on our court and they are waiting for our move.
[...]

I absolutely doubt that. The Col 70 sector is probably the best evidence that there's nothing left to do in the game. FD dropped the ball and it looks like nobody is responsible for that kind of content any more or they just don't care.

I'm really curious what those CG 2.0 will look like, but I'm not overly optimistic given FD's track record.
 
One thing I've noticed about the codex is that it really makes it feel like I've already seen everything there is to see. I have found hardly anything new that's listed in the codex myself - only one or two lagrange clouds, spiky things and an anomaly, but the fact that, when you look through what others have found in the codex, you notice that all the regions of the galaxy have these same discoveries present in them, really makes you feel like there's nothing unique to find now. There's no discovering that one region of the galaxy has a brand new spacefaring alien race that you can interact with in diplomacy. There's no hostile sentient AI civilisation hidden out in another region. There's plenty of space-based life now, but no (for example) space whales that move and react in an interesting dynamic way to your presence (like full game NPC AI style movement, where hostility is met by trying to eat your ship or something).

I felt so sure that this "seeding the galaxy with discoveries" would mean that the permit locked regions would be mostly unlocked (barring the thargoid and guardian related ones) and used to house such discoveries. That these discoveries would be significant, and not boiling down to simply looking at them, scanning them, taking a picture and moving on.

I remember when I really thought there were grand mysteries to discover elsewhere in the galaxy, now I'm just kind of disillusioned.

Too much peeking behind the curtain perhaps? After 1600hrs I know how the game operates on so many different levels, so I know what to expect in any given situation, and going across to the other side of the galaxy doesn't change that at all.

- There are no secret faction interactions that unlock a wider narrative or mystery (Gaining access to Shinrarta other than by being Elite? Following the Wreaken storyline? etc...)
- All intrigues and mysteries in Galnet stay in Galnet (I remember when I thought those fluff pieces were actually findable in-game)
- No Tionisla Ship Graveyard
- No Spacewhales
- No Guardian rogue AI to find
- No rogue human AI to find
- Absolutely no way around Permit Locks whatsoever - at one point I thought that there must be something we as a community were missing, some clue, some secret or obscure gameplay or missions that would unlock those permit systems. Not so, apparently.
- All the Thargoid and Guardian breadcrumb trails came to an abrupt stop when we found out where they were pointing to.
- The Club, Formidine Rift and Zurara storyline just got dropped the moment the Salome's final message was discovered, so her final exhortations go nowhere, and the narrative of Premonition just fizzles out.

Just makes me quite sad, to be honest. So much intrigue, interest and mystery, all just smoke and mirrors, and once the trick is revealed, it's no longer impressive.

I was like you waiting for those discoveries in the black even posted about why elite have so emptyness in its galaxy ?but i was replied that this is not babylon 5 or wanted that the game turn into mass effect or star trek well whats the point of a galaxy wide game then those living organism are not really what i was expecting to find in all those systems....
 
Nothing to speculate on.

Thargoid Structure + Megaship Overwatch located in HIP 22460, but it's locked
Thargoid Probe and Link triangulate off a specific system in Col 70 sector, but it's locked
Guardian presence intensifies near Regor Sector, but it's locked.
Massive Thargoid Presence concentrated around Cone Sector, but it's locked.
Polaris... well... it's locked.
Thargoid Sensor pointing to Merope, but we can prove nothing's there now.
Thargoid Probe pointing to Merope 5C, but we can prove nothing's there now.
Wreaken operating in Col 70, but locked, and no interactions with Wreaken to be had which are different to any other faction.
Still no further interactions with Thargoid Barnacles, Structures, or Thargoids generally.
Still nothing meaningful and repeatable to do with alien items.
Almost all interesting Galnet articles are not accompanied by actual in-game activity
Palin and Ram Tah... silent.

Repped. I've taken the liberty to quote this dire state of affairs in the Dangerous Discussion thread https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/480596-Thargoids-and-Guardians-who-is-the-enemy
 
The ball may well be in our court, but if it is, FD sure as hell are making whatever we have to do so absurdly unintuitive they might as well not have put it in the game.
Have you tried logging out and logging in again?
That worked on the mission boards, works on obelisk scans and guardian sites.

I think, it is part of the ham handed way things are being handled that drives players away. Now the hiatus of 18 months until more "content".
 
One can't help but think that without an over-arching master (mistress) of storytelling, the whole storyline is being run by a committee ..... which meets on the last Friday of the month and which can't agree on anything [knocked out]
 
Folks. I'm not speaking for Fdev, it's more an observation on what has been in GalNet over the last year. Characters popping up with no particular preamble, some rather dodgy science (uber powerful portable nuclear bombs spring to mind), no long term story threads - at least none I can decipher. Power play characters not doing much etc. All the recent GalNet articles look like little snippets of text, flavour and nothing much more.

Obviously *somebody* is writing this stuff, so there are some writers in the literal sense of the word. Perhaps I should have been clearer - there is very little emphasis on writing a compelling overaching lore/story/narrative in the game at the present time and hasn't been for a while. Focus appears to be elsewhere. :)

Sorry for the upset.

Would I write some stuff again? Of course I would. I have offered, but it doesn't seem to be a priority for the time being.

Cheers,

Drew.

Hey Drew, good to see you are on the forums.

I keep wanging on about how there is more content worth paying attention to over on Inara than on Galnet. Actual content creators recording their in-game events and fleshing out things which may have happened to them with really well imagined ideas. I cant keep saying it enough that it would be great if some of these things made it into Galnet.

Ok, from a critical point of view, some of them could do with editing or drafting but thats only polish. At the root of each of these logs is immersion in the game they are enjoying and the desire to involve others in their experience. For me Galnet should focus on this rather than random stories which dont have any in game access. If they would just relax their control over the "story" and just let it happen I would think this game would perhaps evolve into something awesome.

Anyway, for those interested here are some links to Logs I have been enjoying recently for various reasons.


This is a neat little series in bite sized chunks thats been laid out nicely.


This series brings an Edwardian feel to the whole Passenger mission concept with a nice developing mystery plot


This guy is chronicling his DW2 journey with some well taken screenies and referencing others. There is some good RP in there too


A shameless plug for my own Piracy adventures


And a well written piece which fleshes out someones roleplaying alt that appears on the boards sometimes.


Anyway, if any of you fancy a read feel free to dive into these and abandon Galnet. Its very wide of the mark.
 
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