Picture this, you're in a small ship, around you, the instant flashes of beam weapons being thrown at one and other by warring juggernauts, your ears are deafened by explosions and great capital ships are sliced in half as the war unfolds. You're darting in and out, attempting to avoid missile locks or falling victim to one of the super beam weapons which these monstrous ships employ to do their bidding - this was the scene from many missions in the epic space battle FreeSpace 2.
Yet, despite Elite: Dangerous being embryonic, set in a vast and almost unimaginable space of some 400 billion suns, the best you might occasionally get involved in is a skirmish with repetitive and predictable outcomes. There is no sense of thrill, no sense of intensity. Perhaps when an NCP is matched above you and it takes all of your skill and cunning to outwit it, but even then, there is no sense of being part of a greater whole. And this is Elite's biggest problem. There's no thrill.
Kepler, the NASA planet hunter mission, found 4000 worlds in a tiny patch of the heavens, using the findings we can estimate that from the 30 billion predicted Earth-like worlds, the Milky Way will be occupied by approximately 100000 intelligent, technological races. But yet, Elite has been create in the total and abject absence of any. Some would argue that the fermi paradox says otherwise - I say, the fermi paradox is flawed by virtue of the fact that it is based on our predictions about what technology may come, and given that any prediction about what humanity would have 10-20 or 100 years ahead has been utterly wrong, it is fair to say that guessing what aliens might have is a fools task. I strongly suspect that any intelligence moves beyond radio, beyond electromagnetic transmission within a few hundred years and therefore falls silent to radio telescopes. What does all this have to do with anything?
What is really needed is an injection of intrigue, danger and wonder. LIFE! Conflict. Misunderstanding. Coming face-to-face with a vast ship of unknown origin and maybe running like hell when your shields suddenly just shut down?! How about weapons beyond projectiles and those that are actually conceptually backward when you think about what is possible. The vision is too limited. Code for some random events... there you are, happily going after a sidewinder NCP when out of nowhere a vast ship turns up, you get scanned, you worry, energy diverts to shields, next thing you hear "incoming missile" (or other exotic weapon) and boom, you're running. Or, perhaps the empty husk of an old and ancient ship, surrounded by delicious cargo, waiting to be scooped up and taken away!
How about puzzles? Entering an asteroid field and losing power to your engines, find yourself in some kind of dampening field. Perhaps you can signal for help or perhaps your being trapped by mines, which you target, destroy and suddenly your thrusters return to full power?
The weapons choice too small. People LOVE variety. Give people two bowls of sweats, one all the same colour, the other assorted, they'll always opt for the coloured sweats - as I say, people love variety. So why not have blue lasers, powerful beams, plasma weapons, ion cannons, graviton pulses or perhaps exotic matter projections, bombs or anything but primitive accelerated mass projectiles?! At least give us a few more options.
What it really needs is for there to be a constant and steady stream of traffic... how about being in super cruise when you notice a capital ship being escorted? Following it to a conflict? How about the enemy just turning up in your space and having a go? Elite: Dangerous is too staged, it isn't dynamic, it isn't intriguing, it isn't varied and it is FULL of potential.
I finally leave with some more nostalgic reflection upon an epic space sim combat series, Colony Wars for the Sony Playstation. The game was amazing, the music theatrical, it had presence. Your missions would take you between giant capital ships too busy to care about your presence, but with swarms of fighters waiting to take you out. You should have to travel half the galaxy in the small, slim, tiny, pathetic hope that you might happen upon "warning, capital class ship detected" - which, credit where credit is due, is truly epic. The sound effects, the music, the way they appear, it heightens ones senses and prepares you for that "oh heck" moment. But then, you see to ships apparently stuck in a static war where neither appears to cause much harm? How about a second, third, forth or fifth ship appearing, how about one of them going pop as it succumbs to overwhelming fire power, causing a shock-wave to ripple space and time!
Either way, whilst Elite has focused amazingly well on detail, fx and capability, it has neglected these simple things. Give ups more weapons, give us customisations, give us cockpit colour customisations, give us aliens, give us danger, give us unpredictability, once you've added some of these things in, I reckon no game will be able to come close to Elite in creating an all-consuming space sim experience. Thoughts?
Thanks
Yet, despite Elite: Dangerous being embryonic, set in a vast and almost unimaginable space of some 400 billion suns, the best you might occasionally get involved in is a skirmish with repetitive and predictable outcomes. There is no sense of thrill, no sense of intensity. Perhaps when an NCP is matched above you and it takes all of your skill and cunning to outwit it, but even then, there is no sense of being part of a greater whole. And this is Elite's biggest problem. There's no thrill.
Kepler, the NASA planet hunter mission, found 4000 worlds in a tiny patch of the heavens, using the findings we can estimate that from the 30 billion predicted Earth-like worlds, the Milky Way will be occupied by approximately 100000 intelligent, technological races. But yet, Elite has been create in the total and abject absence of any. Some would argue that the fermi paradox says otherwise - I say, the fermi paradox is flawed by virtue of the fact that it is based on our predictions about what technology may come, and given that any prediction about what humanity would have 10-20 or 100 years ahead has been utterly wrong, it is fair to say that guessing what aliens might have is a fools task. I strongly suspect that any intelligence moves beyond radio, beyond electromagnetic transmission within a few hundred years and therefore falls silent to radio telescopes. What does all this have to do with anything?
What is really needed is an injection of intrigue, danger and wonder. LIFE! Conflict. Misunderstanding. Coming face-to-face with a vast ship of unknown origin and maybe running like hell when your shields suddenly just shut down?! How about weapons beyond projectiles and those that are actually conceptually backward when you think about what is possible. The vision is too limited. Code for some random events... there you are, happily going after a sidewinder NCP when out of nowhere a vast ship turns up, you get scanned, you worry, energy diverts to shields, next thing you hear "incoming missile" (or other exotic weapon) and boom, you're running. Or, perhaps the empty husk of an old and ancient ship, surrounded by delicious cargo, waiting to be scooped up and taken away!
How about puzzles? Entering an asteroid field and losing power to your engines, find yourself in some kind of dampening field. Perhaps you can signal for help or perhaps your being trapped by mines, which you target, destroy and suddenly your thrusters return to full power?
The weapons choice too small. People LOVE variety. Give people two bowls of sweats, one all the same colour, the other assorted, they'll always opt for the coloured sweats - as I say, people love variety. So why not have blue lasers, powerful beams, plasma weapons, ion cannons, graviton pulses or perhaps exotic matter projections, bombs or anything but primitive accelerated mass projectiles?! At least give us a few more options.
What it really needs is for there to be a constant and steady stream of traffic... how about being in super cruise when you notice a capital ship being escorted? Following it to a conflict? How about the enemy just turning up in your space and having a go? Elite: Dangerous is too staged, it isn't dynamic, it isn't intriguing, it isn't varied and it is FULL of potential.
I finally leave with some more nostalgic reflection upon an epic space sim combat series, Colony Wars for the Sony Playstation. The game was amazing, the music theatrical, it had presence. Your missions would take you between giant capital ships too busy to care about your presence, but with swarms of fighters waiting to take you out. You should have to travel half the galaxy in the small, slim, tiny, pathetic hope that you might happen upon "warning, capital class ship detected" - which, credit where credit is due, is truly epic. The sound effects, the music, the way they appear, it heightens ones senses and prepares you for that "oh heck" moment. But then, you see to ships apparently stuck in a static war where neither appears to cause much harm? How about a second, third, forth or fifth ship appearing, how about one of them going pop as it succumbs to overwhelming fire power, causing a shock-wave to ripple space and time!
Either way, whilst Elite has focused amazingly well on detail, fx and capability, it has neglected these simple things. Give ups more weapons, give us customisations, give us cockpit colour customisations, give us aliens, give us danger, give us unpredictability, once you've added some of these things in, I reckon no game will be able to come close to Elite in creating an all-consuming space sim experience. Thoughts?
Thanks
Last edited by a moderator:
