Elite Dangerous Anyone playing it too?

[WouldYouKindly]

Those who have been missing space sims probably already know that there are two massive titles looming on the horizon. The one looming slightly closer is Elite Dangerous. I recently paid the collectors edition price to get early access into the beta. Aside from occasionally spawning me inside the guts of a space station, I've been having a hell of a lot of fun.

For instance, there is a bounty system for both players and NPCs. If you find someone who is wanted and kill them, you get money. I was having fun with it today, tracking down some NPCs killing them and getting money. Well, apparently the AI criminal underworld doesn't like it when you murder their lackies. When I was going back to the station to cash in my bounties, I got pulled out of super cruise(intersystem fast travel) by a ship worth nearly 5 times as much as mine. However, the starting ship I was using is the absolute master of the knife fight and this new enemy kept trying to turn with me. It took a freaking age but I got out of the engagement scot free with another much more massive bounty to cash in, but I wasn't done. I hunted down another couple NPCs, one in the space equivalent of a white cargo van. Don't look gift horses in the mouth. Bing! even more easy money.

I am absolutely loving this game right now and I'll probably be sinking an unhealthy amount of time into it now and after it officially releases. Anyone care to join me?

 

[Techno Squidgy]

Had to search the forums just to find this thread, lucky it was quite near the top!

I got Elite a few days ago and I'm loving it. Could do with someone to play with though, it's a tad lonely space-truckin' by yourself, and I've been wanting to get into more combat since I picked up my Eagle, but I keep ending up vaporised in the warzones without a wingman. I haven't had any luck bounty hunting, because I have no idea how to go about it! So if you don't mind putting up with a little bit of ineptitude while I learn how the game works, I'd be more than happy to partner up with you.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Had to search the forums just to find this thread, lucky it was quite near the top!

I got Elite a few days ago and I'm loving it. Could do with someone to play with though, it's a tad lonely space-truckin' by yourself, and I've been wanting to get into more combat since I picked up my Eagle, but I keep ending up vaporised in the warzones without a wingman. I haven't had any luck bounty hunting, because I have no idea how to go about it! So if you don't mind putting up with a little bit of ineptitude while I learn how the game works, I'd be more than happy to partner up with you.

Bounty hunting, which I can certainly help you with, is mostly done by going to those unidentified signal sources and scanning whoever is flying there.

Fighting in war zones in an eagle is mostly about separating your enemy from the pack and using your maneuverability to chip away at them. Also, only go to the low intensity conflict zones. The first time you get the chance, upgrade the reactor in your eagle. It's heat generation and low power limit is it's greatest weakness. A new reactor solves both of these problems and lets you mount larger weapons.

Finally, I'd love to group up with someone just let me know your name.

 

[Techno Squidgy]

I'd love to group up with someone just let me know your name.

Cheers for the advice, CMDR Techno Squidgy at your service!

I know, not very imaginative to use my online nick for my commander name, but I couldn't come up with anything that sounded right, you know?

 

[TT Kairen]

I looked at it, it looks pretty cool I guess, but Star Citizen got to me first. If they can live up to their ambitions I think the finished product will trump pretty much any other game on the market.

 

[subskipper]

Yes! And I love it. It's a game I can see myself playing for years to come. The foundation they've built is amazing. This feels like a classic in the making.

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

Was going to get it until I found out they dumped the Offline mode and it's become always online.

Straight into the trash.

 

[Joccaren]

Tried it, but not really a fan.
Same complaints as most others I've found:
Flight model is meh. Everything is a jousting fight. Its accelerate at your enemy, turn, end up 20km away, and see them turning too, complete your turn, and then re-joust. Turning itself is also unintuitive. Rather than slower speeds meaning faster turns, its some middle ground that is the fastest turn, with slower or faster reducing turn speeds. Not only does this makes slow speeds useless - fine manoeuvring MUST be done at medium speeds, and I'll be damned if anyone is going to want to travel slowly in a straight line - and results in constant jousts rather than anything more interesting, 100% by virtue of the fact that you HAVE to keep moving in a straight line at a moderate pace to get any turning done.
Roll was also ridiculously over-sensitive. A slight move of my mouse to the right resulted in my ship almost doing a 180' roll in a second, which is a little ridiculous.
Haven't played its latest version yet, but I'll give it a go once its released and stick to the single player side. It'll probably be something I play on-off for the experience, rather than a staple game for me though, sadly.

 

[Dissentient]

Right now I'm waiting for gamma because there's no point in playing before the wipe.

The game has a lot of potential but in the current state it's not going to fly. Flight model and combat are really good, game looks and sounds awesome, but pretty much all activities other than combat are extremely simplistic and boring.
Another major issue is that while the game claims to be a multiplayer one, the only things you can do to other players are:
Killing them
Stealing their cargo
Sending them messages

So there's absolutely 0 reason to play in open as opposed to solo, unless you are a pirate. The game does absolutely nothing what people love about EVE online.

So if Gamma is not miles better than Beta 3 in those aspects, I don't think I'm going to play it more than for a couple of weeks, and I think reviews would be around 6.5/10.

Roll was also ridiculously over-sensitive. A slight move of my mouse to the right resulted in my ship almost doing a 180' roll in a second, which is a little ridiculous.

Standard control scheme is a little derp. Remap yaw to mouse X axis, and roll to A/D, and it becomes just right.

Turning itself is also unintuitive. Rather than slower speeds meaning faster turns, its some middle ground that is the fastest turn, with slower or faster reducing turn speeds. Not only does this makes slow speeds useless - fine manoeuvring MUST be done at medium speeds, and I'll be damned if anyone is going to want to travel slowly in a straight line - and results in constant jousts rather than anything more interesting, 100% by virtue of the fact that you HAVE to keep moving in a straight line at a moderate pace to get any turning done.

It's not as much of a problem as you think it is. For example, turning flight assist off to rotate your ship without altering its velocity can easily get you behind your target. Vertical thrusters can also be used to your advantage.

 

[Dissentient]

So now that pre-release is out I can definitely say that the game is not worth buying at the moment. It still lacks a great number of features that it needs to be an interesting game.