Elite: Dangerous

digitalscream

crunchman said:

racefaceec90 said:

apart from those rotating space ports though,i still make a pig's ear out of trying to enter them 

The original Elite had a docking computer you could buy which did it all for you while playing the Blue Danube. My machine isn't up to playing this version so I don't know if there is something similar.

Yes, there's a docking computer - on release, it used to kill you more often than it docked successfully, but it works most of the time now. I still maintain that with the smaller ships, it's pretty easy to dock - you just need to get the hang of using the lateral and vertical thrusters. Once you're a lot more comfortable with the handling of the ship, you can just glide in.

Sporky said:

crunchman said:

The original Elite had a docking computer you could buy which did it all for you while playing the Blue Danube. My machine isn't up to playing this version so I don't know if there is something similar.

And just as you got to the entrance some git would come out and smash into you!

That's pretty common in Elite: Dangerous...especially when there's a community goal going on and there are lots of players around, so you get griefers who like nothing better than to ram people to death (and you can't shoot them, because then the station will open fire on you). Some people are just dicks.

Sporky

This is why NMS appeals more to me. I don't play nicely with other children online.

racefaceec90

have just spent the past 2 days travelling to sagittarius a in my new asp explorer. fantastic sight to see especially when you haven't seen a black hole yet. have parked up my ship near to the supermassive black hole. but when i return to the game,i plan on scanning systems like crazy (as i barely scanned anything getting to sag a, just wanted to get there in one piece first). may well be some time before i return to occupied space :-)   

fretmeister

I had convinced myself that I would limit all my gaming to my PS4.

But I do need to update my PC, and now I'm wondering whether to stick with a usual office spec machine, or to spend a bit extra so I could give this a try.

I played the original on the BBC Model B and loved it.

Budgie

I'm really tempted by Elite but my time is being spent mainly on Black Desert online. Is it worth buying to play it just casually or are we looking at a serious amount of hours to get anywhere? No Man's Sky looks good too. Hmmm!

CabbageCat

Sporky said:

This is why NMS appeals more to me. I don't play nicely with other children online.

You can play ED in solo mode. You're still a part of the (permanently bug-riddled) background generator and can impact what happens in the galaxy but you don't have to worry about annoying people who think a game is only fun when they are ruining it for everyone else.

Note that I haven't played ED for several months so my info might be out-of-date.

Axe_meister

My son just got this for the Xbox (currently on special offer). Such a pity that Xbox and PC players cannot see each other.

digitalscream

Axe_meister said:

My son just got this for the Xbox (currently on special offer). Such a pity that Xbox and PC players cannot see each other.

It would be totally unfair. PC users would have a massive advantage over Xbox users, because most of us use a HOTAS. In combat, they wouldn't stand a chance (just watch the devs' videos when they're playing Arena with a console controller - it's embarrassing in comparison with watching PC players).

Nomad

fretmeister said:

I had convinced myself that I would limit all my gaming to my PS4.

But I do need to update my PC, and now I'm wondering whether to stick with a usual office spec machine, or to spend a bit extra so I could give this a try.

I played the original on the BBC Model B and loved it.

A good graphics card is a must, but I believe other things like CPU, RAM, disk space, can be quite moderate. You may want to consider a joystick setup, but I play quite happily using keyboard and mouse (I'm not into combat, though).

Although it's far more detailed and realistic, it's surprisingly close to the original 8-bit version. Trading is probably tougher at the start, but there are other ways to make money. Plenty of ships to choose from as you get richer, and lots of upgrades/weapons. If there's a deal on Horizons, it's worth getting (it's a superset of the whole game - don't need the basic Elite software to run Horizons).

Nomad

Budgie said:

I'm really tempted by Elite but my time is being spent mainly on Black Desert online. Is it worth buying to play it just casually or are we looking at a serious amount of hours to get anywhere? No Man's Sky looks good too. Hmmm!

Depends on how keen you are to get somewhere. More importantly, what would you do once you were there? (There's nowhere to get to, other than Elite status in various skills and a bunch of ships and money - it's much more about the ride than any sort of end game.)

The pricing model makes it fine to buy and play occasionally - much cheaper than monthly subscription games, and you don't feel you have to play to justify some on-going spend. The yearly 'season' updates are optional, but still pretty cheap for an occasional player at about 30 quid.

wave100

Budgie said:

I'm really tempted by Elite but my time is being spent mainly on Black Desert online. Is it worth buying to play it just casually or are we looking at a serious amount of hours to get anywhere? No Man's Sky looks good too. Hmmm!

There is a bit of a learning curve with ED but once you get over that it would be perfectly possible to dip in and out on a casual basis.

racefaceec90

since i last posted about me reaching sagittarius a,let's just say a few things have happened.

1. i decided to blow up my ship so i could return to occupied space. no i'm not joking,i just had enough of travelling and scanning stuff tbh. i got the achievement anyhoo (and a nice picture of the supermassive black hole ;-) i do these things on the spur of the moment it's the way i roll ;-) 

2.returning to occupied space (insurance for my asp explorer was about 865,000 cr) i started to take delivery jobs to get some money. i took about 5-6 jobs as i saw them at the bulletin boards. well that was when i got interdicted by 3 pirates (and hadn't activated my weapons DOH!  ship no 2 destroyed :-(

3. the above incident was heard by the party chat i was in at the time. after much piss taking by them. i joined up with a few of the party in a wing group. one of the group offered to help me learn about combat (as i am a novice at it). he recommended that i trade my upgrades on my asp explorer to fund buying a diamondback explorer. he then advised me as to what to fit it out with. after that he then proceeded to teach me about combat in a low intensity zone asteroid belt. we then went out and took on a few nair do well's with wanted levels :-)  all i can say is thanks a million to the gent,as he really helped me out,both in speccing out a decent combat ready ship,but also teaching us some skills that will stand me in good stead for the future. i may never be the greatest at combat,but i am a lot better than i was at understanding the systems and targetting computers (along with using the power distributor) a million thanks to him :-)

anyhoo yesterday i was at sag a in my asp explorer with just over 3 million cr in my account.

today i still have my asp (but on standby until i can afford to refit it out again) but now have a nicely fitted out diamondback explorer and also a sidewinder fitted out to the max also (just for the hell of it,i like the sidey i have to say ;-) and i have just over 3 million again in my account.

what a difference a day makes eh :-D  

digitalscream

Well, I thought I'd join in the PvP league they've just set up over on the Frontier forums...unfortunately, the limitation of "only small ships" has revealed to me exactly how much my fighting style relies on flying the Vulture. Don't get me wrong - I've beaten good pilots in much bigger ships with my Vulture (Pythons, Assault Ships, Clippers, even an Anaconda) - but I just can't fight in those tiny little ships. Too many limitations and compromises.

It was rather embarrassing.

Axe_meister

Any good combat tips? I can beat pretty much any computer generated foe in my max out viper (except the big pythons) but against real players I am crap.

digitalscream

Axe_meister said:

Any good combat tips? I can beat pretty much any computer generated foe in my max out viper (except the big pythons) but against real players I am crap.

1 - Fixed weapons. Gimbals are generally useless against CMDRs, because of chaff and silent running.

2 - Pip management. 4 pips into SYS makes your shield twice as strong as normal.

3 - FA-off flight. Helps with turning faster, but don't keep it on all the time. Toggling it off when you need it is the key.

4 - Thrusters (vertical and lateral). They can make you a lot harder to hit, and can help you keep your speed in the blue zone for FA-off moves.

5 - Work out what kind of player you are. Would you rather hull-tank with no shields, keep your shields up all the time or have fast-recharging shields? Would you prefer a glass cannon, or lighter weapons in favour of lasting longer in a fight?

6 - Never leave the station with the standard lightweight bulkheads. You want Military Grade armour at a minimum.

7 - Watch other players' videos on YouTube. If you're in a Viper, Cillit Bang is the one to watch.

fretmeister

It's been a good 15 years since I bought a joystick.

What is worth having that isn't silly money?

The last stick I had was a Saitek Cyborg of some description. That was ok, but there seems to be millions of models now.

CabbageCat

Cheap as chips: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thrustmaster-T-Flight-Hotas-Joystick-PC-PS3/dp/B001CXYMFS

digitalscream

CabbageCat said:

Cheap as chips: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thrustmaster-T-Flight-Hotas-Joystick-PC-PS3/dp/B001CXYMFS

...and brilliant, too. It's the one I use.

Axe_meister

I use a cyborg FLY 5, but is is proving to be a little flimsy.

One of the buttons has already broken off and the yaw left control is temperamental.

But on a positive note, I now have assests (ship + cash in excess of 20Million.

I seem to be able to hold my own against all but the bigger gun ships/Pythons in

my little Viper MkIV. Against NPCs that is. Don't seem to find many commanders on

my travels.

Found a good slave trading route just 6lys apart where I can make 420000 a run with my Type -6 Hauler with 108t payload.

A lot easier that the exotic goods route

digitalscream

Axe_meister said:

I use a cyborg FLY 5, but is is proving to be a little flimsy.

One of the buttons has already broken off and the yaw left control is temperamental.

But on a positive note, I now have assests (ship + cash in excess of 20Million.

I seem to be able to hold my own against all but the bigger gun ships/Pythons in

my little Viper MkIV. Against NPCs that is. Don't seem to find many commanders on

my travels.

Found a good slave trading route just 6lys apart where I can make 420000 a run with my Type -6 Hauler with 108t payload.

A lot easier that the exotic goods route

The Fly5 is probably the worst flight stick I've ever come across. I had one for the first 6 months of my Elite journey, and the number of running repairs I had to make just to be able to fly straight were just plain ridiculous.

It's not all bad, though. It was responsible for this bit of excitement.