Anyone ordered Elite?

[Doombrain]

http://www.elitedangerous.com

I might. Have a few friends playing and they haven't shut up about it.

I'll have to play it on my MBP, should be OK with some stuff knocked back. Just need to find the time.

[Whiskey 7]

You know Doombrain I haven't played a space sim for about 30 years... Checks...

I thought it was called 'Tau Ceti' 3 but seems I am mistaken

Yes this certainly looks worth another and deeper look so thanks for the idea


Tau Ceti Wiki

[Doombrain]

Christ, that takes me back.

[Whiskey 7]

Amstrad and Vic20 days if I am not mistaken.

Oh, and Tau Ceti 3 was mentioned in a Star Trek page

[Mat Linnett]

Yeah, I've got it.
I'm staving off playing it at the moment in anticipation of the release date when they start the universe simulation rolling proper, but it's exceedingly pretty and polished to a fine sheen. And the sound design is some of the best I've experienced in games.
Sure, there's a lot of time spent flying between systems (the trailer really isn't representative of final gameplay), but it all just feels right.
If you can stomach the extra cost though, I'd recommend playing it with a proper "HOTAS" joystick and throttle combo.

I think it's probably going to be the Oculus Rift's "Killer App" too. I know it's driving a lot of dev kit sales.

[SoM]

looks good, will try but i'm waiting for Star Citizen

[Doombrain]

Game is awesome.

[Mat Linnett]

It is very much a "Make your own fun" kind of game though. I think there needs to be a bit more development done to make it feel like a more rounded experience, but the core game is incredibly strong.

Did you end up getting a proper joystick set-up DB, or are you using the 360 controller?

[Transient]

I have it. It's just a docking simulator at the moment. Not much to do.

[Mat Linnett]

Well I've managed to get up to Expert in combat rating, and still feel I've got more to learn from combat, so I feel there's a bit more to it than just docking.

But yeah, they really need to improve the mission systems and the feel of interactivity.

It's also a shame that the quickest way to make money is also the most boring; trading.
By the time you've traded enough to buy yourself a "fun" combat oriented or multi-role ship, you're probably going to be bored to tears.

I got lucky here, as my backer level allowed me to start the game with a Cobra, which is a fantastic multi-role ship. I was able to quite easily start making money from bounty hunting instead of trading.

But even there, I'm restricted to Nav Beacons, Combat Zones, Resource Collection areas and Unidentified Signal Sources. Of those, Nav Beacons are the most profitable, but Resource Collection areas are the most fun.

I suppose the upside is that development is ongoing, so hopefully things should change relatively quickly.

[Mat Linnett]

Sometimes it's worth just stopping and taking in the view.

[lvlshot]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jxCSHpkLg0I/VLWtQWSzkpI/AAAAAAAAE5w/CwdTNyjLhpk/w1573-h983-no/Rings.png[/lvlshot]

[Don Carlos]

Much black

[Transient]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ ... ous-Review

Not as harsh as I thought it would be.

[MKJ]

"At least it has been spellchecked"

I used to play quite a bit of these games back in the day.. spacetruckin is awesome

[Doombrain]

It is very much a "Make your own fun" kind of game though. I think there needs to be a bit more development done to make it feel like a more rounded experience, but the core game is incredibly strong.

Did you end up getting a proper joystick set-up DB, or are you using the 360 controller?

My setup is a mess. I use my work macbook pluged into a 1080p display and KB&M. Still working on the binds and playing in solo mode until i get to the cobra or fully decked out sidewinder/adder.

at the moment i've found return run which returns around 15000k with 14t cargo

[Doombrain]

add me up mat

[Mat Linnett]

Will do.

[Doombrain]

Don't rob and/or kill me if we meet up...

btw, i'm buying my 2nd ship tonight before the 1.05 patch come in, an adder. i'll outfit it for cargo and light defence. good idea? i'll have around 200k plus the hauler (stripped out).

[Mat Linnett]

Gotta be better than the Sidewinder!
I think I tried the Adder briefly during Beta.
From what I understand after full release, they make a nice step up from the Sidewinder for trading and exploration.
I just know my Cobra tends to chew them up and spit them out.

Looking at the stats, you get one medium hardpoint and two small ones, as well as two utility hardpoints.

I'd suggest splitting those hardpoints into two buttons in the same firegroup, with either a medium pulse laser and two small multicannons, or a medium multicannon and 2 small pulse lasers. Gimballed if you can afford it.
Use lasers on their own to strip shields and then use both to attack the hull once shields are down.

The only limiting factor there may be how the hardpoints are positioned, and I can't comment there as I've not flown one seriously.

The upside of ships and gear in Elite is that they retain 100% resale value, so you're not losing money while using the Adder as a stepping stone to something better.

For your utility mounts, well I wouldn't be without a chaff launcher now, as chaff scrambles the auto-aim of gimballed and guided weapons.

The second one? That's dependent on role.
I have a Kill Warrant Scanner in mine. That allows you to scan ships for bounties across multiple jurisdictions, and is the Bounty Hunter's bread-and-butter.
A ship that says Wanted may have a basic Federation bounty of 19,000 credits on it. But the Kill Warrant Scanner may reveal that the same ship is also wanted in the Alliance and the Empire, potentially tripling the reward.

If you're more concerned about survivability, the Point Defense is a small turret that takes out incoming missiles and torpedoes.

The Frame Shift Wake Scanner's for piracy really, and the Heat Sink Launcher is for stealth, which to be honest is not really necessary. Stealth is mostly for avoiding System Authority vessel scans so you don't end up with fines for illicit cargo, but these are easily evaded with decent piloting skills. Even if a scan starts while you're docking, if it doesn't complete before you're through the letter -box it fails as you've broken line-of-sight.

Sorry, bit of an info-dump there, but from playing myself I know that any info you can get is valuable.
This game doesn't tell you much!

[Doombrain]

cheers, good info. didn't know about the port scan thing. already lost money over fines :/

I'm going to open when i get the cobra, until then it's all about making money and staying alive.

[Mat Linnett]

Oh, and if you're in an Anarchy system, you don't have to worry about scans from System Authority vessels, as there aren't any.

Of course, if someone DOES scan you in an Anarchy system, they're a pirate, but you can usually tell that from the flavour text in the comms.

Basically, any free-floating cargo you scoop, even if you see it dropped by someone, it'll register as "Stolen". You can see this status in the right-hand holographic panel under "Cargo".

Stolen cargo can only ever be sold at black markets (under Contacts in the Station Services window).
Not all Federation, Alliance or Empire stations have black markets, but stations in Anarchy systems always have one. Outposts sometimes do, sometimes don't (stations you dock externally on).

Myself, I'm still playing Solo. Partly chicken (if my ship gets destroyed, the insurance costs me close to 300,000 credits now), partly I don't want to have to queue for docking bays. Apparently at the busy stations, you can be queueing for a VERY long time, and you have to continually re-issue the docking request.

[Doombrain]

yeah, i think they are going to do something about the queueing issue?

[Mat Linnett]

There's lots of complaints about it on the official forums, but I haven't seen a dev chime in mentioning they're working on it. But it's very possible it slipped my attention.

[Mat Linnett]

Patch must have done something interesting today; I've just made ~450,000 credits in bounties in 45 minutes

[Doombrain]

Been doing some combat tonight. It's fun when you're set up plus I have not blown up yet, which is nice. Next ship will be the cobra. I could get one now with standard kit but don't fancy running from port to port hoping no one tries pulling me out of SC.

Great game so far