Elite: Dangerous

[Tamas]

Backers should be able to play it since the gamma release, that will be Nov 22.

Oh and this is not true 

[Syt]

Yeah, not interested in MP for the same reasons. However, I was looking forward to just going and exploring, but how likely will it be to find something new and unexplored (at least in my "world") when there'll be oodles of players with too much time on their hands doing the exploring for me with little chance to keep up?

Single player, at any rate, was the reason why I chose this over Star Citizen (which will have a SP campaign, but no "free roam" from what I understand), and with offline nixed I consider asking for a refund.

Folks at RPS mentioned that the EULA also includes references to in game advertising and third party solution cash shops. Is this standard language these days?

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Yeah, not interested in MP for the same reasons. However, I was looking forward to just going and exploring, but how likely will it be to find something new and unexplored (at least in my "world") when there'll be oodles of players with too much time on their hands doing the exploring for me with little chance to keep up?

given that there's more stars in the Galaxy than humans it should be possible to find a godforsaken, empty and unexplored place for quite a long time, even when barely playing. Just aim far enough :p

But to each his own of course.

As for oodles of players: how many have signed up anyway? More than EVE, less? More than SC, less?

[Tamas]

Latest newsletter claims there is about 100k players playing already.

IIRC they mentioned having about 400k systems in the game. With the one persistent universe, even counting all systems as unexplored, that's 4 systems to explore per player on average, not counting with the influx at release.

I wonder how this will play out.

[Pedrito]

Latest newsletter claims there is about 100k players playing already.

IIRC they mentioned having about 400k systems in the game. With the one persistent universe, even counting all systems as unexplored, that's 4 systems to explore per player on average, not counting with the influx at release.

I wonder how this will play out.

The explorable galaxy will be 400 BILLION star systems (most of them procedurally generated) so there will be ample space for everyone who wants to go exploring.
Consider that during Beta the galaxy was limited to 2500 star systems, and even I was able to find an unexplored corner and scan it (and following, I've sold the data for good money), and I'm surely not dedicating hours upon hours to the game, like others are.
They say that only a wee tiny bit of the galaxy will be populated with starbases and stations, at least in the beginning, so I'm curious to see how they are going to keep the interest in the exploration mechanic.

Re: trading system, there are about 70 different goods to trade, and finding a good profitable route is not easy, at least in the beginning, because in a galaxy with sufficiently advanced technology to invent interstellar drive, they're so fucking backwards that there's no trace of a commodity market or a damn alert about Who needs What 

L.

[Syt]

They've explained their refund policy - you can get a refund if you've never, ever launched the game.

[Josquius]

So....the removal of offline play even made the 'real' news.
This has got me rather annoyed and apprehensive. Do they mean you won't be able to play the game when your computer is offline, but single player is still there, or there will be no single player at all?
At the moment it seems the former but...they've set a precedent for moving goal posts.

I can't help but feel a bit cynical....sounds like an anti-piracy move ala Spore.

Yeah. On the other hand, I was wondering how the forever static gameworld of Elite 2 (which offline single player would have been unless they dedicated a significant development time to replicate player activity with algorythms) would have worked today. As much as we have fond memories, times and expectations have changed.

I don't know. If it was sufficiently detailed then the limited small area of inhabited space and procedurally generated and usually less detailed stuff (no civilization) as you go further out would work fine.
Afterall. GTA4 and 5 worked OK despite being a much smaller world than San Andreas.

[Syt]

So....the removal of offline play even made the 'real' news.
This has got me rather annoyed and apprehensive. Do they mean you won't be able to play the game when your computer is offline, but single player is still there, or there will be no single player at all?

Well, there will be single player, but you will have to log into their servers - because all the awesome stuff apparently happens on the servers. Other players' actions will affect what your experience will be like. So if players map new systems, they will be mapped in your game, too. If player action drives up the price for a good somewhere, it will go up for you, too. However, you will only run into NPCs. Think about a persistent world MMO, but where you want run into other players. Supposedly for the single player you won't need an all too steady connection, but it will have to access the central motherbrain whenever you trade, for example, because prices are driven by supply/demand and affected by other players' actions.

The offline mode was supposed to be disconnected from this, i.e. you play in a static galaxy (like in Elite or Frontier: Elite 2), and only your actions affect the galaxy. I would have been fine with that.

[Barrister]

I thought there was still going to be a static, solo play, but that you still needed internet access anyways.

[Syt]

I thought there was still going to be a static, solo play, but that you still needed internet access anyways.

From the Newsletter: http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=dcbf6b86b4b0c7d1c21b73b1e&id=6b99a1d038&e=

What would you lose in offline mode?
We have developed a multi-player game with an unfolding story involving the players, and groups collaborating with specific objectives and taking account of all player's behaviour.  This is what the game is about.  Without this it would not be the rich gaming experience that we will deliver, and would be a great disappointment to all players.

Any offline experience would be fundamentally empty. We could write a separate mission system to allow a limited series of fixed missions, but that would still not be a compelling game, and is just the first step in the mountain of work that would be required.

There's chatter that regardless of EULA EU consumer protection laws would guarantee refunds if a product is significantly changed from how it was advertised at time of purchase. The question then would be if this is a significant enough change.

[Syt]

We have developed a multi-player game with an unfolding story involving the players, and groups collaborating with specific objectives and taking account of all player's behaviour.

If I wanted that I could go to EVE Online or wait for Star Citizen. I pre-ordered E:D specifically because it offered an option to *not* do that.

[Josquius]

I reckon we'll probably have to go with a cracked version of the game (it will always be possible. The cracking folks will see it as a challenge. It just might take some time.) to get the proper game we want.

[The Brain]

I don't want fucking people fucking up my galaxy. Pass on this one.

[Pedrito]

Backers should be able to play it since the gamma release, that will be Nov 22.

Oh and this is not true 

Tamas, what's your backer pledge? It seems that some backer levels can access the Gamma: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64195

L.

[Tamas]

Backers should be able to play it since the gamma release, that will be Nov 22.

Oh and this is not true 

Tamas, what's your backer pledge? It seems that some backer levels can access the Gamma: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64195

L.

I have a 30 pounds pledge. No access. Maybe I should e-mail them.