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I fired up Elite Dangerous tonight for the first time in a looooong time and I have to say, my initial impressions felt like when I first took ownership of the game.

It's certainly seems to be fleshed out somewhat, with characters giving missions instead of just a list of missions from "nobodys" and different voices on different stations for welcoming you.

I especially liked the fact I was actually able to complete a mission (for 70k+ credits) when the last time I played I was stuck in some arse end of the universe where half the places had not been discovered and I couldn't find fuel depots and kept running out of fuel between systems.

I was also blown away with being able to deliver my cargo to a base on a planet. Coming out of space and into orbit was cool. The last time I loaded this I had just got Horizons and I remember wanting to go down to a planetary base and I couldn't because I didn't have some piece of kit installed...strange how I could now. I guess either they've removed that technology requirement, or added it to everyone's ship or perhaps the planet I was trying to land on then and the one now were different and this one didn't need that piece of kit.

Overall, I was rather impressed again.

As soon as I get my flight stick out of storage I'm upgrading and going back in - my poor asp has been docked somewhere for 18 months now - if no mans sky did anything for me it was make me want to play elite again

Quote from: undercovergeek on August 28, 2016, 05:11:30 PM
As soon as I get my flight stick out of storage I'm upgrading and going back in - my poor asp has been docked somewhere for 18 months now - if no mans sky did anything for me it was make me want to play elite again

It was exactly NMS that got me fired up on Elite again  O0

JD...I believe that every ship now comes equipped with a planetary (moon really) landing tech-thingy. If you look at your ships equipment (non core...or optional...whatever it's called) you can see it. You do have to buy a rover bay AND an actual rover if you want to drive around though

Thanks - that was certainly a nice surprise

Yep, Horizons really changed things for the better. 

Even moreso, with Engineers.  Even thought the random number generator aspect on them is a bit grindy, the amount of customization they provide is ridiculously good. 

Good things seem to be coming with 2.2 Guardians as well.  Ship launched fighters, ship transfer services, crew, passenger missions, aliens.  It's going to be quite a big jump in content and customization. 

Elite is really coming into its own. 

Quote from: SirAndrewD on August 29, 2016, 03:14:28 PM
Yep, Horizons really changed things for the better. 

Even moreso, with Engineers.  Even thought the random number generator aspect on them is a bit grindy, the amount of customization they provide is ridiculously good. 

Good things seem to be coming with 2.2 Guardians as well.  Ship launched fighters, ship transfer services, crew, passenger missions, aliens.  It's going to be quite a big jump in content and customization. 

Elite is really coming into its own.

When exactly is Guardians expected? I think I heard sometime in October?

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on August 29, 2016, 03:43:36 PM
When exactly is Guardians expected? I think I heard sometime in October?

Everything I heard has been October. 

There might be some wiggle on that on the introduction of aliens though.  There were some wink and nod hints that they may come in independently before 2.2.  Specifically, this message was decoded from "strange transmissions" on gamescom footage:

"We've found something. Something incredible. Something the whole galaxy will want to see. The truth.

To find us, look for a bounty hunter.

To find more clues you'll need pre-logistics support in a system with one star, two belts, three rings, and enough radiation to turn you green.

The hunt begins on the 28th."

The system described has already been identified, and there's a lot of commanders looking around out there, but I haven't heard anything "incredible" being found yet.

I've been looking at this for some time waiting for them to get past the 'tip' point of things to do. Sure sounds like they are there or close. I've got my joystick in some box in some closet somewhere--really wanting to jump in soon. Thanks for the posts. :)

my first foray after 18 months tonight - upgraded to horizons - all i wanted to do was take 100 units of slaves to my old haunt, bought them, launched

totally forgot how to exit the station, nearly crashed on the wall, forgot how to raise landing gear, boost, and then couldnt navigate to the next system........... having barely made it to the target station i then couldnt pull out of supercruise, nearly docked without permission - i have forgotten EVERYTHING!! thankfully made a safe landing and sold the slaves - im staying parked there for a while until i figure out what the hell to do again

..I was just starting to get into again as well, after several months away and my despicable PC died on me.

It seems that if I make my way to Clauss City, there is a free ship for me.

Quote from: bob48 on September 05, 2016, 03:59:54 PM
..I was just starting to get into again as well, after several months away and my despicable PC died on me.

It seems that if I make my way to Clauss City, there is a free ship for me.

oh i say - how do you know?

It was announced in a Newsletter a few months ago. Cant tell you exactly when since I lost a lot of stuff when my PC packed-in. It may have been when they launched 'Horizons'.

I don't know if its still there, or if people had a different location to get it - I seem to think that it may be randomised or the place would have been swamped. Try asking on the Steam Forum.

I just got back into this game myself, after getting a new fully-loaded rig.  Really enjoying it!

Good news - there are/were lucrative 'shadow running' smuggling missions that utilised the need for proper smuggling tactics, and paid handsomely

Bad news - they paid so well some people got so upset they crashed the markets. Apparently there's a rare commodity or independent commodity by the name of alien artefacts that in mass numbers cause damage to a space station or ship. The stations handing out these missions were targeted by the unhappy masses who dumped thousands of tonnes of alien artefacts into the markets effectively shutting down the mission boards - then the smug ne'er do wells retired to the forum to say 'no more fancy missions we crashed your money making exploits'

On one hand I think it's cool this mechanic exists

On the other I think their asshats

Remember, all economics boil down to the common principle: humans are asshats.

Quote from: undercovergeek on September 08, 2016, 09:13:59 AM
Good news - there are/were lucrative 'shadow running' smuggling missions that utilised the need for proper smuggling tactics, and paid handsomely

Bad news - they paid so well some people got so upset they crashed the markets. Apparently there's a rare commodity or independent commodity by the name of alien artefacts that in mass numbers cause damage to a space station or ship. The stations handing out these missions were targeted by the unhappy masses who dumped thousands of tonnes of alien artefacts into the markets effectively shutting down the mission boards - then the smug ne'er do wells retired to the forum to say 'no more fancy missions we crashed your money making exploits'

On one hand I think it's cool this mechanic exists

On the other I think their asshats

Yeah, this was a really unfortunate development.  Running a good stack of Shadow Missions from Robigo could and still can net about 30 million in an hour's flying, but it's not easy.  You have to know how to avoid scans, avoid interdictions, fly the right ships and master a few neat supercruise flying tricks like dropping pursuing ships into gravity wells and quick plotting high wake escapes.  They were lucrative and a good mix of fun and stressful. 

Sadly, there is a small group of players that are convinced that this path is far too lucrative to players, so they've tried to create some in game excuses like they're fighting the slave trade, or combating the spread of narcotics.  The irony of it is that most of the organized groups that are doing this either ran the smuggling missions until they were billionaires first, or were billionaires prior who are mainly just trying to prevent others from becoming the same.

^Excuse me...billionaires?

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on September 08, 2016, 03:37:45 PM
^Excuse me...billionaires?

The black market price for unknown artifacts was/is really nice.

Payouts for the last few community goals has been higher then normal as well. Heard the imperial warship goal was rewarding a couple hundred million credits per turn in. Until the stations got taken down by UA bombardment that is.

Smuggling UAs is also a huge risk to your ship as well as any station you sell it at. From what I've read they eat through your cargo hatch to where it needs to be constantly repaired. And it will also disable your ship just like it does stations.

So much fun happening in the bubble; community goals, alien discoveries...and my commander is out near Bernard's loop. Too bad I don't have any cargo hold on my Asp. IIRC Unknown artifacts have been found out in my current neighborhood.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on September 08, 2016, 03:37:45 PM
^Excuse me...billionaires?

Yep.  There were quite a few routes to the billions, most of which were closed over time. 

In the early Gamma days, the rare trade routes didn't have the same limits and timers as it currently does, and exponential profits could easily result.  The next big boom came from the obscene payouts that the "Seeking Luxuries" traders originally offered.  FD put nerfs and limits on those to balance them better with other incomes. 

Deep space smuggling from places like Robigo and Sothis were the next wave.  Originally the runs were very easy, with limited interdiction and the missions failed on death not on scanning.  Therefore, it was very easy to stack, quickly between 30-60 million per run with very little risk of failure.  If the player had an Anaconda, the payouts became even more rich. 

FD did nerf the smuggling a bit around April or so.  Missions failed on scanning, and stacking missions really amounted to just adding NPCs that were going to come in to interdict and scan, making things a lot harder.  Commanders had to fly smarter, go in smaller ships with good jump range and the ability to land at outposts, preferably the Asp.  Even then, 15-30 million was still pretty achievable, albiet with higher risks. 

So, hitting the billions wasn't uncommon for those committed to it.  It's good that it is something a player can hit, as A Rated Corvettes, Cutters and Anacondas can push close to the billion mark or more in outfitting if the player likes pricey big modules and reinforced hulls.

I was quite happy to make 300k credits in 6 missions in the last couple of hours. Nice and relaxing, no interdictions, travelled a fair whack and managed to make some cash.

Far better than my previous efforts way back when. Of course, it helps that I'm not in the arse end of the universe. Where I was when I quit, I'd be trying to get to a place and because nothing was discovered, I couldn't tell if I could refuel or not...ultimately finding myself in the middle of nowhere...not enough fuel to go back and so just carried on until I ran out of fuel.

Things seem to have changed for the better. Seemingly where (iirc) you had to use one of your cargo slots for a fuel scoop, now it's got it's own place. They've gave you a free planetary landing module to allow you to land on bases on planets and they've also increased (hugely) the number of missions you can do and there's a considerable variety. My last 6 missions were 5 Bond transfers (data I think) and 4 cargo of some item.

So - I'm thoroughly enjoying this - it's not that it's easy to make money - just easier. I don't even care it's not millions.  ^-^

Yep, the system is a lot more friendly to new players now.   And the profits on missions increase with your experience, so what you're doing that pays 300k now will pay a few million later. 

You suffered from the random start points that came back in the very early Gamma days, where Commanders were dropped typically in the Arse end of nowhere unless they had one the Kickstarter packages that put them in nicer places like Lave. 

I made new commanders and wiped saves about four times back then uintil I started in a slightly better looking place, and the first thing I did after making some bucks with my Freagle was sell everything, buy a Hauler with a fair jump range and fly to the Founder's World.

Nowadays kids have it easy.  They start next to Erevate, right in a high population and security cluster.   Only issue comes if playing Open, there are tons of Griefers there that prey on new Sidewinders.

You'll always get grievers. I stay away from Open play for exactly that reason

Quote from: SirAndrewD on September 08, 2016, 04:11:13 PM


if the player likes pricey big modules and reinforced hulls.

Who doesn't like a good reinforced hull?

At this s point in the game, what is the incentive to being that ultra wealthy? The only real usable commodity that can be bought is ships and upgrades. Once you've bought everything you could conceivably want, what then? It's not like you can build stations, ports, fleets, etc. unless I'm just missing a huge part the game, I'm sort of at a loss on this one.

I still play the game where if I make 500,000 in a single flight, it's been a good run. I have approximately 15,000,000 in the bank, but I still don't see how I can ever break through the glass ceiling to that ultimate wealth some of you guys talk about.

There's an interview with an in game billionaire on rps - he came across the same problem, in the end it came to intentionally jousting with other billionaires in fully loaded anacondas to see who exploded first, loading up with gold and sprinkling it around stations and watching the players try and scoop it - I'm paraphrasing but I think he said it was a kin to a millionaire footballer having baths of champagne and smashing up hotel rooms

Good and bad of an MOO. Players make you work hard for your money and won't tolerate gifting what they worked for. On the other hand, Vets are always ready to pull the ladder up behind them. You get these Clans that control everything and it makes it difficult for new guys to move up.

But, them's the breaks. MMO is a great self contained microcosm of natural human traits of selfishness and rules of economy. Players will only work if they get money from it (capitalism) but in order to keep the economy from being dominated by a few, Devs need to step in now and then and correct things and make rules to prevent it (regulation)

Quote from: mikeck on September 09, 2016, 08:45:34 AM
Good and bad of an MOO. Players make you work hard for your money and won't tolerate gifting what they worked for. On the other hand, Vets are always ready to pull the ladder up behind them. You get these Clans that control everything and it makes it difficult for new guys to move up.

But, them's the breaks. MMO is a great self contained microcosm of natural human traits of selfishness and rules of economy. Players will only work if they get money from it (capitalism) but in order to keep the economy from being dominated by a few, Devs need to step in now and then and correct things and make rules to prevent it (regulation)

lol  O0

Quote from: mikeck on September 09, 2016, 08:45:34 AM
Good and bad of an MOO. Players make you work hard for your money and won't tolerate gifting what they worked for. On the other hand, Vets are always ready to pull the ladder up behind them. You get these Clans that control everything and it makes it difficult for new guys to move up.

But, them's the breaks. MMO is a great self contained microcosm of natural human traits of selfishness and rules of economy. Players will only work if they get money from it (capitalism) but in order to keep the economy from being dominated by a few, Devs need to step in now and then and correct things and make rules to prevent it (regulation)

I smell a paper that I may force my students to write sometime.

I'm feeling the urge to spend some money on a new ship. I'm pretty far off from the region of space where all of my other ships are parked and I'm stuck in a Vulture, which really only lets me take on combat missions. I want something that has range, firepower, durability and cargo space. I'm thinking either the Cobra MkIV or the Asp Explorer. The MkIV is markedly cheaper, but the Explorer seems to have the same amount of cargo space, plus heavier armor and weaponry. I presently own a Cobra MkIII, and had a lot of success with it, but I have never owned an Asp. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on September 10, 2016, 11:42:34 AM
I'm feeling the urge to spend some money on a new ship. I'm pretty far off from the region of space where all of my other ships are parked and I'm stuck in a Vulture, which really only lets me take on combat missions. I want something that has range, firepower, durability and cargo space. I'm thinking either the Cobra MkIV or the Asp Explorer. The MkIV is markedly cheaper, but the Explorer seems to have the same amount of cargo space, plus heavier armor and weaponry. I presently own a Cobra MkIII, and had a lot of success with it, but I have never owned an Asp. Thoughts? Suggestions?

I really deeply dislike the Cobra Mk IV.  In my opinion, and the seemingly consensus opinion of the community, it's vastly inferior to the Cobra Mk III.  For only a marginal increase in cargo and shield capacity, you get essentially the same firepower, higher mass with less maneuver and the loss of the Cobra's fantastic speed advantage.

I absolutely adore the Asp Explorer, and I always have one kitted.  It's not for fighting, not even slightly.  It's got the firepower, but you will have a hard time turning with anyone and you're a BIG target that takes a lot of hits in a fight. 

However, the Asp is fantastic for everything smuggling, exploring, rare trading and even standard trading.  It's reasonably fast so it can get out of fights, it has enough firepower to ward off bad guys long enough to get away or get the occasional kill here and there, it's got obscene jump range, even with a full cargo hold, and it can land on outpost pads, which is great for smuggling.   You can just about do anything in it except reliably bounty hunt. 

You might also want to consider a Diamondback Explorer.  It's not as good as the Asp overall, but it is much better at combat.  The Diamondback has significantly less cargo space, but great jump range and an all important large hardpoint for combat. 

Thanks for the input. I'll steer clear of the MkIV and check out the diamondback before I make a decision. I do like the indulge in the occasional fight, so I'm hesitant to buy something that doesn't do it reliably well.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on September 10, 2016, 11:42:34 AM
I'm feeling the urge to spend some money on a new ship. I'm pretty far off from the region of space where all of my other ships are parked and I'm stuck in a Vulture, which really only lets me take on combat missions. I want something that has range, firepower, durability and cargo space. I'm thinking either the Cobra MkIV or the Asp Explorer. The MkIV is markedly cheaper, but the Explorer seems to have the same amount of cargo space, plus heavier armor and weaponry. I presently own a Cobra MkIII, and had a lot of success with it, but I have never owned an Asp. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Had the same decision to make - I went asp, you can configure it for armed trader, explorer, smuggler much more versatile and a bigger hold than cobra and I think more weapon points if you go that way

I have to agree with the above.  I just bought my first Asp Explorer after flying the Cobra MkIII for quite a while.  I considered the Cobra MkIV for about 20 seconds, but rejected it pretty quickly for all of the reasons SirAndrew pointed out.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on September 10, 2016, 01:55:20 PM
Thanks for the input. I'll steer clear of the MkIV and check out the diamondback before I make a decision. I do like the indulge in the occasional fight, so I'm hesitant to buy something that doesn't do it reliably well.

Two other really great multi role ships that can excel at combat are the Federal Assault Ship and Imperial Clipper. 

The Clipper is probably the best Pirate ship in the game if that floats your boat.  As an armed trader and sometime bounty hunter, it has fantastic cargo space, two large hard points and good maneuver for her size.  Only real disadvantage comes in really bad hardpoint placement. 

The FAS has none of the issues with hardpoints and has a very superior and tanky hull.  It's excellent in combat, very survivable when the shields drop and can be fitted for a decent, if slightly small cargo load, 56 tons or slightly north if you're kitting for armed transport. 

Of course disadvantage of both ships is high cost comparatively to ships like the Asp, and requirement for rank in the Federation and Empire.

All that said I really, really like the FAS.  It's actually compares in combat very favorably to the Fer de Lance, which is saying something considering how solid the FdL is.

I only had my Asp outfitted for combat for a very brief time, and not optimally. It wasn't bad if I was taking on Anacondas, FAS, and Imperial Clippers (with AI help of course) in resource extraction zones, but I stayed far away from anything smaller that could out turn me.

Quote from: Kushan on September 11, 2016, 01:02:01 AM
I only had my Asp outfitted for combat for a very brief time, and not optimally. It wasn't bad if I was taking on Anacondas, FAS, and Imperial Clippers (with AI help of course) in resource extraction zones, but I stayed far away from anything smaller that could out turn me.

Pretty much the only problem with the Asp.  It can't turn.  Good, very good forward firepower but it can't keep those guns on target enough to get solid kills.  The Asp Gunship concept was viable prior to the recent AI buffs, but not really anymore.  Nowadays, an Asp runs or dies, its guns are to catch an unfortunate target that overshoots or a victim of piracy.


Again, that said, I love the Asp.  I've got an A-Rated Python, A-Rated Engineered FdL, an A-Rated Vulture and an A-Rated Engineered Explorer kit Asp.  Of all those my Asp is my favorite, she's my flagship, my Enterprise.  Flying in her is like coming home, aka Major Tom.

Ok, this is getting creepy.  I just really like the Asp.

Finally decided to set aside my venerable Thrustmaster T-Flight Hotas X for a bit of an upgrade -- a Saitek X52Pro.  (I heartily recommend the T-Flight X btw as an entry-level flightstick -- have used it for a couple of years and it's well priced, well made, has a good amount of buttons -- indeed with combos I was easily able to map all of Elite's important & several secondary functions to it).

Spent all of my 'kids are finally asleep' gaming time last night to trying to set this up for E:D... Knew it would be a chore, which is why I had been putting it off... still not happy with my set-up, and wondering if it's worth using Saitek's fiddly profile software to set up something more sophisticated than the mappings you can get in-game.. Intrigued by the possibility of setting up different "Modes" for different functions, but not sure I can handle the headache...

I've tried a couple of times to setup the X52 with Saiteks software...and didn't succeed. It came across as complicated and the sheer number of options made me think "How would I ever remember?"...so I just stuck with the assigned buttons and never use the "modes" on the stick.

IIRC I couldn't get the "modes" to work in the way I thought (and I think you think) they would. But maybe I gave up too quick.

Yeah, I'm kind of thinking that using the 3 modes for different inputs on the X52 is unnecessary for E:D.  There aren't that many complex commands in E:D especially compared to a serious "DCS" type flight sim. I see some folks on the Frontier forums have different modes for "flight", "combat", "landing" -- and yet I can't really think of any controls you'd need for "flight" that you wouldn't *also* need for "combat," so is there really a need for a whole different mode?

Quote from: SirAndrewD on September 11, 2016, 02:06:50 AM
Again, that said, I love the Asp.  I've got an A-Rated Python, A-Rated Engineered FdL, an A-Rated Vulture and an A-Rated Engineered Explorer kit Asp.  Of all those my Asp is my favorite, she's my flagship, my Enterprise.  Flying in her is like coming home, aka Major Tom.

My Asp is outffited as a A-Rated explorer too. Absolutely love it. The view it offers is one of  the best thing about it.

Quote from: sandman2575 on September 11, 2016, 08:24:17 AM
Spent all of my 'kids are finally asleep' gaming time last night to trying to set this up for E:D... Knew it would be a chore, which is why I had been putting it off... still not happy with my set-up, and wondering if it's worth using Saitek's fiddly profile software to set up something more sophisticated than the mappings you can get in-game.. Intrigued by the possibility of setting up different "Modes" for different functions, but not sure I can handle the headache...

I mapped my X-55 in game. Took me awhile and some trial and error while playing around with mappings to find one I liked. Eventually, I have been able to get all of the functions I need for flying/combat mapped to my HOTAS and secondary functions like opening the galaxy and system maps, menu browsing, mapped to my keyboard.

Quote from: sandman2575 on September 11, 2016, 09:13:43 AM
Yeah, I'm kind of thinking that using the 3 modes for different inputs on the X52 is unnecessary for E:D.  There aren't that many complex commands in E:D especially compared to a serious "DCS" type flight sim. I see some folks on the Frontier forums have different modes for "flight", "combat", "landing" -- and yet I can't really think of any controls you'd need for "flight" that you wouldn't *also* need for "combat," so is there really a need for a whole different mode?

Don't underestimate the power of voice commands on your ship.  They're even useful in combat for things like dropping shield cells with heat sinks and fast max pip management.

https://voiceattack.com/

http://www.elitedangerousvoicepack.com/

wow -- i didn't even know voice commands was a thing.  Very Star Trek.

What the hell is up with the SRV? The thing is damn near impossible to control. The planetside missions can be very time consuming and dangerous due to control issues. What is the optimal control config?

I ended up going with the Asp, tricked it out with mostly top of the line upgrades and I'm happy so far. Only flew one mission in her so far, but it yielded $1,100,000. Most I've made in one sortie in the history of playing the game.

Quote from: sandman2575 on September 11, 2016, 04:50:44 PM
wow -- i didn't even know voice commands was a thing.  Very Star Trek.

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fidontblog.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F06%2FMAKE-IT-SO-58615630155.gif&hash=bfe3f94360090a58461779ac3eb2df8419f6bf41)

now... can you link up the voice controls with the wi-fi/bluetooth ST communicator badge from the Want thread?

Quote from: GDS_Starfury on September 11, 2016, 09:31:47 PM
now... can you link up the voice controls with the wi-fi/bluetooth ST communicator badge from the Want thread?

As long as it can function as a computer microphone, it should be able to do so. 

I just have my mic set up across the table from me.  The Voice Attack software is very, very good at picking out words, and if it hangs up on something it's easy to assign multiple words to a command if it commonly mishears. 

Only downside is, if you have a really good microphone like I do, you better not have the TV turned up. 

The software is $10, but it's worth it for me.  I have a lot of different games programmed for use with it.

I can think of several ways the woman might kill me if I had voice control and team speak going at the same time.

Quote from: GDS_Starfury on September 11, 2016, 09:54:27 PM
I can think of several ways the woman might kill me if I had voice control and team speak going at the same time.

Yeah, that's the other big disadvantage.  When the wife and I are gaming in the same room it's back to the keyboard commands for me.

There's only so much geekery I can get past her indoors

If I sat there saying 'boost engines' 'deploy mines' I'd get panned like a ginger Bob

...another stupid question (I guess the first one was really dumb since nobody answered it :crazy2:)

How do you navigate the comm panel? This is the menu on the top left side of the screen. I am only able to access the local comms, but for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to scroll over to the other items in the menu. It's irritating because sometimes I have messages on one of the pages that I can't access. Thanks.

I can only say how it works for me. On my X52, I've got those "snap" views tied to the pinky and hat control.

So Pinky+Hat Left takes me to left panel, Pinky+Hat Right takes me to the right panel and Pinky+Hat Up takes me to the top left menu system. I'm not at my computer so can't tell you what "options" in the controls menu those are tied to.

Strangely, my TrackIR works to activate the left, right and middle panels, but not the top left panel (the one's where "emails" are?)

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on September 11, 2016, 05:28:39 PM
What the hell is up with the SRV? The thing is damn near impossible to control. The planetside missions can be very time consuming and dangerous due to control issues. What is the optimal control config?

No idea I'm afraid - I don't have an SRV  :-[

Where to set the keys :

To access the panel : Mode Switches - Comms Panel
To go to the tabs : Controls - Interface Mode - next/prev panel tab

Quote from: undercovergeek on September 12, 2016, 03:27:05 AM
There's only so much geekery I can get past her indoors

+1.  Sir Andrew D's mention of his pro-gaming wife is striking to me, as it's so different from my own situation! I'd describe my wife's attitude toward my gaming hobby as 'tolerance masking deep-seated hostility.'   ;)

I'm jealous of you guys who talk about buying Asps and Pythons and what not. I have 80+ hours in Elite and not a whole lot to show for it!  A decently upgraded Viper plus a pretty 'meh' outfitted Cobra III. I have about 1.5M in the bank. I'd like an Asp as my next purchase but I am a long way from being able to buy, outfit, and insure one!

I think my mistake was failing to reap enough rewards from bounty hunting before combat was overhauled. I take the Viper out to some extraction sites to see what I can collect, but the payoffs are not what they used to be and combat has become much more dangerous. The most lucrative thing for me these days is running drop-off missions in the system that I've built up a good, pro-Federation reputation in (Noatiaca). Each run can net me around 100-125K. But they're time consuming and not all that fun.

^Personally, I would stop bounty hunting for now, switch back to the Cobra and start looking for lucrative trade and/or delivery based missions. In my experience, these missions now reap greater rewards and are not usually that difficult. I've done several delivery missions that each netted me in the $200,000 to $300,000 credit range. I double and triple them up, when I can in order to hit many stops per run.

Since I bought my Asp, I've flown two missions, each took maybe 30 minutes. In total, the two missions netted me about $1,900,000 after paying for some minor repairs and restocking on some kinetic ammo. Although controlling an SRV on planet surface can be a royal PITA, I've found that missions to disable settlement generators are extremely lucrative and not all that dangerous, although there is some risk associated.   

Yeah, I think you're right. The payouts for the kind of bounties I can collect in my Viper are pretty meager. Missions are by far the most lucrative thing for me right now, especially since I've developed good relations / reputation with the Federation (something I never even paid attention to until recently). I've never figured out how to make decent profits by pure trading. I've tried using those website 'trade calculators' etc. to find good profits or a good trade circuit. 

Quote from: sandman2575 on September 12, 2016, 11:39:18 AM
Yeah, I think you're right. The payouts for the kind of bounties I can collect in my Viper are pretty meager. Missions are by far the most lucrative thing for me right now, especially since I've developed good relations / reputation with the Federation (something I never even paid attention to until recently). I've never figured out how to make decent profits by pure trading. I've tried using those website 'trade calculators' etc. to find good profits or a good trade circuit.

I definitely used Bounty Hunting in the beginning to get a good balance going in order to buy larger ships, but yes, it seems like the only real feasible path to wealth of any consequence is through the more non-combat based commercial activities.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on September 12, 2016, 06:32:36 AM
...another stupid question (I guess the first one was really dumb since nobody answered it :crazy2:)

Ha!  Sorry, I missed it. 

And sadly, I've got few suggestions for you on the SRV but pure trial and error.  Pretty much all controls can be mapped, and it took me a good solid day of driving that thing around to get any controls that I was comfortable with. 

My setup is to use my throttle thruster throttle control and rudder pedals as steering with my joystick stowed and my mouse active for the turret.  Even then it can be like riding a starving Tiger without a saddle. 

Planets and moons with low gravity are the worst.   When out trying to find alien barnacles for meta alloys, I tend to take more damage just bouncing off rocks than from seekers. 

JH, you'll find the SRV is much better controlled with Drive Assist OFF. Beware that gravity has its way with the little car much heavier now, so that means floating high over a ridge on low grab Worlds where you need to time your booster firing to ensure gentle landings as well as hard crashes on high grav worlds.

The Comms window is annoying with standard keybindings. The TIR wont activate it either so the easier thing is to bind it to a key.

I'd be curious to know how much you guys pay attention to E:D's politics? I only just became aware that "BGS" is a 'thing' in E:D:  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=674706524 (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=674706524)

Politics seems like a perfect example of E:D's depth that the game does very little to advertise. It's easy to see where the attitude of "E:D looks great but there's nothing to do" comes from -- actually, there's tons to do, but you need to discover a lot of it on your own, if you don't play MP/Open! E:D definitely does *not* hold the player's hand!

It sounds like the Power Play side of E:D's galactic politics has not been a success. I honestly have no real idea how the Power Play system works. But trying to manipulate politics / balances of power on the BGS side of things sounds pretty cool, actually. I've been running missions for different factions purely with an eye toward profit, and not at all considering how my own actions might be affecting a system's balance of power!

Quote from: sandman2575 on September 13, 2016, 02:03:24 PM
I'd be curious to know how much you guys pay attention to E:D's politics? I only just became aware that "BGS" is a 'thing' in E:D:  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=674706524 (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=674706524)

Politics seems like a perfect example of E:D's depth that the game does very little to advertise. It's easy to see where the attitude of "E:D looks great but there's nothing to do" comes from -- actually, there's tons to do, but you need to discover a lot of it on your own, if you don't play MP/Open! E:D definitely does *not* hold the player's hand!

It sounds like the Power Play side of E:D's galactic politics has not been a success. I honestly have no real idea how the Power Play system works. But trying to manipulate politics / balances of power on the BGS side of things sounds pretty cool, actually. I've been running missions for different factions purely with an eye toward profit, and not at all considering how my own actions might be affecting a system's balance of power!

I've paid moderate attention to it, at least when it's relevant to something I'm doing in game.   For example, griefers threw the Maia system into turmoil to prevent commanders in both open and solo from being able to buy Meta Alloys (needed for Engineers and for restarting Unknown probe bombed stations) from the base there.  Therefore, it became important for players on the other side of it to run missions for the controlling system faction and get the markets back open. 

Fighting against the player run Crimson State group in the Great war for Lugh was also a blast. 

As to powerplay, yeah, it's rubbish.  The central problem with it, is that it limits your ability to travel freely and make your own way.  It locks you to a very small sub-faction that is very difficult to leave, and your loyalty to that sub-faction makes you hostile with their opponents wherever you go.  All of that gets you, not much, unless you're willing to grind a lot and get a decent set income from your patron.  Some people get involved in it, but for myself, as someone who plays as a pure mercenary, the mechanic is a bit too limiting for my taste.

I see the factions and the power play families but take little notice - in one hand I don't have the time to do that much reading and immersion, if it was my only game then maybe I'd get caught up in it but this is mitigated by my other reason - I like to rpg myself as some kind of Han Solo character, I don't give a damn which way my trading effects the markets and factions, I'm in it for the profit

Quote from: undercovergeek on September 13, 2016, 03:20:20 PM
I see the factions and the power play families but take little notice - in one hand I don't have the time to do that much reading and immersion, if it was my only game then maybe I'd get caught up in it but this is mitigated by my other reason - I like to rpg myself as some kind of Han Solo character, I don't give a damn which way my trading effects the markets and factions, I'm in it for the profit

Exactly - that's entirely the way I pick missions  :)

Finally one jump away from entering the Witch Head Nebula. Took some back tracking to find a route around the permit restricted space in the area. Rather then beginning to explore it last night I decided to take a break and do some exploring in my SRV. First time I've managed to land on a planet without doing damage to my ship. I did however do 20% damage to my SRV when I tried to jump out of an impact crater using my thrusters. Hit the lip of it and tumbled down the side of the larger impact crater I was going down into.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on September 11, 2016, 05:28:39 PM
What the hell is up with the SRV? The thing is damn near impossible to control. The planetside missions can be very time consuming and dangerous due to control issues. What is the optimal control config?

Realized last night I never got around to mapping my SRV controls. Took some work but I think I found a set up I can live with.

Joystick Yaw Axis: SRV Yaw/Turn
Throttle: SRV forward throttle
POV Hat switch: Turret movement
Throttle side Hat Button: Vertical thruster

I lost all my Saitek X45 settings when my PC threw a wobbler. I've been trying to get them mapped again, but can I heck as like replicate how they were set. Its not the most friendly game for mapping controls.

After seeing it on a couple of YouTube videos I decided to buy VoiceAttack and the HCS Astra voice pack yesterday. I have it installed and it does recognize my voice commands. Unfortunately, its doesn't recognize actions that are bound in game directly to my X-55. Looks like I'm going to have to assign a keystroke to all the commands I use before I can use it, which is basically redoing my entire control scheme.

Quote from: bob48 on September 15, 2016, 02:03:09 PM
I lost all my Saitek X45 settings when my PC threw a wobbler. I've been trying to get them mapped again, but can I heck as like replicate how they were set. Its not the most friendly game for mapping controls.

It does do 3 things right...

• Tells you when a control you are mapping is mapped to another control
• At some point, they grouped functions under a grouping - which is much better than it used to be where they were all just individual controls
• And it's best feature - allows the same control to be mapped to a different function if the functions are different

But yeah - I don't like going in there

If it hasn't been noticed, the 2.2 Beta started last week, and so far it's been pretty fun.  Really love the ship launched fighters, and a new, albeit VERY expensive remote ship transport option.

Played around with it a bit before going back to the main server and my 2.1 account.  I finally decided to upgrade the flagship of my fleet tonight. 

Here finally I'm in an Anaconda.   She'll be getting her 2.2 fighters right after launch.

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi21.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fb274%2FSirAndrewD%2Fannie.jpg&hash=82517e3cd66e16ae3db7bcf0466e9e428b890b39) (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/SirAndrewD/media/annie.jpg.html)

Looking at all your money makes me cry.  :'(

lol  :'( I think I've got 145k in credits and I thought I was doing well grabbing that  O0

Do you deploy the fighters like fire and forget missiles and leave them to do their work or do you fly them?

Quote from: jomni on October 01, 2016, 03:27:20 AM
Looking at all your money makes me cry.  :'(

!!
Sir Andrew is a member of the galactic 1%, it appears.  :)

Was finally able to trade in my Cobra/Viper combo for an AspX/Vulture recently.  Finding it much easier to make $$ now, between the Asp's cargo + long range capacity (great for hauling missions) and Vulture's bounty hunting prowess.  Vulture's power plant limitations are a serious PITA, though.

I did fit out the Asp with some mining gear - have been curious to give mining a try - some of the mining missions pay pretty well - but not sure if mining is going to prove more work than it's worth...

Quote from: SirAndrewD on October 01, 2016, 01:39:52 AM
If it hasn't been noticed, the 2.2 Beta started last week, and so far it's been pretty fun.  Really love the ship launched fighters, and a new, albeit VERY expensive remote ship transport option.

Played around with it a bit before going back to the main server and my 2.1 account.  I finally decided to upgrade the flagship of my fleet tonight. 

Here finally I'm in an Anaconda.   She'll be getting her 2.2 fighters right after launch.

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi21.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fb274%2FSirAndrewD%2Fannie.jpg&hash=82517e3cd66e16ae3db7bcf0466e9e428b890b39) (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/SirAndrewD/media/annie.jpg.html)

Congrats. I can only dream about being able to fly an Anaconda. Whats your secret to making credits? Community events, trading combat or just grinding all of them?

Quote from: undercovergeek on October 01, 2016, 04:56:23 AM
Do you deploy the fighters like fire and forget missiles and leave them to do their work or do you fly them?

Both.  You hire a crew member to pilot your fighter via telepresence from your mothership.  The crew member has a combat rating, and the better the pilot the more expensive it is to hire, and a greater percentage of your profits are shared with your crew. 

When launching a fighter, you have the choice of letting your pilot take the fighter out, or taking the fighter out yourself and giving control of your ship to your pilot.  Either way, you can give orders to your crew member.

Quote from: sandman2575 on October 01, 2016, 11:20:08 AM

Quote from: jomni on October 01, 2016, 03:27:20 AM
Looking at all your money makes me cry.  :'(

!!
Sir Andrew is a member of the galactic 1%, it appears.  :)

Ha!  No, no.  That is absolutely a bare bones Anaconda.  I can't anywhere nearly afford to fully kit her.  All I've done with the ship is add an A rate FSD with an engineer upgrade, and D rate everything else.

The true 1% are the guys you see flying around in A Rated engineered Corvettes and Cutters.

Quote from: Kushan on October 01, 2016, 11:50:34 AM
Congrats. I can only dream about being able to fly an Anaconda. Whats your secret to making credits? Community events, trading combat or just grinding all of them?

Generally it's a mix, mostly involving smuggling and trading.  The vast majority of my credits were earned doing long range trade runs.  At first I was running the Robigo smuggling runs in my Asp, but they were very risky and could sometimes result in hours of work for almost no profit.

As soon as Robigo was Anomaly bombed by players, I switched to the Sothis/Ceos run.  That is MUCH more lucrative than Robigo, with none of the associated risks. 

My first Sothis/Ceos run in the Anaconda netted me 40 million credits in about two hours.

If you're not familiar with it head out to Ceos, 400LY out of the Bubble.  Best ship to take on this is probably an Asp kitted for about 60-70 tons of cargo and a good jump range.

Once at Ceos look at the mission boards.  You can start running data delivery missions, usually paying 50-100k a run to Sothis which is 8LY away.   Sothis offers the same data delivery missions back to Ceos. Run these until you're cordial or better with all the factions.  Takes about an hour or two. 

As soon as you're cordial or better, both Sothis and Ceos stations will start offering legal trade runs to the bubble, usually hauling Biowaste or Hydrogen fuel.  Most of these missions will pay around 3-5 million credits for 20 tons or less of haulage.  Pick up as many of these as you can, run to the bubble, deliver your wares and profit.  Pirates may interdict you on the way, don't even bother fighting them, just high wake jump away whenever you see the "Tasty Cargo" message in your local chat.   If you're actually at your destination and a pirate hits you, just jump to a nearby star and jump back.  Pirates won't follow a high wake escape.

Once you're friendly or better with the factions, they'll start offering smuggling runs too, and many of these will be back and forth from Sothis and Ceos.  If you're a risk taker and good at sneaking into a station and avoiding a scan, you can stack these with the data delivery missions and pop back and forth from Ceos to Sothis, making 3-5 million credits in about 5 minutes.  I do this while I'm waiting for the mission boards to refresh with the long range legal missions to the bubble. 

As soon as you can upgrade to a Python or Anaconda, the profits greatly increase.  The short jump range of the Python can make this trip a long bore, so I don't really reccomend it as the ideal ship to do it.  However, if you've got some engineer upgrades to the FSD it isn't so bad.  The Asp is the one I'd suggest, unarmed with an A-Rate FSD and power plant, B rate fuel scoop with a D rate everywhere else.   

It's a long haul back and forth, and you'll need a decent jump range and a good fuel scoop, but it's worth the effort if you want to bring in the big bucks.

Thanks for this tip, SirAndrew. I'm now making between 8 and 15 million per run. Not sure how long I'll have the patience to make these 400 to 500 light year hauls. Sitting there jumping from system to system for over an hour just isn't fun, and then, of course, there is always the flight back to Sothis/Creos.

Anyway, still the most I've been able to make in a single haul. Thanks again.

May have to give Sothis/Ceos a try as well. Those kinds of profits are way beyond anything I can currently get, even if it means a couple very long-distance, boring runs.

Gave mining a try for the first time last night. Found a pristine metallic system and headed over. Everything went without incident but in the end, was just too time consuming. I think the only way this can be worthwhile is with a large ship -- maybe a Type-7 -- where you have enough slots to add a bunch of collector limpet modules.  I just had one class 3 collector module on my AspX, which means only 2 collectors operable at a time -- not nearly enough if you want to get anything done in a reasonable amount of time!

May trade out my mining gear for pure cargo and jump-range capacity. I'm intrigued by Sir Andrew D's suggestion of an Asp with no weaponry. I have a couple of turrets and mine launchers currently. But the other night I got interdicted by a Fed. Gunship and the thing just wasted me in less than a minute (... was really not happy about that). Maybe no weapons is as good as a couple piddling weapons that can't fend off the big bad boys anyway...

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 03, 2016, 07:15:28 AM
Thanks for this tip, SirAndrew. I'm now making between 8 and 15 million per run. Not sure how long I'll have the patience to make these 400 to 500 light year hauls. Sitting there jumping from system to system for over an hour just isn't fun, and then, of course, there is always the flight back to Sothis/Creos.

Anyway, still the most I've been able to make in a single haul. Thanks again.

No problem, happy to help. 

The run can be a grind, no doubt. 

In the last few days it got more grindy since Sothis and Ceos both got pushed to a war state after the minor factions were in boom for so long.  This has removed most of the "Boom Time" long range delivery missions, which were the most profitable and spawned the most often. 

Clearly it's still very easy to achieve 15-30 million a run, it just takes longer doing the Sothis to Ceos bounce to stack those missions.

Commanders are working around/exploiting the system by mode switching between Open/Private/Solo to get the boards to refresh, so that's an option if you want to speed things up.  It's frowned upon by other players, but it's not against the rules.

Also, just a word of advice.  I know most of you guys play in Solo or Mobius PvE, but if you do like do dabble in Open, don't do it around Sothis/Ceos.  The Sothis run is one of the main areas that the Smiling Dog Crew like to camp, wing up and randomly kill any player they see, and when they're not camping the starting areas or a major trading community event, they like to keep Sothis, Ceos, Robigo, Maia and Merope under blockade.  They even occasionally raid into Mobius and kill as many unsuspecting players as they can before they're kicked by an admin, which sadly sometimes takes a while.  So do this run in the open at your own risk.

I hate grieving but it's really not against the rules...why did they get kicked?
Secondly, if they were kicked, how do they keep coming back?

Once again, an open world that would be amazing to experience and immerse yourself in ruined by a bunch of 15-25 year olds living in their Parent's basement. They think it's HI-LARIOUS to just camp out and blow people up for no reason...even if they drop cargo. Same type of people who- in the beta before orbital defenses, would hide up in a corner inside a station and blast the crap out of you when you flew in. Sounds fun. Same crap in the Naval Action PvP although mitigated because you cannot attack your own nationality.

I would LOVE to play Elite in Open world and be a part of that living universe. But I can't because people are a-holes and I have enough stress caused by others already.  Oh well

Quote from: mikeck on October 03, 2016, 07:53:24 PM
I hate grieving but it's really not against the rules...why did they get kicked?
Secondly, if they were kicked, how do they keep coming back?

Once again, an open world that would be amazing to experience and immerse yourself in ruined by a bunch of 15-25 year olds living in their Parent's basement. They think it's HI-LARIOUS to just camp out and blow people up for no reason...even if they drop cargo. Same type of people who- in the beta before orbital defenses, would hide up in a corner inside a station and blast the crap out of you when you flew in. Sounds fun. Same crap in the Naval Action PvP although mitigated because you cannot attack your own nationality.

I would LOVE to play Elite in Open world and be a part of that living universe. But I can't because people are a-holes and I have enough stress caused by others already.  Oh well

Attacking other players is against the rules on the Mobius private server.  It's a pure PVE server.  The only time player on player fighting is allowed is in a conflict zone. 

Mobius is open to everyone who asks, so Smiling Dog Crew has occasionally joined in groups in order to hit large numbers of unsuspecting players, primarily trying to operate in Community Events.  They were kicked from Mobius, but not from Open since they break no rules in Open.   Since FD very unwisely did a community focus on the SDC, their ranks have grown to the point to which they can just send groups of players a few dozen at a time into Mobius.

And I agree, Open has become pretty much a no go zone, especially since the griefers are now getting organized under the SDC banner.  The real issue isn't how they've begun to systematically shut down open play, especially for new players, it's that their actions in pushing the Persistent Universe have had adverse effects on Solo and Private as well.   

Organized anomaly bombing of stations prevents people from running any missions out of them, across all servers.  Pushing systems like Maia into lockdown prevents new players from accessing Meta Alloys that are needed for Engineer intros.  Somehow even the Founders World was locked down yesterday, which wasn't even supposed to be possible.

Shouldn't there be a concerted in-game effort to shut them down?
Player anti-SDC group and Federation AI Police?

Quote from: jomni on October 03, 2016, 08:52:53 PM
Shouldn't there be a concerted in-game effort to shut them down?
Player anti-SDC group and Federation AI Police?

There's Adles Armada, that tries to hunt them down in the Eravate system.  Their objective is to defend new players primarily.  They don't really have the numbers to fight them but they do try.   

However, at this point the SDC is just bigger, and very stacked with in game rich and good players.  Since FD did the community spotlight on them they've become even larger.  PvP is also a really unbalanced affair, with silent running and heat generating weapons being able to kill anyone with a realistic kit in seconds. 

It's actually kind of interesting what's happened in Open in regards to their growing dominance.  I wouldn't really be much concerned about them if they left Solo and Mobius alone, but their stated objective is to "mine salt" (ie tears) from all players across all servers.

Honestly, the more people actually try to fight them, and the more people complain about them on the FD message boards, the happier they are.  If you want to get ticked, watch some of their livestreams on youtube.  They really make an effort to push people's buttons.

That's ridiculous. Eventually FD has to step in and do something. I'm not very familiar with Open play so I don't have a solution; possibly "wiping" any Smiling Dog members cash and ships or locking them out. That is temporary though as there are always people who will do things in MOOs that no one would do in reality. What group of space pilots -in real life inasmuch as sci-fi can be real- would just blow up ships for no reason and no money? Don't know. Maybe a system where if you attack a player first and end up destroying his ship if he has no cargo and no bounty or if he has dropped cargo, you are booted for 48 hours.

Such a shame. Seriously...who has that much fun ruining other people's fun?

Frontier can just create super police space ships and weaponry run by the AI that specifically target these troublemakers.

Quote from: jomni on October 03, 2016, 10:29:21 PM
Frontier can just create super police space ships and weaponry run by the AI that specifically target these troublemakers.

Frontier has been decidedly quiet on the concept of any kind of punishment, or even slowing down of the SDC, even after the SDC targeted and hijacked an attempt by FD to raise money for charity via some Elite Dangerous streaming events.

In their own streams they tend to use Jihadist rhetoric, and sometimes even make their own videos look like ISIS propaganda.

A lot of what they're doing is directly against the EULA and constitutes harassment, especially the Mobius raid, but they haven't been touched. 

Anyway, Eurogamer did a pretty long in depth look on their activities, and the length to which they had done damage to the community back in January. 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-04-01-griefers-or-saviours-the-elite-dangerous-players-causing-a-rift-in-space

The problem with these kinds of groups is that they can roam free wreaking havoc wherever they go without punishment or risk to themselves.

One solution would be dedicated groups of players playing cops and robbers with them on a similar scale, another option would be to institute a system like EVE uses; civilized space is defended by AI police (concord in EVE) which will *always* Hunt down an offender. The further you are from civilized space the more lawless it gets.

To that effect ED should get rid of the solo/private group feature as well and just have open.
The game would greatly benefit from it IMO with a system in place like mentioned above.

I'm curious...is there a way to identify who these people are in game? Is there a tag marking them as a member of this group?

I have not played in Open World in a very long time.

Reading the article that sir Andrew posted was a massive eye opener - I didn't realise it was that bad, shooting down a poor sod who was running a feed for charity then posting on you tube with a jihadi/Isis themed music accompaniment of the incident whilst juvenile colleagues snigger and cheer in the background

BUT

As the leader of the opposition group hunting them down as stated, it's the game, and they make it an interesting one. I have to say the only reason I play in open is because there is the inherent danger of coming across assholes like this and trying to escape them, you can abuse the interdiction mechanic against the AI and escape every time but a human player? There's a challenge and a risk that makes seeing humans pop up on your radar terrifying and whilst I don't condone the griefing it makes the open game that bit more thrilling

I agree on every account with UG. I normally play in open as well. I like seeing others going about their business, getting the occassional chat thrown at me, etc. But I do catch myself going to private group mode if I want to be sure I make a mission without any hassle if high stakes are involved.
This is because there is absolutely nothing a trader can do to defend himself against a combat kitted griefer. Sure, high waking is an option, but that works only against 1v1.

As long as there isn't some system in place to balance out the risk vs reward for pvp-ers, people will continue to play in solo / private mode. Which is a shame because the game really shines in open play mode.

Quote from: Yskonyn on October 04, 2016, 11:05:15 AM
The problem with these kinds of groups is that they can roam free wreaking havoc wherever they go without punishment or risk to themselves.

One solution would be dedicated groups of players playing cops and robbers with them on a similar scale, another option would be to institute a system like EVE uses; civilized space is defended by AI police (concord in EVE) which will *always* Hunt down an offender. The further you are from civilized space the more lawless it gets.

To that effect ED should get rid of the solo/private group feature as well and just have open.
The game would greatly benefit from it IMO with a system in place like mentioned above.

I don't see how getting rid of solo would help the open world. This is the same thing discussed on the Naval action forums. Open world loses members because of A-hole grieving and such. Because there aren't enough people, open world players want the solo world shut down to force those players into open world.

I can't speak for anyone but me but I KNOW I'm not alone: if I can't play Solo mode in Elite, I won't play at all. If it didn't have a Solo mode I wouldn't have bought it. There are a lot of players who don't want to deal with Open word MMO B.S. They won't just switch over....they just won't play.

If the devs would fix these issues in Open world, maybe more players would come back.  I'm not spending all that time and work to afford a big trade run only to have someone camping by a station to blow my ship up for no reason.

The simple solution is a better crime and punishment system in regards to the player. 

As long as a commander can kill people at will, build up a huge bounty, and then just pay it off or lose it by hopping to another system or just dying once and doing a rebuy, there's not going to be much incentive to hunt griefers en masse, nor is there an incentive for griefers to stop. 

I'm also not sure their argument about their being in the right because Solo/Mobius can effect Open.  The reverse is true as well, and they're gaming the persistent universe as much as anyone. 

Their goal is to get everything merged into Open play, but just from watching some of their streams and seeing their relentless taunting on the FD forums, my feeling is that's really just to shut down escape routes from their griefing. 

FD has to find a happy medium, clearly.  There are actually players like myself that do want to PvP, just in logical or controlled circumstances.  However, with the way PvP functions right now, there's really not a lot of "fun" in it, even if you're on the ganking end.  Being interdicted by a wing of three players with engineered heat weapons and exploding before you can spool your FSD for a high wake escape is really not that entertaining for anyone.

So, yeah, to the original point.  Better crime and punishment, large major faction wide bounties gained from killing commanders that persist through death for a set period and can't be paid off.  Essentially the idea that if you kill players, you're going to be relentlessly hunted in any decent security system by both NPC's and players alike.   This system wouldn't hurt pirates either, as real Pirate Commanders tend to try not to kill their targets, as that simply isn't profitable for them.

Also as much as I think FD hates to admit it, safe zones and possibly PvE tags would also go a long way to uniting everyone back on the Open server.

^this. And Mikeck, SirAndrewD makes some good points in how open would benefit from such a system and then being the only mode of play.
If you want to keep safe you need to stay within controlled space. But IMO its only logical that risk will increase with distance from controlled space.

If there is a good functioning crime and punishment system the gameplay flow will be much better balanced and would warrant a sole open play mode more. At least that's where I stand.

While I think what SDC do goes beyond mere in game piracy into the realm of just being assholes. I'm not really sure what a good solution is. I don't really want to see some sort of MMO PVP flag. I like that piracy is part of the game, I've even done it a few times myself. As unrealistic as the game already is, I think it would break the immersion if they did that. Kind of like the issue with timed ship transfer vs instant. Even though instant was/would be more convenient to us as players, I think if they had gone that route it would have broken the fiction that they had built up in the game.

Quote from: Yskonyn on October 04, 2016, 11:05:15 AM
One solution would be dedicated groups of players playing cops and robbers with them on a similar scale, another option would be to institute a system like EVE uses; civilized space is defended by AI police (concord in EVE) which will *always* Hunt down an offender. The further you are from civilized space the more lawless it gets.

I think there's already a few groups that are trying to counter groups like SDC. Cant name any off the top of my head but I have heard some names dropped on some Elite podcasts. In a way, things already are more lawless the farther you get from the bubble. Not sure how it is in open, but I have had system security drop in from time to time when I've been interdicted by AI pirates. Out in the middle of no where you literally see no one, so your chances of running into anyone are fairly low. But i'm sure a patient pirate might wait for unsuspecting prey around popular nebula like Witchhead, Bernards Loop, etc. Think I'd like to see a modification of your idea. More system patrols, including military, in systems that have factions, stations, etc. But in those uninhabited systems in the bubble that are completely uninhabited then there might be the occasional, maybe even regular patrols, through the system but not on a standing basis like occupied systems. This would still allow for some piracy within the bubble but with a greater risk. Maybe in those unoccupied systems, if piracy picks up, I'm sure Frontier have a way tracking AI/player deaths, then the system would revert to a high security system for a period, thus forcing those pirates to move on.

Some of this the game might already do, I haven't been inside occupied space for at least two patches. I set off on my exploration expedition, then needed to take a break for a few months because of work.

Solid ideas there.
With AI interdictions you often get friendly police jumping in sooner or later if you're in a system where your reputation with the controlling Faction is cordial or better (ships showing green on your scanner), but this doesn't work with Human players.
If they would have a system where police would respond (perhaps you can hit an emergency call button) you would have a chance of surviving. There just isn't anything a lone trader can do at the moment and forcing players to wing up isn't a great deal either.

At least in a group like Mobius you could, in theory, msg a few mates quickly and have reinforcements inbound quickly enabling you to keep playing in open because you can offset the risks.
But solo players need a form of protection as well.

What I'd really like to see is the chance for players to join the police, militia or the military, have the opportunity to form wings and go out on patrol. If they spot trouble, they could then call on other players who are members of the police, local militia or military for support. This would be a great way to encourage a useful counter to grievers, while maintaining immersion in the game world.

^That is a great idea, JH.

Quote from: bob48 on October 05, 2016, 03:49:41 PM
^That is a great idea, JH.

Thanks! I see it as being a real way to enhance the game in several respects. First, it would help counteract the griever problem. Second, it would provide another career opportunity for players who are sick of trading, mining, etc. Third, it would further enhance immersion of the universe and provide players with a reason to take pride in the game the world. There could be salaries, bonuses for bounties, rank, medals, access to new and more powerful gear, etc. The possibilities are quite limitless.

That could introduce a whole new perspective and focus into the game. I would certainly go for that rather than play solo, as I do now.

 That is a great idea. Maybe you could do something to entice people to take part. My recommendation would be to issue them a spacecraft. When you join the police department they issue you a car when you join the Navy and become an aviator the government provides the aircraft. Maybe you could be provided a cobra for use after you're done will you quit you have to return it or you were given the option to purchase it at a lower value.  My recommendation would be to issue them a spacecraft. When you join the police department they issue you a car when you join the Navy and become an aviator the government provides the aircraft. Maybe you could be provided a cobra for use. after you're done or you quit  The service , you have to return it or you would be given the option to purchase it at a lower value.  You would also get paid per kill.

From work experience you have the better spacecraft are issued to you if you would like.  So you go to planet a and join police force. They tell you "head to planet see station five and pick up your cobra".  Then you would get orders such as go patrol system Y."  Closing the bleach the orders would come from a human player who happens to be commanding that area of the police force. He would dispatch you to patrol areas where grievers have been

3 days before someone RPGs a cop gone rogue and starts killing all the police

^ Said with tongue in cheek, it's a great idea JH

Just wondering how easy it would be to form a group that operate from a 'base' station and cooperate - a grog group would be nice.

Well as much as I like JH's idea I see a few problems;

1) the size of the gameworld: how would this cover the whole of civilized space? You would need AI assistance in some form.

2) the game already enables something like this, because people can do what they want. If we now dicide we want to be a space police with a group there is nothing stopping us. The problem, again, is scale.
Even the territory of the 'Bubble' is vast. With a high jumprange ship it will still take you far too long to get somewhere a fight is going on and your assistance is needed pronto.
A few groups are already trying to be police, but their numbers are too small.
You would need to mobilise a group the size of the Fuel Rats or Mobius to have a chance of being even somewhat effective .
The only way I see such a thing work is if the game has a gameplay system for police in place where AI and players work together.

In essence there is nothing holding players back to roleplay a police force right now, but it isn't being done on a bigger scale.
Perhaps an idea to launch a community initiative and run a police service like the fuel rats do for emergency refueling.

And even though UG isn't bein too serious, I do see it as a very real threat to any such initiative. People will indeed mole into the police force unless ED introduces a comprehensive system to manage members in a group.

Quote from: SirAndrewD on September 09, 2016, 07:40:27 PM

Quote from: mikeck on September 09, 2016, 08:45:34 AM
Good and bad of an MOO. Players make you work hard for your money and won't tolerate gifting what they worked for. On the other hand, Vets are always ready to pull the ladder up behind them. You get these Clans that control everything and it makes it difficult for new guys to move up.

But, them's the breaks. MMO is a great self contained microcosm of natural human traits of selfishness and rules of economy. Players will only work if they get money from it (capitalism) but in order to keep the economy from being dominated by a few, Devs need to step in now and then and correct things and make rules to prevent it (regulation)

I smell a paper that I may force my students to write sometime.

It's been written about, regarding MMO economies mirroring the worst in financial & business practices of the world.  Eve Online often being the most infamous topic since it had almost no regulation or moderation.

There have also been player groups created to curtail what they see as injustice from other players, as Jarhead suggested.  But in such open market MMOs, they still have to create their own wealth and pooled resources, so they often end up just being another corporate-like entity, much like those they originally opposed.

Quote from: Yskonyn on October 06, 2016, 01:08:52 AM
Well as much as I like JH's idea I see a few problems;

1) the size of the gameworld: how would this cover the whole of civilized space? You would need AI assistance in some form.

2) the game already enables something like this, because people can do what they want. If we now dicide we want to be a space police with a group there is nothing stopping us. The problem, again, is scale.
Even the territory of the 'Bubble' is vast. With a high jumprange ship it will still take you far too long to get somewhere a fight is going on and your assistance is needed pronto.
A few groups are already trying to be police, but their numbers are too small.
You would need to mobilise a group the size of the Fuel Rats or Mobius to have a chance of being even somewhat effective .
The only way I see such a thing work is if the game has a gameplay system for police in place where AI and players work together.

In essence there is nothing holding players back to roleplay a police force right now, but it isn't being done on a bigger scale.
Perhaps an idea to launch a community initiative and run a police service like the fuel rats do for emergency refueling.

And even though UG isn't bein too serious, I do see it as a very real threat to any such initiative. People will indeed mole into the police force unless ED introduces a comprehensive system to manage members in a group.

Good points, indeed.

Quote from: Yskonyn on October 06, 2016, 01:08:52 AM
Well as much as I like JH's idea I see a few problems;

1) the size of the gameworld: how would this cover the whole of civilized space? You would need AI assistance in some form.

2) the game already enables something like this, because people can do what they want. If we now dicide we want to be a space police with a group there is nothing stopping us. The problem, again, is scale.
Even the territory of the 'Bubble' is vast. With a high jumprange ship it will still take you far too long to get somewhere a fight is going on and your assistance is needed pronto.
A few groups are already trying to be police, but their numbers are too small.
You would need to mobilise a group the size of the Fuel Rats or Mobius to have a chance of being even somewhat effective .
The only way I see such a thing work is if the game has a gameplay system for police in place where AI and players work together.

In essence there is nothing holding players back to roleplay a police force right now, but it isn't being done on a bigger scale.
Perhaps an idea to launch a community initiative and run a police service like the fuel rats do for emergency refueling.

And even though UG isn't bein too serious, I do see it as a very real threat to any such initiative. People will indeed mole into the police force unless ED introduces a comprehensive system to manage members in a group.

The thing holding players back is incentive. There is no reason to role play police because there is no reward. No promotion system, no awards or medals, and no authority granted by the game world. Again, what I envision would be a fully realized career path for law enforcement, and of course it would be supplemented by AI patrols. But it would be great if players could enlist, have their ships and gear provided in one form or another and have actual authority to interdict, Scan and enforce the laws.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 06, 2016, 06:21:12 AM
The thing holding players back is incentive. There is no reason to role play police because there is no reward. No promotion system, no awards or medals, and no authority granted by the game world. Again, what I envision would be a fully realized career path for law enforcement, and of course it would be supplemented by AI patrols. But it would be great if players could enlist, have their ships and gear provided in one form or another and have actual authority to interdict, Scan and enforce the laws.

Yeah a free (powerful) ship and regular salary would be good for law enforcers.  If they abuse their power, the get court marshalled. 

I recall "Bounty Boards" way back in the chaotic gank-filled days of Ultima Online.

Players could put up money for a bounty on another player's head, after being killed by them.  The reward would build up on the "PKers" over time.

There was a problem, though.  Players with a huge bounty on their head would just arrange for a buddy, with a non-criminal character, to come kill him so they could split the game currency. 

I recall some other MMO(s) that tried putting flat rewards on them, but they were never enough regarding risk vs reward.

This had a fledgling life in elite, people would post videos or stories of their demise and pay people to go get revenge - the FD stopped you naming people for such a thing, then people simply PMd the details and then they got banned, there's a way round all that but I don't think FD liked it for some reason

Interesting discussion and I like your ideas Jarhead.
Has there been any recent discussion about this on the Frontier forums or perhaps even from a dev? I don't follow their boards.

Quote from: Yskonyn on October 06, 2016, 05:55:23 PM
Interesting discussion and I like your ideas Jarhead.
Has there been any recent discussion about this on the Frontier forums or perhaps even from a dev? I don't follow their boards.

Unfortunately, not really.  Braben has said that crime and punishment will be addressed in the future, although no one really knows when that will be. 

There is a serious balance on heat meta being done for 2.2, enough that a lot of PvPers are pretty hot about it (see what I did there).  That should at least provide some needed balance to PvP fights rather than "who shoots first wins".  I'm not sure how much good that'll do long term though, like shield cells and silent running builds before, someone will find something new to break. 

Agree that crime and punishment needs an overhaul.

Here's something that bugs me:  pirates flying Federation military ships (dropship/assault/gunship) in Federation space. You have to have a rank in the Federation Navy to get these ships. Are these guys all just renegades or something? I can see them as 'privateers' raiding Alliance or Imperial systems. But Federation systems? Makes little sense...

Always bugged me when games let players fly military ships. I would have a pretty hard time getting my hands on an Arleigh Burke destroyer to sail around...or a fully armed Apache Gunship to fly at work.

If you want to fly one, join the space navy. Use it until you quit or enlistment runs out.

Quote from: mikeck on October 06, 2016, 08:07:30 PM
Always bugged me when games let players fly military ships. I would have a pretty hard time getting my hands on an Arleigh Burke destroyer to sail around...or a fully armed Apache Gunship to fly at work.

If you want to fly one, join the space navy. Use it until you quit or enlistment runs out.

Well its a little more nuanced: you do need to rank up in the faction if you want to be able to fly faction ships.
And it doesnt really matter its a military ship in Elite, because everyone is flying around with heavily armed vessels. Last time I checked I didn't have multicannons on my Boeing at work, nor on my pleasure yacht.

I don't like the fact that you can rank up in both sides, though. It should be mutually exclusive.

A little tip for JH with his massive screen: adjust the FOV beyond the slider in the options.
I run 80 FOV now (slider max is 60) and that makes you see more of the cockpit and aids in the sensation of speed when flying near objects or over a planet's surface.
You get a very slight deformation at the extreme screen edge, but if you dont go higher on the FOV its a good compromise.

Find the setting at:
\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Frontier Developments\Elite Dangerous\Options\Graphics\settings.xml

NOTE: Its vertical FOV, not Horizontal. For 100 degrees horizontal you should use 67.67.

Quote from: mikeck on October 06, 2016, 08:07:30 PM
Always bugged me when games let players fly military ships. I would have a pretty hard time getting my hands on an Arleigh Burke destroyer to sail around...or a fully armed Apache Gunship to fly at work.

If you want to fly one, join the space navy. Use it until you quit or enlistment runs out.

Pirates Of The Burning Sea restricted Ships of the Line to only Naval Commander characters.  The pirates were restricted to single-use frigates & smaller, which was appropriate, but they could also capture prizes and keep/convert them to their own use.

Not sure if Naval Action has the same restrictions, being very similar to PotBS, but I think this approach could work well in other MMOs.  Maybe even Elite, although I doubt they'd move to such a scheme this far after release.

Long time lurker here ... just starting in Elite. 

Open Play suffers from the same thing that other MMO's do; some RPG the game and for others its just another PvP/MOBA to min/max the character/ship/weapon as much as possible.  Trying to provide an environment where you can accommodate both play styles is very hard to accomplish.  They are at complete odds with one another. 

I don't think there is a simple answer.  I hope they don't get rid of solo play ... I will stop playing if they do.  I would prefer Open or Group play that focused more on the RPG aspect of the game.  I have no problem with PvP that makes sense in the setting.  If I run through a known pirate infested area and am taken out, so be it.  That was my choice ... my risk ... and I'd have fun win or lose the engagement.  A group that can close down a system by sitting outside the no-fire zone with no fear of any repercussions just kills the immersion for me.  I'll stick to solo for now ... but hope to find a group server to play on in the future.

Damn it. I guess there is a first time for everything...

I just upgraded my FSD to a 5A capable of making 28 LY jumps. So I'm on my merry 480 LY journey back to Ceos making fast progress when I get into a desolate region populated with stars that are useless for refueling.

I'm now in the middle of nowhere and my fuel tank is nearly dry. I'm 250 LY from my destination and I don't really see any populated space anywhere nearby.

Are there any options other than to self-destruct?

Filter the map on stars with the letters 'KGBFOAM' those are scoopable stars (you do have a fuel scoop don't you?). There probably  is one within range.
Otherwise you can either submit a request to get refueled by the fuel rats (fuelrats.org) or self destruct.

Quote from: Yskonyn on October 07, 2016, 09:43:46 AM
Filter the map on stars with the letters 'KGBFOAM' those are scoopable stars (you do have a fuel scoop don't you?). There probably  is one within range.
Otherwise you can either submit a request to get refueled by the fuel rats (fuelrats.org) or self destruct.

Of course I have a fuel scoop! Sheeeesh.  :buck2:

Where is the filter option in the galactic map to type in 'KGBFOAM'?

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 07, 2016, 08:49:52 AM
Damn it. I guess there is a first time for everything...

I just upgraded my FSD to a 5A capable of making 28 LY jumps. So I'm on my merry 480 LY journey back to Ceos making fast progress when I get into a desolate region populated with stars that are useless for refueling.

I'm now in the middle of nowhere and my fuel tank is nearly dry. I'm 250 LY from my destination and I don't really see any populated space anywhere nearby.

Are there any options other than to self-destruct?

I've been doing the exact same thing, per SirAndrewD's expert advice. Got a stripped down Asp, with A rated FSD and Thrusters (for the extra boost / speed to outrun interdictions) and Fuel Scoop; mine launcher is only defense and heatexchanger only utility. The rest is cargo (76T) and fuel tanks -- can get over 30LY per jump unladen, around 26 fully laden. The Ceos to Bubble run unladen I can do in 14-15 jumps. Raking in $$ this way -- my account now up to an unprecedented (for me!) $50M.

JH, are there seriously no scoopable stars within moderate jump distance? I've had a few cases where I was running quite low on fuel, wound up at a non-scoopable star system, then checked the galaxy map to divert my course from the bubble to the nearest scoopable star, anywhere. I've pushed it on a few occasions but haven't wound up stranded yet.  Hope you can find a way out short of the dreaded self-destruct...

EDIT -- in galaxy map, the tab that lets you set the 'color' of star systems according to Allegiance, Economy, etc. There's a "Star Type" option there. Keep the first 7 star types checked, uncheck the rest, and hopefully one of those KGBFOAM stars will be in jump distance for you to refuel at.

Found one. Thanks, guys. Saved my ass.

JH -- maybe I missed this in a previous post - but out of curiosity, what ship are you using?

Quote from: sandman2575 on October 07, 2016, 10:09:15 AM

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 07, 2016, 08:49:52 AM
Damn it. I guess there is a first time for everything...

I just upgraded my FSD to a 5A capable of making 28 LY jumps. So I'm on my merry 480 LY journey back to Ceos making fast progress when I get into a desolate region populated with stars that are useless for refueling.

I'm now in the middle of nowhere and my fuel tank is nearly dry. I'm 250 LY from my destination and I don't really see any populated space anywhere nearby.

Are there any options other than to self-destruct?

I've been doing the exact same thing, per SirAndrewD's expert advice. Got a stripped down Asp, with A rated FSD and Thrusters (for the extra boost / speed to outrun interdictions) and Fuel Scoop; mine launcher is only defense and heatexchanger only utility. The rest is cargo (76T) and fuel tanks -- can get over 30LY per jump unladen, around 26 fully laden. The Ceos to Bubble run unladen I can do in 14-15 jumps. Raking in $$ this way -- my account now up to an unprecedented (for me!) $50M.

JH, are there seriously no scoopable stars within moderate jump distance? I've had a few cases where I was running quite low on fuel, wound up at a non-scoopable star system, then checked the galaxy map to divert my course from the bubble to the nearest scoopable star, anywhere. I've pushed it on a few occasions but haven't wound up stranded yet.  Hope you can find a way out short of the dreaded self-destruct...

EDIT -- in galaxy map, the tab that lets you set the 'color' of star systems according to Allegiance, Economy, etc. There's a "Star Type" option there. Keep the first 7 star types checked, uncheck the rest, and hopefully one of those KGBFOAM stars will be in jump distance for you to refuel at.

You were laughing at me when I couldn't get fuel and ran out on various systems. This was early on in the game and it was because, at that time, I was in the arse end of nowhere and the universe was clearly "evolving".

So I laugh back  >:D

Enjoy Sothis / Ceos while you can. Rumour has it 2.2 will nerf em.

Quote from: sandman2575 on October 07, 2016, 12:17:01 PM
JH -- maybe I missed this in a previous post - but out of curiosity, what ship are you using?

Asp.

Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 07, 2016, 12:59:04 PM

Quote from: sandman2575 on October 07, 2016, 10:09:15 AM

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 07, 2016, 08:49:52 AM
Damn it. I guess there is a first time for everything...

I just upgraded my FSD to a 5A capable of making 28 LY jumps. So I'm on my merry 480 LY journey back to Ceos making fast progress when I get into a desolate region populated with stars that are useless for refueling.

I'm now in the middle of nowhere and my fuel tank is nearly dry. I'm 250 LY from my destination and I don't really see any populated space anywhere nearby.

Are there any options other than to self-destruct?

I've been doing the exact same thing, per SirAndrewD's expert advice. Got a stripped down Asp, with A rated FSD and Thrusters (for the extra boost / speed to outrun interdictions) and Fuel Scoop; mine launcher is only defense and heatexchanger only utility. The rest is cargo (76T) and fuel tanks -- can get over 30LY per jump unladen, around 26 fully laden. The Ceos to Bubble run unladen I can do in 14-15 jumps. Raking in $$ this way -- my account now up to an unprecedented (for me!) $50M.

JH, are there seriously no scoopable stars within moderate jump distance? I've had a few cases where I was running quite low on fuel, wound up at a non-scoopable star system, then checked the galaxy map to divert my course from the bubble to the nearest scoopable star, anywhere. I've pushed it on a few occasions but haven't wound up stranded yet.  Hope you can find a way out short of the dreaded self-destruct...

EDIT -- in galaxy map, the tab that lets you set the 'color' of star systems according to Allegiance, Economy, etc. There's a "Star Type" option there. Keep the first 7 star types checked, uncheck the rest, and hopefully one of those KGBFOAM stars will be in jump distance for you to refuel at.

You were laughing at me when I couldn't get fuel and ran out on various systems. This was early on in the game and it was because, at that time, I was in the arse end of nowhere and the universe was clearly "evolving".

So I laugh back  >:D

...and you were traveling without a fuel scoop, and I was able to find a good star, refuel and turn a 12,000,000 profit. So, I'm still laughing.  :smitten:

Quote from: Yskonyn on October 07, 2016, 01:24:49 PM
Enjoy Sothis / Ceos while you can. Rumour has it 2.2 will nerf em.

I don't think there's much truth to that rumor.   Sothis/Ceos went from boom state to war state right around the 2.2 Beta launch, this had the effect of the mission boards losing a very large number of the more lucrative delivery missions.  This happened across all servers though, people that were playing Beta just didn't see it going on in 2.1 as well. 

Mission refresh times in 2.2 also seem to be a lot longer, and the "mode switching" exploit doesn't work with beta. 

Also worth noting that in past betas the mission payouts have tended to be lower than live.  I remember Robigo seemed to be nerfed in the Engineers beta, but was not.

I haven't been bothered to go to Sothis to check it out in Beta myself, but I read enough commanders saying the missions are still there to doubt a full on nerf will be forthcoming.

EDIT:  The official word from FD as of two days ago is that the missions will still spawn, just more rarely.  This is compounded by the war state currently.  So, Sothis/Ceos will have a soft nerf, not with the missions but just with an increased time sink into doing them.

Well the fact that you cannot refresh the boards anymore upon mode switching is the big nerf for running these missions. While not a nerf to the mission itself it is a nerf to the process of why they were so lucrative.
But I guess getting rid of the exploit is a good thing. I am just going to run the heck out of it whileI can. :D

Mode switching?

Yeah, when you are docked and you switch from open to solo or private group, the missions get refreshed on the mission board. With some mode switching you can stack up on the high pay missions before running back to the bubble.

So cheating then?

Quote from: undercovergeek on October 07, 2016, 05:24:48 PM
So cheating then?

In a way, yes.  Some argue in the case of stacking haulage missions that it's just time saving.  FD was wishy washy in on the rightness or wrongness of it unlike they have about other things like combat logging.  When directly asked in a Q&A one time, they just referred to it as a "non-desirable situation that wasn't on the short term priority list to fix".  They then later said that "While mode switching is not in the spirit of the game, it's not considered by the development team to be an exploit".  So a lot of people saw that as an implicit green light.   

The most egregious exlploitation of it didn't come from stacking haulage missions, but from constantly refreshing donation missions in systems like Tun in order to power level Federal/Imperial rank. 

I never used it myself because the Sothis/Ceos back and forth was honestly more entertaining and lucrative.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 07, 2016, 08:49:52 AM
Damn it. I guess there is a first time for everything...

I just upgraded my FSD to a 5A capable of making 28 LY jumps. So I'm on my merry 480 LY journey back to Ceos making fast progress when I get into a desolate region populated with stars that are useless for refueling.

I'm now in the middle of nowhere and my fuel tank is nearly dry. I'm 250 LY from my destination and I don't really see any populated space anywhere nearby.

Are there any options other than to self-destruct?

Could always try and see if the Fuel Rats (https://www.fuelrats.com/) can help.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 07, 2016, 01:29:23 PM

Quote from: JudgeDredd on October 07, 2016, 12:59:04 PM

Quote from: sandman2575 on October 07, 2016, 10:09:15 AM

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 07, 2016, 08:49:52 AM
Damn it. I guess there is a first time for everything...

I just upgraded my FSD to a 5A capable of making 28 LY jumps. So I'm on my merry 480 LY journey back to Ceos making fast progress when I get into a desolate region populated with stars that are useless for refueling.

I'm now in the middle of nowhere and my fuel tank is nearly dry. I'm 250 LY from my destination and I don't really see any populated space anywhere nearby.

Are there any options other than to self-destruct?

I've been doing the exact same thing, per SirAndrewD's expert advice. Got a stripped down Asp, with A rated FSD and Thrusters (for the extra boost / speed to outrun interdictions) and Fuel Scoop; mine launcher is only defense and heatexchanger only utility. The rest is cargo (76T) and fuel tanks -- can get over 30LY per jump unladen, around 26 fully laden. The Ceos to Bubble run unladen I can do in 14-15 jumps. Raking in $$ this way -- my account now up to an unprecedented (for me!) $50M.

JH, are there seriously no scoopable stars within moderate jump distance? I've had a few cases where I was running quite low on fuel, wound up at a non-scoopable star system, then checked the galaxy map to divert my course from the bubble to the nearest scoopable star, anywhere. I've pushed it on a few occasions but haven't wound up stranded yet.  Hope you can find a way out short of the dreaded self-destruct...

EDIT -- in galaxy map, the tab that lets you set the 'color' of star systems according to Allegiance, Economy, etc. There's a "Star Type" option there. Keep the first 7 star types checked, uncheck the rest, and hopefully one of those KGBFOAM stars will be in jump distance for you to refuel at.

You were laughing at me when I couldn't get fuel and ran out on various systems. This was early on in the game and it was because, at that time, I was in the arse end of nowhere and the universe was clearly "evolving".

So I laugh back  >:D

...and you were traveling without a fuel scoop, and I was able to find a good star, refuel and turn a 12,000,000 profit. So, I'm still laughing.  :smitten:

touche

Quote from: sandman2575 on October 07, 2016, 10:09:15 AM
EDIT -- in galaxy map, the tab that lets you set the 'color' of star systems according to Allegiance, Economy, etc. There's a "Star Type" option there. Keep the first 7 star types checked, uncheck the rest, and hopefully one of those KGBFOAM stars will be in jump distance for you to refuel at.

The way I plot the long range routes is exactly this. 

Bring up the KGBFOAM filter and use the route plotter to the destination star.   When the route plan line goes dotted, those are the jumps that you won't have enough fuel to reach. 

Make sure you top off your tank as often as possible early in the jumps, and check the route plotter until you have a single solid line from your location to the destination, at that point you can just jump and ignore scooping. 

Trick is to just watch for dead fields where there are no scoopable stars if that dotted line is anywhere close to your current location.  At that point you'll have to start making plans to divert.

Thoughts on the Python? Thinking of trading in my Asp for one. It seems that I can still do fairly large and lucrative trade runs, while being able to arm up for combat too. Also considering a Fer-de-lance....

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 11, 2016, 07:52:50 PM
Thoughts on the Python? Thinking of trading in my Asp for one. It seems that I can still do fairly large and lucrative trade runs, while being able to arm up for combat too. Also considering a Fer-de-lance....

The Python is the ultimate multi-role ship, but it's best role is as an armed trader.  She can land at outposts, and carry a magnificent amount of cargo.  It has an incredible power plant that lets you do everything.

The Python's downsides are as a pure combat ship, or as any ship that is needed to do long range runs.  The Python's jump range is pretty weak for its size, especially fully laden, even with a top of the range FSD.  It also doesn't turn well with any combat ship, and has trouble bringing its class 3 heavy guns to bear, but when it does, it's devastating. 

The Fer de Lance is the Aston-Martin of fighters.  It's a pure, balls to the wall combat ship, and it can do absolutely nothing else.  It has no real room for cargo, and it's best when absolutely min maxed as a precision killer. 

The class 4 hardpoint on the FdL is absolutely devastating on big ships, but it does have the disadvantage of being back almost to the middle of the underside.  This means that to use it, you have to keep your target slightly below your LOS.  This makes it hard to use non-gimballed weapons on the class 4, and makes true heavy hitters like the Plasma Accelerator very hard to use. 

The FdL has an abysmal jump range, and is going to be very limited by this.  Its fuel tank is tiny as well, so any attempts to redeploy it will require very close attention to the map and the use of a fuel scoop.  It can't explore, can't trade, can't reliably relocate extreme distances.  What it can do is kill things, and it does this very well. 

Advantage of the FdL goes to combat speed and frontal firepower.  It can get out of trouble fast, and when lined up on a target its shooting is devastating.   You just have to watch its heat generation, which is pretty heavy.   

I'm really leaning toward the Python, but the weak jump range concerns me. There is no way I could stomach the Ceos/Solthis long haul corridor with 10ly jumps. As it is, 26ly jumps in my Asp make my skin crawl.

I'm making great money in my Asp, and I would be inclined to keep it, but the way I'm playing the game now is simply boring and pointless. It's all means and no end. Back and forth, back and forth, just to make money, but for what? if I dont try something else soon, I can see myself taking a break from the game all together.

Those are only self-imposed limits, JH. Go do what you like to do. Store the ASP for when you need cash quickly. With 2.2 you can ferry it to your current position anyway.

Quote from: Yskonyn on October 12, 2016, 08:05:37 AM
Those are only self-imposed limits, JH. Go do what you like to do. Store the ASP for when you need cash quickly. With 2.2 you can ferry it to your current position anyway.

Ideally I would like to store the Asp, but I'm using $20,000,000 from the Asp to fund the purchase and leave me $30,000,000 for initial upgrades. If I decide to keep the Asp, I'll have to collect more funds for awhile.

I bought the Python the other day. It's the ship I've been aiming for for a *long* time. Traded in my Vulture, kept my AspX.

But even though I'm pleased to have the Python, I think there's no question that for the Ceos/Sothis <--> Bubble run, the Asp is the only viable ship, short of an Anaconda. I haven't yet tried this run in the Python, since my laden jump range is 15.0 LY... which is atrocious, and only slightly over half what I can get in my Asp.  Downside with my Asp is of course cargo capacity -- 76T. I have the Python kitted out to 168T... if I can put up with the 30-jump tedium, that's a lot of haulage. But not sure I have the stomach for it, like JH.

BTW, complete serendipity, but I bought the Python in the Hel system, where it was nicely discounted to $48M credits (I think $56M is "MSRP" if I recall correctly).

Quote from: sandman2575 on October 12, 2016, 10:27:10 AM
I bought the Python the other day. It's the ship I've been aiming for for a *long* time. Traded in my Vulture, kept my AspX.

But even though I'm pleased to have the Python, I think there's no question that for the Ceos/Sothis <--> Bubble run, the Asp is the only viable ship, short of an Anaconda. I haven't yet tried this run in the Python, since my laden jump range is 15.0 LY... which is atrocious, and only slightly over half what I can get in my Asp.  Downside with my Asp is of course cargo capacity -- 76T. I have the Python kitted out to 168T... if I can put up with the 30-jump tedium, that's a lot of haulage. But not sure I have the stomach for it, like JH.

BTW, complete serendipity, but I bought the Python in the Hel system, where it was nicely discounted to $48M credits (I think $56M is "MSRP" if I recall correctly).

I have my eye on a Python in the Johan system...also being sold at a discounted price of $48M quid.

I'm sure it's well known to the E:D vets around here, but in case anyone doesn't know it, I just love this site/tool for figuring out optimal ship configurations and prices:

https://coriolis.io/ (https://coriolis.io/)

Quote from: sandman2575 on October 12, 2016, 11:07:43 AM
I'm sure it's well known to the E:D vets around here, but in case anyone doesn't know it, I just love this site/tool for figuring out optimal ship configurations and prices:

https://coriolis.io/ (https://coriolis.io/)

Interesting. That site seems to suggest that the Python is capable of 30LY jumps. Wonder what it costs to make it do that. LoL.

One of the site's many cool features -- pick a ship, then on the outfitting screen, the left-most column "Standard", there's a drop-down menu that has "Maximize Jump Range" as an option. Then it automatically kits out your ship accordingly.

(Weird though, when I try this with Python, the max I can get is 29.61 LY, and that's with *nothing* except required internals. Maybe the mainpage rounds up.)

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 12, 2016, 11:27:01 AM

Quote from: sandman2575 on October 12, 2016, 11:07:43 AM
I'm sure it's well known to the E:D vets around here, but in case anyone doesn't know it, I just love this site/tool for figuring out optimal ship configurations and prices:

https://coriolis.io/ (https://coriolis.io/)

Interesting. That site seems to suggest that the Python is capable of 30LY jumps. Wonder what it costs to make it do that. LoL.

It's dropping the weight considerably by fitting a 3A power plant over the standard class 7.  If you're going to fit it as an absolute pure trader, meant to do Sothis runs, this isn't a bad idea.  Downside of course is that you're going to have to be very careful with power distribution.   It will make it very hard to mount much in the way of armament or utility mounts, which is ok if you're just trading.

Jump range is still going to be considerably less than the Asp if you maximize the superior cargo capacity of the Python.  You will make more cash in runs, but it'll take more time to do it. 

All that said, I love the Python.  It was my flagship until I finally got an Anaconda, and I really enjoyed all the utility it had to offer.   It's not going to offer a considerably different experience from the Asp however, at least not as a trader.  Just a slower, tougher alternative with more cargo. 

Also, don't forget you can majorly increase the stats on any ship with Engineer upgrades.  Getting a class 5 FSD boost on the Python can give it jump ranges well into the mid 20LY's or more even fully laden. 

Quote from: SirAndrewD on October 12, 2016, 02:01:42 PM
Just a slower, tougher alternative with more cargo. 

Don't forget bragging rights. Very important.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 12, 2016, 02:05:12 PM

Quote from: SirAndrewD on October 12, 2016, 02:01:42 PM
Just a slower, tougher alternative with more cargo. 

Don't forget bragging rights. Very important.

Oh yeah, it's got that. 

The FdL does as well, and when you engineer it, it becomes a murder machine.  It also has the best engine sounds in the game, like revving a Ferrari.   I would recommend keeping one around, just to change your pace up and do some combat on occasion.    Slicing an Anaconda in half in 15 seconds with a Class 4 Multicannon, that looks and sounds like a 40mm quad Bofors is something you must try.

^Great...now I'm totally confused as to what to do.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 12, 2016, 02:50:14 PM
^Great...now I'm totally confused as to what to do.

Owning a Python makes generating revenue streams that can be used for purchasing new ships very much easier.  That is to say, get a Python and getting the 70mil or so to well kit and FdL becomes a weekend's work.

That's why I switched from a Python to Anaconda, I can simply make more money in the Annie, that lets me expand my fleet of ships that are more specialized.

I did it. Traded in my Asp for a Python. Very hard to give up the Asp. She was a great ship.

Anyway, took a quick missin 32 LY away and I couldn't even plot a route because of the damn 8LY stock jump range. What a joke! I had to take a detour to find a star port that carried FSDs. The best I was able to find was a 5D giving me a max range of 16 LY. Better than 8...

So I completed the missions and then made the long...very long...journey back to Ceos. I'm glad I did it though because I was able to take 2 jobs to Solthis and one back to Ceos earning about 22 million. Other then the new FSD and a larger cargo hold, I haven't really upgraded the Python. I plan on doing that than start saving for a Fer de lance.

I did a pair of Ceos <--> Bubble runs in my Python last night. It's grueling. I use the stopwatch on my X52 Pro to time my runs. One way without incident, with a single fuel-scoop refuel midway through, runs close to 30 minutes. Painful. But profitable, no question.

I'm finding the Ceos/Sothis thing kind of a devil's bargain. It's so profitable compared to everything else, it makes *doing* anything else seem pointless. Why bounty hunt, or mine, or trade rares, when the $$ from Ceos/Sothis is just so much better?  And yet the runs themselves are sheer work -- there's no fun in them whatsoever.

I think the problem with the sothis runs is that you end of playing the system and not the game - everyone downs tools and runs to this massive profit maker not because they weren't enjoying bounty hunting or mining but simply because there's too much money to not do it and as a consequence you end playing a part of the game you never would because it didn't interest you anyway

Jarhead for instance was enjoying combat and bounty hunting, don't think I've ever seen him mention trading, all of a sudden he's in an asp doing long haul flights, not because he likes it but because the money is there and then it ruins your enjoyment of the game

On the other hand there are people who will gladly do those runs all day - they are the game billionaires now crashing anacondas into space stations for laughs - they too have ruined the game for themselves

Yeah, I certainly wouldn't recommend doing Sothis/Ceos exclusively.   The run is a true, space trucking grind. 

I really feel that run is more or less to get you over the hump to buy something that you otherwise would have trouble reaching.  I did Robigo right after I spent down to my Insurance buy back to fully A grade my Python.  I ran it until I could afford an A-Rated FdL with a few rebuys for emergencies and then stopped. 

I started running Sothis/Ceos after I could afford an Anaconda, but couldn't afford to fit her.  Once I crossed the hump of A-rating its obscenely priced power plant, I was back to the bubble, collecting stuff for Engineers to further kit my FdL.

When you start feeling burned on it, cash in and do something else.  My suggestion is exploration around Maia/Merope.  That's where a lot of the alien stuff is located, and the data can be sold to the exploration based engineers like Felicity Farseer in order to level your influence. 

You can also try the low temperature diamonds runs if you fancy a little piracy.   Kit those Pythons for crime, go to a system with pristine ice rings and jump traders with holds full of low temperature diamonds for ill gotten gains.

where did you find most of your A-rated parts for the Python? I'm having trouble finding larger A-rated parts. Hopefully, there is a source someplace near the Ceos/Solthis corridor.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 14, 2016, 01:45:34 PM
where did you find most of your A-rated parts for the Python? I'm having trouble finding larger A-rated parts. Hopefully, there is a source someplace near the Ceos/Solthis corridor.

The Founders World, Shinrarta Dezhra system.  If you were an early, Premium Beta or before, backer you should get the permit to go there.  Otherwise you have to have elite status in any discipline.  The station there, Jameson Memorial has every part available for a 10% discount. 

Alternative would be Diaguandri system, Ray Gateway.  This one is actually nearer the Sothis/Ceos run lanes.  They have most parts available there, and some at a 15% discount.  All ships are 15% off there as well. 

JH - Inara is a fantastic site that allows you to plug in your current location, and then search for ship parts, commodities, etc., giving you a breakdown of nearby locations you can find whatever you're looking for -

http://inara.cz/ (http://inara.cz/)

^awesome! Thanks for that!

Ooohh Guardians 2.2 update is live   8)

Though my pc seems to be choking on the 13.0 GB update  (...and I have pretty decent broadband to boot...)  Looks like this is gonna take a while.

Can anyone confirm if the Ceos/Sothis trade runs have been nerfed? I flew back to Ceos last night from the bubble, but didn't have time to travel between New Dawn and Sothis to check missions out.

With the 2.2 upgrade, the game looks a lot better and there are some interesting UI changes, both in flight and to the station services interface. I did check out some of the passenger missions...very lucrative, but very long distance transports...some over 2,000 ly!

The missions aren't nerfed, but switching from Open to Closed and vice versa will not refresh the list anymore.

Passenger missions seem to be lucrative at times too. Yesterday a friend of mine spotted one with only 90ly and a cheap Economy cabin netting 4.5mil.
When I checked the same board it was gone and no such deal was listed anymore.

That sounds like frontiers habit of over powering something they want testing rigorously to make sure it works

By the way, is this a new full priced purchase, dlc or a free upgrade? I used to know everything about elite but I'm so far behind the curve now

Quote from: undercovergeek on October 26, 2016, 09:54:05 AM
By the way, is this a new full priced purchase, dlc or a free upgrade? I used to know everything about elite but I'm so far behind the curve now

Part of the Horizons season pass.

I definitely dig the new starport interiors. Eye-candy to be sure, but it's damn purdy and I'm a sucker for this kind of thing. Also like how they've rearranged the starport services UI, and that the head of the leading faction 'greets' you when you log in. I may be mistaken, as I only played for about an hour last night, but I thought there was some new voice audio as well -- had not heard before the voice of the FFC guy who hailed me when arriving at a new starport. I in general love E:D's voice work -- especially the one who sounds like the guy from the old 7-UP commercial ("The UnCola!!!") and says "You have arrived at a sanctuary among the stars!"  Awesome.

I also like that an autopilot slightly nudges your ship to be dead center when frame-shift jumping. It's the little things that please me, I guess...

Quote from: Yskonyn on October 26, 2016, 09:46:36 AM
The missions aren't nerfed, but switching from Open to Closed and vice versa will not refresh the list anymore.

Passenger missions seem to be lucrative at times too. Yesterday a friend of mine spotted one with only 90ly and a cheap Economy cabin netting 4.5mil.
When I checked the same board it was gone and no such deal was listed anymore.

Not only are they not nerfed, but FD is now mentioning Sothis/Ceos/Robigo as lucrative destinations in their welcome message for new commanders. 

Quote from: sandman2575 on October 26, 2016, 11:14:16 AM
I definitely dig the new starport interiors. Eye-candy to be sure, but it's damn purdy and I'm a sucker for this kind of thing. Also like how they've rearranged the starport services UI, and that the head of the leading faction 'greets' you when you log in. I may be mistaken, as I only played for about an hour last night, but I thought there was some new voice audio as well -- had not heard before the voice of the FFC guy who hailed me when arriving at a new starport. I in general love E:D's voice work -- especially the one who sounds like the guy from the old 7-UP commercial ("The UnCola!!!") and says "You have arrived at a sanctuary among the stars!"  Awesome.

I also like that an autopilot slightly nudges your ship to be dead center when frame-shift jumping. It's the little things that please me, I guess...

I like how the UI indicates right before a frameshift the class of star you heading to.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 26, 2016, 01:15:36 PM
I like how the UI indicates right before a frameshift the class of star you heading to.

Agree -- and like how it also tells you your criminal status ("clean" "wanted") in the new system you're jumping to.

I briefly tried leading a life of crime, hi-jacking low-temp diamond hauls, and it was a disaster. I simply cannot win the interdiction mini-game -- doesn't matter if I'm the one doing to the interdicting or the one being interdicted, I lose *every* time -- not sure why FDev had to make it so impossible. The one Type-7 I did successfully interdict and was carrying a LTD load, I inadvertently destroyed -- got his hull down to around 40% and the next moment he blows up (??).

Anyway, it's back to a humble life of hauling for me...

Aparently mode switching does still refresh the mission list.

I've only done a few trips between Ceos and sothis, but so far I have not seen the same kind of lucrative hauling runs I used to see, either between Ceos and Solthis, or into the bubble. Those missions are still there, but they are much lower in payout. Runs into the bubble payout in the 1,000,000 range. Nothing like the 4,000,000 to 6,000,000 I used to see with regularity. Additionally, local runs of illicit cargo payout in the 500,000, not the 5,000,000 range I used to see.

It had always been in the 1.5 range per mission. The big numbers are achieved by stacking missions.

Quote from: Yskonyn on October 27, 2016, 05:45:17 AM
It had always been in the 1.5 range per mission. The big numbers are achieved by stacking missions.

Not true. Runs into the bubble were frequently in the 4 to 6 million range, I would stack those earning 12 to 15 million per run.

Oh ok. Perhaps I was being unlucky then or not high enough reputation. Never came across those numbers. Good money though! :)
Base attack missions are lucrative as well now.

Reputation definitely is an important factor. At least it was. Going to require more investigation to see if there is really a change.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on October 27, 2016, 10:44:12 AM
Reputation definitely is an important factor. At least it was. Going to require more investigation to see if there is really a change.

You might want to also check the economic state of the system.  Mission payouts are higher when the systems are in an economic boom.

Since I have fallen down a Civ 6 shaped hole, I haven't had the chance to go in and check things out, but I may this evening.

Y'all seen this?

http://kotaku.com/elite-dangerous-players-have-finally-found-aliens-1790824887 (http://kotaku.com/elite-dangerous-players-have-finally-found-aliens-1790824887)

I highly recommend playing the embedded YouTube clip. It's pretty rad.

I kind of od'd on E:D a couple months ago. Maybe time to jump back in. Things sound like they're about to get pretty interesting...

That is really cool!

I got actual shivers when I watched that. Haven't played this in ages, need to jump back on it.

The game is amazing. I do not play it nearly enough.

Holy crap that's awesome

If I get back in it will be at the cost of all other games, life, and time!!

Just to show how realistic the Elite galaxy is in relation to star layout, check out how the player found the first evidence of aliens:

"I triangulated the position of the system using the position of Andromeda, Pleiades Nebula, phakt and epsilon columbae, as they were seen in the trailer," xdeath wrote in a Reddit post (via PC Gamer). "I located the planet by matching the craters as seen on the moon in the tower shot.

Quote from: mikeck on January 06, 2017, 11:49:33 AM
Just to show how realistic the Elite galaxy is in relation to star layout, check out how the player found the first evidence of aliens:

"I triangulated the position of the system using the position of Andromeda, Pleiades Nebula, phakt and epsilon columbae, as they were seen in the trailer," xdeath wrote in a Reddit post (via PC Gamer). "I located the planet by matching the craters as seen on the moon in the tower shot.

That was the ruins complex with the runes.
We dont know yet wether they have a direct link to the space vessel that has been spotted when the cmdr got pulled from hyperdrive into the encounter.
Pretty freakin awesome though!

Since when can bounty hunters interdict you jumping between star systems? Or did the alien vessel do that? (If so, why does the BH show up ready to attack you? Seems the cmdr's own systems are completely offline in the video.)

I'm guessing the alien did that as part of a scripted reveal event; the BHs happened along by coincidence. Unless they were bots, spawned to keep the player from doing too much in the area yet? -- I haven't really watched yet.

Ships only or will there be some sort of fps shooty bits like in Star Citizen?

Quote from: Dammit Carl! on January 06, 2017, 04:44:59 PM
Ships only or will there be some sort of fps shooty bits like in Star Citizen?

We will get the ability to walk around stations at some point. IIRC the next few game updates are supposed to start building towards that. They also plan to add landing on planets that have an atmosphere at some point to. I haven't heard what FDevs plans are beyond that. I hope they skip on an fps mode. I want my space games to be about space and space ships, not the gimmiky mess Star Citizen looks like.

Quote from: JasonPratt on January 06, 2017, 02:33:37 PM
I'm guessing the alien did that as part of a scripted reveal event; the BHs happened along by coincidence. Unless they were bots, spawned to keep the player from doing too much in the area yet? -- I haven't really watched yet.

The alien pulled the player from hyperspace as part of a scripted event, indeed.  The BH popping in was random and is not part of the event.  The scripted event is repeatable, and if you head out to Merope you can get it to happen to you.  There were a few videos on youtube showing exactly how to do this. 

Pretty amazing and atmospheric stuff, and good on FD for just springing it without warning.  Now the question is, are these the dreaded Thargoids, or something else?

The truth is out there.

I'm trying to get back into this after being away from it for some time. I did have to reinstall it after I replaced my HD, and I'm now setting up my X45 combo again. For some reason, I'm having lots of problems in getting this sorted out, although it all worked perfectly well before.

I'm trying to assign free head movement to one of the HAT switches, but nothing I select seems to work - can anyone offer me any advice please?

you guys have already seen this, no?

http://www.pcgamer.com/elite-dangerous-aliens/

Here he comes, 5 days late

Yes, we know all about it. What we don't know is if these are Thargoids or something else.

In the meantime - someone please check their key-bindings (if using a joystick) and see what they have set for a HAT freelook please. Its driving me nuts. I'm sure something has changed with the control thingie. I've never had so many issues with a game with regards to setting a joystick up - I'm almost annoyed.

does it have to be a hat?

Well, it worked that way in the past, but I've had to put everything back on after my HD fell over and was replaced. The X45 has 2 HATs on the joystick.

Quote from: undercovergeek on January 08, 2017, 10:49:06 AM
Here he comes, 5 days late

I don't play it, and I hadn't read the thread.  I didn't even go looking to see if y'all had mentioned it.  I saw the article this morning :)

So you just spammed us here?  :P

Quote from: undercovergeek on January 08, 2017, 01:46:50 PM
So you just spammed us here?  :P

yep

Quote from: undercovergeek on January 08, 2017, 01:46:50 PM
So you just spammed us here?  :P

yep

Quote from: undercovergeek on January 08, 2017, 01:46:50 PM
So you just spammed us here?  :P

yep

Quote from: undercovergeek on January 08, 2017, 01:46:50 PM
So you just spammed us here?  :P

yep

I see what you did there

Touché

Quote from: bob48 on January 07, 2017, 10:43:36 AM
I'm trying to get back into this after being away from it for some time. I did have to reinstall it after I replaced my HD, and I'm now setting up my X45 combo again. For some reason, I'm having lots of problems in getting this sorted out, although it all worked perfectly well before.

I'm trying to assign free head movement to one of the HAT switches, but nothing I select seems to work - can anyone offer me any advice please?

I had to install the Saitek drivers to get my X55 to work but after that its worked perfectly.

Quote from: undercovergeek on January 08, 2017, 01:46:50 PM
So you just spammed us here?  :P

yep

Quote from: bayonetbrant on January 08, 2017, 02:40:12 PM

Quote from: undercovergeek on January 08, 2017, 01:46:50 PM
So you just spammed us here?  :P

yep

I'll find you

2.3 The Commanders update is released today.

Changelog : https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/341916

Commander Creator
Multi-Crew
...

Came across this video. Guy is an insanely competent pilot. It does however give a great look at how the game has come along relating to planetary activity. He is raiding an imperial outpost as a mercenary. The 2:00 mark is a great place to see his talent but after that fight, be sure to go to about 7:50 and watch. In between those times he manages to raid the bases in his lander.

It's just a good look at planetary piloting, landing and combat. With the added "engineers", missions, various conflicts and new found alien life, I feel like there is a ton to do now. Allying with various corporations and raiding other groups, fighting for insirgencies or whatever.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KUbV3Zq62BA

Not sure this is the newest thread but I searched and this Is what came up. Anyway elite beyond chapter 4 was just released today. A huge update with better visuals, night vision, planet surface skimming and a new astroid mining system where you plant detonation probes and blow up the asteroids and such.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sc6Bb3OXPaU

If you are new to the game and want to try it out :

Elite Dangerous: Commander Deluxe Edition : $ 12 or 11.99 €  (-76%)  (base game + Horizons DLC)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/475180/Elite_Dangerous_Commander_Pack/

Quote from: mikeck on December 11, 2018, 05:48:18 PM
Not sure this is the newest thread but I searched and this Is what came up. Anyway elite beyond chapter 4 was just released today. A huge update with better visuals, night vision, planet surface skimming and a new astroid mining system where you plant detonation probes and blow up the asteroids and such.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sc6Bb3OXPaU

I'm seriously tempted to jump back into this. Haven't played seriously in well over a year. I expect if I booted up now I'd be pretty amazed by all the changes.

Question is, do I have the patience to deal with my Track IR and HOTAS configs etc. etc. I've been avoiding flight sims for a while now, just don't have the energy/time to set all this stuff up...

Part of me still really does not understand the scorn heaped on Elite. I do get the 'it's grindy and repetitive' knock, it definitely can feel that way after a while, which is why I stopped playing a while back. But just on its own terms -- not comparing it to Star Citizen or all the things Elite lacks that SC is going to have -- Elite is an absolutely amazing achievement. The attention to detail, the experience of flying and exploring and fighting -- the sheer breadth of the galaxy (no game has ever made me feel more awe at the size of space than puttering around in the galaxy map in Elite and then trying to get from A to a distant point B) -- if you have not tried Elite yet, put aside any preconceived ideas and buy it at this give-away price of $12... I promise you will be very impressed.

Without having any intention of doing so, I ended up playing this for about 3 hours tonight. Flight, docking and combat doesn't seem to have changed much since I played last, which is probably 6 to 9 months ago. It's pretty easy to make a good living just doing haulage runs. I go between solthis and ceos, which is only a quick 8.90LY hop, delivering cargo. In just a few trips I made about 7,000,000 and I'm in a Python...so if I had a larger hold, I could run more missions at once and make more faster.

They did make one change to these courier missions that I didn't pick up on at first. You used to accept the mission and the cargo would automatically be loaded into your hold. Now, you have to select the quantity of the goods you want to load from the depot after you accept the mission. The good thing about this is you can accept multiple missions, even if you can't  do them all at once due to limited cargo space. You simply make more than one trip to complete the missions.

There do seem to be a lot of new mechanics with respect to exploration and discovery, but I haven't tinkered with any of it yet. Anyway, still a fantastic game, but I'm not really eager to get very involved again.

Jarhead your issue with the auto load courier missions now being manual load was something I got caught by as a noob as well. I had done an initial noob mission where the cargo was auto loaded as it was data. Must have been a patch as the next time I came back and did a mission I ended at my destination with no cargo. I then thought I must have to buy it. Finally I looked at the mission screen again in great detail and found the obscure button in the right middle of the screen. Apart from that I think elite is very polished as games go these days.

I like the change to cargo missions. It makes sense to do it this way so smaller ships can accept bigger missions or queue up several good ones. I'm not to crazy about the new "modes" for combat and exploration. I like the new exploration mechanic but wish they would auto switch the mode depending on the selected trigger. Pulling the trigger on a weapon and having a message pop up "You can't use that in this mode" is BAD UI design. Pointed it out in beta many times and now that it is the main build I am seeing confusion in the forum as to why weapons are disabled after being in FSS mode.

Out of curiosity, did the planned expedition to the other side of the galaxy through the core ever work out?

I believe one of the major changes was the astroid mining. Now you can fire up some different things into the astroid. Explosives to blow off chunks and even certain types of missles to drill in deep to the astroid detonate. You can also fire explosives into fault lines and if done correctly, break the astroid in half.

Quote from: JasonPratt on December 13, 2018, 11:45:18 AM
Out of curiosity, did the planned expedition to the other side of the galaxy through the core ever work out?

There was one a couple of years ago and the same leaders are planning another. I don't play that close attention to them.

Quote from: mbar on December 13, 2018, 05:24:12 PM

Quote from: JasonPratt on December 13, 2018, 11:45:18 AM
Out of curiosity, did the planned expedition to the other side of the galaxy through the core ever work out?

There was one a couple of years ago and the same leaders are planning another. I don't play that close attention to them.

It's the one a couple of years ago I was thinking of.  :)

Quote from: JasonPratt on December 13, 2018, 06:22:15 PM

Quote from: mbar on December 13, 2018, 05:24:12 PM

Quote from: JasonPratt on December 13, 2018, 11:45:18 AM
Out of curiosity, did the planned expedition to the other side of the galaxy through the core ever work out?

There was one a couple of years ago and the same leaders are planning another. I don't play that close attention to them.

It's the one a couple of years ago I was thinking of.  :)

I know many reached the center of our galaxy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A*)

Never done so before, but a few mates and I are going to participate in a big community event called Distant Worlds 2.
Each week we travel 5000 lightyears to reach the far side of the galaxy in the end where a community goal to build a space station will kick off!
Cool stuff!

Keep us updated on progress!

How does one build a space station in Elite?

Quote from: mikeck on January 08, 2019, 01:31:51 PM
How does one build a space station in Elite?

There's no in-game mechanism for it.  Some player groups are officially recognised by Frontier, and the weekly community goals are sometimes requested by such groups, which Frontier accomodate.  This seems to be an extra special one, wherein one of the groups have requested a new space station on the other end of the galaxy.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong; I've been out of the loop for about six months now.

Quote from: Yskonyn on January 08, 2019, 08:46:57 AM
Never done so before, but a few mates and I are going to participate in a big community event called Distant Worlds 2.
Each week we travel 5000 lightyears to reach the far side of the galaxy in the end where a community goal to build a space station will kick off!
Cool stuff!

Have fun on DW2! I had planned on going but got busy with work and forgot to prepare for it. Way to late for me to go now.

Thanks guys!  :bd:

Yes the construction of the space station is a community goal inserted by Frontier.
Frontier is very much in contact with its community for these kinds of events. I was working with a much smaller outfit months back, but even smaller groups can file for their own faction with Frontier. That group got their own little faction to run as well.

There is often grumbling about events being only for a select few people who either happen to be at the right place at the right time or who are deeply involved in the community. While I can certainly understand the grumbling, I also feel that whenever you do get involved in such a custom event endorsed by Frontier, it gives an absolutely unique gaming experience on a scale not found much out there in gaming land.
The tailored events trump the generic gameplay on all accounts, but yes, it's not for everyone to experience unfortunately.

On another note, here's a tip for you VR astronauts:
Go into your Nvidia Control Panel and set Texture Filtering to High Quality instead of the default Quality option.
This will disable all optimalization and filtering options and present you with the sharpest image possible.
Many games will get micro stutters with this setting on (at least when using high resolutions on a monitor), but I haven't experienced any in Elite in VR yet with this setting and the world around you gets much much sharper, so try  it out!
If you do experience microstutters, lower it back to Quality.
In VR especially, this setting works wonders to get better images.

HCS Voicepacks (to be used with Voiceattack !)


Celeste is one of our best selling voice packs.  For a limited time, you can purchase Celeste, for Elite Dangerous or Star Citizen, with a £10 OFF code.

Use the code "FIVER" at checkout to reduce the cost from £14.99 to just £5. So go grab yourselves a bargain and put this awesome voice in your ship right now!