Dr Wookie

Hmm, the not being able to ALT+TAB is a new one, and quite a few people on the forums have said the same. Given that this version is only a few hours old, there usually are some teething troubles like this; they brought out several patches within the first few days of the previous betas, and it is likely that we will see at least one patch this week. IN any case, there should be an option in the graphics menu for windowed mode... there is a fullscreen on/off toggle The netcode has always been one of the biggest challenges for the game, because they are running everything off of one server for background simulation, but connection between players is peer to peer. It's come on in leaps and bounds since last January/February when multiplayer was first added, but there's still room for improvement. However, connection issues are worst in the hours following release since everybody is trying to download and update at once. Furthermore, since there was a wipe, everybody starts in the same station, which is extra stressful.

I've tested/played for about 100 hours all told since December. You're right, I have been very careful to avoid burn out, and I have only really played until I satisfied my curiosity about the new features, rather than playing for the sake of progress. Having said that, we were told that we would keep our cash from Beta 2 when going to Beta 3, so played quite a lot over the weekend in order to get some capital for the new stuff. I started with about 1.6 million credits, which got me my old ship back (minus some of the upgrades), and let me test out mining (which I think is cleverly done). I've never owned any of the really big ships, and these get more expensive with every update; however, the module upgrades give you plenty to spend your money on while working towards the next ship. For example the base Cobra Mk III costs about 250 k, but highly pimped out versions can be worth about 10 million; in Beta 2, 10 million would give you a good start on the Asp (which is the next size up for jack-of-all-trades ships). The Anaconda (biggest ship so far) is now up to 149 million! I'm still excited enough to skip work to try beta 3 some more today ! If you go to the tutorials section, the first one has you leave a station, turn round, ask for clearance, and land. Another tutorial goes through a whole journey from one station to another. These were new in beta 2, and made it substantially more friendly to newcomers. Even though the entrance is clear for a lot of stations, it might not be clear for the more traditional cubey ones; for these guys the entrance is on the side that is rotating anti-clockwise. I've not tried interdicting other ships yet, but being interdicted has had a new twist. There is now a sort of tug-of-war test of flying skills, as the person being interdicted has to maneuver towards an ever-changing escape vector (aggressors have to line up the targe). As escape progress goes up, interdiction progress goes down, until the target either escapes or gets pulled into normal space, where it can be attacked; here is a PvP video to show it from an aggressor's point of view.

Still playing is an odd term, given that the game isn't out yet ! However, I am still playing the beta, and the latest update (Beta 3.0) has just dropped today. New features include: -- 2 New ships, the Imperial Clipper and Federal Dropship -- Fuel scooping from stars and gas giants -- Mining; scan for metals and minerals, blast with mining laser, scoop up chunks and sort with on-board refinery -- Player interdictions: anyone can pull anyone else out of supercruise so they can attack, so long as they have the right kit -- Even more space to play in, over 2400 star systems now, including a couple of new star types -- Visible reputation tracking for every faction out there... not just the big three (Federation, Empire, Alliance), but each system has a number of groups both legit and criminal -- New philanthropic missions (not seen these yet) There's a changelog about a mile long!: http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=52288 It's really coming together, which is a very good thing since the release date is still set for 2014!

All 5 ships that are in the current version of Arena Commander are available to everybody: Hornet, 300i, 350R, M50, and Aurora. I think that's the list anyway, not paid too much attention! You an use them in all of the available modes. You'll probably have to download patches for 1 or more hours though, depending on when you last logged in... when I went from version 0.8 to 0.9, it took over 10 hours to download and apply the 20+ GB of patches!

I'm feeling quite a bit more positive towards Star Citizen now; I have always supported it and hoped that it would be good, but I have been severely disappointed by the Arena Commander module that they put out. Thanks to the limited time access to all ships this week, I got to try out things other than the cruddy Aurora ! Racing the M50 around one of the more challenging tracks was the closest thing I've had to fun with AC, but definitely not worth buyng the ship package for. Also, I upgraded my graphics card to a GTX 970 this week from a 660, meaning that I could get a much better idea of what it was supposed to look like. I've seen highlights from the Citizencon livestream, and some of that stuff looks promising too. However, I wonder if thexity hubs will be more than just 3d walk-in menus. I mainly pledged for the story mode, Squadron 42, so it was good to see a bit of news about that.. I don't see even the faintest glimmer of the best damn space sim ever, but it looks like it could be a good game; it's guaranteed to be interesting!

Having previously resolved to wait, I found myself facing a rainy long weekend, and thought sod it, it's as good a time as any to visit Mordor! Like a lot of people, I love the Nemesis system. Dying a lot in the early hours meant a very lively reshuffling of the Uruk ranks! Knowing that you created some of the monsters you're facing by dying to them really adds a lot. There was one archer who has been a thorn in my side (pun sort-of-intended) for hours, after, killing me the first time, surviving numerous duels and assassination attempts by me and other Uruks, and even showing up and shooting me some more while I was fighting a different captain! I did finally manage to croak him, but I've had one other guy come back with a massive scar on his face, so I'm not going to assume he's dead just yet. Plus there's a shield guy that now seems pretty much impossible to kill! I heard that 360 and PS3 versions miss out on the whole Nemesis system, which would be a terrible shame if true. I've only done the first few missions, mostly dstracted by side stuff. I suppose I should go forward with the story, especially since that unlocks new abilities.

So far I love the potential for exploration and messing around with sheip modules, but neither is as polished as I would like. At the moment, it seems like a total crapshoot as to which parts will be on offer, making looking for a particular part to upgrade pretty frustrating. The exploration mechanic works pretty well so far, using long range active scanners to detect bodies, then scan them individually for extra info; there is a detailed surface scanner available for extra info, but it is only available for the most basic ship at the moment. Exploration will be much more rewarding when we can find resources to mine, relics etc. SHIP PORN A fellow backer called Forger made an excellent video showing off the Asp Explorer, which is new to Beta 2. It looks staggeringly good, though expensive, combining a large cargo capacity with high mobility and some ferocious armaments BETA 3 DATED Beta 3 is scheduled for the end of this month, with details of what is in coming over the next few weeks. However, we were givien a sneak peek at fuel scooping, a key feature of the series that allows us to get fuel from cool stars and planets, rather than having to dock

BETA 2 IS OUT! After a herculean effort by the devs (finally setting the code running at about 10 pm UK and releasing around 1 am), the latest beta is out in the wild. I had a good hour or so to play with it before they did some server change and it all went bonkers ! Still, the first patch will be up today, hopefully everything will be smooth after that. There's been another pass on graphics, UI, and sound, making a huge improvement. There was a full reset, and everybody starts at one of the new outposts, close to one of the planets TUTORIALS ARE IN Beta 2 is far more accessible to newcomers than previous releases, because it now comes with tutorials that go through docking and travelng from one station to another, as well as general flight and combat. Also, The first time you launch, there is a pre-flight check that runs down all of the basic controls. This can be turned off. RATINGS AND REPUTATION ARE IN Now everything we do has a consquence! Every pilot has a ranking from Harmless to Elite, similar to the original games, but somewhat reorganised, and possibly with an extra level or two. Furthermore, we also have reputations with different factions, for piracy etc., and a combination of rating and ranking affects prices of goods, availability of missions etc. depending on where you are. EQUIPMENT VARIATION IS IN Previously, we could change the weapons mounted on our hardpoints, and equipment in utility slots, but that was about it. Now, pretty much everything is interchangable: thrusters, hyperspace drives, power plant, etc. Some things seem to be outright improvements, while others are variants on a theme so you can have pulse lasers that are low- heat, or overcharged, and you can get multicannons with wide spread, for example. Now, things like shields are kept in the cargo area, so if you really wanted to you could swap out shields for extra cargo space. Apparently the devs have made hundreds of module variations! EXPLORATION IS IN, AS ARE SYSTEM MAPS New to Beta 2, we now have system maps, showing planets, spacestations, moons etc.; also we can have more than one space station in a system. We are only given detailed info about a small number of systems, and the other 500 or so systems are unknown. Oh yeah, we have about 500 new systems ! To get the information, we can buy it from spacestations, or go and explore, scanning planets and moons with a "discovery scanner". I've not had a chance to do this yet, but I get the impression that doing this in a system you don't have a map for gives you intel that you can sell. Someone on the forums said you can upgrade to a surface mapping scanner that nets bigger rewards FLIGHT MODEL TWEAKS They've made a few changes to the flight model, which have been pretty contraversial! The flight-assist off mode previously gave a huge advantage if you could master it, since you had improved acceleration as well as freedom to move in one direction while looking in another. This has been severely nerfed, so the same restraints apply to both flight modes. Also, there has been a change so that reverse or lateral thrusts max out at lower speeds than forward thrust, to keep everyone moving forward most of the time rather than kiting.

One thing to note is that the Nemesis system isn't in the previous gen versions, apparently

This looks amazing, especially after seeing the GiantBomb quicklook. Having said that, I'm going to wait a bit, not to be a cheapskate but because I have too much other awesome on my plate. The next elite dangeroud beta is dropping sometime today, plus I recently got sucked into the Old Republic, with evil dealings of a Sith Inquisitor/Pacman. There's too much cool stuff coming out, damnit and if I start on too many things, I tend to leave some things behind forever!

Naah, think more on the lines of a road trip !

I'm pretty sure that 2 is from 9 is definitely 10 12 20

Hi guys, the latest newsletter had some pretty cool stuff in it NOSTALGIA PORN FD have teased a "wireframe" skin for the Cobra Mk III... I want this SO BADLY! FINAL PRICE / PREORDER DETAILS So the final retail price has been announced as 39.99 GBP / 49.99 Euro / $59.99. However, anyone who had preordered the game already or preorders for 35 GBP / 40 Euro / $50 will get the Mercenary Edition with the following bonuses: - An extra Eagle fighter ship, stored in a separate location, ready for you to pick up - Exclusive pack of paint jobs - A Day 1 ship decal - Digital player's guide - Digital concept art book - Other stuff TBA We can still only fly one ship at a time, but any station larger than an outpost will have places to store ships... they will be safe til we come and get them MINI SHIP ID CHART: 8 NEW SHIPS TEASED Key (new ships in all caps, question marks are guesses): PYTHON?, ?, ASP, ORCA PASSENGER LINER, ? FER-DE-LANCE?, Eagle, ?, Viper, Hauler, Cobra, Lakon Type 6, DOLPHIN PASSENGER LINER Sidewinder CURRENT SHIPS NOT IN CHART: Lakon Type 9, Anaconda That's 16 out of 25 playable ships promised 30TH ANNIVERSARY STUFF The 30th anniversary of the original game is this month, I think September 22nd. FD have announced 10 days of announcements and suprises surrounding this date... this includes showing at the Eurogamer Expo ANOTHER GREAT VIDEO FROM ISINONA Here Isinona (probably the best Elite pilot out there, at least on youtube) demonstrates how you can use the hauler (a very humble starter trade ship) for banditry by cunning and making the most of your surroundings BRAGGING RIGHTS A few months ago, I was chosen along with two other members to be an ambassador for the game at E3. Last week, I got this awesome signed, framed concept art as thanks!

That trailer is spectacular! Don't know much else about the game, but the art style is simply gorgeous

Has anyone else been lured back by the new Patch? This includes: --- Seasonal gameplay with leaderboards and new Legendaries: the main appeal for me is that you start completely from scratch (no artisans, no Paragon points); after the season ends, heros are rolled into the main roster --- Portals into the realm of the treasure goblins (for level 70 I think); I've not been, but I imagine it's stupid amounts of loot --- Greater rifts that you must beat within 15 minutes; all loot comes from the end boss, which includes new legendary gems that you can level up. To access these rifts, we have to complete a normal rift at Torment difficulty level; bosses can drop a stone that gives access to plane of trials, where you get assigned a starting rift based on how well you do against waves of enemies. My best hero got given a rift level of 1, which I managed to beat in order to get level 2... by contrast one youtuber got dropped straight into rift level 27! Forgetting the silly plot, I still find Diablo III a fun game for spurts of an hour or so. The rift stuff needs the reaper of souls expansion, but given that I've put in 230+ hours over the last couple of years, I didn't mind paying an extra $40 for the expansion (which unlocks adventure mode, great with hardcore characters!)

The last couple of newsletters have teased some mighty meaty new additions to Beta 2... I've not seen a release date for that version, but the 30th anniversary of Elite is coming up next month, and there's not enough time for gamma let alone full release by then so that seems like a good date. STATION PORN! There are two new types of space stations being intrdoduced, Ocellus starports and outposts. The Ocellus starport has a spherical body, based on the 1929 idea for a space station design by Jon Bernal... the shape is great for efficient shielding and maintaining air pressure Their structural strength means that they can be moved from system to system fully formed, rather than being built in situ. Example uses given was for gold rushes or tourism for spectacular but short term stellar events. Outposts are mcuh smaller, found it the more far-flung systems These are so small that all the landing pads are on the outside, meaning that we can watch the galaxy go by while docked! NEW GAMEPLAY MECHANICS Beta 2 will have some really important game play mechanics added that are vital to the success of the game, in my opinion: --- Rankings and Reputation: FINALLY we will have reasons to do stuff other than amassing cash! For me this is the main motivation for playing the game, so I really hope they've got it right! --- Galactic news feeds, where events can trigger missions or market opportunities. Also, players can get on the feeds with feats of great derring do or dastardliness, meaning you could be public enemy number 1 --- Missions will be expanded to include espionage, group missions, escorts and policing duties. Vitally, some missions will only be available to people with the right kinds of reputation and ranking (reputation is a very complex beastie with many aspects, see http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6279 ). It looks like there will be mission chains too! Great stuff... I can hardly wait!

That looks really intriguing so far, and that method for converting from photos to 3D objects is fascinating... looks similar to the driving force behind those smoothed hyperlapse videos that have started appearing recently. The gameplay mechanics aren't clear to me yet... a walking simulator with a psychic detective? I absolutely loved Gone Home after I played all the way through in a single sitting, so that's not a bad thing!

I really enjoyed Baldur's Gate when I played it, and that was pretty late.. 2004 or 2005 or so. I completed it with a human fighter / thief (level 7 fighter then level 20? thief), got most of the way through BG2 but then bounced off because of the insane magic system. There actually a heck of a lot to like about Divinity: Original Sin... the combat, art style and interactions keep things interesting for a long time,,, just not long enough for my mostly unguided play through (clocking up about 90 hours). Patrick Kleppeck mentioned on his morning show that he used guides quite heavily, and "only" took about 70 hours. If you have the time, it could still be worth your while... only the last bit really lets it down (after you access the previously lethal part of evil woodland), and that could be managed with judicious use of spoily guides.. The earlier bits are really very good

I had a lot of fun with this game overall, but I found the end game pretty terrible... I couldn't even be bothered with the final battle after a few attempts. I think that while its freedom to interact with whatever you like is one of its greatest strengths, it was also one of its greatest flaws too. Even though I appreciated the ability to handle quests how I saw fit, there were several times where I had missed something important (and in one very annoying case several somethings important), leading to hours of aimless wandering around and backtracking (the low point was going to a level 6-7 area with my level 19 squad). I'm not sure how I would improve it, but maybe there could have been a bit more gating of the content to stop some of this. Given that I enjoyed a good 80+ hours I think it was good value, and am happy to have played it, just a bit resentful of the last hours. Having said that, it could have been substantially shortened without losing a great deal.

Heh, I just quit Divinity Original Sin in the final area... I had a lot of fun with the game overall, but the last 10-15 hours were just sloggy bullshit. I tried the big confrontation a few times, then thought sod it and watched the end!

I now have 90 hours in the game according to steam (with a fair amount of pause time), including 73 hours with my current pair. I'm taking on Level 18s now, so probably not that far to go. I've spent the last hour or so in game wandering around, before noticing on my map that the next destination is marked... yep, they do that a few times! I've enjoyed the game a great deal, but am ready for it to be over soon ! While I've relished much of the writing when talking to various characters, the overall story arc has lost its appeal a bit. However, the combat remains very engaging, and I love getting each new tier of skills every 3 levels or so. My "Roderick" is a fire / earth / witch guy, while my "Scarlet" is a pretty straight up ranger with lots of different arrow effects; they're not called that though. My strategy has mainly been putting bodies on the field, whether summoned or charmed (skill or arrow), buffing then letting Madora tank, Jahan Heal, and "Roderick" do AOE crazies. I love the Death Punch (I like to think they do it with one finger), and if their are handy barrels then of course I'll exploit them (there's at least one occasion where barrels basically do the whole job for you)

Hi, I don't think that the ships will be on sale when the game is finished... they will all be available through gameplay though. I would guess that the retail price would be ~$40-60. The base package is $40, and it might be worth getting it before the game releases in case the price goes up on launch; however, launch is probably 18 months away so no hurry!

I really want this game to be great when it comes out, but I am sadly unimpressed with the racing and FPS teasers. The Constellation commercial made me laugh, but not as much as the price of the ships in store: $225-375! I still quietly boggle that people are willing to buy this stuff, especially since they could forget to insure it in game and lose it forever. As I am most interested in Squadron 42, I'm not too worried about the current state of affairs though . I'll just sit out Arena Commander unless it improves significantly; I'll definitely check in after they update the model to 6 degrees of freedom and increase the top speeds of everything. Elite Dangerous is more my jam, but there have been fair number of people lured to ED by the videos and coverage, that have been disappointed that they can't easily find other players for a quick fight, or with the slow pace, or the nerfed yaw (a conscious design decision to promote a particular style of flight); I definitely think that they would be a lot happier with Arena Commander (who knows about the Persistent Universe of Star Citizen?). These games are definitely horses for different courses

Interesting, thanks... I'm at this point now. This game is vast and looong; I'm about 50 hours in now, just approaching Level 13. I thought I was getting near the end, but I have a whole heap of new stuff to do!

They will only have it when there's interesting gameplay involved, they say. No pointless wandering . And it's not a bandwagon thing, in the early drafts for Elite 4 (years ago), the player would have started out on foot and would have had to work their way up to their first ship! There's still a lot of balancing to do, as well as player interdictions, tougher npcs etc... at the moment, trading is way too safe and easy, as well as much more profitable than collecting bounties. I made more money in the first week of standard beta than i did in all of the earlier phases combined. I'm probably going to wait until the next release before playing more; I'm really looking forward to the addition of factions and reputation, since these give a major motivation for playing other than cold hard cash. There is a huge leap between the two big cargo ships with nothing in between at the moment (only 8 out the 25 player ships are available right now), so earning another 2 million in the face of a wipe isn't really appealing. I started playing more with combat after making 1 million or so. Good luck with flight assist off, that will be fantastic if you tame it!