Dr Wookie
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Posts posted by Dr Wookie
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I was strong, and resisted preordering right up to the moment I didn't
!I have high hopes for this game, but have enjoyed Bethesda's other games so much that I would be happy to give them the money anyway. Furthermore, I spent 5 years in the Boston area, and expect to have fun just poking around. I might even be able to find my office, or at least investigate Harvard Yard
. Also, I'll be playing on pc, and expect that players will patch up many broken things even if the devs don't. Eventually! -
Vive requires space.
Oculus doesn't.
Other than that, Vive is the clear winner, 100%. The feeling of actually physically being in a space is so much, so so so so much better than just being a floating head holding a controller.
But I guess it also depends on the kinds of games people make.
I don't think that the Vive requires a space as such, but it sounds like that is the killer feature. However, if you are sitting down then apparently the experiences are very similar. For example, Elite Dangerous is compatible with Vive and OR; it was showing recently at the ED stand and also the VIve stand. People report that using the Oculus controllers results in a similarly engrosing experience to Vive.
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Wow- impressive! I don't know how long I've spent, because my time was spread over 360 and pc, as well as both rocksmith games. I'm probably well over 100 hours though
. I've not been able to do as much recently because I have to be considerate of other people, booo! -
It does look great, and I'll be playing it when it comes out
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There was an interesting segment on the Podquisition this week regarding No Man's Sky, and if true the release date could be considerably later than June next year. Laura Dale (Laura K Buzz) quoted anonymous sources, so a pinch of salt is necessary, :
- the game was due to show in a hands off demo at a UK event called games city, but they cancelled due to many technical issues
- the build shown at the Sony press conference for this year's E3 was running on pc, even though dual shock controller was used; at the time of that conference, it was not working for PS4
- there have been major problems getting it to even run on PS4, and optimising for PC
Laura Dale previously revealed the existence of an on-rails off shoot of Until Dawn; the developer denied that they were currently working on such a thing, then soon after unveiled Rush of Blood themselves
Also, the voiceover for the Paris Games Week trailer was apparently taken from a movie, and is nothing to do with the game. It sounds initially like Roy Batty's speech, but is apparently the opening of some small film
It seems to me that Sony is really pushing this game, possibly to the detriment of Hello Games
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Heh, proposal time one thing I definitely don't miss! October and March used to be ridiculously busy!
Anothier thing to sneak in, more footage of a base attack (40 whole seconds this time!) This time, one SRV is coming to rescue another one who is definitely in a pickle! Skimmers, turrets, huge base o my
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Hadn't seen that! However, I did pick up on the Galnet reports of increasing problems at stations where research on UAs takes place... this is very intriguing!
I'm officially inaconda now- after 10 months, 2 weeks, no grind
! I've tried it as a long range trader, in time for the tail end of the station community goal, and just tested it as a miner with 8 collection limpets and 2 small mining lasers (they didn't have medium where i was). The collectors were scooping up fragments faster than I was making them in some cases, and I still had over 300 tons of cargo space... what a beast!I was going to catch up everything from the last week tomorrow, after the newsletter, but since I'm here I might as well do it now.
First up is last week's peek of the week, inside an Asp Scout, with a Viper Mk 4 and a SRV down below:
The second thing is the combat livestream. This wasn't quite as overwhelmingly awesome as the previous streams, since those built on the previous sneaky peaks while this one took a step back. However, it does show a cobra flying across a planet, a SRV going to a (placed) crash site guarded by skimmers, and a bit of Q and A. The best stuff can be found around 24-34 minutes in.
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I imagine that as people get closer to the centre, the chances of encountering other players will be higher. Also, the systems themselves are rather compressed IIRC. It would be pretty cool (if a bit annoying) to find people's names all over the planets you go to, then trying to track them down.
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That would be exciting! This game could make a great chillout game, with very appealing and varied visuals. I wasn't as rabidly excited as many people were when it was announced (partly because I was busy ambassadoring in the Elite Dangerous booth at E3
). If it were in any way realistic, most of the planets would be very bland and empty (hello elite dangerous season 1 ), but the NMS universe is more fantastical, which I like. No matter how it has turned out, I want to support Hello Games. -
I'm with you on this, but I'm having a hard time putting my finger on why. I've been looking at the screenshots for a while and nothing much sticks out as obviously wrong. It seems that the backgrounds have some shading to them and the characters look flatter, but I don't remember if that was the case for the original game or not. Is it possible that the lack of visible pixels makes the flat colors look weirder?
I always got the impression that LucasArts made the most of every pixel in their adventure games; the same just isn't true for the update (which does look good, but not world changing good like the original for its time). I'm excited to see how they treat it, especially if they can get the original audio; it will be nice just to have a way to play it!
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Oooh, another sneak peek from the desk of David Braben, this time combinded ship and SRV attack of an enemy base:
"Here is this week’s quick-and-dirty unedited video capture from the Planetary Landings update for Horizons (using the same dev machines as before) as we begin a raid on a surface base, using two SRVs and a ship. Still quite a few elements need work which I won’t list here, but you can see there's been good progress since last week."
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looking at this guy, I think we would have to be very unlucky to get jammed in a chasm that we couldn't thrust out of
Maybe the ship could winch yo out of a very tight spot
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FIRST HORIZONS GAMEPLAY VIDEO: "INSIDE THE SRV" LIVESTREAM
Yesterday there was another livestream, this time based on the SRV (buggy). It focuses on the design and mechanics of the SRV rather than gameplay, but they spend the time hooning around canyons, jumping over craters, and having a good look round the SRV as well as a Cobra from ground level. Some of the highlights for me were when they sent the ship off into orbit while they do their thing, and calling it back. I thought the whole video was fascinating (once it gets going at around the 10 minute mark); however, you could get a lot just from about 10:30-15:00, and 1:03:00-1:05:10.
NOW THE BAD NEWS (FOR MAC USERS)
Frontier have said that they are unable to bring Horizons to Mac at this time, because the OS is incompatible with the compute shaders they are using. They say that they are keen to release it if the situation changes. Anyone who preordered and wants a refund can get one by sending a support ticket.
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DETAILS, PICS AND VIDEO OF SRV IN ACTION
The main focus of this week's newsletter is the SRV
"We’ve approached adding the SRV in the same way that we did when originally adding the flight controls into the game. They key here is to have the driving as a fun experience in itself as well as with the gameplay elements layered on top of it. As with the ships we have a robust physics system at the core and it’s with the controls we turn that into a fun experience.The SRV has some cool advantages over normal ground vehicles you may be used to, the most obvious of which are the thrusters. These provide two key features, the first is the ability to boost off the surface allowing for powered jumps to get out of craters or to cross chasms. While in the air you can you can manually adjust the thrusters in the same way as in a ship with Flight Assist turned off. This allows for some amazing acrobatics as well as allowing you to reach locations that would be difficult to reach with normal driving. It’s also useful if you get yourself stuck!The Scarab's turret in action - more on SRV weaponry soonAs with the rest of the game the surface of the worlds you can land on is recreated on a 1:1 scale, not only spatially but with gravity as well. Gravity has a big effect on the handling of the SRV and here the thrusters provide their second major function. When testing the SRV in different environments there are edge cases with very low gravity and extremely high gravity where the SRV becomes impossible to handle. The thrusters help compensate for these extremes in handling, but only to a limited degree – it feels very different driving on a tiny moon compared to a massive terrestrial planet.As already mentioned making the driving fun in itself is an important goal for us. While the thrusters do add to a large extent (there’s something quite magical with boosting out of a crater and into the sunrise!) the actual contact with the vehicle and the surface provides a lot of feedback. Similar to sand buggies, if you try to push the SRV’s performance then you need to work harder to keep it under control. Feedback is very important here – the ships audio and VFX, along with the handling, create the response you need to let you know what’s going on.The SRV is equipped with a turret optimised for engaging local opponents like skimmers (see last week’s dev update for more information on these) and other SRV’s (if hostile players are in the area). In theory you could take on a ship, but ship mounted weapons are much more powerful than the SRV’s so it’s best not to! You should also beware some of large defensive turrets – these are equipped to tackle low flying ships, but pose a threat to SRVs as well.Combat is just one feature of an SRV. The Scarab is capable of carrying two cargo canisters and also has a new device for finding things on the surface – more on that in a couple of weeks’ time!"
There was also another short video of the SRV in action, straight from the desk of David Braben
This looks ridiculously fun, although I hope the sound is brought up to the rest of the game's standards! -
I like to buy full price, direct from the developers if possible, when the game grabs me. Given that I've enjoyed the podcast for several years now, this is one of the few projects where I would upgrade to a collector's edition, if any were made available.
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People used to spend hours at res or combat zones, but it doesn't look like they can just tank anymore, due to the new effectiveness of npc wings. So I suggest you go for it in whatever you fancy and see what you can cope with. Don't take anything in your hold (not even limpets), or pirates will attack on sight; eith an empty hold, you can pick and choose targets.
Player factions are minor factions in the same way that every star system has minor factions. If they take over enough systems they could possibly become Powers. However they would still be controlled in game by Frontier, in consultation with the players.
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The really high payouts are unlocked at high trade ranks, but as a broker I get the occasional 500 k mission
. I'm sticking around HIP 21991 right now, as it has haz res for combat, and great mining. It has the occasional long range mission, which then seems to lead to mining missions; I have plenty of platinum and osmium to hawk, and painite is pretty easy to come by too LIVESTREAM "HOW TO MAKE A REAL WORLD"
There was a youtube live stream on how they build their airless worlds, and it is incredibly impressive from a science standpoint at least, regardless of whether there is anything to do down there
!They show lots of videos of rocky planets, and some early work (3 months old) of icy worlds. The videos are large, and stutter the first time round (as they played them), but they repeat them to get a much smoother result in each case. The videos were taken from the planet viewer module, so there is no sky.
--- Airless worlds make up 61% of all planets in the galaxy... the 1% is important, because that's still another few billion worlds or so
--- The stellar forge created each planet from scratch, with the contents dependent on where it is in the galaxy, and how old it is.
--- Mountains and canyons are created by tectonic activity
--- Cratering is consier over the lifetime of the planet; if it is phase locked, then the side facing space is far more vulnerable to cratering
--- planetary sizes range from afew hundred km (potato-like) to 22,000 km (spherical, and nearly 10 times the size of Earth) at a 1:1 scale
--- The stellar forge data has been available for each planet all along, but they have not had the chance to implement it fully
--- If you flattened out all of the visitable planets in Horizons, they would cover an area of 2,238,016,000,000,000,000 square km!
EDIT TImestamps from youtuber Anomino anomino:
Ice planet (cracked surface)
Rocky planetSmall planetoidBig rounded planet (moon-like surface)Potato planetoid (Braben's)Marks-like planet surfaceThe rest is basically a QA about technical non-gameplay stuff, starts at. -
Heh, I tried jumping straight to the new stuff with my old character, and got soundly thrashed in th first fight! I can't remember what any of the abilities do, who has appropriate gear, or how the chargy uppy power works
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SO, there were some good things that came out of this conference, as well as some worrying things. However, I definitely got a sense of progress, albeit with a long way to go. I didn't like how Chris Roberts kept talking about the game they want to make, as opposed to the game they are making; he deliberately didn't give any release dates because he thought people got mad at him for those (nope, missing dates is the thing that disappoints!)
I liked the map demo, and thought that the face technology is fantastic... they even have pupils that dilate or contract in response to light! However, this detail didn't really jump oiut at me in anyo f the demos or the speech.Maybe the results are too complex to render now in game, but the reference material will be used later. However, this is typical of the approach to making the game so far, worrying about the highest level of detail when all of that work (expensive in people hours, money, and computer resources) will likely be unnoticed for the vast majority of the time.
I was pleasantly surprised with the cast list... there are a lot of names with huge geek cred, but maybe not so much work these days. The performances are motion captured, meaning that voice actors might not be able to pull it off, but I'm sure there's a vast sea of more cost-effective talent that would have done just a s good a job. The speech really did nothing for me, apart from making me wonder how soon afterwards the Admiral fired his speech writer; however, I did rather like some of the characters shown in the intro to Squadron 42.
By the way, the set up for the story mode does bear a remarkable resemblance to Wing Commander. I know this is the reason why I backed the game in the first place, but it seems a little on the nose!
The friend referral programme is utterly repugnant to me. I wouldn't convince anyone to pledge for this game in its current state, let alone anyone I knew or cared about.
The Arena Commander Alpha 2.0 demo was fairly encouraging, seeing all the different play styles merged together in one large play area. There was no mention of Star Marine, and maybe it is just folded into the "baby PU"; this could be just as well. I first watched a video with only in game sounds, which was confusing as anything, but there was a later video on on the Star Citizen youtube channel that had Chris' commentary.
Apprently, Erin Roberts has taken over global management of the project, which is encouraging news. While Chris has the vision, Erin is more likely to follow through.
It is clear that they have spent a LOT of money. However, that doesn't necessarily put them in dire straits, especially if they have other revenues than the crowdfunding campaign.
One downside is that the ships still move like children's toys, with no sense of inertia. It is great that people can move inside the ships while they are flying, it's just a shame the ships fly like they are on strings!
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This is SERIOUSLY impressive! A single shot (albeit unsteady) zoom out from a rover and crash site to a planetoid in space (only a few hundred km across):
The newsletter is cool too, giving details of the skimmers, which are combatants on the scale of the rovers:
"In this week's Dev Update Michael Brookes shed new light on the skimmers you'll meet on the planet surfaces in Elite Dangerous: Horizons.Skimmers are remote controlled security and defence drones primarily designed to protect positions and restrict movement. They are designed to be hard to engage with ships, so the SRV, with its rapid fire guns is the best way to tackle them. Be warned that while most rely on their armour, some more advanced skimmers may have shields.They are remotely controlled and will usually have a command and control centre or signal relay nearby – these define the area in which the skimmers linked to that system can operate. They are specifically designed for surface operations on planets and are very manoeuvrable, especially when close to the ground.Initial concept art for the 'sentry' skimmer - seen in Newsletter 89Several manufacturers have competed in the skimmer market over recent centuries, with Core Dynamics being the most successful, largely due to support from its large contracts with the Federal Military, but does sell its range throughout human space, including through a wholly owned subsidiary Imperial Dynamics, selling rebranded versions of the same units. There are many models of skimmer available, each suited for a different role. Here are the most successful:•Core Dynamics S4 ‘sentry’ skimmer – this is the most widely used skimmer in the vast semi-automated security and protection industry throughout the galaxy, and a mainstay product for Core Dynamics. Comes as standard with a belly-mounted standard recoil-ready small weapon mount, which will take both kinetic and thermal weapons. Designed with an automated alert system so a single pilot can operate multiple drones.•Core Dynamics S5LM ‘guardian’ skimmer – Based on their S4 skimmers but with reduced weight, and with an enhanced missile launcher weapon mount. A more expensive solution, but often used to protect higher value installations. It sacrifices armour to carry the weight of missiles and so is more vulnerable.•Achilles Corp Stinger-2 attack skimmer – Smaller and quicker than Core Dynamics offerings in this sector, and also cheaper to buy. It has no weapon mount, but carries explosives, and can be directed by its pilot to self destruct, taking out its target. Some installations use these skimmers to form a last line of defence for sensitive bases and outposts. In essence they are a flying bomb. The Achilles Corporation recently cut down its range of skimmers just to the Stinger-2, but it is rumoured they will be launching new skimmers in the next few years.•Core Dynamics S9 ‘goliath’ skimmer – A very effective solution to your security needs. Using four surface thrusters this armoured and well-armed skimmer is the most effective on the market. Its greater cost means it is generally only used by military clients, and use is not permitted in some jurisdictions given their offensive abilities.While most skimmers are usually found near bases, given the recent rise in scavenging of shipwrecks, some transport vessels with higher value cargoes now carry automated distress response packages which include skimmers, and they are deployed automatically in the event of a crash to secure the site and help protect any survivors.We'll have more details on the skimmers, and more images of them in action for you soon. Pre-order now, and be ready to take on these new assailants as soon as Elite Dangerous: Horizons launches later this year." -
I only have one class 2 mining laser, and that pumps out fragments way faster than the collectors can scoop them up. Maybe a single class 1 mining laser would be better matched.
If you're going out of civilisation to collect, then your asp looks fine. If you want to hang around systems with pristine metallic rings and full size stations to sell stuff at, I found some at
HIP 21991 and HIP 19934. 21991 had a high tech economy, while HIP 19934 1 has a lo intensity res in its metallic ring.
Everything is much more dangerous right now, although it might settle down, like it did after 1.2. My clipper has large turreted burst lasers, and class A thrusters to get out of trouble, but those might not be needed where you're going.
Re number of limpets, I went out with 50, and that was slightly too many for my 128 t hold.
Here's a bit of motivation
RIngs are prettier too
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Yep, you still need mining lasers, but using prospectors increases the yield
. You can flit around yourself, scooping up fragments, but collector drones will do it for you.I use a 10 bin refinery, 2 collector drones and 1 prospector drone at the moment. Waiting for the collectors to do their thing can be tense, especially if you have other ships sidling up! A python coold probably fit better drone controllers, but couldn't run away as quickly.
By the way, if you target something when releasing a collector, it will get just that then expire; releasing a collector with no targets makes it hang around collecting everything it can for a few minutes.
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I've been mining for a couple of hours. Prospectors now give you loads of fragments per rock (30-50), and if you have empty bins in the refinery, it will automatically assign materials to them, making things a lot more automated.
I also tried a hazardous extraction site, and that was pretty hair raising! I was chased by big beefy ships, but luckily my clipper could run away.
Graphics are now considerably more shiny than they were, and the stutter I noticed in 1.3 seems to be gone
Elite: Dangerous (Kickstarter)
in Video Gaming
Posted
BETA DATES ANNOUNCED!
This week's live stream was a q&a with David Braben. It kicked off with the all important beta dates: 1.5 for the week of November 9 (I.e. Next week), and 2.0 on November 24.
There were some very nice video clips, repeated in the last 5 minutes, showing planetary star ports, with ships taking off, and also the SRV deploying from inside a Cobra.
Random bombshell near the end of the steam... There are other alien races besides thargoids!