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Dr Wookie

Anyone remotely space geeky should check out this Elite Dangerous alpha video :D!

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Hi guys,

Elite Dangerous  a space combat, exploration, and trading game, that is a sequel to  1984's Elite, possibly the most infuential game that young'uns have never heard of. It has now entered the final alpha phase before going into closed beta on May 30. There are hundreds of Elite Dangerous alpha videos showing off the combat; I made this video to highlight the new features:

 

--- A 400 billion star simulation of our Milky Way galaxy, including 150,000 real star systems and all known exoplanets

 

--- A night sky that varies between star systems, created from the nearby stars in the Galaxy Map. It also includes nearby galaxies: I've spotted the Andromeda Galaxy, Small and Large Magellanic Clouds, and M33. Constellations twist and warp as you go outside the Solar system, but I can recognise Orion :). In supercruise, you are compressing space rather than actually travelling super fast, neatly sidestepping reletavistic nastiness!

 

--- Two types of faster than light travel: hyperspace for going between systems, and a Frame Shift Drive (also called supercruise) for complete freedom of movement within the system; there are points of interest, but you can stop literally anywhere you like!

 

--- A first look at trading

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

EDIT: The latest dev diary puts it much more  succinctly...

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Are you working on Elite Dangerous?

No, just a very enthusiastic backer... it was a game from my child hood that got me into space, and now I hunt black holes for NASA :)

 

Can I play the game for less than $295 yet?

Totally, if you have $150 :P! That gets you single player combat modules now, beta access on May 30, and free expansions for life.  Or you could preorder the second beta phase ($75) or early access at the retail price ($50). 

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I think I can wait until it's more of a game. It does look fantastic, but I'm not ready to hitch my space-wagon to any of these games just yet. Do you play with a flight stick or kb&m?

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I think I can wait until it's more of a game. It does look fantastic, but I'm not ready to hitch my space-wagon to any of these games just yet. Do you play with a flight stick or kb&m?

Yeah, I would never recommend buying either the alpha or beta phase for anyone who isn't already a loyal fan :). At the current rate, retail level preorders could get in around October maybe, as  there is still a LOT to be added and tweaked. It is due for release some time this year though (originally scheduled for March 2014, oops :P!)

 

I am playing with a 360 gamepad, which works pretty well (don't let my terrible docking fool you, I rushed horribly). Other people use joysticks or full HOTAS systems. Keyboard and mouse are viable, but I think the devs mostly either use gamepad or joystick. Pretty much all controls are fully bindable, which is great. I borrowed an oculus rift from work, which gives and incredible experience; it's great to never need to touch the keyboard :P! I've ordered DK2 on the strength of my DK1 experience

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This is exactly how I remember the game looking on my uncle's Commodore 64.  So good!

 

And good luck selling tea!  It was nothing but drugs and slaves for my uncle and cousins.

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Thanks for doing this video/write-up. I watched some combat stuff a while back and didn't find it particularly inspiring. This stuff is way more exciting to me.

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The sound designer's a goddamn genius--the whir of the engines is just about perfect on every level.

Agreed, of the many ways this has exceeded my expectations, the sound really stands out! I am playing on my 40" TV through my home theatre and it is glorious!

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Wow this looks amazing. If you dock poorly can you damage your ship? I hope so.

It might be hard to imagine worse docking than the rush job at the end of the video, but you certainly can damage or even destroy your ship; docking has been a source of great tension for Elite players for nearly 30 years :P! If you destroy your ship in normal mode, you can replace it by paying an insurance copay (currently 5%); if you can't afford it then it's back to the starter ship for you! There is also an iron man mode where one death removes you from the iron man universe for ever; however, you can continue that commander in normal mode if you want to .

 

There are plans for you to be able to take out a loan in order to replace your ship, and you can pay back after a certain time, or do missions to work off the debt.

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What's the ultimate goal of the game? Zipping around in fighter craft with player-aligned factions a-la EVE? Is it going for the do everything, be everything model of Star Citizen?

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Are there multiple ships, and do they have their own interiors? Also I introduced this to someone and they want to know if you can amass a fleet ala the X games.

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These types games get more and more visually impressive and it's really fantastic to see, but I really wish someone would consider doing something compelling with the games design.

 

Maybe there is a niche of people that just love the heck out of this stuff, but I just look at all this fidelity and care put into the atmosphere but there is nothing that compels me to do anything in these games. Clicking item x on a menu and moving it to Point A to B just seems like a waste of a concept and universe.

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What's the ultimate goal of the game? Zipping around in fighter craft with player-aligned factions a-la EVE? Is it going for the do everything, be everything model of Star Citizen?

 

These types games get more and more visually impressive and it's really fantastic to see, but I really wish someone would consider doing something compelling with the games design.

 

Maybe there is a niche of people that just love the heck out of this stuff, but I just look at all this fidelity and care put into the atmosphere but there is nothing that compels me to do anything in these games. Clicking item x on a menu and moving it to Point A to B just seems like a waste of a concept and universe.

 

Are there multiple ships, and do they have their own interiors? Also I introduced this to someone and they want to know if you can amass a fleet ala the X games.

 

Whew! A lot of questions :D!

 

The game is set in a persistent universe that evolves according to the combined actions of players... civilization will expand outwards, planets will go to war over newly discovered riches, over trading can cause glut or famine... really, this video describes it best, it's nothing if not ambitious!

 

The main focus is on having adventures in your space ship; there will be planetary landings and other extravehicular activities in expansions. There will be a wide variety of ships fulfilling different roles: combat, trade barge, luxury passenger liner, bounty hunter, long range explorer etc.; you can own multiple ships, but only fly one at a time, with the others being stored somewhere. They do have different interiors, but most of the ships we've seen come from the same manufacturer with a particular house style. The ships that have been revealed in game so far include a tiny fighter and 2 km long capital ship that are not available to the player, a couple of all rounders (including the one I'm in), a small fighter, a heavy duty freighter, and big ship that was a trader but is now totally badass! Here is a video showing the newest ships

 

There is no levelling as such, instead, you progress by earning cash and reputation. It's player  skill that matters most. The first Elite was the first ever open world game, with the main influence being freedom; it was a space game because it was easiest to draw! I suppose the main overarching goal is to join the ranks of the Elite, by combat, wealth, or influence. There will be many missions, but no story mode. 

 

You can band together with other players, but most people you encounter are expected to be npcs, unless you arrange to meet up first.... space is big.

 

One thing that sounds really promising is the ability to drag out  a DIY space station kit that fills the hold of the largest player ship in the game... you can take it out to some uncharted system, deploy by an asteroid, and turn it into a base for further exploration.

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I remember putting hundreds of hours into First Encounters, widely considered the worst Elite game, and loving every minute of it. I backed this at the retail level back when it was on Kickstarter, so now I just have to sit on my hands and wait.

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Are you working on Elite Dangerous?

 

Yeah, seriously. This is your second superfluous Elite Dangerous thread (third if you count the pragmatic spaceships one).

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Mine was more of a statement than a question.

 

This thread is getting weird now.

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....ya I'm sad to say that looking back at the previous two threads, they read an awful lot like marketing.....

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....ya I'm sad to say that looking back at the previous two threads, they read an awful lot like marketing.....

I'm not at all affiliated with the game, apart from being a backer. Just very enthusiastic :). Full disclosure, I found out today that I have been chosen to go to E3 as a community ambassador; the competition opened a week ago.

 

As I said before, the first Elite got me interested in space when I started playing it almost 30 years ago, and I now hunt black holes for NASA. Here is a press release that NASA made about my work last year

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/bonanza.html#.U3wY8PldV8E

and here is the accompanying blog

http://chandra.harvard.edu/blog/node/442

 

I apologise if I come off too strong :). I didn't know that posting multiple threads on the same topic was against forum etiquette, and would be happy for mods to merge the threads.

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"I'm not affiliated with the game," says the poster, a moment before revealing his affiliation with the game.

SNORT.

 

Yeah you do come across as a bit of a shill. I don't really care because I don't care about Elite (though I do like space!), but I could see it being annoying for someone who might actually be interested.

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"I'm not affiliated with the game," says the poster, a moment before revealing his affiliation with the game.

Yeah, I won a competition that was open to all US based backers of the game. And found out after the posts that people found questionable.

http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=16265

 

If it helps, I also backed Star Citizen (for the narrative Squadron 42 content that looks to be like a modern day Wing Commander), and really like the look of No Man's Sky.

 

My biggest criticism of how Frontier Developments has handled the game is that they continued to offer alpha and beta slots after the kickstarter ended.  They were high tier rewards that cost a substantial amount of money, leading to the high prices today. I think they should have remained as kickstarter exclusives, especially since FD said that they didn't need more money as the Kickstarter was more of a proof that there was sufficient interest and that they have raised substantially more from investors. There was also an ugly drive for alpha backers a few weeks before closing; this is probably a move that was pushed by the investors rather than FD themselves; the community did not like it at all!

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The title of this thread puts me off more than posting about it more than once. Anything "geeky" is probably not aimed at my demographic. 

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