Elite: Dangerous

Scott Tortorice

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I think we may have a bit longer for 1.3. We haven't had a date for the Mac version yet, I expect that'll be first, then the 1.3 beta which considering the changes will be 2-3 weeks long. The only caveat is that there is a late bank holiday at the end of May in the UK which would be good timing if they can get it all done in a month.
They also said the XBox version will launch with PP, so they need to finish that, too.

I have 'only' visited around 1200 systems out of the 400,000,000,000 in the game so far. I did a short 1,000 LY trip out to the Witch Head Nebula just after Christmas, then rare traded for a while. I think I left human space around the same time as 1.2 landed so have been pottering around now for quite some time...
Wow, 1200! That is great!

The scale of the galaxy is staggering. I saw you logged on yesterday morning and so zoomed out on the galaxy map to see where you were.
I didn't know you could do that! I was notified that you were online too, but I didn't know what I could do with that info. :) Does it place a marker or something? I have to take a look next time we are online together. BTW: just how far apart were we?

I'm only about a quarter of the way to the centre of our galaxy and its taken me weeks to get there, admittedly I play an hour here or there. I don't know if you've seen the Buckyball runs on the forums? The current one is a race to Sagittarius A*. The current record is just under 13 hours of real time in an Anaconda. So it would probably take around 36 hours of solid play to travel from one side of the galaxy to the other.
I saw the thread but never really looked into it. Sounds like a fun idea for a competition.

Time for a Douglas Adam's quote...

"Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly hugely mindbogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space."
I've been noticing Douglas Adams is a popular topic on the ED forums. :D I was thinking that I hadn't read Hitchhikers since my HS days. I think I will dust off my old copy and see how it holds up after all these years.

IIRC there was some mention of an Old World faction after the power play reveal so you could be onto something.
Yeah, that news item seemed suitably vague for a later reveal.

Some of the station names do lend themselves to mockery. Apparently there are problems with rammers at the entrance to George Lucas... Pfft..rammers... :laugh:
Funnily enough George Lucas is orbits Leesti which isn't far from Ridley Scott at Zaonce.
I was reading that thread, and the whole debate over the new penalties for ramming. I only have a small ship and I rarely enter port above 100m/s. I think it is a good solution to a nuisance problem.
 
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I hadn't realised that the Xbox version was going to come with 1.3, that could take a while then. There was also a snippet about how the Xbox version would have some extra content on release that would come to the PC later. I assume this is going to be an Arena mode, or perhaps some more scenarios.

The location of your friends are marked on the Galaxy map with a little icon. All it tells you is the system they're in. I think I'm about 5 to 6,000 LY from Sol, so only about 1/4 of the way to Sag A*. I might get there eventually, sometime, maybe!
 

Scott Tortorice

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I hadn't realised that the Xbox version was going to come with 1.3, that could take a while then. There was also a snippet about how the Xbox version would have some extra content on release that would come to the PC later. I assume this is going to be an Arena mode, or perhaps some more scenarios.
I didn't know that about the Xbone getting extra content. :mad: Hopefully, it is as you said and just something simple like an arena mode.

The location of your friends are marked on the Galaxy map with a little icon. All it tells you is the system they're in.
Ah, got it.

I think I'm about 5 to 6,000 LY from Sol, so only about 1/4 of the way to Sag A*. I might get there eventually, sometime, maybe!
LOL!

I've put Elite back on the shelf for the moment. I was having a good time but I am really itching to try 1.3. I figured I'd might as well take a break until we get the new shiny version. So I jumped back in the game today to clear out my cargo hold and get everything tidied up for the next time I boot it up. Depending on the extent of the changes in 1.3, I think I might just start over with a new career when it arrives. Maybe. :)
 

Scott Tortorice

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And we have a release date for the beta:

This week we're announcing our release date for the beta test version of Powerplay. That date is May 20, 2015, and we can't wait for you to play it.
So, it will probably go live in June?


Also, Steam keys are coming!

Hi everyone,

Some breaking news for you:

We’ll soon be offering Steam keys to anyone who bought Elite: Dangerous from the EliteDangerous.com store who would like a key, and to anyone who buys the game from our store in the future.

We always appreciate it when you buy direct from our store because it means we can put more into supporting and developing Elite: Dangerous, but we know a number of long-time players and backers like to play through Steam and we think it’s fair everyone has that option, not just new players.

Elite: Dangerous runs on Frontier’s servers, so we’ve been working with Valve to give you a way to seamlessly connect your Steam and existing Frontier accounts in a way that’s easy. It’s coming soon. From May 28 you’ll be able to generate a Steam key from your account page, and we’ll have full instructions right here on the forums closer to the time.

The team really has been working hard on this one, and we’re all super happy to finally have an answer for you. Thanks for bearing with us and thanks for playing, as always.

Edit: This applies to Kickstarter backers, too.

Ed
And Mac client:

We're pleased to announce Elite: Dangerous for Mac will leave beta and be available to everyone from May 12, 2015.
 

shunwick

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That's good news about the steam keys. Many people are going to be happy.

Best wishes,
Steve
 

Scott Tortorice

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Michael Brookes has announced that they plan to delay the beta by a week. Guess we'll have to be a bit more patient!!
Ga! :mad: I want to get my hands on this update already. :D Oh well. Better to get it right than to have a bad launch.

So much for "powers will rise in May...." Now they are going to have to change it to "Powers will rise when they are ready."
 
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The voting for the first Elite:Dangerous film competition is now open.

There are some nice videos in there, the Rangers of Florin one is very funny, although I went for the Impressions one in the end.
 

Scott Tortorice

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Yeah, I watched one vid last night but haven't had a chance to check out any of the others. Hopefully I'll get to finish them tonight.
 

Scott Tortorice

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I just noticed that Elite has remained in Steam's top 10 bestsellers list since the game launched (currently at #8). Coming to Steam seems to have been a smart move.
 
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I am looking forward to your thoughts on it!
Sorry Scott, real life intervened and I didn't get a chance to try it. Here's the trailer.

[video=youtube;CWPhk5Gclbo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWPhk5Gclbo[/video]

There was some criticism in the beta discussion so I hope they managed to catch everything. Releasing on a Friday is very brave, unless Frontier cancelled the weekend in Cambridge!
 

Scott Tortorice

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No problem! I was following the betas in the official forums and found it interesting to see how the general consensus went from being negative to positive by Beta 8. I haven't given it a try yet because there is that annoying integrity bug that I suspect will be patched by early next week, so I might as well wait before getting deep into the game. Still, I think FD really delivered the goods with this update.
 

Scott Tortorice

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I see Elite has been in the Steam top sellers list pretty consistently for the last few weeks. In fact, this past week it rose to the #4 slot. Not bad. And I agree! I have been having a lot of fun with it. The game still reminds me of a version .98 or so, but it is a good v.98. :) Once we get planetary landings (hopefully this is the surprise FD has been teasing for later this year) I think ED might well be one of my fav solo space games of all time (if you like MP, ED still has a long way to go). I also think FD's decision to release a Close Quarters Combat module for the XBone and PC (later) was a smart thing to do. We haven't had a good space dogfight game in a while now. The XBone crowd should eat up the fast action, and the PC crowd will probably find it to be a nice diversion. I also suspect the PC crowd will find a way to integrate it into the blossoming politics of the main game. :)

Here is the CQC trailer:

[video=youtube;jG5J5hCAC4c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG5J5hCAC4c[/video]

The other day I did my first Powerplay mission where I delivered 10 tons of intelligence for my side. I had to deliver the stuff to a system I had never been to before. As I usually hang out in the sticks, I was surprised to find a big space station with lots of garish adverts all over the place. Never saw a station like that before!

View attachment 50082

Reminds me of one of those large, well-lit gas stations you find on I-95. :D

Unfortunately, though, I have been unable to play the game for the last night or so because there seems to be some sort of bug with the latest nVidia driver and Google chrome that causes the driver to glitch out under certain (unpredictable AFAICT) conditions. Whenever I play Elite, the game begins to stutter and then crash (while the sound still plays in the background). :mad: Sometimes the driver just crashes when Chrome is open, too. Big thread on the nVidia forum where everyone is waiting for a fix.

EDIT: Some fellas on the Steam forum mentioned that if you run the game in windowed mode this problem can be avoided. So I tried borderless windowed mode and, so far, it worked! Prior to this, I couldn't play the game for more than give minutes without it locking up or even crashing my entire PC! In light of this fix, it seems that the problem is with Elite and not the nVidia drivers.
 

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I also suspect the PC crowd will find a way to integrate it into the blossoming politics of the main game. :)
Do tell!


The other day I did my first Powerplay mission where I delivered 10 tons of intelligence for my side. I had to deliver the stuff to a system I had never been to before. As I usually hang out in the sticks, I was surprised to find a big space station with lots of garish adverts all over the place. Never saw a station like that before!

View attachment 50082

Reminds me of one of those large, well-lit gas stations you find on I-95. :D
Heh, this screenshot reminds me of Spaceballs :D

View attachment 50160
 

Scott Tortorice

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I'm in!

[video=youtube;B4sAe16UTDg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4sAe16UTDg[/video]

Hello, Commanders

This morning we’re announcing Elite Dangerous: Horizons – another full season of major gameplay expansions for Elite Dangerous, beginning later this year with ‘Planetary Landings’.

I’ve been fascinated by the exploration of space since I was young, and especially with the almost unimaginable scales involved. Going down to the surfaces of planets was a key part of my dreams of exploration, and soon we'll realise that dream in Elite Dangerous.

We're beginning with airless, rocky worlds – places where a great deal of new gameplay can take place. These are planet-sized sandbox environments, with all sorts of things to discover hidden on them. You'll find surface starports, crashed ships, mineral deposits, hidden bases and more.

These worlds are gigantic, and - like the open galaxy - you'll be able to go anywhere. You'll be able to fly over the surface in low orbit and choose your spot to land, you'll be able to venture out in your Surface Recon Vehicle and hurtle across the surface at high speed. You'll be able to sneak around or go in all guns blazing. The nimble SRV is tiny compared to your ship, and is virtually invisible on a long range scanner – ship-based weapons will find it very hard to hold a lock on them, but airborne and ground-based players can explore the same worlds together, so watch the skies!

As I’ve said already, I’ve wanted to do surface landings in Elite Dangerous for quite a while now – and we have been planning how best to do it since the Kickstarter. Elite Dangerous: Horizons is the first stage and a huge step. The quality people expect is, as always, very high, and the team have done a great job hitting that benchmark. These worlds will feel real and meaningfully unique.

You’ll read about some of the exciting things you’ll find on surfaces this week in the press and on our Community blog, but Planetary Landings is just the start. Elite Dangerous: Horizons is a full season of content extending into 2016, introducing new features and gameplay in each major expansion. As with Season One, this season of expansions is not just about planet surfaces, but other major features are coming too.

Of course support will continue for Elite Dangerous even outside of Elite Dangerous: Horizons, and we’re keeping the community together. All Elite Dangerous and Elite Dangerous: Horizons players will share the same galaxy together and you’ll retain all your progress whenever you choose to join our new season of expansions.

Elite Dangerous: Horizons will be available to pre-order on our store today, and I’m very happy to announce all existing Elite Dangerous players will receive a £10 loyalty discount off the Horizons retail price. Existing players will also unlock the exclusive Cobra Mk IV ship in Elite Dangerous: Horizons. The Cobra Mk IV will be available in the game only to players who joined us in the first year – forever. It’s our ‘thank you’ for your faith in the game, and you’ll see more of the Cobra Mk IV in Friday’s Peek Of The Week.

Due to popular demand, we’ve also decided to bring back for a limited time the lifetime expansion pass. It should appear in our store later today.

We’re committed to seeing Elite Dangerous grow the right way, and we hope you’ll join us planetside as we embark upon the exploration of our galaxy’s undiscovered worlds together. We have a great team, and I believe Elite Dangerous: Horizons will bring players closer than ever to the dream of touching other worlds.

There will be lots of questions, I know! Elite Dangerous’ Lead Designer Sandro Sammarco and I will be taking your questions in this afternoon’s livestream at 16:00 CEST, so please visit twitch.tv/elitedangerous for that.

The Community team will do their best to answer your questions about the ongoing evolution of Elite Dangerous on our forums, and tune in to our Twitch stream throughout the week for more on Elite Dangerous for Xbox One, Elite Dangerous 1.4: CQC for PC and Mac, and Elite Dangerous: Horizons.

Thank you for playing, and Right On, Commander!

David Braben
 

shunwick

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I'm out. I like the game but do not play it nearly enough to justify the continuing expense.

Best wishes,
Steve
 
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Luckily for me I'm already in. It is an interesting business model, and I hope it works for Frontier. Anyone buying the game right now would have to shell out another load of cash a few months in so it will be interesting to see how sales progress for the next couple of months.

I'm still having fun with the game and have being doing a bit of PowerPlay. It's quite fun running the gauntlet in my power's home system while players from opposing powers try to intercept me. I've been taken out of super cruise a couple of times, but no-one's stopped me getting through yet! I've finally managed to wheedle my way into the good books of a minor faction and gained a permit to a restricted system. As luck would have it this system stocked a rare textile good in a sufficient quantities to make me half a million credits per trip. I've just bought one of the new DiamondBacks, have outfitted it with a class 3 beam laser and a couple of plasma accelerators and am going to give it a spin in a civil war. I'm also on the look out for minor factions that support my Power's ethos and try to run missions to improve their influence within the system.

Having said all this the lure of the black is beginning to tug once more, I'm starting to think about that trip to Sag A*...
 
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