Gunstar Green wrote:
I think you have the wrong impression about Elite Dangerous. You don't have to be a space trucker at all. I spent most of my time as a bounty hunter and explorer and pirating is also fun if you want some PVP.
ED also has a separate arena mode if you want to dogfight without risking your expensive ship (this mode might actually be free to play now, I don't remember). You do however have to invent your own fun because there's no real goals other than make money to spend money, so I understand people not being able to get into it. It's a very love it or hate it system.
More Star Citizen-esque multi-crew stuff is supposed to be coming in the future but I wouldn't hold my breath over that one.
Star Citizen itself just isn't quite what you want it to be yet... hopefully soon, but not in its current state. Unless you're really eager to check it out, and I say this as a huge Chris Roberts fanboy, pass on it for now.
The Multi-Crew ships are already out there for people to play around with, including much larger ships. Star Citizen also has a dogfight mode that comes with it called Arena Commander, which allows you to play around with ships and earn rental credits to access and use expensive ships currently. I broke down and invested in it, as I was going to get it for the single player campaign alone, which only costs $15 with the backing of the game. I had $100 to blow, I love every single game by Chris Roberts and obsess over Wing Commander and Privateer. Here is what I have experienced so far for everyone curious.
Right now, there is the Arena Commander as I mentioned earlier, which offers you a free flight mode around a unpopulated space to get used to the flight mechanics and weapons mechanics. There is also a wave mode, a dogfight mode and another co-op mode that I haven't fiddled around with.
There is also a social hub world you can visit that is a slice of what the experience will be like planetside. There are shops where you can purchase armor, weapons and cosmetic clothing, plus a slew of highly detailed alleyways and social venues. It looks stunning and they say that it will be all smoothly transitioned and persistent with the rest of the world. They have shown a demo of the future update which backs this claim up, allowing ships to fly around outside of a planetary outpost and see actual players moving around inside.
The third slice is of what some typical missions would be like. This portion contains a single planet with a few moons, a handful of stations to visit and a series of quest types. The quests I have come across so far are communication relay repair missions, that are apparently available for everyone.
So if a comm relay probe goes down, every player in the system gets a quest notification that it is available to repair. To repair it, you fly your ship up to the relay probe, exit your ship and float your way into the guts of the probe, find the issues and get it back on-line. This is where things get crazy. I spent a lot of time just repairing these probes and a few things happened in my adventures. The first was, as I was navigating the claustrophobic workings of the inside of the probe, NPC pirates warped in. My ship is outside and exposed to whatever people want. I panicked and rushed out to save my ship. I could hear weapons firing and explosions happening and my heart was skipping a beat, thinking that I would be stranded in space. I exited to find my ship intact and another player out there fending off the pirates and protecting my ship.
The second story was I was repairing a probe to come out and see another ship, floating directly next to mine. I was worried it was another player going to blow me up or something, but they just sat there watching me. The moment I got into my ship they opened fire, got the pirate tag on them for attacking an innocent person and I barely escaped, warping out just in time to repair my ship.
Another quest involved investigating space signals, which involved finding a signal, getting out and manually investigating them for data caches and selling them.
Other quests that I came across were the typical bounty hunter quests, attacking an NPC at a location for money. Lastly, there was one involving an insurance claim that had me floating through a destroyed and decompressed space station to locate some information and help a woman in need.
Another thing that can be done is go to a space station that's sole purpose is to test out the FPS elements of the game. Pirates can be tasked to try and invade the station and smuggle out booze, while good standing citizens can be tasked to protect the station for a certain period of time. Here, weapon and ammo caches can be accessed and pure chaos ensues. I have not taken part in that activity yet, as I only just started playing.
As for space combat, the amount of ship customization is absolutely staggering. As of right now, parts can only be purchased through their website. They give you an allotment for signing up and more can be purchased. There is a store in game that is meant to be the place to purchase new ship parts with in-game money however. Essentially, a ship has numerous ports attached to it. In your private hanger, you can see these ports in and access them, changing or attaching new parts that can alter and improve various systems like scanners, shield strength, recharge rates, weapons cooling systems and more.
In the combat department, there are three major types of guns. The first are front mounted and rely entirely on your ships position to fire. The second are Gimbaled weapons that attack based on your mouse position. The third are turrets that are controlled by players in larger ships.
As for the flight physics, they are insanely realistic. Movement isn't simply point-and-go. Your momentum is preserved and any alterations in your course have to compensate for that, which allows for some VERY fancy flight maneuvers like turning around but still moving backward at full speed. The load outs are insanely detailed and very unique to each ship. It is crazy the level of detail they put into how ships behave. Things like thruster placement change how your ship turns and maneuvers.
In the end, the game so far is just a vertical slice of some features, but my major desire was to play it to get a feel for how things behave and to socialize with others and try and make friends and become a part of a larger crew when the actual game comes out. I am enjoying it so far.
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