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Adult Sword Owner
Jun 19, 2011

u deserve diploma for sublime comedy expertise

Shine posted:

F2 is correct. When people say "C[X]" they are usually referring to "Class."

Oh shiiit

I thought they meant...rank I guess? My laser is actually C and 3, so I thought everyone was talking about C3.

hmm

e: Going around with this I still prefer it to just lasers. Power is a slight issue, I think I need to find a better grid.

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Chrysophylax
Dec 28, 2006
._.

Adult Sword Owner posted:


I thought they meant...rank I guess? My laser is actually C and 3, so I thought everyone was talking about C3.


:frontear: likes to make it confusing like that. Guns come in only one rating for fixed, one for gimballed and one for turreted.

Although I hear there used to be variants that they removed.

Lima
Jun 17, 2012

Chrysophylax posted:

:frontear: likes to make it confusing like that. Guns come in only one rating for fixed, one for gimballed and one for turreted.

Although I hear there used to be variants that they removed.

Yep there used to be variants in the beta. The coming crafting system seems to be a good opportunity to reintroduce them.

Ernie Muppari
Aug 4, 2012

Keep this up G'Bert, and soon you won't have a pigeon to protect!
im p sure they're just rare

Flea Bargain
Dec 9, 2008

'Twas brillig


So this game looks pretty interesting. Should I buy in now, or wait for the expansion?

Professor Bling
Nov 12, 2008

by LITERALLY AN ADMIN
The beta had variants, but they disappeared when the game went live (without :frontear: realizing it).

You can actually find some of them in CQC right now, like the overcharged unlocks, so that makes me think they'll be coming back to the main game soon, maybe even in 1.5/Horizons.

Lima
Jun 17, 2012

Someone did some comparative testing between the Ferdie and the FAS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j7YcXng6lg

wildfire1 posted:

So this game looks pretty interesting. Should I buy in now, or wait for the expansion?

The game is in a pretty good state right now and there's a lot you can do especially if you want to hang out with us (of course you do!).

Lima fucked around with this message at 08:08 on Oct 15, 2015

H13
Nov 30, 2005

Fun Shoe
Weird. The launcher says the servers are okay, but when I launch it says that I can't connect to a server?

Lima
Jun 17, 2012

H13 posted:

Weird. The launcher says the servers are okay, but when I launch it says that I can't connect to a server?

The servers are down for the powerplay tick. They'll be up in ~15-20 mins

Zaardvark
Apr 28, 2015

Ceci n'est pas un GIF.

wildfire1 posted:

So this game looks pretty interesting. Should I buy in now, or wait for the expansion?

Depends. The Horizons expansion, coming 'Holiday 2015' (whenever that is, no firm dates), will include the base game. But you won't be able to play anything until it releases.

If you buy the base game now, Horizons will be a separate purchase, and it costs roughly the same amount as the base game (so purchasing them separately means you'll pay double). But you'll have the base game to play immediately.

In strict amount of game / cost terms, you're best served waiting for Horizons to be released, and getting everything for the cost of the base game. If you know for certain you're not interested in Planetary Landings and some vague other expansion content, you can purchase the base game now and be playing immediately. But if you can wait a couple of months, then you can get everything and just play the bits you want to.

Yeah, not very clear, I blame :frontear:

Insert name here
Nov 10, 2009

Oh.
Oh Dear.
:ohdear:
How is the Assault Ship anyway? A bunch of people earlier in the thread were talking about how it's pretty decent, and I was wondering what it's good for. I might go and pick one up.

no_recall
Aug 17, 2015

Lipstick Apathy

radintorov posted:

It's relaxing and it pays well, now.
Mining is actually worth doing.

I'm actually in a python with 2x c2 mining lasers, seems to be too much for 3 limpet drones.

no_recall
Aug 17, 2015

Lipstick Apathy

Insert name here posted:

How is the Assault Ship anyway? A bunch of people earlier in the thread were talking about how it's pretty decent, and I was wondering what it's good for. I might go and pick one up.

Its the next gen vulture, armor tank, shields regenerate pretty quick.

Arach
Oct 3, 2003

Dive! Dive! Di... are you diving yet?
Grimey Drawer
Naming ships will happen some day. I hope rather than just being some extra text there is some mechanics to go along with it, like a persistent ship reputation to boost trade, rep, bounties, merits, carto data payouts the larger the ship rep. Only to have it reset to zero upon ship death or losing 50% of accrued rep when swapping ships. Should develop at much faster rates for cheaper ships.

This was probably suggested in the ddf back in '12. But It'd be cooooool :coal:

Zaardvark
Apr 28, 2015

Ceci n'est pas un GIF.

no_recall posted:

I'm actually in a python with 2x c2 mining lasers, seems to be too much for 3 limpet drones.

Even six limpet drones wouldn't be overkill for double Class II mining lasers. Your Python should have no problems accomodating more limpets.


Insert name here posted:

How is the Assault Ship anyway? A bunch of people earlier in the thread were talking about how it's pretty decent, and I was wondering what it's good for. I might go and pick one up.

It's amazingly nimble for such a massive ship, its turning is comparable to (and possibly a bit better than) a Vulture. It has terribly lovely shields, however, which is only partially mitigated by quite thick armour. The FAS hardpoints take some getting used to, as well, as, from a pilot's perspective, they're located at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock. As a fighter, it fits between a Vulture and a Python.

Pilchenstein
May 17, 2012

So your plan is for half of us to die?

Hot Rope Guy

Insert name here posted:

How is the Assault Ship anyway? A bunch of people earlier in the thread were talking about how it's pretty decent, and I was wondering what it's good for. I might go and pick one up.
Didn't they add two dropship variants this patch? What's the other one like? Or am I getting confused?

Insert name here
Nov 10, 2009

Oh.
Oh Dear.
:ohdear:

Zaardvark posted:

It's amazingly nimble for such a massive ship, its turning is comparable to (and possibly a bit better than) a Vulture. It has terribly lovely shields, however, which is only partially mitigated by quite thick armour. The FAS hardpoints take some getting used to, as well, as, from a pilot's perspective, they're located at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock. As a fighter, it fits between a Vulture and a Python.
Yeah I'm pretty :geno: on the whole "weak shields but heavy armour" thing. How does armour work anyway? Coriolis has an armour number but I have no clue how that interacts with damage taken.

Libluini
May 18, 2012

I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...
Grimey Drawer

Insert name here posted:

Yeah I'm pretty :geno: on the whole "weak shields but heavy armour" thing. How does armour work anyway? Coriolis has an armour number but I have no clue how that interacts with damage taken.

That's quite easy. First off, more armor means damage takes longer to chew through your ship. Second, normal armor takes more damage from kinetic hits than from laser and heat weapons. Some of the upgrade options for armor play around with this, like mirror armor reducing damage by lasers.

Then there is penetration. Now that Frontier actually assigned a value to each ship, certain weapons like rail guns still can shoot through your ship to hit modules on your back, but other weapons are thankfully resigned to shoot whatever they actually can aim at. Also larger ships are harder to penetrate, so the Assault Ship should be quite resistant to module damage in a fight.

The one drawback of armor is repair costs. Shields recharge automatically, armor has to be repaired. Still, if you're fighting mainly lasers, armor can be superior to shields. Until you see the repair bill, that is. :v:

Shine
Feb 26, 2007

No Muscles For The Majority

no_recall posted:

I'm actually in a python with 2x c2 mining lasers, seems to be too much for 3 limpet drones.

I'm using three C2 mining lasers and 7 limpets. It depletes asteroids in seconds and syncs up very well with that many collectors.

Shine posted:

Mining in a nutshell.



(My third laser ran out of energy by the time I got the debug camera positioned)

Drake_263
Mar 31, 2010
Armour is simply a measure of the ship's hull hitpoints, one point of armour equaling one point of damage from a given weapon. (Coriolis indicates a weapon's damage as both plain damage vs. armour, and megajoules (MJ) versus shields). Bulkhead upgrades add a percentage to your armour value (+40% for reinforced bulkheads, +95% for milspec composite), the two more expensive specialized bulkhead types theoretically add a damage resistance/weakness to thermal/kinetic weapons (no specific numbers provided) and hull reinforcement packages are a flat +x armour (on top of the bulkhead bonus, it doesn't get multiplied).

Insert name here
Nov 10, 2009

Oh.
Oh Dear.
:ohdear:

Drake_263 posted:

Armour is simply a measure of the ship's hull hitpoints, one point of armour equaling one point of damage from a given weapon. (Coriolis indicates a weapon's damage as both plain damage vs. armour, and megajoules (MJ) versus shields). Bulkhead upgrades add a percentage to your armour value (+40% for reinforced bulkheads, +95% for milspec composite), the two more expensive specialized bulkhead types theoretically add a damage resistance/weakness to thermal/kinetic weapons (no specific numbers provided) and hull reinforcement packages are a flat +x armour (on top of the bulkhead bonus, it doesn't get multiplied).
Alright cool, for some reason it never occurred to me that armour = HP, even though it seems obvious in retrospect.

So I finally got my promotion to Ensign. Gunship with gimmick all multicannon loadout here I come! Also on the list for silly gimmick loadouts: 6x dumb-fire launchers and a large burst laser.

radintorov
Feb 18, 2011

no_recall posted:

I'm actually in a python with 2x c2 mining lasers, seems to be too much for 3 limpet drones.
In my iClipper I'm going with at least 4 limpet drones, and even then I have to wait (although not too much).
Since you are in a Python, you'll want to consider having 7 like Shine does. :)

Libluini
May 18, 2012

I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...
Grimey Drawer
Just shooting around in CQC is fun. A nice little diversion from my mad adventures at the edge of the galaxy. But some guys really take this too seriously. After finishing my last match, I read some of the in-game communication afterwards. Apparently someone had told me "Don't Solo" for some reason during the match.

Welp, sorry buddy but when I'm fighting I'm too busy to read your messages. Also my headset is burried under some stuff I'm too lazy to put away. Sorry! (:v:)

Sard
May 11, 2012

Certified Poster of Culture.
Urgh dammit I guess I'm going to do it and preorder Horizons when I get home today. This is a good idea, right? I'm wary of any game going on about planetary landings after a past era of bad games touting that feature but this promise of combat between air and ground sounds fun. That is to say, queuing up Vietnam references while skimming over the surface in a turreted Federal Dropship sounds fun.

Actually, poo poo, has Frontier hinted at anything like "passenger" ships having a role regarding the battles for surface installations?

Lima
Jun 17, 2012

Sard posted:

Urgh dammit I guess I'm going to do it and preorder Horizons when I get home today. This is a good idea, right? I'm wary of any game going on about planetary landings after a past era of bad games touting that feature but this promise of combat between air and ground sounds fun. That is to say, queuing up Vietnam references while skimming over the surface in a turreted Federal Dropship sounds fun.

Actually, poo poo, has Frontier hinted at anything like "passenger" ships having a role regarding the battles for surface installations?

They have mentioned that they want to add ship boarding and some sort of first person gameplay but that's far off.

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

Goddammit I shouldnt have economical route clicked.

tooterfish
Jul 13, 2013

It won't be in Horizons though, might be in the expansion after.

Sard
May 11, 2012

Certified Poster of Culture.
Oh, I don't mean players passengers. I'm assuming that there will be AI ground units or something, since the Horizons page mentions fighting from the sky or the surface, so my wild optimism here is that there will be stuff like carrying tanks and infantry for this.

tooterfish
Jul 13, 2013

Players get MAKO like surface vehicles called SRVs. You'll use them to fight skimmers.

They mentioned combined arms, AA batteries etc. So you can fly air support in your ship while your friend attacks the surface in an SRV.

LCL-Dead
Apr 22, 2014

Grimey Drawer

AndroidHub posted:

For me season 2/horizons/1.5 isn't really about the planetary landing, it's about basically everything else, cool ships, more modules, more/better missions, multicrew, character customization, etc. planetary landing is just icing on the cake.

But the mile wide inch deep criticism is well deserved by the game, and it will probably always be there for some people.

I don't think that's promised for 1.5/Horizons specifically, but just in the next "season" of expansions. I wish they'd give out more concrete ideas on when we should be expecting these features to roll out because they're pretty high on the list of "poo poo we want" where the player base is concerned.


Beer4TheBeerGod posted:

So any suggestions on smuggling and not getting caught?

What everyone else said. I used to power down as low as possible coming into large stations but don't anymore. Running the Sothis missions last night I would just approach the station and at about 4km out I'd go into silent running and poo poo a hockey puck out the rear end of my ship to bring my head down below 10% for just long enough to get in the gates. I'd do the same on the way out since I was still carrying illicit cargo and it's not unheard of for system security to hit you with a scan as you leave.

The speed thing is true as well, though you risk ramming another ship and potentially losing your own if you bounce off of enough surfaces. Even if a scan starts, if you can get through the mail slot, it won't finish. That's why you'd want to get through fast. With the silent running and hockey pick (Heat sync) method I don't really have to boost or hurry myself in. (knock on wood)

Xae
Jan 19, 2005

LCL-Dead posted:

I don't think that's promised for 1.5/Horizons specifically, but just in the next "season" of expansions. I wish they'd give out more concrete ideas on when we should be expecting these features to roll out because they're pretty high on the list of "poo poo we want" where the player base is concerned.


What everyone else said. I used to power down as low as possible coming into large stations but don't anymore. Running the Sothis missions last night I would just approach the station and at about 4km out I'd go into silent running and poo poo a hockey puck out the rear end of my ship to bring my head down below 10% for just long enough to get in the gates. I'd do the same on the way out since I was still carrying illicit cargo and it's not unheard of for system security to hit you with a scan as you leave.

The speed thing is true as well, though you risk ramming another ship and potentially losing your own if you bounce off of enough surfaces. Even if a scan starts, if you can get through the mail slot, it won't finish. That's why you'd want to get through fast. With the silent running and hockey pick (Heat sync) method I don't really have to boost or hurry myself in. (knock on wood)

I just ultra-cheesed the mission generator at Sothis and only picked up missions that ended at outposts.

Toplowtech
Aug 31, 2004

Xae posted:

I just ultra-cheesed the mission generator at Sothis and only picked up missions that ended at outposts.
You align with the station in cruise to reduce the time to a larger station and use chaffs to slow the cargo scans if needed.

tooterfish
Jul 13, 2013

I think with the most recent changes you can get scanned at outposts now anyway.

Rectus
Apr 27, 2008

tooterfish posted:

I think with the most recent changes you can get scanned at outposts now anyway.

That's probably because it spawn in cops to hunt you when you take smuggling missions, and they keep following you to the outpost.

Mike the TV
Jan 14, 2008

Ninety-nine ninety-nine ninety-nine

Pillbug
I smuggled to an outpost and an f61 condor was guarding it. Luckily I was in a DBE which has almost no heat signature so he didn't scan me.

Adult Sword Owner
Jun 19, 2011

u deserve diploma for sublime comedy expertise
Is cop spawning dependent on your trading rank? I had never had cops chasing or interdicting me until yesterday.

Also still never been scanned at an open air outpost, I see greens in the distance but they never get close enough to try.

Dante80
Mar 23, 2015

devup is in.

quote:

Hi everyone,

As I’m sure you can imagine work on the Elite Dangerous: Horizons Planetary Landings release is continuing at pace and this week – one of the major new features is the ability to drive the SRV on the surface. 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 vehicles you get to drive in game, the most obvious of which are the thrusters. These provide two key features, the first is the ability to boost of 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!

As 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 SRV’s as well.

Combat is just one feature of the SRV, it’s capable of carrying a small number of cargo canisters and also has a new device for finding things on the surface – more on that in a couple of weeks time!

Next week the second batch of player group backed minor factions should go live. Thanks to some brilliant feedback from our players, we’ve made progress with fixing some odd behaviour with influence levels – we hope to address this next week.

Exploration data should be operating smoothly now after some issues since the 1.4 release. If you do encounter a further issue then make sure to raise a bug and we’ll investigate.

We are currently working on a client update for PC/Mac and Xbox One, all being well these will be released next week. As well as various fixes we’re adjusting the NPC interdiction so it isn’t quite as punishing as it is at the moment.

Thanks,

Michael

https://community.elitedangerous.com/node/318

big nipples big life
May 12, 2014

That zoom out video is what got me to stop being lazy and reset my X52 mappings in game, I can't wait to drive that buggy.

Dante80
Mar 23, 2015

There was also an "answers from the devs" today. Some cool answers inside.

quote:

Hey guys,

It’s been a couple of weeks since our last “Answers from the devs” thread. So we’ve compiled a new list, sent them over to the team and got the following answers for you. :)

As always if you have any burning questions post them below and we’ll compile a new thread soon. :)

==

How many of the 30 ships are in the game currently? Any news on what the final ones to be announced are?

Here’s a list of the ships we’ve announced so far, and as an extra treat we’ve added the names of the five ships coming as part of Elite Dangerous 1.5. Remember, these are just the ship names, and we’ll be revealing loads of exciting details about them in the coming weeks.

1 Sidewinder
2 Eagle
3 Hauler
4 Adder
5 Imperial Eagle
6 Viper
7 Cobra MK III
8 Diamondback Scout
9 Lakon Type 6
10 Diamondback Explorer
11 Imperial Courier
12 Vulture
13 Asp Explorer
14 Federal Dropship
15 Lakon Type 7
16 Federal Assault Ship
17 Imperial Clipper
18 Federal Gunship
19 Orca
20 Fer-De-Lance
21 Python
22 Lakon Type 9
23 Anaconda
24 F63 Condor (CQC only)

And to come:

25 Imperial Short Range Fighter (CQC only)
26 Lakon Keelback
27 Viper MK IV
28 Asp Scout
29 Federal Corvette
30 Imperial Cutter
31 Cobra MK IV (for owners of Season 1 and Season 2)


==

What is the minimum spec for Horizons?

We don’t have a final minimum spec just yet because we’re still working on the optimization. We’re hopeful it won’t be significantly different from the current game. However it will require a PC that supports Direct X11 as Horizons uses compute shaders.

==

What are the technical issues with Oculus, is this a move towards exclusivity for VR platforms?

We now support both Oculus Rift (via the 0.5 SDK) and SteamVR/Vive. Because of some changes to the Oculus SDK, we are working closely with Oculus to support a later SDK, but we cannot use 0.7.

==

If I reset my commander data, what happens to my friends list?

Absolutely nothing, your friends list is tied to your account. If you want to reset back to zero and start with a clean slate then more power to you! Good luck Commander.

==

Will there be more decals in the store?

There will be more decals coming to the store and we are looking at new and interesting ways to use them in the future with Elite Dangerous, and I think you’ll be excited when you see what we have planned.

==

When are you going to release paint jobs for the Diamondback Explorer?

Paint jobs for the Diamond Explorer, and many of the other ships in the catalogue, will be coming to the Frontier store soon!

==

Can we get an update on the Mac version of Horizons?

Unfortunately neither Open GL nor Metal on Mac support Compute Shaders and these are vital for Elite Dangerous: Horizons. We have investigated the issue at length and found that all other options currently simply won’t allow us the performance that a game of this size and detail needs. Once Macs are able to support compute shaders, or other technical options are available, we will certainly be keen on supporting that platform.

==

How much cargo will an SRV hold?

The Scarab SRV will be able to hold two units of cargo, however on the planet surface there are other things to do and collect which may not require much storage. More information on that… soon. ;)

==

Do you think that having the ability to have a ship delivered to a station of my choosing would be possible in the future?

This is something on our radar and is something we’re keen to implement in the game as part of a future update, but we have nothing to announce on that at the moment.

==

Are there any plans to improve the navigation system and add functionality to it?

Every aspect of Elite Dangerous will be continually iterated on and improved… The navigation system is no exception.

==

Will landing on planets give you more exploration data?

Landing on planets will eventually net you more exploration data. This isn’t something that will appear at launch in Elite Dangerous: Horizons though but there are new things to discover on the surface and a new way to find them. More on this coming soon!

==

If you are in orbital cruise, can you accidentally crash into the planet by entering too steep?

If you’re flying straight at the ground and you decide not to pull up as you approach the planet surface, you will most certainly crash!

==

What's the plan on making your CQC tournament a cool viewing experience?

We have something very special planned for the CQC tournament that everybody will be able to get involved in. We’re continuing to develop CQC and spectators are certainly something we are keeping in mind. We’ll have the full details soon, but make sure you get practicing your CQC skills right away!

==

Is it going to be a possibility of getting the lifetime pass released again?


It’s not available at the moment, but the lifetime could return to the Frontier Store again at some point in the future. :)

==

Will skimmers be able to be piloted/controlled by players, or just NPC's?

At the launch of Elite Dangerous: Horizons, the Skimmers will be NPC-controlled assailants – challenging and varied opponents to take on as you explore the planet’s surface. We’re looking in to the possibility of making them pilot able as part of a future update but we can’t promise anything at this time.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=191898

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Literally Kermit
Mar 4, 2012
t

So basically Bump & Jump: In Space.

Or Spy Hunter: In Space :buddy:

Requesting motherfuckin' oil slick option on SRV

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