Author Topic: Space Sims  (Read 12105 times)

Spectere

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Space Sims
« on: October 02, 2017, 02:45:15 PM »
Can't believe I didn't create a thread for this already.

Any fellow Commanders out there?
« Last Edit: October 05, 2017, 10:36:44 AM by Spectere »
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vladgd

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Re: Elite: Dangerous
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2017, 01:07:55 PM »
I am a space buff with a ship fetish, but the amount of games that can cater to my taste in that space (pun intended) is EXTREMELY limited. Elite is one of them, but I've yet to take the plunge and make the purchase.

Everything I hear about it is very mixed, and for every aspect of the game I see that would make me buy it on a steam sale, there's another that scares me away. Perhaps black friday?

But how is the multiplayer, could I team up with friends at all?

Spectere

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Re: Elite: Dangerous
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2017, 02:30:37 PM »
A lot's changed since the early days (I think I bought it within a month of release?). What are some of the bad things you've heard? Maybe they've been patched out by now.

I don't really do the multiplayer thing. I'd rather be able to make my deliveries and such without Dicks McCocks constantly interdicting me (mind you, you do have to deal with NPC pirates of varying skill even in solo play). There's two ways of teaming up with friends: you can either group up during open play, or group up and do a private co-op game (no other players, just NPCs). I'm not too privy on exactly how the mechanics work, since I don't know anyone else who plays, but from what I understand the wing leader can set the destinations and they'll automatically show up on the other wing members' display.

A few other random notes: the game works surprisingly well with a keyboard/mouse. In fact, that's how I played it for quite a while before I dug up my X52 HOTAS and started using that.

Either I'm just spectacularly good at the game or people are making much ado about nothing, but landing isn't that tough in E:D. It definitely was in the older games, but there's plenty of assists in place so that all you really have to do is line yourself up with the entrance to a station and then the rotational correction is handled automatically. You still have to dock manually, but you don't have to fight against station rotation while you do so.

If you do decide to start playing, the first ship upgrade you should buy is a fuel scoop. Having gotten used to having one, I don't think I'd be able to play without it.

Bookmark the Elite: Dangerous Database. It's a great way to tell what goods are at which stations, not to mention where you can buy certain ships or ship upgrades. The way the game presents that information is far from what I'd consider good.
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vladgd

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Re: Elite: Dangerous
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2017, 08:41:49 PM »
I may pick it up black friday or whenever I upgrade my videocard...in the market for one of those but im not sure the right time to strike.

Bu the main issues I hear is not much mission variety, very repetitive and grindey. But if I can set up private lobbies and play my "offline" character with a few bros it might be worth checking out, it has been on my radar for over a year or maybe even two now. I think after x rebirth shat the bed I kinda looked away from the space sim genre.

Spectere

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Re: Elite: Dangerous
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2017, 10:56:00 AM »
The mission variety has improved quite a bit since the game first launched, but it's still admittedly pretty limited. That said, there are definitely storyline elements emerging, namely an alien threat (sorta sounds like they're gunning for the X trilogy as far as that goes), so that might be changing soon. There's a lot more political intrigue now, with a faction-based power play system under the hood. It's kind of weird even thinking about what the game was like at launch.

It's definitely way way waaaayyy better than X Rebirth (I heard that there were a few significant patches that made that a much better game, but there's only so much polishing they can do to that turd).

Not sure if you've played the earlier/good X games, but if you haven't, those still hold up well. The core gameplay loop is somewhat like Elite, with the added ability to automate your trade empire somewhat, and it has a decent storyline on top of all that. I personally found X2 to be the most engaging one, but most people swear by X3.
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vladgd

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Re: Elite: Dangerous
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2017, 11:48:08 PM »
I've actually played X3 terran conflict? But damn that game is...people think eve online has a learning cliff? I actually got into eve online for a few months, but X3 was beyond my comprehension. I do fully intend on revisiting it at a later date because it's probably the single coolest space sim I can think of. I NEED CAPITAL SHIPS, im bored of shitty small fighters, I want ships so big that if 100 fighters suicide crashed into said ship, it wouldn't even dent the fucker. Plus having multiple ships and being able to control them remotely, like, im into it.

I have played another small game called darkstar one, and I'd give that a recomendation. It is a bit repetitive, and the story is really cheese and low quality, but the game itself is like a good simple introduction to the genre. Pretty basic, but easy to play and get into.

Spectere

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Re: Elite: Dangerous
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2017, 10:36:33 AM »
Yeah, the problem with the X series, in my experience, is that the game doesn't do a good job explaining its own mechanics, nor do any of the supporting materials. It seems like the only way to defeat the learning curve is to either spend a ton of time figuring everything out yourself or to scour wikis and user forums.

One thing that I'm a bit miffed at X3 for, specifically, is removing the cockpit view. In X2 each ship had a unique cockpit. I'm a sucker for little immersive touches like that. Apparently there's a mod to restore that, but that's something that should be in the base game, dammit.

As far as capital ships go, Frontier have been adding larger and larger ships into E:D over time. I don't think they'll ever get up to the size of the capital ships in the X universe, but it's something at least. I'm more of a small/medium size ship guy myself (my two main ships in E:D are an Adder, a multipurpose ship, and a Dolphin, a transport vessel), so I'm pretty okay with that. I like being able to get out of my own way fairly quickly. :)

I'll have to give DarkStar One a shot. Thanks for the recommendation! It doesn't look like it's super complex, but it seems like it'd be a bit more relaxing than stuff like E:D or X.

Also, renaming the thread to something a bit more general!
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Bobbias

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Re: Space Sims
« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2017, 05:37:32 PM »
Never played Elite, but I did some play X years ago. Really liked them. Never stuck with them for too long, but I enjoyed being able to control trading ships remotely and shit.
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Spectere

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Re: Space Sims
« Reply #8 on: October 12, 2017, 10:18:46 AM »
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/383217-Frontier-Expo-2017-Recap

Looks like there are some fun things in store for Elite: Dangerous. Looks like there's going to be more of a focus on cooperative missions coming in Q1 2018, vlad.
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vladgd

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Re: Space Sims
« Reply #9 on: October 12, 2017, 02:30:42 PM »
You'll help me shopping for a new videocard next month will ya?  :-*

I doubt my...radeon hd 6800 would particularly enjoy that game...

Spectere

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Re: Space Sims
« Reply #10 on: October 12, 2017, 04:05:30 PM »
Why, of course. :D

I've been keeping my ear to the ground with regards to hardware lately (currently planning a build). When you're ready, just let me know how much you're looking to spend and I'll see what I can find.
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vladgd

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Re: Space Sims
« Reply #11 on: October 30, 2017, 12:32:13 AM »
It is on sale now. I know I can "run" the game, but I'm not sure if ye ole HD 6800 will run it at a slog, or playable FPS.

A gamble I'm not sure I should take. New videocard may not be possible due to my income being tied up into something I'll make a post on later, so not sure...

Spectere

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Re: Space Sims
« Reply #12 on: October 30, 2017, 09:22:47 AM »
On one hand, space sims don't typically strain the GPU as much as most games due to them mostly rendering backdrop in a lot of cases, but, that being said, the GPU is used for a lot more than just graphics nowadays. I dunno...kinda tricky. Then again, Elite: Dangerous does tend to target a more niche market than most games do so maybe they took special pains to get the game running on older hardware. After all, if you mostly just play space sims, you're probably either playing X3 or Oolite and neither of those are what I'd call graphical powerhouse titles.

So eeeehhh...I dunno.
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Zephlar

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Re: Space Sims
« Reply #13 on: October 30, 2017, 12:31:41 PM »
Space Empires III for life!

That was probably the last one I really got into lol. I used to play the crap out of that game back in the day.

I actually almost picked up NMS but for obvious reasons I'm glad I waited to see the reviews. The hype got me really interested.

I don't really seek them out more than other genres but I also enjoy them at the same time. Elite Dangerous has "Mixed" reviews...

Spectere

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Re: Space Sims
« Reply #14 on: October 30, 2017, 02:05:18 PM »
I think a lot of people jump into it (being on Steam and all) without really understanding what kind of game the Elite series has always been. A common theme among the Steam reviews that I've read for it are people either wanting more instant gratification (which E:D most certainly doesn't provide) or failing to grasp why they can't get a single ship that acts as a cargo ship, fighter, and passenger liner all in one package. Then there's ones that look to be based on so much ignorance that it's mind boggling (like someone claiming that they spent 50+ hours working toward a Sol permit and being nowhere close to getting one, while I got mine in an evening).

To prove this, look at the review text. Excluding the garbage reviews (i.e. the single line "this sux!!1" and "this roxx!!1" "reviews") you'll see a common trend: some reviews will praise the slow burn and others with criticize it. It's just different strokes for different folks. You either like that style of gameplay or you hate it.

Another thing is that Elite: Dangerous is a constantly shifting game. It feels radically different than it did three years ago, with plenty of quality of life improvements, added missions, and significantly more content and events occurring as time goes on. Early reviews complaining about a lack of mission variety are still being counted towards these issues more than likely being outdated.

In my eyes it's more that people went into it thinking that it's something different than what it is. If you like old school space sims with a long progression curve and occasionally unforgiving mechanics (hello semi-Newtonian physics!), you'll probably love it. If you want something that's a bit more of a shooter or trading sim, probably not so much. As it stands now, I'd probably give it a 7.5/10, with 5/10 being average.
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