How's he interest in Elite: Dangerous around here? I bought the game a while back, but was not really hooked until Beta 3. Now it definitely has gotten its claws into me though and not even the latency problems in the crowded sectors can change that! What do you think?

Here's also some interesting stuff to look at.

Latest Newsletter

And a couple of videos showing one of the new ships.

I just adore the sound design in this game. I almost feel like I won't be able to play this game without headphones on anymore.

Moved this out of the PC forum and into the Elite: Dangerous board - there are a few topics here, did you look at them?

My space game experience is X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Freespace series, and Freelancer. Which of those itches will it scratch?

I would say that it's closer to something like Freespace, or even the X franchise. It's very much a sandbox game.

I also didn't really look into the Elite: Dangerous board since it's pretty much dead. Oh well.

I'm really looking forward to it. I bought X Rebirth when it came out and immediately regretted it. But as awesome as this looks I'm more excited about No Man's Sky.

I hope I might some day get a similar setup to this:

The investment in a rig and learning the game seems almost insurmountable.

Beta Closing - November 22nd!

Access to the Beta will be closing on November 22nd.

After November 22nd the opportunity to join the Beta will no longer be available for new players, but the Beta backers can continue to test (and play!) the game until the release of the game and beyond. All Beta backers will continue getting builds to test and play up until the final release.

Being a Beta backer extends far beyond getting early access to the game. All Beta (and Alpha) backers have access to the beta forums and we will continue to support Alpha and Beta backers with additional benefits and special offers in the future as a thank you for the early support you have given us.

Today we want to announce one of those benefits.

In Elite: Dangerous there will be areas of the game that will not be immediately accessible. Players may have to build a reputation with the governing faction in order to be given a permit to visit an area under their jurisdiction.

The Solar system, which is the star system of the birth of humanity, is restricted in this way. In the year 3300 humanity's homeworld has become a rich playground for the successful, the wealthy, and the powerful and famous. And of course, as a Beta backer, you belong in that set. All visiting commanders will need a permit, granted by The Federation in order to visit Sol or anywhere in the Solar system. However, all Alpha and Beta backers will be given an automatic permit, without having to first earn a reputation with The Federation. (For those of you whose allegiances lie elsewhere this could be a very useful benefit indeed!).

Remember – if you are not a Beta backer already, you only have until November 22nd to join and take advantage of the lasting benefits that will give you. There is also an upgrade path if you have already pre-ordered the game which will cost you an additional £15. Just go to the store, put the Beta in your basket and the correct discount will be applied when you checkout.

We want to thank everyone who has joined us and backed us through this process and thought you would like this video created by the team.

Seems like they're getting down to it!

It's going to be very interesting to see what makes the preview build, and with lots of additions planned there's a lot to look forward to over the coming months (years?).

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to the next major update as well. I read that they will be adding cruise liners. Wouldn't it be amazing if you could buy your own huge cruise ship and manage it like in a Space Cruise Tycoon thing?

You guys seen this? Kinda pissed off right now, I backed this game partly on the premise that it was DRM free and had an offline mode, the fact that they've just thrown this aside as if it wasn't a big deal has me very close to asking for a refund.

So this game comes out next week tuesday. I've been thinkin all day about whether I should get it, and the thing that keeps holding me back is not knowing exactly what the fuck these games are.

I've never really played a sandbox space-sim game, but it dawned on me as I watched some random guy on Twitch trading goods that I played the ever-loving shit out of the Mount & Blade games. Is this game like Mount & Blade but in space? Obviously there's no raising and commanding a small army (at least as far as I know), but they're both that sort of do-anything-you-want sandbox game right? Go to towns, trade, fight bandits, join a faction, raid/seige establishments, go to war, etc?

Kinda that whole "make your own story" sort of thing? If so, how far can you go? I mean, can you end up galactic emperor or something, or are you staying at the same sort of low level of bounty hunter or trader or smuggler or soldier?

Everytime I heard the pitch of "open-world sandbox space-sim" it'd fly straight over my head until I thought of Mount & Blade and all the fun I had with those games.

There's apparently going to be a story in the release build but I'm probably not going to pay any attention to it.

I've always played Elite as an RPG and Dangerous seems to be shaping up the same way. Whether I can ultimately be bothered now that I'm older and (not) wiser remains to be seen...

@theht: I've not playe mount and blade, but it does sound fairly similar. You can go to star ports (towns), trade, hunt down pirates (bandits) or be a pirate yourself, align with hundreds of factions (there are three big ones that control multiple star systems, but each inhabited star system has small factions representing corporations, political parties, crime organizations etc). Two factions are in a state of Cold War, and many military missions will be available allowing you to rise through the ranks. There will be plenty of opportunities to engage in war zones. You can also go out and explore, making cash by discovering habitable worlds or major resources; you can either mine these resources yourself or sell the data to other people. You can do any of this with a bunch of friends in a private group, in open play or in solo mode.

While to can raise ranks to get access to new ships, missions etc., the core principle to have adventures in your ship. You can own multiple ships that are fitted out for different roles, but can only fly one at a time, and if you want to change ships you have to go to the place where the other is stored

Oh man it really does come out next week, holy crap. I really hope this is good. While I never hated X: Rebirth, it wasn't X4, and I really wanted that.

@wastedcolumbo: to be fair, if you go to the kickstarter page, you will see that offline was never a focus, or even promised, but something tucked away in the FAQ as something they would try.

I'm not fully clued up on DRM, but I really don't think that it's the reason for online only. We can download the game on as many systems as we like at the moment, but only one person can play at a time per account. This seems totally reasonable for legitimate players.p

The install is only about 3GB, and appears to consist mostly of assets. I was a community ambassador for ED at E3 after winning a competition on the forums, and the whole game fitted on a USB stick; however, there were only a handful of playable systems (<10). Now, we can access 400 billion systems, with 160,000 real stars added by hand, and there are tens of thousands of inhabited systems with one or more space stations and multiple factions vying for control. I am pretty sure than the minimum requirements for an equal offline mode would be much more restrictive than the current requirement for online.

If you play solo mode, you can play with very little data transfer (someone managed to play on the train while tethered to their phone, while another person said they used 300 k of data in 2 hours of solo play.

@capum15: it's definitely a niche game, but it's the absolute best game in that niche right now :). I'm an alpha backer and have been playing for almost a year, and love it! You do need to be aware that there's very little in the way of direction or hand holding, and the chances of meeting other players can be small if you don't arrange it. Plus it's unlikely that you will ever control more than one ship at once. But it's already more than I hoped for in an Elite sequel and there's plenty more to come

The only times I've played Elite Dangerous is when using the Oculus Rift (with gaming headphones).

And now I don't want to play it any other way. BUT the low resolution of the DK2 makes the practicality of playing that game difficult, particularly with map/menu reading etc, and low-res in general is just...irritating. Also the Rift isn't exactly a comfortable thing to wear for long stretches of time. So essentially I've been spoiled to the point where I only want to play it on the Rift, but not on a Rift that's currently available.

I need that consumer version.

@drr0b: X3 never had much in the way of tutorials, but after an hour or two I got used to the systems well enough. I'm more likely to play solo as well, depending on how lively the AI is (I enjoyed watching fights break out in X3 in border systems while just chilling out). I'm glad to hear you like it, all the videos I have seen have just made me want to play it even more (the Unfinished on it was cool, I hope they dive back into it for a QL).

Is there any current system for wingmen or fleets? I always loved having a few ships cruising with me in X3, but solo flight was also good.

@capum15: There is a fleet system present in the combat demo, though it doesn't have much to it in there. I'm sure the game itself has more options.

@driadon: Awesome. It was just cool having a few ships to help out in X3.

@drr0b: Thanks! Sounds pretty good.

Tuesday's right around the corner, so I suppose it'd be best if I wait for some reviews.

Picked it up yesterday to mess with the combat demo while I waited. Got my G13, trackir and Logitech extreme 3d pro all ready. My body, however, may never be

I've been going back and forth on this game. I've been chasing the Freelancer high for years and never gotten it. I'm going to decide wither or not I am going to buy it tomorrow and if I do then I am ordering a track ir to have it by Monday to set up for launch. Also should we set up a group or something of like minded people so we can meet up in game? I don't know if it has a clan or corp system but if it does I would be interested in joining if I pick it up. Also are any of the duders playing EVE interested? I feel they would probably be some of the few to jump in and know what they are doing right off the bat.

@capum15: @driadon: at the moment, people can team up and jump together if they are on each other's friends lists (see the YouTube video called Elite Dangerous Fleet jump, sorry for lack of link). However, this isn't formalized yet... "Wings" are expected to come early 2015

Is this only available through their site?

And is it fine to play with mouse and keyboard?

@drr0b: Ahhh, alright, so no AI wingmen for now then?

Might have to start looking into TrackIR...

@tajasaurus: yep, only available through their site for now at least. It's definitely playable with keyboard and mouse, and some really good players use them (you can tell from the orange arrows that appear in their YouTube videos). I've been using a 360 pad for almost a year and it's always felt good. HOTAS is the most immersive control method, but might not have any real tactical advantage.

You guys picking the game up should put your commander names in this thread: http://www.giantbomb.com/elite-dangerous/3030-40419/forums/its-lonely-out-in-space-1500372/#18

@drr0b: oh wow, I just assumed that it wouldn't be playable at all with a gamepad. Is it completely native, or did you have to do weird mapping stuff?

@tajasaurus: Completely native.

I've played it with a pad but bought a cheap Thrustmaster T Flight Hotas X (which is either a collection of random words or a new member of Public Enemy) and am having a great time.

At the moment the game is basically Euro Truck Simulator in space, and that's fine by me...

@tajasaurus: not only is gamepad support completely native, but also completely bindable (apart from the select button which always gives the pause menu). After a bit of experimentation, I never need to touch the keyboard, which is great for playing in front of the TV : D

This game not on Steam? Their web store didn't take my card when I tried to sign up for the beta. I know the beta ended and it's released on the 16th but usually the store page is up before then.

I'm pretty interested in this although I hear there's been some backlash over a lack of some promised features.

I think Braben said they're not aiming for a Steam release. I guess we'll see what the sales figures are like - You'll sell to the hardcore old fans (like me) but you're bound to see a huge increase by merely being on Steam.

Even if Valve do take 30%-odd of the money that's bound to translate into cash.

EDIT - I'll post the premiere event here just for posterity.

It's got a weird old fashioned feel ... and Braben's got a pair of Discount Bono specs. ;-)

I think that's a pretty big mistake. Having your game on a store front, especially long term, is just a good idea. I wouldn't be surprised if they stay off Steam at first but come around to it later after it's been out a while.

@lunnington: I actually think that the devs are quite happy being in a niche at the moment :p... Maybe steam will happen down the line. Did you try store.elitedangerous.com?

As for the removal of promised features, that's not exactly a fair representation of what happened. If you go to the kickstarter page, you'll see that the focus was always online, with offline a possibility that they were exploring. A lot of backers were upset at the loss of online, and they have every right to be. However, a whole bunch of people were outraged on the principle that design documents presented to the public should be set in stone and they were being melodramatic.

@drr0b: Very true. It makes me chuckle when I see all the self righteousness around a game that's not even released yet.

So I broke down and pre-ordered for the combat scenarios. Took me a while but I finally got controls set well enough to take on that convoy mission and blew the crap out of it after only fighting some barrels and one other ship.

I'm looking forward to Tuesday far more than any other Tuesday I can remember of this year. I just hope their servers can take it, and that their downloader doesn't take forever.

I just want to fly around for hours and look at things. I already flew around the barrel scenario just to test the flight mechanics and free-look at stuff. Well, mostly asteroids but still.

@capum15: You should check out "VoiceAttack" as well. I bought the game months ago, but figured I'd rather wait till release to play it properly. I did play it long enough to get somewhat comfortable with using a controller though. Should really get a Hotas. But seeing how a lot of people use VoiceAttack, I figured I could test it out. Ended up buying it pretty quick. While the game is pretty cool on its own, it is even better when I can enter combat by going "Rosi, listen. Deploy weapons. Target." then blast away.
Looking forward to Tuesday myself! Just wish this wasn't the busiest week at work, means I might not get to play that much.

@jaqen_hghar: Voice attack's great, in fact I'm probably gonna see how well it works in some non-sim games.

I wiped my save a few days ago, wanting to see the 1.0 release as cleanly as possible. Then I thought "Nah, I paid through the nose for and beta tested the snot out of this game so I want some proper machinery on the 16th" so I'm on track for buying a Cobra by, at the latest, Monday evening.

@jaqen_hghar: That seems pretty cool, might give it a try sometime.

Hope we get a Kite Co,Vinnco, Neon Space Lobsters or Lincoln Force going eventually.

@capum15: Flying around space and looking at stuff has been so enjoyable! I'm in the process of outfitting a ship for pure exploration just to travel the verse, see and discover new things out there. Good luck and safe flying!

@nerdsbeware: Awesome, good to hear. I hope they let you pre-load or something, it took so long to download the combat trainer through their launcher.

I've been watching people doing the launch streams all day today while playing Omega Ruby, and aside from the new disconnects apparently, it just seems fun. Even watched someone haul cargo for like a half hour to an hour.

@drr0b: Yeah store.elitedangerous.com didn't work for me. I guess I could use Paypal but I kind of hate Paypal.

It appears that someone just started a GB group, but I don't believe it has any relation to Kite Co, etc.
Search for Cmdr. CORVUS MUNINN.

Damn it! Decided to order a "Thrustmaster T Flight Hotas X" myself, as it seemed pretty decent for the price. Turned out everyone had the same idea on Sunday, so today I was told it won't arrive until middle of January. And every other online store was out as well. Which is weird, and I can't think of anything else coming out now that would need a flight stick. So... a lot of Norwegians are going to play Elite?

@jaqen_hghar: I'm in the UK and got mine from the BT Store. Don't know if they ship overseas (and they don't seem to have a huge amount of stock) but I saved £10 on the Amazon price.

As a stick it does everything I want and it's far better than my previous one, a FLY5.

@dave_tacitus: Sounds like it's worth the wait at least. Will just have to play with a controller in the meantime.

My PC is not up to snuff for Elite: Dangerous at the moment. Maybe I will jump in later. That or Star Citizen who knows.

I just hope that the launch isn't a total trainwreck. Gamma builds have been patchy, especially with server stability.