Han Satis and Ribacca? :

It's ok, we can have Peltz Skywalker manning a gun turret.

Or Jar Jar Peltz cooking up some awesome "recreational" drinks .

If there was a Jar Jar on that ship, it'd be the first person to get airlock, Peltz or not.

Death seems too quick. I'd prefer extended beating and torture.

So, I know this is the Elite: Dangerous thread, but for anyone interested, Star Citizen has a free week going on. So if you want to give it a try, now is your chance.


https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/0 ... eek-trial/

Is there a game there yet? Or is it still just "walk around and look at your ship"? I know they created some user hub type areas... and maybe there was some dogfighting?

So, I realize how lame that was to just not look it up myself, so I did real quick. Looks like there is actual gameplay in place now. Some flight stuff, some FPS stuff. Looks like 1 planet, a few moons, a few stations. So there's actually content, just not a ton. If I had my new computer, I would definitely try it. Since I do not, I'll pass for now. Thanks for the heads up.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/0 ... -2-beluga/

Looking forward to Satis bussing the whole CK crew around the galaxy.

lol, that looks pretty cool. I'm still trying to figure out what all the buttons on my flight controls do.

"I wonder what this button does"

SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIALIZED

Yea, I saw that article. I'm nowhere near searching the universe for signs of alien aggression. I guess I might as well tell my (fairly boring) story.

I began, as all pilots do, flying a really cheap and weak spaceship called a Sidewinder. Having played a few of the tutorial missions, I figured I was ready, so I did the quick intro mission to earn 10,000 credits, then decided that delivery missions are for idiots, picked up a "blow up enemies in a combat zone" mission instead, and proceeded to fly out there. After wondering why everyone was labeled as system security but shooting each other, I realized it was a civil war and I had to read more of their ship labels to see which was which. Once I identified the right faction to kill, I lined it up and started shooting. Their shields didn't really care so much for my Sidewinder's piddly little lasers, but I kept on. Eventually it noticed my gnat bites, turned around, and vaporized me in 2-3 shots. Not to be perturbed, I flew back out there. Predictably, I was unable to do any significant damage prior to being turned into dust once more. Luckily the basic Sidewinder is free to replace.


The Sidewinder

I decided this was a good stopping point for my first Elite: Dangerous gaming session.

When I came back, I decided that delivery missions were probably not as bad as I initially thought, so I started running cargo and data one way for cash. After a few of these at 8-13k apiece, I was sitting at around 60k and upgraded some of my ship parts, including adding a second cargo rack so I could haul 4 tons of cargo instead of 2. I continued hauling data and cargo for quite a while longer. Occasionally I'd set jump routes that I wouldn't have the jump range to actually make. I realized later that, with cargo in the hold, you can't jump as far (extra mass). This makes sense. It did end up with my upgrading my jump drive to the best possible to equip on the Sidewinder. One of the cool things about this is that the components you upgrade your ship with don't lose their worth. If you buy a drive for 100k credits, you can turn around and sell it again for 100k credits. There's no reason not to upgrade your components.

Eventually I got myself to about 200k and a pretty nice Sidewinder, so I decided I should probably upgrade to a Viper Mk III. This is several levels up from the Sidewinder and runs around 145k, which I figured would leave me enough credits to put some decent gear on it and maybe start hunting criminals. I really wanted a Cobra Mk III, but the price of 375k seemed beyond my reach. So I docked my Sidewinder and went through selling all its components. When I was done, I was well over 500k thanks to all the money I had sunk into upgrades, so I ended up buying the Cobra Mk III instead and threw in some upgrades.


The Cobra Mk III

With the Cobra, I had a significantly better jump range and the ability to haul 16 tons of cargo, so I took on more data and cargo runs. I'd also occasionally stop at unidentified signal sources (random encounters in hyperspace, basically) and blow up the occasional pirate. A little bit of exploration on the side, and I was rocking the cash, which I would then pump into Cobra upgrades. Being a bigger ship, of course the upgrades cost significantly more. After a few of these, I decided to try my luck at missions to kill people once more.

Unfortunately, this did not go well. One evening I ended up eating vacuum 3 times (with an insurance cost of 120k each time), so I went back to hauling data and cargo. This brings me pretty much current.

I'm in a Cobra Mk III with a fair number of upgraded modules and weapons. I have about 600k in cash, plus component investments. I'm considering buying a second ship (and keeping this one) and outfitting the new ship for mining. I really want a Fer-de-lance, but 51 million credit cost is a bit beyond my means at the moment. I also have been eyeballing the engineers. One wants me to travel 600 light years from my starting location before she'll give me the time of day, so I'm considering investing in a ship built exclusively for exploring and maybe making some money that way. With an advanced exploration scanner (1.5 million for that) and a ship built as light as possible, I should be able to exit civilized space and head out into the void pretty easily. A scanned system with interesting planets can be worth tens of thousands of credits, so spending a couple hours scanning systems may be well worth it. I don't know. I do know the one way hauling of cargo and data is getting a bit old. Additionally, it doesn't pay that great. If I'm lucky and they change their mind where I should take the goods/data, I might get as much as 120k. Most of the time, though, it's in the 40-60k range. I need something more lucrative if I'm going to buy the fer-de-lance.


The Fler-de-lance

The Cobra looks sweet as fuck. I can also see why you'd like the fler-de-lance, for a mining ship it's pretty elegant. How much bigger is it than the Cobra? I imagine quite a lot bigger for that cost.

Also remind me, can you walk around your ship and ground stations in Elite? Or was that Star Citizen?

As far as cargo runs go, can't you do some independent trading on the side? Like, buy goods that are cheap on planet A and then sell them with profit on planet B? If you're already going from planet to planet anyway, and have a big cargo hold.

Care to explain what happens if you scan a new system? I'm guessing some companies will pay for the data (obviously), but if you find some ultra rare materials can you start processing it yourself?

Also, did you wear your VR goggles for most of the game time?

To answer your questions in no particular order:

I have played the entire game in VR. No time outside at all. I also have the stick and throttle, and today I hooked up the rudder pedals as well. All of that helps the immersion, I think.

There's no walking around yet in this game. You're thinking Star Citizen. I think that's on the table for some point in the nebulous future, but who knows. You can, however, land on airless solid planets/moons and deploy a rover which you can drive around. So that's something. And planets really are planet-sized.

Regarding cargo, you can certainly trade, but I don't know where to go for the most lucrative trade runs. There are websites for that, and i'll probably do that eventually, but not yet. I could load up on some cargo as I hop about, but I only have 32 tons of space and most of the goods I'm seeing I could maybe sell for 800 credits per ton in profit. That's just not much money, plus the cargo reduces my jump range which may or may not affect my routes. Anyway, I just haven't bothered.

Scanning a new system, you can sell to Universal Cartographics, which just buy map info, essentially. The more rare the mapping info, the better... like earth-like planets, rare astronomical phenomena like black holes and neutron stars, or pristine metal mining belts. If your ship is equipped with mining equipment (mining lasers and a refinery) you can mine stuff yourself.

I spent a few hours playing today. Got myself blown up again, so I've decided that I'm just going to concentrate on the one way hauling and ignore combat. I even sold my guns to lighten the load and not get tempted. I've been doing the missions to build cash and every stop I look to see if there are any good ships for sale, if there are ships at all. I haven't found anything I want to buy yet... I'm considering the Cobra Mk IV at about 750k, or maybe a type 6 transporter at about a mill. I want to turn it into a mining ship, but I want to keep my Cobra Mk III as well. At any rate, I'm currently at about 2 million credits.

Cool, thanks for the answers! Hope they implement the walking around soon, although it doesn't sound like you're missing something. How many pilots does your current ship accomodate btw? I'm guessing that the smaller ships just have one, and the bigger seats several to work the different systems (if necessary)?

Yeah, I can imagine that the joystick and pedals would make it even more "realistic". So fucking jealous.

One follow-up question: you mentioned a black hole....can you get caught in its pull?