Not that I've seen, but I have a feeling FD would not do that - we shall see!
Oolite Naval Attaché
They should do as it would generate more backers for the game ie more money and more publicity for the game as they seem to have a very low presence on the internet.
it makes sense but i doubt fd and steam would co op not unless steam gets much bigger in terms of publishers signing up. Which they are doing quite well now
70 million user use Steam IIRC, even if they don't use the early access the game will probably be released on Steam as they just can't ignore it.
Never really being a fan of Steam myself but I have found the game updater to very useful in not having to download a new version of the game every time it is updated or patched.
Don't know how Frontier have been handling their Alpha updates ie do they have a updater or do you have to download a new version of the game?.
Hi was curious & bit confused, when you purchase alpha or beta do you still need to purchase the completed game when it comes out?
Fyi am aware that expansion pass is a additional charge with regards to ground combat & ship boarding, but was confused as it sounds like you need to purchase game when its completed in additinon to alpha or beta options. Thanks in advance for any info.
Shadowma
Buying Alpha or Beta includes the finished game - and the expansion pass is probably well worth having.
Oolite Naval Attaché
Some bits from the newsletter.
Here is an early glimpse of one of the first planetary rings to appear in the game!
Here we see different views of a rocky ring system around a small planet. This sort of thing can happen when a rocky body is ripped apart by gravitational forces as it passes close to a planet (technically it passes within the Roche limit) and much of the debris is captured. A few tens of thousands of years later – a blink in cosmic time - the debris will form a beautiful disc as shown here.
Should show a small video of it especial the transition when flying through it, I remember that game Tomorrow War had some great looking rings but suffered from pop up when going through them.
So far we have talked about and shown glimpses of the Elite: Dangerous Milky Way galaxy and we know for sure that our Alpha backers are enjoying blowing each other to bits in combat. But there is a hugely important part Elite: Dangerous that we haven’t given much attention to yet.
Trading!
The rules are, of course, simple and universal - buy goods cheaply, where they are made and there is plentiful supply, and then sell them where prices are high, in a location that has a high demand for your cargo. Of course that may be easier said than done because of people who have honed their combat skills and are not averse to a little piracy as they spot you travelling from A to B - but let’s not worry about that for now…!
In Elite: Dangerous there are thousands of star systems with commodities markets – and some with multiple markets. Each of these markets exist in a starport – generally an orbital station or stations far above the planet surface.
Each star system has a different basic type of economy – for example Agricultural, Industrial, Hi-tech, Extraction, Refining or Service, and some have a mix of these basics – such as extraction and refining are often (but not always) in the same system. From a commodities perspective all but a service economy produce items for consumption. This creates an active trade network.
The core economies also have further variety, as there are more specialized sub-economies - for example an Aquatic Agricultural economy is focused on marine activities and will not produce Grain or Meat – though the locals may still consume it, so there will be demand for those goods.
Most markets will only produce a few of the many different possible types of core commodities – and in some places exotic variants of them – so of course you need to explore this fabulous galaxy and discover your own favourite trade runs!
The makeup of each market is governed by several factors: Its galactic location typically indicates which of the main factions the system belongs to; whether Federal, Imperial, Alliance or Independent.
The type of government in each system helps define the legality of individual goods in that particular market; ranging from anarchies where ‘anything goes’, to theocracies who have their own idiosyncratic strict proscriptions, and many points in between.
The kind of planets, chemical composition, temperature, presence of asteroid fields, and other celestial bodies govern the resources that are prevalent in system, and hence what drives the economy and what goods are produced.
The system population determines the scale of production and consumption and capacity of the market - this can be modified by the type of government, too.
As in today’s world, supply and demand drive prices. Elite: Dangerous’ galactic market uses a server-based background trading simulation as a foundation. Initial supply and demand levels are influenced via trading between local systems. In this way, markets are not isolated but affect their near neighbours; if there is an increase or decrease in the supply of a particular commodity it will have a knock on effect on the pricing in other local systems too, as traders (AI or player) rapidly level the prices a little based on supply and demand.
Of course your actions will also contribute to such market activity. The smaller the market the more you will be able to influence that market through trading. The more valuable a commodity the more rare it will be, and therefore the more susceptible to your influence.
All your individual trades are added to the whole, and even mid-sized economies can be influenced by concerted efforts between groups of like-minded individuals. So you may find your ‘milk run’ dries up for a time, forcing you to look elsewhere for the deal. Or you could engineer a fat profit for yourself by cooperating with your friends…
We’re really looking forward to starting to roll out trading in Alpha 4 – there really is no substitute for enthusiastic testing!
Before then, we have been developing the trading system with the help of ‘MiniElite’ – a stand-alone program that enables us to quickly iterate on and refine the galactic economic market. It uses AIs to test the optimal trade routes at any one time, packing weeks of gameplay into just a few seconds.
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– MiniElite in action!
‘MiniElite’ draws on data from thousands of populated systems and their economies, and shows us exactly the supply capacity, stock level, buy and sell price for each commodity. Then it unleashes AI traders at the markets, who travel between systems, buying and selling according to certain sets of behaviour profiles, upgrading their ships as they are able.
The resulting logs of what was bought and sold where have been invaluable in tuning trading, in preparation for its forthcoming debut!
In Alpha 4 there are five stellar systems, with five different local markets representing a variety of economies and a wide range of goods to trade. As we’ve described, buying and selling goods in the markets will affect the price of goods at those markets for all other players too.
We can’t wait to see how you compare against those ‘MiniElite’ AIs!
News letter out and what caught my eye is that they have some thing new to buy in the shop and it's not a t-shirt or mug it's a badge 😎 and it's only £3.50.
ordered one now I just have wait until it's shows up when ever that is.
Stay in the game where ever you go with a discrete but detailed Elite: Dangerous pin badge.
Is your other car a Cobra? Check out the Elite: Dangerous key ring, which is perfect for keeping all your keys together, whatever the vehicle! No Elite: Dangerous fan should be without!
The first three official ELITE: DANGEROUS novels are out in just a couple of weeks in eBook, and are available for preorder now. Gollancz’s three titles will be published as hardbacks later in the year. The eBooks will be available from May 15th worldwide. There’s lots more information – including extracts – on the Elite Fiction forum.
ELITE: NEMORENSIS, by Simon Spurrier
eBook preorder: Amazon UK , Amazon US , Apple UK , Hive UK – support your local bookshop!
Hardback preorder: Amazon UK, Amazon USELITE: DOCKING IS DIFFICULT, by Gideon Defoe
eBook preorder: Amazon UK , Amazon US, Apple UK , Hive UK – support your local bookshop!
Hardback preorder: Amazon UK, Amazon USELITE: WANTED, by Gavin Deas
eBook preorder:
Amazon UK , Amazon US, Apple UK , Hive UK – support your local bookshop!
Hardback preorder: Amazon UK, Amazon US
And theirs some books and a keyring as well for these who may like that sort of thing.
Yes I think the badges will prove to be popular especially for Elite II fans like me who never got the chance to earn them like you could with the very early versions of Elite.
... who never got the chance to earn them like you could with the very early versions of Elite.
I didn't get my BBC Elite 'til '86 - and I wasn't aware of the badges anyway - so I ain't got one, even though I hit Elite rank twice!
Oolite Naval Attaché
I am sure you did get that ranking twice if those crazy Oolite battles pictures you keep posting are any mark. I only got the rank once in Elite II though.
Alas, my days as a hot-shot pilot are numbered - arthritis in the hands is becoming problematic.
Oolite Naval Attaché
Just been reading about Braben's Zarch game for the Archimedes in this months Retro gamer and it mentioned that Acorn Soft went out of business in 86 hence the reason that the BBC version stop getting the badges although I know Firebird were still doing them as I got the Amstrad version in 86 and it has the card for the badge in the box.
Only ever got to dangerous myself, got bored and gave up.
Alas, my days as a hot-shot pilot are numbered - arthritis in the hands is becoming problematic.
You and me both Cody
Up until a couple of years a go, I'd have been looking forward to the all-in, gung-ho, Iron Man game - but now, I know I'd not be up to it. Mind you, in my singular opinion, Iron Man in Elite: Dangerous ain't really what it should be - it's got a damn safety-net.
Oolite Naval Attaché
Another news letter yesterday.
Following on from our last newsletter’s brief introduction, here is some more detail of the five spectacular star systems centered around the Boötes constellation in which you will be able to trade in Alpha 4:
ERANIN is a small independent system orbiting a K3V yellow-orange star, and including an outdoor world Azeban, with an extensive agricultural economy specializing mainly in grain and livestock, with tea and coffee plantations in the equatorial regions.
DAHAN is a pretty conventional corporate system belonging to the Federation with industrial-scale extraction of a range of ores and refineries too, producing metallic Tantalum, Titanium, Aluminium and more for nearby manufacturing industries.
'A beautiful shot of Dahan III.'i BOÖTIS is an interesting and unusual quaternary system with a mixed Industrial and Marine economy, and also a member of the Federation. Chango is an outdoor water world and orbits i Boötis A – a G0V white-yellow star similar to Earth’s Sol. Chango is essentially a giant fish farm. People live on giant floating cities that slowly move with the seasonal migration of the fish – mostly species imported from ancient Earth. There is some industry (and fish processing) on Chango itself, but there are also dirtier industrial installations elsewhere in the system, for example on Dustball – a cold airless rocky world orbiting the gas giant Maher, which itself orbits the brown dwarf Maher Prime, which in turn orbits the rare W Ursae Majoris contact binary pair i Boötis B,C of type G2V stars, which co-orbits i Boötis A. Phew!'i Bootis system information'Maher Prime, the brown dwarf of approximately 50 Jupiter masses, is particularly interesting as it was first discovered in the early 21st century. It has an unusual orbit – very nearly perpendicular to the orbital plane of the other bodies in the system at about 10.7 AU from i Boötis B,C – any other orbit at this distance would be unstable because of strong tidal forces from i Boötis A. It was almost certainly captured by i Boötis B,C in a recent close encounter.
ASELLUS PRIMUS is an independent corporate-run binary system, with a central white F7V star, and far out a captured planet-less M3V red dwarf – the capture event millions of years earlier doubtless stripped Assellus Primus B of any planets that might have formed with it. Assellus Primus is known for its high-tech manufacturing.
LP 98-132 is an anarchic system with a solitary small M2V type dim red star. There isn’t a lot here, though there is some mining of valuable minerals like cobalt, rutile and coltan, and very occasionally of gold in the deep cold of its asteroid belt. It is unusual to find a non-mined-out mineral-rich system so close to Sol (only 40 or so light years away), but it was many centuries before anyone even noticed the asteroid belt was there, so far from the star. Ever since the system has been claimed and counter-claimed by numerous warlords and ne’er-do-wells, and the perpetual state of anarchy that has existed ever since has held down the numbers of ships mining here. The gold is far less plentiful than it was in the early days, but small finds are still made from time to time, and the high price of coltan (a mix of the ores columbite and tantalite, from which tantalum is made, a highly-prized transition metal used in high tech and in tiny quantities in specialist alloys) especially, still makes it worthwhile for some. Piracy is rife here with pirates on the look-out for those high value cargoes. There is a station Freedom City operated by group of locals, and this is the nearest thing to law that exists in the system.
You may experience a little tension between the Federation and independent systems… and there are reports that LP 98-132 is rife with piracy…
Have they said anything about the star map itself ie is it just static as the screen shot above or can you zoom and rotate as you could do in Frontier ?.
Have they said anything about the star map itself ie is it just static as the screen shot above or can you zoom and rotate as you could do in Frontier ?.
I hope, because if its not the case, this game goin' take a far way of dev from the originals elite games (also very disapointed by the actual landing restriction on planets :-/ )
Have they said anything about the star map itself ie is it just static as the screen shot above or can you zoom and rotate as you could do in Frontier ?.
I hope, because if its not the case, this game goin' take a far way of dev from the originals elite games (also very disapointed by the actual landing restriction on planets :-/ )
Not sure about the map on this alpha version, but the final one is supposed to be a "full system simulator" - and one that you can manipulate at will.
Have they said anything about the star map itself ie is it just static as the screen shot above or can you zoom and rotate as you could do in Frontier ?.
I hope, because if its not the case, this game goin' take a far way of dev from the originals elite games (also very disapointed by the actual landing restriction on planets :-/ )
Not sure about the map on this alpha version, but the final one is supposed to be a "full system simulator" - and one that you can manipulate at will.
I'm sure they will in time include the landing on planets. I love to see the effect of entry into an atmosphere, also include a few mechanics such as, entry to steep and you will burn up, to fast to shallow you bounce off the atmosphere. Also the need to adjust your speed and angles of entry so your shield or heat shield will not get too overloaded with heat during entry.
I think that landing restriction is good idea for populated planets. Don't want just anyone landing on their planet without proper authorisation and procedure. Something like our international rules for airspace for aircraft today.
Not sure about the map on this alpha version, but the final one is supposed to be a "full system simulator" - and one that you can manipulate at will.
Nice but will it be in the game on it's first release or will it be added later on.
My first material possession for Elite Dangerous.
Dev diary.
..... .....
I'm lost for words.
So any idea of when in 2014 the release of Elite dangerous is ?? I will be purchasing it when it comes out, just curious.
Thanks in advance for any info.
Shadowma
So any idea of when in 2014 the release of Elite dangerous is ?? I will be purchasing it when it comes out, just curious.
Think Sept was mentioned before, just in time for Christmas.
Cool now the wife knows what to get me lol!!
Thanks for the info.
Shadowma
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