OS Neutral Elite Dangerous Tips

[Huntn]

A couple of players have. Unfortunately, literally nothing happens.

You mean it's just a painting hanging on the wall?

 

[Janichsan]

You mean it's just a painting hanging on the wall?

Basically, yes. It's just a fancy distortion effect applied to the skybox. For some reason, they even removed the black sphere standing in for the black hole's event horizon a few months ago.

 

[Huntn]

Basically, yes. It's just a fancy distortion effect applied to the skybox. For some reason, they even removed the black sphere standing in for the black hole's event horizon a few months ago.

Maybe in the future they'll program something neat including a worm hole back to your starting system, that is if I ever play the game again.

 

[garnerx]

In case anyone is still playing / interested in playing, the latest update has added a ton of new stuff. You can pick up passengers to take them sightseeing, and you can add ship-launched mini-fighters to the very large ships and either pilot them yourself or hire an AI pilot.

The crafting stuff is considerably fleshed out. I've been trying to get the required materials to boost my frameshift drive for another exploration mission, perhaps to see the ruined alien base some people have found.

I've currently boosted it from 30 light years max to about 40, with much more to come (I'm only on level 2 of 5) but I've also found that neutron stars and white dwarfs can now have stellar jets, which you might jump into and find yourself in the midst of some dangerous turbulence. Or you might get a huge boost to your next jump. It's odd but it looks very nice (as in this screenshot). The 'galactic powers' metagame stuff, which I've still not really bothered with, has also received a major boost.

 

[Flint Ironstag]

I've been tinkering with it in VR. On the training mission, I can't figure out how to enter Frame Shift? Frame Drive? I have a Saitek X56 Rhino and I've discovered all the other buttons, but it appears nothing is pre mapped to enable this FTL speed. Annoying. Anyone else have a similar setup?

 

[garnerx]

I haven't played the training mission but I think the key you need to bind is Flight Miscellaneous > Toggle Frame Shift Drive.

That's what I use on my joystick. If I've selected another system as the destination then it will jump there, otherwise it will enage the FTL supercruise mode for travelling in the current system.

I also have Supercruise bound to the space bar, as occasionally you might need to activate it directly, for example when leaving a planet while the frame shift destination is obscured beyond the horizon.

 

[Flint Ironstag]

Thanks for the tip! The rig is at my partner's place so all the staff can experience VR, but I will certainly give this a shot.

Cheers

 

[garnerx]

I'd love to try it in VR. I suppose if you're wearing a headset you'd have to make sure every control is mapped to something on the stick and throttle, because you won't be able to see what you're doing if you have to press the keyboard.

 

[Huntn]

I'd love to try it in VR. I suppose if you're wearing a headset you'd have to make sure every control is mapped to something on the stick and throttle, because you won't be able to see what you're doing if you have to press the keyboard.

I suggest that the VR headset have a little keyboard hole so you can peak out and hit a keyboard key when you need to.
[doublepost=1478789695][/doublepost]The last time I played, (9 months ago?) this is what I did:

• Fly to mining zones to fight pirates and collect bounties.
• Return to bases to collect bounties and upgrade, sometimes buy a new ship.
• Make BORING trade runs, specifically to raise money to upgrade/buy a new ship. Did I say boring?

That's it and it was not enough to sustain me. All of the systems I visited were pretty much big black spaces with specs of planets. I understand that is the nature of space. The most interesting sight and dynamic environments were the mining zones, full of A.I. Activity. I doubt I ever saw another real player the entire time I played (4 months?).

With the possibility of rekindling my interest, from anyone who is currently playing Elite Dangerous what do you do for fun these days.

 

[gkarris]

With the possibility of rekindling my interest, from anyone who is currently playing Elite Dangerous what do you do for fun these days.

I play EVERSPACE...

No, I just bought into the full version (from the "Arena" version) during the last Steam sale, so I have yet to config it for my Gaming PC - so all I'd being doing is flying around and exploring.

If I get blasted - who cares....

 

[Huntn]

I play EVERSPACE...

No, I just bought into the full version (from the "Arena" version) during the last Steam sale, so I have yet to config it for my Gaming PC - so all I'd being doing is flying around and exploring.

If I get blasted - who cares....

Arena version of Everspace or ED? It would be really nice if ED did not feel so lonely.

 

[garnerx]

It's definitely worth trying again. I've been playing on and off since it was in beta and it's almost unrecognisable now. Every time I come back there's something new, such as the crafting of ship parts and planetary landings..

Still, I suppose it depends on what you expect from a game like this. Personally I'm interested in exploring space and feeling the emptiness of it all, which means for me there's a lot still to do.

If you're more into the social side of it then there are community goals that seem to be much more fleshed out than they were in the past, there's some sort of meta game involving deciphering clues about an alien race, and it seems to be moving towards having multi-crew ships at some point.

 

[Huntn]

It's definitely worth trying again. I've been playing on and off since it was in beta and it's almost unrecognisable now. Every time I come back there's something new, such as the crafting of ship parts and planetary landings..

Still, I suppose it depends on what you expect from a game like this. Personally I'm interested in exploring space and feeling the emptiness of it all, which means for me there's a lot still to do.

If you're more into the social side of it then there are community goals that seem to be much more fleshed out than they were in the past, there's some sort of meta game involving deciphering clues about an alien race, and it seems to be moving towards having multi-crew ships at some point.

No promises, but maybe I'll take another look. Damn it I'll have to figure out again how my joystick is configured. There was a way to disengage the equalization thrusters when pitching the ship to get better performance. I'll be lost if/when I get back in. I'll be lucky enough to remember where I have one of my ships stored, lol.

Got a link for a good updated guide? Thanks!

 

[Huntn]

Decided to update the game. Lol- Notice found on the launcher page: All Beta Progress will be cleared now the beta test period is complete. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing, I don't have to figure out where to go find my ship. And I had a nicely fitted out Cobra, but don't remember if it was a Mark 3 or 4.

 

[garnerx]

Whenever I jump back in there are new mechanics to figure out, but I've never seen a good guide. It all changes at a rapid pace, so guides are soon out of date. When they introduced the planetary landings I had to ask on the official forums about how to control the rover vehicle, and people were very helpful.

Note that you need the Horizons expansion to be able to land on planets, but if you don't have it you can still benefit from the rest of the enhancements.

A couple of times I've lost my entire custom controller mappings, which was annoying but luckily I had everything written down on paper.

There's a new thing now whereby if you have ships stored at other stations you can pay to have them transported to wherever you are now. Costs and time vary according to distance and the value of the ship (a Cobra would be very cheap).

You can also see your stored ships on the galaxy map, marked with a little red ship icon.

 

[Huntn]

Whenever I jump back in there are new mechanics to figure out, but I've never seen a good guide. It all changes at a rapid pace, so guides are soon out of date. When they introduced the planetary landings I had to ask on the official forums about how to control the rover vehicle, and people were very helpful.

Note that you need the Horizons expansion to be able to land on planets, but if you don't have it you can still benefit from the rest of the enhancements.

A couple of times I've lost my entire custom controller mappings, which was annoying but luckily I had everything written down on paper.

There's a new thing now whereby if you have ships stored at other stations you can pay to have them transported to wherever you are now. Costs and time vary according to distance and the value of the ship (a Cobra would be very cheap).

You can also see your stored ships on the galaxy map, marked with a little red ship icon.

Thanks for the info! Is that the expansion (landing on planets) they are asking for as much as the original game?? I played the game in early 2015. I wonder if there has been a wipe since then?

 

[quagmire]

I would love to get back into Elite, but the launcher instantly crashes upon start up( OS X version).

 

[Huntn]

I've been tinkering with it in VR. On the training mission, I can't figure out how to enter Frame Shift? Frame Drive? I have a Saitek X56 Rhino and I've discovered all the other buttons, but it appears nothing is pre mapped to enable this FTL speed. Annoying. Anyone else have a similar setup?

I haven't played the training mission but I think the key you need to bind is Flight Miscellaneous > Toggle Frame Shift Drive.

That's what I use on my joystick. If I've selected another system as the destination then it will jump there, otherwise it will enage the FTL supercruise mode for travelling in the current system.

I also have Supercruise bound to the space bar, as occasionally you might need to activate it directly, for example when leaving a planet while the frame shift destination is obscured beyond the horizon.

The second tutorial video (a youtube video called something like Elite: Dangerous Flight or Pilot Tutorials/Training some combo of those words ) can be accessed in game, under training, but it takes you out to a browser for viewing. They can be found directly on YouTube. It walks you through how to engage super cruise and FTL. On my setup it's the J key by default, J for both super cruise and for FTL jump and I have it mapped to a joystick key (in this case not J but the joystick button like joystick button 15). The game allows mapping to two keys so I leave the default keys and map my joystick button to the secondary slot.

If I'm understanding what Flint is asking and this maybe more than you asked , but...
You have to be 5km from a station before Mass lock (I think that's the term) is lifted, but I don't remember if you can engage super cruise before that. I'm thinking you can't.

Super Cruise is fast local travel any direction you want to go. FTL is for the large jumps and requires that a destination be set before hand. The sequence is normal flight>SC>FTL>SC> normal flight. Although to fly from one location to another in the same system, it's just SC. FTL will not engage unless a destination has been set outside the current system and you hit J two times.

Hit J to engage super cruise, which I often use as an escape mechanism. Then if not already done, set the destination, while in SC point your ship at the target destination, hit J again and you'll jump on autopilot, and will soon pop out the other end traveling at super cruise. Until you are familiar, it can seem tricky getting out of super cruise, too soon and you'll be far enough away you'll want to engage SC again. If too fast and too late or you'll overshoot the destination requiring you to loop back.

Another tricky aspect (well not tricky, you just have to know ) is that you FTL to a System but after the jump, you have to target the individual station.
[doublepost=1478959479][/doublepost]

I would love to get back into Elite, but the launcher instantly crashes upon start up( OS X version).

Good to see you in the forum. I gave up on my Mac for this kind of a game. May I suggest Bootcamp (which may or may not be adequate) or a gaming PC? $1000, slightly more than 2 X boxes.

 

[quagmire]

Good to see you in the forum. I gave up on my Mac for this kind of a game. May I suggest Bootcamp (which may or may not be adequate) or a gaming PC? $1000, slightly more than 2 X boxes.

My bootcamp install is almost completely full from my Prepar3d installation and add ons. And I can't figure out how to get it to install on my external HD. The launcher will install on the external HD, but the game itself installs on the internal SSD.

 

[Huntn]

My bootcamp install is almost completely full from my Prepar3d installation and add ons. And I can't figure out how to get it to install on my external HD. The launcher will install on the external HD, but the game itself installs on the internal SSD.

You probably know this, but just to clarify we are on the same page, if you have Bootcamp installed on your internal SSD, you simply launch Windows, plug in an external drive configured for Windows, then install the game with your external drive set as the destination. I have a portable drive, I carry with me expressly for this purpose.

Getting ready to play the game again, I had to reinstall it from scratch and during the install process, the installer showed where the game would be installed (C drive) and allowed me to set the destination drive if I wanted to. Last time I had it installed on my E drive. I did this on my PC so I can't vouch that there would be no issues doing this on a Bootcamp install using an external drive.
[doublepost=1478961578][/doublepost]Elite: Dangerous Horizons- Looks like it's $29 on steam, but If I buy it will be directly from Frontier. Anyone playing? If so, is it worthy?

 

[garnerx]

Thanks for the info! Is that the expansion (landing on planets) they are asking for as much as the original game?? I played the game in early 2015. I wonder if there has been a wipe since then?

That's the one, Horizons. It's the same price as the base game because it's effectively the annual 'season pass'. At least it was supposed to be an annual thing but I haven't heard anything about the next one. They only just released a new chapter of Horizons, so I think they're behind schedule.

Landing on planets is worth the price on its own, for me (and I paid double what they're asking at the moment). You set down on the surface, maybe dismiss your ship back into orbit, and then you're crawling through pitch black canyons, listening to the crackles from your scanner. It can be really spooky. Check out Mitterand Hollow, which is an amazing planet to see:

Nothing will have been wiped since you last played, I think the user accounts are persistent.

 

[Huntn]

That's the one, Horizons. It's the same price as the base game because it's effectively the annual 'season pass'. At least it was supposed to be an annual thing but I haven't heard anything about the next one. They only just released a new chapter of Horizons, so I think they're behind schedule.

Landing on planets is worth the price on its own, for me (and I paid double what they're asking at the moment). You set down on the surface, maybe dismiss your ship back into orbit, and then you're crawling through pitch black canyons, listening to the crackles from your scanner. It can be really spooky. Check out Mitterand Hollow, which is an amazing planet to see:

Nothing will have been wiped since you last played, I think the user accounts are persistent.

Thanks! Is there a quest chain for planet exploration? Or is it just go out and explore. I know there is something about Engineers. Hope I don't meet one of Ripley's aliens. I assume there are goodies to be found on the surface, what would they be?

Do you need a specialized ship to get to the surface? Last time I played I had a Corsair III, I think. Not the fighter, but the bottom rung fighter/hauler. I'm wondering if there is any info on how to make heads or tails of the new content. The universe is huge, you at least need some tips on why you'd want to go visit a planet wouldn't you?
[doublepost=1478997599][/doublepost]Look at the red Horizons reveiws on this page. Hmm

 

[garnerx]

On the planets you can drive around looking for materials to craft ammo, repairs, frameshift boosts and so on. There are bases, prison colonies and scientific outposts - I'm not sure what they're for, as the game still doesn't explain very much, but you might get shot at by drones if you get too close. Engineers also have bases on planets, they'll craft major upgrades using materials that can be quite hard to find.

I think any ship can land on the surface, you just need the 'planetary approach suite' which takes up one slot in the hold. If you want to get out then you buy an SRV bay, which I think is another two slots.

I don't play it for any specific goal, so if the game is a bit aimless then I don't notice it as I'm aimless too. If I find a cool low-gravity world with a mile-wide canyon I can jump across in the SRV (the vehicle is great fun to drive once you've got the controls down) then that's a result for me.

 

[Huntn]

On the planets you can drive around looking for materials to craft ammo, repairs, frameshift boosts and so on. There are bases, prison colonies and scientific outposts - I'm not sure what they're for, as the game still doesn't explain very much, but you might get shot at by drones if you get too close. Engineers also have bases on planets, they'll craft major upgrades using materials that can be quite hard to find.

I think any ship can land on the surface, you just need the 'planetary approach suite' which takes up one slot in the hold. If you want to get out then you buy an SRV bay, which I think is another two slots.

I don't play it for any specific goal, so if the game is a bit aimless then I don't notice it as I'm aimless too. If I find a cool low-gravity world with a mile-wide canyon I can jump across in the SRV (the vehicle is great fun to drive once you've got the controls down) then that's a result for me.

Thanks for your perspective. Honestly the negative comments on the link I posted kinda took the wind out of my sails.

 

[garnerx]

Thanks for your perspective. Honestly the negative comments on the link I posted kinda took the wind out of my sails.

Hmm, it wasn't a link so I couldn't check. Anyway, assuming it was a Steam user review thread or something like that, I wouldn't pay much attention to their opinions. People use those threads to praise or vent, with or against the herd. As far as I'm concerned they're worthless as a form of critique, it's just a playground argument that somehow becomes part of the permanent record.