Very refined of you, prospector SV.

 

I can't help but think that in a real-world scenario navigating that asteroid field would be extremely hazardous. Way too big of a collision risk at every turn, so, in my mind at least, it would make more sense to use some automated unmanned craft to tend to such affairs.

 

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Just a walk in the park for you, from what I can tell, though.

 

Bah, not a problem for a triple elite player...

 

I would really like to see the big ships in Elite act like BIG ships. Anaconda is bigger than a football field yet, as you can see in the vid, it moves as if there was next to no momentum. True, this Anaconda is quite pimped up, engineered to the full mostly, but the hugeness of the ship should be reflected more obviously.

 

As it is, ships of all sizes are mostly flown like fighters, all viable for fixed weapons. I do wish we'd get a ship that acts like a corvette or even a frigate in Star Wars for instance.

 

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RPS' Brendan Caldwell reports that Elite: Dangerous' Distant Worlds 2 expedition claimed many ships, but about a quarter of the participants finally reached their intended destination last month.

Me included. I came a bit earlier as it became clear there won't be a tutored voyage back - as it was to Beagle Point. Meaning no gatherings, more or less solitude for months.

 

I admit, I'm no hermit. I like some time off, but that is it. So I used fast lane, meaning Neutron Highway, and came back before losing my mind.

 

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RPS' Corey Milne reports eyeing the Abyss at the end of the five-month Elite: Dangerous expedition he also took part in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNNj97HznUU

 

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Command Your Own.

 

Learn more about Fleet Carriers, available for all Elite Dangerous Commanders in December 2019.

People are already checking the highest and lowest scanned star record breakers with 500 LYs jump range... Love the change to personal carriers, previously it was said only squadrons will be able to own one.

 

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Learn more here.

An interesting take on using Voice Attack in Elite. I did try and was never able to use it properly. The second any of the children sees me talking to the computer, it is majorly interesting to talk about it and I can't play at all...

 

 

For a newcomer Elite is a nightmare, you'll spend hours just to set up commands and hours more to optimize them for most efficient use.

 

And a few interesting bits of info.

 

This talking to inanimate objects business somehow reminds me of the Doors of Durin and their plain, if obfuscated, inscription of guidance to gain entry: "Speak friend and enter".

 

Voice commands used to be considered the holy grail of future man-machine interaction for sure, SV, but for something as demanding as spaceship maneuvering in three-dimensional space with fine adjustments (and lacking mind control/direct wiring/AI assist), motor control is it.

 

Just imagine how many voice commands you'd have to utter per second to achieve the same result as multiple angled twists of your wrists on flight sticks.

 

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It would drive you nuts to even come anywhere close vociferating, and so would the expense in wrecked vessels.

All true. There are things I'd love to use voice commands for though. For instance - in the middle of the battle changing the distributor settings (shield/engine/weapons) is a chore as you need another three keys near the already large array of movement buttons. But if it won't work really well, it is best to just drop the mouse, correct the settings and regain control...

 

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The much anticipated addition of personal Fleet Carriers has now officially been postponed to Q2 2020.

 

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Polygon's Charlie Hall writes about a new generation ship found in Elite: Dangerous, surprisingly with people in it.

I've been participating in this new FD orchestrated event that binds several consecutive community goals. These events are called interstellar initiatives and add some nice flavour to the game, though I'd still much prefer some story. Naturally, whenever any gathering of players occurs, it draws in flocks of gankers who were just waiting to show their skillz. This initiative is no exception.

@SV: dear friend, should you have survived the vile attacks upon your convoy, here is further intel about the events surrounding The Golconda generation ship:

 

 

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Sides are being taken as reported here. Mind the potential spoilers.

I really wish FD would enable a more in-game experience instead of forum-based storytelling... Still, better than nothing - which is what we got before interstellar initiatives. Community goals were total crap, no real rewards, no impact on game world.

 

EDIT: Don't mind the potential spoilers. If you want to know what to do at all, you'll need to read the whole thing anyway.

 

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Frontier Developments commits to squashing game breaking bugs and stability issues in their next update in January, as detailed here.

 

Frontier Developments today revealed the first details on Fleet Carriers, an eagerly awaited update to the long running space simulator, Elite Dangerous. As mobile starships and trading hubs capable of transporting multiple allies, Fleet Carriers will be available to players in two betas ahead of full launch in June. A Frontier stream on April 2 at 18:00 GMT/ 11:00 PST / 14:00 EST will reveal further details.

 

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Learn more here.

Fleet carriers look kinda cool so far (though I hope they don't decide to stick with upkeep). 5B credits is a bit steep, that's all I have really so I'm not sure I'll be getting one just yet.

 

But this update is not really of huge importance. I'm waiting for end-of-the-year update, which should elevate the game pretty far, presumably with space legs and all. But if it won't, I'll probably stop playing the game, been at it for far too long.

 

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Calling all commanders! Experience the whole new Fleet Carrier​s in the PC beta on April 7.

 

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For those interested in participating in Elite: Dangerous' Fleet Carriers Update beta, a guide on how to do so is now online.

So far most of the response to the introduction of fleet carriers has been quite an outcry of monetary pain. They cost as much as - give or take - all my credit assets are (5B credits) and I have done some profitable stuff in Elite in the last several YEARS of playing. Nothing funky though. But that is not the biggest issue. Players (me included) are not amused by the weekly upkeep cost and the cost of Tritium, the carrier fuel.

 

A fully upgraded carrier costs around 150M per week of upkeep. A casual gamer, meaning NOT into grinding credits, will not be able to pay for the upkeep by playing the game. Even the introduction of upkeep is IMO plain wrong. We're not paying it for our regular ships or else we'd have far fewer of them - which would seriously impact the game as you need completely different loadouts for different jobs and, since the game has a very cumbersome outfitting, it is far more efficient to have a ship for each task and not one for all. If there is no upkeep for the ships, why is there upkeep for the carriers?!

 

Then, the fuel. For an explorer one would fill both the fuel tanks and the cargo bay with fuel, that would propel you some 24kLYs. And cost 1B! Beagle Point, at the far end of the galaxy, is 65kLYs away. Just traveling there will cost billions. Then again, you can mine fuel. But mining a single substance to just fill the tanks (1000 tons) would take AGES. Meaning, like ten hours of RT. Which is more than most games are played by a single player.

 

Anyway, I hope the beta irons this out or I guess the whole addition will go by unnoticed by a vast majority of players.

I hear you SV. From your explanation, as it stands, this is clearly an update for the billionaires or dedicated grinders with all the time in the world to accrue enough reserves to keep those carriers running.

 

Why even go through the trouble of implementing this feature (reportedly in the making for a long time now) if only a select few will ever get to enjoy it? *shrugs*

 

As you say, hopefully the devs will get the message from the beta testers.

 

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It turns out Frontier Developments did acknowledge the issue and posts what adjustments will be made so that Fleet Carriers become a more viable option.

Not a very viable one, but certainly more.

 

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Polygon's Charlie Hall writes about a new player-led project called the Deep Space Support Array (DSSA) that will use Fleet Carriers to create safe havens all across the Milky Way.