Elite:Dangerous

[Alleghenies]

Just wondering if anyone else has been playing this game. It is massive, being on a 1:1 scale with the milky way galaxy. It has 100 billion different systems in it. The first time I was in-game and zoomed out while looking at the galaxy map I almost cried at how small of a speck I was in the universe. It is still in open Beta for all who purchase the game but it feels amazing.

Here are some more FAQ's if anyone is interested.

[Mike Dunn]

Just wondering if anyone else has been playing this game. It is massive, being on a 1:1 scale with the milky way galaxy. It has 100 billion different systems in it. The first time I was in-game and zoomed out while looking at the galaxy map I almost cried at how small of a speck I was in the universe. It is still in open Beta for all who purchase the game but it feels amazing.

Here are some more FAQ's if anyone is interested.

Daniel, I seriously want this but I don't think my rig can run it. What are you playing it on? Mine is dual core CPU, and I think you need quad core.

[Bill]

Interesting. I actually starting playing X3: Terran Conflict a few weeks ago. Used to never be into space games, but have been more into sci-fi this year. Haven't checked out Elite: Dangerous yet. Is there a Mac beta version too?

[Alleghenies]

Just wondering if anyone else has been playing this game. It is massive, being on a 1:1 scale with the milky way galaxy. It has 100 billion different systems in it. The first time I was in-game and zoomed out while looking at the galaxy map I almost cried at how small of a speck I was in the universe. It is still in open Beta for all who purchase the game but it feels amazing.

Here are some more FAQ's if anyone is interested.

Daniel, I seriously want this but I don't think my rig can run it. What are you playing it on? Mine is dual core CPU, and I think you need quad core.

Yeah, I think a quad core is the recommend requirement, but my rig is really old in computer terms and the game runs great for me. If you are curious, I built my computer back in October of 2011 and here are the specs and prices:
$99.99 ASUS Radeon HD 6670 1GB GDDR5 PCIe
$59.99 ASUS M5A78L-M LX Motherboard(AM3+)
$119.99 AMD Phenom II X4 955
$46.99 8 GB (2x4) PC3-10666 1333MHz RAM

I pulled those prices from my Tiger Direct order. You could get a much better processor today for the same price or even cheaper. Here is a combo for $139 and this processor is much better than mine. There are cheaper ones out there if you don't want the FX series processor. I've always build AMD based on their bang per buck. Sure AMD cannot hold a candle to top of the line Intel processors, but the price starts to go up exponentially and in the mid to low range, AMD is still more cost effective than Intel and performs just as well. I've always been extremely happy with AMD and have always been able to play any game I've wanted.

The same story could be told about the video card although I didn't look at prices. My video card is no longer stocked, but a similar one is priced for $45 if you needed an upgrade there also. You wouldn't be able to run the game at max settings(I run Elite at medium without any slowdown), but it still looks pretty.

Interesting. I actually starting playing X3: Terran Conflict a few weeks ago. Used to never be into space games, but have been more into sci-fi this year. Haven't checked out Elite: Dangerous yet. Is there a Mac beta version too?

There is not a Mac beta version, but they have said that there will be a Mac version released about 3 months after the final release which is slated for sometime late in 2014 currently.

Funny how you mentioned X3, I started playing X3:Reunion about 2 weeks ago and it inspired me to buy Elite:Dangerous. I have never really been into this type of game either, X3 was actually my first game like this aside from Homeworld. I was bored(my wife is finishing up the swim season where she is a coach in California before she joins me in Austin, TX at my new job that I started a few months back), surfing on Steam and saw X3 so I started with Reunion with plans to expand to TC once I get bored. Now that I started, I cannot ever see getting bored. I have plans to build several space factories, then several M2 class battleships and then turn against all my allies and blow up everything in the sector on my way towards global domination. I still see myself playing X3 in the future, even after Elite:Dangerous comes live because they are just two different games. Elite, while still sandboxy with very little direction, is still focused about being a pilot first, trying to get the Elite rating, so you can't build space stations yourself because that isn't what the game is about. You can still do mining facilities and still assist in the building of space stations, but as far as politicking and developing your own sector in space, that's only in X3. The reason I love elite so much is the idea that if I get tired of other human players, I can limit my multiplayer aspect to just friends, or at least that is how I understand it will work. To me, the saddest part about X3 is that nobody will ever get to see the empire that you develop, where in Elite, I can just go on a deep space exploration mission with a buddy of mine.

Anyway, sorry about rambling on, I could talk about computer parts and computer games all day.

[John]

Anyway, sorry about rambling on, I could talk about computer parts and computer games all day.

Me, too (he types on the computer he built). :)

Elite: Dangerous ran its Kickstarter campaign after I had already pitched in on Star Citizen and Limit Theory. I wasn't impressed with the initial Elite: Dangerous pitch. It seemed long on promises and short on anything concrete. So I passed on it.

A year and a half later, my fears about Elite: Dangerous appear to have been unfounded. It has been generating an increasing amount of buzz thanks to favorable impressions from its early-access version. The full game is expected by the end of the year. At this point, I'd say it's safe to label it as one of the more exciting projects in the pipeline.

That said, even if I had backed Elite: Dangerous, I'm pretty sure the game would rank behind Star Citizen and Limit Theory in terms of my personal anticipation. While it looks like a lot of fun, Star Citizen is more ambitious in scope, while Limit Theory is more inspiring (amazing what a motivated individual can do). That's just my personal take, of course, and shouldn't detract from anyone's excitement over what's shaping up to be a solid return to a classic series.

[Apollos]

I can't say I'd ever heard of this before this posting but I'll definitely keep an eye on it as the team gets closer to launching the final product. I'd be interested to hear any reviews/highlights from those playing it in case I make the purchase later. Thanks for pointing it out, Daniel.

As John alluded to, I'll still be watching and waiting on Star Citizen as well and don't want to oversaturate my limited sci-fi market with too many space exploration titles, but both of these look like they have great potential.

[Alleghenies]

Anyway, sorry about rambling on, I could talk about computer parts and computer games all day.

Me, too (he types on the computer he built). :)

Elite: Dangerous ran its Kickstarter campaign after I had already pitched in on Star Citizen and Limit Theory. I wasn't impressed with the initial Elite: Dangerous pitch. It seemed long on promises and short on anything concrete. So I passed on it.

A year and a half later, my fears about Elite: Dangerous appear to have been unfounded. It has been generating an increasing amount of buzz thanks to favorable impressions from its early-access version. The full game is expected by the end of the year. At this point, I'd say it's safe to label it as one of the more exciting projects in the pipeline.

That said, even if I had backed Elite: Dangerous, I'm pretty sure the game would rank behind Star Citizen and Limit Theory in terms of my personal anticipation. While it looks like a lot of fun, Star Citizen is more ambitious in scope, while Limit Theory is more inspiring (amazing what a motivated individual can do). That's just my personal take, of course, and shouldn't detract from anyone's excitement over what's shaping up to be a solid return to a classic series.

The only thing that turned me off from Star Citizen is that it requires a monthly subscription from what I understand. I also like the idea of being able to travel to any one of the 400 billion stars in the game. They say that if you land on a planet and look up at the sky, any star you see you can travel to. And when on earth, you can see our normal constellations, but on other planets, it will change based on the perspective there. Also, all the planets in the system are actually rotating around the star, it seems pretty ambitious to me. From what I understand, Star Citizen only has about 100 different systems/sectors. I haven't read that much about it yet, but John, maybe you could enlighten me as to what makes it more ambitious.

Honestly, I also couldn't figure it out on the website how to get in and play. Everywhere I read it said that they are still in Alpha, and there are no more Alpha keys, but then they say to get in you need to buy a pledge package which gets you a ship. What I don't understand is are they actually in Beta now or else why are they letting people still purchase pledges? The whole package thing was confusing, will you eventually be able to buy different ships in-game? Does that package you purchase always become your beginning ship or do you go back to something small when you die.

In the end, I basically went with Elite because I had already read about it in PC Gamer and was intrigued.

[Alleghenies]

The only thing that turned me off from Star Citizen is that it requires a monthly subscription from what I understand. I also like the idea of being able to travel to any one of the 400 billion stars in the game. They say that if you land on a planet and look up at the sky, any star you see you can travel to. And when on earth, you can see our normal constellations, but on other planets, it will change based on the perspective there. Also, all the planets in the system are actually rotating around the star, it seems pretty ambitious to me. From what I understand, Star Citizen only has about 100 different systems/sectors. I haven't read that much about it yet, but John, maybe you could enlighten me as to what makes it more ambitious.

I read up on it some more today during work and I see now what you mean. If you just take the engines for example, you can modify them and have hundreds of different combinations and it also changes their physical looks as well. It all looks pretty detailed. I guess Elite looks like it will have a much larger detailed universe on a macro scale, but the intricate details do not seem nearly as complex and OCD as they do with Star Citizen. I kinda wish I had bought into Star Citizen instead now. I also read that they do not require a monthly payment, that was only for bonus things such as a digital magazine and decal for your ship. It looks pretty neat. Elite seems to have a similar economy concept, but SC just looks like it is so much more detailed. I like complex and complicated. I think they will both be great games in the end, but I think I will like SC more in the end. It seems more like the X3 games only more detailed. Elite almost feels like a kiddy arcade game to me now.

[John]

The only thing that turned me off from Star Citizen is that it requires a monthly subscription from what I understand. I also like the idea of being able to travel to any one of the 400 billion stars in the game. They say that if you land on a planet and look up at the sky, any star you see you can travel to. And when on earth, you can see our normal constellations, but on other planets, it will change based on the perspective there. Also, all the planets in the system are actually rotating around the star, it seems pretty ambitious to me. From what I understand, Star Citizen only has about 100 different systems/sectors. I haven't read that much about it yet, but John, maybe you could enlighten me as to what makes it more ambitious.

Honestly, I also couldn't figure it out on the website how to get in and play. Everywhere I read it said that they are still in Alpha, and there are no more Alpha keys, but then they say to get in you need to buy a pledge package which gets you a ship. What I don't understand is are they actually in Beta now or else why are they letting people still purchase pledges? The whole package thing was confusing, will you eventually be able to buy different ships in-game? Does that package you purchase always become your beginning ship or do you go back to something small when you die.

In the end, I basically went with Elite because I had already read about it in PC Gamer and was intrigued.

It looks like you caught up on some of the aspects that make Star Citizen so wildly ambitious, but I did want to clear up on misconception: there are no monthly fees attached to Star Citizen. Once you buy the game, you are entitled to play as much as you like with the multiplayer portion (Star Citizen) or the single-player game (Squadron 42) without extra charges. There will be a persistent world in the multiplayer game where you interact with people from all over the world, yet you won't be paying a fee for that interaction. That's one of the elements that makes the game so ambitious and exciting.

I recommend this great FAQ from Star Citizen Wiki for more detailed information about Star Citizen, and this official FAQ for information about Arena Commander, Star Citizen's early playable dogfighting module. But you should bear in mind that Star Citizen is not currently playable. Only select Kickstarter backers have access to the dogfighting module. More backers will be granted access over time; however, the game itself is still a distance away. Expect a release of Squadron 42 in 2015. As for the full-fledged Star Citizen game, I wouldn't be surprised if it slipped to 2016. There's a lot left to be done.

[Alleghenies]

Thanks for clearing that up. I think I'll still get Star Citizen once it goes to beta later this year some time(or that's what they say now at least). I think on the surface, they look like direct competitors, but after breaking it down, what each game does and where they are trying to go, they seem to be focused on completely different things. Elite with the massive scale of the galaxy and SC with the crazy details that they have. I think that I'll enjoy them both immensely.

[Mike Dunn]

Wow. I had vowed I wasn't buying an more games, because I have so little time (and need to focus on writing ). Then I started reading about this. Its release is Tuesday, and if you get it now you get $10 off. Still, I decided I can't afford Elite:Dangerous because Tuesday was my mother's birthday and I forgot to send a card and when you forget to send a card you need to send flowers, which are expensive. So I ordered flowers online but before hitting 'purchase' I googled for a coupon code and found a thanksgiving discount code that should have been expired but it wasn't, and when I punched it in it gave me fifty percent off for a savings of $49. Which is only one dollar less than the pre-order price of Elite:Dangerous, and hey, its like found money.

So now I own this.

[Simon]

Now buy yourself Oculus Rift as well please, and tell us how does it feel to play it using the device :)