[SPACE] Elite: Dangerous + Star Citizen

There are so many space sims coming out in the near feature, with the common theme of being crowdfunded, galaxy encompassing and some made by veterans of space sim development.
The most notable ones are Star Citizen and Elite: Dangerous. Star Citizen currently sits on a whopping $44 million in crowdfunded money, while Elite: Dangerous is probably resting at a measly £2 million.
They are both currently going through alpha stages and basically being shown/released in parts. ED is releasing its alpha base multiplayer on friday, and SC's dog fighting module is coming out tomorrow, assuming they won't delay it again. SC already released the Hangar module, which really is just a Hangar that allows you to check out the ships you've bought, and ED has released earlier versions of their multiplayer to premium backers.

Personally I have backed both projects (after their successful kickstarters), SC with $42 and ED with €100. Getting alpha/beta access to ED is quite pricy, since they don't want everyone and their mother to get in during the alpha stages, they'd much rather have a dedicated core that really cares.

Both ED and SC have promised Oculus Rift integration and both look very promising. SC has suffered a lot of delays, where ED has definitely managed to establish a more professional customer relationship.
I am personally a lot more excited for ED than SC, and am extremely excited to sore through space in my own little hyperspacedorito and Oculus Rift.

Here's one of my favourite ED videos. Make sure to fullsreen it at 720p, turn up your sounds and follow the commentary at the top!
[M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vvl7uaR1sfI[/M]

Elite Dangerous basically tries to have the AI follow what the players are doing, so that you get the impression of an EVE style game with player driven economy, but really it's just AI reacting and adapting to what the players are doing. They've put a lot of thought into it, and it will be an MMO, but not like EVE.

I'm playing with TrackIR, so I don't have to deal with that. Same thing when I get the Rift in july. You control how it works, since it's basically just for adjusting power settings and looking at data, but yeah, in the base dorito ship, it's kind of a quick, jerky and annoying animation.

Star Citizen's dog fighting module got delayed again today. Nobody is really that surprised.

Elite dangerous premium beta came out yesterday, it's a ton of fun. First time I play with a hotas setup, and I also have a track IR which really augments the experience. The amount of things you can do is still a bit limited, and the game is very technical, but I love it.

Star Citizen dog fighting module most likely coming out some time today. Will be interesting to see how well it works, compared to Elite Dangerous. It'll be the first time players get to pilot spaceships in Star Citizen.

From what I hear, one of the biggest problems is how much of an advantage mouse+keyboard users have vs joystick users. I've been following mostly 4chan, and of course HOTAS setup users are being called idiots for expecting their setup to be better than glorious keyboard+mouse. Obviously that's why helicopter and jet pilots sit with a keyboard and mouse in their cockpits. HOTAS does give a lot better control though.

That said, keyboard+mouse users cannot realistically expect to play this game with an Oculus Rift, since they can't see their keyboard, which will give HOTAS users with Rifts an advantage. In ED for example, just having a trackIR is absolutely crazy.

Manticore said:

So this is based on the original Elite; the space trading/mining/pirating/battling game from the late '80's early ''90s?

That was a great game. I always thought it would be a good game to reboot.

Click to expand...

Yup. Same guys and company developing it. A lot of people are praising it for being so close to the originals, yet keeping it very fresh and fun.

Elite has now entered the second phase of the premium beta. From what Frontier has said, it's likely the game will enter standard beta in august, meaning that it will then be cheaper. I'm having an absolute blast in the game thus far.