Elite: Dangerous

Not faster than Tribes Ascend or Warsow, I don't think. Well, the ships may technically be faster, but they also have much larger hitboxes. It's relative velocity and your target's silhouette that matter.

 

Eh, wouldn't a space ship from either game zip over a tribes map in a couple of seconds?

But sure, relative velocity vs target's silhouette is important, but not for smoothness and responsiveness of controlling your spacecraft. I.e. the 'feeling of flying'. And that's what I feel will suffer the most.

re:frag movie, yeah, it's fast-paced. But the relatively velocity is, what, 4-5m/s? What are the space ships doing? 100m/s? They could greatly slow down the space ships to compensate, but then you're at sacrificing coolness for the sake of online play.

The only game I recall playing that's done this in scale is Star Conflict. However, it uses arcade physics(which makes it less problematic than quasinewtonian) and the ship speeds are extremely slow to boot.

 

Take a look at warthunder, which is completely playable even at 300ms+ ping. The velocity isn't what matters so much as the predictability of motion, vehicles typically (and I assume it's the same for elite) are not able to change their vector as drastically in games as shooter characters can.

About speed in tribes:

 

ITT people paying thousands of dollars for ingame ships calling others autistic

 

Giggle all you like. People are currently paying $3,000-$4,000 for a ship I pledged $1,000 for, and $1,500-$2,000 for a ship I pledged $300 for.

The only thing stopping me from selling them is the inherent risk of the grey market, though it's a small risk if managed properly. I successfully resold one of my Idris Corvettes for $2,000 last year, netting $1,000 profit.

 

So you're making money off of people even crazier than yourself. Truly you're living the American dream.

 

While I appreciate your concern for my mental well-being and financial ethics, your piteously obvious troll attempts have started to repeat themselves once again, and are rapidly becoming boring. Rest assured however that you've made me quite angry indeed by quibbling over pointless minutiae and ridiculing the way in which I spend my disposable income—if you can devise just one more ingenious means of criticizing me, my jimmies will reach critical rustle, and a meltdown the likes of which has never been seen since I first connected to the Internet in 1993 will surely follow.

Thus forced to quit the Codex forever to hide my shame, you'll have finally won.

 

Whats the deal with selling in-game ships for glorious Kwa Bux? Does it mean you own that ship in the MMORPG servers of the game, or does it mean that a ship is unlocked for you in all versions?

 

It's Star Citizen he's referring to, not Elite Dangerous. My wallet wagons are the go-to Blaine insult among certain forum personalities, but nothing to be concerned with.

ED offers new variants of the Cobra Mk III starting ship, progressively more starting credits, and additional starting system choices to backers who pledge higher amounts, but nothing really major.

 

Some Elite Dangerous backer pledged over £4,500 to have this published as canon in-game fiction for Elite Dangerous. Apparently, that was a high-tier reward. I'm not kidding, either:

 

D1P

 

I've been playing ED at max graphics settings on a nice 1080p plasma monitor, wearing a pair of studio-quality headphones (standard TrackIR 5 sensor clipped to the headband, looks silly but you don't even know it's there), TrackIR 5 itself of course, and using my CH Products Fighterstick, Pro Throttle, and Pro Pedals, all now configured properly.

There's not much to say about the experience other than that it's heaven. All I need how is a hydraulic rig to vibrate and shake my chair as I maneuver/take fire.

 

i could provide that to you with a crowbar just out of envy.

 

Deal, but you must also stand by with a Molotov cocktail to throw in case my ship is destroyed.

 

What's your opinion on Oculus Rift, Blaine? Think it would make the experience better? For me, there's something about looking at a computer screen's glow that I don't want to replace...

 

I think it'll be fantastic once the high-resolution consumer model is finally ready to ship... like a year and a half from now, if we're lucky. I have a progressive condition called keratoconus in my left eye which is mostly (but not entirely) slowed/mitigated by wearing special hard contacts. It causes slight "doubling" of bright objects, especially when far away. The closer a screen is to my face (and/or the larger it is), the less distortion there is. It's mainly an issue when reading smaller text on bright screens.

I might wear an eyepatch while playing ED/Star Citizen.

Reports from those who've tried the OR say it's fantastic.

 

i can't wait for you to crash-land!

 

Do you think the CH fighterstick is superior to the Saitek x52 pro and if so why? Trying to decide on a proper hotas for my elite experience.

 

The Fighterstick's high-quality potentiometers (mechanical sensors in the motion assembly/base that detect user input) are slightly more sensitive and accurate than the x52's Hall effect sensors (these are electromagnetic, as opposed to mechanical), though the disparity isn't dramatic. The most dramatic difference between the two is in build quality and durability—I'd liken it to a comparison between a well-made cardboard box (x52) and a well-made plywood box (Fighterstick).

The Fighterstick is built to industrial standards and its body is constructed from glass-filled polymer. Glass-filled polymer is a type of plastic, but it's not cheap plastic—it's the Arnold Scwarzenegger of plastics. You can feel the difference between an x52 and a Fighterstick, and that includes the feel of the buttons. The Fighterstick is more solid and well-built, and much more durable.

To make a long story short, a Fighterstick will last for many years of hard weekly use. An x52 stick will start to degrade or break entirely long before a Fighterstick will.

Now, Hall effect sensors (x52) are typically regarded as more reliable and less likely to fail or become damaged compared to potentiometers (Fighterstick), but the Figherstick's potentiometers are particularly well-made, and it really doesn't matter because the x52 will break down mechanically even if its Hall sensors remain intact.

Finally, CH Products' customer service is much better than Saitek's in the opinion of most sim enthusiasts. Here are both warranties:

CH warranty: ftp://ftp.chproducts.com/pub/CHProducts_Game_Controller_Files/pdf/Fighterstick USB.pdf

I can't find the official documentation for the x52 warranty, but supposedly it too is 2 years limited parts and labor.

 

So are you comparing the x52 pro or the x52 to the CH fighterstick? Because I hear the x52 pro has a superior durability and "feel" to the standard x52 and I'm not really considering the standard version for purchase.

 

I'm comparing it to the Pro, the black one.

Look, don't get me wrong: I'd happily plug in and use an x52 Pro, though changing configuration programs would be annoying. It would be completely fine. But the Fighterstick's feel and build quality are nevertheless rugged and superior.

One thing you may be sure of: The average Fighterstick WILL last far longer given the same quantity of use/abuse than the x52 Pro stick. That's not debated by anyone. They are legendary for their durability.

And that's the crux of it. Because the Fighterstick is so much more durable, although it's only slightly "better" than the x52 Pro stick in accuracy and feel, it'll also last 2-3 times longer. So in fact the Fighterstick is slightly superior AND a whole lot cheaper in the long run.

 

One last question: I'm not interested in purchasing pedals, so do you think the lack of the "twist" feature for yaw control when using a fighterstick would detract from the flying experience in elite? x52 pro has this option so you can control pitch roll AND yaw from the stick instead of just pitch and roll.

How do you control your yaw with your setup?

 

I use pedals for yaw, though arguably yaw isn't really required in Elite Dangerous. Ships yaw fairly slowly, and roll is emphasized. ED has the option to toggle between roll and yaw (on the same joystick axis) or even combine roll and yaw, and you could in theory assign yaw to an axis of the Fighterstick's microstick, though I doubt that'd be very workable.

If you're dead-set against using pedals, though, then you'll probably have to get the x52 Pro. I should note however that stick twist is ultimately a far inferior method to pedals, not only less accurate in and of itself but also interfering slightly with your pushing and pulling on the stick to pitch and roll. It also requires more multitasking from the same limb, trying to control three axes instead of two.

It's worth noting too that the Pro Throttle's "microstick" (like the analog stick on a PS3 controller) is much better than the old laptop-style nub button on the x52 Pro throttle, and instead of clicking a button next to the nub as on the x52 Pro throttle, the microstick itself clicks (also like a PS3 analog stick):