Interstellaria - Beta

This game is inspried by one of the greatest games ever made, Starflight and since I discovered it I have been follow its progress.

Its on my buy as soon as its appears on steam list.

Next week in Guildwars 2

Elite: Dangerous Majestic Class Interdictor

Elite Dangerous tips

Things I have learned in the past year of playing the beta:

Docking Tips

Learn to dock
Docking is something you do a lot in the elite series. This time around the Docking computer is quite terrible and not worth buying. Luckily docking is no where near as challenging as the first game.

1. Afterburners should only be used to get closer to the station. It may seem cool to come in full speed but you look like a idiot when you smear yourself against the hull of a Anaconda.
2. When learning, lower you gear early. This slows you down quite a bit making it easy. It also disables afterburner.
3. Coriolis Stations show arrows on the target view pointing which direction the docking port is
4. The compass radar will show the direction of the landing pad once requested. Handy inside larger stations if you get assigned one right near the entrance. 
5. Lights on the side of docking ports show which side you should be on. You should always be on the green side.
6. Larger ships can fill the entire port, always check its clear before entering/exiting a station
7. There is a docking tutorial, which is a lot less expensive than trying to dock in the game.

Ship Control

1. Go over your key mappings. With my setup I have mapped a button to engage/disengaged the frame shift drive with a single click. Moved Afterburner to the stick for more Battlestar Galactica feel and remapped some misc keys like lights to other switches on the controller.
2. Fly you ship like a plane, always keep moving, don't stop and turret in one place.
3. Roll not yaw. Rolling so your target is above you and pulling back is the fastest way to turn.
4. The blue area on your speed hud shows where your optimal turning radius is.
5. Learn to use your lateral thrusters. If flying towards a target, you should also be moving another direction so your not so easy to hit.
6. You can avoid interdiction. First you can see ships approaching on your radar and avoid them. Second if you get interdicted then look for the escape vector and chase it. If its not in front of you slow to optimal turning and turn in the direction your hud has turned. Once its in view, throttle up and keep it in your cross hair.
7. When in frame shift / supercruse, watch your ETA under your cross hair. Try to keep it between 6 - 10 seconds to avoid over shooting.
8. If avoiding pirates don't fly the direct route to the destination. Fly off at a angle and then correct 50% of the way there. Speed is the key with pirate systems so don't worry about overshooting to much and watch for any ships appearing in front. 

I'll be doing some more tips on trading and missions once I have a good understanding of the changes since the beta. So far missions seem to pay a lot more than beta 3 and I have in under half a hour gone from the starting 100c to 13,000c

Elite:Dangerous gamma launch

The universe is open if you want to find me I am currently around this region:

The official Yamama Elite private group name is QUANHAN.

I would like it to have been called Yamama or something but then I would have to be known as CMDR: YAMAMA

Version 1.0 is the 16th. If you don't have the game I would wait until then as another wipe after gamma hasn't been confirmed but is very likely.

Elite Gamma launches tomorrow

We only had 3.9 for less than a day and now the Beta is going Gamma soon with the launch in a few weeks time.

There has been some controversy over the offline mode being pulled weeks before launch. This doesn't effect the way the game has been in the beta as the beta always required a internet connection and solo play is still a feature just 100% offline / no internet has been dropped.

I am a little concerned about the feature being pulled, not for what it was but just the back tracking on a Kickstarter Promises and it has me worried about the 'expansions' coming after the games launch. Which is EVA game play and landing on planets. I pre-paid those in support of the games development and after the offline issue, I would be upset if they get pulled for being ' Too Hard 'or ' Lack of funding '

As for the game itself, its fantastic for what it is. Its Elite, its space and its space combat done in a way which is skillful and interesting.

The universe is fun to explore, the ship simulation is fantastic. There is a lot to do:

Trading
Mining
Hauling ( Different from trading as you don't have to buy goods just move them some where ).
Exploration
Bounty Hunting
Pirating
Faction Warfare

I haven't experienced any missions yet but they are in 3.9

Whats missing:

Decent group play tools. This is sharing bounty's and missions.

This makes multiplayer feel a bit weak and tacked on.

I'll do another post after gamma has launched. The game data gets wiped with most releases, so I am going to have to say goodbye to my viper again.

Goat Simulator MMO

Mount & Boat

Not Mount & Blade 2 , but this DLC should keep me busy:

Next week in Guildwars 2

Elite Dangerous: Tuesday 16th December 2014

This is really surprising, I was expecting the game to go for another month or two in ' Gamma ' but it seems the game launching next month.

The game is ready at the moment but some more polish will be good on the multiplayer front but if it was out today I would have plenty to do.

If development halts after the launch then there will be major issues. Currently the game has its core in place, Combat, ship customisation, mining, missions and trading. There is plenty to do but if your a 'end game' kind of person you will struggle with the game.

They have released the future of Elite video which talks about the planned Expansions. Which is getting out of your ship and exploring. I am one of these people who doesn't require a point for leaving the ship. I just love the idea that I can if I want some down time from flying and staring at my ships console.

Blizzcon 2014

10 Years of WoW, 20 years of Warcraft and what did we see ?

Cards, Dota clone, full priced expansion pack and Blizzards brand new IP Xmen vs Team Fortress 2.

The highlight for me was spotting Duncan and Shin in the crowed and as I don't want the Yogscast any more I'll leave that up to you as to how exciting that is. 

Arma 3 Takes on Helicopters

The Helicopter DLC is out for Arma 3 and it is looking quite good. Dslyecxi has made another video based on the changes from beta to release which is quite interesting:


The flight model was relased as a patch today and doesn't require the DLC so you can try it out yourself. I gave it a spin and found it vastly improved over Take On Helicopters. It was also good to find something else to use my X52 Pro with.

As for the DLC, I think its worth it if you are into flying. If not you can still enjoy the features from the DLC just not fly the two new helicopters.

Finally

Finally got Elite to link up for group play =D