Be Excellent To Each Other

Alpha 4.0 starts on the 15th and is basically the final step before beta, and I can't bloody wait. It'll almost be a full indication of the game, but just in a tiny part of space.

It's also significantly better than Star Citizen, because the players (and forum moderators) of Elite Dangerous are not actively discussing the merits of allowing rape to be a part of the game.

It already has Oculus support, although I guess it'll get better support as the development progresses.

Check this out:

http://youtu.be/wWPUuVntq9I
(Sorry, despite all my time on this forum, I *still* don't know how to embed YouTube videos).

Almost makes me want an Oculus Rift myself.

Alpha 4.0 looks like it's going to be pretty cool - you'll finally get to try out interstellar travel. I'm hoping this means the beta test version means it really will be an early version of the complete product, with the full galaxy open for travel. Some of what they have planned sounds incredible. According to the last newsletter I read, they're going so far as to accurately map all known star positions, so if you park up in orbit of Earth, you'll be able to look out of your cockpit and see all the constellations as they appear to us IRL, but if you hyperspace off to another system, they'll appear differently depending on your relative position in the galaxy. I love little touches like that! I could spend hours just exploring in Frontier, despite the relatively pointless nature of it.

You just take the last bit of the URL, so the unique video code basically, and stick it between the YouTube tags like so:

Amused iPhone user.

Get a proper phone.

Awesomes. That's what the rift was designed for.

Like mine?

Get 4G.

What's Sat doing wrong then?

He might have JavaScript disabled.

Sat: go to Settings, Safari, Advanced to check.

Nope, it's definitely on.

Then I'm out of ideas/can't be arsed.

Fair enough, I'm sure it'll sort itself out. At least I've discovered you can turn avatars on from looking at your photo...

I've never changed any settings relating to that and they display on my phone as well. I noticed there's a "Display Flash animations" settings, maybe that controls the YouTube stuff?

Have you basically been buggering about in the board options and managed to switch all this stuff off?

I've just had a look and everything is on except signatures. Sometimes the youtube videos show up and sometimes they don't. It's not a big deal.

Anyhoo don't derail the thread with this shit when we could make Zio feel guilty about spending £100 on a Beta.

I sometimes don't get the embedded videos showing on the mobile skin.

BUT, if I press the space where they should be, the video plays the sound while still leaving a white space.

£85.

I decided to give it a whirl on my MacBook Pro last night too, via BootCamp. It's a much more modest machine, a dual-core i5 at 2.4GHz, 8GB RAM and Intel Iris integrated graphics. Still runs really well, albeit nowhere near as smooth as it does on my PC. But still, it seems like a genuine technical achievement, and we're talking about a game still in Alpha.

If you gave them money and now you're playing it, it's been released.

I have given them money (not as much as Zio), but I have not yet got the game. It hasn't been released to me!

Malc

The beta fee is on top of any pledge you've given them.

Sure it has - you can buy it if you want.

Yeah, I have the basic beta package, I did not pay for the premium beta or the alpha packages (I do not have a pc that could play it at the moment, so there would be no point)

Malc

As for what's been released so far, I've been following the progress in the email updates they send out. From what I understand, they are very limited in what you can do, with each release focusing on one aspect of gameplay (just combat, or just trading etc).

I think it's fair to say that the FULL GAME has not been released yet!

Malc

No, you misunderstand. The beta Zio is playing is nothing to do with a pledge package. He's pledged. Now he's paid an EXTRA £85 to be able to play this beta.

Where do you draw the line, though - if a dev intends to keep releasing updates (like CS:GO, for example, or maybe Minecraft) then how do we know when to spend our monies?

Yeah I know this. However, my understanding is that anyone that paid for the alpha package at pledge level would have had access to these releases.

Malc

If you think it's bad that Zio paid £85 to get the beta, I'd better not tell you how much I paid to get into the alpha

Besides which, that £85 gives me every beta release from now on, the full game when that happens and every expansion pack. And it's fucking Elite IV! No amount of naysaying will ever convince me I've done the wrong thing here - I've waited nearly 20 years to play this game.

I get all the expansion packs (my main reason for paying more than a normal game) too, entry into the proper beta release, and my choice of any of the starter planets/ships.

I also get the physical map and a T-shirt!

I paid more than enough for that imo!

I really couldn't justify paying for early beta access (even if I had a PC to play the game on) unless I won the lottery or something.

Malc

Hyperspace, supercruise and docking in the new Alpha 4.0.

Terrible video quality, but this game is beautiful.

I do think it's very clever how they've handled instancing, what with how the frame shift drive works and all that, but from what I've seen, the load times need some work. It's in Alpha though, so there's plenty of time for Frontier to sort all that out though.

So very excited! Roll on the end of the month when I get to join in with this!

Wait! You spent £100 on a game that isn't finished that you can't play until June?

W.T.F.

I assume this is eventually going to be released retail, having been made so that it works, for a lot less than you paid?

yes, Zio has paid for early access esentially. I imagine in any Multiplayer game, having more experience in a game is going to be advantageous. Also some people pay a premium for an earlier experience.

Malc

Why the hell am I being single out? GazChap is on the the bloody Alpha!

Lolz

Is Zio made of monies? Think he needs to sit down with a nice level headed chap to help him get back on the straight and narrow.

Do you not read the car thread? Gazchap making poor purchasing decisions is a given

Not a poor purchasing decision, I'm loving every minute of it.

Video of combat, docking, repairs and outfitting:

Got to say, that "combat" has put me right off this.

It doesn't help that I'm a shitty combat pilot.

I think even the shittiest combat pilot can fly in a straight line and shot straight ahead.

True To be fair to the game, the place I was at is basically just a "farming" area designed for easy kills so you can get money.

Other parts of the game have NPC pilots that have crazy good AI that I've not managed to beat yet.

And of course other players will have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves.

The good thing about waiting until it's actually released is that I won't have thrown a ridiculous amount of money at it before finding out if it's any good.

This.

The beta I'm on doesn't start till the 30th, but the combat demo that I have for the time being is really good, and certainly more involved than GazChap's video there. I've never tried filming a game in progress from my PC before, but maybe I'll give it a go tonight if I get time.

I so would be spending money on this if I though I'd have time to enjoy the beta.