VanceIX said:
The problem with microtransactions is that without spending a lot of money, it's impossible to get some of the stuff. It may be different with SC, but seeing the pledge prices, I'm not too confident. I've ordered the Origin 300i package for now. |
At the moment, we really don't know how "grindy" the game will be (I for one, am perfectly happy living in my Freelancer for the entirety of the game). The problem comes with the realization that if a ship costs say 50 or 60$ in the shop and it's TOO easy to get in game relatively quickly, then it won't sell and people who bought it before will feel cheated. The other side is if the ship takes too long to unlock, free players will be upset.
I'll put my faith in Chris Roberts. I've been burnt before but being an independent developer with a long history of space sims, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
| Mystro-Sama said: This definitely isn't going to live up to the hype. |
That is always a danger with these huge projects. That being said, I'm playing with the Dogfight module (Arena Commander) right now and it alone is almost worth the entry price alone.
| SvennoJ said: I backed this, but not for FPS or hanger nonsense. Can I manually land on planets from space, fly with realistic physics, explore and mine uncharted systems. I backed Elite as well, seems I might get more out of that one. Maybe I should pay some attention at all the spam emails RSI keeps sending me... |
Realistic Physics: The game has a full fledged newtonian physics system. It is possible to flip around 180 degrees, shoot an enemy, and then flip back 180 degrees without changing your direction of movement at all.
Chris Roberts explains it:
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As someone that was taking Physics at Manchester University before I dropped out to make games full time I can assure everyone that the physics model is COMPLETELY accurate and it’s a full rigid body simulation. I know because I wrote the code. Maybe I should have done a better job in the demo, but if you are flying at speed and you set your desired velocity to zero you WILL see the top front thrusters articulating and firing to slow your velocity. If you watch my demo you will notice there is some momentum with the Hornet when I slow down close to the bridge. It may not have been apparent on the screen, but I can assure the Hornet does not stop on a dime. if you load it up with more mass (like extra weapons) you feel the effect of this. There is no drag modeled – everything is done as it would be in space. Additionally there is actually counter thrust being applied inside the physics and if you had your hands on the controller you would feel it. If you look closely you will see the inertia of this – the ship doesn’t stop rolling or pitching on a dime. There is however a very good reason why you don’t actually see the thrusters fire entirely accurately. |
Source:
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/12741-Physics-Not-A-Dirty-Word
Exploration will be very deep and fleshed out thanks to the stretch goals.
You will be able to explore the following:
- About 70% of each star system will be unexplored. Source
- Alien Wrecks. Source
- Asteroid fields with resource deposits. Source
- Lots of interesting space features. Source Another
- Possibly "Treasure Island" style treasure hunts triggered by found artifacts. Source
- Derelicts
- Some derelicts can be explored on foot. Source
- Repairable Bengal Carriers
- Asteroid Bases
- Old areas will have some system for keeping them explorable. Source
- Rare, unexpected and possibly unique encounters that are not persistent, perhaps found by following faint hints and trails.
You will also be able to do this with the things you find:
- The Salvage mechanic will likely be a primary source of income for many explorers. Source
Salvage Mechanic: Salvage isn’t an aside: it’s a career, with its own mechanic, story tie-ins and universe-shaping endgames. Search the galaxy for a host of valuable and interesting secrets using both the flight and FPS components. Discover the secrets of the ancient Hadesians, locate valuable components and cargo… or go down in history the first to make contact an entirely new alien race!
- Discovering a jump point to an unknown system will be highly valuable, as well as granting you naming rights.
- Presumably discovering unknown jump points to known systems will have monetary rewards.
- We can record resource locations and sell that information. Source
- Selling resource locations to an NPC store gives royalties on the sale of that info. Source
- Resource deposits can be over-mined and exhausted. Source
- Presumably the treasure hunts mentioned above will have some cash value.
- Identifying and following ships with bounties, and selling their locations. Source
- Scout Escorts: Rob Irving has said it may be possible to share autopilot data for formation flying. This may allow "slaving" a customer's autopilot to your nav data and guiding them through hazards. I've asked directly if that's the plan and will update if/when he answers. Source
- We will be able to take missions from the OES. As an intel office, that may mean scouting missions. Source
There's a huge huge thread here just dedicated to catlaouging all the exploration stuff:
As for mining,
Chris Roberts had this to say:
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I'm not sure about whether a mining operation of the size of the Shubin one that's detailed in Squadron 42 would be available for players to purchase or use right off the bat in the game. |
The only thing that they will not have at launch is the ability to fly into planets and manually land on them. That will be possibly be reserved for some expansions.
