Earth & Beyond - initial thoughts

[Boppin]

Picked up <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.earthandbeyond.ea.com/index.jsp">Eearth & Beyond</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> yesterday (Mind Games in Melbourne had a few copies in early - they're sold out now, but expect more in on Thursday).<br><br>It's not too bad, visually very pretty, gamewise, there's three different paths to gain xp - combat, trade and exploration. Your overall level is a sum of the levels in those three paths, and skills are restricted to your level in the related pool. eg. Beam Weapons rank 2 requires Combat level 6.<br><br>Combat xp, pretty simple - blow stuff up.<br>Trade xp - make items, sell items, trade items to other players.<br>Exploration xp - find unchartered (on your map) things in space as well as get xp for visiting nav points you've never been to before (this is the easiest xp to gain when you're a newb, all you need do is fly around <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> )<br><br>Aditionally, there are missions you can take that give xp in one (or possibly more?) of the advancement types.<br><br>There are three races (Terran, Progen & Jenquai), and three classes (Warrior, Trader & Explorer), with 6 combinations - 3 pure, and 3 hybrid.<br><br>Terran Enforcer - Warrior/Trader<br>Terran Tradesman - duh<br>Progen Warrior - can you guess?<br>Progen Sentinel - Warrior/Explorer<br>Jenquai Explorer - spot the pattern here?<br>Jenquai Defender - Warrior/Explorer<br><br>Grouping is actively encouraged - not only does it speed things up, the xp bonuses are tasty (40% bonus for 2 people, 80% for 3... haven't been in a bigger group yet) and each class brings a special ability to the group - reduced damage, lower energy use, greater chance at crits, etc. Better yet, these ability bonuses are cumulative, so there's no penalty for taking multiple people of the same class.<br><br>If you <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> do</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> pickup the game, I (and a couple of RL friends) are playing on the Pegasus server/galaxy. Drop me a line, name's Delwyn - Terran Enforcer. <p>Boppin<hr>Who me? I'm just <a href="http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.h ... 28">Boppin Along</a> <Wreckers><br>Sacrificial Assling Dr00d.</p><i></i>

[Daesun]

But is it the holy grail, multiplayer Elite?<br><br> <p><table><tr><td><a href="http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=48914" target="_blank"><img src="http://members.optushome.com.au/pdossett/daeface.jpg" border=0></a></td><td><font size = 2>Huntress Daesun Quenya - Warder of Tunare<br>Proud member of <a href="http://www.eqwreckers.com">Wreckers</a>, Tholuxe Paells</font><br><img src="http://members.optushome.com.au/pdosset ... </p><i></i>

[Boppin]

no wireframe grfx, kk, thx <p></p><i></i>

[Thoraf]

That looks pretty sweet. Whats the gameplay like? <br> <br>Thoraf <p></p><i></i>

[Daesun]

The Amiga version of Elite didn't have wireframe graphics.. and the Blue Danube sounded sweeeeeet. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br> <p><table><tr><td><a href="http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=48914" target="_blank"><img src="http://members.optushome.com.au/pdossett/daeface.jpg" border=0></a></td><td><font size = 2>Huntress Daesun Quenya - Warder of Tunare<br>Proud member of <a href="http://www.eqwreckers.com">Wreckers</a>, Tholuxe Paells</font><br><img src="http://members.optushome.com.au/pdosset ... </p><i></i>

[Boppin]

Gameplay, well being a space-combat sim freak, I'm a little disappointed with the control interface, but I can see that it was done for mass appeal, and is fairly easy to pickup.<br><br>The view is 3rd person, and you basically hold down the right mouse button to move forward, and just move the mouse pointer away from the center of the screen to give direction. Turning without thrusting can be achieved with the cursor keys, and thrust can be activated from the keyboard with the A & Z keys (forward and reverse respectively).<br><br>Movement on board space stations (when you appear as your character avatar) is the same as flying, but with no Z axis to worry about <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>Combat is as complex or simple as you want it:<br><br>- Target acquisition is by clicking in the display or using keyboard to cycle targets (including a "nearest" selection)<br>- If you don't want to manually fly after your target in combat, there's an auto-follow option, though manual control will give you better defensive positions from what I've found so far<br>- Weapons are on a "recharge/reload" timer system, you can manually fire, or set them on auto-repeat. Different weapons have different ranges, damage, accuracy and energy requirements. The rest of combat is based upon your weapon skills for hit/miss determination.<br><br>Trading is pretty straight forward, although there's no easy method for buying partial stacks of selectable items. Fortunately there's no delay in clicking the buy button like in EQ - it's as fast as your mouse finger can manage - grats Diablo verterans <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :D --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/happy.gif ALT=":D"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>Navigation over long distances is dead simple - click on a nav-point in the display or on the zoomable nav-map, then engage your warp drive and you'll automatically thrust to the destination. I imagine warp drive will disengage if you encounter hostile forces en route - I'm still in the newbie zones, so it's not an issue yet. They haven't been stingy at all with navpoints, though you may not see all of them the first time you enter a sector - visiting new nav points is one way you earn Exploration XP.<br><br>The game is divided up into Sectors (read: Zones) that you travel through stargates to get to (they look nothing like <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.stargate-sg1.com">Stargates</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :p --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/tongue.gif ALT=":p"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> but I guess they couldn't use <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://jumpgate.mightygames.com/">JumpG ... <!--EZCODE LINK END--> as the term <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> )<br><br>No PvP from what I understand, though I have heard rumours that: it may be added later; it's available in some of the very outlying sectors; it's not planned at all. Who knows.<br><br>The levelling treadmill is definitely apparent from the point of view of a 2-year EQ veteran, but it's nowhere near as painful as what I experienced in JumpGate (no pun intended, btw), and the rewards you get for levelling are more frequent, if less powerful, than in EQ (currently getting 1 skill point per level).<br><br>I'll add more comments as I think of them. <p></p><i></i>

[Thoraf]

Screenshots definitely showed lots of eye candy. The race/class combintations seemed very boring. <br><br>Not sure that the gameplay could hold me, even though I'm an old Elite fan, as well as X: BTF, and that other one I can never remember the name of, but you could get a 25 tonne hidden cargo hold, and could buy different ships. From Origin I think.<br><br>Thoraf <p></p><i></i>

[Boppin]

Wing Commander: Privateer perhaps? <p></p><i></i>

[Thoraf]

Yeah that's the one.<br><br>Thoraf<br><br>remember being dissapointed by privateer 2 or perhaps the other way around. damn my memory sucks <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

[Boppin]

probably the right way around.<br><br>Privateer 2 was less freeform than the original, had chunks of FMV for the storyline arc. You could still ignore the story and do the whole trader or mercenary thing, it was a bit more limited.<br><br>That being said, I <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> really</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> enjoyed Priv2 - unfortunately due to a hard disk crash I lost probably 100-150 hours of gameplay, and never found out how the storyline panned out <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :( --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/frown.gif ALT=":("><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

[Daesun]

Freelancer is still slated to come out... eventually..... probably...<br><br>It was good to go, then it got cancelled, then I think M$ bought it out.... not really sure, very confusing.. but apparently it's multiplayer Privateer with serious, SERIOUS eyecandy. The shots I've seen are gorgeous, and it does sound very Elite-ish. Not sure how they're going to deal with grief players, though. I can imagine having a gang of pirates hanging around near a system destroying everybody who's trying to focus on trading being very, very annoying.<br><br> <p><table><tr><td><a href="http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=48914" target="_blank"><img src="http://members.optushome.com.au/pdossett/daeface.jpg" border=0></a></td><td><font size = 2>Huntress Daesun Quenya - Warder of Tunare<br>Proud member of <a href="http://www.eqwreckers.com">Wreckers</a>, Tholuxe Paells</font><br><img src="http://members.optushome.com.au/pdosset ... </p><i></i>

[sakkath]

That's why traders have fast ships so they can run away. Or friends to back them up.<br><br>PvP is the best part of online gaming. <p><p><b><img src="http://www.metal.net.au/sakkath/headbang.gif"><a href="http://www.metal.net.au">www.metal.net.au</a><img src="http://www.metal.net.au/sakkath/headban ... </p><i></i>

[Mazia]

Aye where is the Multiplayer Elite<br>MOO3 is only just arround the corner all is not lost<br><br>Anyone play the X' series of games - poor Elite'esque type. Drove my wife mad with the ingame factory announcements<br><br>Talariardium! no more!!! <p></p><i></i>