Elite Dangerous or Eve Online for Newbie

[thane108]

I've just completed my first build from scratch - a bucketlist item I saved for when I retired.

The build is game worthy - I54690K, 16 gig ram, Asus GTX 970 Strix.

So I want to get into gaming to see if its something that I would enjoy. I'm not into point and shoot, I would like a game that would make good use of my graphics card. Something of the quality you see in Heaven Benchmark or Valley Benchmark.

I suspect I would enjoy most one the space exploration games and I've been looking at Elite Dangerous and/or Eve Online.

I'm currently using a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard and a Kensington track ball, though I'm thinking about purchasing either a joystick or gaming mouse.

Suggestions for a game of the sort described above would be appreciated, and please let me know if I need to add a joystick or game mouse.

[Korth]

Elite: Dangerous is attractive to me because I much enjoyed the ancient Apple II+ version in my shady youth.

EVE is unattractive to me because it has evolved too many elements of the MMO playstyle/culture which I find distasteful. Subscription gaming is a money sink and Pay-to-Win seems to invariably attract the most noxious peers the internet can offer.

Both of these games are best played with a joystick/flightstick, not mouse and keyboard.

Other classic games from this genre are FreeSpace, Privateer, and Wing Commander.

[thane108]

Thanks, Korth - Very helpful. I'll take a look at Elite and start looking at joysticks. Suggestions?

I glanced at your build - two 980s! How do you use all that horsepower?

[Korth]

lol, sadly, the most use I've gotten from my cards is complex computes in MATLAB, CAD, SPICE - GPGPU sorta stuff, and a little litecoin testrun stuff. Work keeps conspiring to prevent me from having time to play games, but I'm looking forward to extreme fps on my Swift, one day.

Sadly, it seems like joysticks have settled down into niches: you can get cheap easily-broken junk for up to $50, or you can get mega-overkill milspec flight controls for $300+, but you can't get a lot else in between. A lot of guys go overboard building what amounts to being full cockpit simulators, but that's obviously not necessary. Some people are satisfied with gamepad controllers.

So-called "z-axis" or "twist" control is important in these sorts of games. Elite: Dangerous apparently has full roll-pitch-yaw flight controls, so you'd be at a disadvantage flying around a lot without proper joystick controls.

My plan is to buy something cheap or used, then mod/rebuild it into a more robust model after it breaks. Most joystick failures appear to be caused by electrical failures (bad switches, overflexed wires, etc) or from cheap plastics. If I keep upgrading broken parts instead of repairing broken parts then sooner or later nothing else will break.

[thane108]

I think you are living in a slightly different universe to the one that I inhabit. I really never got past BASIC. Just a consumer.

Thanks for info about joysticks - again, very helpful.

I was reading online that some gamers (mostly in England) have DIY headsets that can control the screen view (by turning to the left or right). They don't sound too difficult to construct and not that expensive to purchase. I might have a look.

[thane108]

Ended up getting Elite Dangerous, T.Flight Hotas X, voice attack with Astra, and EDTracker that I soldered together with a kit that came from the U.K.

Very pleased - thanks.

lol, sadly, the most use I've gotten from my cards is complex computes in MATLAB, CAD, SPICE - GPGPU sorta stuff, and a little litecoin testrun stuff. Work keeps conspiring to prevent me from having time to play games, but I'm looking forward to extreme fps on my Swift, one day.


Sadly, it seems like joysticks have settled down into niches: you can get cheap easily-broken junk for up to $50, or you can get mega-overkill milspec flight controls for $300+, but you can't get a lot else in between. A lot of guys go overboard building what amounts to being full cockpit simulators, but that's obviously not necessary. Some people are satisfied with gamepad controllers.

So-called "z-axis" or "twist" control is important in these sorts of games. Elite: Dangerous apparently has full roll-pitch-yaw flight controls, so you'd be at a disadvantage flying around a lot without proper joystick controls.

My plan is to buy something cheap or used, then mod/rebuild it into a more robust model after it breaks. Most joystick failures appear to be caused by electrical failures (bad switches, overflexed wires, etc) or from cheap plastics. If I keep upgrading broken parts instead of repairing broken parts then sooner or later nothing else will break.

[Antronman]

Neither.

The developers of Elite Dangerous are thieves, and EVE is...EVE.

If were you I'd buy a Star Citizen ship. There's a concept design sale right now, actually.

[ZiggZagg]

Hi all. I've been playing Elite: Dangerous for about a year now. I purchased the "Horizons" add on last Christmas and the game is a blast. It may have too steep of learning curve for some but I'm like the op.... that is I enjoy immersing in a game and thinking my way threw and this one allows both of these in extremes. I used to play it with a Logitech 3D extreme Pro joystick but now use an X-Box controller; massive difference in overall control, fingertip accuracy and fine tuned "surgical" control. My machine is an ASUS ROG G750JX with the GTX770m graphics card sporting 3 gigs of memory and 20 gigs of system memory. It's plenty fast (50-60 fps avg.) and runs at approx. 72*c and that's using "pegged" settings in the game.

If you like strategic gaming with plenty of dog fighting and beautiful space graphics try the game

ZiggZagg

[jediknight16]

The best game is Star Citizen ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlIWJlz6-Eg

[shadragon]

Elite is on sale on Steam at the moment and is a decent price. I have three accounts with them and with 2,200 hours of total play it's my favorite game.

They introduced planetary landings last December and there is much more to come. There is a decent review here: http://sjparkinson.com/blog.html

Elite Dangerous does not hold your hand. There are tutorials (and I STRONGLY suggest you do them before getting into the game.) Play in Solo or a Private Groups like Mobius before you venture into Open play with 1.45 million others. There are people in Open who will shoot you up, just to watch you burn.

If you have Oculus Rift or Vive you will LOVE this game.

It is available on PC, Mac and XBox.

PS. Someone mentioned Star Citizen. Note the trailer they posted is over four years old, the game is in pre-alpha and is not expected for another 1-2 years, if it ever comes out. More recent game play footage can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc-...Z2EC_Bk8MRgcFQ