Elite: Dangerous - Design Decision Forum

[Gimi]

Elite: Dangerous - Groups

Skinny of the player grouping system from FD (This has already been posted to the DDF archive on the Frontier Forums).

Hello you lovely backers!

Here's the skinny on our player grouping system. It's been through the DDF (thank you!) and internal debate. Have a gander.

The usual caveat applies - any paper design is bound to change during implementation/as issues ariese - these documents are statements of intent.

Groups

A player can only exist in one of the following groups at a time:

• All Players Group– Players in this group will be matched with each other as much as possible to ensure as many human players can meet and play together
  • A player’s Friend List and Ignore List is used automatically to indicate preferences in match making so that friends will be matched instead of others if a choice exists(though this is a fuzzy system so there are no guarantees)
    • E.g. In a nearly full session a player with more friends in the session than that of another arriving at the same time would mean the first player getting in and the second spawning a new session instead
  • Players can use an option to indicate they would like friends of friends to be included in the preference system described above (which basically expands their friends list for the purposes of preferences under the hood only)
  • Players playing on ‘Iron Man’ mode will only be matched with other ‘Iron Man’ mode players
• Private Group – Players in this group will only be matched with other players in the same private group
  • Players can create their own private group and invite people into it
    • To help facilitate inviting players into a private group, players can be indicated as friends in game and can be selected easily for sending invites out too
    • Any player can be invited into a private group regardless of friend status so player name searching and direct in-game selection is possible
    • A player who accepts such an invite will be removed from their current group upon the next hyperspace jump and be placed in the private group of the inviting player
    • A player who refuses such an invite will remain in whatever group they were already in and the option to ignore future requests from that player during the current gaming session is presented
    • Players can only invite other players of the same type (normal, iron man) to a group
  • Players can save private group settings including players to invite to allow quick selection and set up of groups
  • A player can set an option to allow friends to “quick join” into their private group
    • They can change this option at any time
    • Players will be able to see on their friend list that other friends are in private groups and that some may have a symbol indicated they’re free to “quick join” into the group without needing an invite
    • The “quick join” option can be extended to allow friends of friends in freely also
  • A player wishing to join another player’s private group will have to message them asking for an invite as there is no way to formally request admission into the group
    • Players will thus typically set the “quick join” option if they don’t want the hassle of their friends having to message them when they want to join in with the group
  • Only the original private group creator can invite others into their group. They can also do the following:
    • Kick other players out of the group
    • Disband the group resulting in all the other players entering their own individual private groups with “quick joining” disabled (gives them the opportunity to play solo or decide to join the all players group)
    • Pass their leadership and thus all these options to someone else in the group
    • Upon disconnecting, logging off or leaving the group automatically passes leadership to the oldest private group member, i.e. the first player to accept an invite into the group that is still present
  • When creating a group the player creating it can decide how the group will react to crimes committed by players while in the group
    • The player can decide to either count only crimes committed against other players, or against AI ships
    • The player can decide if a player who earns a bounty is either kicked back into the all players group, or can be kept in the private group
• Solo Group – Players in this group won’t be matched with anyone else ever (effectively a private group with no one else invited) with the following properties:
  • Players in this group are effectively indicating they want to be left alone and not disturbed by anyone else
  • By default group and friend invites are ignored but this can be enabled if desired
  • By default a player’s online status is hidden (set to offline) from others but this can be change if desired
  • A player in this group can still see when other friends come online and can message them
  • A player in this group can still receive messages from friends (possibly revealing the fact that they are online by virtue of return messages but still indicated as being offline)

As described above a player also has a Friend List that they can manage which helps facilitate inviting players into private groups and allow preferences to be taken into account when joining sessions:

• A player can request friendship with others
  • An accepting player will add themselves to the player’s friend list as well as adding the player to their own list as well
  • A refusing player will remain off the other player’s list and the option to ignore future requests from that player during the current gaming session is presented
• A player can remove a friend from their list at any time and such removal will also take them off that friends list at the same time
• Requesting a friendship can be done inside and outside of the game client
• Friends will be matched with each other as much as possible when entering new sessions
  • If a choice needs to be made between which players to allow access to a session the player with the most friend influence will trump a neutral or ignored player
• Players Friend lists are based on player accounts, not player characters

A player also has the option to add players to an Ignore List which does the following:

• Removes any friendship between the players automatically (players can’t be friends with players they ignore)
• Ignores all communication from them in game
• Ignores any friend requests from them
• Is active across multiple gaming session until changed by the player (this is different from the options presented in the above sections as they only last as long as the current gaming session)
• People on others ignore lists will not be favoured if a choice exists when match making players together
  • If all players in a session have the same player ignored then that player will never be able to join that session
  • If at least one player is neutral or friends with the ignored player above then they will be able to join that session providing there is no better suited players trying to get in at the same time when only one slot is available
• If a person earns a bounty their ignore list and friend preferences won’t affect matchmaking, and bounty hunters will still be able to encounter the player, even if the bounty hunter is on the player’s ignore list
• If a player is in a session with another player on their ignore list they will still receive messages relating to that players in game actions and pre-canned dialogue, such as declarations of piracy
• If a player follows another player’s hyperspace trail, the ignore rules cannot be applied to them. The players will join their next session as a group
• Players Ignore lists are based on player accounts, not player characters

In addition to the groups presented above a player can be a part of an Alliance with other players. This is a separate entity that operates within the boundaries of whatever group the players are in:

• A player can only ever be in a single alliance at a time
• Alliances allow players to indicate trust between themselves so they:
  • Can freely jettison and pick up cargo between themselves
  • Can fire upon each other without criminal implications
  • Gain the same criminal fine/bounty if one or more other members commits a crime
    • This only occurs if the player is in the same vicinity as the player committing the crime
  • Have the ability to slave hyperdrive systems together to make travel easier
  • Get matched as a whole during slaved hyperspace travel and if not possible spawn in their own instance at a location rather than splitting the alliance up
• Alliances in the all players group allow those in the alliance to come across other human players as normal except the game is explicitly trying to keep the alliance together when they arrive at the same location through match-making
  • This is in addition to the normal preference system and operates by giving a much higher weighting to alliance members when determining preferences over friends for example
• Alliances in a private group would only meet other players in that private group
  • Depending on the size of the group, players may typically be in an alliance with everyone else in the private group but multiple alliances can exist in a larger private group if desired
• Creating an alliance is handled exactly the same way as creating a private group with the caveat that anyone in the group can invite other players (including non-friend players) into the alliance and no one is the leader
  • In the all players group any player can be invited into the alliance by any alliance member
  • In a private group only the players in the private group can be invited into an alliance by alliance members
  • Players can vote to kick an alliance member out of the alliance
    • After a set time limit the vote is closed and the majority is taken to decide the outcome unless all members have already voted or the required number of votes is reached
  • Players can leave freely of their own accord
• Any criminal status or reputation earned as a consequence of other alliance members behaviour is kept after leaving an alliance

[/color]

[Cody]

The galaxy map thingy, as described, sounds interesting.

[Wolfwood]

Those private groups seem to work very much differently to what I was expecting. I thought that you could set up a private group and basically log off and come back and you would always automatically be in that group - meaning that they are not transient, but permanent groups - always there for you to return to.

I was hoping to have such a group for us Ooliteers, for example...

[Selezen]

I thought that was the case...

Players can save private group settings including players to invite to allow quick selection and set up of groups

It might be worth asking for some clarification on it, actually.

[Wolfwood]

I thought that was the case...

Players can save private group settings including players to invite to allow quick selection and set up of groups

It might be worth asking for some clarification on it, actually.

Yes, but that would still require them to reset the group every now and then. Only the group leader has the possibility of inviting members, is the way I read it. I was hoping for a system where you could log back on a week after your previous session and you would automatically join the group that you were with during your last session without the group leader needing to invite you again.

[Gimi]

Next topic up for discussion in the DDF.

“And so they sailed off into the ledgers of history!” Pirates in Elite: Dangerous

Yarr, me shipmates, shiver me timbers, it be time to discuss the life of a pirate!

The path of the pirate in Elite: Dangerous is a veritable powder magazine; this adversarial role sails very close to the griefing winds. However, it’s integral to the game, and potentially a great source of interesting adventures if we get it right.

Key Characteristics of the Pirate

• They make profit by selling cargo taken surrendered to them or taken by force
• They choose their targets without regard of any authority and so lead the dangerous life of an outlaw
• They don't necessarily want to destroy their prey, they want to relieve it of its cargo as efficiently as possible
• They naturally need some way of carrying cargo, either personally or as part of a pirate fleet
• They tend to favour all-rounder ships, as they have many different needs: speed to run down prey and elude the authorities, firepower to intimidate or subdue their prey and cargo space to carry the ill-gotten plunder

Being a Skilled Pirate

• Like traders, the best pirates are intimately aware of trade routes and current events that might affect the value of trade goods
  • This knowledge extends into knowing how to trade on stolen goods through fences, or get cargo histories "wiped"
• Pirates are skilled in technical combat - a destroyed target means less booty and more interest from the law
  • The ability to wage non-lethal combat and effective psychological warfare are key skills for the pirate
• Knowing when to cut your losses and run is a very useful skill; as an outlaw, straight forward tasks such as ship repairs and maintenance can be more difficult/expensive than for the law abiding spacefarer
• Managing threat effectively is a vital skill for the pirate that wants his/her beard/hair-do to grow long and white - the best pirates minimise bounties and are constantly roving to spread the interest in them as thin as possible

So as you can see, we think there's a lot of hard work and interesting decisions to be dealt with for the would be dread pirate, but what do YOU think? What awesome possibilities for pirates are we missing, what dangerous conundrums should they be struggling with (and what dangerous conundrums are we going to be struggling with by having this adversarial role in multiplayer), and what specific procedures and equipment would you like to see?[/color]

[Disembodied]

Blackmail/protection rackets spring to mind ... traders might pay money to be left alone - or even escorted by one set of outlaws through the territory of another set of outlaws (who may, or may not, actually all be part of the same gang). A big enough gang might even be able to extract blackmail/protection money from a small enough system government, to "keep the lanes clear". Gangs and territories - and gang warfare - come to mind as other aspects of the pirate life.

Outlying systems might come to an understanding with pirates: by not caring where goods come from, they could boost their own trade (North Carolina was notorious for this sort of behaviour in the 17th and 18th centuries, welcoming the cheap goods that piracy brought in).

[Gimi]

Another finalised topic from FD

Elite: Dangerous - Newsfeeds

Hello!

Another finalised topic for you to look at before we archive it away in a few days. Thanks for all the feedback on the previous proposals.

Cheers,
-Mike

GOALS

• Provide the player with useful and relevant information about the game world
• Present that information in a varied and interesting fashion
• Immerse the player in the game world
• Be extensible to allow for extra content/features as the game develops

BASIC SYSTEM

• Newsfeeds in Elite: Dangerous display the latest in-game events to the player
• The newsfeeds system revolves around two core elements:
• Events
  • Events are things that happen in the game world.
  • These can come from:
    • Direct player action
    • Galaxy Simulation
    • The Event Injection System
• Channels
  • Channels are the presentation layer for the event.
  • Channels determine what news items are displayed and how the news item is reported.

EVENTS

• Events are the data for the newsfeeds
• Events are scored based on the relevance to the player
• Events affecting them or people on their friends list, or relating to a nearby location, will be scored more highly
• The player is able to adjust the threshold at which events are shown per category (probably as ‘low’, ‘medium’ and ‘high’).
• Events are organised into types, a summary of types is provided below:
  • Player Driven
    • Mission completion – this would be filtered by some value so only significant missions are reported
    • Major kills – destroying a highly ranked opponent (human or NPC) would be a newsworthy event
    • Player death – the death of highly ranked players would be a news item
    • Career events – for example collecting bounties, major trades or exploring a new system
    • Ranking – major ranking increases, prioritising players known to our player
    • Opening/discovery of a new dark system enabling a new trade route
  • Player Indirect
    • Traffic – unusually high or low numbers of visitors
    • Piracy – piracy and anti-piracy stats for region
    • Economy – Prices up/down, surpluses and shortages
    • Stability – function of crime and clean up rates
    • Political – changes to laws in a system (can be as a result of a civil war etc)
  • Injected
    • Background Simulation
    • Major events- these may have their own templates
      • Famine
      • Civil war (What’s so civil about war anyway?)
      • Stability
      • Major military movements or interdiction of a system
      • New space station or city construction

CHANNELS

• The channel decides what news items are available from the events list and how they are presented.
• The channels allow us to create newsfeeds specific to player’s interests as well as more general news. Here are some example channels.
  • Imperial Times – The flagship Imperial newsfeed, it features high profile stories focused on the Empire.
  • FNN (Federation News Network) – One of many Federation news channels.
  • The Daily Hunter – Bounty hunter related news.
• Each inhabited system will have a procedurally generated local news channel for reporting only local events.
  • Certain channels may be tagged so that they are only available in certain systems
• To be considered is the possibility of including some mark-up in the templates to allow branding and visual distinction between the different channels, but this may be considered for future updates.

ACCESSING THE NEWS FEEDS

• Newsfeeds are accessed from the player’s cockpit. There is the direct interface part of the tertiary screens as well as hooks via the galaxy maps for accessing news feeds for different systems.

EXAMPLE NEWS ITEM
Here are two different example stories using the same event but different templates:

Daily Lave
Pirate Menace Struck a Blow
Today a blow was struck against pirate forces when police engaged and killed the known pirate RedBeard. In a statement the local Trader’s representative said “This is wonderful news. Traders throughout the system will all rest easy knowing RedBeard won’t be out there waiting for them on their next run.”

The Daily Hunter
Lave bounty update – RedBeard taken down!
Another pirate bit the dust in Lave today when the infamous RedBeard was taken down in a furious battle. Although the bounty was relatively small the traders of Lave will be feeling safer today.
Players will have control of detail – to show stories just in headline form, or in more detail (by expanding them), to show them in full as above.

ADVERTS

• Adverts are content added to channels to provide colour and variety. They should also add some humour as seen in the previous games. They also add authenticity and depth by expanding the fiction in the universe.
• These come in two forms:
  
  • Authored - Adverts that have been authored (we can get the fans involved in this as well as write them internally, and possibly include real ones adjusted for the fiction).
  • Procedural - These are template adverts that are used to generate ads for local commodities. For example Lavian Brandy, these are generated from the same system to create local specialities, along with a variety of templates to reduce repetition.

[/color]

[Gimi]

Finalised proposal for Communication Interaction from FD

Elite Dangerous - Communication Interaction

This is the finalised proposal for Communication Interaction, thanks for all your input on this one!

Summary

• Ships in the Elite Dangerous galaxy communicate through text “comms” messages and audio (player to player only – initially at least)
• These can be quick messages granting permission to dock, or long exchanges debating a mission or deal
• There will be two types of communication interaction in the game: player to player and player to NPC

Player to Player

• Players can lock onto and hail any other player’s ship that is not ignoring them
• Players can also select players from their friends list to open up direct communications with
• Players can accept or decline communications
• They have three ways of communicating:
  • They can choose to type messages to each other freely
  • Voice chat
  • Preconfigured messages
    • These will cover all common interactions between players like asking for assistance, offering trade and declaring piracy
    • These will allow players to carry out deals and agreements quickly and easily by picking presets
    • New preset options will arise from having higher reputation values in certain areas

Player to NPC

• Talking to NPC would be handled entirely by the preset messages system.
• Conversations happen either when the player hails an NPC and they respond and vice versa
• Players will choose from a number of options and the NPC will automatically respond, they will take reputation into account when deciding their response.
  • Reputations can also affect the general tone of interaction with a particular type of NPC, a trader being hostile to a pirate for example.
  • New conversation options can become open to the player as their reputation values change, this could include options to bluff, bribe and haggle.
• Choices made in these interactions will have real consequences for gameplay, each choice could have a different outcome in terms of gameplay.
• Lack of response (usually 5 seconds) will also be considered a message by an NPC.

Visual Communication

• Players can apply directive visual tags to ships they have targeted, that can then be seen by other players. These tags can convey the following messages
  • Attack this ship/station
  • Defend this ship/station
  • Scan this ship

Abusive Language

• There should be a local abusive language filter that hashes out certain words that appear in messages from other players

[/color]

[Gimi]

Updated Bounty Hunter proposal from FD.

"I like the way you die, boy" Updated Bounty Hunters in Elite: Dangerous

I've had a go through the Player Role: Bounty Hunter proposal, hopefully its now a bit clearer and detailed. On the whole I think this topic is in a good place but this updated proposal will give you guys a bit more of an opportunity to think on the subject.

Key Characteristics of a Bounty Hunter

• They hunt and destroy ships to collect their bounty reward
• They travel large distances to track down targets and prefers ships with a large hyperspace range to help them do so
• When they attack a target they want to destroy them convincingly. They prefer taking better weaponry over heavy armour that might slow them down and limit their ability to chase targets
• Bounty Hunters prefer to improve the heat management and stealth ability of their ships to allow them to pull off kilss more effectively.
• They benefit from having advanced scanners, this improves their ability to locate the targets they are hunting down and to locate weaknesses
• They work towards the biggest and best weaponry, going for effectiveness and heat efficiency wherever possible, they finance these upgrades with bounty money
• The best Bounty Hunter ships and equipment are top of the line and expensive to match, but the rewards can be large. However, we do intend to make sure their overall profit gain is balanced against other player roles.
• The role/path of Bounty Hunter is not formalized by the game in any way, just like other roles. You do not need to choose a role or progress down a traditional unlock tree.

Bounty Hunter Progression

• The role of Bounty Hunter should be a career path not just an activity
• Players will be able to work their way from a beginner to a highly skilled
• There will be a series of modules and ships available to buy to reflect this progression that allow a bounty hunters to become more effective
• We can use NPCs to provide a variety of bounty targets that allow players to get started

Aspects of Being a Skilled Bounty Hunter

• Getting kills without response from the law
  • Ambushing targets when they are not in factional sanctuary
• Getting kills without taking damage
  • Making the best use of their weapons and stealth to finish a target before they can properly retaliate
• Killing targets with large bounties
• Planning kills in advance to take advantage of weak spots in a target
  • Using stealth to scan and weigh up a target before attacking to give them the advantage

Bounty Collection

• Player discovers a bounty:
  • By scanning another ship with the appropriate equipment to reveal that they have a bounty
  • By finding a bounty listed on the bulletin board, giving them a rough location
  • Players cannot legally collect bounties without scanning their target first to confirm they are attacking a ship with a bounty
• Once they have confirmed the ship they are targeting has a bounty they are free to engage
• Once they have killed their target they receive a bounty chip for that kill
• They can then return to a station and cash it in for the reward

[/color]

[Gimi]

New topic for discussion in the DDF, and a rather intresting one I think.

"Space is disease & danger wrapped in darkness" Exploring in Elite Dangerous

In Elite: Dangerous explorers are players who travel out into undiscovered areas of the galaxy, hoping to find previously undiscovered systems and locations. Explorers scan and record data wherever they go, and can sell that data on to various interested authorities. Explorers can also sell on data they have discovered to other players, allowing them to sell the co-ordinates of a valuable find to the highest bidder, or keep their discoveries to exploit for themselves.
Explorer players must discover different points of interest using different methods

• Explorer players’ main method of making money is through selling details of points of interest they discover
  • Points of interest players can discover include:
    • Star Systems
    • Dark Systems (systems without a star, but other features)
    • Stars
    • Planets
    • Asteroids, comets
    • Moons
    • Structures
    • Other Phenomena
  • These Discovered locations may include:
    • Secret Locations
    • Resources
    • Events/Missions (time limited and permenant)
    • Beauty spots (usually attached to other entities)
    • Messages/Beacons
• Players explore to build up the details on their galaxy map
  • When starting a new commander the player will have some details on their galaxy map
    • This will allow the player to travel to any locations they have map data to, without having to explore
  • Players can buy map data from authorities to expand their ships computers library of maps
    • New map data will allow the player to travel to new locations without needing to explore
    • Map data that is bought from authorities is not to the highest level of detail and can be improved with player gathered data
    • Map data includes hyperspace routes to systems and major points of interest in that system
• Players can use scanning equipment and probes to detect systems and record new hyperspace routes
  • Scanners are used to detect any nearby systems that are within the players jump range
    • Scanners will give the player a vague indication of the direction of a system
    • High end scanners can give the player a better details of the system they have detected (is it a star, an asteroid field etc.)
  • Players can then launch hyperspace probes that will give the player more information on the part of space they are looking at
    • Probes will give the player heat-map style data to help guide the player to the correct co-ordinates for a jump
    • Different probe ammo can provide different information, or react based on objects in the target system
  • Using the data they have gathered the player must align their ship as best they can with the target system and activate the hyperdrive to jump to the system
    • The player’s ship records data of any successful jumps the player makes
    • The pilots federation will always pay players for the first successful jump they make using the exploration method (If the player bought the map data for the jump they cannot sell the data), even if the player is not the first person ever to make the jump (the pilots federation use the data to improve their telemetry and keep maps up to date)
    • If the player is the first person to ever make the journey they receive a bonus for discovering the hyperspace route
    • The closer the player lines up their jump to the target system, the higher quality the data the players ship will gather on the jump. Higher quality data is worth more money when sold to authorities
  • If a player’s jump is not accurate enough they may suffer a miss jump
    • Longer distance jumps require a higher level of accuracy
    • A systems contents may also affect how accurate a players jump must be to avoid mis-jumping

• Players use scanners to detect points of interest within systems
  • The player’s scanners detect various points of interest around the player
    • It takes time for players scanners to detect points of interest
    • Player’s proximity to a point of interest can affect the time it takes to detect
    • Players ship facing can affect the time it takes to detect a point of interest (e.g. pointing my ship at a undiscovered point of interest will allow me to scan it faster)
  • Different types of points of interest can require different player actions to detect
    • For example to detect a mineral rich formation of asteroids the player must launch probes around an asteroid field
    • The probes provide a cross section from their perspective of the asteroid field they’re launched at
      • Each additional probe the player uses provides more details on the target asteroid field
    • The player uses their scanner to view the data from the probes, and must tag the areas with the highest concentration of minerals in the field
    • Once this process is complete the point of interest is completed
      • The quality of the players scan of the area affects the value of the data
      • The quality of the player’s scan can affect the amount and type of materials found in the asteroids

Players can sell information they have gathered to other players as well as authorities. This is done through a trade interface similar to the trade goods trading interface. Players can sell hyperspace routes from their location to any single system they have explored to. The purchasing player then offers a price (this can be 0 if it is a gift), and if both players are satisfied they agree to the trade. Players can also trade in system data including locations of points of interest using the same method.
I’d like to gauge player interest in a community driven photography contest, which would be another way of explorers earning money.

• Players can take photographs (essentially screenshots) from their view ports (with and without cockpit and GUI etc)
  • Player photographs can be submitted to a regular photography contest
    • Players can only submit one photograph each
  • Players can vote on a selection of the best photographs
  • The player(s) who get the most votes wins the competition
    • The winner gets a (in game) cash prize (plus prizes for 2nd 3rd most weird etc.)
    • The photograph (and other user submissions) will be used in appropriate places in the game (billboards, news papers, etc.)

Players who decide to go exploring are jumping into the unknown, and without high end kit, often with little to no knowledge of the dangers they are jumping in to. Alongside the risk of encountering hostility when jumping to an unknown system, explorers scanners attract a lot of attention, generating lots of heat. Explorer ships will need to be prepared to face hostile activity when exploring, and players need to be ready to fight for their claims or run for their lives.

Issues
Will exploration remain interesting and profitable long term?
What other things can players discover in a system that have value to sell?
What could the scanning process be for those discoverables?
Will players risk scanning for hyperspace routes or just buy data?[/color]

[Wolfwood]

Issues
Will exploration remain interesting and profitable long term?
What other things can players discover in a system that have value to sell?

Overall, I think the exploration is one facet of the game that is in need of the upcoming "land on planets" and "walk around" add-ons. Once you can land on planets, you can discover all sorts of things beginning from exotic flora and fauna and ending in lost civilizations and ancient relics.

[Cody]

The explorer ideas are interesting...

Will players risk scanning for hyperspace routes or just buy data?

If/when I get as far as doing any exploration, I'd take the risk of scanning for routes.

It is difficult to predict how I'll play, long-term - which career-path I'll follow.
I won't have much idea 'til I've had the game for a while, but I'll not be a bounty-hunter!

[NigelJK]

In the past when exploring was for real the whole thing was set up by the authorities and you 'bought in'. The voyages of Darwin et al were bankrolled by the Navy and of course the participants got their 'cut' if anything interesting (aka Gold) was found.

Later the East India company (et al) used trade to build up 'the empire', they would float the 'risk' on the stock market and pay back in dividends if successful.

[Cody]

The Pi-troll has been inducing some heated discussion in the plebs forum - how does it fare in the PBF/DDF?