It's been a while so it's all a bit fuzzy in my mind, but: Devs are in fire: I think it was before or during a convention, the OP meant to say that Bioware's developers were on fire, as in "on a roll". He was a good sport about the mostly good-natured teasing that followed in the thread too IIRC Satele Shan in the front or the back: Let's just say it had to do with how light/dark side alignment would affect, erm, "romancing", Satele Shan

Let's not forget devs are in fire. Also... Anyone remember that "Satele shan in the front or the back" thread that popped up at one time?

So say we all! Truthfully the acting does go a bit over the top in the drama for my tastes, but the show is still awesome. The epic and mysterious music reminds me of the Homeworld games. And its so hard to pick a favorite character... I always liked Helo, he's the nice guy who tries to do the right thing even in the worst of circumstances, and Chief Tyrol is also extremely interesting as a character.

RIP little orange pixel .

I am a happy backer of Star Citizen (I've missed Chris Roberts' games) but I only pledged 36 euro for the Aurora LN package, it felt like the best thing to do as, well, we don't have a game yet... I'd rather be cautious. 36 euro is not an amount I'd really cry over, and at worst I would have spoken with my cash in favor of space games. I will be very sad if the game flops or doesn't even make it to release, but I can only begin to imagine how those people who pledged thousands would react if they found SC to be bad

I tend to stick at nodes too when there's nobody or just one more player there. If there are more than two I will try to make myself useful elsewhere, but some games have passed with me doing nothing when the enemy for some reason does not attack my node. I believe that at least 2 people are needed at a green node at any given time. Sometimes you'll spend the game snoozing, other times you'll be clinging on by the skin of your teeth, other times you'll get steamrolled by a huge offensive

Keep a cool head... This is very important. I have much better games when I'm relaxed and thinking straight. In a calm state your situational awareness is greater, it's easier to see when you take damage (I used to find this difficult), you will shoot better, you will be less likely to crash into something, you will be less likely to make silly mistakes in general. Fix your controls - make convenient keybinds and maybe reduce mouse sensitivity. Toggle power! So important... If I hadn't been reading Dulfy's guides prior to early access I would probably not have bothered with this. It is crucial to manage your power well. I tend to power weapons when I have a clear shot at my enemy's six, my shields when being attacked in tight quarters or defending a node, my engines at all other times - but that's just me. Upgrade your ship to suit your playstyle, not per FOTM. You'll enjoy the game more. Don't just upgrade willy-nilly though - have a method to your madness. Practice a lot... It takes more than 2-3 games to learn GSF. It takes a few dozen games to become at least decent (I have something like a hundred games and consider myself average at best), and many hundreds to be really good. Don't be discouraged - some of the people you will be encountering have hundreds of hours in GSF as well as hefty upgrades. They will wipe the floor with both you and me with ease. Learn from them, upgrade your ship and bide your time.

I am casual too. I tend to play 2-3 matches a day, on very rare occasions do I get in more than 4 (I also haven't played in a week, good old MMO burnout is setting in again ). I still enjoy the game and do decently in it despite my average piloting skills (I go for objectives a lot). You need to take some time to learn the game. It is fairly chaotic when you're not used to it, everyone including great players like Dulfy has been there. Practice is important, as well as having a cool head. Take your time and ask advice of skilled players, I'm sure some of them (if not most of them) will be happy to help you. You will not simply play a couple of games and be good - it takes dozens of games to at least be decent, and even then you will have bad games sometimes. And also - you're only as good as the team behind you. Good teammates who know what they're doing will not outshine you - they will bolster your play, as you will bolster theirs. What makes me happy about GSF... I can be decent in it despite being casual and spending at most an hour a day on it. I have no max levels, never did a raid or warzone, never wanted to either - but I know I've managed to be a key player in some very close matches, and I know that even as a casual and average pilot I can still be a useful and contributing member of my team - as long as I play as well as I can. It'll get better if you find it fun enough to persist

No Sobchak? Thread is racist.

I had... forgotten we have copilots and crew in GSF I haven't bothered with the crew screen for ages, lol.

Why do people who play football like watching football on TV? Same thing IMO. Also, Let's Plays from skilled players can be quite helpful if one is having difficulty in a challenging game, plus the commentary can often be quite entertaining (there are many who are simply annoying but one can just avoid them). And it can be really nice to see longplays of a decade old game you had fun with, for nostalgia reasons! Additionally, many Let's Players like to receive feedback and tips based on their videos. Let's plays are fun for many of us And they beat television (sometimes).

I was considering it actually. I've heard that it's very buggy, but it can't be worse than Privateer 2 in that department (so many crashes...). I didn't like the first person parts in the stations (at least the ones I saw in a few let's plays), but space itself looked amazing and the combat seemed pretty decent.

Oh I'm not touchy in the least And I'm still very excited about Star Citizen and will continue to be so until a) it's finally out and proves to suck (always a possibility) or b) it is indeed vaporware, which will make me rather sad as I've been longing for a modern Privateer for years but in the end it's just a videogame. Elite Dangerous is sort of around the corner too so I have other games to look forward to! We seem to agree fully on the other games you listed though! I loved Privateer so much... Privateer 2 was fun and all but very buggy, and whilst its world was quite crazy and fun it lacked that special something the first installment had. As for Freelancer, the space exploration was awesome but I was not very happy about the progression, nor the planetside portions - everything looked the same apart from the pirate planets like Crete and Malta. And the NPCs were atrocious... "Between ourselves, I have heard a rumor", yada yada yada. And I could never get into X. No leaving the ship, too much fleet stuff... I prefer being a lone pilot carving my way into a hostile galaxy in my trusty old ship than an empire builder. Edit: here's a for ya... The guy jabbers on a lot but it sure is a trip down memory lane

Where to begin. - Chris Roberts is a well respected figure in the gaming industry. His games made quite an impact back in the day. He has made a lot of successful games, all (well, the ones I played because I did miss some of them) of which I grew up with and enjoyed. So he is definitely not a random nobody, and his games were the reason I took a leap of faith and pledged money for the first time in my life. - We already have a working hangar module. It's not much - merely a hangar containing all the ships people have pledged for, which you can enter and interact with, and some fluff like a shooting range for some of the weapons. Pre-pre alpha stuff really. Funnily enough there is also a hidden level some crafty people discovered that actually allowed them to fly some of the ships when we're not supposed to And there is a dogfighting module to be ready in spring (they are releasing the alpha in modules) - Do you think it did not cross my mind that this could be a scam? I didn't pledge for over a year because it all seemed too perfect, too good to be true. I was waiting until we had something more tangible in our hands. Players got the hangar module, I took the leap of faith. - 36 Euros is a small amount of disposable income I'd probably have blown on coffee and beer anyway. So worst case scenario, I lose 36 Euros, big deal (some people have literally pledged THOUSANDS ). Best case scenario, I get two games in one (Squadron 42 and Star Citizen), access to alpha and beta, and the satisfaction of having contributed even just a little bit to the development of a game I've been waiting for for more than a decade. - I'd rather wager a small amount on a dream game by a man whose games I still love than give money every year for garbage like Call of Duty, Battlefield, FIFA, Madden and all that other generic crap publishers shove down our throats. No thanks - I'll pass. So no, I have not been duped. I know full well why I pledged money and was aware of the risk when I did so. You could be right, this could turn out to be the biggest vaporware scam we've ever seen. I always have that thought in the back of my head. But if it is not (which I believe at this point), I will remember you, and will invite you to enjoy the 'verse with me when the game is ready

I'd like collisions and friendly fire, but I am positive it would be abused by trolls and and in addition not be fun for the non-space sim fans (probably the vast majority of SWTOR players).

As a person who enjoys leveling in RPGs, I must say I consider SWTOR to be better in that respect due to the focus on storytelling and the voiced quests - not to mention I like the SW setting obviously. I also enjoy exploration, but sadly WoW feels too illogically segmented and weirdly scaled, and SWTOR feels too linear. Combat wise I feel like WoW is much smoother but SWTOR's abilities have more "oomph". Both are pretty boring though, I am not a fan of tab targeting and trinity play. I hate MMO endgame with a passion (discovered so in WoW) and have no max level in TOR so I can't pass judgement here. In my opinion MMOs tend to be rather average games that rely on their multiplayer aspect to make up for that mediocrity, and neither of these games are exceptions - however I consider SWTOR to be better due to its story - and also GSF has added a gameplay element I find enjoyable.

It's not a bad game, gets quite grindy though. I played it quite a bit as I enjoyed wandering around the world doing stuff. I must say though that after the opening zones, the areas get progressively less interesting. And Orr - the max level zone - is just ugh. I got really sick of all the damn zombies in the game. It had some good ideas at least for people who want to play casually, quite a few conveniences, no subscription and pretty fast-paced and fun combat (I liked the lack of the holy trinity but unfortunately it sort of felt like the other extreme - too chaotic, not enough planning and tactic). The main reason I quit it was that I didn't find the setting, story or characters appealing in the slightest (apart from a couple of fun characters). It's the kind of game I'd hop into when I want a quick fix of action-RPG fun, but not one I ever felt genuinely immersed in.

Chris Roberts made the Wing Commander/Privateer games back in the 90s, as well as Starlancer and Freelancer. Quite a few people grew up with his games, myself included, and hence are extremely excited about his new project

Some tips that work towards improving: - Stay frosty - if you play calmly you will not only shoot better, you will also be more aware of your surroundings (as well as ship damage which is sometimes easy to neglect), you'll crash into things less often, you won't misclick or waste abilities. Think on your toes but don't be hasty. It's very important. - Manage your power - very important. I tend to power my weapons when shooting at people, my shields when receiving damage in tight areas or defending a point, and my engines at basically any other time (I play scouts mostly). - Don't shoot wildly - pay attention to your targeting UI and blaster power. - Adjust your controls - lower mouse sensitivity and maybe change your keybinds. What I find most comfortable is to bind targeting to my mousewheel (I have wheelup for closest, wheeldown for enemy hitting me, wheelclick for target under reticule) and power switching to mouse buttons (note: I use a Naga so I've bound 1 to weapons, 2 to shields, 3 to engines and 4 to default, but you could easily use your other mouse buttons + shift modifier for that). Kept my actives at q,e,r,f. - Don't get drawn into long fights - stay near the nodes. You are useless to your team if you're off chasing a random scout halfway around the map. Chances are, he's listening to Yakkety Sax and laughing while you vainly chase him around. - Find the playstyle that suits you. I personally prefer fast and nimble scouts, but your niche could be sniping people with a gunship. And don't bother with "FOTM" setups if they don't suit your playstyle. It's a game and meant to be fun! Just choose your ship according to your playstyle and build it up to bolster it. - Keep an eye on the map, see where you can be more useful. GSF is a team effort even if you're in a solo match. - Practice and persistence pay off. It will take a while but you'll get better. Good luck!

Whilst I would have probably done this if I were a developer seeking to nerf DF, I think we should wait for the bombers to be released. From what I have read they are going to completely change GSF as they seem to be quite the counter to scouts already (haven't been on the PTS though so I can't say for sure).

If it's on a PvP server it's fair game. I'll have to go with the "should have gone PvE" crowd for this. On a PvE server though it is unacceptable.

This reply also goes to TUXs. I'd rather wait for Star Citizen and Elite: Dangerous mate, that style of game is closer to what I want in a space game - especially Star Citizen (E: D looks much grander and more realistic but also a bit too impersonal and possibly could end up being a bit tiresome). I chose GSF because it's part of TOR - and I did want better space combat within TOR itself, which GSF did deliver to an extent. I agree fully both with you and TUXs that there is a lot of room for improvement, but if BW abandons GSF we won't get it...

I'm sure I'm not the only one here massively excited about Chris Roberts' new baby I have only pledged 36 Euros so far (Aurora LN package) but I'm really longing for the game... I am also looking forward to Elite: Dangerous, but I think SC is more my style of game.

I can understand that Being on a PvP server one should expect this so your reaction is warranted. Sorry if I got a bit snappy, I think I should sleep it off a bit

I am actually a fan of mongrels... They are always a surprise package, you never know what you'll get And they tend to be very bright. Plus the situation with strays is bad here in Greece so if I get a dog again it will be from a dog shelter, a needy, lonely animal in need of a home and kindness <3 I'm not considering getting one yet... My life is too unstable ATM, my house is far too small and I wouldn't be able to devote the time and attention it requires... And I don't think I could handle the pain its death causes you at this point...