There is a single-player offline mode ?

[ZOMBIE 999 TP]

I'm thinking in buying this game, there is a single-player offline mode ?

[funkynutz]

Single player, yes (the option is called "solo" in the game menu).

Offline, no (there's some tutorials and stuff you can do offline, but the galaxy where you play the game is always online, even when you're flying solo).

[( ಠ‿ಠ )]

Live service title. Needs to be online at all times (except turotials), but otherwise you can play it entirely solo in said solo mode, or create a private group and can then invite only the peeps you want to play with.

The game has a story that happens in real time by way of events that happen in game. The devs can build the narrative through each month of service and can lead to things like new discoveries of alien worlds, alien invasions or new experimental equipment being developed. Not too far removed from what happens over in Helldivers 2 (and in the first game).

It is an MMO, and the game uses instances that cap the session's players to... hell I don't remember. 12 or 16 people at a time or something along those lines. If you play in 'open', you're playing on the servers in public with other people. Solo is you by yourself and any other ship you see is piloted by an NPC. Then there's the mentioned private group option, which is all NPCs except for yourself and any other players you invite into it directly.

Space is also vast and empty. Outside of the area of space called 'the bubble', where humanity has spread and colonized, there's so much empty space that it's extremely unlikely you come across any other players the farther you get away from the bubble. This serves as a setting for people to explore worlds and moons, and register your discoveries under your name, or just go looking for celestial bodies for the thrill of it. Want to travel to the supermassive black hole at the center of the milky way? You can do that. Want to see VY Canis Majoris up close? You can do that. Want to chase down the Voyager probes? Check.

There's also a 'background simulation' that occurs in the background of the game's galaxy. Players out there roaming in the black of space, making new discoveries and what not have that data tracked by the server, as well as with the game's economy and prices that shift with supply/demand.

[funkynutz]

Originally posted by M14:

It is an MMO, and the game uses instances that cap the session's players to... hell I don't remember. 12 or 16 people at a time or something along those lines.

It's not capped. The number of players in an instance is limited by the host PC and their internet connection... And the fact that there's 400 billion star systems, so without organising a meet up it will be rare to see more than a handful of players in most places.

I think the record is currently about 130 commanders in a single instance, on one of the DW tours. It's also not recommended, once you get too many commanders in a single instance, it's a lag fest.

[Planewalker]

Current record is 1K with help from the servers.

[Sighman]

The record might fall during the AXI event in HIP 22460 in about a week's time. I think 700+ have already signed up for it.

[funkynutz]

Originally posted by Planewalker:

Current record is 1K with help from the servers.

Holy fudge

[( ಠ‿ಠ )]

O<o;;

Yeah that's PS4 era me talking

[Buggy Boy]

There damn well ought to be a single-player offline mode, as well as local LAN and player-hosted options. If a player wants to play the powerplay / live event stuff then by all means connect to the Frontier servers for that, but it should be an option and not a requirement. They have the Legacy instance (which is the Elite galaxy as it was before Odyssey and the Thargoid event happened, which is entirely separate from the 'current' live service, but both Legacy and Live require connection to Frontier's servers so are still online-only. I think that Legacy option should become a blueprint for an entirely offline option, provided the player's gaming system is powerful enough to handle the system generation and background simulation (which shouldn't be all that demanding when there's only one player); heck, the game would probably run a lot smoother and faster if it was all local, I've been getting some stupidly long loading times when jumping to a new system or even just connecting to Frontier's servers to start a game, far worse than it was before Odyssey.

/grumble

[Sighman]

Originally posted by Buggy Boy:

There damn well ought to be a single-player offline mode, as well as local LAN and player-hosted options. If a player wants to play the powerplay / live event stuff then by all means connect to the Frontier servers for that, but it should be an option and not a requirement. They have the Legacy instance (which is the Elite galaxy as it was before Odyssey and the Thargoid event happened, which is entirely separate from the 'current' live service, but both Legacy and Live require connection to Frontier's servers so are still online-only. I think that Legacy option should become a blueprint for an entirely offline option, provided the player's gaming system is powerful enough to handle the system generation and background simulation (which shouldn't be all that demanding when there's only one player); heck, the game would probably run a lot smoother and faster if it was all local, I've been getting some stupidly long loading times when jumping to a new system or even just connecting to Frontier's servers to start a game, far worse than it was before Odyssey.

/grumble

Legacy is the same galaxy all the console players are in. Changes you make to the BGS in legacy can affect those commanders and vice versa. Your carrier is present in their game too.

It's a living galaxy. The only way to have that instead of static never-changing systems and factions is to run it on a server.

[Buggy Boy]

Originally posted by Sighman:

It's a living galaxy. The only way to have that instead of static never-changing systems and factions is to run it on a server.

But that 'server' can easily be paused or shutdown, it won't die, it'll just boot back up and be exactly as it was when paused / shutdown... if it's running on your own local gaming PC. Some other games that have persistent worlds can be configured to run on a local gaming PC (I've played a couple of them) so the same could be true for Elite, if the devs wanted to do it. If it's a single-player experience then it doesn't need to be on and running permanently. Also, when FDev decide to shutdown the Elite servers (which they will do eventually), if nothing changes then that will be the game gone, dead, nobody will be able to play it at all, and I think that would be a great shame and loss to the gaming community.

[Sighman]

Originally posted by Buggy Boy:

Originally posted by Sighman:

It's a living galaxy. The only way to have that instead of static never-changing systems and factions is to run it on a server.

But that 'server' can easily be paused or shutdown, it won't die, it'll just boot back up and be exactly as it was when paused / shutdown... if it's running on your own local gaming PC. Some other games that have persistent worlds can be configured to run on a local gaming PC (I've played a couple of them) so the same could be true for Elite, if the devs wanted to do it. If it's a single-player experience then it doesn't need to be on and running permanently.

But it's running on AWS servers with terabytes of data. We're not talking about a minecraft server.

[Buggy Boy]

Originally posted by Sighman:

But it's running on AWS servers with terabytes of data. We're not talking about a minecraft server.

I'm sure it could be simplified / refactored / optimised to reduce the footprint, and also there would only be one player so all of that multiplayer code and data would be unnecessary.

[Sighman]

Originally posted by Buggy Boy:

Originally posted by Sighman:

But it's running on AWS servers with terabytes of data. We're not talking about a minecraft server.

I'm sure it could be simplified / refactored / optimised to reduce the footprint, and also there would only be one player so all of that multiplayer code and data would be unnecessary.

How would that earn the company any money?

Why would anyone want a simplified version with no multiplayer, no progression, no events, no BGS, no powerplay, no thargoid war, nothing interesting that could kick off at any time?

The reason I keep playing Elite is because of the uncertainty. I have no idea what might happen in the galaxy next week, next month or next year.

[pit]

Originally posted by Sighman:

Originally posted by Buggy Boy:

I'm sure it could be simplified / refactored / optimised to reduce the footprint, and also there would only be one player so all of that multiplayer code and data would be unnecessary.

How would that earn the company any money?

Why would anyone want a simplified version with no multiplayer, no progression, no events, no BGS, no powerplay, no thargoid war, nothing interesting that could kick off at any time?

The reason I keep playing Elite is because of the uncertainty. I have no idea what might happen in the galaxy next week, next month or next year.

---

i would like a version with no multiplayer so i an play wherever at my own pace, like many games out there

[Sighman]

Originally posted by pit:

Originally posted by Sighman:

How would that earn the company any money?

Why would anyone want a simplified version with no multiplayer, no progression, no events, no BGS, no powerplay, no thargoid war, nothing interesting that could kick off at any time?

The reason I keep playing Elite is because of the uncertainty. I have no idea what might happen in the galaxy next week, next month or next year.

---

i would like a version with no multiplayer so i an play wherever at my own pace, like many games out there

Yep, but I repeat the same question: how would they justify doing all the work to make a single-player version, unless they could sell hundreds of thousands of copies of the game all over again, guaranteed?