Frontier 2.3 Beta Q&A Live Stream 21st March 2017 Notes

Ed Lewis and Sandro Sammarco (Blandro No Remmarco) talk to us about the 2.3 Beta!

Side note: Ed wants to re-affirm to us that FD love being as transparent as possible, but can we PLEASE understand that anything can change as development progresses.

• Ed will be forcing Sandy to have water and Custard Cream Breaks
• Usual Caveats and apologies if Sandy says don’t know / can’t comment etc
• Any chance for text only name plate
  • Yes but there are no free ones
  • Also the only way you can see someone else’s ship name
• Store only name plates
  • Store Only at the moment
• Will call signs change
  • No ETA / No Guarentee
• Can we block from main menu?
  • Nothing has chaged as far as Sandy knows
• Any discussions about comms panel colours?
  • Yes colours are changing – it’s in 2.4
• Will there be an option to hide the hud automatically in debug cam
  • Maybe as an option
• Will the planets cam be increased > 250 m
  • Sadly not it’s technical
• Can we remove the Bounding box and have a normal mesh
  • Sadly not at the moment
• Can we store cam positions
  • Not impossible but not yet
• Why was hyperspace debug cam removed
  • It wasn’t meant to be in the 1st pace and it’s easy to mess things up 🙁
• Why Dockable Megaships
  • Markets, Mission, Population, stepping stones to a brighter future!
• Can we dock on Capital Ships?
  • Might not happen because of scale, but might have Future idea
• Can mega ships be atacked
  • atm they are invulnerable but “more in the future”
• How important are mega ships?
  • very
• Will there be ice asteroid bases?
  • Nothign to announce at the moment
• Different kind of asteroid bases
  • Nothign to announce at the moment
• What is for 1.8
  • Ships names
  • missions
  • mega ships
  • asteroid bases
  • ship balancing
  • cam suite
• Helm control in multicrew?
  • At the moment no. there are tech issues regarding ship ownership and at the moment mc is focussed on Drop in Drop out. Maybe more things for crew to do at a later date.
• Will there by improvemnts to disconnects
  • Yes it’s an ongoing process and FD are working away hard on it.
• More GFX downgrades as part of 2.3?
  • REALLY????
• What BGS changes in 2.3?
  • it’s being looked at balancing pass
  • They are serverside so can be done ad-hoc
• How will mining work without a gunner? Can we link to scanners
  • Can be locked to forward
• Was the spoiler distress call MEANT to be in beta
  • “no comment”
• why are new cqc assets in 2.3 withotu gameplay
  • there is gameplay but just represent a building block
• Better outfitting / Shipyard to Colonia
  • it is being investigated
• Why is nav data not being retroactivly applied
  • Tech reasons – sorry 🙁
• Will we get space whales? (IJ Reilly)
  • Sandy would love them but no comment at the moment!
• Where is the dredger?
  • Not going to tell you
• PS4 will be in lockstep with PC version
• More hairstyles?
  • Maybe but no comment
• PS4 release date?
  • Q2 this year but that’s it
• Are FD angry that the location’s been found
  • Does sandy look angry?
• Faster SRVs?
  • Do we want to hit things and do more dmg when hitting a pebble 😀
• Harder SLF?
  • They are meant to be glass cannons
• Cannisters spawn further from USS to avoid crunching into them on drop down
  • Maybe
• Can NPCs be made harder?
  • FD are looking at ideas
• Full share of Bounties vs lone wolf?
  • FD are aiming for more group play this is one way to encourage it (sorry)
• Why does the Python have a higher masslock factor than a t9?
  • Bug needs rebalanced
• Can we reduce hull repair costs?
  • no. large ships can make money much easier. this is one way they balance it at the moment
• Will collonia have crash sites in game
  • Soon tm
• Fix for keyboard / mouse flight not movign hand
  • it’s in the list but low priority
• Can we add Caseopia A
  • Sandy doesn’t know sry
• Will Ram Tah’s scanner tech be extended for more features?
  • Mayyyybe nothign to announce
• Will star colours be updated for more data?
  • FD DO take temp in to account and try to balance between asthetics and science (listen to stream technical)
• Can scan visited be written to journal
  • Maybe later nice idea
• Summary about organic structure types?
  • Noooo
• Are fungal trees and other things tied to guardians
  • Steve says “no comment”
• FSD range tweaking?
  • Not at the moment fd are happy
• More complex routes? I.E. waypoints?
  • Nothing at the moment and good idea but hard
• Auto update of route after fsd boost
  • Maybe but nothing at tge moment
• Faster SC travel?
  • Nothing at the moment
• Future galaxies i.e. Andromeda?
  • Let’s stick the milky way for now
• Combined Surface / Detail scanner?
  • Maybe in future
• Comets / Acretion disks / Meteors
  • Love it no comment
• Orary Map
  • No comment
• Jumping between stars in system
  • FD haven’t come to a decision
• Multiple lightsources?
  • No comment at the moment
• FD don’t like the idea of downranking players
• will there be a trailer competion?
  • Sandy would love to see one?
  • Ed confirms that they WILL BE DOING A COMPETION FOR CAMERSUITE!
• Can more things be moved to frontend shader?
  • maybe
• Can we get > ultra?
  • Not sure
• motion controller tech?
  • No comment
• Virtual Keyboard
  • non trivial
• Does Cobra take advantage of multicore
  • yes it does
• improvments for vive
  • dunno
• console / pc crossplay?
  • cool concept and fd would love it but political and hard
• VR updates?
  • Sandy doesn’t know
• GPU Tessalation for planet gfx?
  • Sandy hasn’t got a clue!
• Mouse options and updates
  • Don’t know
• Will min specs increase with 3
  • Dunno but might but dont want to
• PS4 shareplay?
  • Dunno too early
• Differences between PS4 and PS4 Pro
  • Sandy is wrong person to ask 🙁
• C0bra 4 for PS4?
  • Don’t know sorry
• book mark tourest beacons?
  • good idea
• Dropable beacons?
  • Want it but later
• Improvement to bookmark organisation
  • Wants to say yes but can’t @ the moment
• Links between BGS and powers
  • Dont know
• NPC will be improved
• Voice to Text NPC messages?
  • it’s extensive and awesome but no plans
• Would life adapt over a planet
  • Maybe but please rem this is a game?!
• T1 NPCs?
  • No comment at the moment
• Can groups attract mega ships
  • It’s being discussed
• Will there be a tutorial to the BGS?
  • FD will be sending emails out to new players sayign welcome and providing resources to folks but want to work on accessibility
• Missions can now branch
• Juicy missions that require maybe a smaller ship?
  • Nothing at the moment
• Can Colonia have a CG slot?
  • As Colonia is expanding more things will come out.
  • Something coming in April according to Steve Kirby
• Any plans for FMV in missions?
  • No
• Do fines affect missions?
  • No
• Plans to do quick outfits?
  • No at the moment?
• Extend docking comp?
  • No
• We may get more ‘specialist’ slots but no ETA no Guarentee
• Heat Sync and Limpets etc synthasys
  • Sandy wants it
• Plasma Accell balanced?
  • It all depends on everything, sandy goes into a  lot of details. Large shields are still effective but 6 boosters will not be ‘god mode’. Please test and game test!
• Why no small Plasma Accel?
  • FD don’t want them everywhere
• Have cap weapons been balanced
  • no need to be
• Can we have roles for wings?
  • Maybe, cool idea
• Can we land on atmspher / lave b4 s3
  • no comment
• Engineer to reduce RNG?
  • Doesn’t want to rule it out
  • thinks rng is in for a reason
  • maybe changes later
• Mining laser engineer?
  • maybe later
• Balance Cascade Rail
  • Want to look at it but later watch this space
• Panther Clipper?
  • ??? 🙂
• No comments on future updates
• Patches between 2.3 and 2.4
  • maybe no comment
• Why can’t we view blueprints remotely?
  • Sadly tech reasons Sandy wants to though
• 2.4 non combat related
  • Can’t comfirm or deny nothing
• Ship Transfer times / cost changes?
  • No fd are happy for now
• Radio in ED
  • Cool but no
• MultiCrew a ship when we can walk?
  • ???
• Areas for heavily engineered ships?
  • Yes fd want to make harder places
• Will we get a ‘hard mode’
  • FD want to make cool challenges for ppl
• Ironman mode?
  • no plans at the moment.
• More char names?
  • Sandy would like it
• More Cerylic chars
  • Sandy would like that too
• Gold conda back for sale? (and for all other limited things)
  • If FD say it was one off it will be one off. FD are trying to now say things are NOT a one off but have said in the past
• Windscreen smudges?
  • It’s to make things feel cinematic apparntly but will ask Chris Gregory
• New ship interiors?
  • It’s a lot of work?
• Pack for One Colour for all ships?
  • FD know ppl want it
• Sandy wants repair limpets
• What is Sandy’s favourite colour?
  • Yellow!!! NO Blue 🙂