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| Position | Crew Member | CMDR Name |
| Head of Health and Safety | Ben Moss-Woodward | Eid LeWeise |
| Chief Archivist | Colin Ford | Phoenix_Dfire |
| Chief Bar Steward | Grant Woolcott | Psykokow |
| (in)Human Resources Director | Shan | Shan |
| Lavian Space Program Director | Andy Barnes | Kurgol |
| Deputy Trade Attaché | Souv | Souvarine |
Guests:
- Alec Turner
- Sanderling – Elite Races.
Greetings, Commanders, and welcome to Episode 255 of Lave Radio. The show about the universe of Elite, and the fantastic community that surrounds it.
Development News – what have the devs said this week?
- GalNet changes
- This from Ian Doncaster… https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/galnet-changes.519008/post-7935417
- If this means that the amount of Galnet content won’t change, but the percentage that’s related to in-game content will increase, I think that’s very positive – especially if that means that there’s more non-routine in-game content going on than previously.
If this means that the amount of Galnet content related to in-game content won’t change, but the total amount of Galnet content will decrease, then that feels like taking several steps back, to how things were two or three years ago when Galnet could go for weeks between non-automated news items.
I think also, while people weren’t satisfied with the “off-camera” narratives, this was because they took place 100% off-camera, and often, more recently, in undefined locations so that people couldn’t go looking for in-game signs of them. They felt like they weren’t really happening in Elite Dangerous.
There’s still, I think, room for quite a bit of off-camera narrative, provided that it relates to some in-game content as well. For example, the Enclave Interstellar Initiative could have had some “background” material in Galnet over the previous few months:
– 6 months before II starts: news article about how meta-alloys are being widely used in research
– 4 months before II starts: news article where some corporation expresses concerns about the meta-alloy supply security
– 1 month before II starts: story about scientists noting Pleiades barnacles are showing signs of damage
…and then go into the II with that as lead-up, rather than it suddenly starting with “meta-alloy prices double! exploration CG! no previous hints that there was any sort of issue!”
– and then of course potential for a few stories following up after the II months later highlighting the long-term effects it’s had
If most of the stories eventually connected around to in-game events, they wouldn’t need to all have in-game interactions directly associated with them for players to feel that they were relevant. (e.g. Drew Wagar’s “Premonition” storyline was generally well-received and the finale had lots of players participating on both sides, despite most of the lead up happening “off-camera” and often even “off-Galnet”) An in-game event which connected three stories from months or even years ago that people had assumed were just background flavour could be really exciting. (And it’d look like you’d planned it that way even if you’d just picked up those loose stories months later, too) - Also this from Alec Turner
- @Stephen Benedetti can I ask then, on average do you expect there to be roughly the same number of Galnet stories per week but instead of Frontier inventing stories (e.g. the winking cat stuff or the dude who stole a DBX) they’ll now be covering things that actually happened (e.g. expeditions, races, AX combat/repair achievements, etc)? (which sounds great) … or, do you mean that you’ll be cutting those side stories and then, once a month or so, adding a story about the outcome of something wide reaching (but still largely Frontier created) such as an Interstellar Initiative or game update? (which sounds disappointing on the surface at least).
The thing is, what Galnet needs to do is bring a sense of life to the galaxy. If FD have to invent that life (as at present) then so be it, if they can cover the life that players are creating on a daily basis then even better, but if (as it slightly sounds), it’s going to become even more lifeless … that would be a HUGE pity!
- @Stephen Benedetti can I ask then, on average do you expect there to be roughly the same number of Galnet stories per week but instead of Frontier inventing stories (e.g. the winking cat stuff or the dude who stole a DBX) they’ll now be covering things that actually happened (e.g. expeditions, races, AX combat/repair achievements, etc)? (which sounds great) … or, do you mean that you’ll be cutting those side stories and then, once a month or so, adding a story about the outcome of something wide reaching (but still largely Frontier created) such as an Interstellar Initiative or game update? (which sounds disappointing on the surface at least).
- Featured Commanders : Cmdr ToCoSo (Tom Cook)
- Conclusion of the Enclave Interstellar Initiative
- This thursday, FDev will have Dav doing a similar, or even the same, presentation about the Back-ground simulation we had at lavecon this week on the Thursday Presentation.
Newsletter (every second show) [link]
- New ASP paint Jobs
Main discussion
- Alec Turner – What do people actually want from Frontier re: support for “racetracks”? – and other Sept Update features
Community Corner
Shoutouts
- Our sister station, Hutton Orbital Radio, Broadcasts on Thursdays from 20:30. You can tune in at tv.forthemug.com/ or, for just the audio, at radio.forthemug.com/.
- For the discerning Commander who likes a bit of CQC action, check out the CQC Discord at “discord.me/elitedangerouscqc”.
- Thanks to those who have chipped in on Twitch chat and in-game commanders
oh, there is a bennuendo Ben here too?