Lave Radio Episode 250: Lavecon 2019

Download the episode directly from here.

Spidermind weekend update

PositionCrew MemberCMDR Name
Director of Pest ControlAshley DevineCMDR DrToxic
Head of Health and SafetyBen Moss-WoodwardCMDR Eid LeWeise
2nd TechnicianChris ForresterCMDR Fozza
Hiding in the ClosetGrant WoolcottCMDR Psykokow
(in)Human Resources DirectorShanCMDR Shan
Spidery ShillCmdr Shocken-Orr
Looking for loo PaperSimon Woolcott

Main Discussion

  • Weekend Highlights
    • Break Fozza
  • Frontier Panel
  • Dav awesome BGS stuff
  • September Update
    • New Player Experience
      • Voice Acted Content guiding new players
      • Fly through rings around an installation
        • Available as a separate training mission, so we all can try it
    • Store to ARX (FAQ)
      • Arx currency – platform specific – can’t be gifted
    • Change Livery in flight
  • Dec Update 
    • Fleet Carrier
  • LR Skins
    • Krait Mk2
    • Krait Phantom
    • Mamba

Lave Radio Not an Episode 249b

Head of Health and SafetyBen Moss-WoodwardCMDR Eid LeWeise
(in)Human Resources DirectorShanCMDR Shan
Semi Trained MonkeyCmdr Ventura
EIC XI CMDR Ventura
XI Rustler CMDR Yanick

Download the episode directly from here.

‘Main Topic’

Galnet News Digest

Lave Radio Episode 249: Coalescing the Coalition

Head of Health and SafetyBen Moss-WoodwardCMDR Eid LeWeise
(in)Human Resources DirectorShanCMDR Shan
Deputy Trade AttachéSouvCmdr Souvarine
Tech MonkeyCmdr Ventura
KSP Bureaucrat Third ClassCmdr Walt Kerman

Download the episode directly from here.

Development News

  • Will did a new commander stream but that’s about it

In Game Events

  • None but new paint jobs for the keelback.

Main Discussion

  • Questions for the Coalition:
    • Why didn’t Communism Interstellar join?
    • What’s the status of the Border Coalition?
    • What’s the purpose of the Coalition?
    • Is the Coalition a ‘threat’ to the Alliance? I.E. the Alliance is supposedly the Alliance of Independent Systems, so is the Coalition ‘stealing’ those systems from them?
  • Game improvements from Cmdr Nash
    • I’ve got a few suggestions on things frontier could do to improve the game with  minimal work before the next big content drop in 2093 or whatever it is.

      I’m assuming their software design is something reasonable (despite evidence to the contrary) and we want to get most bang for the buck.

      Generally Frontier’s big problems are their lack of (useful) communication and a tendency to do something half-arsed then let it sit without an update for too long (the engineering/mining/exploration updates were all great, but they took way too long).    
    • Idea 1: CQC Materials
      • Add material drops.  Give each player who finishes a game a random material drop.  Give anyone who scored a kill another. Give the winners (top half  players or top team) a drop. Totally random material. Suddenly even seasoned players have a reason to play.

        Also increase the credit payouts by 10 times (or more).  With a single courier mission paying a few thousand, and mining paying up to a billion, a few thousand for CQC ain’t going to break anything. (still only useful for new players, but they probably don’t care about engineering yet) Code wise this should be trivial.
      • Other improvements:
        • Add Guardian fighters to the mix (should also be easy)
        • Add NPCs (maybe easy, maybe hard)
        • Make the arena’s smaller (more contact = faster games) (not sure)
        • Buff all CQC weapons to make TTK (time to kill) smaller (should be easy)
        • In game queueing (probably the hardest)
    • Idea 2: SLF Engineer(s)
      • Add a new engineer or 2 who only does fighters.  Fighter’s are a single module so can only be engineered with a single modification.
      • 4 mods:
        • Increase damage by 20% per level
        • Increase shields by 20% per level
        • Increase speed/maneuverability by 20% per level
        • Increase all three by 10% per level.
        • (multiply those numbers as appropriate).
      • Shouldn’t be too hard to add.  Makes fighters more useful in a post-engineering world.
      • If they are too powerful, it just moves the game meta to have more fighters, and fighters are fun to fly, so it’s all good.  Fighters vs Fer-der-lances FTW.
      • Potential to add experimental effects later if they wish.
    • Idea 3: A Small SLF Carrier Ship
      • So a little more work, but a small ship (size of a sidewinder) that is essentially just a strapped on FSD for a fighter.
      • Need some special module slots and the like, but the only new real asset would be the ship itself.  May have limited re-builds of the fighter. Super cool if combined with Idea 2 as well.
    • Others – Some other things they could do to look after their community:
      • Cross-platform save support (see Fortnite and other games)
      • PSVR support (who am I kidding, they can’t even update the FAQ https://support.frontier.co.uk/kb/faq.php?id=365 )(Yeah, you asked Wil about it for me in Feb 2018 😉  
      • Publish something about what they are working on!  I know, insane right

Community Corner

Shoutouts

  • Paige raising money for Special Effect
    • I’m 25 now, and nearly 16 stone. With my disabilities, this is dangerous, and I’m finally ready to see myself for who I truly am. This time, I lose the weight, and see it, because I’m ready to love myself.

      I need to lose a minimum of 6 stone. For every pound I lose, I will be donating £1 to SpecialEffect to help keep disabled gamers in the game. If you would like to 1) support disabled gamers, 2) help motivate me to get healthy, please do feel free to make a donation of your own.

      https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/paige-harvey-weight-loss
  • Fozza has managed to dig up some new iTunes reviews!!! <3 you guys
    • Jaybird
    • Cmdr Macwa de Linn
    • Cmdr Valaryc
    • Cmdr Harass B Dragon
    • Ki
    • Jrohrer1010
    • Cmdr Tomacco
  • Lavecon 2019 is 5th – 7th July at the Sedgebrook Hall Hotel, and is sponsored by Spidermind Games!
    • On Friday Karen is planning to take all the silver/gold camping and Ambassadors reception tickets off the website to allow the hotel to plan food numbers. So, if you want one of these, do get it soon!
    • Bronze tickets will be on sale up to and on the day itself.
    • Cmdr Beetlejude is going to be doing a Blind Auction of her Signed by Frontier Artwork at Lavecon

Lave Radio Episode 248: Transitioning to old age

Head of Health and SafetyBen Moss-WoodwardCMDR Eid LeWeise
Chief Bar StewardGrant WoolcottCMDR Psykokow
Chief Archivist Colin Ford CMDR Phoenix_Dfire
(in)Human Resources DirectorShanCMDR Shan
Deputy Trade AttachéSouvCmdr Souvarine
Download the episode directly from here.

Newsletter 269

In Game Events

Main Discussion

  • Cmdr CMDR Hunter Saige gave us some of his ideas for more stuff we may get whilst waiting for 2020 “In last week’s podcast you asked the listeners to weigh in on what features Frontier might add to Elite Dangerous in the coming year.  Here’s my two cents worth. [Full disclosure; I’m Elite in exploration but still both Harmless and Penniless, so my preferences are somewhat biased. Also, I’m a middle-aged guy with a wife and family, so I usually only manage to play for about an hour or so a day. Exploration works well for me because I can start and stop at will and play in short sessions as circumstances allow.)”
    • Gimme some SRV Love:
      • Others have mentioned this, and it seems like a no-brainer for FDEV to do.  How about 2 new SRV models? Reposition the Scarab as the mid-size model. Introduce a smaller motorcycle-style SRV (the Cricket?) that is faster, but weaker and has no cargo storage; and a larger tank-style SRV that is slower but better armoured and has more cargo space.  Perhaps style it as a walking “spider” tank (a la Ghost In The Shell (1995)) and call it the Tarantula! Change the SRV hangar mechanics to accommodate the range of sizes with a simple formula of 2 Crickets = 1 Scarab; 2 Scarabs = 1 Tarantula . For example a class-2 hangar could then store either 1 Scarab or 2 Crickets, and a class-4 hangar could store either; 1 Tarantula or; 2 Scarabs or; 2 Crickets + 1 Scarab or; 4 Crickets.  A class-6 hangar could be similarly divided. Finally, add a super-lightweight class-1 hangar big enough for a single Cricket, for small ships that want to maximize their jump range yet still collect mats while out in the black.
    • Rogue Planets:
      • A rogue planet is a planet that has been cast off by its star and is now floating freely in interstellar space.  Astronomers currently estimate there may be over a trillion rogue planets drifting through the Milky Way, ranging from frozen rocky worlds up to massive super-Jovians.  We could assume that having a rogue planet too close to your ships course in witchspace will cause an FSD malfunction and drop you back into normal space, with the same ship damage you would get from an emergency drop.  Frontier already have all the assets and logic in place for Thargoid hyperdictions; this could be reused for a rogue planet encounter. Rogue planets would never show up on the galaxy map, and need not be generated by stellar forge.  Instead they could be a random occurrence rather like a scenario, with a probability of occurring every, say, 1000 jumps (or 0.1% of the time). Why bother? Rogue planets could have an increased probability of containing rare minerals and biologicals, or perhaps even ruins of some kind (Guardian, Thargoid, or something else). They would add an extra element of danger to exploration. It would also put a new twist on the possible location of Raxxla, eh?
    • Gas Mining:
      • If Frontier wants to take some baby steps toward atmospheric landings, they could implement gas mining of gas giants.  This would give a taste of atmospheric handling without the need to implement the landing part. Perhaps they could introduce a new “gas collector” module that acts like a fuel scoop but instead of filling the fuel tank it directs gasses to the refinery module where they can be purified and stored in 1 ton canisters.  Modify the DSS to show “geological” sites on gas giants that contain high concentrations of rare gasses. Pilots would need to dive into the upper atmosphere of the gas giant, compensating for chemical and storm effects upon the aerodynamics (or lack thereof) of their ship. Higher gas concentrations would be found at deeper altitudes, but heat and pressure also increase with depth, so going too deep will damage your ship.
      • Similarly, all those gas giants with either water-based or ammonia-based life might become a new resource if Frontier made a “bio sampling” module for ships.  The DSS could identify “biological” sites on a gas giant with alien life. Alien bacteria and other small life forms could be scooped, packaged, and sold to pharmaceutical or other research firms.
    • Make black holes scary again:
      • I am told that, once upon a time, black holes were more dangerous than white dwarfs and neutron stars.  Play testers complained about this, seemingly offended that the universe’s most dangerous objects were actually, well, dangerous.  Frontier, apparently having left all of their balls on Bento, acquiesced to this request and nerfed black holes into the dark fluffy bunnies they are today.  I say the bunny needs some fangs!

Community Corner

Shoutouts

Lavecon 2019 Timetable

Please note, all times are subject to change up to and including on the day! The ‘Official’ Schedule can be found here: https://www.hwsevents.co.uk/laveconoverview

Saturday General Information

09:30Doors Open!
12:00 – 14:00Lunch served
19:30 – 21:00Dinner served

Sunday General Information

08:00 – 10:00Breakfast served
09:30Doors open
12:00 – 14:00Lunch served
18:00 6pm Event Close

Saturday Main Room

Ongoing Activities Competition: Raffle Cosplay
10:00Welcome from Lave Radio Team,
Highlights for the Day/Weekend
Completion Launch: Abraka Drabble
11:00 Presentation: Spidermind Games
12:30Panel: Streamers panel
14:00Panel: Frontier Developments Q&A
3.30pm (or end of Q&A) Photo of Everyone outside!
16:30Lave Radio: Veterans
18:00Sagittarius Eye: New Project
20:00The Big Quiz.
22:00 Hutton Truckers
23:00 Dockers / Late night podcast

Sunday Main Room

Ongoing Activities Traders Competition: Raffle Cosplay Competition
10:30Welcome back – Today’s Highlights (11am Competition: Abraka Drabble – deadline for entries)
11:00Presentation: Phoenix Point
13:00 1pm Abraka Drabble readings
14:30 2.30pm Podcast: Lave Radio Live
16:30 4.30pm Prizes, Awards and Raffle Closing speeches Hard drive handover.

Saturday Panels

12:30Talk: Future Civilisations
16:30Workshop: The Dev-prentice

Sunday Panels

09:30Workshop: Creative Writing
11:00Planning an Elite: Dangerous expedition

Saturday Lounge, Artemis, Games Room & VR Room

Ongoing Activities Planetary landings: Lego Asmodeus Games ED: Battle Cards
11:0011am ED:RPG
12:00 – 18:00Artemis
13:00 – 18:00 VR Games
20:30RPG: Call of Cthulhu
21:00 9pm ED:RPG

Sunday Lounge, Artemis, Games Room & VR Room

Ongoing Activities Boardgame lounge
11:00 11am ED:RPG
11:00 – 15:00 Artemis

Saturday Lan Room

10:00 10am LAN Room Opens
10:15 Star Sovereign Tutorial
10:30Totally Accurate Battle Simulator: Demo
11:15Star Sovereign Tutorial
11:30 Totally Accurate Battle Simulator: Demo
13:00 1pm Star Sovereign – LAVECON 2019 Game Begins
14:00 2pm Totally Accurate Battle Simulator: Competition 1
16:00 4pm Totally Accurate Battle Simulator: Competition 2
18:00 6pm Fantasy Strike Competition
20:00Battletrax: Network Multiplayer
22:00Local Multiplayer games.
00:00Star Sovereign – LAVECON 2019 Game Ends

Sunday Lan Room

10:00 10 am LAN Room Opens
10:15Totally Accurate Battle Simulator: Competition 3
14:00Totally Accurate Battle Simulator: Competition 4
17:00Games end

Lave Radio Episode 247: Fozza and the Foggy Forecasts

Head of Health and SafetyBen Moss-WoodwardCMDR Eid LeWeise
2nd TechnicianChris ForresterCMDR Fozza
Chief ArchivistColin FordCMDR Phoenix_Dfire
(in)Human Resources DirectorShanCMDR Shan
Deputy Trade AttachéSouvCmdr Souvarine
Tech MonkeyCmdr Ventura
Lavecon Minty GoodnessKarenMinty Polo


Download the episode directly from here.

Tonight’s Lave Radio Network activity in game

Development News

Main Discussion

  • We have five to maybe seven smaller updates until 2020. Speculation on what they could be.

Community Corner

  • Sarah Cmdr Symyoulater has a plan  to raise awareness for Trans issues through participation in iRacing Leagues. This is the most respected Simulation for motorsports and includes drivers such as Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. She needs your donations to help her to bring her story to a wider audience and break some stereotypes along the way.
    • Your donations will be used to pay the fees to enter these Leagues.
    • If you can spare a pound or so please send her your support https://paypal.me/pools/c/8fhbiwkdoF
    • Also support her twitch channel https://www.twitch.tv/symyoulater where you should be able to see these races.
    • Hmm Pound it out for Trans Issues? <- is that an ok slogan?  – Psykokow
  • Hacking Protest at Jameson Memorial
  • Full Stream
    • On Sunday 2nd June Cmdr Nick Naylor in a Beluga called “The Community of Elite” protested cheats in Elite Dangerous, and the lack of apparent action by Frontier. By… cheating.
    • Protest Started about 20:00 BST
    • ~ 21:45 he was pushed out of the mailslot by a determined Commander in an Imperial Cutter
    • 21:49 he did a cheat, insta-high-wake from right next to the mailslot to another system (Nuenets)
    • At no point did he take offensive action against players.
    • He has turned on invulnerability and other things and is wedged  inside the mailslot of Jameson Memorial in Shinrata Dhezra. He’s getting shot by players AND the station with no effect…
    • After the protest, he agreed to voice comms with Cmdr Plater
      • Sounds very humble
      • Fully accepts the loss of his Cmdr in to which he’s invested > 2000 hrs of game play
    • Aftermath… CMDR Exigeous & CelticSpartan01
      • UPDATE: Nick will be joining CMDR Exigeous on stream Tuesday June 4th at 8 PM GMT (Midnight GMT)

        For those that didn’t see yesterday CMDR Nick Naylor, a vetran player of 2000+ hours put his account on the line by staging a protest yesterday.  CMDR Plater streamed this – he used the hacks to block the mail slot of a station with a Beluga. Frontier has, appropriately, banned him – yet his first action resulted in a permanent where others get 3 days first, 1 month second and then permanent.  The inconsistency should infuriate ALL players – WELL DONE TO NICK FOR TAKING THIS STEP!
  • Cannon Does some Science on the Advanced Multi Cannons
    • A two-component damage model was used to estimate the damage partitioning of the newly developed AMCs.  It was found that, when configured with AX ammunition, the AMCs deal 100% AX damage. That fact was leveraged to get a handle on the AX resistance of human technology. It was found that human shields have an AX resistance of 95% and human armor plating has a resistance of 90%.  By corollary, other facts about about the AMC were confirmed, such as damage per shot and Armor Piercing.
  • Elite Dangerous – Sidewinder full interior – walk inside my ship concept

Shoutouts

Lave Radio Episode 246: Loose Lips are a bunch of ****ing ********s!

PositionCrew MemberCMDR Name
Head of Health and SafetyBen Moss-WoodwardCMDR Eid LeWeise
Chief ArchivistColin FordCMDR Phoenix_Dfire
Chief Bar StewardGrant WoolcottCMDR Psykokow
(in)Human Resources DirectorShanCMDR Shan
Deputy Trade AttachéSouvCmdr Souvarine


Download the episode directly from here.

Lave Radio News

  • Last week Fozza asked about busted ships to be mailed to info@laveradio.com
  • Cmdr Myrt (Diamond Frogs)
    • Here’s my entry, with 7 html/embedded pics, I hope they work properly: This is Apollo 2.
  • Cmdr Tomacco2k
    • O7 CMDRs,

      I just started listening to Lave Radio about a month ago, a good friend told me about it. What a shame I started just now, exploring the black with my ASP Explorer is so much more fun when being entertained by you guys. Saved me from space madness I guess 😉

      Speaking of my trusty ASP: In your last podcast you asked pilots to send in screenshots of their ships with degraded paint. Well, I don’t know when I last renewed the paint job on my ship, must be over 1 year ago I guess. The paint is down to 0% now, I guess that qualifies it, haha.

      The ship’s name is “DORA THE EXPLORER” and I guess it is the ship I have used the most in the game. I’ve been to Sag A* with it, on the way back to the bubble I took a detour to Colonia. My jump range must have been around 45 light years at that time and I did not use any neutron boosts on the way because, well, I was too afraid to use them. No joke, I really was 🙂

      Besides a lot of exploration (I am at the Zurara right now with that ASP) I also did a lot of bounty hunting with that ship and most of the things I learned about the game I learned while piloting that ASP. I’m still using it today for exploration purposes, although a jumpaconda could give me around 10 light years more per jump.

      I will attach some screenshots to this mail where you can see what is left of the paint.

      Greetings from Germany where it is cold and raining right now. The terraformers did a bad job over here I guess.

      Have a nice week and thanks again for the podcast!

      CMDR Tomacco2k on the PS4
  • CMDR LORD SMURPH
    • My ship (Pickard’s Pecker) at beagle point at the end of DW2 trip. I’m never fixing it
  • Cmdr Spike (Colin Wardman)
    • My dear gentlemen and scholars,

      My story is not a long one, but tells a harrowing tale of paint, yes paint. For myself it has been a lifelong dream to gaze upon the vastness of the galaxy and tremble, not that they need tremble, solely so I can take in its greatness in one fell viewing. For my once in a lifetime journey I wished to look my best, which led me to Lave Station. From my time frequenting the Orange Sidewinder and listening to the only radio station my Lakon Spaceways Asp could tune into, Hutton radio,  I had heard great things of Eddie and Son, plus his daughters. So I went to see the husband of Eddie Lee Wise, Ken, to sort me out. He had many great recommendations, and he guaranteed me that I would look smashing upon my arrival to Beagle Point. This was very exciting, but all of these great promises came with a catch. Ken needed some rare commodities for such a rare paint job that would last to edge of the galaxy. The first was quite simple, Centuri Mega Gin. You see with his excess of Lavian Brandy, he wanted something a little different, a little stronger. The second on the other hand was more suspect. He needed me to visit his “friend” at a station near Panem. To me this all seemed simple enough. It was easy enough to travel there and meet his friend with rope like hair. The only problem arose on my return when galactic security forces seem more interested than average in my humble ship. Needless to say, I was able to supply Ken with his credits and “extras”. When he applied my paint, he did not disappoint. His and Eddie’s paint turn my drab Asp into an orange masterpiece. I felt that it had been masterfully inspired by that unique place that so often saw my patronage.  Ken did assure that is paint would have sufficient integrity to still shine in the glow of the Milky Way. With this I headed out into the great black yonder. I mined in Omega, I saw the abandoned habidomes at the Conflux Settlements, I collected water for Explorer’s Anchorage, and I made the 65,000 some odd light years out to Beagle Point. After shedding a tear for the good boi Zy I prepared to take the dream picture of myself and my shiny orange Asp at the edge of the galaxy. I felt like a boy in primary school the night before Christmas, I trembled with excitement. I prepared the picture limpet for the culminating achievement of my weary life. As my Asp came into focus through my old Rift DV1 scope, I was crestfallen, devastated. The picture I had been imagining in my mind for over 2000 jump was ruined. There sat my Asp at the edge of galaxy with nary a fleck of clear coat left. All but a few square meters of orange looked back at me through the scope. In a moment of anger I cursed Ken and the farse he had sold me. After reaching into my glove box for a pull of conciliatory Centauri Mega Gin, I calmed. Whether or not my asp looked its best I had made. I HAD MADE IT! Even though I felt that Ken, at minimum, owed me a drink, I was happy to have made it. I look forward now to a long flight home. Who knows maybe I will stop at Colonia for an extended vacation on my way back.

      O7,

      CMDR .Spike
  • Small Furry Rodent after going to Hutton

Development News

Newsletter 268

  • Carina COVAS which is performed by Marina Sirtis

Main Discussion

  • Do leaks and spoilers ruin your game play?

Community Corner

Shoutouts

Lave Radio Episode 245: Journeys End – Journeys Begin

PositionCrew MemberCMDR Name
Head of Health and SafetyBen Moss-WoodwardCMDR Eid LeWeise
2nd TechnicianChris ForresterCMDR Fozza
Chief ArchivistColin FordCMDR Phoenix_Dfire
Deputy Trade AttachéSouvCmdr Souvarine
Tech MonkeyCmdr Ventura
DW2 OverlordDr Kaii


Download the episode directly from here.

Introductions

Development News

  • During Monday’s Live stream Will made a brief comment on cheating.
    • They have a team that investigate allegations
    • They take it seriously
    • They don’t publicise their actions
  • Will on cheating – Forum post

In Game Events

Main Discussion

  • Questions for Dr Kaii

Community Corner

Questions

  • Question from Cmdr Myrt of the Diamond Frogs

    Howdy folks! I was sad to learn last week that you don’t get letters sent in, and truly your discussion of future console releases was insightful and pleasant, so here’s my request:

    I’d like to hear your collective thoughts on historical snapshots, periodically – maybe an occasional segment with the proverbial ghost of christmas past.

    Since everyone’s a dev these days, all vars double in this example:
    {
        this month x years ago we got patch y,
        which brought features z1, z2, and z3,
        all of which were horrible and spaced babies until
        patch y.1 fixed the obstetrics airlocks,
        but added z4:
            an rng multiplier to all tile-layers'
            spinal integrity.
        How features did z* play out?
    }

    The forums are purged but we’ve been through so much game evolution, it would be lovely if you chaps could help keep the history of fdev’s work in perspective while we all fantasize about 2020’s release.

    Probably best not to try reading this aloud.
    <flush sound>,
    Cmdr Myrt,
    Diamond Frogs
  • Paul Wortmeyer – Facebook
    Simple question , what’s with the DBX that was stolen , was it the one that did a flyby of Hutton and then zoomed off quicker than it should , and is it linked to the secret new hyperdrive tech that Sirius got from buying hyper technology’s?

Shoutouts

  • During Monday’s FD Lunch stream “​Hey Ben, thanks for Lave Radio, without it the trip to BP would have not been half as entertaining. o7 from Cmdr Olos Nah”
  • Ben blew the dust off of iTunes and noticed that whilst we’ve got loads of 5* reviews. They most recent one seems to be from 2017! So if anyone’s using iTunes feel free to let folks over there know that we’re still alive!!!
  • Lavecon 2019 is 5th – 7th July at the Sedgebrook Hall Hotel, and is sponsored by Spidermind Games!
  • Our sister station Hutton Orbital Radio Broadcasts on Thursdays from 20:30 at http://tv.forthemug.com/ or http://radio.forthemug.com/ for just the audio
  • CQC Discord – For the Discerning Commander who likes a bit of CQC action