Lave Radio Episode 304 “Cliff Notes” – 02/08/2020

Image by Cmdr Pappadopolis
PositionCrew MemberCMDR Name
Head of Health and SafetyBen Moss-WoodwardEid LeWeise
Chief ArchivistColin FordPhoenix_Dfire
Deputy Trade AttachéSouvSouvarine
Tech MonkeyNorman MacArthurVentura_
Inflatable ManxMack Winston
Inflatable ItalianCmdr Il Senato


Download the episode directly from here.

Development News – what have the devs said this week?

  1. VR for Odyssey is ‘being worked on’
  2. Fleet Carriers Update – Patch 4 Patch Notes
    1. Due to an issue found during testing, the date of this patch has been moved to Monday 3 August. It can still be expected at 11:00 UTC with an estimated 15 minutes downtime.
    2. Fixed issues related to diminishing returns for commodities in overlapping hotspots

In-Game Events – what’s happened this week?

  1. AXI – Thargoid hearts total stand at 9368.
  2. Turning the Wheel
    1.  TDW has expanded into the Anyanwu system, and is trying to solidify its position. To improve TDW’s influence, they need to do a variety of work out of Delbruck Outpost in Anyanwu. Profitable trade is probably the most beneficial, but they also need Bounty Hunting, missions for TDW and cartography drops where possible.

      Unknown parties are actively working against TDW so they are calling all friends to come help the cause!

Main discussion

  1. Letter from Last week from Cmdr Cliff?
    Hi Guys,

    I’ve been playing since beta, I am an infrequent player, I don’t do multi-player stuff, I don’t have many credits.

    Having spent most of my in-game time exploring, I have recently decided to try to up my combat rank (and thoroughly enjoying it). What credits I have made from exploration make kitting out a ship for basic combat nice and easy, and makes getting blown up less of a concern.

    I think the progression problem is not a problem with the game, but a problem with the players, and probably with how the game is sold to new players.

    What many “new” players, coming from games with well defined goals, don’t seem to understand is;

    1. ED is not a game you win
    2. Progression is entirely subjective;
    • Ships
    • Credits
    • Ranks
    • Tags
    • Distance
    • Permits
    • Kills (players, npcs or Thargiods)
    • Something you make up yourself

    This can be mitigated with better advertising, more “realistic” trailers, etc, but may not meet with FDev’s need to sell many copies of the game.

    What do I think the real problem is? FDev are chasing the players who loudly complain about the lack of traditional progression mechanics and with how long it takes to progress in their chosen manner (usually ships and credits). In doing this, actual gameplay gets less attention than it needs.

Community Corner

  1. Cambridge Game Company Helps Push the Frontier of Video Game Preservation
  2. Elite name on Brit scene sponsors retro video games preservation project at the Centre for Computing History
    1. Cambridge’s Centre for Computing History harbours the largest documented collection of video games in the UK – real, physical copies along with the computers, consoles, and peripherals needed to experience them…Frontier Developments, the games maker led by Elite creator and Raspberry Pi co-founder David Braben, has stepped in to sponsor the project
  3. The Elite Racers have announced a new racing series: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteRacers/comments/i3pbim/theres_a_bug_going_around_and_the_only_cure_is/
  4. For those that are fans of the Sanctimonious Stories, There is a new one called Stranded in the Events section of the Forums. Can also be found :- https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/sanctimonious-stranded.551795/
  5. Back in 2018 Cmdr Jim VR released a video for a hack for the Thrustmaster TWCS Throttle (the one that comes with the T16000M series) that uses magnets to give the throttle a “middle” for Elite Dangerous

Questions

  1. From: Adrian Mason
    The one ship if there was a bug and wiped out the rest would have to be the Cobra mkiii, back to the original one ship 80’s version. Multipurpose and a great little ship

Shoutouts

  1. To Darren on the Birth of his (and his wife, Clare’s!) new Daughter. Violet. https://twitter.com/dgrey0/status/1290589142242426881
  2. 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/.
  3. For the discerning Commander who likes a bit of CQC action, check out the CQC Discord at “discord.me/elitedangerouscqc”.
  4. Thanks to those who have chipped in on Twitch chat and in-game commanders

Lave Radio EGX 2018 Sunday


Lave Radio EGX 2018 Sunday

Aired 23 Sep 2018
Audio versions

Download the episode directly from here.


In theory I had all day at EGX again, however I might have lost a couple of hours to Sunless Skies in the morning before I set off! I interviewed them last year and it’s come on leaps and bounds since then, and is a very easy game to get lost in!

However I did make it to two panels. The audio for these are not available yet, but hopefully will be out “soon”

The 1st was on the power of gaming and creation vs bullying where 2 You Tubers chaired a discussion with the audience about how gaming and online communities have improved lives whilst acknowledging that cyber bullying is a thing. It was a nice and mostly positive discussion that touched on many aspects, from being bullied at school or online, having a teacher recognise your you tube channel through to how gaming and streaming can help with mental health issues for example depression.

The second panel I went to was on the Future of VR I enjoyed it but I didn’t find it particularly enlightening. For example anyone who’s tried VR knows that the goggles need to improve, made more comfortable and breathable, lighter, not being tethered etc. We also need better ways to move around in VR, but equally does anyone really want to run on an omni-directional treadmill for 10 miles to get to their next way point! Of course costs need to get more consumer friendly and haptics need to be improved. There are some truly amazing VR experiences that have been set up but these are obviously things you go and see as opposed to something you have at home. They also felt that VR needs to move away from “a gaming thing” to a tool that we all can use in our day to day lives. Teaching for example would be a great use of VR if done right.

Following on from this panel I went to play Skyfront VR which (as far as I know) is one of the 1st VR multiplayer shooters and I was able to get an interview with one of their community management team after the game.

I really enjoyed Skyfront, I wish I’d been able to play it “un-tethered” Although I know that technology is in its infancy. The game is a zero g shooter, where you use your gun to get around. This is a nice way to solve the movement issue that some VR games have, whilst not “planting” you in one spot, and jumping… The controls felt very natural, although I wasn’t a fan of where the grappling hook button was, though this is more a fault of the vive controller rather than the game! I am probably bias, but I found the environment being a castle but a zero g environment is a bit of a missed opportunity, since obviously one of the key benefits of being in zero G is that there’s no limitation of “up or down” and you could be incredibly creative with your maps. However their next map will be set in space, it will be very interesting to see how the game develops. It certainly has a lot of potential.

Finally I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Euro Gamer for allowing me to come to their event. As ever their support has been amazing. So that wraps up our coverage of EGX 2018 I hope you enjoyed it and until next time, fly safe and if you can’t do that, fly dangerous.

Lave Radio Episode 102

Lego SRVThe show dives into virtual reality and the health and safety of LOOOOOOOOOONGGGG streams

Aired 15th March 2016
Audio versions


Download the episode directly from here.


Crew Members

Head of Entertainments : Chris Jarvis : Cmdr thane
Head of Health and safety : Ben Moss Woodwood : Cmdr EidLeWeiss
Head of station Archives : Colin Ford : Cmdr PhoniexDFire
VR Expert and all round ‘nice guy’ : Cmdr Snuffler


Show Notes:

  • Development News
    • Join the Elite: Everything You Need to Know About Community Goals with Steve Kirby
    • Zac — Support update – Reiteration of player harassment rules
    • Planet Coaster has a date of Tuesday 22nd March for Alpha backers
    • PowerPlay : Sandro on Collusion Piracy and More
      • Doesn’t Like it BUT Recognises it’s a useful tool
      • Wants to introduce effects to degrade Collusion Piracy (current options)
        • Creating a voting system to allow Commanders, by the act of majority will, to withdraw from poor control systems, ensuring mechanisms are in place to prevent profitable systems from being voted out.
        • Utilising an UP / DOWN vote feature, which would exist primarily to be a channel of communication within the game for pledged Commanders) to also provide veto functionality at the preparation stage, allowing, by the act of majority will, poor control system candidates from being purchased as expansion targets.
        • Introducing a combo mechanism for fortification allotments, limiting the purchase of rushed allotments based on successful deliveries – the more you deliver the more you can pay to rush – whilst adding temporary fortification disbarring for losing fortification commodities.
    • Power Play : Sandro on ‘open bonus’
      • Sandro – “And since I’m in the mood for pulling hand grenades , here’s another thing to chew on: I’m currently rather taken by the concept of a success multiplier for Commanders in Open Play. this modifier would not improve personal gains from power play activities, but it would magnify the effectiveness of a power’s actions (expand, oppose, fortify, undermine). And the effect would probably be significant.
      • Power Play by design encourages player interaction and FD want to encourage that. “Powerplay will always be at its best when opposing Commanders interact directly”
  • Newsletter 115
  • Main Discussion
    • VR News 
    • Ian Honcharenko — “Question for the team: With the rise in popularity of 24hr charity streams and the advertising in the newsletter last week of a race requiring approximately 38 hours commuted flight time in a 2 day period, I put the question to you should frontier be promoting such events despite the inherent health risks and chance of negative press (such as the numerous game addiction articles in both professional medical journals and less professional tabloid newspapers).I’d just add that last year’s Voyager winner did it in 40 hours with a 2 hr nap.”
      • From the newsletter— Probably one of the craziest endurance challenges in the galaxy, the 2nd Annual Voyager Challenge kicks off on March 24, 2016. Head over to the original forum post to find out how you can get involved.

        Can you make 60,000 light years in under 40 hours? According to event organisers, last year’s record was an incredible 38 hours, 44 minutes!

        It’ll take some doing, but we know that there must be some Commanders out there with the tenacity to get this done!

        Remember, fly safe Commanders! Make sure you take regular breaks, look after yourselves and be sensible with any long play sessions.
      • Also worth working in the Hutton Orbital Gimp run with the race to Sag A
      • Also arguably FD’s original race to Elite and what the guy to get the Triple did to win that
      • 24 hour streams – a good/bad thing to encourage?
  • Community Corner
  • Questions
    • MonkeyBones asks – Which is a more valuable asset, an A5+ fuel scoop or a REALLY BIG GAS TANK? (For the record, after a year or so with a RBGT I have finally switched to a B6 Fuel Scoop. It is SO fast, but it still makes me nervous that I will get stuck out of fuel in a brown dwarf desert.) Shameless Plug for the REALLY BIG GAS TANK Methinks
    • CMDR Smugallo – Id love to hear the cast each try an impression of someone not a discussion i know hahaj.
      • Ben failed and everyone else wimped out. 🙂