Best Stand-in for Star Citizen until release?

Avorion and Interstellar rift look interesting. Space Engineers' interface is a major turn off for me. I can only play that one for a few minutes before getting infuriated. I've dicked around a bit in Empyreon, but haven't gotten too deep into it.

I do notice that all of these are block building games.

 

Elite Dangerous

 

I heard line of Defense was worth checking out.

MagnusEdit: No! Bad Fluffy!

 

What sort of multiplayer support does ED have these days?. Been a long time since I messed with it.

 

The kind that lets you play with other people.

 

Has anyone looked at how the Descent reboot is coming along?

 

Watching some gameplay of Avorion right now. I could get into this one. Looks like it has less over complicated engineering and more fun than some others I've tried.

 

There's actually been a lot of changes and additions to Elite since the Horizons Expansion was released. I'm not sure where folks were the last time the Borg played, but I vaguely remember the Wings expansion being new and kind of rough around the edges.

Wings (up to 4 pilots) are still in, and generally work. There's occasionally problems with wing invites going through, but generally it just requires you send the person a message to refresh your friend list.

Number of available ships is currently up to 32 different types, ranging from the tiny shipborn dedicated fighters like the Taipan or the F63 Condor, up to the massive (and expensive) Super-heavy subcaps like the Imperial Cutter, or Federal Corvette, depending on your desired playstyle. AI Pilots of various skill levels can now be hired to either tend your ship as you launch your fighter, or fly the fighter in support.

Planetary Landings were introduced with the Horizons Expansion, with new planet types being brought live to explore regularly. Ironically, Earth-likes are expected to be towards the last to be added as exploitable. Planet Landing does require the Horizons expansion to perform. Dune Buggy Racing is a thing, as well as exploring Alien ruins and seeking out alien Life.

Trade is largely the same, though the number of commodities has continued to expand, thanks in part to the addition of Engineers, Named characters who you can work to gain reputation with, who will then ask you to bring specific materials in exchange for significant upgrades to your ship, from more powerful or aspected weapons, to insane jump ranges.

Mining was reworked, if that's your thing, to be viable, thanks to the addition of Mining probes which collect your loose rocks and ferry them back to your ship for processing. Good Beer and pretzel kind of fun if you want to just hang around with friends.

Combat AI has had a number of tweeks to make ships of differing threat levels actually feel different. Many AI pilots will travel in Wings of up to... 7 or 8 I believe, to compound the trouble they can give you. AI Ship loadouts have also been diversified, so that a pilot in an eagle feels much different from System Authority Eagles, or Eagles found in conflict zones (Warzones).

Powerplay allows you to fight or trade in support of against one of the major players of the galaxy. Currently there are ten major powers in the galaxy, and each provides unique benefits and equipment, as well as potential for a steady paycheck. Downside is what you'd expect, wearing one factions colors marks you out to be harrassed by another, so expect more unfriendly and very dangerous interdictions.

And of course, the most interesting addition, the risk of being torn out of witchspace

 

Depends if you want Turn-fighting or Jousting. Dogfighting is almost exclusively held by a lot of the smaller ships, with a few exception on the larger ones, like the Vulture, Fer-de-lance, and the extremely classy flying dildo, the Orca (Can be up-armored to the point of ramming down most every ship in the game, kinda crazy for a pleasure cruiser). Ship-born fighters are absolutely devastating though, since they all run on energy, turn on a dime at speeds most ships boost at, and are frustrating to hit even with turrets and gimble mounts because of their tiny size. The "entry" Carrier I believe is the Keelback, an armored and gunned alternative to the type-6. Similar smaller fighters include the upgraded Imperial Eagle (A bit larger then a normal eagle, but suitably up-gunned) and the Imperial courier. the Mark 4 series are generally considered a flop, as you give up too much turning and speed for a modest increase in armor

 

Unfortunately the larger ships transition from turn fighting to Jousting after the Vulture, requiring more use of toggling flight assist to spin and boosting to regain speed. It's unfortunately similar to the shift in real world from Prop to Jet aircraft. The shipborn non-supercruise fighters (F63 Condor, Imperial fighter, and Taipan Fighters) are impossibly fun if you're really into turn fighting. It's like flying a tie-fighter.

 

Y'all want a stand in? Here you go:

Spoiler: Spoiler

Enjoy.

 

Through theory crafting on a ship builder site I was able to build a Viper III that cleared 600 boosted.
This is all thanks to the engineering system. Grinding out mats really does not take that long either for the first tier tweaks.

link for the ship builder site http://www.edshipyard.com

 

We had some folks playing NMS a few months back, didn't we?

Haven't heard much about it lately, though.