Rusty In Places

CalgonUK wrote: ↑Sat Oct 10, 2020 5:01 pm I always took the easy route with doing cargo shipments, so never really understood how to get into dog fighting, even though having the weaponry to destroy a mid size cruiser id use homing missiles like a cannon and hope they hit like a right idiot lol.

CalgonUK wrote: ↑Sat Nov 14, 2020 12:56 pm I think its time for me to jump back into the space of ED. its going to be a long old road....... HELP

Hey all,

A (possible) returning player here, with a few questions.

First, some background - i preordered the original game back when it was available in early access for some people and i bought HOTAS (cheap Thrustmaster) to play it with to boot. I am not a huge sim/flight player, it was more of a whim thing. I am a big SciFi and science fan and longtime EVE player (not anymore tho). At first, on release, i really enjoyed ED, the flight mechanics and visuals really are awesome. However, quite rapidly i kinda got bored because there was very low player interaction, the missions were very generic and bland and... there was nothing much to do other than grind more money to buy the next, bigger, ship. That's what it felt like to me, not saying it IS that way for everyone. Then a bit later they announced Horizons, which promised interesting ideas and features but behind a paywall that i honestly didn't feel like paying. I hate DLCs and "Season Passes" and shit like that in games, i think it's unfair and lazy way to make games but that's a different subject. Anyway, i then generally abandoned the game.

Jump to today (well, yesterday), i heard ED became free on Epic, which spiked my interest once again. After some digging i found out that Horizons was actually made free as well. Interest level increasing! Back to ObsidianAnt videos and figuring out how to land on a planet...

However, before i continue i have a few questions for the community here, which is probably far from ALL the players but should represent a general hardcore... core of the players. I'd appreciate honest answers and no fanboism :

Is the game still "alive" ? In terms of a multiplayer game, i mean. Obviously you can play it as a SP game entirely, but honestly (not to bash) there are way better options for that, like the X series. Are there actual players you can meet, do things together with, participate in some organised play or combat or anything?

Is the content in Horizons still "playable". What i mean is that it seems every DLC is kind of advancing the whole world and story, not simply adding more ships/parts. Are there things to do in Horizons that actually matter and people do or everyone's moved on?

Would you say that playing the game with HOTAS is genuinely easier/better than KBD/Mouse, other than the whole immersion aspect of it? It took me a long time to get used to a joystick but eventually i kinda got the hang of it. However it was extremely annoying that on top of ALL the buttons on the hotas the game required like a hundred more on the KBD AND use of the mouse to fully operate. I have limited desk space so having everything installed and usable was hell. Yesterday I tried playing it entirely with KBD/Mouse but found it surprisingly unresponsive and weird (Unlike X4, which plays way better with KBD imo). So i am really unsure about that.

Thanks for the replies in advance. Keep it civil

Hunchback wrote: ↑Fri Nov 20, 2020 9:22 am Factions = clans, i presume?
How does it all work with the criminal system, different factions etc ?
Also, to what extent does "take care of systems" actually means doing anything, compared to say EVE online (if you have experience with it) ?

Finally, i'll copy/pasta my post from reddit here: