David Braben will answer your questions at 4PM GMT/UTC

[Flip]

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=60284

[SJT]

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=60284

He seems to be cherry picking which questions he wants to answer so far.

[Jockgit64]

He was quite specific about this though....

"Back during the Kickstarter, we were clear about the vision, to make a phenomenal new sequel to Elite in an online world, which we believe we are about to deliver. At the time we believed we could also offer a good single player experience, and base an acceptable offline-only experience off that. As development has progressed, it has become clear that this last assumption is not the case. That experience would be empty at best, and even that would take a lot of extra work.

It is not to enforce DRM or advertising as you suggest. We will be judged on quality, and the quality of that game experience would be poor, and we don't want to deliver a poor game. To make a richer offline single player experience has always been possible (and still is) but would be a separate game with its own story content. A huge slice of separate work. We have developed a multi-player game with an unfolding story involving the players, and groups collaborating with specific objectives and taking account of all players behaviour. This is what the game is about. Without this it would not be the rich gaming experience that we will deliver, and would be a great disappointment to all players.

I don't pretend it was an easy decision, but it was done to benefit the game as a whole. One thing we have looked at carefully is our requirements of the network connection. For the single player game they are pretty light. I myself have played the game fine on the train using a laptop on a tethered connection over my phone. Given that this is a game which is only available online, this was the decision we took. I am sorry that people are so upset about it, but it was the right decision."

[Philip Coutts]

Well at least he has stuck his head above the parapet and provided some clarity. IO still think they must have been aware of this a long time ago and should have raised these issues a damn sight sooner.

[Avago-Earo]

David Braben wrote (if the servers go down)

"We have no intention of taking the servers down, but I understand what you are getting at. We plan to archive the game from time to time (ie matching client and servers and game world state), and would release such an archive if the servers were to come down. That would also address the issue of how you preserve an online game for the future, from the whole 'retro' perspective."

(Page 14)

[Mad Mags]

He hasn't answered whether it's red or brown sauce on a bacon sarnie yet!

I was promised a definitive condiment/fried pig meat/bread decision and he hasn't delivered it. I want a refund.

[Avago-Earo]

Page 25, on answering about an offline mode alowing for modding

"Community/modding content is an interesting point - something I'd like to embrace, but within the game itself. There is a danger of the game branching otherwise."

[Wolf]

David Braben wrote (if the servers go down)

"We have no intention of taking the servers down, but I understand what you are getting at. We plan to archive the game from time to time (ie matching client and servers and game world state), and would release such an archive if the servers were to come down. That would also address the issue of how you preserve an online game for the future, from the whole 'retro' perspective."

(Page 14)

That is great news! So from the retro view we then would have an offline game with everything that happened until then in the online galaxy. Maybe even with the event authoring tools. Now that would be a sandbox!
I must say I feel reassured and even a little excited about that prospect. Just have to wait (hopefully) another 20 years for the release.

[SJT]

Didn't answer the question about when the decision to cut offline was made.

Edit: It seems that refunds are now being refused because you have already played it. Stinks!

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthrea ... ost1025136

[Neillm]

David Braben wrote (if the servers go down)

"We have no intention of taking the servers down, but I understand what you are getting at. We plan to archive the game from time to time (ie matching client and servers and game world state), and would release such an archive if the servers were to come down. That would also address the issue of how you preserve an online game for the future, from the whole 'retro' perspective."

(Page 14)

That is great news! So from the retro view we then would have an offline game with everything that happened until then in the online galaxy. Maybe even with the event authoring tools. Now that would be a sandbox!
I must say I feel reassured and even a little excited about that prospect. Just have to wait (hopefully) another 20 years for the release.

Indeed. This made a lot of people very happy...and as someone else commented...why not announce this 3 days ago?