Elite Dangerous: G-Force and Mass Lock

G-Force

There are a few reasons why we have G–force in the game:

Firstly, it's reasonably plausible. For the most part, the speeds at which manoeuvring takes place suggest that human pilots could, with modest sci–fi improvements in flight suit technology, engage in combat represented in the game. Sure, boosting breaks this a bit, as do our fastest ships, but in general we're not talking magnitudes of difference.

Why do we do this? Well, all things being equal, we much prefer that the game is as plausible as it can be – this (in our opinion) increases the immersion and entertainment. We're not making a traditional "flight sim", but we want to give the "impression" of one when players fly their ships. Basically, the more plausible and detailed the game play, in our opinion, the better the experience.

On the other hand, we don't want to follow the realism rabbit hole too far, because before you know it we would have nothing but drones whizzing about at significant fractions of the speed of light, shooting each other with invisible lasers that never missed, or some such thing. Basically, all of the cinematic drama we're trying to create would be undermined.

Secondly, as has been pointed out, our faster than light travel modes do not super accelerate the ships, instead manipulating space to basically shorten distance, which is why they do not apply G–forces. Of course, this technology is made up, but we've tried to ground it and extrapolate from theories currently under discussion in scientific circles. Again, when we can make the game more plausible, we want to, we feel it makes a better experience.

Thirdly, there is a very useful game play mechanic to be had from a G–force system: we can use it as another tool to help to break "endless" pitch wars (not by having total blackouts that remove player control, but by applying visual/aural effects that affect the player's ability to keep track of targets (tunnel vision, blurred vision, muffled sound, heavy breathing etc.)

Essentially, pilot fatigue will be a lightweight resource that players will need to manage.

As it stands though, we haven't yet done a full balance pass on the game play or aesthetic effects of G–force, so this will remain up in the air for a while until we get around to sorting it out.

So, whilst we could have gone down many different routes: drone ships, infallible ballistics computers, hyper–real, or perhaps full on Star Wars magic aeroplanes in space where nothing is explained, we've instead chosen a road that's internally consistent for the game play and experience we're trying to evoke.

It's undoubtedly not going to be to everyone's liking, but we feel it's a nice blend of fantasy and realism – an exciting and plausible environment, and a natural succession to the legacy of Elite.

Mass Lock

Full mass-lock occurs when you are two close to a large structure such as a starport. You need to clear a minimum safe distance before you can activate you Frame Shift Drive. There is a cockpit element currently above the sensor disc that informs you when you are mass-locked in this way.

You can also be partially mass-locked by ships that are the same size or larger than your own. When inhibited in such a way, the Frame Shift Drive will spool up, but takes longer to reach full charge (the bigger the vessel locking you, the longer the charge time). This is the most common cause of ship destruction, as the Frame Shift Drive generates significant heat whilst charging.

Again, you can move to a clear distance and re-initialise the Frame Shift Drive to avoid this time penalty.

At some point Soon(tm) we will get better mechanics (the penalty will be dynamic, meaning that it will reduce as you fly away from the locking entity) and better feedback in for when you are mass-inhibited (and likely overheating as well).