Star Citizen and Elite: Dangerous- Complimentary, Not Competitive

Everything that I’m about to say could be summed up with one sentence:  Star Citizen makes me want to play Elite: Dangerous, which makes me want to play Star Citizen.

(Disclaimer: My impressions of Elite are based entirely on the base game with the free updates and does not include any paid DLC or expansions.  I’ve not played any of that, so I cannot take it into account.)

At first glance, this proposition may seem counter-intuitive.  These games are, in a large sense, competitors.  They are the vanguard of a resurgence in the space-sim game genre that has occurred over the past few years.  You might think that the competition wouldn’t leave enough room for these two major competitors to coexist, let alone benefit each other, but I think they do.  It’s greatly helped by the very different approaches to the construction of the games.

Gladius in flight in SC's "mini-persistent universe"

Just to set things out generally, while they are both space-sims, they do many things differently.  To me, it starts with the design aesthetic.  Elite stays true to its original design aesthetic of an 80s vision of the future (much like star wars was a 70s vision of the future), while SC feels more modern and sleek.  Neither is better than the other, but I definitely prefer the feeling of stepping into a modern high tech aircraft that I get in SC as opposed to the retro future of Elite where you take control of a series of flying triangles.  To be fair, the ships have gotten more diverse recently, but still nothing compared to the diversity of design in SC, at least in my opinion.

There are also a fairly massive difference in the design philosophy.  While both aim to be massive sandbox games, they’re taking different routes to get there.  Elite has taken the path of building a massively wide sandbox that it is not working on deepening.  The galaxy is huge and the basic mechanics are all functional, but many of them seem hollow.  For instance, mining is what I’ve been doing when I’ve been playing recently.  Originally, mining was really simple.  Use mining laser on rocks, scoop them up, refiner module refines them, return to port and sell the refined products.  It’s actually gotten better from what it originally was.  The introduction of drones for prospecting and collecting makes mining significantly more fun.  The problem is that it doesn’t seem like the activity has any real impact on the game’s underlying simulation.  The exception to that would be when it contributes to a community goal, but that’s something that feels staged rather than organic.

That’s what it boils down to.  The activities in Elite do not feel like they actually impact the world, which is something that I want when I play a game like this.  The introduction of the Power Play mechanic seems aimed at addressing that type of concern, but I’d be lying if I said it felt like it was changing any of the things I care about.  Frankly, I haven’t noticed it at all, but I’ve never been one to get invested faction politics in these types of games.  Elite in particular just feels too big to be able to get involved in what’s going on unless you’re willing to take the hours it takes to get to where the hotspots are and I just don’t have that type of time.

In a game as large and open as Elite, I need direction.  This is where Elite fails utterly.  The mission structure is absolute garbage.  Missions are the absolute worst way to make money and they feel entirely arbitrary, as though when you arrive in a system a random list of simple missions is generated that have nothing to do with where you are.  For anybody interested in making money or earning better ships, your best bets are bounty hunting, mining, or using an outside tool to assist you with trading.  Those things just feel grindy.  It’s not a bad grind as grinds go. I’ve enjoyed mining and I’ve enjoyed bounty hunting, but doing these things never feels like I’m interacting with the world or even part of a story of any consequence.

On the other hand, SC has focused its development on developing deep mechanics before building a large universe.  Had they done the opposite, they likely could have released the game by now.  Focusing on the deep mechanics first and expanding the universe as they go means that, theoretically, my complaints about Elite will be addressed in SC when it’s done.

For example, say I want to buy parts for my ship.  It could be a powerplant, guns or even missiles and ammo.  The economic simulation that SC is aiming for means that I will need to find a retailer that sells what I need (potentially another player).  That retailer will need a supplier.  Whether there are middlemen or the retailer is supplied directly by the manufacturer, a manufacturer would be at the base of the supply chain.  To get items from any point on the supply chain to another, someone would have to actually bring the items from one place to another.  There would need to be a manufacturer from where the items would originate and that manufacturer would need to source component parts or raw materials as well.  So, miners, extractors or sub-manufacturers would be needed to provide what’s needed.  Once again, someone needs to bring components from their place of origin to the manufacturer.

The idea is to simulate real supply chains in addition to supply and demand instead of just faking it like so many games seem to.  Supply and demand for the finished product not only impacts the price of the final product, but also for all of the goods and services that go into its creation.  This matters because SC is intending to generate missions based upon the needs of the economy.  If more iron is needed to meet demand, mining missions will be generated, as will missions for transporting the iron to a refiner, or form a refinery to a factory.  If pirates are a problem, missions to escort and protect trade ships will be generated.  Players are supposed to be able to participate in most, if not all aspects of the economy, but NPCs would pick up the slack where players aren’t meeting the needs of the simulation.

It’s an incredibly ambitious goal for a game, but one that would be borderline revolutionary if it’s achieved to any significant degree.  None of it will matter if SC fails in the same way that Elite does though.  If these missions don’t feel like they actually have anything to do with the economy or, worse, they aren’t worth doing because the rewards are insignificant.  Fun is king, and in a game as big and open as a sandbox space sim, some direction is helpful to those of us who get lost in that type of game but still want to be part of the world.  Mission can broaden the appeal of a sandbox game without necessarily sacrificing what the game is at its core.

None of this is in SC as it exists now.  What is there is fantastic, bugs and all.  Those deep economic systems are not in, so Elite’s offers more in the way of economic game play at this point.  I enjoy playing the alpha build of SC because the universe feels more real to me insofar as it exists so far, but there isn’t a ton there yet because the foundational elements are still being crafted.  I’ve enjoyed going back to elite to satisfy my desire for economic involvement in a space universe, but the lack of depth (at least as far as I perceive) leads me to pining for a finished SC after a few hours with Elite.  This is why SC makes me want to play elite, which makes me want to play SC.

None of that is to say that Elite is bad or incomplete.  I’ve enjoyed my time with the game too much to say that.  I’ll never be able to put the energy into the game to find out if the Power Play mechanics would scratch the itches that I feel like the game leaves, so I admit my opinion is incomplete.  My hope is that the planned structure of SC leaves the game more approachable for people like me, creating the classic “easy to learn, difficult to master” game dynamic that is truly one of the Holy Grails of game design.

Until that question is answered, and possibly after, I’ll continue to go back and forth between Elite and SC and enjoy each one for what it offers.