but I think this is part of the problem with ED, unknown amount of DLC, SP offline wasn't confirmed until later, even though it should have been crystal clear that people wanted a SP offline mode, without ever connecting to a online server, because if they did force the game online all the time or online to play SP still, this would have violated their no DRM FAQ question,
they should have been far more clear on what type of game they wanted, and should have been more upfront about it, not changing the rules as they see fit, and like I said before, sure that £80 buys the game and expansions, but the issue I was referring too is when it hits online sellers, like steam and Greenman gaming, as they won't sell the game at that price, it won;t sell, they would have to bring down the price, and the other issue is with the DLC themselves, how will the server handle those with and without? and making sure those without planet landings don't get planet landings missions and the like? unless they make it that both parties use different servers? I brought up EVE, at least with eve, when they add expansions, everyone shares the same code, as it adds new sectors, new missions and the like, but ED isn't doing that,
really stuff like that I think they probably not worked out yet, I still think once the finer points are worked out, they might realise what they are trying to do might not be possible, or might take too long to do, but this might end up costing FD a lot of money, online servers aren't cheap, but if they are expecting a lot of players too, what about trading? in the FAQ it mentions that a player could meet hundreds of AI ships but 32 real players, I wonder iif that is per sector? but if that is the case, then what about the economy, how will they handle inflation? or the lack of goods, because too many people trade between the same planets all the time? I don't know how its handled in EVE, I don't play that, or what trading there is in eve, but the way DB is describing it in, the trade dev diary, I simply don't see it working, it won't drive the market, it will causing massive inflation as people will keep trading between similar planets, then the lack of goods on planet A, because everyone has bought everything from that planet, but then, selling it to planet B, if everyone does it at the same time, will cause the places to fall, so no profit, so you might have to travel farther away to get any kind of profit
it was fine in frontier, as it wasn't really a dynamic universe, even in LT, it shouldn't really be an issue, or it might be, if Josh goes for a dynamic trade system, but for ED, this will be thousands of players trading between planets, prices will fall, even if several players sell to a world that has famine, how long will the food price remain high? with enough food, the price will fall, the whole dynamic apporuch could very well be a major flop, sure it one way of making money, but its also was a good way of making money in Elite / Frontier, once you know a few trade routes
so really, I think this could very well cause a lot of problems, and lets not forogt, that of the intiire universe, only a fraction of it will be inhabited, they might even have to change that, make more areas with colonies, to help counter having too many people in the same zones
so I think what they are saying might not necessary will happen, once they realise that some elements might end up breaking the game, and breaking balance
edit
the other thing is, while everyone remembers DB for doing Elite and frontier and FFE, for the original Elite, Ian Bell did a lot of work on the game too, including the flight mechanics
there is an interesting interview done by Ian Bell, and also goes into some detail of the degrading relationship with DB and how DB screwed Ian Bell over FFE, so to get away from paying royalties, because the deal was that DB paid Ian bell for using some of the elements from Elite, but FFE was going to be a mission disk, but the game engine / code couldn't handle it, so DB made FFE a full game, so this meant he didn't need to pay royalties anymore,
http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/ar ... 081501.htm
if you not read the interview its worth a read, but I say its sad, that people don't remember Ian Bell when it comes to the name of Elite, sure he had no part in frontier, but if he had, I think the game would have been far better then it was, plus both frontier and FFE was rushed, which didn't help matters either