 I'm sometimes asked what weapons I would like to see added to the on foot combat arenas of Elite Dangerous Odyssey. Whilst I have definite opinions on that subject the answer is a lot more complex than a different flavour of gun. In this video I'll talk about the current state of on foot combat in Elite and how I'd like to see it evolve. To make sure you don't miss any of our videos hit like and subscribe and remember to click the little bell icon and select all notifications and if you'd like to help directly support this channel you can also join our patreon via the link in the video description. Whatever you might think of Odyssey's current mix of laser kinetic plasma and explosive hand cannons for the environments they're used in they more than adequately do the job that's currently required of them. As we've discussed on this channel before with a fully engineered executioner plasma rifle you can silently and efficiently completely take a settlement apart removing whatever individuals bounties or materials from that settlement you so desire it even works beautifully for the purpose indoors. Indeed an un-engineered off-the-shelf level 3 executioner will more than do the job of lightening the burden of humanity from just about any surface settlement albeit somewhat more noisily than its engineered equivalent. When taken in context with the close quarters room clearing beauty of the laser and kinetic combinations offered by the Takada Eclipse and the Karma C-44 the shield and flesh-melting power of the Manticore oppressor the explosive in-your-face unguided magnificence of the Karma L6 or what many players in the game call the only gun you'll ever need the Manticore Tormentor plasma pistol it's blindingly apparent I would suggest that there is no significant need for any other weapons in the game. What could possibly better the current crop of bone atomizing personal artillery choices so much so that the thought of upgrading and engineering another weapon just of a different flavor becomes a viable proposition. Something that when coupled with a fully upgraded and engineered dominator or maverick suit will facilitate your clearing a settlement or dominating a conflict zone like some sort of levitating gun witch in a slightly more interesting way isn't enough of a motivation. I'd argue in fact that there isn't anything suitably enticing enough and I'd go further and suggest that frontiers developing such a thing would be a waste of their internal resources. I can already clear a settlement or dominate a conflict zone in whatever fashion best suits me in any number of different multicolored and fascinating flavors. Weapons in video games are a solution to a specific problem. The specific problem of surface combat in Elite Dangerous Odyssey as it stands now has plenty of available solutions. What's required is a new problem. In order to justify adding new and interesting weapons to the game the game has to expand its repertoire of situations to accommodate them. I can hear you thinking now it's probably around this point that he's going to mention on foot Thargoids. I'm happy to disappoint you in that regard I do believe on foot Thargoids are probably in our future and I'm looking forward to that but I think any weapons utilized in that arena are likely to be in a similar vein to the journey we've been on with ship-to-ship combat with the Thargoids i.e. it ultimately comes down to the necessity to have them be tainted by Guardian technology in some regard. What I'm talking about specifically in this video is planetary surface combat of the human versus human variety and in that regard in order for the combat experience to be expanded and added to I'm firmly of the opinion that we have to deal with the issue of scale in Elite Dangerous Odyssey. I've said before in this channel that I enjoy the on foot combat in Odyssey I've found it suitably engaging challenging and rewarding particularly the settlement based mission content. What I found significantly less enjoyable is the conflict zone based surface content that is used to determine the outcome of matters arising from the background simulation. When two factions go to war in Elite Dangerous Odyssey they fight over control of a system spaceways and surface settlements. The spaceways combat is a simple matter of attrition destroy more of the opponent ships and you win the battle. In a space-based war that makes sense the surface settlement part of the combat equation is somewhat more problematic for me. If you've never experienced it allow me to elaborate when a conflict zone erupts around a settlement then the game places arbitrary capture points at various places around the suddenly abandoned and completely unlocked settlement exterior and buildings. These capture points are unrelated to any vital equipment strategic choke point or any function or system that facilitates the combat for either side they are quite literally a placed pole in the ground that you stand by for a suitable amount of time in order to capture. It's a very gamified mechanic Odyssey has often been criticized over the last year for being nothing more sophisticated than a 20 year old map based first-person shooter. That criticism is too sweeping and generalized in my opinion but it's the conflict zones that have brought out that particular criticism and I understand where it comes from. I mentioned the word gamified when addressing the surface conflict zones and that's exactly what it feels like. To settle what is essentially a planet wide military level dispute by standing next to poles in the ground dotted around a settlement just feels completely at odds with the rest of the scope of Elite Dangerous. A game let's not forget that is set in a one-to-one simulation of an entire galaxy. When the BGS decides that the local circumstances are ripe for a war to erupt and then places that war on a planetary surface I would like to see more of that planetary surface brought into the conflict arena. The drop ships used to deploy into an active CZ are undoubtedly cool but no military tactician worth their salt would park a slow hovering open-bellied drop ship right on top of an active war zone. Those drop ships would be used to deploy their precious squishy cargo miles from the front line where the enemy can't immediately shoot at the ship or the troops the moment they arrive. Any attacking force would likely have a temporary forward operating base away from the target settlement from which their assault would begin and the final phase of the assault would see the attackers arriving at the settlement and taking control of strategic buildings such as power and command centers. Between the attackers beach head forward base and the target settlements perimeter there is ample opportunity for combat over greater ranges using more sophisticated weaponry and tactics such as guided missiles and bombs ballistic sniper rifles artillery suppression of enemy air defenses gunfire from a general-purpose gun to suppress advancing troops and more opportunity to use the terrain to set up ambushes and choke points etc for columns of advancing vehicles and troops. It's this arena that would make a lot more sense for the game to employ its much vaunted but little exploited sphere of combat feature ships SRVs and troops all in the same battle space. The conflict zone as is feels like it would be more at home as an on foot version of CQC right now it's a planetary wide conflict that is being settled by combat at close quarters in an area the size of a football pitch. To address my original point yes I would like to see more weapons added to the on foot game but I would also like to see Frontier evolve the on foot surface and full sphere of combat into what it has the potential to be in order to make those weapons have meaning. I've said on this channel before that I believe Odyssey to be a platform rather than an end point in a very similar way to how Frontier handled elite dangerous and horizons. I still believe that to be the case what remains to be seen however is if Frontier has the vision and indeed the will to fully explore the scale of that platform. Do you think Frontier will ever expand foot-based combat between humans beyond the confines of the settlements? What weapons and tactics would you like to see employed and why? Let us know in the comments below. That's it for now thanks very much for watching if you enjoyed this video consider subscribing to the channel and maybe take a look at one of our other videos linked on screen right now