The game's reward system

[Hellrider]

Yes, Creds are meaningless. Part of that is because to make plant scanning "better" they blew out the payout for it. But rank is based on creds, so they had to blow out the rank levels with the payout, so, yeah, your rank will rise slowly despite your billions. But at least you're halfway to a fleet carrier.

what actually make little difference for rank progression.

Reward X and rank requirement Y vs Reward 100X and rank requirement 100Y- same effort, just bigger numbers.

But here we go again, looking at OP post.
"game bad, no reward, I have to grind".
Maybe I'm not true gamer in mind, but for me reward is...fun, not decals, titles or high numbers. Only exobio yielded me 25 BILLIONS (reminder- in game where mobile base with all services will require little more than 6b+ some upkeep), but smh I'm still doing it, because I like it.
Meanwhile OP just grind his ranks without meaning and is sad, because main reward is meaningless in elite:zimbabwe economy.
At least poor jmatt discovered point of ranks in game- first is usefull for system with all ships and modules. Some engineers require other ranks, but much lower. Outside it...this is just about few suit cosmetics and "look at me, I killed baddies for 1b of bonds".

Aaand, to be fair...if frontier "dont understand games" because grind of their tanks provide no benefits I'm glad, that they don't understand games.
Better not understand such games, than make next korean like grindgame, where you grind ranks for magic enchants of your ships, to create example t9 with 600m at boost. Lol.

 

[zimms]

[...]
Better not understand such games, than make next korean like grindgame, where you grind ranks for magic enchants of your ships, to create example t9 with 600m at boost. Lol.

The grind is in your mind.

 

[aRJay]

what actually make little difference for rank progression.

Reward X and rank requirement Y vs Reward 100X and rank requirement 100Y- same effort, just bigger numbers.

...

To be fair when they did increase the rank requirement it was more like 80Y so progression did improve even for those like me who didn’t use the exploit so were apparently stuck while our new true rank caught up to our old fast track rank.

 

[Greasetrap42]

Instead of a feeling of accomplishment, I felt nothing but disappointment. Weeks of effort and it's like the needle barely moved on anything. No reward whatsoever.

Since reaching Elite, scanning a random mixture of 20 bio advances me roughly 5% according to Inara. I am now Elite II and still the same approximate progress.

Note that when using Inara to see the percent increase I must relog ED before refreshing Inara to see the increase.

 

[jmatt]

Well, what are you currently using for exobio? If it's a E grade Sidey there's definitely room for growth.

It's an AspX with engineered FSD and Guardian FSD booster with a 64ly jump range. I'm sure I could tweak it some more and bump that up a bit but it is sufficient for my needs.

 

[Greasetrap42]

Can I? I know I can engineer a ship that can jump further, and I have. But I've not really seen anything I can spend credits on that will improve on what I have now for the purposes of exobiology.

The speediest exobiology I have been able to do is from a fleet carrier. An exploration ship zips around scanning systems for traditional exploration data (ELW, water worlds, terraformables etc) and simply bookmark the systems with excellent bios. Get a dozen or more really good systems bookmarked. Then return to carrier and swap ship to a small dedicated exobiology ship. I like my Eagle Mk2 the best because of its very small size, great handling, and excellent cockpit view. Engineer the thrusters for G5 dirty for great performance. Mine has a 29Ly jump range,... more than enough. Then you have a play session of nothing but exobiology scanning.

What if you don't have a fleet carrier? Fly your long jump range exploration ship to a DSSA that has a shipyard. Then have your small dedicated exobiology ship transferred there. It won't cost much. While waiting for the transfer go scan systems.

The beauty is your dedicated exobiology ship can be built to be more speedy and robust than a long range min/maxed exploration ship. You can smack into stuff and not worry. Better engines, shields, distributer, and hull. Much better performance.


Edit: You will find a dedicated exobiology ship far better than a long range exploration ship. I almost never use the SRV. I land right at the sample, then take-off and zip to the next sample. Even fungoida in the mountains. Just find a landing spot, then zip away. Rough landings and smacking into rocks? Np.

 

[metatheurgist]

It's an AspX with engineered FSD and Guardian FSD booster with a 64ly jump range. I'm sure I could tweak it some more and bump that up a bit but it is sufficient for my needs.

Well, it looks like you have already hit the limit of what can be attained by creds. Probably because the game was "improved" by increasing income by about 50x while the cost of ships hasn't moved an inch in 11 years. Could you imagine a society where inflation is 0% and income has increased 50x? Oh wait, this isn't the "stuff that doesn't make sense" thread.

 

[Kira Goto]

Well, it looks like you have already hit the limit of what can be attained by creds. Probably because the game was "improved" by increasing income by about 50x while the cost of ships hasn't moved an inch in 11 years. Could you imagine a society where inflation is 0% and income has increased 50x? Oh wait, this isn't the "stuff that doesn't make sense" thread.

To be totally fair, we as Pilot’s Federation… well, pilots, who can own private capital ships, are not exactly common citizens, and also probably a small fraction of society at that. Hardly enough to force a change in the economy, at least, I’d think.

(Not that it necessarily excuses it from a pure game balancing standpoint.)

 

[metatheurgist]

To be totally fair, we as Pilot’s Federation… well, pilots, who can own private capital ships, are not exactly common citizens, and also probably a small fraction of society at that. Hardly enough to force a change in the economy, at least, I’d think.

(Not that it necessarily excuses it from a pure game balancing standpoint.)

And yet we can steer whole systems with our actions...Oh wait, not the "Stuff that doesn't make sense" thread again.

 

[Hellrider]

And now imagine, that still we have people pretending, that "only good trade is exploiting mining missions, because in game where prices never changed YOU HAVE TO milk billions in evening"

 

[aRJay]

And now imagine, that still we have people pretending, that "only good trade is exploiting mining missions, because in game where prices never changed YOU HAVE TO milk billions in evening"

Expecting someone to suggest this belongs in a neighbouring thread.

 

[Schmack]

You've gotten probably all the responses you wanted however I decided some time ago that, if I don't like an activity (like exploration or exobiology) then being Elite in that doesn't make sense. Why be elite in something you don't even want to do? I don't believe the ranks are the end-all, be-all of the game. I think they are just benchmarks along the way.

I will say, however, that some of these otherwise monumental achievements get little if any fanfare and feel hollow. I turned in 2b worth of combat bonds and it was a simple message in the upper left about Federation reputation. There was nothing else. This, imo, is an opportunity for FDev. QoL improvement should include the attaboy moments, provide something like a plaque for your carrier office wall or something other than that symbol you hide beneath DLC. I think this is where the F2F transactions in the terminals shine. You get to see the individual who requested something, and even though the transaction ends up being repetitive, it still feels more like an accomplishment than the little conflict zone "battle won" message or some hidden comment in your inbox.

I find it odd that your limpet not having a target creates a bigger notice than your elite status upgrade.

 

[Schmack]

Well, it looks like you have already hit the limit of what can be attained by creds. Probably because the game was "improved" by increasing income by about 50x while the cost of ships hasn't moved an inch in 11 years. Could you imagine a society where inflation is 0% and income has increased 50x? Oh wait, this isn't the "stuff that doesn't make sense" thread.

Speaking of improving payouts, I noticed yesterday some on foot offerings with the mission providers in terminals were near 2m Cr. I hadn't seen that before. Did something change recently?

 

[jmatt]

I almost never use the SRV. I land right at the sample, then take-off and zip to the next sample. Even fungoida in the mountains. Just find a landing spot, then zip away. Rough landings and smacking into rocks? Np.

I don't even bring the SRV since, like you, I never use it. But I must say that I surface travel much more cautiously than others I see on YT. They're zipping around with landing gear out, landing manually from 5 meters. I need to be better at this. I also see people doing some kind of 7ls autocruise trick... does that work for planetary approaches? Tried it once and it didn't seem to work for me.

 

[jmatt]

But here we go again, looking at OP post.
"game bad, no reward, I have to grind".

Hey, be fair. I'm not asking for a lollipop. What I said is that in most games there's a skill ladder to climb and as you climb it, you gain the ability to purchase improved gear or some ability to improve what you're working on, as with an engineer. That doesn't really seem to exist for exobiology.

 

[jmatt]

I will say, however, that some of these otherwise monumental achievements get little if any fanfare and feel hollow. I turned in 2b worth of combat bonds and it was a simple message in the upper left about Federation reputation. There was nothing else.

That's kinda what I'm getting at. There's little tactile feel to an accomplishment. Even just adding in Geneticist Level 1, 2, 3, etc would be better than nothing. Yes, meaningless but at least a way to mark progress.

 

[Kaocraft]

Honestly I like exobiology but only because it's an extremely minor carrot to engage with all the more freeform mechanics in Elite. If you feel like semi-randomly cruising around a system, touching down on planets, and then going for vaguely purposeful but mostly playful high speed SRV races across varied planetary surfaces, then it's great. As an intentional wash-rinse-repeat "gameplay" loop? Not so much. That's one of the reasons I think it should remain VERY profitable, because the best way to engage with exobiology is to do so extremely playfully and inefficiently, which means the only way to have fun and ALSO come out ahead is if it's crazy profitable.

 

[Schmack]

That's kinda what I'm getting at. There's little tactile feel to an accomplishment. Even just adding in Geneticist Level 1, 2, 3, etc would be better than nothing. Yes, meaningless but at least a way to mark progress.

A numerical progress indicator instead of a bar that moves like an oak tree growing would be nice.

 

[idahosurge]

@ OP,

To get to Elite you need 8.4B CR's. Go to post #408 in the below link. This table is 100% accurate. I went from Geneticist to Elite V and the credits it took matched this table.
Required Exo Credits

You can go to your stats page in the right UI and check your Exobiology stats page. You will see "profit from organic data" and "profit from first logged". To get to Elite quickly you need the first logged credits. For every 1B CR's of data you log on planets that you get the first footfall (first logged) credit you get another 4B CR's for a total of 5B!

If you just want to get to Elite then go out to an area that every system you jump into will be virgin territory. Depending on the direction you go this can be anywhere from 10K LY's to 16K+ LY's. Generally I am 200 LY's above or below the plane since these areas are typically less traveled. Target only F stars. For Ammonia and Carbon Dioxide bodies don't go down unless there are six or more bio signs since you are only interest in credits.

Get a Exo app to help you determine if a body is worth the trip down. I use EDEB, link below.
EDEB Link

As an example Sulfur Dioxide bodies can be worth going down for one bio if it is the right bio (Stratum Tectonicas) Sometimes it is worthless bacterium and sometimes it is not. For Ammonia bodies go to sectors that drop Frutexa Flammasis and not Frutexa Flabellum. Same thing with Carbon Dioxide bodies, you want an area that drop Frutexa Acus and not Frrutexa Fera. This kind of stuff you just have to learn from gaining experience. A great tool to assist in figuring out where to look for certain bio types is MattG's Codex BioInsights Codex Companion, link below:
Codex Companion

To get the popup yellow box you have to double click on the item, in this case the top Stratum Tectonicas which happens to be Amethyst.

Here is a link to some online spreadsheets that can also help:
Marx's Bio Spreadsheet
Canonn Research Spreadsheet

 

[aRJay]

I don't even bring the SRV since, like you, I never use it. But I must say that I surface travel much more cautiously than others I see on YT. They're zipping around with landing gear out, landing manually from 5 meters. I need to be better at this. I also see people doing some kind of 7ls autocruise trick... does that work for planetary approaches? Tried it once and it didn't seem to work for me.

While I don’t do YT I do fly over the surface with the gear deployed mainly because it helps keep the speed down, I am not so much zipping as cruising experienced flyvers of the SRV are quite possibly going faster.
My bio hunting Hauler does have the ADC fitted but the landing function is disabled because it keeps trying to land further away than I want to be. What I do do a lot is find a landing spot close to the bio I want then I line up carefully and switch Flight Assist off, this causes my ship to drop straight down due to gravity rather than along the “Z” axis of my ship FA on will slow me if the speed gets too high.
I don’t use the Supercruise Assist module just the throttle tricks, if heading for a planet set the throttle to 50% and your speed will adjust to keep the time at 10 seconds but even so I find it pays to manoeuvre the ship when nearly at the planet to scrub off speed otherwise it won’t slow down enough to enter glide.

Hey, be fair. I'm not asking for a lollipop. What I said is that in most games there's a skill ladder to climb and as you climb it, you gain the ability to purchase improved gear or some ability to improve what you're working on, as with an engineer. That doesn't really seem to exist for exobiology.

No currently exobiology is a single level activity, the only skill ladder is your ability to spot stuff and know where stuff is likely to be improves with practice.
While there are things engineering can do to help you they aren’t specific for exobiology nor do they need you to do exobiology to get them.