Farming Npc’s at stronghold carrier’s

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
Factabulous said:
In that case I think maybe the powers are not balanced.
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I don't think it necessarily implies that, since from the screenshots in other threads, you're getting the "top player" rank for your power at the moment.

It just means that at most about a third of the people pledged to my Power (and probably rather less) are doing the same.

Helmut Grokenberger said:
Just as a data point for that: I made 11k merits for Kaine playing thursday, saturday and sunday for a couple of hours each. Let's call it 12 hours. That's me still finding out stuff, so I'd say it might fit the casual median.
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That maybe matches my per-hour earning rate, though your position in the Power standings is going to point out that you're well above the median as a result (since I'm safely into top 50% for Kaine on about half your merits!)

I'm sure there are plenty of faster options available but that doesn't mean that everyone is taking them.
 

Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
Ian Doncaster said:
That maybe matches my per-hour earning rate, though your position in the Power standings is going to point out that you're well above the median as a result (since I'm safely into top 50% for Kaine on about half your merits!)

I'm sure there are plenty of faster options available but that doesn't mean that everyone is taking them.
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I am in the 25% bracket with my 11k merits - I swear when I logged out last night I was in the 50%. Maybe Frontier did some adjustments in the background? As of right now with what I found out, I don't think I can raise my merit rate other than getting grindy - which I will not.
 

Lu-v H8-2020

L
Jmanis said:
If nobody is undermining their strongholds, they don't really need to reinforce it do they? Worst case, both your strongholds get undermined. Best case, they stop undermining yours and start reinforcing theirs.
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Thus becomes who outgrinds the other with higher player numbers and or playing availability. Great.
 

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
Lu-v H8-2020 said:
Thus becomes who outgrinds the other with higher player numbers and or playing availability.
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Well, it was hardly going to be the Power with fewer players and less time who won, whatever the mechanism.

Helmut Grokenberger said:
I am in the 25% bracket with my 11k merits - I swear when I logged out last night I was in the 50%. Maybe Frontier did some adjustments in the background? As of right now with what I found out, I don't think I can raise my merit rate other than getting grindy - which I will not.
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Either that or a bunch of extra people managed to complete their starter missions and get on the board, pulling the boundaries downwards.
 

Lu-v H8-2020

L
Helmut Grokenberger said:
it might even have the unintended effect of people using the block list much more.
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Kinda sounds like what a PP player would not do. Because empty spaces are bland. ~~Then again, you exist.~~ it's a weird system I'll admit that. I suggested in the "infamous" topic that blocking in PP territory would only function as chat block but not player presence. Alas it probably is not implementable. Forgot to add amongst the idea with the territory the other requirement for that semi block needs both players to be pledged... Even if, sadly there would also be caveats to be found in that.
 
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Rubbernuke

Rubbernuke
Ian Doncaster said:
Yes, quite possibly - though I think that once the between-activity balance is established, the number of merits needed to flip a system might need to come down substantially. If moving an Exploited system to either None or Fortified requires enough merits to get 4-5 new recruits to maximum rank, even without opposition, that process is going to lead to very slow changes / only the largest organised groups being able to make changes.

(While PP1 merits were generally a fair bit slower to obtain, I don't think any single PP1 group was making enough merits per week to flip a single PP2 system; if my Power is at all representative, the mean merits per player per week is probably going to be under 10,000 and the median will be less than that)
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It will take a lot of experimentation from FD to get the state change speed right- by the end of PP1 it was stupidly quick to fortify everything and lock out attack. Now its tug of war FD really need to be on the ball to get the balance right.
Factabulous said:
In that case I think maybe the powers are not balanced. This was maybe an hour's work:
View attachment 406916
actually, probably less that that ...

I do expect a nerf incoming, hopefully not before I get to try out something that should be substantially more broken ...
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There are methods which are double that floating around.
 

Rubbernuke

Rubbernuke
Jmanis said:
Welcome to pretty much every PvP game out there that does group-vs-group stuff like this.
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And it comes down to the PvE- PP1 was grindy because there were two basic ways to do things. The trouble at the minute is the tasks are still too easy to do.
 

Unknown Zombie

Unknown Zombie
Jmanis said:
Right, so incentivise PvP, not Open.
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TBH, reduced rebuys for PP-related explosions is actually enough of an incentive for me.

Though, I may be easier to convince than other players, as I have preferred to play in open for years -- even though I'm really not into PVP (I can appreciate the tension it creates and enjoy the extra thought that has to go into building my ships to account for running into a hostile player).

I guess that sounds kind of contradictory in my reasoning, so I'll elaborate a bit more. I tend to be a low earner because the stuff I enjoy doing in the game doesn't make me a lot of money. It's very much not an exaggeration to say that one 30-million rebuy of my T-10 is easily more than I make on an average week of playing. So, while reducing rebuys does cut a bit of that previously mentioned tension out a bit, it will actually encourage me to take more risks and be more daring with the kinds of places I go poking my nose around.
 
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photomankc

photomankc
Jmanis said:
But what is the issue? A few people have said this now... but with the diverse opinions in this thread, it's not clear what anyone wants.

  • OP sounded like they were claiming there was no way to defend against people in PG/solo.
  • that evolved into "there's no mechanism to defend against a stronghold attack"
  • that seemed to evolve into "murder is too overpowered"
  • that's further evolved to "NPCs are underpowered"

These are all very different issues, with different ways to solve them... so at least we can agree this is hardly straightforward.
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The issue being that the Stronghold is not a "Stronghold". It is a merit farm for ghosts with negative impact on the other team. Going and merit farming someone else's stronghold does not resolve that.

Although I think it seems we agree more than disagree. The difficulty should be high and risky, not almost the easiest combat to be found.
 

Rebel Yell

Rebel Yell
Balance can be obtained also using diminishing returns instead of linear ones... of course players are farming the best/fast/less risky method, at same time I'd expect those players will be gone away doing their biz soon, as far as they hit R100 and their "incentive" is exhausted. Unless there's a "premium" rank beyond 100 lol :D
 

Mr Jack Burton

Mr Jack Burton
cmdr Ramius007 said:
Balance would be obtained with 30% rewards in solo/pg, and 30% is actully generous offer, if someone is soloing hotspot
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I agree, and honestly, a 30% reduction feels too generous. I'd suggest a 50% reduction in rewards for Solo/PG instead. The safety in these modes offers a clear advantage. Significantly boosting Open rewards would make interactions more engaging and properly reward the added risk of PvP.
 
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