COMPLETED CG Brewer Corporation Planetary Survey Initiative (Exploration)

[DaggerSnake]

Most BGS states are utterly inconsequential for day-to-day activities so I think it's cool that Lockdown actually has a tangible, significant impact. Really even that only matters if the faction owns every single port, though, which...oh. I hadn't checked. Brewer's conquest of the one remaining port in the system may have backfired.

Oh I totaly agree about seeing BGS states having impact ingame. It's pretty awesome. I would like it to have more effect and actually have missions that represent the state more. Just turning them off is boring. There could be more pirate hunts or assassination, or some raiding pirate bases to put those Scorpion SRV's to use.

I actually hadn't thought about just landing at some settlements owned by other factions and shooting up the place...would that work to collect bounties onfoot?

Either way I had already turned in my 11 reports to get in the bottom of the CG, so now it's just fun to jump in a watch how it plays out.

 

[Jmanis]

Even in Lockdown, why aren't there any missions being put out by any Factions that would either help or hinder? Is that just bad design in the game? Seems like just having people sit in the single planet res sites or the pirate activity sites is pretty boring gameplay. I'd like Brewer to have some onfoot raids or something to mix it up...(c'mon FDev)

Incidentally, Lockdown- themed missions exist... you need to visit a station which isn't owned by the faction in lockdown. Just one of the more bizarre things about why Lockdown shuts down services.

 

[madbad3k]

Isn't part of the problem that it is far easier to maintain the lockdown just via tagging clean ships than it is to remove it by actually having to kill things? So "not much change" does not mean people are not making an effort. "Explorers" with a single account and a lot of data to hand in are also likely to be combat averse.

Correct! I've been stuck in TrailBlazer Echo's Hanger 5 - since last Wednesday evening. A stripped down Cobra, with a lot of Expo Data I can't hand in - it's not tricked out for combat - so staying put. Plus the Bar Tender has run out of Lavian Brandy.. & i'm developing 'cold turkey' symptoms..

 

[St0rmFury]

Tbh, I'm not even sure if just tagging clean ships without killing them counts towards lowering security. But I don't feel like dealing with notoriety, so I just do what little I can.

 

[Jmanis]

Tbh, I'm not even sure if just tagging clean ships without killing them counts towards lowering security. But I don't feel like dealing with notoriety, so I just do what little I can.

Definitely does... it's a fairly common tactic afaik. Is there something suggesting to you that it doesn't?

 

[St0rmFury]

Definitely does... it's a fairly common tactic afaik. Is there something suggesting to you that it doesn't?

A quick example I could think of, if both tagging & killing clean ships counts as committing crimes (for BGS at least), why don't you get merits for just tagging clean ships?

 

[JR250]

Hi all. I haven't read this thread so I'll probably have a mouth<>foot event with this.

It would be rather unfortunate to have the renewed interest, goodwill, and momentum in the game stunt by disappointing the 14,000+ players that have signed up for the CG. This lockdown state can be removed with one of these:

a) Deploy ATR. This doesn't/rarely happen anymore and it should. The lock-down was a direct result of murders of likely unarmed, maybe noob exploration ships returning to the CG system. Why do we have a peak security risk state in a system and no ATR in sight? Drop ATR in the Pirate Activity SS, and maybe chase the murderers off the system, and the state can clear on the next tick. Maybe ATR needs some coaxing from the Devs but that would be better than godhand clearing the state.

b) Move the darn megaship to an uninhabited system next door. No population, no lockdown.

c) Allow turning in data after the CG has closed at any Brewer Logistics owned station.

 

[varonica]

Hi all. I haven't read this thread so I'll probably have a mouth<>foot event with this.

It would be rather unfortunate to have the renewed interest, goodwill, and momentum in the game stunt by disappointing the 14,000+ players that have signed up for the CG. This lockdown state can be removed with one of these:

They are not going to be disappointed, anyone who put a single exploration credit in before the lock down are going to get the global reward plus the minimum payout, people who signed up for the CG and never put anything in, well that was silly right, a single exploration dump, a single system basically, would have got them the reward. My very first contribution, the day after the CG started, put me in the top 25% with 30 systems scanned, even if I did nothing for the rest of the time I would still now be in the top 25%.

 

[Jmanis]

A quick example I could think of, if both tagging & killing clean ships counts as committing crimes (for BGS at least), why don't you get merits for just tagging clean ships?

I don't know about PP, but I feel like it's probably not meeting a threshold as a balancing issue, much like how trade needs to meet a minimum threshold (IIRC?)

This is as opposed to the BGS which counts it as a transaction, but murder is simply more impactful than assault.

 

[Kira Goto]

My very first contribution, the day after the CG started, put me in the top 25% with 30 systems scanned, even if I did nothing for the rest of the time I would still now be in the top 25%.

I even just scanned some 4-5 systems (DSS included - was just looking for something relatively passive to relax to) close to the CG start and up to lockdown starting kept me in the top 50%. Approaching its bottom end at 183 reports on my end, but still in it. Not that I cared for the placement much.

Claiming that one CG getting interfered with - albeit in a more*-than-minor way - would somehow drive all those players away, while said CG was (and is) relatively inconsequential to overall lore or proceedings… well, that’s just a very slight hyperbole (providing correct use of the term).

*Edit to make my intended meaning clearer.

 

[St0rmFury]

I don't know about PP, but I feel like it's probably not meeting a threshold as a balancing issue, much like how trade needs to meet a minimum threshold (IIRC?)

This is as opposed to the BGS which counts it as a transaction, but murder is simply more impactful than assault.

Yeah probably, but it's enough to raise some doubt in me (not that I don't trust you, but you did ask ).

And since you're top 5 on the bounty board, I guess merely tagging isn't impactful enough for you lol.

Edit: Another one I thought of, just tagging seems too easy as opposed to having to kill wanted ships and cashing in the bounty in order to move the slider.

 

[Kira Goto]

just tagging seems too easy

I don’t know the exact BGS mechanisms but if security impact is tied to the size of the bounty obtained by assault and murder of a clean ship, then only tagging might be counterproductive as I believe higher notoriety results in higher bounties on a kill too (but I don’t engage in any criminal gameplay except a singular roleplay motivated occasion, which only involved Odyssey settlement and not ships, so can’t speak to that for sure).

 

[Jmanis]

Yeah probably, but it's enough to raise some doubt in me (not that I don't trust you, but you did ask ).

And since you're top 5 on the bounty board, I guess merely tagging isn't impactful enough for you lol.

Edit: Another one I thought of, just tagging seems too easy as opposed to having to kill wanted ships and cashing in the bounty in order to move the slider.

Oh i just kill where its convenient. I might leave a few deadly/ elite npcs dealing with my slf, but a harmless Cobra is an extra couple lasers i can do without.

 

[Screemonster]

Tbh, I'm not even sure if just tagging clean ships without killing them counts towards lowering security. But I don't feel like dealing with notoriety, so I just do what little I can.

Back before Odyssey (and probably still in legacy) damaging a turret or skimmer at a surface installation counted as "assault" and was a bounty, instead of the "damaging defences" fine it is now.

One could rack up a lot of negative influence without incurring notoriety by repeatedly carpetbombing such an installation with mines.

 

[Jmanis]

Back before Odyssey (and probably still in legacy) damaging a turret or skimmer at a surface installation counted as "assault" and was a bounty, instead of the "damaging defences" fine it is now.

One could rack up a lot of negative influence without incurring notoriety by repeatedly carpetbombing such an installation with mines.

I think some of that impact got mitigated a whiles back?

EDIT: On an aside... I suspect there's probably a lot anyone countering the lockdown isn't doing right... just from chatter I suspect people are:

• Fighting in the Pirate Activity sites (i mean, that's the intuitive thing to do)
• Aren't handing in their bounties on the regular (given everyone stacked up their exploration data)
• Aren't collecting bounties at all even
• Are fighting ships only from particular factions

I can only hope the one thing to come out of this is for people to realise how grossly under-rewarding Pirate Activity sites are for the effort needed.

 

[varonica]

I think some of that impact got mitigated a whiles back?

EDIT: On an aside... I suspect there's probably a lot anyone countering the lockdown isn't doing right... just from chatter I suspect people are:

• Fighting in the Pirate Activity sites (i mean, that's the intuitive thing to do)
• Aren't handing in their bounties on the regular (given everyone stacked up their exploration data)
• Aren't collecting bounties at all even
• Are fighting ships only from particular factions

I can only hope the one thing to come out of this is for people to realise how grossly under-rewarding Pirate Activity sites are for the effort needed.

I only fight at USS's that are marked as Brewer Corp, figuring any hostile ships there must count, not sure what effect handing in bounties for other faction will have, but it stands to reason while I am killing enemies that have bounties placed on them for other factions that's time I am not fighting enemies that have bounties on them from Brewer Corp.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

[...] I suspect there's probably a lot anyone countering the lockdown isn't doing right... just from chatter I suspect people are:

• Fighting in the Pirate Activity sites (i mean, that's the intuitive thing to do) [...]

Anything wrong/pointless doing this?
The bounty vouchers collected there are basically the same as in the system, which can be cashed at the megaship for Brewer Corp.
Other vouchers from KWS (I winged up once with a guy that had one equipped obviously) would be the ones that do not count.

Or, did I misunderstand what you mean?

 

[St0rmFury]

Anything wrong/pointless doing this?
The bounty vouchers collected there are basically the same as in the system, which can be cashed at the megaship for Brewer Corp.
Other vouchers from KWS (I winged up once with a guy that had one equipped obviously) would be the ones that do not count.

Or, did I misunderstand what you mean?

Pirates in Pirate Activity signals are much harder than the ones encountered in RES.

Or so they say, since I've never tried that before.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

Pirates in Pirate Activity signals are much harder than the ones encountered in RES.

Or so they say, since I've never tried that before.

Ah!
Yes, definitely easier at the RES where it feels like a point & click/shoot (with the extra assistance of the local security at the HIGH one).

I tried yesterday a threat 7 and they were tough, ultra tough shield/hull, engineered to the bones using some experimental effects I was not used to. Never used so many synthesis on the 4 multi-cannons of my Corvette. Triple Beams was just not enough to chew through them.
That was a bit more challenging (but still no threat, since most pirates act independently and therefore do not gank on you), much longer fights, but not more rewarding: a deadly NPC gives the same experience whether the fly a big or small ship (I was hoping to level up my NPC crew), bounties collected were not even higher...just lots of/only deadly pirates.
At the end, I was waiting for pirates to start shooting each other's (not really sure what is the cause of it, maybe stray fire, or they scan each other's for cargo?), then took part of their fight. Was funnier and faster.
I did it once, won't do it again.

 

[varonica]

The bounty vouchers collected there are basically the same as in the system, which can be cashed at the megaship for Brewer Corp.

They can be cashed at the megaship, but sometimes they are payed out by a different faction, so the question is do those bounties payed out by different factions have any effect on Brew Corp standing in the system when cashed at the megaship. Every bounty I collect at a Brewer Crop tagged USS is always payed by Brewer Corp, so I know those are having an effect.