Mind numbingly boring hauling

Status
Thread Closed: Not open for further replies.
They are going to be less and less likely to help as the Bubble grows.

Why does everything need to be done by players anyway? It's high time those lazy NPCs started to work for their money. You could hire a crew, build a T9 or two for them and say 'OK guys, your job is to unload the carrier, you have 8 hours to get it done, see you tomorrow morning'.
Easy, easy. Otherwise, you might suddenly start wondering why our crew members which already HERE (who could carry a shuttle for colonization, for example )is completely useless and has no gameplay value at all and we even still can't put an NPC in a chair. Some people just don't like the "wrong" questions about game design stuff :)
 
Last edited:

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Sorry, but I advise you to reread the entire thread and then my response so that the accused understand what was being discussed.
It all seems to boil down to "how to get others to do something that one doesn't want to do oneself", or better yet, remove the requirement for players to do the hauling by turning it into an executive control feature using NPCs for hauling.
 
This all seems to be stemming from the starting point that colonisation is bankrupt from a game design standpoint, being exclusively formed of unengaging hours of nothing but hauling. No other activity. Even in the middle of the bubble, surrounded by diverse developed economies, its still nothing but hauling, the title of system architect doesn't seem fitting when we have done nothing but hauling for hours.

Would be better if it was about pulling favours for NPC factions to get them to haul for us, either directly from sorrounding systems or getting them unload FCs to still add the drain on the commodity economy while sparing players from the endless hauling to build their systems up. Make it feel like a project administrator, organizing support from the area to develop a construction.

Or really anything else, i am still astonished that they saw nothing but hauling as valid game design 10 years into the game's life.
 
It all seems to boil down to "how to get others to do something that one doesn't want to do oneself", or better yet, remove the requirement for players to do the hauling by turning it into an executive control feature using NPCs for hauling.
No, it comes down to alternatives to hauling, at least minimal gameplay variety, and reducing the catastrophically gigantic amount of pointless, mindless, uncreative, and extremely monotonous grind. Like most of the threads this month.
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Last trade CG had top 25% haulers bringing in 7200 tons, that doesn't even get you the entry outpost, i would't say it was popular, atleast not popular enough to make a whole system revolve around it.
Given that the CG participants had other things to do, i.e. the Trailblazer update launched during the CG, it would seem that that CG is not necessarily a representative sample of those that have gone before.
 
Alright, looking back at previous trading cg: https://inara.cz/elite/communitygoals/?page=2
Utopia Request for Vital Commodities
I hadn't returned to the game back then, so i have no clue wha the top 25% was, but average was: 20000000/2500= 8000
8k tons still doesn't get you an outpost, and certainly doesn't get you enough appetite for hauling for people to have leftover hauling patience to help others once they have developed their own systems beyond an outpost, i do remind you that having a developed system takes way more than a single outpost.
 
It is the biggest motivation. e.g If you set a 100k profit/ton your order will get completed in hours. I had a carrier order sat for days until I raised the price to a competitive level - it would not have been fulfilled if I asked for the stuff for free with an accompanying sob story - let's be realistic.

Again, I'm not supporting and do not agree with this idea that charity and "community spirit" are concrete ways for players to consistently haul for you. Its as useful as crossing your fingers and hoping the station magically builds itself.

The number of haulers that are happy to haul for free is so small compared to the numbers of players that would like help I would consider it negligible.

You're seriously underestimating the numbers of colonies if you assume that this is realistic.

It is a bit frustrating now that all the responses in this post to Fdev half baking colonisation are just "pray it sorts itself out"
I'm part of Op Ida.
I've been involved in the building of more stations over the past month than I can remember at this point.
You are one amongst thousands. If you popped up due to max credits that indicates you attracted traders looking for a quick profit on the commodities map and were in a fairly well trafficked system.
Neither of those are going to apply to the colony itself.
It also indicates you were attracting non carrier owners or new carrier owners who haven't built up a pile of credits yet.
The streamers and the projects taken on by Ida are those that offer something out of the ordinary.
But you can continue to believe that credits are everything and see how far that gets you.
 
Carriers only really make sense when the resources are so far away you can't really shuttle them without multiple hops, with a possible refueling docking along the way back when loaded. But in those cases, everyone else's fleet carrier is there too and everyone grabbing at the same resource have broken the market.
That's why the Trailblazer Megaships were put in... pretty much unlimited quantities of nearly everything.
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Alright, looking back at previous trading cg: https://inara.cz/elite/communitygoals/?page=2
Utopia Request for Vital Commodities
I hadn't returned to the game back then, so i have no clue wha the top 25% was, but average was: 20000000/2500= 8000
8k tons still doesn't get you an outpost, and certainly doesn't get you enough appetite for hauling for people to have leftover hauling patience to help others once they have developed their own systems beyond an outpost, i do remind you that having a developed system takes way more than a single outpost.
Indeed, however that's in a week - and there's no time limit on colonisation after the initial four week limit to complete the first station.

Noting that the official statistics indicate that players delivered nigh on one billion units to System Colonisation Ships in two weeks:
Galnet said:
Brewer Corporation has released the official figures on the initial colonisation rush:

26,684 Claims have been made

13,165 Systems have been colonised

24,037 New starports and outposts have been built

14,216 Surface installations have been established

983,599,593 Units of cargo have been delivered to construction sites
Galnet
 
All the "ask nicely" stuff is moot. FDev hasn't provided an in game way to ask for help building a station. You have to go outside the game to do it. It's broken no matter how you slice it.

If we could, for example, spin up our own little CGs that anyone could log in and see, that would be one thing. But, inside the game? Except jumping system to system asking for help in system chat, there's not a way to ask for help building a station.
 
All the "ask nicely" stuff is moot. FDev hasn't provided an in game way to ask for help building a station. You have to go outside the game to do it. It's broken no matter how you slice it.

If we could, for example, spin up our own little CGs that anyone could log in and see, that would be one thing. But, inside the game? Except jumping system to system asking for help in system chat, there's not a way to ask for help building a station.
It doesn't occur to you that every single one of those pink triangles with crane on top is doing exactly that?
 
This might work if you are a streamer or in a good squadron. What the motivation for those who like to transport cargo from A to B and build yours colony, and not their own, is unclear to me, + considering that credits have long been devalued
Asking nicely seems to be working for those on the colonisation assistance megathread. I'll stick my neck out here and suggest that quite a few of the players (not just me) providing help to others have colonies of their own, and probably have more credits than they know what to do with. Perhaps they do it for no other reason than to be helpful. This seems to be a bit of an issue for those who appear to perceive that no activity in the game is worth doing unless you can maximise the profit.

The mechanics of this feature are far from ideal, and just like other parts of the game, it boils down to another variation on bucket filling. However, this is the hand we have been currently dealt with, and unless FDev make some changes based on player feedback this is how it is going to be. Just because I have done some hauling for others does not imply that I am happy with the feature as it is, and that no improvements are needed.
 
That's like saying that the existence of a war state on the galmap is asking for help winning my war. Is that really what you mean by "ask nicely"? If, so, isn't everyone already "asking nicely"? Does it appear to be working?

Don't try to defend the indefensible.
1) At what point did I say "ask nicely"?

2) The point is you are one of thousands. What are you doing to stand out? Promoting what you're doing, indicating why system 'Col 285 Sector AB-C D1-2' is interesting, or just sitting on your rear twiddling your thumbs?
 
Last edited:
Status
Thread Closed: Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom