Campaign to make trailblazers less of a grind.

[SteveWW57]

"Been wondering if those who are enjoying Colonisation the most are indeed often retirees with plenty of time on their hands and are still longing for 8 hours a day work-like experience (albeit without getting paid, beyond the weekly Arx that is)."

Retired for a couple of years and do not miss the work day at all. I retired early so that I could do the things that I wanted to do*. Currently I am into Elite, especially Colonisation. Tomorrow it might be playing another game, or painting figures (which I need to cut down on) or something else. I have a comfortable life and the wife does not bother me much. The school runs for the grandkids break up the days.

* But not all things come to pass as anticipated when gaming buddies are no longer around to enjoy a pleasant retirement.

 

[aRJay]

The fact is there's too much emphasis on hauling in elite dangerous. Yes you can do other things but to progress in colonisation you have to haul. Same to a lesser degree with bgs and PP2.0. But they all share the emphasis.
That's the fact

Hauling has been a key feature of every version of Elite I have played since 1985 and while there is a lot of emphasis on it in ED there is so much else to do that it isn’t overemphasised any more than AX activities where during the late war.

Yes colonisation is a hauling activity and it would probably go even faster with many more systems being built if there was an alternative activity that worked at the same rate. Given how many systems are being colonised I am not sure that would be a good thing.

PP and BGS may overemphasise hauling I wouldn’t know as the purposes of those bits of ED don’t appeal to me.

 

[O'Roarke]

Yes tier 1 are a doddle pretty much.

Then introduce a cap on weekly constructs.
Thus stopping a grinder dead

Then limit yourself to two hours a week on your Planetary Port. Problem solved.

It's odd seeing people complain it's A→B hauling over and over when the gameplay loop of doing that is very intensive and variable.
I had trouble finding a free couple of seconds each haul to update a sheet, even with a macro that took care of the heavy lifting in updating the sheet.

You hoon your Cutter, you SCO near-ideally curving it around a planet or moon, wrangle it to hold steady, get the SCA to drop you just in the nick of time, then boost-revector to your target, again hoon/revector to get onto the carrier or into the Station, manually land it faster then auto-dock, quick buy/sell, takeoff involves boosting through the mailslot not ramming shieldless NPC haulers and thus avoiding a murder charge.

Getting an unload loop down to 3m/loop is pretty focused gameplay.
But if you bluezone all the way with Supercruise Assist and then lean on a Docking Computer all the time, then yeah...

I compare it favourably to the hauling done in The Long Dark - there's a lot of interactivity.
That's why there's still 20kg of salt bags waiting to be moved from the Quonset to Camp Office and there've been quite a few outposts, installations, settlements, and a Coriolis or two popped up in Elite instead.

 

[Rat Catcher]

And I suspect you don't have much done in colonisation from a personal contributive perspective.

No need to suspect that, I made my statement about it earlier.
Helped out 2 other squadron members with 10k+ commodities each, but am in no rush to do more in the system I'm developing. Is this the wrong way to play colonisation?

 

[Rat Catcher]

You have your opinion and l mine.

Yes, you are 100% correct there.
Your game is entirely different to my own, which may explain why I don't feel the urge to bore myself spitless playing by doing something I don't wish to do.

 

[Starshot_Jigawatts]

Just look at the post above your two. T3 station, solo, 41 hours. Examples like that are why is it unlikely the grind will be reduced in any way.

LOL so basically your idea of balance is someone literally gluing themselves to a chair and running an IV drip for nutrition. Hey if THEY can do it, it's all good right?

By the way we have no way to vet that example. He could be just bragging or exaggerating.

 

[Starshot_Jigawatts]

And where’s your data?

It's called logic. Again, how many systems claimed by players is NOT a measure of total tonnage hauled by said players. That's just a brute fact.

 

[Jinx Chrome]

LOL so basically your idea of balance is someone literally gluing themselves to a chair and running an IV drip for nutrition. Hey if THEY can do it, it's all good right?

By the way we have no way to vet that example. He could be just bragging or exaggerating.

To repeat it again: The number of materials to haul in order to build one station in a system is vastly irrevlevant: Let's assume, FDev reduces the number of materials by 10 times or releases a monstrous hauling ship which allows you to transport 10x more materials in one flight - would it make ANY difference? I suppose no, because many players will only build 10 times faster and complain again about the boring game loop while expanding their systems or chain of systems even further.

The design flaw of Colonisation is mostly FDev's repetitive approach and (partially) some players' refusal to mix the Colonisation game loop with other game loops to break out from monotony.

 

[Koma Pahu]

It's called logic. Again, how many systems claimed by players is NOT a measure of total tonnage hauled by said players. That's just a brute fact.

You asked for data, I’m just asking where yours is.
Without data you could be arguing from false premises. Much like arguing the world is flat because you can’t see its curvature - it’s logical, but incorrect.

 

[SteveWW57]

Some are building outwards to get to somewhere they like. And they can name stations so that when they are gone, their names will live on until server death.

 

[aRJay]

It's called logic. Again, how many systems claimed by players is NOT a measure of total tonnage hauled by said players. That's just a brute fact.

Some (old) facts to discuss.

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

​

I believe the latest cargo figure was around 1.5 billion units.

 

[bangermsuk]

iv'e built 9 stations solo, 1 was with a fleet carrier friend, i have no problem with hauling to get the job done, it may of taken 11 hours of real time, but the ratification of it finally been built was great!

small outpost / mining / security / relay / comms / starport / 3 planet ports . all with my bare hands and i have the sores to prove it

 

[Rat Catcher]

I believe the latest cargo figure was around 1.5 billion units.

For an activity that is "mind-numbingly boring", that is quite a lot... (Disclaimer: Not my description)

...but then, what does FD know about their game, or something

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Yes, you are 100% correct there.
Your game is entirely different to my own, which may explain why I don't feel the urge to bore myself spitless playing by doing something I don't wish to do.

to be fair tho, just because one does not like the idea of hauling 100 loads or more to get a T2 station or even more for a T3.................... doesnt necessarily mean a player does not want to have their own private corner of the milkyway to call their own and spec out as they like.

feel free to drop byCol 359 Sector UG-T b5-2 and have a drink at Brewer's Droop Bar & Grill ..... it has lovely views of the water world below & we have steak nights on Wednesdays and 2 for one on all beers from 4pm-5pm

(i genuinely wish we could dock a these installations and kit out like our fleet carriers)

i must admit now i know a bit more about how it works i am regretting splashing my Arx naming my installations given i have made a pigs ear of speccing it out, and its not a very good system to setup shop in to be honest.

 

[Born Free]

it's waaaaaaay more than 100 loads lol. ask me how i know. i have 2 ocelli stations. (solo)
plus it's addictive. just the station? nope. you need this and that and this and that structure for the economy

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

it's waaaaaaay more than 100 loads lol. ask me how i know. i have 2 ocelli stations. (solo)
plus it's addictive. just the station? nope. you need this and that and this and that structure for the economy

My T2 is a Coriolis, iirc it was just over 70,000 tons which is 100ish trips in my T9, of course as my base is out in the sticks i need to double that as i had to load then unload my fleet carrier.
in theory however with correct organisation and good trade networks one could branch out such that you could create local supply and then no longer need to use a carrier.

 

[Rat Catcher]

i must admit now i know a bit more about how it works i am regretting splashing my Arx naming my installations given i have made a pigs ear of speccing it out, and its not a very good system to setup shop in to be honest.

I have 3 completed builds and 1 incomplete, as there were (are?) no details of how interactions between them worked, I selected assets that should lower system security... Once things are clear on how assets interact I may continue building to get product other than biowaste and slaves being sold on my markets, but I won't be rushing to complete them.

 

[Coolgroove]

It looks like most of the sentiments for the current one and only game loop are:

• Feature requires you to play the game, it's good.
• Credits are easy and it won't be good if hauling part was skipped (in good faith I assume it means the length of the construction process and effort put should not be skipped).
• There are players who are enjoying hauling game loop and have no problems doing it even solo.
• It's a group feature, find someone to help you.
• Colonisation should be a huge effort.

Also:

• There are players who find hauling game loop very very mind-numbingly boring. Not the need to put any effort or to spend time. The game loop and that process of 'pad-to-pad' hauling.
• Many players would love to get into the actual Colonisation gameplay, but it is locked behind that one and the same game loop.
• Colonisation as a feature has the biggest impact on the game world, even if compared to all other game features combined. Of course a lot of players would want to take part.

Out of all discussions on the matter, it looks like there is only one solution that could satisfy both sides - Mission Boards for Colonisation/Construction sites.

• Players can take missions of variety of activities, at Construction sites.
• Mission rewards can be only commodities for that Construction site.
• If players like to haul - they haul.
• If players don't like to haul - they have options for something else.
• It can bring even more players to any community effort, as it would give a possibility to enjoy participation to a bigger variety of players.
• There is no skipping with credits.
• The only option to participate - is to directly play the game.
• Still the same huge effort, but can be accessed through various options.

To balance time between hauling and missions - a mission spawn timer can be used. By now I think there could be a lot of data on how fast/slow hauling progress on constructions can be. Using an average to spawn sets of missions could be a good start to tweak those numbers. It could even add extra variety by forcing to do mission for other construction sites while previous respawns. Plus, hauling would probably still be the fastest option.

No need for limits or other similar ideas - let everybody colonise at any rate they can/want. Just provide more options to take part, with the same mechanics that already exist in the game, and varied gameplay loops that many players enjoy.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

"Been wondering if those who are enjoying Colonisation the most are indeed often retirees with plenty of time on their hands and are still longing for 8 hours a day work-like experience (albeit without getting paid, beyond the weekly Arx that is)."

Retired for a couple of years and do not miss the work day at all. I retired early so that I could do the things that I wanted to do*. Currently I am into Elite, especially Colonisation. Tomorrow it might be playing another game, or painting figures (which I need to cut down on) or something else. I have a comfortable life and the wife does not bother me much. The school runs for the grandkids break up the days.

* But not all things come to pass as anticipated when gaming buddies are no longer around to enjoy a pleasant retirement.

One funeral too many for me.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Some are building outwards to get to somewhere they like. And they can name stations so that when they are gone, their names will live on until server death.

Might beat my upcoming grave marker at Jefferson Barracks....