Cargo buff announced (+35% any ship Class 5 & 6)

[RadiKyle]

So the new CG just revealed buffed Class 5 and 6 cargo racks coming, "pre-engineered" with +35% capacity:

ACTIVE CG - Brewer corporation calls for Trailblazer resupply

Summary System: Minerva Station: Starlace Station (Coriolis Starport, large pads available, 464 Ls from main star, 70.23 Ly from Sol) Objective: Deliver Aluminium, CMM composites, Steel or Titanium Time limit: 21st August 3311 @ 10:00 UTC Description Zorgon Peterson has confirmed that the...

forums.frontier.co.uk

Doesn't say limited to special reserved slots like the Mk II on the Panther Clipper, so I assume they're for all ships with a Class 5 or 6 slot.

The "pre-engineered" makes me suspect that cargo rack engineering blueprints are coming (vs only one-off unicorns as CG rewards). Maybe we'll see up to +50% with grade 5 engineering?

By my math the +35% adds an extra 88 t to Panther Clippers, maxing it to 1326 t. Maybe higher if engineering below Class 5 is added later (but I wonder about diminishing returns on engineering effort for smaller classes).

 

[Ian Doncaster]

The "pre-engineered" makes me suspect that cargo rack engineering blueprints are coming

It's possible, though note that many CGs during the Thargoid war handed out engineered AX or Guardian modules, almost none of which have become available as a regular blueprint.

 

[RadiKyle]

It's possible, though note that many CGs during the Thargoid war handed out engineered AX or Guardian modules, almost none of which have become available as a regular blueprint.

Good point. I also just noticed the previous CG also used "pre-engineered" for the point defence reward, but we can't engineer those either. I guess I was thinking of the FSD SCO example where the Tech Brokers have a "pre-engineered" version alongside a regular engineering path.

So I guess the worst case is these are CG reward unicorns and the most you gain is 33 t on any one ship with both Class 5 and 6.

 

[Tassier]

So I guess the worst case is these are CG reward unicorns and the most you gain is 33 t on any one ship with both Class 5 and 6.

+66t if you're in the top 75%, as you get an additional size 5 and 6 cargo rack

 

[RadiKyle]

+66t if you're in the top 75%, as you get an additional size 5 and 6 cargo rack

Thanks! I derped the reading lol

And top 75% is a reallyyyyy low bar to reach too.

 

[SteveWW57]

Thanks! I derped the reading lol

And top 75% is a reallyyyyy low bar to reach too.

Depending on the numbers though. Hopefully some will have their alts contribute a bit to get in the top 100% and push others up

 

[SteveWW57]

Logging in and using solo!

 

[Stealthie]

And top 75% is a reallyyyyy low bar to reach too.

Is it, though?

"Top 100%" rewards (like the last CG) encourage players to just deliver 1t of cargo and then sit back and collect their free stuffz.
"Top 75%" rewards are likely to perpetually encourage 25% of participants to do more.

The way these type of CGs usually go, your best bet is probably to deliver a heap of stuff, get into the top 25% and then see what happens.
If you drop down into the 50% or 75% group, you know it's time to dive back in.

Also, regarding cargo-racks, specifically, let's not forget the CG intended to give us a variety of different sized corrosion-resistent cargo racks.
It didn't have much uptake, we got the 4E rack, and there was never another opportunity to try again.

 

[ruifo]

Not bad at all

 

[KhaosDoctor]

It'd be an interesting idea if we could engineer cargo racks, not only in size but, for instance, caustic resistance, increase durability, or even sacrifice cargo space so it becomes lighter, cool thing would be to have another one that's harder to detect in scans for example, so you can do smuggling

So many ideas

 

[BDelacroix]

Also, regarding cargo-racks, specifically, let's not forget the CG intended to give us a variety of different sized corrosion-resistent cargo racks.
It didn't have much uptake, we got the 4E rack, and there was never another opportunity to try again.

One exception, we did get a CG to get a size 6 in the middle of the thargoid war, but yea, that was still just a one time item and not something put up for general sale like the 4.

 

[Danieros]

I dream with CGs offering a special currency that could be used to purchase past CG-only modules. Could give a whole new purpose to the top X rewards for every CG. Credits as the only guaranteed reward have long been meaningless.

 

[RadiKyle]

Is it, though?

"Top 100%" rewards (like the last CG) encourage players to just deliver 1t of cargo and then sit back and collect their free stuffz.
"Top 75%" rewards are likely to perpetually encourage 25% of participants to do more.

Although that may be the intent (to spawn more PC ARX buys) I think there's still a large numbers of players that try a CG in their Hauler or whatever and then go do something else instead. They're not grinding hours in 700t+ cargo ships. So the curve has a very long tail with the bottom 25% delivering very little compared to the rest.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Credits as the only guaranteed reward have long been meaningless.

Only to those who have made so many they can never spend them in the life of the game.
The just ended CG allowed me to put back the 600 mill I took out of the FC bank (it holds 1.5 billion) to equip my PC II, as it had cleaned out the loose change I keep on my CMDR.
Most of the things I do don't earn massive credit sums, my choice, so those rewards do have a purpose for me, which is fine.

 

[RadiKyle]

So back to the cargo racks themselves... If these are only unicorn CG rewards then I guess we'll be forever juggling them between our max trade ships and optimizing our other multi/special-purpose ships. So it won't be a fleet-wide buff.

My T9 will gain 44t, just over 5% so not a major buff (and at the expense of my fender-bender shield). So it's probably a bigger buff for the smaller ships running mulit-role missions, etc.

Bit of a head-scratcher FD's intent with this... The PC2 has new special Mk II racks and special slots for them, so they created an all new rack category just for the +50% upsize on an ARX release. But then they quickly add these apparently limited-edition buffed Mk I's for any ships. I don't get it

 

[Unknown Zombie]

What's to get? They're killing 2 birds with one stone:

1. Driving engagement because they know people will want these, therefore they will be playing the game. A nice month-long boost for metrics.
2. Squashing cries about "PCM2 increased capacity cargo racks are p2w" by offering increased capacity cargo racks for free to the masses.

 

[RadiKyle]

What's to get? They're killing 2 birds with one stone:

1. Driving engagement because they know people will want these, therefore they will be playing the game. A nice month-long boost for metrics.
2. Squashing cries about "PCM2 increased capacity cargo racks are p2w" by offering increased capacity cargo racks for free to the masses.

Yeah it's the 2nd one I was quietly speculating about... Guess I'm not alone

 

[Danieros]

Only to those who have made so many they can never spend them in the life of the game.
The just ended CG allowed me to put back the 600 mill I took out of the FC bank (it holds 1.5 billion) to equip my PC II, as it had cleaned out the loose change I keep on my CMDR.
Most of the things I do don't earn massive credit sums, my choice, so those rewards do have a purpose for me, which is fine.

And that is nice, but credits are not an exclusive CG reward. You quoted just that phrase but the point was towards adding more reasons to play a CG, not removing them.

 

[yianniv]

Also, players in PCMkii have the advantage, so it's an incentive for others to buy the ship

 

[kofeyh]

The "pre-engineered" makes me suspect that cargo rack engineering blueprints are coming (vs only one-off unicorns as CG rewards). Maybe we'll see up to +50% with grade 5 engineering?

Pre-engineered means it's been pre-engineered. It's not uncommon at this point for Frontier to release one-off engineered modules. I think maybe curb expectation for that to translate to being able to applying engineering to cargo modules, just because a pre-engineered module is being offered for the CG.

Cart before horse, and so forth.