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sorry yes, typo (pre coffee) i have fixed.
Latest CG, the clearest example of P2W in ED to date?
- Thread starter Agony_Aunt
- Start date
I keep banging on about this, but that's what I would have expected. Someone at the top is almost certainly playing efficiently, and hauling direct is more efficient than using a carrier in the situation of this CG. The station distance is small and supply sources are only a couple of jumps away. I'm in the top 50% and I've never done more than 2 jumps*. I have a carrier, but it's parked a long way away.
Where some might be slipping up is with CMM composites. To get high in the percentages it's necessary to haul as many tons as possible, not make highest profit on every ton. Therefore, titanium or steel are better for CG advancement than CMMs which involve planetary landing or carriers.
* OK, my Panther has a Guardian FSD booster and a fuel scoop as well as DC and SCA. I build for versatility and ease, not minmax.
Edit: I've finally noticed how big the fuel tank is and how economical the SCO is, and dumped the fuel scoop.
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i wish youre typo was right,4 weeks thats a long cg,to long in my opinion,2 weeks long enough.ive hit top 25% and wonder if its worth playing it on.
We only have 2 weeks left of the School holidays I Scotland as traditionally Scottish Summer holidays starts at the end of June . So it's not fair for us Scottish folk as we will be away for the whole CG .
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Totally off-topic, I know, but that explains how there was a Scots family camping (in Wales!) last year well before the start of the English Summer holidays! (see what I did...)
I love learning new things!
add to that... am i right in saying IF you are a LYR member and you want to maximise your PP2 progression (but not cheese it by selling one ton at a time) you are also better buying 1/3 a load of Titanium, 1/3 a load of Steel and 1/3 a load of Aluminium ? you earn a little less in credit profit but for me PP2 progression is > credits (also means the Titanium will last a bit longer for those CMDRs who DO need the credits.)
in my T9 the difference is around 250 merits per run (just over 600 if i sell a full load of Titanium but i think its over 850 if i do 1/3 of each as its 3 transactions)
Considering the position of a new player in a T6; There's 178 of them visiting the system a screen shot taken earlier;
Yes they'd have trouble keeping up, however the payout from the CG and the fact they're helpfully in LYR space should mean they could get a T9 fairly quickly.
Holy cow... that cant be right can it? P2W aside if it is correct that surely means FD must be making bank out of PC2 sales (which is a good thing i guess - so long as the profits go back into improving the game and not covering the loss on F1 licenses of course 
)
but if the average clipper player does 15 runs for this CG so far (which i am guessing is possibly on the high side), that still means a LOT of sales for FD
)but if the average clipper player does 15 runs for this CG so far (which i am guessing is possibly on the high side), that still means a LOT of sales for FD
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Remember that it is ships passing through the system - normally measured by those jumping out, I believe.
It isn't the total number of each type of ship being used. (so any of those numbers may represent a player jumping in and out 50 times)
But, it does look like a lot of 'winners' operating...
ETA: The interesting bit with those figures isn't the huge number of Kitty visits, but the number of non-traditional hauliers taking part - they will very likely make up the bottom 25% and just earn the participation certificate - and a set of cargo racks plus a few credits... for a 'competition' that is truly a poor effort, isn't it? It is as if they are only casual players, or something!
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Curses, I hadn't even thought about that. You're right, and I'll do that from now on.
If we take a simple set of assumptions that:Holy cow... that cant be right can it? P2W aside if it is correct that surely means FD must be making bank out of PC2 sales (which is a good thing i guess - so long as the profits go back into improving the game and not covering the loss on F1 licenses of course
- Panther Clipper owners aren't making more or less trips on average than anyone else (so the proportion of Panther FSD Jumps is equivalent to the proportion of Panther owners)
- everyone in the system is a CG participant (to at least 1t)
- this 24 hour measure was representative of the general balance CG traffic (it doesn't seem all that dissimilar on ratios to the one I saw a few days ago)
...then:
- about 5/8ths of the participants are flying a Panther Clipper
- there are currently about 21,500 participants
- so that means around 13,500 Panther Clippers sold
- at a unit price of around £10 depending on your assumptions about saved-up ARX (though some may be the Stellar variant at twice that)
That would suggest a total income of around £150k-£200k from the Panther Clipper from sales to CG participants. Possibly there are also a significant number of purchasers not using it for the CG at all, it's impossible for us to say.
From Frontier's June 2025 annual results announcement, annual ED income is currently in the £6-6.5 million/year range, so it's likely on that basis that the Panther Clipper release has doubled or maybe even tripled Frontier's weekly earnings from ED. (And if Frontier could release something of that level of popularity every week then I'm sure they would)
I bought the Stellar version and will not be using it for this CG.
Logic to the discalimer: I only bother with CG play if I have to, or a unicorn module that I really want is being offered (then I'll participate just enough to be assured in getting it), I did the last 1.5 days of the previous CG, got into the top 25% with only 13k hauled and covered the credits I needed to pull from my FC to outfit a PC II bought for credits, rather than deploy the Stellar version. (I'd already hit 25% at around 9k, so even if done in the Cutter would still have made it before getting bored with hauling)
Mostly, if I need to haul cargo, it isn't 'competitively' and reducing the number of flights from 27 to 17 to fully load my FC is only a benefit to me, and not affecting anyone else's game, because of the nature of that hauling...
... a CG where we all compete to hand in ARX to make Thargoids come back.
I thought you said you were dissapointed in the hauling ability of the PC2? note dont take this as me sniping at you i am not at all, just chewing the fat...
but the 4 cargo racks on offer look like a perfect fit for the PC2 to me and would get the clipper a little closer to the hauling ability you were hoping for.
Also looks pretty good for a cargo hauling cutter. not that much in it for me in my T9. i will use one of the class 6s but the rest will go on my medium ships.
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For someone, yes. For one or two individuals who have unfortunate personal circumstances that coincide with the timing of this particular CG, circumstances that allow them to play for a bit, but not quite long enough.
0.01% of the players involved will, possibly, be cast down to the lower 25% in a manner that they wouldn't have been if they had also had the Panther Clipper...
Of course... if you just bought the Panther Clipper for credits in-game, and didn't properly equip it or engineer it you'd be doing worse than any player with a ready-to-go Cutter or T9.
How long do you think that player would need to fit out and engineer a Panther from scratch? At least needing A-rated engineered FSD and Thrusters, and travelling to a station that has the MkII Cargo Racks. If your answer is more than 20 minutes, which it obviously is, then FDev releasing the Panther to everyone for free wouldn't have changed that player's position in the CG at all, would it.
I am, but I had a vision where a massive ship had an equally massive hauling capacity - but even when expressing my disdain when it was just a mug rather than a gallon, I'd acknowledged that FD would not let me tick off my "dreams.txt" for the sake of balance.
As it stands, when I need to refill my FC with Tritium, or acquire a few tons of Palladium etc. for credit boosting, I can cut my trips (and the boredom) by at least a third. While enjoying flying the beast, it really is quite fun.
I do 'need' to haul large quantities on occasion, and the Cutter is my 2nd least favourite ship, but does 720t each bite of the cherry, now the Kitty will do 1120t and is a happier flying experience too.
I think I know you well enough, after all the years I've been here, to be certain you wouldn't do so. We can disagree cordially over stuff and nobody is insulting anyone, that is fine, likewise I do my best to play the ball rather than the player when I disagree with most posters here! (I'm not perfect yet
)
Over a day, absolutely. A week, perhaps. A month? If one cannot find 20 minutes in an entire month, then whatever ship is used becomes virtually irrelevant and I'd argue fixating on the game or how other people play probably isn't what they spend the majority of their time on (such as a 19+ page thread, for example).
It could be that 20 mins over the life of the CG is what makes the difference, or 5 mins, or several hours - all of which over the life of the CG could have been mitigated if they just opened their wallet!
Still, one good use of that data point is it shows the balance of people flying different ships, with the PC coming out way ahead. FD certainly sold quite a few.
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Hauling fatigue will hit many over 4 weeks if it indeed goes on that long, PC or not.
Its important to understand what data is before using it in an argument.
By your (incorrect) interpretation, there are 50,000 people participating in Clippers. If that was true, I think people in London would be able to hear the party going on in Cambridge.