Making Credits - Very slow time consuming process - i.e. Ships cost way to much

[Davidtq]

Im happy with the pace, actually think in someways its a little too quick and easy for a game with hopefully 5 years plus of fun to it. I wiped and started with a sidewinder and eagle forgoing all my alpha backer privelidges when I first heard about the elite challenge I have a very high end viper for combat and a nicely equipped type 6 for trade, not touched factional stuff yet, assassinations, mining, exploration, rares, famous places etc etc. I want a game with a long life of interesting stuff to do, not a grind to level 80 grind for kit then nothing. I would be really dissapointed to have done everything there was to do.

When you get your anaconda what are you going to do with it? More running vast quantities of cargo around for vast sums of credits that you don't know what to do with? Your game play will be unchanged from your current game play an anaconda is a trade ship just the numbers will get higher. If you aren't enjoying trading now why would you enjoy it with an anaconda?

Ive got a million and one things I want to do in game, there is no "end point" to rush to.

 

[Arbanax]

Emm Premium Alpha player here, I've not wiped and yet I am still only in a Cobra with 230k in the bank. Whats the big deal? I play my way, I don't grind I play when I want as I want. I don't feel any pressure to buy the biggest craft, a) because getting there might sour the experience if that is all I am about b) I don't have so much time that I feel constantly playing to get there is what I want to do c) I am not good at combat so trading is the only way and increasingly have found it fun to trade and explore. Even if I got a big ship, loads of money, then what? Its all so new, there is but a shell of a game to what I think it could grow to become. If you are unhappy now, how much more unhappier will you be if, when you get to a big ship, there isn't really that much more (aside from volume) to do than before?

Besides money, don't forget their is reputation to build, and great humanitarian missions one can take that also make for a fun way to improve someone elses lot in the game, if not just your own.

Safe flying

Ab

 

[Dekkameron]

I except to have an Anaconda in.... about 10 years time perhaps... if i work hard at it.

And i'm absolutely fine with that. Its not a race to the most expensive ship.

My vague aim at the moment is to work my way to an Asp. I can almost afford the shell, but it will be a while before i can afford the upgrades, so im just bimbling around, trying out different things, enjoying the sights... still need to find a home for my commander, not decided yet.

Anaconda isnt anywhere near the biggest ship eitehr. I dread to think how much a Puma or Panther Clipper will be when they're released.

 

[DBCloggy]

I am still in my Eagle. I have 1.3m Cr and have pretty much upgraded as much as I can. I like the fact that I still don't feel safe during combat. I know that if I'm caught off guard while in the middle of a dogfight, I could easily come a cropper. I have thought about upgrading to a Cobra/Viper, but for me that would make me feel too safe.

It would be good to be able to progress more easily with factions by straight bounty hunting rather than missions. I'd like my pirate kill count to increase my influence with a faction if that's that's what they want. Also, progression doesn't have to be all about more money and bigger ships, It could be access to more interesting missions or faction paint jobs.

 

[gamecat]

I am playing since PB1 and my current commander since gamma.
I have yet to reach the 4th million in assets by choosing my way of playing

I would love to see the pricing be reworked and new ships filling the gaps.
It feels restrictive to play my way, when it comes to ship choices and would love other ways to get them aswell.

The reward system requires real work. There are no longer hauling missions for 100k for big carriers. It would be good to see special items for rewards or multistage missions and so on... I'm not rushing too fast to get into the 50 mill level as I think there is so much lower level content that I'll miss when they start updating it. Bascially I'm in no rush just playing around having fun. I do the odd rares run bank a couple of mill then play with fittings on my cobra/viper.

I am intersted where I can really utilise my Lakon 6 apart from rares. I used to trade slaves and made good money but trade seems quite tight these days. Can you make more than 1.5k per ton or is it really only rares taht payout? For me 16k profit from rares is the easiest way if you need an injection of cash. It goes get boring after a while though.

 

[Seonid]

There are no longer hauling missions for 100k for big carriers.

Quite a few times now I've taken 150K+ missions to bring/take 40 odd tons of something somewhere within range of one jump.

 

[gamecat]

Quite a few times now I've taken 150K+ missions to bring/take 40 odd tons of something somewhere within range of one jump.

Really? I've not seen this once since release. Used to see it all the time in Gamma if you had over a 60 tons ship. Usually palladium or gold. I'll keep a look out then.

 

[Seonid]

Here's one of the best I have found so far, just under 327K for 24 tons of something.

Spoiler

View attachment 6657

 

[gurugeorge]

I think the pace is fine. Because of the high immersion factor, even small steps mean something. I mean, at the moment, what I've got my eye on is an Adder, that's doable for me in a couple of weeks casual play. And meanwhile, I've got all these immersive little things happening to me that are making up my own story for me as I go along there (a narrow miss here, nearly dying here, but surviving, just by the skin of my teeth, trucking on and surviving these hairy encounters).

It means very little to me that there are bigger cooler ships, because I'll get to them when I come to them by living through the game, not so much playing it as something external to me, but living through it almost like an alternative life, in parallel with my real life. And if every step is meaningful (well, nearly every), then it's good.

 

[John Xenir]

I was playing Discovery mod for Freelancer and I really like the approach to ship types there.
Yes, the bigger ones were also expensive, but at the same time you were presented with capabilities to make enough credits reasonably fast. Because what was important was not the way to get those ships, but the ships were a way to role-play in them.

So you had light fighters. Fast and agile, but weak armor and not much mounting points.
So you had heavy fighters. Slower and less agile than lights, but with much more hardpoints. Boom and zoom to take down light fighters, dog-fight and and you lose.
So you had bombers. Even slower than heavy fighters, but with torpedo hardpoints to take on capital ships. Very weak against LF and HF, but still mobile enough to be tough to hit by cap turrets.
So you had gun boats. Excellent at taking at fighter/bomber class due to rapid firing turrets with high projectile speed. Of curse, much slower so vulnerable to cap ship fire, yet strong enough to survive LF/HF/Bomber hits for a while.
So you had Capital Ships. Absolute behemoths of space, very hard to kill due to astronomical hitpoints and shields. Slow, but with plenty of turrets - though slow-projectile. Good at fighting bun-boats and other slow-moving ship types, useless against fast-moving bombers with average skill pilots.

I'm sure there were few other types I don't even remember anymore.

That is what I miss in ED. The fact that different ship types are not stronger continuation of their predecessors' line, but rather paper-scissor-rock mechanic determining which ship you prefer to pilot.
Trading ships are a different story.

I just find current prices levels so astronomically high, I don't think I can get there before I get bored with the game. And I've already made a break...

 

[UnknownXV]

I don't mind at all that things cost a lot. I only mind that the only effective way to make credits is through trading. Exploration, combat and missions are all abysmal compared to trading. A candle next to a roaring wildfire. It's very imbalanced. I don't want to play a trading simulator.

 

[Phier]

Whats everyones 'hurry' to get the 'best' ships. I find the progression quite easy, fun to work towards, and I'm not in a hurry. If anything credits are too easy, and ship replacement costs too low. I mean who the hell would offer insurance at 95% with the current attrition rate

 

[Dissentient]

Here's one of the best I have found so far, just under 327K for 24 tons of something.

Spoiler

View attachment 6657

I've done haulage missions that rewarded 200+k for transporting 32 tons of cargo.

Whats everyones 'hurry' to get the 'best' ships. I find the progression quite easy, fun to work towards, and I'm not in a hurry. If anything credits are too easy, and ship replacement costs too low. I mean who the hell would offer insurance at 95% with the current attrition rate

When you get a cobra and start working towards ASP, you are in for a long grind.

 

[interox]

All you need to know!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-gJV_kM33M

 

[Drunk Si]

I don't mind at all that things cost a lot. I only mind that the only effective way to make credits is through trading. Exploration, combat and missions are all abysmal compared to trading. A candle next to a roaring wildfire. It's very imbalanced. I don't want to play a trading simulator.

Yeah, I feel the same way. I'm at a loss with what to do with myself in the game now. I've been bounty hunting and having fun and I have a maxed out Viper but where do I go from here? I tried my hand at trading and it is the most monotonous thing I have ever experienced. You generate a whole load more credits than you ever would bounty hunting but I can't stand to subject myself to the mind numbing monotony of doing the same boring task over and over and over... So with the meagre gains you get from bounty hunting it looks to me like ship progression beyond this point is out of the question. So what do I do? I do what I've been doing since I first jumped into a sidewinder, kill the same targets at a nav beacon or resource extraction site and eke out the same meagre living. And I enjoy the combat but even with that there's only so many times I can do the same thing over and over before it becomes boring.

To be honest, even if bounty hunting suddenly became a lot more lucrative and I could get myself a Python, what would I do with it anyway? Sit at a RES and kill sidewinders and cobras.

 

[AgamemnonWhen]

i find grinding for the credits needed to purchase anything cool a very long process

Sorry, but "that's life". IRL, I've been working for 30 years and still can't afford my own luxury aeroplane. E|D is an immersive game and the biggest, fanciest ships SHOULD take a lot of hard work to earn.

I've spent just about every spare waking hour over Christmas that didn't involve family festivities, getting engaged (to an awesome lady who has been amazingly supportive since I started playing!), my full-time day job, or real-world NYE parties and I've managed to save up enough money to buy a decently-kitted-out Cobra Mk. III dream machine. It's awesome, and I'm proud that I managed to do that through hard work and dedication.

If I simply got a new ship by 'levelling up' after batting a few pirates, I would not feel like it was an achievement, and I'd probably be playing EVE.

 

[Jason S]

Those that have played table top RPG D&D will know that in many groups it takes years to reach level 20.
And that is a good thing.

The journey is the reward.

The Cobra and the ASP are great ships, enjoy them.
The anacondas are perhaps like the jumbo jets, nice but just have fun with your private jet first or just your Cessna 172.

 

[AgamemnonWhen]

Those that have played table top RPG D&D will know that in many groups it takes years to reach level 20.

I hear you. My RPG chums and I have been doing the same WHFRP campaign with the same characters for the best part of 14 years, on and off... we're just beginning to get pretty good

 

[Arithon]

I dropped all trading in my Lakon-7 just before New Year and bought a Cobra Mk III, headed deep into the Empire to rank up with the Imperials so I could buy an Imperial Clipper.

In four days of playing missions I managed to rank up to "Baron" which was the end goal, but as a side-effect, made 1.2M CR from the missions. More than enough to buy a Lakon Type-6.

So trade is not the only way. Try some Empire or Federation progression missions. Pick a popular faction and stick with them. It's a money earner.

 

[mono]

Many congrats man **thumbsup**

a 3th one on its way