Conflict zones (combatbonds) still waaay subpar

[Nauht]

I spent the last night doing pure combat missions with the greater percentage of time in High Intensity conflict zones just testing out the new combat bond rates.

What an absolute joke for high end earning potential.

In the time it takes me to earn about 30k cr (10 mins) combat bonds in a High Intensity zone, my T9 would have earned me ~1.2 mil cr.

Now I understand that different professions should have different payouts but even the hardest fanboi can see the HUGE disparity between earnings here.
Think about it - 30 cr vs 1 mil cr. If it were even half, two-thirds, hell I'll take a quarter, that of trading per hour I could understand and accept but earning 3% that of trading? You've got to be kidding me.

This is in a High conflict zone too. Sure if you make the rewards too high then conflict zones will be the main meat for beginners - so why not make the High zones more challenging with bigger rewards while keeping Low zones for beginners to even out the earning.

Blaze your own trail indeed.... not.

 

[Coccolino]

Bounty hunting is still more profitable and less risky.

 

[Dominico]

Trading is broken. If we all made 1 million in 10 minutes we would be bored stupid...

 

[jgm]

I spent the last night doing pure combat missions with the greater percentage of time in High Intensity conflict zones just testing out the new combat bond rates.

What an absolute joke for high end earning potential.

In the time it takes me to earn about 30k cr (10 mins) combat bonds in a High Intensity zone, my T9 would have earned me ~1.2 mil cr.

Now I understand that different professions should have different payouts but even the hardest fanboi can see the HUGE disparity between earnings here.
Think about it - 30 cr vs 1 mil cr. If it were even half, two-thirds, hell I'll take a quarter, that of trading per hour I could understand and accept but earning 3% that of trading? You've got to be kidding me.

This is in a High conflict zone too. Sure if you make the rewards too high then conflict zones will be the main meat for beginners - so why not make the High zones more challenging with bigger rewards while keeping Low zones for beginners to even out the earning.

Blaze your own trail indeed.... not.

What ship were you in, out of curiosity?

 

[Eagle Eye]

High Intensity combat zones are about 1M Cr / hour. Which is about the same as rare trading in a Cobra/Type-6/Asp, which 20% of a decent (not awesome) route trading in Type-9/Anaconda. If you're not getting around this number you're doing it wrong.

The spawn rate & quality is also variable. Yesterday I got 1 where it spawns Python/Anaconda like they grew on trees & the next wave arrived when the current one is not even half dead. That one is about 2M Cr / hour (I burned out quickly though, who knew you can get combat fatigue in this game... After 40 min of NON-STOP combat I was sick of them spawning without giving me even 1 sec. of break). There are some that's really crappy (yesterday also had one where I only have 380k to show after 45 min of work) but most of the time 1M Cr / hr is about right.

 

[Valo56]

It's my hope that they are not aiming at making one profession that be-all end-all of advancement, and instead want them to be more or less even. I believe one of the devs has said this before, but maybe I'm thinking about Star Citizen. Of course, trading should give a bit more money than others, but not orders of magnitude more.

Personally I feel if the current rewards were multiplied by 5, it would be better. It shouldn't be like bounty hunting, as it is a constant stream of enemies to fight, but at present it is just not enough. Still, it is fun, but it's not a money-maker. Why be a mercenary if there's no money in it?

Edit: Wait, what, 1 million per hour, Eagle Eye?

Forget I said anything, then!

 

[Derath]

I haven't been able to bounty hunt since 1.1 hit, never achieved above 200k/hr which just isn't enough for me. Its not so much the money as the fact for long periods of time i'm doing absolutely nothing, big downtime between kills, every wanted is in a sidewinder or an adder (RES or Nav Beacon) and despite 2 hours of resetting i've not been able to get an anaconda extraction zone.

 

[Uncertain]

I think maybe a third of what you could make trading might be the best maximum income for combat, but ideally the high-end profits of trading might be more difficult to come by. Merchants are generally the richest people throughout history, but a knight would earn huge sums of money as well, and there are always more unsuccessful or mediocre traders than great ones.

Fortunately the trail you blaze in this game is about 10 centimetres long. The only progress metrics are the numbers behind your career and the ships you own, which aren't key to any career beyond a point. Money is generally equated to advancement or progress, which I think is a misconception.

 

[Eagle Eye]

I haven't been able to bounty hunt since 1.1 hit, never achieved above 200k/hr which just isn't enough for me. Its not so much the money as the fact for long periods of time i'm doing absolutely nothing, big downtime between kills, every wanted is in a sidewinder or an adder (RES or Nav Beacon) and despite 2 hours of resetting i've not been able to get an anaconda extraction zone.

We're talking about warzones, not nav beacon / RES.

 

[DefiledDragon]

Bounty hunting is still more profitable and less risky.

Than what? I hope you don't mean trading. I've spent about 70% of my time bounty hunting in this game, about 10% exploring, 10% pirating and 10% trading. All of this in a Cobra. My trading income is makes up about 70% of my wealth, the rest making up the other 30% with exploration being the lowest earner. I've taken far more damage and have been destroyed whilst bounty hunting. I have taken zero damage and never been destroyed whilst trading.

If you want to make a lot of money, you trade. It's that simple.

 

[Derath]

We're talking about warzones, not nav beacon / RES.

yes and it was mentioned that bounty-hunting was better, which in my experience it isn't. If they want warzones and BH to be of equivalent value currently they are.

to get 1mil/hr you'd need to kill around 150 ships/hr so 2.5 ships a minute - thats a stretch IMO i'd struggle with that in a python, I don't know if you can just sail around with a turreted conda and achieve this but even in a target rich environment it'd be hard work.

 

[mattensky]

I think there just needs to be rewards other than credits (decals, paint jobs, special ship parts, cockpit decorations, permits to unique systems, npc escort vouchers, even unique ships) that can only be won via combat missions or exploring etc.

It'd be silly to make bounty hunters or combat missions earn as much as a trading in a type 9 . . . (and Ive been playing since gamma and am still in a cobra - my money is from exploring and BH) . . .

 

[Eagle Eye]

yes and it was mentioned that bounty-hunting was better, which in my experience it isn't. If they want warzones and BH to be of equivalent value currently they are.

Ah, it's another poster mentioning it. Actually the high intensity combat zones are better now (side with the cap. ship & shoot whatever it's shooting, you just need 1 shot to connect within 10/15 sec. [not sure] of it's getting annihilated by the cap. ship to get the bond). Even better if there's a community goal as you get some extra money when the goal is completed. The only way BH can compete is if you stack tons of Pirate Lord missions and do only those, even then calculating the time needed to collect them I suspect it will be lower.

Oh, warzones can be 0 expense undertaking too. Arrive with full gimballed pulse laser complement, don't get hull damage (EASY in a combat zone), potshot everything red. I bring PDT & Shield Cell just in case, but you can survive easily even without them.

 

[Nauht]

High Intensity combat zones are about 1M Cr / hour. Which is about the same as rare trading in a Cobra/Type-6/Asp, which 20% of a decent (not awesome) route trading in Type-9/Anaconda. If you're not getting around this number you're doing it wrong.

The spawn rate & quality is also variable. Yesterday I got 1 where it spawns Python/Anaconda like they grew on trees & the next wave arrived when the current one is not even half dead. That one is about 2M Cr / hour (I burned out quickly though, who knew you can get combat fatigue in this game... After 40 min of NON-STOP combat I was sick of them spawning without giving me even 1 sec. of break). There are some that's really crappy (yesterday also had one where I only have 380k to show after 45 min of work) but most of the time 1M Cr / hr is about right.

I call on 1mil/hr on High Conflict zone. Break it down - every 10 minutes you need to earn 166k. At 18k per Anaconda you need to kill about 10 Anacondas in 10 minutes - that's 1 min per Anaconda.

Yeah right.

If you go for the smaller ships, 5k per Viper - you need to kill 33 Vipers in 10 minutes to reach a rate of 1mil/hr in a High zone.

Yeah.. your numbers are .

 

[mattensky]

I call on 1mil/hr on High Conflict zone. Break it down - every 10 minutes you need to earn 166k. At 18k per Anaconda you need to kill about 10 Anacondas in 10 minutes - that's 1 min per Anaconda.

Yeah right.

If you go for the smaller ships, 5k per Viper - you need to kill 33 Vipers in 10 minutes to reach a rate of 1mil/hr in a High zone.

Yeah.. your numbers are .

I thought that too - but some players have earned way over 30 mil in a few days of combat zone fighting in the community goal at khasiri . . .

I tried fighting alongside the capital ship this morning in my cobra and made 1 mil in around 90 mins . . . it felt a bit cheap as the enemy are basically kamikazes . . and you only need to land a few shots before the capital ship roasts them - and you get the bounty. I think you could do it without shields

 

[Derath]

Ah, it's another poster mentioning it. Actually the high intensity combat zones are better now (side with the cap. ship & shoot whatever it's shooting, you just need 1 shot to connect within 10/15 sec. [not sure] of it's getting annihilated by the cap. ship to get the bond). Even better if there's a community goal as you get some extra money when the goal is completed. The only way BH can compete is if you stack tons of Pirate Lord missions and do only those, even then calculating the time needed to collect them I suspect it will be lower.

Good to know, I may investigate a high intensity in future to see if i can make some credits in combat again - I want to mix up my activities but they really killed the combat credits earning, or at least the way i used to do it.

 

[Nauht]

I thought that too - but some players have earned way over 30 mil in a few days of combat zone fighting in the community goal at khasiri . . .

What community goal at Khasiri? I only know of the Banki/BD+03 2338 one. If they did that they must have been doing it non-stop or the community goals padded up the earnings.

It's impossible to reach 1 mil/hr in a normal high intensity conflict zone.

Besides, i'll humour those that claim 1mil/hr - grats, you're now making money at roughly 15% that a T9 trader does.

 

[Eagle Eye]

I call on 1mil/hr on High Conflict zone. Break it down - every 10 minutes you need to earn 166k. At 18k per Anaconda you need to kill about 10 Anacondas in 10 minutes - that's 1 min per Anaconda.

Yeah right.

If you go for the smaller ships, 5k per Viper - you need to kill 33 Vipers in 10 minutes to reach a rate of 1mil/hr in a High zone.

Yeah.. your numbers are .

You don't have to believe me, I will not go out of my way to prove it. What I did is to try and get the bonds from ALL enemies that enter the conflict zone. I don't care if it's an Eagle or Anaconda, I am getting the bond from 80-90% of the spawned enemies. You don't need to kill them, you just need to hit them ONCE before the NPC & Cap. Ship kills them. It is tiring as I have to keep manouvering and spread my shots to ALL enemies in the instance, not changing target only when a Python/Anaconda is about to blow in the next 20 sec. or so to ensure I am within the 10/15 sec. window. Which is why I know that's what I take home after an average hour, because I am TIRED after 1 hour & need to take a break. I did mention that it IS variable, I have had 45 min. with only 380k to show, while at 1 instance (never had it again) they spawn so many Python & Anaconda I got tired after 40 min, I bring home 1.4M that day after 40 min, so that's around 2M Cr/hr

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What community goal at Khasiri? I only know of the Banki/BD+03 2338 one. If they did that they must have been doing it non-stop or the community goals padded up the earnings.

It's impossible to reach 1 mil/hr in a normal high intensity conflict zone.

Besides, i'll humour those that claim 1mil/hr - grats, you're now making money at roughly 15% that a T9 trader does.

Does it look like I care how much I make? I have FUN. Look at my sig, I have all the ships I want, all fully upgraded for the roles I want them to have.

 

[Nauht]

You don't have to believe me, I will not go out of my way to prove it. What I did is to try and get the bonds from ALL enemies that enter the conflict zone. I don't care if it's an Eagle or Anaconda, I am getting the bond from 80-90% of the spawned enemies. You don't need to kill them, you just need to hit them ONCE before the NPC & Cap. Ship kills them. It is tiring as I have to keep manouvering and spread my shots to ALL enemies in the instance, not changing target only when a Python/Anaconda is about to blow in the next 20 sec. or so to ensure I am within the 10/15 sec. window.

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Does it look like I care how much I make? I have FUN. Look at my sig, I have all the ships I want, all fully upgraded for the roles I want them to have.

Ah gotcha... for the record I don't believe you. You're just hot air without proof.

But like I said even if you did get 1mil/hour it's still woefully pitiful compared to trading.

You have all those ships, you should know the HUGE disparity between professions.

 

[Eagle Eye]

Ah gotcha... for the record I don't believe you. You're just hot air without proof.

But like I said even if you did get 1mil/hour it's still woefully pitiful compared to trading.

You have all those ships, you should know the HUGE disparity between professions.

So? All I know that Combat Bonds goes from being useless (3k per kill lol) to being viable as an alternative income stream to trading rares. Which is an improvement for the combat pilots as they now can get at least a good combat Asp within reasonable timeframe. They can even get a Clipper hull within reasonable time (outfitting it is another matter).