Modes The Solo vs Open vs Groups Thread - Part the Second [Now With Added Platforms].

[Bazorlag]

Community Goal systems are always going to be full of hostiles. The bonus to this is that while they're swarming around the systems involved in the CG's, they're not pestering people in systems a hundred or so LY away. Find a likely prospect, bounce out there, and make some trade runs, grab some missions or farm a RES for bounties. You get to stay in Open and make some fast cash with a lower chance of being harassed in the process.

The amount you pay for insurance is minimal. 5% or less of the value of the ship you're flying, depending on the level of discount you have. Personally, I don't think death penalties serve any useful purpose in modern gaming (and I know game devs with the same opinion) but the one we have is low enough to be manageable if you're careful.

Insurance cost is indeed low, but anyone doing events is also carrying varying amounts of labor or resources with them in form of bounties, bonds or cargo. These are fully lost when you die on top of the insurance. If you take steps to reduce that risk, you also reduce your profits per time unit spend (like bringing in bounties in 500k lots), in some cases by huge amounts.

 

[Asp Explorer]

Hmmm.. Now I want a bonus every time I'm attacked by a wing....

Agreed - Solo pilots should get a 100% x N bonus for fighting NPC's in Wings of N

 

[VR Morgan Grimes]

Yeh, solo is not a guarantee, but it is significantly safer. Let's face it, why would I drop modules or ship type just to stay in open when I can just drop into solo and continue working on the CG with the knowledge that the only interdictions I shall suffer are from AI which are to be frank, no threat whatsoever (famous last words anyone? ) and earn that insurance cover in short order. I'm starting to think the people calling for some sort of bonus to open players might have had a point.

 

[Faded Glory]

Agreed - Solo pilots should get a 100% x N bonus for fighting NPC's in Wings of N

Perhaps we should start a thread...

 

[TheSpaceTexan]

Thank you Jockey79!

Okay, so you went to one of the more 'dangerous' and frequently flown into area of the game. Riddled with players that do lots of piracy and frequent PVP.
Please bare in mind that your activities are in-depth and well, I can't really respond well without a really well detailed thing, buuut this looks like its sufficient.

Let me start off by stating that this game's community is by far one of the friendliest and well mannered community I have seen to date. Yeah there are some very loud and vocal, potentially toxic players, but its fairly damn rare.

Griefing, by its definition of just simply attacking players to gain a reaction, harass them, etc. is fairly rare. The game's mechanics simply prevent that from happening frequently. Most Player Groups in the Galactic Summit (While this was unfortunately moderated and not like a podcast) agree, that Griefing is something that if it happens, they're going after those responsible.

Also while we're looking at this instancing stuff. I understand the idea of having a 32 player instance and stations that are enough to sustain that, but from the scale and just sheer size of the game, it seems really silly that there aren't huuuugee stations, players and instances that reflect the size of this game. The small instances don't give the game the value it deserves. I am pretty sure their servers could accommodate players of all sorts.
(We're in the year 3301 yeah? I'd expect stations to hold more than 48(?) ships at a time. Likewise with those tiny stations.)

edit: HOWEVER, Games like World of Tanks, Mech Warrior, the latter HAD MULTIPLAYER "Invasion/Conquest" playmodes that basically made it somewhat like an "MMO".


Honestly man, it really boils down to how the game handles things at this point and why certain development choices were made while others weren't. How the Mac and Console folk can manage the tech required to run this game and what can be made to enhance their experiences, as well as ours.

Your choice of music is that of your soul, that is something I cannot argue. Music is life.

 

[Valethar]

Insurance cost is indeed low, but anyone doing events is also carrying varying amounts of labor or resources with them in form of bounties, bonds or cargo. These are fully lost when you die on top of the insurance. If you take steps to reduce that risk, you also reduce your profits per time unit spend (like bringing in bounties in 500k lots), in some cases by huge amounts.

I don't know how I managed to miss that all these months.

All sarcasm aside, the topic was about insurance, not cargo/bounties/etc., so it wasn't relevant to the discussion, which is why I didn't mention it.

 

[Cody]

<peeks out of cupboard> Did someone mention a bonus?

 

[Faded Glory]

Yeh, solo is not a guarantee, but it is significantly safer. Let's face it, why would I drop modules or ship type just to stay in open when I can just drop into solo and continue working on the CG with the knowledge that the only interdictions I shall suffer are from AI which are to be frank, no threat whatsoever (famous last words anyone? ) and earn that insurance cover in short order. I'm starting to think the people calling for some sort of bonus to open players might have had a point.

Ah well, that's probably because you're not a dangerous enough CMDR for the nasty NPC's to bother with.

And yes, I'm not being serious, it's a joke, so please don't take offense, I'll remove the comment if it upsets you.

I'm sure that NPC's provide a challenge to plenty of players, depending on their skill level.

 

[Robert Maynard]

Honestly man, it really boils down to how the game handles things at this point and why certain development choices were made while others weren't.

I expect that particular decisions were made to include or exclude certain features because Frontier are (as they have told us on many occasions) "making the game that we want to play" - the rest of us just joined in with an expectation that we would be pleased with the result....

 

[Robert Maynard]

<peeks out of cupboard> Did someone mention a bonus?

Indeed - they must have missed Michael's quoted posts in the OP.

 

[nedeaalex]

Well, for many of us, having the good bits of both Solo and Multiplayer is basically playing in Mobius

Well, perhaps in the old pre-order site, but that one also promised an offline single player mode.

And, if you think this forum has conflict, you should have seen some of the PvP versus PvE forum battles I've seen... Heck, the solo versus group wasn't even the hottest issue in this forum; the thread about the removal of the offline mode reached 10K posts in just 6 days, until Frontier banned discussing that here.

I do also play in Mobius. But i rarely meet anyone and if I ever do it's somebody with an Anaconda who won't even bother to respond to my puny and laughable Vulture.

Regarding to that conversation...i wonder why they reached so many posts so fast and why Frontier had to close it...Talk about controlling the masses.

All im saying is I love this game but if it was just a little more focused on the actual players rather than the world, i would marry it

 

[ianw]

Agreed - Solo pilots should get a 100% x N bonus for fighting NPC's in Wings of N

No-one ever addresses this point.

How should the solo player be compensated for the fact that players in wings have a much easier time against fewer players and all NPCs of any description and therefore can progress faster with almost zero risk of destruction, loss of bounties, combat bonds etc.

 

[fademist]

Thank you Jockey79!

Okay, so you went to one of the more 'dangerous' and frequently flown into area of the game. Riddled with players that do lots of piracy and frequent PVP.
Please bare in mind that your activities are in-depth and well, I can't really respond well without a really well detailed thing, buuut this looks like its sufficient.

Let me start off by stating that this game's community is by far one of the friendliest and well mannered community I have seen to date. Yeah there are some very loud and vocal, potentially toxic players, but its fairly damn rare.

Griefing, by its definition of just simply attacking players to gain a reaction, harass them, etc. is fairly rare. The game's mechanics simply prevent that from happening frequently. Most Player Groups in the Galactic Summit (While this was unfortunately moderated and not like a podcast) agree, that Griefing is something that if it happens, they're going after those responsible.

Also while we're looking at this instancing stuff. I understand the idea of having a 32 player instance and stations that are enough to sustain that, but from the scale and just sheer size of the game, it seems really silly that there aren't huuuugee stations, players and instances that reflect the size of this game. The small instances don't give the game the value it deserves. I am pretty sure their servers could accommodate players of all sorts.
(We're in the year 3301 yeah? I'd expect stations to hold more than 48(?) ships at a time. Likewise with those tiny stations.)

edit: HOWEVER, Games like World of Tanks, Mech Warrior, the latter HAD MULTIPLAYER "Invasion/Conquest" playmodes that basically made it somewhat like an "MMO".


Honestly man, it really boils down to how the game handles things at this point and why certain development choices were made while others weren't. How the Mac and Console folk can manage the tech required to run this game and what can be made to enhance their experiences, as well as ours.

Your choice of music is that of your soul, that is something I cannot argue. Music is life.

that summit was only open groups right?

 

[TheSpaceTexan]

No-one ever addresses this point.

How should the solo player be compensated for the fact that players in wings have a much easier time against fewer players and all NPCs of any description and therefore can progress faster with almost zero risk of destruction, loss of bounties, combat bonds etc.

I hear you can eventually recruit NPCs for your cause eventually.

 

[FuzzySpider]

Oh yeah maybe i jumped to conclusions. Let's analyse the trailers shall we. Wings trailer...PvP all you can see it's about players smacking the hell out of eachother. Ok maybe the launch one is fine, oh noes, it's actually full of PvP isn't it? Oh didn't it actually have a massive war at the end of it with bullets and ships everywhere? Nah im just stupid. Ok last trailer. Capital ships trailer....is there even a doubt that that trailer spells: come we have big ships and pvp? Maybe im just hella stupid sorry for coming in and actually bringing facts i should be just kissing hands left and right

I posted about this here. In a nutshell, trailers and such are marketing, and they are not really representative of a game (or indeed any product). Advertising exists purely to generate awareness and interest in a product, to sell it, not to provide information about what a product might be like.

Watch this sometime. If you bought this on the strength of trailers and it's not what you expected then I think the fault lies with yourself I am afraid.

 

[VR Morgan Grimes]

Ah well, that's probably because you're not a dangerous enough CMDR for the nasty NPC's to bother with.

And yes, I'm not being serious, it's a joke, so please don't take offense, I'll remove the comment if it upsets you.

I'm sure that NPC's provide a challenge to plenty of players, depending on their skill level.

Yeh, I'm only expert lol

A lot of it comes down to equipment as well of course, no wait, I'm supposed to blame it on equipment when it goes wrong correct?

 

[Spook]

<peeks out of cupboard> Did someone mention a bonus?

Yes mate, we decided that if you stay in the cupboard, everyone in the kitchen gets a 50% bonus, the bloke in charge of the tunes in the front room gets a "Titan Black" and the single, lone, solitary sod throwing up in the bog gets free mints.

Wild party......

 

[ianw]

I hear you can eventually recruit NPCs for your cause eventually.

Not now and not in 1.3 so what do you propose for the current and immediate future situation as compensation - you know - to make it fair?

 

[TheSpaceTexan]

that summit was only open groups right?

Not really, there were some groups that were playing in Solo/Private, some that played in open, and some that play all of the above.

The only sad thing is that event was really heavily moderated and didn't allow us to talk about those problems without using RP. Which was silly imo, but the base point is there, Griefing is a problem and there are mechanics in the game to basically prevent with or self-police. Which has been the case.

Not now and not in 1.3 so what do you propose for the current and immediate future situation as compensation - you know - to make it fair?

Literally pay NPCs or a faction to help bring ships for your cause. Pay in accordance to their respective skill and your allegiance to the group. That would be the best for everyone overall. I always thought it was silly that it wasn't here already since we have a Wing update. I'd like to buy some really good NPCs for a time, thank you.

 

[nedeaalex]

<peeks out of cupboard> Did someone mention a bonus?

Bonus ? Did i hear the B word? No srsly did i miss something cuz it seems like i did ?