Limited Resources

[SlimExpert]

I did some searching but could not find anything on this.

I was thinking about certain items that might have a limited number in the PU. So, think that there might be a specific weapon, it does not need to be an "Uber Weapon" just different, but there is only 1,000 of them, so not everyone can get one.

This extends to everything in the PU, ships, shield technology, guns, etc.

I am not interested in certain limited things giving someone a massive advantage in any way, it would offset other factors - e.g. 10% better fire power, 20% more heat output.

It just means someone might have something you may not just be able to buy, perhaps you acquire through a special mission, or from some very remote area.

Thoughts? Or, is this already planned?

SlimExpert

 

[Stachel]

Storyline 'stuff' was mentioned a few times by FD. Sure that will happen. You should probably bear in mind though that anything you have, everyone else will have. The nature of the internet means nothing is secret or special for long.

 

[popuptoaster]

Great idea for players, bad idea for the game.

Lets say as an example that FD decide that there will be a limited run of 20,000 rail guns built by Omniguncorpsmashingwonderful ltd these guns have a higher heat tolerance than other rail guns having been built from much more exotic materials, however this makes them expensive to build causing Omniguncorpsmashingwonderful ltd to go out of business and thus there are never any more built.


Now, there were over 40,000 backers for Elite, lets say one of them finds one of these guns for sale, he tells his mate who tells his mate who etc etc and pretty soon they are all gone.

Now along comes Joe Schmoe in 4 months time, joins up to Elite and happily plays until he notices one of those guns,

"Wow, where can i get one of those" he says,

"you can't they are all gone" says my backer

Poor old Joe then feels left out and somehow less involved in the game because he cant get that limited item, they come up onto the market sometimes, at silly prices so only hard core players can afford them so he complains he doesnt feel as valued or as involved in the game.

his cries on the forum are echoed by other newbies so a run of another limited edition something or other is produced for him to find and then the whole cycle repeats forever, cheapening the limited edition stuff and making it pointless.

 

[Patrick_68000]

Certainly, the players who will win the Elite status, will have of the things that others will not have. As the medal of silver or gold. Missions and weapons and special equipment surely.

 

[MuthaF Jamal]

Certainly, the players who will win the Elite status, will have of the things that others will not have. As the medal of silver or gold. Missions and weapons and special equipment surely.

You don't win Elite status, you earn it!

 

[Omegahunter]

Great idea for players, bad idea for the game.

Lets say as an example that FD decide that there will be a limited run of 20,000 rail guns built by Omniguncorpsmashingwonderful ltd these guns have a higher heat tolerance than other rail guns having been built from much more exotic materials, however this makes them expensive to build causing Omniguncorpsmashingwonderful ltd to go out of business and thus there are never any more built.


Now, there were over 40,000 backers for Elite, lets say one of them finds one of these guns for sale, he tells his mate who tells his mate who etc etc and pretty soon they are all gone.

Now along comes Joe Schmoe in 4 months time, joins up to Elite and happily plays until he notices one of those guns,

"Wow, where can i get one of those" he says,

"you can't they are all gone" says my backer

Poor old Joe then feels left out and somehow less involved in the game because he cant get that limited item, they come up onto the market sometimes, at silly prices so only hard core players can afford them so he complains he doesnt feel as valued or as involved in the game.

his cries on the forum are echoed by other newbies so a run of another limited edition something or other is produced for him to find and then the whole cycle repeats forever, cheapening the limited edition stuff and making it pointless.

Your forgetting that once the FPS element of the game get launched later next year (almost the last time we are going to be able to say that) he could always follow a ship with one of these limited guns and steal it.

Also as EVE showed just cause something is special and limited doesn't make it indestructible. There was a battle in it where 5 or so super cruisers and one really rare cruiser (think that only 5 exist in that game) were ambushed.

I hope the game does have limited runs and parts and ships that aren't easy to find but have to be hunted down or need you to travel to the right system.

 

[Bikky]

Great idea for players, bad idea for the game.

Lets say as an example that FD decide that there will be a limited run of 20,000 rail guns built by Omniguncorpsmashingwonderful ltd these guns have a higher heat tolerance than other rail guns having been built from much more exotic materials, however this makes them expensive to build causing Omniguncorpsmashingwonderful ltd to go out of business and thus there are never any more built.


Now, there were over 40,000 backers for Elite, lets say one of them finds one of these guns for sale, he tells his mate who tells his mate who etc etc and pretty soon they are all gone.

Now along comes Joe Schmoe in 4 months time, joins up to Elite and happily plays until he notices one of those guns,

"Wow, where can i get one of those" he says,

"you can't they are all gone" says my backer

Poor old Joe then feels left out and somehow less involved in the game because he cant get that limited item, they come up onto the market sometimes, at silly prices so only hard core players can afford them so he complains he doesnt feel as valued or as involved in the game.

his cries on the forum are echoed by other newbies so a run of another limited edition something or other is produced for him to find and then the whole cycle repeats forever, cheapening the limited edition stuff and making it pointless.

Or from the other point of view I keep mentioning, Joe might buy the game 4 months after me, but he'll be on it 35 hours a week, to my 5 hours, so by the end of the year, he's spotted and purchased one of these rail guns, which I can't afford because my 5 hours game time a week will take me 2 months to earn what he does, and at the end of the year his 6 months playing has given him the dosh, where I'll need to play another 2 years to earn that amount to buy the gun.

 

[huwthomas]

I hope the game does have limited runs and parts and ships that aren't easy to find but have to be hunted down or need you to travel to the right system.

Hard-to-find, yes. Latecomers are not penalised by hard-to-find in the same way as they are by limited runs.

 

[popuptoaster]

Hard to find is much better than limited run, I would like some items that require skill to find and some that just need dumb luck, maybe items that require you to make a choice such as "should I let my bounty get away in exchange for that super rare item?

There could be a lot of ways to get these things and yeah i personally would like limited run goodies to deck out my ship with, but you have to make sure you don't alienate those players who feel cheated out of them however justified that feeling is, the game needs to survive in a competitive market after all, many of things most of would like in game come from what we see in movies or comics and just can't be done in a multi player game.

 

[Enjou]

Considering that when a player's ship is destroyed they can get an identical ship with identical equipment the notion of limited manufacture doesn't make much sense. Also, I just don't like the notion of people having exclusive access to equipment that latecomers don't have a way to get.

I do like the notion of certain equipment being limited to buy in some areas based on events. For instance, the devs could inject an event where the news feed states that "Company X has developed weapon new variant Y and they are having a sale on planet Z - supplies limited" and the players that get there first have the opportunity to just outright buy the equipment. Later on though the equipment should be available to attain in other ways - it's more expensive than in the initial sale, you need to do a special mission, or you just need to get the right contacts (say someone in the company that manufactures the equipment) in order to purchase it. That gives other players a way to get it if they want it, just with more effort.

 

[tooterfish]

Navies might make certain pieces of military grade equipment available to their "friends".

They might similarly be available on the black market if you have to right contacts and reputation.

Do limited run items make sense in the context of the universe though? I've seen the "hero trap" mentioned elsewhere on these forums, and this idea falls into that. Players in Elite are just a small part of a massive evolving galaxy, no one is "the" hero.

 

[SlimExpert]

...
I do like the notion of certain equipment being limited to buy in some areas based on events. For instance, the devs could inject an event where the news feed states that "Company X has developed weapon new variant Y and they are having a sale on planet Z - supplies limited" and the players that get there first have the opportunity to just outright buy the equipment. Later on though the equipment should be available to attain in other ways - it's more expensive than in the initial sale, you need to do a special mission, or you just need to get the right contacts (say someone in the company that manufactures the equipment) in order to purchase it. That gives other players a way to get it if they want it, just with more effort.

Yes, my idea was limited stuff was not for sale, it could be obtained through missions - perhaps part of the mission requires a special sensor, that can identify people by a remote DNA scan, then you get to keep it.

Or, though scavenging some thing 1,000 LY's away, where you find some exotic weapon from an alien craft.

always, the object is earned but should never be bought, unless perhaps in a ship-to-ship transaction?

Of course, there may only 200 of rare item A, there will also be 500 of Item B, which is a bit like A, but different a little. No need to have both, but everyone will get to have something. 40,000 backers + 500,000 who buy it regularly

The last thing we want is every player moving toward a common "optimal" configuration - though FD said that unlikely.

In the last elite game, I did not do either of the navy missions, but always wondered if I would get a special hyperdrive unit at the end, which could not be purchased - I never did find out.

SlimExpert

 

[Bikky]

Hard-to-find, yes. Latecomers are not penalised by hard-to-find in the same way as they are by limited runs.

Or a limited run of say 10k items. Yes this will penalise late comers, until another limited run of an a newer update comes along, then those late comers already know about them and can buy them, maybe before the long termers even find the sale location.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Limited equipment really hard to get could work fine, not in terms of 1 time limited run but perhaps a finite amount in the PU at any time...... because it is so rare it could be uninsurable and only replaced with generic part.

Once a set amount gets destroyed it could then set off a limited number of time sensitive missions where others can earn it.