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

[Robert Maynard]

Anything that makes it easier to get cargo from a trader so pirate rely less on the "cargo or die" method is in the trader's favor I would think.

.... not necessarily - if the trader is simply toddling along letting the pirate's threats and weaponry bounce off without affecting them then why should the pirate have quick and easy access to a large amount of cargo?

As to balance, cargo extraction has already been facilitated - disabling a cargo hatch should disable the cargo ejection system and the internal cargo management / transit system - but it doesn't, for gameplay....

 

[Derath]

.... not necessarily - if the trader is simply toddling along letting the pirate's threats and weaponry bounce off without affecting them then why should the pirate have quick and easy access to a large amount of cargo?

As to balance, cargo extraction has already been facilitated - disabling a cargo hatch should disable the cargo ejection system and the internal cargo management / transit system - but it doesn't, for gameplay....

Disabling cargo hatch stops limpets working, and while cargo extraction is possible almost every option available in that regard is in the traders favour, holding roll delays hatching, if you kill the hatch nothing drops, killing thrusters keeps a target rolling and jetting off at its speed when the thrusters were blown. Plus all the massive flaws in limpets I mentioned in an earlier post.

There is a reason why so many pirates go for drop or die

 

[Robert Maynard]

Disabling cargo hatch stops limpets working, and while cargo extraction is possible almost every option available in that regard is in the traders favour, holding roll delays hatching, if you kill the hatch nothing drops, killing thrusters keeps a target rolling and jetting off at its speed when the thrusters were blown. Plus all the massive flaws in limpets I mentioned in an earlier post.

There is a reason why so many pirates go for drop or die

.... and on ship destruction, no cargo is dropped (I saw this confirmed in a bug report thread today), so the pirate should work on his patter to charm the cargo out of the trader....

(not you, Jordan - I'd probably enjoy being pirated by a true professional! )

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

Because it's a video game, sometimes balance takes precedence, the space flight physics for example.

There would be a perfect in-game explanation for that:
The cargo system is designed to allow huge amount of cargo loaded and unloaded in very short time. It takes the same amount of time to load 4 t cargo into a Sidewinder as loading 400 t of cargo into an Anaconda. Obviously the cargo systems are designed to load % per time and not tonnes per time.

The new and improved cargo hatch limpet would dock at the cargo hatch, hack into the cargo load/unload computer and insert the command "Unload max amount of cargo the system is able to unload at once" - the result is X% of cargo dropped.

Pirate is happy to get X% of cargo without having to risk killing the trader and getting no cargo at all. Trader is happy that he doesn't get killed and isn't forced to do something he doesn't want to do (but is angry that the pirate just robbed X% of cargo).

As a sidenote: Cargo dropped outside the no fire zone of a station (or the space station instance) should always be illicit cargo. So no more pirates being able to add insult to injury by demanding the trader to abandon the cargo instead of just dropping it or to make it more rewarding to demand the cargo and not steal it. To compensate the resell value at the blackmarket should be increased a bit.

 

[Derath]

.... and on ship destruction, no cargo is dropped (I saw this confirmed in a bug report thread today), so the pirate should work on his patter to charm the cargo out of the trader....

(not you, Jordan - I'd probably enjoy being pirated by a true professional! )

I've never done drop or die regardless of the similarities between a dead trader and a hatched one

 

[Jordan Cobalt]

.... not necessarily - if the trader is simply toddling along letting the pirate's threats and weaponry bounce off without affecting them then why should the pirate have quick and easy access to a large amount of cargo?

As to balance, cargo extraction has already been facilitated - disabling a cargo hatch should disable the cargo ejection system and the internal cargo management / transit system - but it doesn't, for gameplay....

Because the alternative is the tradergetting blown uup.

 

[ianw]

.... and on ship destruction, no cargo is dropped (I saw this confirmed in a bug report thread today), so the pirate should work on his patter to charm the cargo out of the trader....

(not you, Jordan - I'd probably enjoy being pirated by a true professional! )

To be honest if I'm out of options - including high wake for whatever reason - I'm gonna play ball and drop the gear nicely - reckon if we get to that stage they've earned it.

Unless of course they were being properly rude (not piratey Arrrr stuff).

 

[Robert Maynard]

Because the alternative is the tradergetting blown uup.

.... or jumping out, or fighting back (depends on ship / loadout, obviously), or rams the pirate....

.... or engaging silent running and engaging the FSD (if thrusters shot out) hastening the inevitable destruction....

 

[Derath]

.... or jumping out, or fighting back (depends on ship / loadout, obviously), or rams the pirate....

Have you ever been pirated by a player? Unless you lucked out and got the novice cobra pirate or your flying a conda/clipper all 3 of these = dead trader, drop or die wouldn't work if there was an additional or for you rammed me and escaped

 

[Robert Maynard]

Have you ever been pirated by a player? Unless you lucked out and got the novice cobra pirate or your flying a conda/clipper all 3 of these = dead trader, drop or die wouldn't work if there was an additional or for you rammed me and escaped

I have. Sometimes I co-operate (if the pirate RPs their role well), sometimes I run (mixed results with this approach). When I'm playing in Open, I am fully aware of the costs of non-compliance with the, sometimes unreasonable, demands of our piratical players - it's all part of the game - compliance is earned, not mandatory.

 

[Derath]

I have. Sometimes I co-operate (if the pirate RPs their role well), sometimes I run (mixed results with this approach). When I'm playing in Open, I am fully aware of the costs of non-compliance with the, sometimes unreasonable, demands of our piratical players - it's all part of the game - compliance is earned, not mandatory.

Completely agreed, was just curious =)

 

[Seonid]

When I'm playing in Open, I am fully aware of the costs of non-compliance with the, sometimes unreasonable, demands of our piratical players - it's all part of the game - compliance is earned, not mandatory.

That's why I play in Open, you initially have no idea what that hollow icon is going to bring to your game, if anything.

 

[Jordan Cobalt]

.... or jumping out, or fighting back (depends on ship / loadout, obviously), or rams the pirate....

.... or engaging silent running and engaging the FSD (if thrusters shot out) hastening the inevitable destruction....

Ha, I could kill a trader 3 times over, in the it takes from limpet-firing, to the cargo first drops. All that stuff you said is just as true for limpets as it is for killing, maybe moreso.

 

[Jockey79]

That's why I play in Open, you initially have no idea what that hollow icon is going to bring to your game, if anything.

And that is why I don't generally play open.
I like to know who is around me and what they are going to do. Anything else makes me feel uncomfortable and reduces my enjoyment of the game.
This is why I like the Mobius group or play in a private group with people I know in real life (though there are days that is too much).

There are plenty of folks who cannot handle being around strangers, and for some people anxieties don't just switch off because "it's a game".
Those people have good days and bad days, on a good day they may try open and on a bad they retreat to a small group or solo.

I have good days and bad days, I do play in open on a good day (or when drunk ), but when I'm having a bad day, I stay away from open.
Tell me, how does members of the community trying to get me locked out of open or forced in to an open only game (that most days I cannot handle, so wouldn't play at all).
How does that "encourage" me to be a part of the community and have these great experiences folks keep going on about?

 

[Robert Maynard]

Ha, I could kill a trader 3 times over, in the it takes from limpet-firing, to the cargo first drops. All that stuff you said is just as true for limpets.

Of course. However killing the trader guarantees no cargo and possibly an additional bounty - so no gain or even a loss (in the long term).

 

[Jordan Cobalt]

Of course. However killing the trader guarantees no cargo and possibly an additional bounty - so no gain or even a loss (in the long term).

Yea but at the expense of a huge loss for a trader. I would think that a 10% loss of cargo plus repair would be preferable to a 100% loss plus rebuy, wouldn't you say so? If limpets were better pirates wouldn't have to kill a trader if he refuses.

 

[Jockey79]

Yea but at the expense of a huge loss for a trader. I would think that a 10% loss of cargo plus repair would be preferable to a 100% loss plus rebuy, wouldn't you say so? If limpets were better pirates wouldn't have to kill a trader if he refuses.

My rebuy on my T9 is under 4 million, my principles are worth more - you want money, go grind it like I did

 

[Robert Maynard]

Yea but at the expense of a huge loss for a trader. I would think that a 10% loss of cargo plus repair would be preferable to a 100% loss plus rebuy, wouldn't you say so? If limpets were better pirates wouldn't have to kill a trader if he refuses.

Whether the loss of ship and cargo is less of a "cost" than complying with a particular pirate rather depends on my mood and the approach of the pirate - it's a game, we don't need to make sensible decisions....

 

[Jordan Cobalt]

Whether the loss of ship and cargo is less of a "cost" than complying with a particular pirate rather depends on my mood and the approach of the pirate - it's a game, we don't need to make sensible decisions....

So we sshouldn't maje a change to the game because some might stick to the old method? That makes no sense.

 

[Robert Maynard]

So we sshouldn't maje a change to the game because some might stick to the old method? That makes no sense.

.... neither does a cargo system, that should be protecting the interests of the ship that it is installed in, disgorging 10% of the cargo onboard at the "request" of an piece of offensive ordnance.