Out of curiosity...how's your relation with your CMDR?

[drholliday]

When I realized that ED in its current state isn't my game I wondered why because it really has everything in it I dig. It should be very high on the list. In fact it should be far on the top. It's not. It's barely on top of the mediocre part of games I don't play anymore and that's only because it doesn't have a story I would know by heart and I do like some activities in the game. So I can still play it but if I compare the fun revenue with other games...it's not as good. I do have played it longer than most other games. So overall bang for the buck is very good. Fun for the buck? Not quite that good.

For example I have paid a lot more for the ME series in total. And I have played it less. But the fun I got from that is massively more than with ED.

I'm fairly certain the reason for me has to do with my CMDR. Or better. That I don't give a rat's ass about him. When I ranked a character that far in a game I've played as much as Elite I'm usually kinda attached to it. I liked how it has developed or ponder what I should have done or should do differently with respect to it. In terms of ranking my CMDR is well on the road. But ... I could not care less. In fact a harmless, aimless and pennyless CMDR works exactly the same. I would miss some ships but as a CMDR that would be the same nobody.

If I would keep the ships I have and enough insurance FDev could reset my CMDR every day and I wouldn't care. Half of the time I probably wouldn't even notice. I would get FURIOUS if that happened in other games.

Part of that is certainly due to game mechanics. ED feels like a collection of mini games. Some I like, some not. But it doesn't feel as a game with a universe that's alive for me. But probably even more importantly there is no avatar with any meaning in the game. Ranks mean nothing and are just a metric that affects credit revenue or ship access. And everything you do is undone by time. It's actually hard to even keep up a reputation as a completely genocidal psycho in the game. If you can't play for a week you're cleaner than the thoughts of the Virgin Mary again. Not even speaking of the other side. The game doesn't feel like doing something has consequences and as such there's little satisfaction in doing something.

I had a glitch that cost me a lot of money and with that opportunities in the game a while ago. Could have gone to support. But I did not care. Wasn't even worth contacting support.

I don't feel like I'm blazing a trail. Let alone my own. Because - with the exception of 1st discovery tags - a CMDR has a fairly short trail bordering non existing. Ridiculously everything you do in the game has influence on the universe. On a very small scale but it does. OTOH nothing develops YOUR CMDR. It's like Teflon.

By fixing game mechanics a lot of shortcomings in the game can be fixed. But I think that alone will not fix this problem for me. The game will be more of a solid game than a collection. But the problems with my CMDR are a different construction site.

So out of curiosity. What's your relation with your CMDR?

Mine pretty much boils down to 'I couldn't care less about him'.

 

[ParanoidNdroid]

My Commander and I got tired of not having a villain or antagonist to fight against.. There is no rallying point for the universe. TO me it just seems like a bunch of mercenaries running around without a goal other than Ranking.. I've parked my ships and will remove them only when I feel I have a need to right a wrong or discover something unique..

 

[Mohrgan]

I think you completely miss the backstory and the intended game play of Elite. Of course that is just my opinion, and I am not putting you down. I just think the message FD gave me about E: D would never lead me to expect, what you expect from the game. One key feature here is (Opinion ahead) you are basically just a spec in the galaxy. On purpose. Commanders were never expected to be the saviors of the galaxy. Other games give you that, but Elite just won;t.

It looks like you prefer to be at the center of a story, being the focus of the unfolding events. I don;t believe E: D ever intends, or intended to offer that. I play many games, and for that very situation, but I enjoy Elite specifically for the difference. It shows Elite to have a different soul from other games. It doesn't pander to my Ego (I need the Forums for that). MAybe, if you looked at E: D with a different eye, you might come to appreciate it for the difference.

 

[drholliday]

I think you completely miss the backstory and the intended game play of Elite. Of course that is just my opinion, and I am not putting you down. I just think the message FD gave me about E: D would never lead me to expect, what you expect from the game. One key feature here is (Opinion ahead) you are basically just a spec in the galaxy. On purpose. Commanders were never expected to be the saviors of the galaxy. Other games give you that, but Elite just won;t.

It looks like you prefer to be at the center of a story, being the focus of the unfolding events. I don;t believe E: D ever intends, or intended to offer that. I play many games, and for that very situation, but I enjoy Elite specifically for the difference. It shows Elite to have a different soul from other games. It doesn't pander to my Ego (I need the Forums for that). MAybe, if you looked at E: D with a different eye, you might come to appreciate it for the difference.

You misunderstood my point. It's not how you affect the galaxy. It's how it affects you.

 

[Mohrgan]

You misunderstood my point. It's not how you affect the galaxy. It's how it affects you.

I get it. I read the post. How do you feel about your ships? Your character is just your name. Your ship is where you invest. From my point of view.

Reputation change only happens at the farthest edges of it's span. You can drop only as far as Friendly, and rise only as far as Unfriendly with REp Decay.

My main point is to try and appreciate E: D for being different. For the change in gaming sensation you get from it.

It is perfectly ok for you not to appreciate Elite. I was just trying to give you a different, my, experience. Fly Safe.

 

[GilliganTX]

Your CMDR is YOU!

 

[drholliday]

The reputation you have is mostly irrelevant. It's a little less irrelevant than your rank but it's still mostly not that important. You can even land on very unfriendly stations. The reputation is mostly just another metric like your rank that affects little else than your opportunities to make money off of the BB.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Your CMDR is YOU!

It's more. Bill Murray in Groundhog day. I'm not being mostly reset. So no. My CMDR is not me.

 

[dangerousbeans]

My CMR picks his nose and wipes it on his sleeve and thinks I don't see him do it. And he's a caffeine addict while he's in our FAS, tea to the left, coffee to the right. (or am I wrong in assuming the erm.. peripherals in the FAS cockpit are not for making tea and coffee, they certainly look like it)

 

[Ian Skippy]

When I realized that ED in its current state isn't my game I wondered why because it really has everything in it I dig. It should be very high on the list. In fact it should be far on the top. It's not. It's barely on top of the mediocre part of games I don't play anymore and that's only because it doesn't have a story I would know by heart and I do like some activities in the game. So I can still play it but if I compare the fun revenue with other games...it's not as good. I do have played it longer than most other games. So overall bang for the buck is very good. Fun for the buck? Not quite that good.

For example I have paid a lot more for the ME series in total. And I have played it less. But the fun I got from that is massively more than with ED.

I'm fairly certain the reason for me has to do with my CMDR. Or better. That I don't give a rat's ass about him. When I ranked a character that far in a game I've played as much as Elite I'm usually kinda attached to it. I liked how it has developed or ponder what I should have done or should do differently with respect to it. In terms of ranking my CMDR is well on the road. But ... I could not care less. In fact a harmless, aimless and pennyless CMDR works exactly the same. I would miss some ships but as a CMDR that would be the same nobody.

If I would keep the ships I have and enough insurance FDev could reset my CMDR every day and I wouldn't care. Half of the time I probably wouldn't even notice. I would get FURIOUS if that happened in other games.

Part of that is certainly due to game mechanics. ED feels like a collection of mini games. Some I like, some not. But it doesn't feel as a game with a universe that's alive for me. But probably even more importantly there is no avatar with any meaning in the game. Ranks mean nothing and are just a metric that affects credit revenue or ship access. And everything you do is undone by time. It's actually hard to even keep up a reputation as a completely genocidal psycho in the game. If you can't play for a week you're cleaner than the thoughts of the Virgin Mary again. Not even speaking of the other side. The game doesn't feel like doing something has consequences and as such there's little satisfaction in doing something.

I had a glitch that cost me a lot of money and with that opportunities in the game a while ago. Could have gone to support. But I did not care. Wasn't even worth contacting support.

I don't feel like I'm blazing a trail. Let alone my own. Because - with the exception of 1st discovery tags - a CMDR has a fairly short trail bordering non existing. Ridiculously everything you do in the game has influence on the universe. On a very small scale but it does. OTOH nothing develops YOUR CMDR. It's like Teflon.

By fixing game mechanics a lot of shortcomings in the game can be fixed. But I think that alone will not fix this problem for me. The game will be more of a solid game than a collection. But the problems with my CMDR are a different construction site.

So out of curiosity. What's your relation with your CMDR?

Mine pretty much boils down to 'I couldn't care less about him'.

Your CMDR is YOU!

These are the two conflicting ideas here. In Mass Effect, EA did the roleplay for you. You were cmdr Shephard, and there were basically two versions of him: the cynical hero, and the goody-goody hero. There were Bad Guys presented, and you were to consider them as such. There was no 'you' in Mass Effect. There was a furious trail to blaze, but never your own trail. In ED, the trail is much dimmer, but it is your trail. I like both, but prefer ED. If this difference is a crucial part of your gaming enjoyments, I dont see ED ever becoming a game for you.

By the way, it is factually not true that you'll 'clean as new' if you dont play for a week. I am not sure if that was just hyperbole or if you dont really know how the game works, but I felt like pointing it out.

 

[Abomination]

I don't feel like playing an avatar. I'm the one flying the ship.
I agree, a bit more consequences are required because this will support roleplaying and give everything a bit more of a meaning.
Maybe factions should have some more internal reputation bars in how they look at you because of the actions you take, and act on it.
This could include both local and more galaxy-wide consequences (or maybe regions of influence and repercussion).
For example, if you mine a lot, unfettered factions in that system (and maybe also surrounding systems) might start pirating you more often in res sites if you continue to do minging / taking on mining missions.
Or if you're mostly doing bounty hunting and destroy a lot of ships from a controlling faction, the local security might decide they don't want to see you anymore, get more aggressive (as much as the law permits) and even reject docking permissions for a while.
But at the same time this shouldn't go too far since it's also nice not having to think about all of that and just do whatever you want and simply have fun working together with other players or go in solitude on some long exploration trip or whatever.

 

[CMDR_Amanath]

Who said there was going to be a story?

 

[Apos]

We hang out every now and then, visit some random pub and there's also some Rule 34 that we'd both rather forget...

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Um that guy. Me and him, we don't talk much anymore... There was that time I changed his gender to see what the female body-model looked like, don't think he's forgiven me yet. There was also those times we flew into explosive, hot and immovable objects giving him acute burns, an all-over radiation tan and flattening him a bit...

In seriousness you are fully correct, character investment is rather low because we never see ourselves, there's no pilot skill, perk points or levelling system. Most progression is done via ship currently which means my ships have names and their own backstories about origins and stuff. Maybe this'll change a bit when character creator comes online.

My idea to start to fix the issue:

Spoiler

Personally I wouldn't mind a skill bonus type thing where you level-up for minor bonuses depending on your actions and involvement in wars (combat zones), community goals, exploration etc. gaining minor perks like a 1% increase to exploration payouts for every 10,000Ly travelled. This would reset on death. The key part is there should be some flavour text with each perk that others could read when scanning your ship.

For example the Lugh War could be something like:
1% to CZ bonds - Perk 1 - Soldier of Lugh - Any combat zone vouchers in community goal
2% to CZ bonds - Perk 2 - Vanguard of Lugh - over 1mil combat zone vouchers in community goal
3% to CZ bonds - Perk 3 - Hero of Lugh - over 5mil combat zone vouchers in community goal
4% to CZ bonds - Perk 4 - Spear of Lugh - over 10mil combat zone vouchers in community goal
(non-stacking, possibly tied into the CG rewards tiers)

Scanning a ship you'd get a list like:
Scout of the Empire - Achenar
Hero of Lugh
Alliance Miner - Alioth
Mug of Hutton
Pirate of Leesti
Lembava Murder Suspect
War Veteran of Col Sector 2050-96 <- made up a sector number, do not search

Anyway something like that would be a good start in my eyes, minor rewards but you can scan through your past achievements (active and lost due to death).
There may be a balance matter like you can't have 2 active effects on one type of reward etc.

 

[CariadocThorne]

I'm confused by the nature of the question.

How is my relationship with...me?

Pretty good most of the time I guess. I have never lost touch with my roots as the son of a humble brewers assistant from Leesti, and while I may not have made my fortune out amongst the stars, I have made a good life for myself.

Dad would be horrified at the state I keep the little kitchen area on my Diamondback, but then I always thought he was too fusy about these things. Sure, I occasionally see my favourite mug fly across my cockpit sometimes during extreme combat maneuvres, but it's no distraction at all compared to my kids constantly coming out of the escape pod (where they know they are supposed to stay during combat) to ask if I know where they left their favorite Tree Grub plushi or something equally inane. And since I can tune out my wife yelling about this ship being no place to raise a family, while I line up my railgun for a shot, the tinkling sound of the cuttlery tray hurling it's contents down the passage barely even registers.

Still, I know my wife's right. One day soon I need to start making some money for a bigger, more family friendly ship. After all, when you take your family into space, you get on each others nerves, and it's not like you can go for a calming walk and take in the cool night air. At least not without a much more expensive Remlock than I can afford. Having a little room to spread out and escape each other would make life much easier.

I'll miss the thrill of dancing my little ship around an opponents lasers, or seeing my daughters face reflected on the inside of the canopy as she watches my chaff sparkling under the light of weaponsfire.

So maybe my answer should be... tense? uncertain?

I like this life, but I know I can't keep my family living in this little tub forever.

I hope that answers your question.
-------------

Seriously though, I can see why you struggle with motivation for the game if that's your relationship to your commander. It's a game that needs you to do some of the work on this aspect yourself.

Contrary to some of the prior comments, I find it helps to seperate SHIPS from CMDR.

For me, seeing my progression in terms of ships would lead to months of tedious grind to get the best ships then not really knowing why I wanted them.

Instead I focus on my CMDR with progression being his story, told in the form of my actions, whether it be undermining Archon Delain in Powerplay or fighting off the hired thugs sent after me by minor factions I've fought against (my story for why other CMDRs interdict and attack me).

Once we can walk around ships and have ship mounted fighter bays I already have a story for why I'll move into a larger multipurpose ship and start making my living from salvage and whatever missions look fun, and why I'll still jump back in a fighter to go chasing down pirates (reliving my glory days and escaping the now extended family on the ship, one of my daughters in law will be a hard person to be cooped up around).

 

[drholliday]

These are the two conflicting ideas here. In Mass Effect, EA did the roleplay for you. You were cmdr Shephard, and there were basically two versions of him: the cynical hero, and the goody-goody hero. There were Bad Guys presented, and you were to consider them as such. There was no 'you' in Mass Effect. There was a furious trail to blaze, but never your own trail. In ED, the trail is much dimmer, but it is your trail. I like both, but prefer ED. If this difference is a crucial part of your gaming enjoyments, I dont see ED ever becoming a game for you.

By the way, it is factually not true that you'll 'clean as new' if you dont play for a week. I am not sure if that was just hyperbole or if you dont really know how the game works, but I felt like pointing it out.

ME was just a price example. Not a gameplay example. I just happen to know how much money I wasted on it. So I know it's substantial. You will have some residue but it's not much and exactly a week is a hyperbole. But if you don't play the game for a while your reputation will flatten, your bounties will have turned into legacy fines and the universe will mostly have forgotten. There are consequences left (or created) from reputation gain or drop. But reputation in itself it not very important for anything but BB missions. If you have an unfriendly reputation this will create a bit of a shortage in mission opportunities but they will not remember that you are the from the wedding barge incident. You don't really have to work to make that go away. You can wait it out. Or you just wait it out by not playing.

 

[MottiKhan]

I feel like I'm the pilot of my ships and therefore, my CMDR. Of course, my CMDR holds the value of life a lot lower than I do. And he tends to fracture the law a lot in my view. It's still fun for me, but I'm relatively new at this.

My CMDR, on the other hand, thinks I'm a figment of his imagination.

 

[happyfunball]

So out of curiosity. What's your relation with your CMDR?

I think she's probably hot, but I wouldn't know until the Season patch that gives us dress-up-CMDR.

 

[Dobbys Wrath]

My CMDR? We've been travelling the galaxy for a while now, trying to find a name, a purpose, something worth fighting for...
We've been hunting baddies, mining and trading valuables far and wide, exploring the galaxy for new worlds, supported a power and smuggling like Han Solo. Surely this sounds like an adventure?
No, those baddies meant nothing, trading and mining was just for money, exploring was like walking around the same lake 50 times, I didn't even like that power I supported (so I swapped him for another I'm not entirely sure about) and the smuggling was nothing as exciting as it was for Han Solo. For the most part I felt like my CMDR and I were empty inside, dead eyed and meaningless. We're not asking to be the leading role just something to give us life that's more than just credits(!) and helping boring old politicians (in boring repetitive ways) big and small. (<- I'm talking about the BIG ones all the way down to the little ones, in the end they all want the same but for themselves and have no real passion like typical politicians, why should I help them...)

 

[Dobbys Wrath]

Besides it's not like my efforts would make any difference to anything or anyone, I'm just a tiny little speck being used...

 

[DefiledDragon]

My commander is a liabilty. You know, the other day he thought he would be clever and try undocking his spanking new FDL in FA off. I warned him, I told him he was writing a cheque his skills couldn't cash but did he listen? No. Fortunately I intervened at the last moment and hit the FA on switch as the station wall approached rapidly. I had to have a few words afterwards. Let's just say he won't be trying it again anytime soon.