Why is it so hard to make credits?

[Rusty James]

I have been playing Elite since the very beginning. BBC Model B, Spectrum. Then PC, with Frontier (all versions). I was so excited to see this new version after so many years that I pledged quite some cash with the kickstarter. Was ok for a while, but the grind is just so monotonous.
It seems to me that if you are a youtuber, who gets paid to play then you have enough credits to do what you want, or someone who has no real life, then you're ok. If you can only play a few hours a week, then don't even bother.

So I watched some youtube, went to 17 Draconis, Nerfed.
Sothis Nerfed.

Every time there is a way for a casual player to finally make some money, it has already been nerfed, by the time I get there. So are all the ones who used the so called "exploits" punished in any way, like having the credits they made removed. No of course not.

I don't generally play more than 2 hours / week, which in all the other games was ok, one could still progress fairly easily.
For all of those thinking, yeah but if everyone was flying in a conda then it would not be balanced, then I say you could still kill me, because I'm not good at combat.

I recently bought Horisons, thinking it might re kindle my love for the idea of this game, but it turned out to be the second time I wasted my hard earned rl cash.

This game could be fantastic, and in some ways is, but the grind, or time needed to do anything more than rince, & repeat is just staggering if you have a life outside of the game.

C'mon David, stop ing off the people who have been paying your wages for the last 25 years!

 

[Commander Biscuit]

The problem (from a casual gamer perspective) is that doing anything in this game takes a very long time. Travel takes a long time, navigating menus takes a long time, outfitting the ship takes a long time. This isn't criticism of the game, although some might see it like that, but I realized today that most of the time I spend playing is wasted getting ready to play the game, and by the time I start it's time to turn it off.

There are fantastic ways of making money in the game. Sothis/Ceos is back, for those that have the time to do it.

I would recommend looking for short range haulier missions if you're only managing 2 hours a week. I saw one today paying 600k for a 12ly jump. That's decent for casual gamers, if a bit rare to see.

 

[goemon]

i think it is a common misconception, that you need CR to play the game ... or that there is any "progression" via CR.

basically you can experience and survive anything which is ingame in a cobra mkIII, which you will have maxed out after ~20 hours ingame. still 10 weeks in your pace!

two of the ranks which you can gain (progress) don't require any expensive ship - only progression in trade rank goes much smoother in larger ships, but if you are working on your trade rank, you'll earn more CR than you can spend ingame...

anyway, to experience all ships (30 now) requires a lot of CR - and i personally would be much in favor for a system, where people could fly/test any ship they want.

i assume, it is hard to balance CR-progression for the various play styles.

 

[goemon]

The problem (from a casual gamer perspective) is that doing anything in this game takes a very long time..

that is totally true. which is why if i don't have a lot of time to play the game - a stressfull month in my job for exampel - i tend to pick activities which do not need any preparation. either i go on an exploration tour, which might takes month, or i go bountyhunting in a local res with my fully outfitted eagle.

 

[cometcruiser]

As a casual player (not wanting to boast) have near 2 billion in assets. Not a backer, not a constant player. I was a Mercenary edition buyer. I made my credits the hard way. Trading mostly. Community Goals help alot.

Once you get above 100 mil, and a Python, nothing is impossible.

Just follow every community goal. And in-between trade.

 

[Luniticisi]

It was much harder to make credits in the original, I think my best bounty hunting payout was 150cr .. it's way to easy now.

 

[Hessfire]

Actually, since the 2.2.03 drop I am finding that just doing your basic Data/Hauling missions in a constrained fashion should provide you with all the dosh you will ever need. If you plan your routes right and successfully execute with your local factions you can make really decent money in a short while, just remember to pay attention to your destinations and factions. As goes the faction rep, the payouts will follow.

If you get stuck, drop me a PM and I will give you a few of my hotspots in-bubble that pay nicely once you are repped up with the local factions.

Hope this helps

 

[Junky Juke]

I remember of me truggling hard to get out of that crappy Cobra MkI on FirstEncounters. Well, I recently wiped my save and started on newb sidewinder. Difficulty is the same. But as soon as you have a couple of bucks to outfit a very basic T6 it becomes easy to make some easy money. That too is the same as old Elites.

 

[ThirdNostril]

You can make a million in a res with high security under an hour. 1k ly passenger mission is a million under an hour in a non engineered asp. Made 15 mill over the weekend for a few hours ezpz.

 

[Kyennamo]

Find friends

Wing up

Do conflict zones



I made a billion in the last 3 days. I did put in a LOT of time but still.....money isnt hard to make if you do the right activities

 

[Darth Ender]

i thought this was a joke thread. Apparently it's not. the OP is everything wrong with the playerbase. 2 hours should net tens of millions and get you on your way to ranking up everywhere and access to everything in the game. Yea, ok.

Some things aren't meant to be done in 2 hours a week. It's stuff for people who spend many times that per week playing. If you dont have the time, you dont worry about that stuff. You can do plenty with your 2 hours. I can bounty hunt ( no stupid missions) and make 6-8 million in 2 hours. If i wanted to do missions i could go into a CZ and make a bit more unless i want to cheat and mode-switch to stack.

If combat isn't your thing, you can certainly do trading. But outside of missions, this should be a low income career as it's brain dead simple and super safe. Even bots can do it.

Exploration can net you some cash but probably not much in 2 hours.

But if you expect the world for 2 hours a week every week then you're playing the wrong game.

Would be like me crying about not having the time to reach rank 5 in powerplay every week because i dont have the patience or time to reliably keep it. Do i blame the game ? No. People with much more time to play than i have anymore need something to strive for and that is it. I dont get access to those benefits simply because i dont have the time to do the task needed. That's tough luck for me but it's a good thing to have in the game. Not everything should be given just because you feel like you deserve it.

 

[Straha Yeagar]

i think it is a common misconception, that you need CR to play the game ... or that there is any "progression" via CR.

basically you can experience and survive anything which is ingame in a cobra mkIII, which you will have maxed out after ~20 hours ingame. still 10 weeks in your pace!

two of the ranks which you can gain (progress) don't require any expensive ship - only progression in trade rank goes much smoother in larger ships, but if you are working on your trade rank, you'll earn more CR than you can spend ingame...

anyway, to experience all ships (30 now) requires a lot of CR - and i personally would be much in favor for a system, where people could fly/test any ship they want.

i assume, it is hard to balance CR-progression for the various play styles.

My 14 year old son played for about 4 hours this weekend, and made around 10 million credits simply running missions around the bubble in his Cobra MKIII, no get rich quick missions, and he had a blast doing it. He has picked a minor faction and is running the BGS to aid them. He does not have a whole lot of time to play Elite, yet he has fun playing it for what it is. Yes, he has aspirations for big engineered ships, but is not in such a rush to get there so as to ignore the game.

 

[Snooch leBooch]

Huh. Referring to 1984 might carry some meaning around here. No hand-holding but also no unneeded and tedious ? Yep. 1984' elite was covered by hardcover manuals pointing things out. 2016 has the mostly optional inet meta and the overwhelming need to figure things out logically. 'Casual' is a term that is mostly used by people that 'can't be bothered' which is ok, as long as it is. Then, it's not.


*Don't want to come over as rude but there are many ways to make quick money for new CMDR's who are willing to invest a brain cell or two, but granted how to go about it when arriving is not written in the sky

A cheap as ... Hauler with a passenger cabin can jump far and make a %"§$% amount of money in 2-4 hrs/week + double explo money
Rare trading still pays as nice as always
Kill stealing in a high RES was never easier - starting in 2014
Filtering the gal-map for 'appropriate' states and knowing where to pick up things and where to sell - 1984
Data hauling.. yeah.. feels like an exploit.. pays like one.. is kinda not


Why even bother with a tread mill like Sothis? What do you want to achieve that needs you to blitz the money part? Mid level ships are very much available after 2-4 hrs, a-rated big ones after 2 weeks IF you want to rush.

Alien ruins are available at lvl 1 bank balance and some cunning, griefing is very much free and elite rank pretty much meaningless.

Sorry if this comes over as aggressive and whatnot, but i DO have about 2.5hrs a week to play..'casual' you know? always finding something interesting to do and i simply can't see what people are (repeatingly) complaining about.. hit me up if you want pointers or anything i'd be happy to run about with ya

 

[Sasquatch_Punter]

Why is it so hard to make credits?

It's not. As a noob with some flying experience you can make enough for a fully-fitted Cobra in a couple of hours.

Also...

I don't generally play more than 2 hours / week, which in all the other games was ok, one could still progress fairly easily.

That's still true. Maybe you're not playing ED as much as you did the other?

 

[Oasis81]

Find friends

Wing up

Do conflict zones



I made a billion in the last 3 days. I did put in a LOT of time but still.....money isnt hard to make if you do the right activities

All know that conflict zone is the best way.
Unfortunately find the perfect war/civil war state is not so simple.. And you are not sure that after you'll find also good mission in that system
And you can lost hours to find the good place with station that give you mission...
And you need to have rep with the faction for the good payout
So after all of this the war is just ended and you need restart
Obviously if someone don't give you a suggest...otherwise it's simple to do billions..if you have time

 

[Drelthar]

It's not hard, it takes time, those two things aren't the same.

It takes time because the deveopers want you to be able to experience the various ships/modules along the progression tree they created.

It's kind of like asking why you can't start at level 200 on (insert RPG game here)

 

[GG7]

Passenger missions are a great source of major income for not too much time investment. You need to get allied to a station's major factions first to get access to the highest paying versions, but once that has been accomplished via regular missions, you can easily pull down 5-8 million doing a single Sightseeing Mission that on average take an hour or less to complete! (With a decent FSD)

I look for ones that have no more than (3) stops and nothing with ridiculously far away destinations, always under 200Ly for any one leg. Often I will find 3-5 Million payouts for ones that only involve (2) stops and both well under 150 Ly per, or less. If you have a high jump range FSD via Engineers you can even take on some of the larger multi-hop/longer distance versions that pay in the 12-15 million range for ONE Sightseeing mission.

These same mission givers will often offer some one-way TRANSPORT missions that can pay up to 2.5 million and usually involves a nearby system of less than 70Ly distant. Most commonly, between 15 and 45Ly. You just head to that other station, dock and collect your $$. Only possible tangle is avoiding a scan if the passenger is a criminal type, but that isn't hard to do.

But no matter how you come at these, I would say they consistently pay the most $$ per hour invested and you end up seeing some cool sights around the ED Universe you might not have known about before!

 

[Luniticisi]

OK I hate to say this but look into Sothis/Ceos (check Google or youtube) .. that's some quick credits and it is back.

Why people are resigned to making credits as fast as they can is beyond me

 

[Obi0914]

Find yourself a nice money making exploit, it makes playing the game so much more enjoyable. Having the cred to do what you want is awsome

 

[d8veh]

Sothis Nerfed.

Ceos/Sothis is back on again. You can make 10 million an hour in an Asp and probably double that in a big ship.