Can we play yet?

[Deleted member 110222]

You won't sully your combat ships with cargo?

Fine. What's stopping you from from buying a Cobra for trade?

 

[S3B4ST13N]

I think Frontier need to spend more time planning their CG's; if they had, they'd likely have seen that combat pilots are being marginalised in this CG.

The focus on this CG is attaining materials in order to build an "anti-EMP" device; which in itself isn't a bad idea as we've had trader-only CG's and combat-only CG's since forever. But one of the materials in this CG required is the Thargoid Cyclops Tissue Samples, which can (to my knowledge) only be obtained by violating a Thargoid vessel; considering traders are not normally equipped to deal with a normal Cmdr, let alone a Thargoid ship; this commodity falls (predominantly) within the combat pilot's jurisdiction.

The issue here is that whilst a trader can putter about the bubble <200ly from Sol looking for the easily obtainable market-commodities; the combat pilot wishing to partake would have to slump off all the way to the Pleiades (or there about); kill a bunch of aliens, then slump all the way back again.
This, I believe, is a monumental waste of time; and highly discouraging to pilots who want to take part, but don't want to trade (and, to be fair, they really don't have to; nobody should be forced to do something they don't want to do).

A better option, IMHO, would have been to make two CG's that are trying to achieve the same goal; the anti-EMP weapons.
One CG is in the bubble, expecting Coltan and Beryllium; the other is in the Pleiades expecting only the Thargoid Cyclops Tissue.
The tiers for each CG should be different and cater for the demographics of the participants; traders vs pilots.

Side note: The two CG's could have been linked by having traders shuffle the Samples from a station in the Pleiades to a station in the bubble; with the threat of Thargoids attacking them (enter CG combat pilot defenders).

 

[BigBANGtheory [VR]]

CG's are getting pretty dull thou, I don't think I've even bothered to cash in my rewards from the last two [knocked out]

 

[Jmanis]

I think Frontier need to spend more time planning their CG's; if they had, they'd likely have seen that combat pilots are being marginalised in this CG.

The focus on this CG is attaining materials in order to build an "anti-EMP" device; which in itself isn't a bad idea as we've had trader-only CG's and combat-only CG's since forever. But one of the materials in this CG required is the Thargoid Cyclops Tissue Samples, which can (to my knowledge) only be obtained by violating a Thargoid vessel; considering traders are not normally equipped to deal with a normal Cmdr, let alone a Thargoid ship; this commodity falls (predominantly) within the combat pilot's jurisdiction.

The issue here is that whilst a trader can putter about the bubble <200ly from Sol looking for the easily obtainable market-commodities; the combat pilot wishing to partake would have to slump off all the way to the Pleiades (or there about); kill a bunch of aliens, then slump all the way back again.
This, I believe, is a monumental waste of time; and highly discouraging to pilots who want to take part, but don't want to trade (and, to be fair, they really don't have to; nobody should be forced to do something they don't want to do).

A better option, IMHO, would have been to make two CG's that are trying to achieve the same goal; the anti-EMP weapons.
One CG is in the bubble, expecting Coltan and Beryllium; the other is in the Pleiades expecting only the Thargoid Cyclops Tissue.
The tiers for each CG should be different and cater for the demographics of the participants; traders vs pilots.

Side note: The two CG's could have been linked by having traders shuffle the Samples from a station in the Pleiades to a station in the bubble; with the threat of Thargoids attacking them (enter CG combat pilot defenders).

Been saying this sort of thing since the first AEGIS CGs were announced, and readdressed it after considering some of the feedback from the first post.

You really, really would think that at some point in the design process where you see you've got multiple CGs lined up, you'd consider making some different, and forecast and adjust to the fact that Thargoid Tissue Samples are simply way harder to get than market commodities, and therefore should be valued way higher in terms of contribution to the CG.

That and it'd get people actually engaging the *new* content you put in the game, rather than force them to do a trade grind, which is nothing new, if they want any hope for the CG to succeed.

I know FD staff can't read everything, but I'm just bewildered that despite the lack of constructive content in this OP^ (compared to my linked posts above, or others by various people), first responder to this thread is from FD, while more constructive threads go completely unacknowledged.

^ Despite said lack of constructive feedback, the emotion is relatable.

 

[Sup3rfluiD]

You won't sully your combat ships with cargo?

Fine. What's stopping you from from buying a Cobra for trade?

I have all the ships many times over. I am triple elite with 97 days of real time spent in the game since launch.
All the milestones have been reached, so now my game is the topical content of each seasons release.

Currently thargoids are our new major plot feature and I am very much enjoying many aspects of this new gameplay.
Some of the combat collaboration that occurred during the functional ax missle period is the best I have seen in any game ever.
Truly remarkable in some instances and such a compelling reason for many of us to push forward regardless of concerns.

However, it is always strange to me that many who don't seem to see the issue have not looked at the corollary.

What if this season all traders must go mining to develop cargo bay access or some such arbitrary nonsense.
Why put any content, like thargoid combat, behind a content wall of other passtimes like trade?

it makes no sense.

 

[Jex =TE=]

I haven't participated in any non-combat CGs. I have no interest in carting stuff around in vulnerable ships in this game, I want to be in a ship that I can defend myself optimally in, and that means no cargo. I'm happy for traders to do the CGs for me, but it would be nice to participate sometimes.

I think everyone needs to stop for a second.

Why should anyone have to change out their ship? The ship you spent months aquiring you mean? For a crappy sidewinder? That's the asnwer here? Nope, FDev are once again demonstrating their lack of MP skills and knowledge. To then turn around and have people tell combat pilots to "go get a crap ship and haul cargo for 10 hours straight" in one of the most boring mechanics the game has is a joke, right?

Nobody should feel the need to excuse themselves for not wanting to do the most boring thing in the game.

PS can't rep you again so +rep

 

[Flavourless]

Yeah, nothing has ever come out of combat. Ever. At all. Ignore jet engines. And radar. And computers. And every space program.

The need to develop technology is stimulated by conflict, and the desire to win the conflict, but the actual development is done by nations (or organisations) that have created the economic and intellectual environment to actually do it. By trade.

If it was just up to combat guys, we would all be still smacking each other over the head with sticks.

 

[NecoMachina]

But you were included, everyone active Commander in Open, in Groups and in Solo was invited as they are for every CG. You, and you alone, decided you didn't want to participate because it didn't fit your playing style. End of Story

No duh. Obviously anyone CAN do the CG's. He's saying it's not his playstyle, and would like CG options that are his playstyle. You know, it IS within the realm of possibility to have multiple CG's going that could appeal to all playstyles. One CG to deliver materials for manufacturing new prototypes, one CG for combat guys to go test the just-released protoypes, and possibly a third one something exploration related. That took about a half-percent of my imagination and all of 5 seconds thought.

FDEV is once again taking the easiest, laziest, most un-interesting way I can imagine to have this play out. CG's and signal sources - pretty much what was predicted by hundreds, or probably thousands, of players before 2.4 launched.

 

[Jex =TE=]

There's nothing wrong with it. They just don't seem to want to do it. The numbers speak for themselves. The first two Aegis Initiatives failed to complete. The second two have had their fulfilment requirement lowered and have done even worse than the first two. It's not rocket science to see people aren't interested and FD should recognise that fact and adjust what they are asking people to do to assist the storyline accordingly.

Maybe if they put a bounty CG on at the same location as the trade CG so combat pilots can "protect" the Traders delivering Goods, have this influence the outcome of the trade CG required for creating the AX gear, it would work better instead of a separate trade CG delivering rares for max profit cutting into the uptake for the Aegis Initiative?

Because people know that what they're doing is affecting nothing. There's no game here - the game doesn't care if you succeed or fail because it's not even coded to know that - it all relies on an arbitrary number picked by FDev and when that number is reached, the hand of god comes in and adds a bit of code. Even if you fail - you win.

So unlike other games that don't have nanny FDev there to hold your hand, ED feels dsiconnected. There's never an end to a space battle. The game isn't counting numbers down in a CZ (for eg) until you get to a point where the AI stops spawning. This has the negative affect of making you feel like it's pointless then.

 

[Sup3rfluiD]

there is at least one, many times two or three trade cg's every week without fail. good for the traders, and best of luck to you. the game is leisure activity after all.
why are the combat alternatives so intermittent?

many say get your combat protecting traders achieve the tier goals. Yeah well that's a nice theory but it breaks down pretty quick in practice.

Id like to be flying functional thargoid combat but have to wait on/participate in trade activity before I can go back to playing the nerfed new content .

 

[Rob At Work]

Because people know that what they're doing is affecting nothing. There's no game here - the game doesn't care if you succeed or fail because it's not even coded to know that - it all relies on an arbitrary number picked by FDev and when that number is reached, the hand of god comes in and adds a bit of code. Even if you fail - you win.

So unlike other games that don't have nanny FDev there to hold your hand, ED feels dsiconnected. There's never an end to a space battle. The game isn't counting numbers down in a CZ (for eg) until you get to a point where the AI stops spawning. This has the negative affect of making you feel like it's pointless then.

AND even when yu think you are affecting something, FDev reserve the right to change the rules as they see fit, and they actually carried through with that threat recently... Ho Hum.. do summut else...

 

[Jex =TE=]

Would be an option to allow Thargoids to penetrate the bubble to try and stop the next Aegis CG though. That would be fun and therefore a combat CG not to just bounty hunt, but to turn in Thargoid bounties and hearts. That would work but again alongside the development CG rather than instead of it.

Let me see.....

You take a point in space. It's a bubble, in the code of the game. That bubble increases in size. This "bubble" is now thargoid space. Anyone entering a system covered by this bubble could be subject to Thargoid interception.

As the bubble increases, reports over galnet highlight contact lost with stations in those systems. At first, you might not see thargoids. You get to a station and it's sliced in half or something. Why not a CG here to use scanners to get data?

Then the bubble and contacts increase until you have a war whatever happens at least it's a tangible thing and not "ferry 200,000 super conductors and we'll add in the code"

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Cutting to the chase here...


What is the 'target audience' to you?

Should read: "The target-shooting audience". Does that help?

 

[Makaan]

This is how I envision the CG/story narrative progression:

Step 1: Trade CG's to provide materials and alien samples to build anti-alien weapons. ( in progress )
Step 1.1: Trade CG's failed/partially completed. Anti-alien weapons less available.
or
Step 1.2: Trade CG passed. Anti-alien weapons more available.

Step 2: Combat CG to test out the new anti-alien weapons and return with bonds/samples/whatever. ( forthcoming )
Step 2.1: Combat CG fails/partially completed. Alien's adapt.
or
Step 2.2: Combat CG passes. Alien's on partial defensive.

Step 3 (from 2.1): Aliens advance aggressively. Trade/Combat CG to provide materials to stations to build more better weapons. Combat to protect traders/fight against invasion. Hard difficulty.
Step 3 (from 2.2): Aliens advance carefully. Trade/Combat CG to provide materials to stations to build more better weapons. Combat to protect traders/fight against invasion. Medium difficulty.

And so on..

My biggest concern is that 90% of what you've just listed is/would unfold within signal sources....

 

[Bomba Luigi]

I mean you wanna build something you need something you can build it with, there being trade CG is perfectly reasonable. But it could need improving for sure, I do like cg but there is in general room for improvment for sure.

At the top of the head when it comes to those thargoids cgs I would say make the thargoids smart! I don't mean in regards to how they do in combat, but how they chose targets. High chance of hyperdiction for players trying to enter a CG system, or it could start low and get higher the longer it goes, maybe also a CG to hand in Thargoid bonds, if that reaches a new tier the chance of hyperdiction gets lowered again - but will of course go up again as time goes by so you gotta reach new tiers.

Traders face high risk which should make the question of loadout more important and combat can have very strong effect on how much risk traders face. Soemthing like that.

 

[GraXXoR]

The disappointing thing here is that it is not surprising at all.
Many combat orientated pilots, myself included have partitioned and posted for a long time that there is a definitive trade bias in cg events.

Not a fan of Norton myself, but have you tried this. It should address all your partitioning needs.

 

[GraXXoR]

What would be nice would be if the tissue samples somehow counted for more. Say, each ton of samples counts as 25 tons in the CG.

25, You're joking, right?


Me:

Click...
Launch...
Boost...
Jump
Request landing.
Click.
720T added. Thankyou commander.

You:
Click...
Launch...
Boost...
Jump
Hypercepted
boom boom crash bang argh.... Brave Sir Robin...
Holy mother of all that is beautiful and sweet, please save me! Gaaaahah~~~~~
4...3...2...1... Jump...
Request landing.
Repair..
Rearm...
Click.

25T added. Thankyou commander.

 

[Jmanis]

25, You're joking, right?


Me:

Click...
Launch...
Boost...
Jump
Request landing.
Click.
720T added. Thankyou commander.

You:
Click...
Launch...
Boost...
Jump
Hypercepted
boom boom crash bang argh.... Brave Sir Robin...
Holy mother of all that is beautiful and sweet, please save me! Gaaaahah~~~~~
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
4...3...2...1... Jump...
Request landing.
Repair..
Rearm...
Click.

25T added. Thankyou commander.

Fixed that for you. CG station is at least 20 jumps away for a ship capable of collecting samples after all

 

[Kingtutuk]

I do not understand the purpose of this thread :S
The game is advertised as "Play your way"
So let the pew pew crowd pew pew, the Trading crowd trade, the Explorers explore, those that want Private Group play private group and my Favorite those who want to play Solo go solo.
There are so many posts in the previous pages i have forgotten what the subject is [wacky].
Anyway that's what i think. o7

 

[GraXXoR]

Fixed that for you. CG station is at least 20 jumps away for a ship capable of collecting samples after all

Yup, that is indeed more accurate than the precis I proposed... LOL.