Mode switching for missions and Smeaton Orbital [200mill/hour]

[DaggerSnake]

I’m knocking out settlement generators for the Ant Hill Mob while collecting Alien Material for Pailen each time I visit Obsidian Orbital and making my some good cash without mode switching.

That rediculous 8A power plant is almost in reach!

 

[S3B4ST13N]

29,523,292 credits for a mind-numbing 40min Cmdr-input-less run.
Seems fine.
*puts on Despicable Me to pass the time*

 

[GunnerBill]

I wish people would stop exaggerating about how much money you can make doing long haul passenger missions. No one is making 200m an hour. You spend at least an hour just flipping boards to fill your seats. Then spend another 40 minutes travel time and unloading missions. Then you have to head back for another 15 minutes. Also you only can maybe make 200m for the trip if you are elite in trade and have a big ship with at least 160+ seats. You also have to spend how many hours getting everyone to allied? ... So lets get real. The average person will make maybe 50-100m every 2 hours. So really this is at the very best is a 50m per hour for most people.

It was the same with Robigo. "Wah wah wah, they make soooo much money." Yes we did, but they forgot how much time it took for that money.

 

[Stealthie]

That all being said, what I don't get is why so many players hate harmless CMDRS in Anacondas. I mean...good for them, no?

I don't "hate" them but I think it's disingenuous when people try to justify it by saying they might have "earned" those ships by more conventional means.

Also, I'm pretty sure that FDev didn't intend for new players to be able to get themselves into an "end-game" ship within a dozen hours or so.
If they did then surely all the ships in the game should simply have been priced to make that possible since day 1.

The fact that FDev apparently wanted players to progress through all the ships as they gained experience and yet can now skip that completely demonstrates just how out-of-whack things currently are.

The sad thing is, FDev are actually damaging their own game by doing this, and damaging players' experience in the process.
The vast majority of the ships in the game are only "stepping stones" and, as such, they really only serve a purpose for a player who's "on the way up".
One of the most rewarding things about the game was, over a period of months, to "take the next step", from a Sidey to a cobra, then from a Cobra to an Asp, From an Asp to a Python or from a Python to an Anaconda - all the time knowing that you're increasing your abilities while, at the same time, increasing the amount of risk you're exposing yourself to.

The way things currently are, a new player can earn enough to buy an Anaconda within a dozen hours of play and also have sufficient funds to ensure that there is little risk in flying an expensive ship.
As a result of this, the vast majority of ships become redundant and a lot of the gameplay also becomes redundant as a player is exposed to little risk of failure.

 

[GunnerBill]

I don't "hate" them but I think it's disingenuous when people try to justify it by saying they might have "earned" those ships by more conventional means.

Also, I'm pretty sure that FDev didn't intend for new players to be able to get themselves into an "end-game" ship within a dozen hours or so.
If they did then surely all the ships in the game should simply have been priced to make that possible since day 1.

The fact that FDev apparently wanted players to progress through all the ships as they gained experience and yet can now skip that completely demonstrates just how out-of-whack things currently are.

The sad thing is, FDev are actually damaging their own game by doing this, and damaging players' experience in the process.
The vast majority of the ships in the game are only "stepping stones" and, as such, they really only serve a purpose for a player who's "on the way up".
One of the most rewarding things about the game was, over a period of months, to "take the next step", from a Sidey to a cobra, then from a Cobra to an Asp, From an Asp to a Python or from a Python to an Anaconda - all the time knowing that you're increasing your abilities while, at the same time, increasing the amount of risk you're exposing yourself to.

The way things currently are, a new player can earn enough to buy an Anaconda within a dozen hours of play and also have sufficient funds to ensure that there is little risk in flying an expensive ship.
As a result of this, the vast majority of ships become redundant and a lot of the gameplay also becomes redundant as a player is exposed to little risk of failure.

Are you proposing a cull? If so, that can be done...

 

[Deleted member 115407]

You mean... in a game about spaceships... people want to fly all the spaceships?

 

[Stealthie]

You mean... in a game about spaceships... people want to fly all the spaceships?

That's the problem.

People don't want to fly all the spaceships, and there's nothing compelling them to either.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I don't "hate" them but I think it's disingenuous when people try to justify it by saying they might have "earned" those ships by more conventional means.

Though, even ignoring exploits, you can get Exploration Elite with no combat at all (320 million credits), and all of the combat on the way to Trade Elite (1 billion credits) can be trivially evaded without killing your attacker. Combat is basically optional, and has been pretty much from the start.

I see plenty of explorers out here in Colonia with Anacondas and a very low combat rank, who almost certainly got their ships through exploration credits rather than short-range (relatively...) passenger missions.

 

[racer1]

Sad thing about these get rich quick schemes is that they ruin ship progression. Which makes a large percentage of the available ships pointless, you look at them and say well why would I buy that it is only 30 million more for a ship that does everything better. I'll just do one more round of get rich quick and I can get the better ship. When the idea is that it should take time to earn that money thus giving the intermediate ship a purpose.

A lot of dev effort went into designing those stepping stone ships and now it seems that was wasted effort. Take the T10 for example, conda is better in every way.

The reality is credits are now meaningless in a game about flying space ships to earn credits.

It seems to me fedv are turning a blind eye to get rich quick schemes these days.

 

[Stealthie]

Though, even ignoring exploits, you can get Exploration Elite with no combat at all (320 million credits), and all of the combat on the way to Trade Elite (1 billion credits) can be trivially evaded without killing your attacker. Combat is basically optional, and has been pretty much from the start.

I see plenty of explorers out here in Colonia with Anacondas and a very low combat rank, who almost certainly got their ships through exploration credits rather than short-range (relatively...) passenger missions.

The fact that you're in Colonia demonstrates a certain amount of confirmation bias though.

It's kind of like living in a Himalayan village and saying "Most of the 4x4 owners I see can drive them well in poor conditions".
That doesn't refute the fact that, overall, the vast majority of 4x4s are driven by people who use them as glorified MPVs in cities and wouldn't have a clue how to drive on a snowy road.

Like I said, the fact is that you can go from a Sidey to an Annie in 12 hours and that renders a lot of the other ships (and gameplay) conpletely redundant, which is bad for the game and bad for the player's experience. [sad]

 

[Goose4291]

I know people are going to hate on this for taking a stab at their cash-cow income in the game, but this is honestly just silly.

1. Set your ship up with all Economy Passenger Cabins.
2. Fly to Allen Hub in UPSILON AQUARII.
3. Stack Passenger missions going to Smeaton Orbital in LTT 9360.
4. Switch between Open/Group/Solo to get fresh missions on the board until you either have 20 missions or your passenger cabins are full.
5. When full fly to Smeaton (takes 40 minutes to fly)

With a Beluga, Anaconda, Cutter, Corvette being passenger fitted you are making roughly 200 million profit per hour (40 minute flight + 20 minutes for the return trip + modeswitching for missions).

This is just absolutely atrocious.

You are literally awarded with the highest cash-per-hour returns for

a) using an exploit (mode switching for missions)
b) literally NOT playing the game for 40 minutes while AFK in supercruise.

How does this in any way constitute a good addition to the game and good gameplay?

Why is it so hard to fix the board-hopping in different modes? Simply make the missions exactly the same in all 3 modes, and only change them whenever the timer expires.

Anyways... I read about players trying to play 'legit' and earn their money through trading, bounty hunting, mining, pirating, trading and regular passenger runs... hoping to get a Beluga, Type9, Anaconda or any other large ship some day... and then there is this massive loophole in the game, unknown to most players, where you can literally make 200 million per hour. That's literally earning 1 x Stock Anaconda per hour.

Seriously FDEV, I am positive you know about this loophole and insane cash generation done through exploiting this.

Why is it allowed to persist in the game?

Don't worry Red Fox Four... I'll help you get this shut down.

I heard that SDC, the 13th Legion, CODE and every other PvP group use this to get their top tier gank ships and unlimited rebuys

 

[Stealthie]

Sad thing about these get rich quick schemes is that they ruin ship progression. Which makes a large percentage of the available ships pointless, you look at them and say well why would I buy that it is only 30 million more for a ship that does everything better. I'll just do one more round of get rich quick and I can get the better ship. When the idea is that it should take time to earn that money thus giving the intermediate ship a purpose.

A lot of dev effort went into designing those stepping stone ships and now it seems that was wasted effort. Take the T10 for example, conda is better in every way.

The reality is credits are now meaningless in a game about flying space ships to earn credits.

It seems to me fedv are turning a blind eye to get rich quick schemes these days.

Exactly.

When the game came out you'd buy almost every ship as and when you could afford it and then use it to try out different things, you'd find something rewarding and then capitalise on it and then buy more expensive ships and repeat the process over a period of months or years.

Now it's just a case of grinding for a week to earn a heap of credits in a Sidey, buy an Anaconda, earn a heap more credits and then cherry-pick whatever ships are "the best" for whatever you want to do.

Hate to say it but I'm actually kind of glad that the Cutter and 'vette are rank-locked because they're really the only things left which can compel people to make some effort rather than having rewards handed to them on a plate.

 

[Brrokk]

As others have said, it really isn't necessary to worry about how other people are getting credits. There is no way for anyone else's credits to affect my gameplay.

 

[Goose4291]

Exactly.

When the game came out you'd buy almost every ship as and when you could afford it and then use it to try out different things, you'd find something rewarding and then capitalise on it and then buy more expensive ships and repeat the process over a period of months or years.

Now it's just a case of grinding for a week to earn a heap of credits in a Sidey, buy an Anaconda, earn a heap more credits and then cherry-pick whatever ships are "the best" for whatever you want to do.

Hate to say it but I'm actually kind of glad that the Cutter and 'vette are rank-locked because they're really the only things left which can compel people to make some effort rather than having rewards handed to them on a plate.

All joking aside, you're absolutely right on the money with this. Players are missing out on the 'mid game' and not learning the ropes as they follow the next youtube get rich quick scheme. It massively affects BGS gameplay, Powerplay mechanics and to be honest, when death becomes a mild inconvenience in a game that tries to portray itself as being set in a 'cut-throat galaxy', somethings amiss.

 

[GG7]

Exactly.

When the game came out you'd buy almost every ship as and when you could afford it and then use it to try out different things, you'd find something rewarding and then capitalise on it and then buy more expensive ships and repeat the process over a period of months or years.

Now it's just a case of grinding for a week to earn a heap of credits in a Sidey, buy an Anaconda, earn a heap more credits and then cherry-pick whatever ships are "the best" for whatever you want to do.

Hate to say it but I'm actually kind of glad that the Cutter and 'vette are rank-locked because they're really the only things left which can compel people to make some effort rather than having rewards handed to them on a plate.

Its their loss guys!

Why do you care? If they can't be bothered with investing quality time into this game and enjoying the progression at a more normal pace, who are we to say anything?

Their choice... Their loss.

I frankly could not care less in any case.

 

[Roland Deschain]

I don't "hate" them but I think it's disingenuous when people try to justify it by saying they might have "earned" those ships by more conventional means.

Also, I'm pretty sure that FDev didn't intend for new players to be able to get themselves into an "end-game" ship within a dozen hours or so.
If they did then surely all the ships in the game should simply have been priced to make that possible since day 1.

The fact that FDev apparently wanted players to progress through all the ships as they gained experience and yet can now skip that completely demonstrates just how out-of-whack things currently are.

The sad thing is, FDev are actually damaging their own game by doing this, and damaging players' experience in the process.
The vast majority of the ships in the game are only "stepping stones" and, as such, they really only serve a purpose for a player who's "on the way up".
One of the most rewarding things about the game was, over a period of months, to "take the next step", from a Sidey to a cobra, then from a Cobra to an Asp, From an Asp to a Python or from a Python to an Anaconda - all the time knowing that you're increasing your abilities while, at the same time, increasing the amount of risk you're exposing yourself to.

The way things currently are, a new player can earn enough to buy an Anaconda within a dozen hours of play and also have sufficient funds to ensure that there is little risk in flying an expensive ship.
As a result of this, the vast majority of ships become redundant and a lot of the gameplay also becomes redundant as a player is exposed to little risk of failure.

That is actually a valid point and more addressed to the progression system of the game.
However I've read/heard many times arguments like "Players need to learn to fly, before buying an Anaconda!"
As if we need some kind of driver's license to play a game...

 

[S3B4ST13N]

That is actually a valid point and more addressed to the progression system of the game.
However I've read/heard many times arguments like "Players need to learn to fly, before buying an Anaconda!"
As if we need some kind of driver's license to play a game...

Having played MMO's for years and seeing what it looks like when people boost their characters to max level then join a dungeon or a raid without knowing the basics of their class and the impact it has on everyone's gameplay when you play together ... I wouldn't be completely averse to a type of driver's license.. perhaps an in-game "test" to qualify for bigger ships.

 

[kork attuma]

Seriously FDEV, I am positive you know about this loophole and insane cash generation done through exploiting this.

Why is it allowed to persist in the game?

malicazzitua no eh?

 

[Mxpower76]

Having played MMO's for years and seeing what it looks like when people boost their characters to max level then join a dungeon or a raid without knowing the basics of their class and the impact it has on everyone's gameplay when you play together ... I wouldn't be completely averse to a type of driver's license.. perhaps an in-game "test" to qualify for bigger ships.

That's a good idea.

Big ship test.....Bring a Beluga into Obsidain without hitting anybody or getting hung up

 

[Serin Vickers]

It's not an exploit. The scaling for pay by distance is working as intended as it has been updated into the game, as mentioned in patch notes, to make long distance trips more rewarding.
The mission board seed could have easily be retained between solo and open the same solo to solo or open to open retains it - after all the ship state and player coordinates are already transferrable so you can assume a single number for a mission board seed wouldn't be a problem either.

Then let's consider what the actual impact on gameplay is - someone makes credits to buy what they want faster than it would have otherwise taken them. Does that remove or invidalidate actual gameplay steps? It doesn't, it merely reduces the amount of repetitions from thousands of missions to few dozens. Without this method there's no additional gameplay layer you'd have to go through to get there, you literally just do the same task over and over anyways. They are not skipping any content or challenge.


Your actual complaint pretty much is jealousy that someone can do in a few hours what you spent weeks/months on by not looking into more efficient methods yourself.
Now keep in mind what other people do has no impact on your own personal gampelay at all because the game is highly instanced and there are no economy related mechanics via which another player could impact your game by having more credits. It really doesn't matter for any purpose.

Let's not forget to look at the state of the game itself though - Elite's lackluster endgame and meta game with its nature to endorse minimalistic gameplay loops instead of widening them by having them tap into other mechanics. That could be easily done as has been pointed out in many suggestion threads over years, yet never happened nor will it ever as the developers are not interested. There's no meaning to anything but personal enjoyment if you don't enjoy doing thousands of delivery missions then you can take a shortcut to only do dozens instead to arrive the same point anyways - having nothing to look forward to but doing more missions or eventually branching out into different professions before burning out with those, too. That is the nature and design of the game and how many credits you make per hour change nothing about it.