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

[TehJumpingJawa]

VIP do not share cabins. you wont do 110M per hour

They don't need to; 10 (Business & 1st) cabins, each making ~10Mil, throw in 10 data deliveries -> 110Mil.

As I said though, the additional board flipping is what'll make it non-viable; business & 1st VIPs spawn less than 1/2 as often as bulk economy. (around Smeaton; there maybe other locations where they spawn more readily).

Tbh though AFK duration is kind of irrelevant; you run Smeaton because you're at your computer, but don't want to actively play E: D.
So maybe longer distance (than Smeaton) VIP hauls will be more tempting for AFK earning. (but obv. below the 50M cap. per mission)

 

[CMDR_Brantford of FLC]

It’s not a nerf. The algorithm that rewards players based on the distance from the star is DISABLED untill further notice. Read the post: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...200mill-hour?p=6326366&viewfull=1#post6326366 . They are basically saying “yes, long range passenger missions (transportation) is not viable now because of this, but it will probably return later in a more balanced form”. That’s how I read it.

A rather drastic disable. What difference was it now from when they first downgraded payments and stopped you from getting 50 million + rewards going to long distance orbitals after the Rhea - LQ Hydrae money train happened? That was months ago. All they needed to do was just try out the "fixed" distance algorithm during the patch,.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Don't let your ship to be blown up...maybe. I don't know. It will solve rebuy cost alone.

Indeed... We have insurance which covers 95% of the cost and magic duplication of unique mods..... But that said the 100 mil credit plus ships are not *meant* to be disposable commodities .... Some just have a different way of looking at how to play

 

[xondk]

Short a distance? nearly an hour in SC is a short distance?

Short? It's 1.8 million ls from the star. With the integrity damage that includes.

Obviously I cannot tell that from the screenshot nor have I been to that location

Short was the 3 ly from start more then anything, gathering this is the whole smeaton location?

But yeah something needs to be taken into account naturally and it needs to be activated again.

 

[C64Fan]

A rather drastic disable. What difference was it now from when they first downgraded payments and stopped you from getting 50 million + rewards going to long distance orbitals after the Rhea - LQ Hydrae money train happened? That was months ago. All they needed to do was just try out the "fixed" distance algorithm during the patch,.

Yes, it’s drastic - but they are probably VERY busy now because of the beta, and so they felt they had to do it this way. But of course they should have done it earlier and less drastic. We can all agree on that - and my guess is that Frontier agrees too.

 

[CMDR_Brantford of FLC]

The crappy thing is (from my perspective) FW used this to get half their systems back and now it's nerfed it'll be a lot harder to get take em off em again.

We didn't "get" any system back. We earned new ones! Besides, you guys all kill our haulers in open while you oppose/UM in solo or PG. and you outnumber us 4-1. so I have little sympathy for that line of thinking. As a hauling power who has to spend a lot of $ to remain viable and competitive, Winters players should be allowed to make decent money to counter being outnumbered and not having a way to stop her opposition when they refuse to show their faces while opposing our expansions.

 

[Siobhan]

Obviously I cannot tell that from the screenshot nor have I been to that location

Short was the 3 ly from start more then anything, gathering this is the whole smeaton location?

But yeah something needs to be taken into account naturally and it needs to be activated again.

To be fair, I fly to Hutton Orbital when I get bored, so Smeaton is just like crossing the street in comparison, but for most, nah, not short. Great for getting the paint job burned in though.

 

[DeathStroke]

Hello commanders,

As some of you are aware, Passenger Bulk missions are currently generating extremely high credit rewards that we feel are excessive of what we would consider reasonable and balanced.

After a detailed investigation, we can confirm that this is due to an element in our mission generation algorithm that rewards credits based on the distance of the destination system from the star.

Due to this, we will be disabling (until further notice) the aforementioned element of Passenger Bulk missions to reduce the amount of credits offered as a reward. Commanders will still be able to select and complete Passenger Bulk missions, but will see less excessive credit rewards.

In the meantime, we will be reviewing the Passenger Bulk missions and correct the previously mentioned element – hopefully in time for you to test in the Beyond Chapter One beta.

Thanks to all the players who reported the issue.

Thanks for EVEN MORE GRIND. /s
You keep releasing more and more ships, but no way to fund them.
Just more evidence that FD don't play their own game. SMH

 

[Morbad]

Balance? lol how about a bit insulting?

Well, they are refugees. Transporting them should feel like a charity if you are going to haul them any substantial distance.

Should probably not be so many refugees asking for longer journeys though...

Yeah, if you run into some insane gold rush of a CZ before the forum dads come along and demand it be nerfed.

Put in a less snarky way, your numbers are not realistic for the average player and 18m/hour for a CZ is not average payout.

It's not really that hard to find massacre missions that pay a lot of money for a lot of kills at the higher ranks, nor is it hard to make those kills in any solid combat vessel.

Even if we omit missions entirely, basic CZ payout, which are much lower than bounty hunting payouts, are still far more than enough to support combat in any size vessel.

If I tally up my CMDR's lifetime rebuy, repair, and ammunition costs, it's less than my profit from assassinations, which is much less than my profit from combat bonds, which is much less than my profit from bounties. Missions are just icing on the cake.

The last 20 mill CZ mission I got was 108 ships, you do that in 50 minutes yea?

I think 72 kills was the lowest I've seen for ~18 million.

Anyway, I can do 108 in under an hour with my PvP Corvette, or most PvE focused mediums ships, if the goal is raw number of kills and not necessarily total bond value.

 

[DaftMav]

Well ... FDev really does not want us to play this game do they. Sigh, I'm so sick of FDev playing whack-a-mole with legit moneymaking opportunities (this time they even told us this was working as intended!).

Seriously, the entire rewards system is broken, considering how much time you have to invest into things it's more of a job than a game to be enjoyed. And again patching this all of a sudden after saying it was working correctly is idiotic. People flock to things that give good rewards because credit rewards from all activities are terrible.

So fix the credit rewards system and stop axing everything with quick patches. What really needs to happen is a credits rewards system that scales with the player's rankings of exploration, trade and combat. Passengers already give rep in trade or exploration depending on short/long range missions, but the rewards should also factor in your rank.

It is beyond absurd that credit rewards stay the same for people who have played a long time and have bigger ships with bigger costs across the board, this goes for the ship itself, modules, and insurance. I fully agree with the idea that new pilots should not be able to "grind" into an Anaconda in less than a couple days, and scaling rewards with the player ranks makes the progression more natural and better for everyone, from newbies to veterans.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Thanks for EVEN MORE GRIND. /s
You keep releasing more and more ships, but no way to fund them.
Just more evidence that FD don't play their own game. SMH

You don't have to own them all, right? It is a choice, not a call for hoarding.

 

[Cmdr Muerte Viene]

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 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?

I guess you have never done these missions or haven't recently. You get interdicted at least 6 times. It can be quite challenging. This is just bullying the way a player base make credits in game. Your way is superior because you make less credits? It's not an exploit it's how the game is designed.

 

[nafeasonto]

Hello commanders,

As some of you are aware, Passenger Bulk missions are currently generating extremely high credit rewards that we feel are excessive of what we would consider reasonable and balanced.

After a detailed investigation, we can confirm that this is due to an element in our mission generation algorithm that rewards credits based on the distance of the destination system from the star.

Due to this, we will be disabling (until further notice) the aforementioned element of Passenger Bulk missions to reduce the amount of credits offered as a reward. Commanders will still be able to select and complete Passenger Bulk missions, but will see less excessive credit rewards.

In the meantime, we will be reviewing the Passenger Bulk missions and correct the previously mentioned element – hopefully in time for you to test in the Beyond Chapter One beta.

Thanks to all the players who reported the issue.

OMG I CAN NEVER MAKE MONEY IN THIS GAME.

 

[Andreus]

Yet again, as I detailed in my open letter to you guys, you're treating a symptom of a greater problem without making any attempt to fix that problem. Players want to make money, and your missions reward ridiculous and insulting pittances. When they find mission loops that make a lot of money, of course they're going to cluster around them. You will literally be playing whack-a-mole forever if you try to shut down on perfectly legitimate moneymaking opportunities like this one.

All shutting this down does if you aren't willing to fix mission payouts is make you look cruel and hateful towards players who want to play your game for fun rather than grind for hours.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

You don't have to own them all, right? It is a choice, not a call for hoarding.

Actually..... That is exactly my goal I just am happy for it to take 5000 hrs or so over the next 10 years

I accept I am an extreme end of the spectrum and in all honesty do not expect FD to balance how I wish.... But there needs to be a happy medium and imo even 50 million per HR of risk free and endlessly farmable is not it imo

 

[nafeasonto]

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 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?

Thanks for ruining for everyone. Because you have to cry like a baby because people are making money.

 

[CMDR RubberStig]

After 950+ hours in-game, I think I've done enough mind-numbing credit grinding. So no Elite Rank + Allied status means nothing? All that talk from FDev about rewarding Rank was just lip service? Screw that.

How about you learn to deal with emergent gameplay in a productive way instead of nerfing it every time it appears?

Surely the fact that every time an opportunity like this apears, the fact that players flock to it, must be indicative of a problem in the game from the player's point of view - and your solution is to crush it rather than solve it? Not massage it, not adjust the value to something more appropriate, but utterly crush it, and the spirits of those who have the problem?

Remember Rhea? 50,000+ players - indicates a problem with the game's lowly credit earning potential for non-combat players. This situation is no different to that one, or Ceos, or Robigo (although the Slave dumping thing was exploitative I grant you).

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Yet again, as I detailed in my open letter to you guys, you're treating a symptom of a greater problem without making any attempt to fix that problem. Players want to make money, and your missions reward ridiculous and insulting pittances. When they find mission loops that make a lot of money, of course they're going to cluster around them. You will literally be playing whack-a-mole forever if you try to shut down on perfectly legitimate moneymaking opportunities like this one.

All shutting this down does if you aren't willing to fix mission payouts is make you look cruel and hateful towards players who want to play your game for fun rather than grind for hours.

If you mean fun trashing your big ships, well, it is not intended design and you most likely will have to look for 'fun' elsewhere.

 

[Ian Phillips]

Is Will Flanagan definitely a employee at FDev?

Havent seen his name pop up in forum before.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/398998-Introducing-new-Community-Manager-Will!

 

[ubermick]

Right, full disclosure, I've been around a lot longer than most but can't play as much thanks to a toddler and a job that went a bit mad. I stopped playing at the height of the Robigo Runs when my daughter was born, and came back to the game just last week.

Was gutted to hear Robigo was dead. I quite enjoyed them - it took a thoughtfully built ship, a not inconsiderate amount of time to get there, a bit of time to fill the hold, and something of an edge of the seat trip back to the bubble to make the deliveries. (No, it wasn't the craziness some want, but personally I found them challenging and entertaining.)

In an effort to make up some time, I wanted to earn a bit of credit to finally get me into an Anaconda. So admittedly, spent about two evenings doing Smeaton Runs and almost bashed my head in. Yes, I board flipped. Yes, I did what I could to fill my hold. And in the end, each run - fill the ship, fly to Smeaton, fly back - took about 2-3 hours. It was MIND NUMBING work, far from enjoyable, but my other option was to go back to Hazres sites in my Vulture and grind away. I did that for a year and just about made enough to get my kitted out Asp Explorer.

Anyways - yes, admittedly I earned enough to sort myself with an Anaconda, and make sure I have enough in the bank to cover rebuys. And then off I went. Am now trying to play catch up with engineers and planetary landings. (Oh, the world we now live in!)

So the issue is - why the frack is that a bad thing? On my reintroduction to the game, I was able to earn the credits to get me reinvested in playing again. And the Smeaton runs were so bloody mind numbing (avoid the odd interdiction?) that as soon as I got what I needed, I was finished with them. As I expect most Commanders were. Yes, there are probably a few who milked this for all it's worth, and are now trillionaires, but so bloody what? If someone's idea of a good time is to spend hour after hour after hour doing this to see their credit balance skyrocket, who am I to say that it's wrong? And what harm does it do me if Commander Scrooge is pocketing it all? If all they're doing it flying back and forth it's not like they're honing flying or combat skills, it's not like they're able to cause every ship and module to be sold out everywhere, and the game hasn't crashed.

So seriously, why does there genuinely seem to be people playing a video game that get the hump so much that they go grassing to the teacher when the end result doesn't effect them at all? Does it boil down to a "Well, I had to spend five years flying a Sidie to work, uphill both ways in the snow, and if that was good enough for me..."?

All that aside, I do agree that there was work needed to fix. Have the fees stay the same but make them for high end passengers demanding first class or luxury cabins, or restrict the big money ones to those with top rank. Yes, the refugees in third class should be giving less. But methinks when you get to a certain level in the game, the grind needs to stop.