DISCLAIMER:
I have always been interested in the different definitions of Grind in the game, and whether the reward at the end justifies or at least mitigates the grind required to achieve it. So after some thought, I have come up with the following scenario and interested to see who would do it:
Background on the Scenario:
FDev, in their infinite wisdom, have introduced a new Engineer, the fabled Telsa (yes he is a distantly related to Nikola Telsa). Telsa's lab is located in an asteroid base approximately 5000 LYs from the Colonia bubble (so about 27,000 LYs from Sol). Due to the small size of the asteroid, there are only small landing pads available. Alas, due to the remoteness of the Engineering outpost, a fuel scoop is required for the last 1,000 LY leg of the journey although there are reportedly numerous scoopable stars enroute.
Getting access to Engineer Telsa:
There is only one way to get access to Telsa, and that is a simple haulage mission. All that is required is 1,000T of a specialised biowaste, cheaply available from Titan City Station in the SOL system. No need for complicated introductions, the esteemed Mr Telsa welcomes all Commanders without hesitation, all he requires is the unique Earth Excrement - and he needs a lot of it evidently!
The Reward:
Unlike other Engineers, Mr Telsa only provides one service, there are no grades involved. His specialisation is the core computers on the ship, he has developed an upgrade that will improve all functions of the ship by 20%. Yes you read it here first, once the computer is upgraded, all functions, whether previously engineered or not, from DPS, speed, shields - well everything is better by a factor of 20%. The good news is the improvement are based on the current modules and upgrades (if any) you have on the ship, so you will get a 20% increase on that G5 rated module! Due to the sensitive and unique nature of the upgrade, Telsa will only allow the upgrade to be performed at his station, no blue prints are available. But being the super smart guy he is, and knowing that there are only two small landing pads available, he has developed a way of remotely accessing the computer on your ship as long as you are within the 10 kms of the station (and have previously met the initial haulage requirements of course). The downside is you can't transfer the software upgrade to another ship or even store it, no one except the Engineer has the knowledge or capability to do so. The upside is any new modules/weapons/whatever you add after the software upgrade are affected retrospectively.
So who would do this? It would take numerous extremely long and tedious trips in a small ship to meet the access requirements, then repeat the journey for all the rest of your fleet. Is the reward, a 20% across the board increase in everything enticing enough to do it? Would you do it then jump on the forums to complain about the grind involved or would you not consider this grind due to the reward?
I am not suggesting this happen, I am not asked FD to do this and I know the entire concept is rarely ludicrous. Just interested to see who would consider the grind worthwhile?
I have always been interested in the different definitions of Grind in the game, and whether the reward at the end justifies or at least mitigates the grind required to achieve it. So after some thought, I have come up with the following scenario and interested to see who would do it:
Background on the Scenario:
FDev, in their infinite wisdom, have introduced a new Engineer, the fabled Telsa (yes he is a distantly related to Nikola Telsa). Telsa's lab is located in an asteroid base approximately 5000 LYs from the Colonia bubble (so about 27,000 LYs from Sol). Due to the small size of the asteroid, there are only small landing pads available. Alas, due to the remoteness of the Engineering outpost, a fuel scoop is required for the last 1,000 LY leg of the journey although there are reportedly numerous scoopable stars enroute.
Getting access to Engineer Telsa:
There is only one way to get access to Telsa, and that is a simple haulage mission. All that is required is 1,000T of a specialised biowaste, cheaply available from Titan City Station in the SOL system. No need for complicated introductions, the esteemed Mr Telsa welcomes all Commanders without hesitation, all he requires is the unique Earth Excrement - and he needs a lot of it evidently!
The Reward:
Unlike other Engineers, Mr Telsa only provides one service, there are no grades involved. His specialisation is the core computers on the ship, he has developed an upgrade that will improve all functions of the ship by 20%. Yes you read it here first, once the computer is upgraded, all functions, whether previously engineered or not, from DPS, speed, shields - well everything is better by a factor of 20%. The good news is the improvement are based on the current modules and upgrades (if any) you have on the ship, so you will get a 20% increase on that G5 rated module! Due to the sensitive and unique nature of the upgrade, Telsa will only allow the upgrade to be performed at his station, no blue prints are available. But being the super smart guy he is, and knowing that there are only two small landing pads available, he has developed a way of remotely accessing the computer on your ship as long as you are within the 10 kms of the station (and have previously met the initial haulage requirements of course). The downside is you can't transfer the software upgrade to another ship or even store it, no one except the Engineer has the knowledge or capability to do so. The upside is any new modules/weapons/whatever you add after the software upgrade are affected retrospectively.
So who would do this? It would take numerous extremely long and tedious trips in a small ship to meet the access requirements, then repeat the journey for all the rest of your fleet. Is the reward, a 20% across the board increase in everything enticing enough to do it? Would you do it then jump on the forums to complain about the grind involved or would you not consider this grind due to the reward?
