How Opals have nearly made space great again

[Vandaahl]

Piracy doesnt need willing targets, its just needs targets.

This point will never ever make sense to you and that is fine. I wont put alot of effort into beating your horse.

You give traders, miners a reason to risk the rewards and they will do it.
This risk, as shown will result in defenders popping up for credit rewards to defend the traders.

The only WILLING needed, is for FDEV to put more reason into the game for Traders/miners to play in the one true mode of Open.

Instancing, Modes and blocking are just easy goto excuses as to why this doesnt happen, not why it shouldnt happen

Ah, so it is a Open vs Closed game play thread...
So to use your own words, I wont put alot of effort into beating your horse. It's not even a horse anymore.

 

[Hanerib]

Fdev still could make this game big, not just in UK. Just look at the early game designs, and then study what makes rpg's addictive. Add fancy graphics, remove engineers and voila. Whoever decided having 60000 stations in the bubble is too much to remember them all?

 

[Bortas]

You get 10-15 Opals.. At 1.4mil a pop, totally worth its time, as that is just one interdiction and my Krait can hold 64 tonnes.

But how reliably can you find trading ships with Opals in their hold? Is it really worth the time looking for a ship to pirate or would you be better off, mining the Opals yourself? 15-20 Opals is what you get from a single core roid... takes approximately 10 minutes to find one, blow it up and collect the Opals.

 

[Powderpanic]

But how reliably can you find trading ships with Opals in their hold? Is it really worth the time looking for a ship to pirate or would you be better off, mining the Opals yourself? 15-20 Opals is what you get from a single core roid... takes approximately 10 minutes to find one, blow it up and collect the Opals.

Easy, did it last week.

You find the stations paying 1.5mil per Open and watch the miners roll into it.

Very similar to the Rare run end points or the Imperial slave end points. Certain places were just the best place for mining rewards.

It was a target rich environment with traders to pirate and whiteknights to avoid/fight. Hence the whole point of this post.

Powerpanic
The Voice of Griefing

 

[Bigmaec]

But how reliably can you find trading ships with Opals in their hold? Is it really worth the time looking for a ship to pirate or would you be better off, mining the Opals yourself? 15-20 Opals is what you get from a single core roid... takes approximately 10 minutes to find one, blow it up and collect the Opals.

That is the next problem. It was all well and good when there were one or three ports selling VO at 1.6 Million.
Now there are 30+, so your best bet would be the closest port to Delkar, but it's not a given you see any CMDR there.
FD simply hates pirates


edit: @powder there are 30+ now

 

[Ozram]

But how reliably can you find trading ships with Opals in their hold? Is it really worth the time looking for a ship to pirate or would you be better off, mining the Opals yourself? 15-20 Opals is what you get from a single core roid... takes approximately 10 minutes to find one, blow it up and collect the Opals.

24 give or take, for around a 24 minute round trip for close to 40 million.... from a single Opal Core... still I’d totally welcome some pirates as it’s good gameplay.

Spoiler

[video=youtube_share;NIKpavbTWeE]https://youtu.be/NIKpavbTWeE[/video]

 

[Robert Maynard]

Time to set some requirements then.

Backers / players have been suggesting / demanding this for over six years - maybe in an optional paid DLC with specific content aimed at PvP players? That way, Frontier could be really sure how many players care enough about PvP to put money into it....

 

[Robert Maynard]

Anytime anyone mentions an Open bonus, the same people screech about why it shouldn't happen. There is literally an entire subforum for them to circle about it.

I am not sure who enjoys being robbed? Sadists mainly?

This is a space game and if you play in a Sandbox, it should be part and parcel of the risk. WHICH IS BALANCED OUT BY THE REWARD.

You make the risk reward work and then it becomes part of the game.

If people continue to be so precious over their space pixels that the risk is not worth it, they can stay in private.

They cannot and shouldnt have both. Full Open with No risk of tears.

The reception to a PP Open only bonus was greatly recieved, I think most of the fear from your group is that if it succeeded ( which it would have ) the natural progression would have moved to all facets of the game.

Powerpanic
The Voice of Griefing

What is the risk for the meta-combat ship pilot against a trader? Balance that and we'll have a basis to start the discussion....

 

[Robert Maynard]

I have in the past and it was great fun. Code on a few occasions highway robbed me and it was fun.

Indeed - some players do enjoy that sort of attention from other players. Not all, of course.

 

[Bortas]

That is the next problem. It was all well and good when there were one or three ports selling VO at 1.6 Million.
Now there are 30+, so your best bet would be the closest port to Delkar, but it's not a given you see any CMDR there.
FD simply hates pirates

I have given up on PvP piracy after 90% of players I tried to interdict combat logged during the interdiction process.

Even if you manage to get one at some point... next time they are going to mine in solo.

 

[Ozram]

Indeed - some players do enjoy that sort of attention from other players. Not all, of course.

Indeed. For me it was during community goals every time and I very much went there for the interactions. When I want peace and quiet zi do other stuff and go other places but as zi play open only I always keep the possibility of the hostile other in mind and plan accordingly. That, as you say, is just me though (and those of similar mindset), it’s not better or worse than those who chose to play otherwise. TBH ai think a lot of the issue comes from mode swapping. FD shot themselves in the foot with that and nothing can be done now. There should have been two accounts per player (one for open and one for solo/group) and they should not have been interchangeable. That’s my opinion and pushing the off topic though.

 

[Bigmaec]

I have given up on PvP piracy after 90% of players I tried to interdict combat logged during the interdiction process.

Even if you manage to get one at some point... next time they are going to mine in solo.

That's the biggest problem for piracy. To make it really viable, you have to fix
- combat logging & menu logging
- hit point inflation
(- the mass-lock bug)
all in one step and THEN make it open only.

Good luck with that, 3.3 looks like a cake-walk compared to that

 

[Powderpanic]

What is the risk for the meta-combat ship pilot against a trader? Balance that and we'll have a basis to start the discussion....

Well here is where you need to learn about ship builds.

A pirate ship is not a meta ship.

In fact, if you put a meta ship against a pirate ship. The pirate will lose.

https://s.orbis.zone/1joj Pirate

https://s.orbis.zone/1jok Meta

So the pirate is, in fact, risking a rebuy but the reward is worth the risk.

If you are a trader running a min/max ship, you are balancing the RISK with reward of a higher pay out.

What point were you trying to make?

Powderpanic
The Voice of Griefing

 

[Robert Maynard]

Well here is where you need to learn about ship builds.

A pirate ship is not a meta ship.

In fact, if you put a meta ship against a pirate ship. The pirate will lose.

https://s.orbis.zone/1joj Pirate

https://s.orbis.zone/1jok Meta

So the pirate is, in fact, risking a rebuy but the reward is worth the risk.

If you are a trader running a min/max ship, you are balancing the RISK with reward of a higher pay out.

What point were you trying to make?

Powderpanic
The Voice of Griefing

That rather presumes that the pirate is not in a Wing. Up to three meta-combat ships plus one hardened cargo carrier - rinse and repeat (with Wing trade bonuses and taking turns scooping / selling the booty) - meta-ship advantage firmly back in place, up to threefold.

 

[Powderpanic]

That rather presumes that the pirate is not in a Wing. Up to three meta-combat ships plus one hardened cargo carrier - rinse and repeat (with Wing trade bonuses and taking turns scooping / selling the booty) - meta-ship advantage firmly back in place, up to threefold.

Rather assumes the White Knight's aren't in a wing or the trader isn't in a wing with 3 meta Cutters.

Powerpanic
The Voice of Griefing

 

[Ozram]

That rather presumes that the pirate is not in a Wing. Up to three meta-combat ships plus one hardened cargo carrier - rinse and repeat (with Wing trade bonuses and taking turns scooping / selling the booty) - meta-ship advantage firmly back in place, up to threefold.

Very true. When I was pirated there’d be a carrier and at least one, sometimes three, hardened pvp builds. Escape wasn’t really an option.

 

[Bigmaec]

That rather presumes that the pirate is not in a Wing. Up to three meta-combat ships plus one hardened cargo carrier - rinse and repeat (with Wing trade bonuses and taking turns scooping / selling the booty) - meta-ship advantage firmly back in place, up to threefold.

Hmmm.
I agree with your statement that the ships should be better balanced, but if we start balancing a ship against a whole wing, that won't end well.
If there is a whole pirate wing pirating things, I guess they deserve every ton they get.

 

[Bortas]

That rather presumes that the pirate is not in a Wing. Up to three meta-combat ships plus one hardened cargo carrier - rinse and repeat (with Wing trade bonuses and taking turns scooping / selling the booty) - meta-ship advantage firmly back in place, up to threefold.

The trader could be escorted by 3 meta ships, too.

Let's be realistic here... any trader/miner can harden his ship to an extent that no pirate could ever pose a threat to them. Personally I'm following this directive with all of my ships. My mining Python has 1200 MJ of shields and a point defence. If someone manages to pirate that, he probably deserves it

 

[Wolf Starslayer]

No need for open bonuses as survival is trivial, just ask the (self identified ) voice of griefing:
​

You don't need stupid mechanics, you just need to GIT GUD.

NOT dying in ED, is comically easy.
Rather than rely on the game to protect you. Why not learn about ship builds and develope some situational awareness?

Remember the last time the community cried about punishment? Remember the result? GG, made zero impact on PVP.

Powerpanic
The Voice of Griefing

 

[WorldsGreatestForumDad]

Sometimes you're supposed to die and be overwhelmed. Sometimes piracy has more of a meaning besides credits or a minigame. In some cases, if this game was played out correctly. These could have long term effects on systems, BGS and even Powerplay if they incorporated it correctly.

It should be part of the game. In some cases, it shouldn't be optional choosing to live or die. Skill, loadout and even route planning should come into play. Maybe even needing a wing of your own.

These new Squadrons are pretty neat for that.

Its okay to lose.