How Opals have nearly made space great again

[Deleted member 115407]

...the thread had just got back on topic and now you try to derail it again?

Yes

And on that note - Hey Powderpanic, what kind of credit sinks do you envision for the game? What gameplay elements do you think would be cool for players to spend their money on?

Anyone else?

 

[Ian Phillips]

To those who are trying to have the thread be "On Topic".

Make sure your posts are on topic please.

Discuss points made in a post, NOT the poster. Thank you.

 

[Ouberos]

This thread is awesome! It's just like the early days I guess this really is the best update so far.

I have nothing of any worth to add. You guys are doing fine.

Although obviously Piracy doesn't need willing victims. In fact it doesn't need willing or victims. It needs unwilling survivors who aren't going to give up without a fight. Then it would proper good. That would of course mean that Traders and Miners would need wings or even hybrid combat builds (You know like Pirates have to have!) And there would be PvE money making and pew pewing and tactical flying and stuff.

I guess it would be just like the good old days. Like this thread, it would be a circle of life indeed.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

This thread is awesome! It's just like the early days I guess this really is the best update so far.

I have nothing of any worth to add. You guys are doing fine.

Although obviously Piracy doesn't need willing victims. In fact it doesn't need willing or victims. It needs unwilling survivors who aren't going to give up without a fight. Then it would proper good. That would of course mean that Traders and Miners would need wings or even hybrid combat builds (You know like Pirates have to have!) And there would be PvE money making and pew pewing and tactical flying and stuff.

I guess it would be just like the good old days. Like this thread, it would be a circle of life indeed.

I'm not saying this is the case. But I was scoping out opal spots on new years eve. In two separate spots I had small combat ships (half a wing, each) hop in and scout me out, then drop.

If they were actually scouting for safe passage, then big kudos to them.

 

[Lobey]

All of which is predicated on people actually doing this stuff in Open.

Haven't really been devoting a lot of time to this mining malarkey but I do have a couple of mining AspX's around the bubble and I've moved them to Painite/LTD/Alexandrite/Void Opal hotspots for a bit of a session of mining.
In each case, the station's traffic report tells me there's been hundreds of ships visiting the system over the last 24 hours and the traffic reports at the delivery stations tell me there have been thousands of ships visiting.

How many other players have I seen, either at mining hotspots or in Phedka/Jardonerre? None, nada, zip, zilch.

Phedka/Jardonerre are not necessarily the best mining hotspots in my book (at this minute)- I know of 3 better within 2 jumps of LHS 2887 which is where I've been selling.
It's more efficient (IMHO) to find the best market and then mine within 2 to 3 jumps of that, than to go to a previous mining area.
Anywhere that's good for opals will also be doing good prices for LTD's Alexandrite etc - https://inara.cz/goods/10250/#commodityslotsellmax
Bresnik Mine in G 239-25 is looking like the spot to sell right now - so find icy rings within 2 jumps and sell there.

 

[Lobey]

Yes

And on that note - Hey Powderpanic, what kind of credit sinks do you envision for the game? What gameplay elements do you think would be cool for players to spend their money on?

Anyone else?

Carriers of some sort would seem the obvious answer - and i'm thinking more along the lines of Industrial carriers - "mother" mining ships that sort of thing - this would also encourage Squadrons. I'm not that into groups in ED - but a dedicated industrial HQ.... maybe might tempt me.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

Carriers of some sort would seem the obvious answer - and i'm thinking more along the lines of Industrial carriers - "mother" mining ships that sort of thing - this would also encourage Squadrons. I'm not that into groups in ED - but a dedicated industrial HQ.... maybe might tempt me.

I have been a long proponent of base building, station building, etc.

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

Here, let me help! This was the OP:

Congrats on the new patch. Apart from the PVP mass lock bug and the server stability, it has been a pretty well received.
You guys nearly got it so right… It's nearly there…
For the first time in a while, there is a real buzz about space careers. This hasn’t happened since the early days and if you make a few game redirections soon, you could be onto something great.

Let me explain.

For your sandbox to function, there needs to be a circle of life. *Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba*



In the early days this worked great for 3 of the 5 main roles ( Trader, Criminal, White knight, Explorer, Miner )

Traders made the money.
Pirates stole the money.
Bounty hunters made the money from killing pirates.
Explorers honked and took screen grabs.
Miners wondered why Braben hated them so much.

No one knew about high wake, so this worked well. ( But that is for another thread )
The cost of a ship felt real and for the vast majority, the money making exploits were unknown and even the cash cows involved an amount of work t,o make you appreciate a rebuy.

In essence you had balance

Now this has steadily broken with each patch and each badly tested release to the point that credits for like rain. Sadly, you can literally go from nothing to Elite trader billionaire within a couple of days.

Negativity aside.

The mining Opals has made space great again.

Miners have something to do and are very highly rewarded for their time.
Pirates have really valuable targets to go after, that they do not want to explode because the rewards are worth taking smaller chunks.
White knights now have ships to defend and criminals to chase off.

Very similar to the good old days and for the first the time in a long time, there is a real buzz and some community in Open.

So what needs to be improved? I know you are eager for my insight.

Traders need a way to trade these new found space wealth’s, this brings traders and trade ships back into existing.
The billionaire players needs credit sinks. Simple as that.
This new found circle can only exist as long as all parts have a reason to do so. Otherwise, as examples: once you have a miner with 10billion in assets and every ship under the sun, he/she/zi is pretty much done. Billionaire criminals and even the WhiteKnights will turn to ganking. Toxicity returns.

The early kick starter promises and Braben blog promises have already been ripped to shreds, so now is the time to make the moves to keep the momentum going.

Now is not the time for space legs
( Also please remove engineers )

Powerpanic
The Voice of Griefing

Let’s get back to discussing it? What sort of solutions would you like to see? A way for Commanders to spend their billions would be very welcome, indeed.

 

[Stealthie]

Phedka/Jardonerre are not necessarily the best mining hotspots in my book (at this minute)- I know of 3 better within 2 jumps of LHS 2887 which is where I've been selling.
It's more efficient (IMHO) to find the best market and then mine within 2 to 3 jumps of that, than to go to a previous mining area.

Phedka/Jardonerre are, indisputably, the best delivery destinations for a lot of this stuff though - if EDDB/INARA is to be believed, at least.

Funny thing with regard to the actual mining sites, though, is that a lot of people (according to their screenies, at least) don't seem to have realised it's smart to find a mining site close to a lucrative delivery port.
The main reason I went to so much effort with my mining "operation", when I set it up, was so that I could have "prospector" ships to scout likely mining sites, then move my T10 to do the heavy-work, return to a local station and, finally, swap the cargo into a heavily armed/armored Python so I could transport it to market anywhere safely.

The idea of flying a mining ship half way across the bubble to a delivery market seems like a perilous and long-winded one to me. [where is it]
Course, if you're doing it in Solo, probably not so much.

 

[Ouberos]

Here, let me help! This was the OP:



Let’s get back to discussing it? What sort of solutions would you like to see? A way for Commanders to spend their billions would be very welcome, indeed.

Spare a thought for those of us who have yet to sample the riches of the Opal!

I'm turning around tonight. Should be back in a week.

The Bubble can get ready.

 

[Brett C]

Thread cleaned up - please remain on topic. Thank you.

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

Spare a thought for those of us who have yet to sample the riches of the Opal!

I'm turning around tonight. Should be back in a week.

The Bubble can get ready.

Loins girded, sir!

 

[Lobey]

Phedka/Jardonerre are, indisputably, the best delivery destinations for a lot of this stuff though - if EDDB/INARA is to be believed, at least.

Funny thing with regard to the actual mining sites, though, is that a lot of people (according to their screenies, at least) don't seem to have realised it's smart to find a mining site close to a lucrative delivery port.
The main reason I went to so much effort with my mining "operation", when I set it up, was so that I could have "prospector" ships to scout likely mining sites, then move my T10 to do the heavy-work, return to a local station and, finally, swap the cargo into a heavily armed/armored Python so I could transport it to market anywhere safely.

The idea of flying a mining ship half way across the bubble to a delivery market seems like a perilous and long-winded one to me. [where is it]
Course, if you're doing it in Solo, probably not so much.

And here's where that "mining" or "industrial" carrier could come in - scout out likely spots then bring the heavy gear in - then perhaps when that's full it has to be protected enroute to a selling station - how would that be as a target for pirates - an entire floating refinery full of void opals for you to chase after ?

 

[Stealthie]

And here's where that "mining" or "industrial" carrier could come in - scout out likely spots then bring the heavy gear in - then perhaps when that's full it has to be protected enroute to a selling station - how would that be as a target for pirates - an entire floating refinery full of void opals for you to chase after ?

See, that's exactly how "carriers" would work, in my head at least.

You'd set up a "mining squadron", people would use prospecting ships to scout different places, the carrier would get moved to a suitable site, the heavy ships would be deployed to mine for a week, fighters would be deployed for CAP, the carrier, itself, could have a finite storage capacity (say, 10,000t?) and when it was full you'd wrap it all up, jump to a delivery system and then transport ships would take the cargo to market while fighters fly CAP again.

No idea how the financial side of it (distribution of profits etc) would work but it seems like it'd create all sorts of gameplay.

 

[Lobey]

I suspect the only thing holding this back are the limitations already being discussed in the carrier thread - instancing etc, as otherwise it would seem to bring together a few things that are under used at the minute - squadrons and multi-crew being foremost - but, also the "robbing" of mega ships and the like. And of course if you ever had "space-legs" then you get into the whole boarding of ships ... probably a very long way of if ever.

 

[Powderpanic]

I suspect the only thing holding this back are the limitations already being discussed in the carrier thread - instancing etc, as otherwise it would seem to bring together a few things that are under used at the minute - squadrons and multi-crew being foremost - but, also the "robbing" of mega ships and the like. And of course if you ever had "space-legs" then you get into the whole boarding of ships ... probably a very long way of if ever.

I think larger multibillion credit multicrew ships could be the way forwards, with high running costs, rebuy costs and group owned.

Now YES this is going a little bit Eve Dreadnaughty... but.. what else other than surface base/space stations can you really drop billions on and need to keep dropping billions on?

The economy is so far out of wack now, it just need biggest expenses. I would recommend a full game reset but that just aint going to happen.

Powderpanic
The Voice of Griefing

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Yes, you can hit elite in trade in a matter of hours now.

So that is elite exploration and trade out of the window then!. Why oh why didn't FD tweak the numbers to get to elite like they did initially with the pay inflation

 

[Julio Montega]

And here's where that "mining" or "industrial" carrier could come in - scout out likely spots then bring the heavy gear in - then perhaps when that's full it has to be protected enroute to a selling station - how would that be as a target for pirates - an entire floating refinery full of void opals for you to chase after ?

See, that's exactly how "carriers" would work, in my head at least.

You'd set up a "mining squadron", people would use prospecting ships to scout different places, the carrier would get moved to a suitable site, the heavy ships would be deployed to mine for a week, fighters would be deployed for CAP, the carrier, itself, could have a finite storage capacity (say, 10,000t?) and when it was full you'd wrap it all up, jump to a delivery system and then transport ships would take the cargo to market while fighters fly CAP again.

No idea how the financial side of it (distribution of profits etc) would work but it seems like it'd create all sorts of gameplay.

That would be a great feature for carrier usage.
Currently i fear that carriers simply will be left
dead in the water as Elite's housing mechanic.

I wonder however if carriers will have interactible subsystems
like megaships have and can be robbed or disabled.
I guess not, Elite has put on so many layers of protection,
danger has become a foreign word.

 

[Stealthie]

That would be a great feature for carrier usage.
Currently i fear that carriers simply will be left
dead in the water as Elite's housing mechanic.

I wonder however if carriers will have interactible subsystems
like megaships have and can be robbed or disabled.
I guess not, Elite has put on so many layers of protection,
danger has become a foreign word.

It'll be interesting to see how "robust" this all turns out to be.

Mystic Stealthie predicts a scenario where a carrier is being attacked and all the defenders are alone in one instance while all the attackers are alone in a different instance - a situation possibly provoked by using the block function to gain an advantage.

I'm sure it won't be a problem, though. [where is it]

 

[withnail]

PvP players/pirates simply need some meaningful player interaction to happen to reduce the mindless killing.

If you are bored looking for a legitimate target, you tend to end up killing the next unfortunate that comes along.

Especially if they are a novice in an anaconda.