Why do Search and Rescue megaships pay so little for, well, Search and Rescue?

[Jmanis]

FOREWORD
I don't mean "Why are search and rescue payouts so small!"... I think they're fine[1] . I mean specifically on the search and rescue vessels near damaged ships.

Try this:
- Go out and grab a load of search and rescue salvage from a burning station
o Dump it on the Search and Rescue area on the nearby support ship, you'll be paid <an amount>; alternately
o Go dump it at some rando station instead. You'll get paid about ten times more for the same goods.

Now, the "full" amount in the second case still isn't much... it doesn't make your eyes bleed like mining or stacking massacres does, so there's no real argument that it needs to be less for "Balance" because of the relative availability of these goods. Besides, these are short-term one-offs in most cases, there's actually an argument it should be higher anyway as an incentive to seek these activities out. But I digress; I'd just like it to be the "normal" value like all other stations.

I'd get screenies, but game doesn't want to launch right now.... just take some escape pods to the rescue ship, then try taking them to one of the other stations in the system.

[1] fine outside the context of utterly broken income sources like mining and massacre stacking.

 

[Jmanis]

On board the Rescue Ship - Tsiolkovsky in Gabjaujis

Meanwhile, in Sopwith Port in the same station...

That's nearly 20 times more in some cases. Makes no sense :/

 

[Ydiss]

First guess would be BGS demand versus supply impacting the value? Lots of them get handed in during a rescue event and it drives the reward down?

Or is it static from day one?

Either way, I agree. It makes no sense. It should at least be the same.

 

[Susanna]

People actually bother wasting time doing this Stuff? For what purpose? Immersion? It sure isn't for the rewards! Fun for all of 5 minutes maybe... One of those ED stocking fillers that doesn't actually add anything useful to the game.

Poor sod of a programmer that got this job to do...

 

[GroG79]

You can drop this cargo at the rescue station for REP using missions. Do not use S&R.

If you drop it anywhere else (preferrably in boom) you get about 10 times as much (indeed) but no REP. This is also likely due to the distance you need to travel. Like deliveries to Hutton pay really well.

 

[GroG79]

Also.. Why can I not deliver stolen hostages to S&R?

 

[Jmanis]

You can drop this cargo at the rescue station for REP using missions. Do not use S&R.

No you can't. Missions no longer spawn at those ships.

People actually bother wasting time doing this Stuff? For what purpose? Immersion? It sure isn't for the rewards! Fun for all of 5 minutes maybe... One of those ED stocking fillers that doesn't actually add anything useful to the game.

Because it's more interesting than grinding mining for the pile of junk that is an FC? That's definitely more of a "stocking filler" to me.

 

[Jmanis]

Or is it static from day one?

static from day one. These things don't have supply/ demand values, afaik.

 

[Factabulous]

No you can't. Missions no longer spawn at those ships.

Maybe it's a hangover from those missions? They could have dropped the S&R rewards to encourage ppl to d the missions, then forgotten that they disabled the missions It is a bit weird, but hey - that's ED

(And does S&R still do that thing where eventually it says 'we don't need any more rescued' and refuses to let you hand things in? Pretty sure that used to happen )

 

[Jmanis]

Maybe it's a hangover from those missions? They could have dropped the S&R rewards to encourage ppl to d the missions, then forgotten that they disabled the missions It is a bit weird, but hey - that's ED

(And does S&R still do that thing where eventually it says 'we don't need any more rescued' and refuses to let you hand things in? Pretty sure that used to happen )

Yeah, kinda like the hangover from the wartime cz massacres being misdiagnosed originally.

First pass missions gave G5 materials, so they had to reward at least several hundred thousand. Now those missions reward a fraction of what they'd normally offer, which is probably the only way to fix G5s being rewards.

I can only assume the fractioning also affects S&R values indirectly.

PS haven't heard of that bug happening during the last s&r cgs that happened a year or so ago.

 

[Crank Larson]

Considering that the run from station to rescue ship is under a minute, and the amount of rescue stuff being received would be massive, it makes sense that the prices would tank. Most people don't get involved in that kind of rescue for profit.

 

[Ydiss]

People actually bother wasting time doing this Stuff? For what purpose? Immersion? It sure isn't for the rewards! Fun for all of 5 minutes maybe... One of those ED stocking fillers that doesn't actually add anything useful to the game.

Poor sod of a programmer that got this job to do...

I've not done one yet because I wasn't playing for such a long time so missed all the Thargoid story but I'm keen to try it just for the experience of it.

I'm very much of a similar mind to you in that I prefer to do things that progress my credit balance or improve my ship and don't do much "just for immersion" but I definitely want to experience this event at least once. Amusingly, my current home system is one jump from Cemiess, so I've spent the last week doing my thing with it happening next door yet didn't pay any attention to it.

You could ask your question about so much in this game though. Why game the BGS? Why Powerplay? Why explore? Why Thargoids? Why barnicles? Why stories?

The obvious answer is players enjoy role playing. And Elite Dangerous is more of a role playing game than any RPG I've ever played (if you think about most RPGs, they're quite rigid and play out very unlike an actual RPG) and fdev have put a lot of effort into supporting the role play potential in Elite Dangerous.

So, given that, your question feels as out of place as someone walking in on a session of D&D to ask why they spend so much time role playing.

 

[Jmanis]

Considering that the run from station to rescue ship is under a minute, and the amount of rescue stuff being received would be massive, it makes sense that the prices would tank. Most people don't get involved in that kind of rescue for profit.

Yup, and core minerals should be virtually worthless given the same logic, but here we are.

Putting them at the same value as elsewhere would hardly escalate the activity beyond the realms of a charity effort.

 

[Factabulous]

The PAX missions aren't exactly going to make you rich either (though ofc they are OP for superpower ranking), so I guess there is some nerf applied - though it most be quite local as it doesn't affect other stations in the system I think (maybe related to the attacked state of the station?)

 

[Phoenix_Dfire]

Ask the Thunderbirds. I don't think International Rescue got paid much.

Mind you, I still want to fly Thunderbird 2!

 

[Tsunamicom]

"I saved 10 people from certain death and all I got was this T-Shirt."

Would be nice that if you saved/recovered enough people that you'd get a title, permit unlock, access to a special ship or skin, etc.

I think the closest thing we have to that is Etienne Dorn Engi unlock out in Colonia, but even that is only 25. What about 100? 1000?

 

[aRJay]

People actually bother wasting time doing this Stuff? For what purpose? Immersion? It sure isn't for the rewards! Fun for all of 5 minutes maybe... One of those ED stocking fillers that doesn't actually add anything useful to the game.

Poor sod of a programmer that got this job to do...

Well as I play Elite Dangerous for fun and immersion and doing things while flying a starship I don't have a problem with rescues, the only time I let passengers on board my ships, the nearest I have to a problem is that people are getting paid to save peoples lives I am a big fan of the RNLI and lifesaving for money feels wrong.

 

[Jmanis]

Well as I play Elite Dangerous for fun and immersion and doing things while flying a starship I don't have a problem with rescues, the only time I let passengers on board my ships, the nearest I have to a problem is that people are getting paid to save peoples lives I am a big fan of the RNLI and lifesaving for money feels wrong.

If Search and Rescue was implemented as some mechanism with no financial reward, that'd be fine.

But as the game stands, there is a financial reward, and it's substantially higher during any other situation or crisis (war, famine, outbreak, civil unrest) except when there's actually a call to go save lives feels like a bug, which is really the issue here.

 

[Ydiss]

Yeh, you could easily spin it so the lower pay is there as a token to cover damages and limpet costs but deliberately reduced to release much needed funds for other rescue activities.

In a sense, I can accept that it makes just as little sense to pay well for stuff like this. It's not an opportunity for wealth (that would be called profiteering). But it should pay a little to cover costs.

So... Maybe it's fine as it is. It'd be better if there was a burger van nearby though.

 

[Michael Whatever]

On board the Rescue Ship - Tsiolkovsky in Gabjaujis

View attachment 187820

Meanwhile, in Sopwith Port in the same station...

View attachment 187822

That's nearly 20 times more in some cases. Makes no sense :/

Thanks for pointing that out. In the heat of the moment (sorry) had not noticed the massive price difference.

What I'm taking from this is to deliver refugees to the rescue ship - but anything else to my fleet carrier to sell later.

Result.