How Gankers Made my Game more Fun.

[Morbad]

I almost always like your posts - but in this case I believe you are closing your eyes to the fact that what someone does in ED may have direct consequences on someone else’s gameplay. You can’t compare that to an authors written story that has no dynamic interactions with real people.

What is it about dynamic interaction that invalidates the comparison?

When I'm playing Elite: Dangerous I'm consuming content generated by the various direct and indirect interactions player characters have upon the setting and each other. When I'm reading a book, listening to music, watching a film, or playing a single-player game, it may be a more one way exchange, but that doesn't mean it affects me any less profoundly.

In all cases I opted in to experiencing whatever the medium was capable of depicting when I chose to play, watch, listen, or read. In all cases I can end these experiences at any time, with no consequence beyond the impression they've left upon my thoughts, and the time/expense it took me to get there. In a multiplayer game with few restrictions on what players can have their characters do, these experiences include whatever they choose to have their characters do. If I wasn't willing to experience 'ganking' in this game, I wouldn't click 'Open'.

A dynamic interaction can be tailored to the audience on the fly, but that doesn't mean the fundamental nature of a character need be altered. If I play any character as I envision that character, rather than metagaming some changeable chameleon who is whatever character other players wish to see, that character is eventually going to be at odds with some of these other characters. An author, or a player, knows they may offend--the intent may even be provocative--but rarely does that imply any desire to actually harm any real person.

 

[Oytis57]

Reading into a players' motivations or morality based on what they have their fantasy characters do in a video game is no different from making assumptions about the personal lives of authors' based on the behavior of a random characters in stories they've written.

These words should be etched in stone!

 

[Oytis57]

what someone does in ED may have direct consequences on someone else’s gameplay.

Multiplayer games do exactly this,known from start, and in an Open game mode where people can interact at their own will you have to bear with that,also there's the option for Solo play, so plenty of choices. If you go in The Dark Zone in any Division game and people attack you,do you feel ganked?

 

[CMDR John Luke Paperbone]

Finally someone gets it. The risk of being ganked really pushes you to build your ships in a smart way, instead of the paper ships you can fly in solo mode.

Nope, you can build anything in any way, does not matter. Gankers usually fly in groups of 3. You don't have any chance if you fly alone.

 

[B1rdy]

None of the "wing" stuff currently in the game is really enough to compel players to work together in a multiplayer environment.

QFT
Wings specific content and even MP specific content is sorely missing since...well release. Though Thargoid CZs and reworked regular CZs are a good step into that direction.

 

[Morbad]

Nope, you can build anything in any way, does not matter. Gankers usually fly in groups of 3. You don't have any chance if you fly alone.

It's rare for all members of a hostile wing to drop in immediately after interdiction. Even if they were in close enough proximity to do this, only the interdictor is likely to be in a position to immediately engage before the ship is too cold to be targeted directly and performing evasive maneuvers during FSD cooldown/charge (which is always going to be short in my case, because I never fight CMDR interdiction, unless I'm trying to drag the interdictor into an environmental hazard, or stalling long enough for allies to get to the vicinity of the drop). Fifteen seconds or so is not much time to get one's bearings, deploy hardpoints, and destroy or disable a competently built vessel that is competently piloted by someone who only intends to survive long enough to wake out. You have to have a wing built and organized specifically for this purpose to have a real shot at pulling it off. Most gank wings aren't nearly so specialized...because such specialization has major downsides and is rarely required to overcome any given target among the vast hordes of inept pilots flying deathtrap ships.

It's even harder to get the jump on someone in normal space, if they're paying attention. With the ability to detect anything as at least an unresolved contact out to maximum sensor range irrespective of it's sensor signature level, and the ability to visually identify most vessels much further out, one generally has more time to react in these scenarios, and there is no waiting on an FSD cooldown.

My CMDR has lost maybe three ships to wings, outside of organized matches where retreat was prohibited, since the Gamma reset in November 2014/3300. None of these scenarios featured less than five hostile vessels which makes his success rate at escaping more than a full wing of opponents well in excess of 95%. All of these losses were of combat vessels; none of the non-combat oriented ships my CMDR flies have ever been shot down by anyone or anything, because he's not inclined to stick around and fight, nor to take silly risks without being backed by a powerful vessel. Only time he's lost a ship without taking a shot at his attackers was due to a single case of crushing a suicide rammer while speeding into a starport (something I only would have done in a ship able to survive starport fire for a fair bit of time)...which was an important reminder to pay attention, at least on the way in. Escapes like this, this, or this, are far more the rule than otherwise...though there is the occasional exception if one looks for them.

The best way to damage ones' chances of opposing a wing while alone is to falsely assume that the situation is hopeless, rather than asking what one could have done better.

 

[skananote]

Yes.

The "Correct" way is "My" way.

The "Wrong" way is "Your" way.

I think that's the general consensus around here... from what I read on the forums anyway.

Fantastic. So my way of playing the game is SOLO. Now, all who disagree, you're playing this game wrong...

 

[[VR] Bulbulunufus]

Nope, you can build anything in any way, does not matter. Gankers usually fly in groups of 3. You don't have any chance if you fly alone.

I have NEVER been ganked by a wing, always a solitary CMDR, after 700hrs in open without using block, be it Deciat, CGs or wherever. The only time I've been attacked alone by wings is in organised powerplay, where I've either escaped with hull damage or been blown up due to what I perceive to be my own incompetence, in both cases in a weak (unengineered medium) combat ship. This kind of statement scares people researching the game as a multiplayer game from actually buying and playing it, or from taking advantage of multiplayer. I felt it wasn't worth it for a long time due to endless guff about griefing which turned out to be very rare in practice.

People can have bad luck and bad experiences worse than mine, that is true, and it would be nice if open had more counterweight to those experiences and better in-universe guidance around hazards posed by other players.

 

[Robert Maynard]

People can have bad luck and bad experiences worse than mine, that is true, and it would be nice if open had more counterweight to those experiences and better in-universe guidance around hazards posed by other players.

How an individual perceives their experiences with others in Open rather depends on their tolerance, or lack thereof, for being targeted in unwanted PvP encounters (something that is, of course, something that one should expect in Open) regardless of how rare they may be - and whether or not they consider that the encounter was worth their time.

 

[Screemonster]

It's even harder to get the jump on someone in normal space, if they're paying attention. With the ability to detect anything as at least an unresolved contact out to maximum sensor range irrespective of it's sensor signature level, and the ability to visually identify most vessels much further out, one generally has more time to react in these scenarios, and there is no waiting on an FSD cooldown.

THIS is one of the reasons I fly a T7 in the rings instead of something like, say, a Challenger or a Krait.

I've occasionally seen people turn to face me then look away and go back to mining. They see the silhouette of a T7 heading down into the rocks and stop paying attention because a T7 isn't a threat - and it normally wouldn't be to a competently built ship. Problem is, anything can be a threat to a shieldless vessel running stock alloys.

I'm sure people will get wise to it eventually, but for now I still get the occasional fellow pirate pulling me over to demand my cargo only to give me the ol' "lmao you absolute madlad" when I tell them to look at my loadout.

 

[TheChosen]

Fantastic. So my way of playing the game is SOLO. Now, all who disagree, you're playing this game wrong...

Every way of playing the game is valid as long as it doesn't break the Terms of Service established by FDEV. There is no single way that it should be played.. which is why it has three modes + CQC.

a) Open and endless murdering of people? - Sure
b) Private and avoiding any combat? - Sure
c) Solo and enjoying the beautiful space? - Sure
d) Exiting the game to the menu within the 15 second time limit while being ganked? - Sure. You don't even have to wait 15 seconds if no shots have been fired. Nothing seems to frustrate gankers more than this one, even more than killing them in my experience, especially if they are ganking you 3 vs 1. Sometimes I do it on purpose for maximum frustration on their part, despite being able to easily high-wake had I wanted. Last night I had three gankers spamming me 'you clogged!'. I was playing dumb asking 'Umm , sorry , what is a clog?' lol. They kept explaining what it means and why I shouldn't do it (basically because it makes it impossible to gank you)
e) Blocking anybody you don't like sharing your game with in open? - Sure.

f) Task killing/cable plugging your game to exit immediately? - Nope.. that's pretty much the ONLY thing you are not allowed to do based on the TOS of the game. Simply against the rules.

Everything else are wishy washy ramblings of people who wish the game was something else than it is.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

I'd call nollocks, but I didn't really bother to read.

 

[Screemonster]

How an individual perceives their experiences with others in Open rather depends on their tolerance, or lack thereof, for being targeted in unwanted PvP encounters (something that is, of course, something that one should expect in Open) regardless of how rare they may be - and whether or not they consider that the encounter was worth their time.

for me, players add a layer of unpredicatbility that I find fun.
When I was new, I flew in private since the game itself was still new and unpredictable to me.
Then I found that even in shinrarta and CGs, even in mobious the place was near deserted and might as well be solo.
Then I dipped my toes into open and found that outside the usual locations the stories of roaming deathsquads were greatly exaggerated, so the combination of "it's not as dangerous as I'd been lead to believe" and "having players around, for good or ill, makes the game less samey" hooked me.

I think being on the receiving end of an attempted gank after following the various "how to make an open ready ship" advice and bein struck with just how low the threat actually was if you know what you're doing cemented it further. To the point that it actually took me by surprise the first time I tried piracy out and saw how quickly some people's ships folded.

 

[Krash]

I think being on the receiving end of an attempted gank after following the various "how to make an open ready ship" advice and bein struck with just how low the threat actually was if you know what you're doing cemented it further. To the point that it actually took me by surprise the first time I tried piracy out and saw how quickly some people's ships folded.

Its even more surprising when a ganker's ship folds like house of playing cards. It doesn't happen very often but when it does, oh happy day. Its worth it for me to hang around a little while trading shots with gankers just long enough to see if they're worth a high wake or not.

 

[cheesenbiscuits]

Gankers have destroyed the multi player exploration side of the game,any point of interest turns into a solo experience pretty quickly for obvious reasons. I see it as a missed opportunity.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Gankers have destroyed the multi player exploration side of the game,any point of interest turns into a solo experience pretty quickly for obvious reasons. I see it as a missed opportunity.

I go with friends in PG if I can't be bothered "Playing with the 'Lads'!", but you have to have sympathy for those players as it appears that no-one wants to invite them to play most of the time, it must be hurtful

 

[Robert Maynard]

.... but you have to have sympathy for those players as it appears that no-one wants to invite them to play most of the time, it must be hurtful

Sympathy towards those who don't seem to care in the slightest whether those they choose to interact with have any fun seems to be quite the ask, in my opinion, of course.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Sympathy towards those who don't seem to care in the slightest whether those they choose to interact with have any fun seems to be quite the ask, in my opinion, of course.

I would have used a different word, but Mods appear to dislike it...

 

[Riverside]

Sympathy towards those who don't seem to care in the slightest whether those they choose to interact with have any fun seems to be quite the ask, in my opinion, of course.

I can empathise, I feel the same about large player supported factions playing in private groups

 

[Starshot_Jigawatts]

Exactly.

I'd like to see various simple "puzzles" implemented, which can only be completed by two or more players working together.
You don't want to play in Open, you don't get that content, I'm afraid.

The Guardian stuff could have been an example of that, whereby everything worked similar to how it does but you'd need to trigger all the Monoliths within, say, 45 seconds - so you'd need at least 2 players, working together, to accomplish it.

Just....no.