Credit rewards need a balancing pass

[Ian Doncaster]

Sure, but you can work your way up.
- low CZ for a few hundred thousand credits risk free
- exobiology for a few hundred thousand credits a planet virtually risk free
- easier missions
- raiding abandoned salvage POIs

That gets you the money and materials you need to get a few upgrades (and you might find some pre-upgraded weapons and suits as well along the way) and then start doing medium CZs, scavenger hunt missions, and similar.

That'll get you the money and materials you need for a more comprehensive set of upgrades and then you can do the high CZs by wiping out the other side.

10 million per high CZ should get you 30-40 million an hour, which is pretty decent even for Horizons earnings. (Especially when compared with space high CZs)

 

[Rubbernuke]

What does need a radical overhaul is Powerplay bonuses (and costs of PP cargo- at least the fort side).

50 million (maximum) for the week (which most spend on allocations) is peanuts these days, along with some of the rank rewards.

 

[Sighman]

The average player will also get their behind handed to them in a high CZ until the gear is engineered, the cost comes before finally profit.

I went into high CZ during the Odyssey early days with G2 gear I'd bought from shops. With G3/G4 gear the high CZ is too easy, and I rarely do them now except for BGS reasons.

The secret is to use cover intelligently, to always hide from enemy fire when your shields go down, to be 100% aware of where your enemies are so that you can position yourself in a way that only 1 can fire on you while you're firing on them, and to never, ever Rambo the CZ. Or, in a word, cover. It's what makes on-foot CZ the complete opposite of ship combat.

One trick: equip the laser rifle and duck behind a wall. Wait for the enemy to empty their clip at said wall. Stand up, take their shields out, bob down again. Switch weapons. Wait for them to empty their clip. Bob up, finish them off.

Alternatively, only use laser weapons and shield stripper grenades, and let your teammates (human or NPC) finish off the unshielded opponents. The more you hit (kills don't matter), the more cash you make. Splash damage from grenades, too.

I don't consider myself an expert FPS player but I've seen way too many streams where people charge into a firefight, get shot from all directions at once and die pretty much instantly. It just doesn't work in Odyssey unless you're G5 engineered everything and it's a Low CZ.

 

[metatheurgist]

Sure, I was enjoying myself. I didn't even die that much.

 

[Jmanis]

Space activities pay one zero too many.

 

[Vardaugas]

I earned close to 300mil just playing Odyssey since its release. Granted that included some exploration but most was from Odyssey related content. It's not much by today's standards but it's far from nothing.

 

[Jmanis]

I went into high CZ during the Odyssey early days with G2 gear I'd bought from shops. With G3/G4 gear the high CZ is too easy, and I rarely do them now except for BGS reasons.

The secret is to use cover intelligently, to always hide from enemy fire when your shields go down, to be 100% aware of where your enemies are so that you can position yourself in a way that only 1 can fire on you while you're firing on them, and to never, ever Rambo the CZ. Or, in a word, cover. It's what makes on-foot CZ the complete opposite of ship combat.

One trick: equip the laser rifle and duck behind a wall. Wait for the enemy to empty their clip at said wall. Stand up, take their shields out, bob down again. Switch weapons. Wait for them to empty their clip. Bob up, finish them off.

Alternatively, only use laser weapons and shield stripper grenades, and let your teammates (human or NPC) finish off the unshielded opponents. The more you hit (kills don't matter), the more cash you make. Splash damage from grenades, too.

I don't consider myself an expert FPS player but I've seen way too many streams where people charge into a firefight, get shot from all directions at once and die pretty much instantly. It just doesn't work in Odyssey unless you're G5 engineered everything and it's a Low CZ.

View attachment 256587

For what it's worth, i was earning more in high Odyssey CZs with G2 engineered gear than i can in G5 Engineered condas in High space CZs.

You're absolutely right, it takes more tactics, but it's way more accessible than space czs, and pays more.

I botch it at the start, but get my stride about 2m in. (I think i have G3 in this video?)

Source: https://youtu.be/DlQVVAk_l3s

 

[Rat Catcher]

The average player will also get their behind handed to them in a high CZ until the gear is engineered, the cost comes before finally profit.

No, not so, I'm probably around average and completed foot High CZs (not many!) in G1 unengineered gear - I may have been killed a few times, but completion is possible by trying not to present yourself as a target while using (in my case) Laser for shields and kinetic for suits.

It does get much less tough with G3 kit, it is true.

Agreed that Odyssey missions appear to be low paid, particularly for the time spent doing some, but the stuff picked up along the way can nett a reasonable return - although never come close to the possible earnings in ship-based play. But, I do find surface / foot activities to be great fun, so don't consider the lower earnings potential to be too negative.

 

[Factabulous]

I think the CR payouts are less unbalanced than the REP / INF payouts from missions - maxing out at +++ makes them far less appealing for BGS work than space missions.

 

[Jmanis]

Agreed that Odyssey missions appear to be low paid, particularly for the time spent doing some, but the stuff picked up along the way can nett a reasonable return - although never come close to the possible earnings in ship-based play. But, I do find surface / foot activities to be great fun, so don't consider the lower earnings potential to be too negative.

And, kinda circling back to my first post in this thread... much like my position in this thread, where I claim that space-mission timers need to be reduced to be more like Odyssey missions, and here where I claim space missions pay too much compared to Odyssey, here's the crux of it.

Odyssey missions are objectively better than their Horizons counterparts in many ways. Everyone who was getting down on me for being negative about space legs coming assured me "It'll enrich all the space-based activities! Imagine getting out of your ship to cut canisters free from ships!"

Well, I'm still imagining (cw: naughty words). No Horizons/space-based activities have been back-ported to take advantage of the Odyssey mechanics, because Odyssey is, truly, a standalone DLC. But the (mission) content provided by Odyssey is markedly superior to Horizons content, and Horizons content would benefit greatly to be aligned more closely to it. Because when the content is fun and engaging, who cares about the pay?

(but FWIW, anyone who argues "the boring content pays well to counterbalance your boredom" at this point needs to stop making excuses for poor game activity design)

 

[photomankc]

The average player will also get their behind handed to them in a high CZ until the gear is engineered, the cost comes before finally profit.

G2 gear is almost ubiquitous out there and upgrades to get to G2 are pretty easy too. I've been clearing highs with a G1 Dom and G2 rifles. I have to stick to friendlies and I have no idea how I'd make 8M per run but 2 per is not out of reach for me with the main account. Try to Rambo the CZ and yeah, you're going to spend all your time in drop ships. I stick with the squad and strip shields. They are then generally fairly good at killing them off, if not I switch if I have a laser buddy.

 

[R4dioS1lence]

I really hope these balances come in the future in the form of more complex missions, like rescue/jailbreaking (recover an NPC from captivity in a settlement, carry on shoulder while only being able to use a pistol) or missions with compounded objectives (kill important NPC, steal assets, hack data ports and upload a virus).

Also maybe a suit geared towards stealth, with "silent" but weaker jump boosters, less shield, but faster scanning and faster charging overload that does non-lethal damage (still incurring fine for assault, but no bounty since it ain't dead).

Once the grindy side is resolved, Odyssey will have really cemented a nice baseline for varied gameplay.

 

[Northpin]

I'm at 16 billion. The OP had 10. It's about raising a potential concern.

I'm at 38, there is no concern


Edit: still, EDO credits are really messed up.
Missions pay like crap.
Armors and Weapons are more expensive than the ships

 

[photomankc]

For what it's worth, i was earning more in high Odyssey CZs with G2 engineered gear than i can in G5 Engineered condas in High space CZs.

You're absolutely right, it takes more tactics, but it's way more accessible than space czs, and pays more.

I botch it at the start, but get my stride about 2m in. (I think i have G3 in this video?)

Source: https://youtu.be/DlQVVAk_l3s

That sorta solidifies my dislike of the Oppressor. My G2 laser takes down shields faster than that, and almost takes down health faster too. My ALT has G3 laser and it's pretty dang nice. The Oppressor just seems to always take forever to get either thing done even at G3.

 

[CMDR Sophie Joanne]

Those ground missions pay one zero too little, and the zero belongs at the end of the numbers. I'm currently doing lots of missions and scavenging for the on foot engineering. Most missions were successful, but I've still been losing money, 11 million in the past 7 days. That is not a sum I care about, I have 10 billion in the bank, but new players will most certainly be put off by this. The engineering upgrades are expensive, the bounty payoffs are expensive, and all we get for the trouble is pocket change. This needs a balancing pass.

Foot missions pay about right - the problem is ships being too cheap and ship missions paying too much!

 

[Rudi Raumkraut]

this ship has sailed years ago.
doubt that credits/income/costs ever will (or can) be balanced in this game.

 

[Ian Skippy]

In EDO they pay me enough to buy a brand new spaceship for a completely risk free mission of picking up some documents. The problem is not that EDO pays too little, but that ED pays way, way too much. A long time ago credits were a grind, but even EDO pays orders of magnitude more compared to what ED 1.0 did.

 

[Keloot]

That sorta solidifies my dislike of the Oppressor. My G2 laser takes down shields faster than that, and almost takes down health faster too. My ALT has G3 laser and it's pretty dang nice. The Oppressor just seems to always take forever to get either thing done even at G3.

i have a maxed out opressor and let me tell you someting... its the lest opressive rifle in the game lmao... at max it does 2.4 dps . its a good balance of damage . but suits now have plasma resistance .. the aphelion does 4.7 damage on shields . 4 ing 4 that is double the damage . and its hit scan not projectile.

 

[Fenwe]

I think the CR payouts are less unbalanced than the REP / INF payouts from missions - maxing out at +++ makes them far less appealing for BGS work than space missions.

nods and the better your rep should increase credits that come with materials by some small percentage.

 

[Fenwe]

And, kinda circling back to my first post in this thread... much like my position in this thread, where I claim that space-mission timers need to be reduced to be more like Odyssey missions, and here where I claim space missions pay too much compared to Odyssey, here's the crux of it.

Odyssey missions are objectively better than their Horizons counterparts in many ways. Everyone who was getting down on me for being negative about space legs coming assured me "It'll enrich all the space-based activities! Imagine getting out of your ship to cut canisters free from ships!"

Well, I'm still imagining (cw: naughty words). No Horizons/space-based activities have been back-ported to take advantage of the Odyssey mechanics, because Odyssey is, truly, a standalone DLC. But the (mission) content provided by Odyssey is markedly superior to Horizons content, and Horizons content would benefit greatly to be aligned more closely to it. Because when the content is fun and engaging, who cares about the pay?

(but FWIW, anyone who argues "the boring content pays well to counterbalance your boredom" at this point needs to stop making excuses for poor game activity design)

Mind giving some examples?

Though i disagree that ship board payouts should be less, nor should timers be shortened, my imagination isn't stretching how you can make ship based missions more like on foot.