Modes A Solution for Board Hopping

[Skip Rockbounder]

A Solution to board hopping exploit.
And Nope, it isn't ban Solo and PG,

ED could allow us to chose our mode for a particular commander, that Commander would no longer be eligible for a mode of play other than the one chosen at the outset... or in the case of ongoing games the selected mode of play at introduction, then if you wanna go play in a different mode you have to make another commander... Maximum of two 'active' commanders per game but only one per session, that way we won't have board hopping for mission exploits and community goals and the cries of "nobody trades in open" will be quieted for ever.

Those brave souls that play in open can really do their thing... battling baddies and being pirates against other players, and those that want a quieter life in Solo and or Private Groups can enjoy their time unhindered,
I have a feeling that many would wish me dead for such a sensible suggestion... primarily because board hopping helps those that like to shoot others and like to trade safely.

ED could help missions by adding a refresh button and firing a few more missions up... but that's another story.

er... could you pass the salt please?

 

[Jockey79]

...... that way we won't have board hopping for mission exploits and community goals and the cries of "nobody trades in open" will be quieted for ever.....

Those cries would get louder, as no one would have a reason to lock themselves to Open.
Even the griefers / gankers have been spotted in PGs / Solo while they abuse credit exploits.....

so even if those who cry for open only won't stay there, what chance do you think there is of decent players wanting to be stuck there?

 

[nrage]

There are players who don't board hop for missions, but do change modes to join private groups etc.

Mode swapping is not the problem, mission board refreshing is. Mode swapping is simply the mechanism for refreshing the mission board.

Focus on the real problem, address the mission board refresh issue.

Actually, I have a QoL request for mission boards. When I plan to go mining (for example) it would be nice to be able to filter for missions from <selected factions> of type <mining>. Then I could more easily pick up missions to supplement my mining run. Mining is just an example, it should apply to all mission types/categories.

 

[Skip Rockbounder]

Those cries would get louder, as no one would have a reason to lock themselves to Open.
Even the griefers / gankers have been spotted in PGs / Solo while they abuse credit exploits.....

so even if those who cry for open only won't stay there, what chance do you think there is of decent players wanting to be stuck there?

Are you telling me that you think some open players would lock themselves into Private groups with their favourite commander, and openplay mode would falter because nobody can make money there?
If their behaviour were ganking it would be a lot easier to weed them out from a PG, and if an Open player chose to lock her/his Commander into a credit milking 'Solo' mode then he She would have to stay there!

And sorry to say it but..
nrage (much as I like Mal) Mode swapping is a problem if it's used as an exploit, and using the exploit as mechanism to change mission availability is still an exploit.
as I mentioned earlier though a 'refresh' button would help... as would a filter for various mission types... but this is not about that it's about board hopping and being tied to a chosen mode

 

[ALGOMATIC]

A Solution to board hopping exploit.
And Nope, it isn't ban Solo and PG,

ED could allow us to chose our mode for a particular commander, that Commander would no longer be eligible for a mode of play other than the one chosen at the outset... or in the case of ongoing games the selected mode of play at introduction, then if you wanna go play in a different mode you have to make another commander... Maximum of two 'active' commanders per game but only one per session, that way we won't have board hopping for mission exploits and community goals and the cries of "nobody trades in open" will be quieted for ever.

Those brave souls that play in open can really do their thing... battling baddies and being pirates against other players, and those that want a quieter life in Solo and or Private Groups can enjoy their time unhindered,
I have a feeling that many would wish me dead for such a sensible suggestion... primarily because board hopping helps those that like to shoot others and like to trade safely.

ED could help missions by adding a refresh button and firing a few more missions up... but that's another story.

er... could you pass the salt please?

100%. Yes.

It will solve many issues.

 

[Mohrgan]

A Solution to board hopping exploit.
And Nope, it isn't ban Solo and PG,

ED could allow us to chose our mode for a particular commander, that Commander would no longer be eligible for a mode of play other than the one chosen at the outset... or in the case of ongoing games the selected mode of play at introduction, then if you wanna go play in a different mode you have to make another commander... Maximum of two 'active' commanders per game but only one per session, that way we won't have board hopping for mission exploits and community goals and the cries of "nobody trades in open" will be quieted for ever.

Those brave souls that play in open can really do their thing... battling baddies and being pirates against other players, and those that want a quieter life in Solo and or Private Groups can enjoy their time unhindered,
I have a feeling that many would wish me dead for such a sensible suggestion... primarily because board hopping helps those that like to shoot others and like to trade safely.

ED could help missions by adding a refresh button and firing a few more missions up... but that's another story.

er... could you pass the salt please?

This is like throwing the 'baby out with the bath water'. People so inclined to board flip, would just log in and out into their 'frozen' mode, rather than pass through all three. There really is no difference between the two. This suggestion would only serve to satisfy those that are miffed that players can do stuffs in Solo, and then reap the "benefit" in open. OP's suggestion would do nothing towards board flipping.

 

[Skip Rockbounder]

This is like throwing the 'baby out with the bath water'. People so inclined to board flip, would just log in and out into their 'frozen' mode, rather than pass through all three. There really is no difference between the two. This suggestion would only serve to satisfy those that are miffed that players can do stuffs in Solo, and then reap the "benefit" in open. OP's suggestion would do nothing towards board flipping.

I don't really understand what you mean here, if you are in solo logging out and logging back into solo will do nothing for you.
If a player logs out of open and into solo he can fill up with 'whateverium' and trade, then when he feels he has enough for whatever he was saving up for return to Open with it*.
My suggestion would stop this.
If a player in Open took on a pile of paperwork missions in Open he could log out and log back in Solo and take another pile of paperwork... then again in PG and back to Open...
My suggestion would stop this, if a player in open takes all of his desired missions then he just gets to it and does them... or he waits and refreshes the board (with what I also said earlier)

I must be excused for not knowing what's on the boards because I'm out in the black and will be for some time.

It really would be better for Open players because they could really 'pirate and be dogged by pirates' knowing that it was their choice, Open and PG would still be the same for those that chose those modes.

* unfair on those players who play solely in Open!

 

[Jockey79]

.... if you are in solo logging out and logging back into solo will do nothing for you....

Exit the game completely not just drop back to the menu, it will force a new instance and you'll get new missions.
So locking someone to a single mode, will not stop anyone board flipping. It just takes a few seconds longer.

So the "fix" doesn't fix anything.

 

[Lance 'Spacecat' D.]

IMHO this would be a poor solution as it causes other problems. Let me give some examples...

-I'm a player that strongly favors playing in open, but when I feel like hitting a community goal or a ground place of particular interest (Say Dav's Hope in the last few days) that attract too many griefers, then no thank you. I hop back to solo.
-Though I favor open, I socialize with a number of friends who have different tastes. One of them who only uses private groups asked for a wing mining lesson...
-I went to Colonia, had to join the Fleetcomm private group for certain group activities. But then we made a wing of four explorers in open to get a quadruple tag on a certain system. We found open more stable than the private group for winging, in that case.


Situations are more varied than folks always playing the same way, you see. This proposal of the OP has a -lot- more impact than just reducing board flipping.

 

[Skip Rockbounder]

Exit the game completely not just drop back to the menu, it will force a new instance and you'll get new missions.
So locking someone to a single mode, will not stop anyone board flipping. It just takes a few seconds longer.

So the "fix" doesn't fix anything.

Well Jocky, I think you're being a little single pointed there, and if that's the only one you can come up with then there's not much wrong!

if you wish to spend time logging in and out of the whole game (and I'm sure ED could extend the in out pain) instead of just getting on and playing it then so be it, in the time you've done that you could've gone and done the missions, that aside the other points would be Ganking and Griefing would be easier to track in PG, and Players wouldn't be able to safe trade if they chose Open, so it would be fairer on the dedicated Open player too.

There are probably other points that I've missed too [yesnod]

 

[Jockey79]

Well Jocky, I think you're being a little single pointed there, and if that's the only one you can come up with then there's not much wrong!

Your whole issue is a single point, and your fix doesn't fix it - so actually I think you'll find it's a case of /thread.

To fix board flipping Frontier need a real server to remember when you got your mission list and what was on it.
They don't want a proper server.

Or was this just a failed masked attempt to dump on the mode system feature that was advertised with the game?

 

[Skip Rockbounder]

Now now, Jocky I've been civil with you and deserve the same in return,

Mode Switching or board flipping as I call it (perhaps erroneously) is more than just the Mission boards as you can well see from any of my posts above, ignoring what I say there makes you the aggressor here and there is no need for it,
I have not mentioned anything that should lead you to believe that this is an attack on ED so just cool it,
If ED can put a cooldown timer on danger exit then it can also put one on exit and re entry of the game... I should think.

 

[Jockey79]

Now now, Jocky I've been civil with you and deserve the same in return,

Actually you were dismissive.

You apparently raised a single issue (board hoping) then got narky when I pointed out why your single issue "fix" didn't work.
As can be clearly seen in your post replying to me.

Mode Switching or board flipping as I call it (perhaps erroneously) is more than just the Mission boards as you can well see from any of my posts above, ignoring what I say there makes you the aggressor here and there is no need for it,
I have not mentioned anything that should lead you to believe that this is an attack on ED so just cool it,
If ED can put a cooldown timer on danger exit then it can also put one on exit and re entry of the game... I should think.

And here is the truth I knew you were masking, as I said above.
We've all seen masked mode switching threads, it's how we got the S.O.G. series of mega threads.

Mode switching is a feature of the game, designed and added back in Kickstarter.
Frontier have consistently reinforced that they support the mode system and all content is available in all modes.
I'd be happy to copy paste the information from the link in my Sig (The Wall of Information) to prove this, unless you want to go look at it yourself?

So to recap as per your OP;

1) "Board Hoping" can be done without changing modes - so touching the mode system won't "fix" it.
2) "Mode Switching" is a game feature Frontier wanted in the game.

Hope this helps.

 

[Skip Rockbounder]

I was not masking anything and resent the implication, I am not subtle and never have been so an attack from me would have been very visible not masked, a know it all attitude will only serve to flame a misunderstanding and it's something I try to avoid, if you have a better idea then lets hear it you obviously spend more time here than I do and seem well clued up on how the game operates, so Go...

Tell me how Ed can stop the exploitation to balance the game for those that wish play fair and those that only wish to get it all Now!

 

[Myrm]

What’s wrong with board flipping?

 

[E-L-Y-S-I-U-M]

Would it not be possible to hold an encrypted file that stores the current board per mode and include commander details (to prevent file swaps) with the decryption key only held on the server. The board, file and key would then refresh as and when the board would normally during gameplay? Any manual interference to the file results in 0 missions until a normal refresh is made. I would also recommend an ip hit for tampering with a temporary ban after x number of hits, but I have a low tolerance towards that kind of tampering i.e. fiddling with the graphics settings is OK, trying to fiddle the mission board is not ok.

...You would also require some kind of file hash in the current save to prevent copying the file, taking the missions, putting the file back, taking the missions, putting the file back, etc.

 

[Jockey79]

What’s wrong with board flipping?

It's an unintended side effect of the way the game was designed.
And it is clearly exploiting that design to get new missions faster than the built in 10 minute refresh.

Frontier have talked about this, if I could remember where the video on it was I'd link it.
Short version is; it's not something they can "fix".

They'd be better off just adding a "refresh" button to the mission boards in my opinion.

@Skip

Play fair?

I wish Frontier would be concerned over people playing fair.
They may actually do something about those who do cheat / exploit and not just let them keep their ill gotten gains.
After some accounts made over 1.6 billion this weekend and get to keep it, I've given up all hope Frontier can balance this game.

 

[Jockey79]

Would it not be possible to hold an encrypted file that stores the current board per mode and include commander details (to prevent file swaps) with the decryption key only held on the server. The board, file and key would then refresh as and when the board would normally during gameplay? Any manual interference to the file results in 0 missions until a normal refresh is made. I would also recommend an ip hit for tampering with a temporary ban after x number of hits, but I have a low tolerance towards that kind of tampering i.e. fiddling with the graphics settings is OK, trying to fiddle the mission board is not ok.

There isn't a "real" server as such. So no where to keep files etc..
Otherwise combat logging would have been deal with years ago (I'd hope anyway).

The Wall of Information link in my Sig has a video at the very top, about the Amazon server we use for Elite and explains it better than I can.

 

[Iskariot]

A Solution to board hopping exploit.
And Nope, it isn't ban Solo and PG,

ED could allow us to chose our mode for a particular commander, that Commander would no longer be eligible for a mode of play other than the one chosen at the outset... or in the case of ongoing games the selected mode of play at introduction, then if you wanna go play in a different mode you have to make another commander... Maximum of two 'active' commanders per game but only one per session, that way we won't have board hopping for mission exploits and community goals and the cries of "nobody trades in open" will be quieted for ever.

Those brave souls that play in open can really do their thing... battling baddies and being pirates against other players, and those that want a quieter life in Solo and or Private Groups can enjoy their time unhindered,
I have a feeling that many would wish me dead for such a sensible suggestion... primarily because board hopping helps those that like to shoot others and like to trade safely.

ED could help missions by adding a refresh button and firing a few more missions up... but that's another story.

er... could you pass the salt please?

I think that in general Open would lose out with your proposal.

I would love your proposal to be implemented, because it would then be a very small step to have a complete separation between Solo and Open.
I think that would be an incredible positive thing for the development of a single player offline Elite Dangerous game.
Balancing the game and individual storytelling would be infinitely less problematic and FDev could completely forget about the multiplayer shackles when further developing single player Elite Dangerous.

And it would be good for multiplayer too, although I don't care about that one bit myself.

 

[Jockey79]

.... although I don't care about that one bit myself.

I've had to +1 because this made me chuckle.

Honest and to the point, love it.