Anyone else got this problem with Engineers?

Shy'la Nesthorn

Shy'la Nesthorn
So, when engineers was first introduced waaay back when I thought they were absolute garbage, having to scrounge up materials, fly all the way out and hope that your stuff doesn't just get downgraded. Now I took a couple year break from the game and come back to a new system that offers only straight upgrades and I think that's a pretty good improvement. But there is two issues I still have with them that I never see anyone complain about so is it just me? I always see people either complaining they can't get their perfect min/maxed rolls anymore or the abysmal amount of grinding the new system takes but what I get annoyed at is the engineers themselves.

To unlock them you have to do some super out of the way stuff that in some cases just go against how you play the game (One wants me to reach a certain level with the federation yet I raid their ships often so will just never be able to unlock that engineer I guess) and that you have to spend a full day flying out to wherever they are, running around the galaxy tracking down each one.

I think the horrible amount of grinding you need to do to actually upgrade stuff would be fine if there was like, multiple engineers scattered everywhere so you didn't have to track down the only person in the universe that knows how to upgrade your multi-canon and that they just start unlocked by default.
 

AP Birdman

Banned
AP Birdman
Yeah it's just you. I can have a ship fully engineered in about an hour.
Mat grinding can get a little tedious but if you know where to grind and how to grind you can get enough mats to fully engineer a ship in a matter of hours.

Unlocking all the engineers does take a long time but I feel like it's a core part of ED's progression system.

Honestly, the only complaints I hear about engineering come from people that are too lazy do it.
 

ADAMtheWELSHMANz

ADAMtheWELSHMANz
Unlocks are a one time thing and engineering now GUARANTEES an improvement on your existing module.......the grind is in your mind ��
 

Shy'la Nesthorn

Shy'la Nesthorn
No no I'm not complaining about the grind. I don't mind horribly long grinds in games, gives me a goal. What my issue is is the almost random unlock requirments and the engineer locations. I find it hard to believe that in the super space age of 330whatever the game is that there is gonna be more then one dude that knows how to make a machine gun shoot quicker. And the requirments basically forcing you to change how you play, like for the one I'm now gonna have to play nice with a faction I dislike which since kinda random.

The grind is fine, I HIGHLY prefer that over the roulette system
 

Hacker#451563

Hacker#451563
Some things about the engineers can be a little grindy (stupid tea for the 5th lvl burst laser guy anyone?) but on the whole if you just make it all part of your flying about doing sh%t then it's not so terrible.

I remember wanting to unlock Didi Vateaman and having to time my attempt with a non-lockdown period in Lave because the Brandy she wanted and the political situation in the system. I liked it, I made it part of my world, I even imagined having to deal with shady geezers to get the stuff and get it out. Half the forum was whinging about it some were fighting against it (good work for that play-style) and some (like me) made it something cool. It was a player driven situation that affected players, something that may had asked for then were gobsmacked that there were consequences they didn't expect, but that's another post for another time.

As far as mat gathering goes just do it as you go along, upgrade your ship when you want to not as a terrible burden.

The new USS scanning system in the latest update will make it all a lot easier now anyway.
 

Stigbob

Stigbob
Shy'la Nesthorn said:
No no I'm not complaining about the grind. I don't mind horribly long grinds in games, gives me a goal. What my issue is is the almost random unlock requirments and the engineer locations. I find it hard to believe that in the super space age of 330whatever the game is that there is gonna be more then one dude that knows how to make a machine gun shoot quicker. And the requirments basically forcing you to change how you play, like for the one I'm now gonna have to play nice with a faction I dislike which since kinda random.

The grind is fine, I HIGHLY prefer that over the roulette system
Click to expand...

Don't focus on the unlock.

Like with kamitra cigars stick a small cargo bay into a combat ship, buy up whats available use the cigars as a pirate magnet whilst you wander in the direction of the unlock.
 

bootsam

bootsam
I sympathise with this as I have to go mine another 50t of goddamned bromellite. I honestly do not enjoy mining. I know some do, and Im not asking for a nerf or owt like that. I just get bored quickly mining. Plus I have developed a genuine hatred for limpets.
 

CMDR Pugwash

CMDR Pugwash
Shy'la Nesthorn said:
So, when engineers was first introduced waaay back when I thought they were absolute garbage, having to scrounge up materials, fly all the way out and hope that your stuff doesn't just get downgraded. Now I took a couple year break from the game and come back to a new system that offers only straight upgrades and I think that's a pretty good improvement. But there is two issues I still have with them that I never see anyone complain about so is it just me? I always see people either complaining they can't get their perfect min/maxed rolls anymore or the abysmal amount of grinding the new system takes but what I get annoyed at is the engineers themselves.

To unlock them you have to do some super out of the way stuff that in some cases just go against how you play the game (One wants me to reach a certain level with the federation yet I raid their ships often so will just never be able to unlock that engineer I guess) and that you have to spend a full day flying out to wherever they are, running around the galaxy tracking down each one.

I think the horrible amount of grinding you need to do to actually upgrade stuff would be fine if there was like, multiple engineers scattered everywhere so you didn't have to track down the only person in the universe that knows how to upgrade your multi-canon and that they just start unlocked by default.
Click to expand...

Nope, not just you mate. Remember "Blaze your own trail"? Well that means ignoring them now. I sense the engineer panacea is diminishing so maybe ignoring them will be a real option soon. I for one refuse to go questing for dragons teeth or sweaty orc jockstraps..

Of course there are plenty that love the wizards… see above.

Edit : and below.
 
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Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
You might like the Colonia Engineers - very easy unlock requirements, you don't have to deal with the Federation at all, all types of blueprints, and they're all within one jump of each other.

The only catch [1] is that they currently only do G1, but this is upgradeable by player effort (and Frontier are adjusting the requirements in 3.3 to be more appropriate to Colonia's population, so we should see several G2s)


[1] Okay, you also have to travel over here in the first place. But you only need to do that once.
 

Stabby_Dave

Stabby_Dave
I can sort of see what the OP is saying. One engineer requires that you fly 5kly past your starting point. Another is that you have to mine x amount. Another that you get x combat bonds. No choice.

I think it would be better if there was an "either/or".
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
I guess it could be a case of "stockholm syndrome", whereby we were so used to everything being really long-winded that we're happy with anything that gets made easier but, OTOH, I think some stuff should require significant effort.

Geez, engineering can provide MASSIVE improvements to your ship.
It should take a significant effort to reap the rewards it offers.

Not everything should be offered to you just cos you bothered to log in.
 

Bunkerkind Anni

Bunkerkind Anni
the thing about the engineers that annoys me the most,
ist the need to travel to them for the secondaries.

and experimenting with different mods and weapons requires often that i get back and forth between the engineers...
 

aardappelianen

aardappelianen
The only problem i have with engineers now is that there are now legacy modules around that cannot be obtained any more, like i have a set of long range beam turrets with reduced distributor draw and thermal load wich i hoped to improve under the new system but they cant be made anymore
But there are more offensive modules out there, most notably the legacy plasma accelerators
I don't understand why fdev made the new system such that those modules are worth keeping so that certain players will aways have a unobtainable advantage
 

lenna

lenna
Shy'la Nesthorn said:
To unlock them you have to do some super out of the way stuff that in some cases just go against how you play the game (One wants me to reach a certain level with the federation yet I raid their ships often so will just never be able to unlock that engineer I guess) and that you have to spend a full day flying out to wherever they are, running around the galaxy tracking down each one.
Click to expand...
The engineers have been integrated with the universe in an immersive manner, that means some play styles will find them inconvenient at first but once you have unlocked them...

Shy'la Nesthorn said:
I think the horrible amount of grinding you need to do to actually upgrade stuff would be fine if there was like, multiple engineers scattered everywhere so you didn't have to track down the only person in the universe that
knows how to upgrade your multi-canon and that they just start unlocked by default.
Click to expand...
You can pin one blueprint per engineer and perform all but the experimental engineering associated with the pinned blueprint(s) remotely at seemingly (almost?) any port of call in the universe.
 

Jack Schitt

Jack Schitt
Don't get hung up on the mechanics of the 34th century world and how silly it seems compared with an extrapolation of the 21st. The Elite games always had odd rules either to explain limitations of the hardware or to enforce certain gameplay elements, and ED is no exception. Its rules aren't even consistent with its own lore, so trying to "real world" it into submission will always hit a brick wall at some point.

Many of the post-Engineers and post-Guardians mechanics are basically a re-skinning of more fantastical MMO mechanics. Engineer unlock missions instead of quests, materials instead of gemstones, Guardian blueprints instead of magical runes, upgraded lasers instead of +1 swords. Just as a fantasy realm doesn't have a wizard on every corner, ED wouldn't work as a game if there was an Engineer on every planet (although you can get close to this with pinned blueprints, once you have your specials).

It's true that it makes no logical sense that corporations can churn out spacecraft and weapons by the truckload while only a handful of random individuals can modify them, but it's just the way this galaxy is put together. Stuff is just made up as they go along, to fit in with the desired MMO-like gameplay. Politically, try to think of it more like The Hitch-Hikers Guide and less like The Expanse and it's easier to deal with its many quirks.
 
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