Why are so many of this game's features so incredibly lackluster or just flat out broken?!? Let's list out some of the issues and some suggestions for fixing them:
1) The system map is barely functional. It lags, system/planet info tabs can get stuck open and also just plain get in the way of what you want to actually click on, the plotting system is garbage and other web sites offer a better solution, it gives no real useful information on known systems...it's a mess. Please fix the map instead of letting other people make websites that do it for you. In fact too much of this game is just easier to use from websites. It feels like FDev know this and that's why they don't bother to fix them. They know someone else will do it for them.
Oh, this.. I hate when the mini-menu thing opens up and actually blocks the thing you want to click on. Someday...
2) Engineering has no information associated with it in game. I had to hunt down multiple guides and videos to show me the easiest way to unlock engineers because it's not like the game tells you. Don't ask me to get Soontill Relics and then not explain what the hell they are! Also grind is NOT gameplay...it shows that you don't understand what gameplay is. Spending hours looking for Arsenic is NOT gameplay. It's boring. This is an issue that comes up in MULTIPLE areas of the game. Why can't the Engineers tab show EXACTLY what they upgrade? It tells you the things they can upgrade in the engineering tab, why not the actual upgrades they can apply to said things? A shopping list for upgrades would be nice as well. Also the requirements to unlock some engineers is too steep. These are important game mechanics that you basically need in order to get anything done (considering most players and NPCs are engineered to high Heaven) and some of them are locked behind some incredibly intense grind walls. And THEN if you get unlucky with RNG you might end up spending the 15 Arsenic that took you 4 hours to find to only fill the upgrade circle to 3/4. The whole system needs a rework.
This always baffles me.. you don't like to grind to engineering stuff, so why do it? There is not a single aspect in the game that requires it. Sure, it's useful but just like having a pink case for your phone, it's not required. As for Soontill relics and other rare goods, I reckon devs thought people find stuff about the galaxy themselves like in the older games instead hoping that they're spoon-fed all the solutions.
As for other materials, only one responsible for the grind is the person you see in the mirror. Personally, I pick things up when they happen to be in my way mostly and that's plenty.
3) Mining is the ONLY viable way to make good money. Why is this? Combat, which is probably one of the more fun activities in the game, pays barely anything. Missions are only there if you hit rock bottom and need to make a quick buck. It seems like FDev simply don't understand how to or are not interested in fixing the problems with currency and instead just nerf all the best options until players find a new way to earn cash in a reasonable manner.
Mining is the most broken thing...With everything else, earning millions is super easy, barely an inconvenience. It's all up to you.
4) Back to that little chestnut from Engineering that Grind is NOT gameplay. So much of this game is just one massive grind. Some of the best ships are a grind, engineering is a grind, getting ranks for ANYTHING is a grind. Just make some missions that unlock these things. Make them mission chains if you want them to be long. Put some effort into it instead of just putting all these important things behind grinding. Grinding isn't fun. It just encourages people to find the quickest way to NOT play your game.
Simply put, the game is your adventure. You do what you do. You grind only if you want to grind. There's no rule in the game that tells you that you need specific ships to play with. As you said. Grinding isn't fun: Don't do it!
Chained missions tho, I would like to see more of them aswell. I like the idea of having them and more of them is better.
5) Why is there no mail system? It's the year 3306 and I can't talk to someone in another system via some sort of interstellar communications network? Are you kidding me? I can request my parts from other stations so why can't I call up an engineer, send the materials they need and the part I want them to upgrade and then have them send that back once they're done? I don't care if it would take time or money to do this. At LEAST let people buy things from other stations and get them sent to the station they're at. Just make it a time wall instead.
You can talk to other people in other systems. You can read news everywhere in the galaxy too. Sending materials to your engineer works nicely too. Just that you're the pilot who has to do it
as for transfering modules, it's already in the game. You need stuff delivered, you're the mailman.
6) Why is the economy so closed off? Just make it like Eve. Let the players manage it and just see what happens. Let player's trade items and credits. Make some sort of interstellar auction house. You might get some gold farmers like in an MMO but honestly...who cares?!? It's not like it would affect the general player base because a ship with the best parts STILL needs engineering to actually be awesome and credits have NOTHING to do with engineering. Either make it so that Engineered parts can't be traded or you could fix the problems with engineering and then people wouldn't abuse the system to get engineered parts quickly. Or hell just LET them get engineered parts quickly. If they lose them it's on them. Don't coddle your player base. Let them blaze their own trail.
Carriers kinda does this to a point. But with mining being as broken as it is, credits transfer would just break the game even more. Mostly to the point that they might aswell turn the game into a single player sandbox where you can have unlimited everything.
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It feels like FDev know that they have very little competition in the online space sim market and so they put in as little effort as possible. I'm quickly just getting burned out because the game is not fun, it's a job. I don't want to come home from my job to do another one.
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Fly for fun, not for credits. All you really need is your sidewinder and the galaxy. Everything else is extra.
