Between Timmy falling down the Infinite material Well and the Crack Train pulling into station (Choo Choo) I feel it is time for Fdev to wake up.

[Punished Mobius]

Between Timmy falling down the Infinite material Well and the Crack Train pulling into station (Choo Choo) I feel it is time for Fdev to wake up.

By "wake up" I do not mean wake up and just smack the gopher holes with the nerf hammer and go back to bed. There is something wrong at a deeper level here. Data drops worth having are far too uncommon naturally and if you want CIF (which you most certainly do) you are going to have to go out of your way to get it. And basically every weapon mod worth having uses CIF. In some cases at grade 3 4 and 5 for multiple effects! And yet it is still uber rare through natural non grind gameplay. Before the Crack train became public transportation it seemed the only way to grab some was stacking data missions. Another exploit. Gee wow anyone seeing a pattern here? I don't like it. I don't imagine anyone else does too much either. There is too much gaming the system going on rather than playing the game. And you can hardly fault the players for wanting maximum gains for their time spent when the alternate option is so abysmally minimal in returns.
I do think the solution is rather straight forward. Increase basic returns across the board. make it so that all but the highest credit giving missions always give out an additional something something. And for Data instead of 1 copy make it 3. As well start to phase out the now useless engineer commodities with more data rewards. I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers to this problem and since it's not my job it wouldn't matter if I did. But I can say for sure that if this barren data desert wasn't so barren and desert like than the cheaters oasis wouldn't be so tempting.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I'd like an optional reward system for factions you're allied with.

Basically​, you get to pick from;
PURE Cash reward, minimal/no rep gain
Normal cash + rep(default)
Less Cash plus materials + rep
More materials + less cash + rep
Nothing + lots of rep.

Drop or greatly reduce cargo rewards entirely, and make those rare non buyable cargo spawn quite frequently from traders to pirate or crash sites/wreckages to savage.

Makes sense? Yay or nay?


CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

 

[duckofdeath]

The crack train is indeed addictive. Once you start using the exploits, it's nearly impossible to stop.
Just take a deep breath, and accept that "nerfing" exploits is the only way to ever make a game work. FDev needs to step it up. Kill them with fire on day one.

 

[Lobey]

I have engineered weapons, drive etc etc on all 4 of my current ships - Ieagle, Cobra3, Python and Anaconda - I haven't the foggiest what CIF is and can't be bothered working it out - havent "ground" anything - just made stuff with what I get from everyday play. None are below grade 3 - some are 5 - ( 3's are often better than the 5's depends on your roll and what matters to you) - I suspect some folk are taking things too seriously and stressing over it.

 

[Comrade Napoleon]

I have engineered weapons, drive etc etc on all 4 of my current ships - Ieagle, Cobra3, Python and Anaconda - I haven't the foggiest what CIF is and can't be bothered working it out - havent "ground" anything - just made stuff with what I get from everyday play. None are below grade 3 - some are 5 - ( 3's are often better than the 5's depends on your roll and what matters to you) - I suspect some folk are taking things too seriously and stressing over it.

I suspect from your limited viewpoint that, you would better read the Forums, befor making statements that are disconnected with reality.
With all respect.
Cheers Cmdr's

 

[Punished Mobius]

I'd like an optional reward system for factions you're allied with.

Basically​, you get to pick from;
PURE Cash reward, minimal/no rep gain
Normal cash + rep(default)
Less Cash plus materials + rep
More materials + less cash + rep
Nothing + lots of rep.

Drop or greatly reduce cargo rewards entirely, and make those rare non buyable cargo spawn quite frequently from traders to pirate or crash sites/wreckages to savage.

Makes sense? Yay or nay?


CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

I dig it. It's like negotiating a contract. And all it would take is a slider menu.

Another solution I would have is to allow you to go to the Black market and pay a chap to copy your data once you have some to copy. Perhaps make the credit cost go up exorbantly with each subsequent copy made.

 

[Hellakitty]

I'd like an optional reward system for factions you're allied with.

Basically​, you get to pick from;
PURE Cash reward, minimal/no rep gain
Normal cash + rep(default)
Less Cash plus materials + rep
More materials + less cash + rep
Nothing + lots of rep.

Drop or greatly reduce cargo rewards entirely, and make those rare non buyable cargo spawn quite frequently from traders to pirate or crash sites/wreckages to savage.

Makes sense? Yay or nay?


CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

Y'know, a lot of these stupid crazy ideas of yours actually make decent bloody sense (most of the time anyway!).

 

[Spiridon]

I'd like an optional reward system for factions you're allied with.

Basically​, you get to pick from;
PURE Cash reward, minimal/no rep gain
Normal cash + rep(default)
Less Cash plus materials + rep
More materials + less cash + rep
Nothing + lots of rep.

Drop or greatly reduce cargo rewards entirely, and make those rare non buyable cargo spawn quite frequently from traders to pirate or crash sites/wreckages to savage.

Makes sense? Yay or nay?


CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

I like this very much. +1.

 

[MrReynolds]

I'd like an optional reward system for factions you're allied with.

Basically​, you get to pick from;
PURE Cash reward, minimal/no rep gain
Normal cash + rep(default)
Less Cash plus materials + rep
More materials + less cash + rep
Nothing + lots of rep.

Drop or greatly reduce cargo rewards entirely, and make those rare non buyable cargo spawn quite frequently from traders to pirate or crash sites/wreckages to savage.

Makes sense? Yay or nay?


CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

Genius.
Yep. Hits my spot!
Also, how about coordinates on a planet for a huge material haul, like 20 tons of a rare good or data. That'll be cool

 

[SciTrekker]

Y'know, a lot of these stupid crazy ideas of yours actually make decent bloody sense (most of the time anyway!).

I think it's the reason they'll not see the light of day - anytime Soon™.

 

[Spacecat]

Every material is a pain to find when you want it. I try to keep 20 of everything at all times and start to look for stuff when I start to get low. Yes, the RNG gods can be cruel (I've scanned 10 bases and got no MEFs before).

 

[Comrade Napoleon]

Every material is a pain to find when you want it. I try to keep 20 of everything at all times and start to look for stuff when I start to get low. Yes, the RNG gods can be cruel (I've scanned 10 bases and got no MEFs before).

I did the same, used 6 whole hours, nothing. I pulled the rest of my hair out.
Next day I got 16 in 4,5 hours.
But regret that with my hair

Cheers Cmdr's

 

[Ouberos]

I'm guessing the reason the data storage device in our ships is only 500 is because FD have known about exploits like the crack train since the beginning.

Data should be available on the black market though, I like that idea. Then again, I like the idea of being able to "buy" anything from the Black market. Obviously it would add another way to damage the local BGS but perhaps BMs you could buy at could exist in their own little bubble of zero influence. (Although that's obviously an idea for another thread!)

 

[Duane Dibbley]

I'd just settle for 3/4 mats per planet...rather than 20; the rarest having 0.000001% chance of finding it!

Mind you, I get a combo of these faces on [blah]:| when it's time to drive the dull mobile, so I may just be a touch biased.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Wow, long title much.

So yes the Crack train is being nerfed in 2.3. It's the only reason it got released to the general public in the first place.


However, I think your premise is wrong. Frontier never expected people to grind for these as much as people are doing. There's one odd chap trying to engineer a 142% perfect dirty drive turning mod for every ship in the game. He's barking mad but lord help him.

I agree on mission rewards but what has been totally lost with engineers is that they were meant to be a relatively rare thing not a "everyone must have the perfect mods on everything".
I have 3 modded ships, all others are pretty much stock parts only. I have a Fuel Rat Anaconda, a racing Courier and a combat Vette. Some minor mods on an FDL but nothing significant.
Anyway, I'm happy picking up the odd bits whilst waiting for a Fuel Rat distress signal, or a bit whilst getting bounties for a CG. Or randomly when exploring planets etc.

I'd agree data-drops for certain things are rare but thats how they should be. Nobody should be grinding for the perfect % roll on everything, maybe one or two things on a single ship but some people take it way too far.

Anyway, the thing that I will close on is that at least CIF is reliable. Certain bases that reset every week will always drop CIF, which is why there are lists of them online. It's possible to find 4/5 in an area, check them off for 15 CIF per week and spend 2-3 hours per week on it to have a steady stream. It'll give you enough to get a good mod on everything. Note I said "good mod" and not "god" mod.

Edit: A lot of us are hopeful for a favour system at some stage as FDev have said it'd be nice to trade faction rep to deciding specific mission rewards.

And minor rant over. Can't really criticize the title being long now after posting all that

 

[nanite2000]

By "wake up" I do not mean wake up and just smack the gopher holes with the nerf hammer and go back to bed. There is something wrong at a deeper level here. Data drops worth having are far too uncommon naturally and if you want CIF (which you most certainly do) you are going to have to go out of your way to get it. And basically every weapon mod worth having uses CIF. In some cases at grade 3 4 and 5 for multiple effects! And yet it is still uber rare through natural non grind gameplay. Before the Crack train became public transportation it seemed the only way to grab some was stacking data missions. Another exploit. Gee wow anyone seeing a pattern here? I don't like it. I don't imagine anyone else does too much either. There is too much gaming the system going on rather than playing the game. And you can hardly fault the players for wanting maximum gains for their time spent when the alternate option is so abysmally minimal in returns.

Not sure exactly what you're expecting here? It's a rare data material used in high grade engineering mods. Want more? Go looking for it!

I spent a few hours this weekend getting CIF. It's there (I got plenty), and there are resources available to help find it:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...List-and-Guide-for-Modified-Embedded-Firmware

I do think the solution is rather straight forward. Increase basic returns across the board. make it so that all but the highest credit giving missions always give out an additional something something. And for Data instead of 1 copy make it 3. As well start to phase out the now useless engineer commodities with more data rewards. I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers to this problem and since it's not my job it wouldn't matter if I did. But I can say for sure that if this barren data desert wasn't so barren and desert like than the cheaters oasis wouldn't be so tempting.

The problem with this 'solution' is that it just becomes an arms race. It may decrease the amount of time to acquire it, but it also increases the number of people who have it, making the mods less rare, and therefore less special.

This data type is rare for a reason - it's supposed to be hard to acquire, and forces you to prioritise your mods accordingly.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I dig it. It's like negotiating a contract. And all it would take is a slider menu.

Another solution I would have is to allow you to go to the Black market and pay a chap to copy your data once you have some to copy. Perhaps make the credit cost go up exorbantly with each subsequent copy made.

Y'know, a lot of these stupid crazy ideas of yours actually make decent bloody sense (most of the time anyway!).

I like this very much. +1.

Genius.
Yep. Hits my spot!
Also, how about coordinates on a planet for a huge material haul, like 20 tons of a rare good or data. That'll be cool

Woop…! it must be a good idea.

*Bows*

Now, is anyone from FD listening?

 

[Mathew of Tegalus]

None of this games issues can be fixed by patching anymore.

2.2 proved they can't check if they're new content breaks old stuff

2.2.03 proves it takes 5 months to patch mission payouts to even close to normal levels

This game needs to have its internals gutted, burned with fire, stabbed, burned at the stake, wrapped around a nuclear ICBM, burned again and drowned in liquid Iron.

Honestly though. The entirety of the mission system, and its accompanying reward system feels so backwards. Do you really think the rewards would be like that IRL if we lived in that universe? The entire games design path is fractured by some absolutely alien thought process and it drives me nuts. The only way we'll get anything that resembles a constant and sizeable improvement is a change in personnel, and we all know that isn't going to happen, thus we fight a lost cause.

Oh well, I guess I can still dream with my imagination.

 

[Morbad]

Frontier never expected people to grind for these as much as people are doing.

I'm not sure what else they could have expected.

I'm willing to take less than perfect rolls and it still takes 300-500 grade five rolls per ship to get most of them where I want them...and then another 50-100 when patches shift things around or I decide I need to change something.

 

[nanite2000]

I'm willing to take less than perfect rolls and it still takes 300-500 grade five rolls per ship to get most of them where I want them

The first half of that sentence directly contradicts the rest of the sentence.