News Content Recap: Beyond - Chapter Four Livestream - Mining and Squadrons

[Leon Markus]

Why should the fee be set to disadvantage new players?

.... to make it "fair", one approach would be to take the same proportion of the creator's wealth....

This response confuses me a bit, since new players shouldn't be the ones creating squadrons, but joining them (which by default is free, from what FDev has told us.) The burden is also on the Squadron leader to provide the 100 Million. Nonetheless, I believe 50 Million - 200 Million would be appropriate payment for establishing a 500-Player Squadron, and then scaling the costs if FDev lowers the player size and lets you pay more to 'Expand' the number of player slots.

 

[Robert Maynard]

This response confuses me a bit, since new players shouldn't be the ones creating squadrons, but joining them (which by default is free, from what FDev has told us.)

Why should new players not be able to create a Squadron?

 

[wstephenson]

There has to be a fee to deter the misuse of squadron names for trolling. Imagine the number of variations on 'SDC sucks' that would come up over the course of an evening's PVP.

@Leon my suggestion is that existing members will have to work together to pay to increase the maximum size of the squadron, not new members.

 

[Leon Markus]

Why should new players not be able to create a Squadron?

Squadrons, as it has been shown, in my opinion is a feature geared towards those who have some kind of community within the game, have a PMF that they want to organize around, or are running some kind of larger group/event not tied into PowerPlay/BGS (Fuel Rats, Mining, Racing, etc.).

When new players enter the game, should they be immediately concerned about being in charge of their own Squadron? No, of course not. They have a lot of stuff to learn, and the ideal place for them to be is joining another squadron where they'd be able to enter an existing community before striking out on their own.

 

[Robert Maynard]

There has to be a fee to deter the misuse of squadron names for trolling. Imagine the number of variations on 'SDC sucks' that would come up over the course of an evening's PVP.

.... and, given some of the astronomical bank balances of some players, that fee cannot be set high enough to stop trolling while, at the same time, allowing most players to create a Squadron.

 

[Robert Maynard]

Squadrons, as it has been shown, in my opinion is a feature geared towards those who have some kind of community within the game, have a PMF that they want to organize around, or are running some kind of larger group/event not tied into PowerPlay/BGS (Fuel Rats, Mining, Racing, etc.).

When new players enter the game, should they be immediately concerned about being in charge of their own Squadron? No, of course not. They have a lot of stuff to learn, and the ideal place for them to be is joining another squadron where they'd be able to enter an existing community before striking out on their own.

Opinions naturally vary regarding who should, or should not, be able to engage in particular activities.

New players may well be familiar with guild/clan/corporation management, just not in this game - and might enjoy learning together, in their own Squadron, rather than joining an existing one.

 

[Leon Markus]

.... and, given some of the astronomical bank balances of some players, that fee cannot be set high enough to stop trolling while, at the same time, allowing most players to create a Squadron.

Part of me wants to believe that the time it takes to accumulate 50-100 Million (current proposed cost of creating Squadron) and then trolling with a Squadron name takes far more time than the moderation team would need to be able to delete their Squadron. Ideally, repeat offenders would just get banned from making Squadrons, which would completely shut down their trolling.

 

[Robert Maynard]

Part of me wants to believe that the time it takes to accumulate 50-100 Million (current proposed cost of creating Squadron) and then trolling with a Squadron name takes far more time than the moderation team would need to be able to delete their Squadron. Ideally, repeat offenders would just get banned from making Squadrons, which would completely shut down their trolling.

Not seeing where Frontier have proposed 50-100M Cr. - the OP states 10M Cr.

 

[Leon Markus]

Opinions naturally vary regarding who should, or should not, be able to engage in particular activities.

New players may well be familiar with guild/clan/corporation management, just not in this game - and might enjoy learning together, in their own Squadron, rather than joining an existing one.

This is very possible, but still it should be prioritized in favor of the existing playerbase vs. the new joiners. I would far rather see a small list of Squadrons filled with player sizes ranging from 10 all the way to 500, then having 10,000+ Single-player Squadrons.

Not seeing where Frontier have proposed 50-100M Cr. - the OP states 10M Cr.

OP states 10 Million, I and a few of the more recent people on here suggest raising it between 50 Million to 200 Million to encourage late-game Squadron leadership. 10 Million still takes some time to get, but is incredibly easy late-game and lowers the barrier to this trolling possibility.

 

[Robert Maynard]

This is very possible, but still it should be prioritized in favor of the existing playerbase vs. the new joiners. I would far rather see a small list of Squadrons filled with player sizes ranging from 10 all the way to 500, then having 10,000+ Single-player Squadrons.

Opinions vary on how many Squadrons there should be too. Theoretically, similar to Private Groups, there could be as many Squadrons as players - it'll be up to the player-base to decide.

OP states 10 Million, I and a few of the more recent people on here suggest raising it between 50 Million to 200 Million to encourage late-game Squadron leadership. 10 Million still takes some time to get, but is incredibly easy late-game and lowers the barrier to this trolling possibility.

I saw the player suggestions - was wondering if Frontier had shifted from their initial 10M Cr. price. I don't expect that the price will rise too much, if it does increase.

 

[rootsrat]

Why should new players not be able to create a Squadron?

1. Because we will have 1000s of Squadrons with silly names with 1 members inside (yes, muh imershun). The appropriately high founding fee would be at least some way to prevent this.
2. Because then it would be a goal to work towards in game.

 

[Leon Markus]

Opinions vary on how many Squadrons there should be too. Theoretically, similar to Private Groups, there could be as many Squadrons as players - it'll be up to the player-base to decide.

I'd really not like to have a list of 100,000+ Squadrons. My ideal is less than 10,000, maybe more than 1,000 Squadrons that get established after this launches. 1,000 Squadrons is a very large number to go off of, because at that size you're talking about being able to hold up to 500,000 players within just those alone.

 

[Robert Maynard]

Because we will have 1000s of Squadrons with silly names with 1 members inside (yes, muh imershun). The appropriately high founding fee would be at least some way to prevent this.

We will have them anyway - there are very probably lots of CMDRs (not necessarily even main accounts) who could drop 100M Cr. on a Squadron for funzies....

Several hundred million in assets is quite easy to accumulate now - not that many hours of gameplay - and alt-CMDRs were only £16 in the most recent sale.

 

[Robert Maynard]

I'd really not like to have a list of 100,000+ Squadrons. My ideal is less than 10,000, maybe more than 1,000 Squadrons that get established after this launches. 1,000 Squadrons is a very large number to go off of, because at that size you're talking about being able to hold up to 500,000 players within just those alone.

It's a large number - however, with over 3.25M franchise units sold, who knows how many players will choose to create a Squadron....?

 

[rootsrat]

We will have them anyway - there are very probably lots of CMDRs (not necessarily even main accounts) who could drop 100M Cr. on a Squadron for funzies....

Several hundred million in assets is quite easy to accumulate now - not that many hours of gameplay - and alt-CMDRs were only £16 in the most recent sale.

That's why said that even 100m seems a bit low to me.

(I have also added another reason - a goal to work towards in game)

 

[Leon Markus]

It's a large number - however, with over 3.25M franchise units sold, who knows how many players will choose to create a Squadron....?

It's a lot of potential people that could make them, and yeah not everyone will want to. More reason to raise barrier-of-entry cost to being a Squadron leader to justify creation of a Squadron and keep the number low. Lumping in the previous Convo:

If 1,000 CMDR's created Squadrons and it costed 10M apiece, that's 10 Billion.

If it costed 50 Million for Squadron creation, that's 50 Billion.

If it costed 100 Million for creation that's 100 Billion. And that's just assuming it's only 1,000 CMDR's creating Squadrons.


The higher the cost to entry, the more uncommon Squadron creation becomes, the larger that Squadrons will become until CMDR's are financially and mechanically set to create their own Squadron down the line. I'd much rather that the CMDR feels that they've earned getting the Squadron created than it being something you can do if you feel like it.

 

[Winterwalker]

10Mcr doesn't seem unreasonable price point to me. As Robert says there are plenty of people who could afford this 100 times over just as there are some for whom it will be a lot, versus that new prismatic or whatever. I think it's good there is a charge, as that should dampen squad creation just a bit. Making you think - at least once - before committing to create.

 

[rootsrat]

Sorry for double post, but just thinking - maybe Squadron can only be created by a player with at least 1 Elite rank...?

 

[who?]

Sorry for double post, but just thinking - maybe Squadron can only be created by a player with at least 1 Elite rank...?

[Board meltdown in 3...2...1...]

 

[Robert Maynard]

Exclusivity through making Squadron creation arbitrarily expensive would only favour existing players with significant assets.

Requiring one elite rank is also seeking exclusivity through time played.

I very much doubt that Frontier would want to place these barriers to gameplay in the way of one of the significant additions to the game in Chapter 4.

.... hence the 10M Cr. initially pitched Squadron creation price.