"Credits to unlock engineers?" #2

As someone still fairly noobish compared to some here I would welcome the idea of using credits for Engineers. I can think of no better use for the credit earning aspects of the game, once a player is done ship purchasing.
 
GASP Actualy playing the game!, your right thats bad
You're playing the game regardless how they structure it.
i was trying to say how bad it used to be, allowing free access , to engineers could close the power gap
Why would you want to close the power gap? Why have more time at the wheel if you're going to be nerfed into mush?
 
Hell no, keep it.

Just in case you haven't experienced it, from extended bubble gameplay, assuming you don't just take screenshots and sandbox trade, you end up in a state of plenty for engineering mats without even trying. On one of my accounts, i recently combat multipurpose engineered a type 10, anaconda and cutter in sequence with nothing more than trips to the material trader and a few rounds of high grade usses to patch the difference (its the shield boosters that kills ya).

  • Teach people that you can't take on certain classes of ships above your ship until you're ready.
  • Teach people you can't take on ai difficulty until you're ready.
  • What are people doing about the rank grinds? It bends peoples brains that frontier left the daily limit off their daily quests. Its the same thing with engineering.
The only scope is frontier themselves have gone back on the no handholding approach. This might be interesting territory for them, because now they want to be noob friendly and come across as a little less edgy, they're going to have to either build real game systems for players to climb up with, or turn the ladder off. You can see what they've done in the last 6 months :)
 
the pvp vs pve,cargo, ships that gap, yes i think pvp should have an edge, but not to the point were if you dont spec everything to pvp you dont have a chance

If a cargo ship in ED can compete on equal footing to a combat ship then ED is STUPID!
When GUNS dont cut it, then you and your decision-making skills fill the void.
I have ships which are built to spec. i know what im doing when i take them out. If i get sunk, i learn from it.. and chalk it up as a good day.
 
If a cargo ship in ED can compete on equal footing to a combat ship then ED is STUPID!
i didnt say that , i said they need a chance instead of insta death , you want to know whats stupid, the gap between pvp ships and pve ships , why either NPCs need a buff or Engineers need a nerf
 
i didnt say that , i said they need a chance instead of insta death , you want to know whats stupid, the gap between pvp ships and pve ships , why either NPCs need a buff or Engineers need a nerf

Before engineers, Good PvP players with combat ships still sunk trade ships with bad pilots.
Agree that NPC pilots need a Buff.
There is a PvE private group, Im even a member, When i fancy company and can't be bothered with drama i load into that. I see as many people within it as i do open.
 
i didnt say that , i said they need a chance instead of insta death , you want to know whats stupid, the gap between pvp ships and pve ships , why either NPCs need a buff or Engineers need a nerf
The biggest gap between PvP ships and PvE ships is the skill of the pilot who has developed the ability to deal with human decisions instead of predictable AI patterns. For this reason PvP engineering takes into account what other people use, not what the pilot just prefers. There's no strength issues. People build to the point where they feel they can comfortably do the things they want. PvPers want to PvP.
 
Sorry, I didn't see any indication that you were going to be remaking it and were just (reasonably, in my opinion) avoiding unintended assumptions and accusations made on your behalf for having the gall to start such a thread.

I you want, I can add something more into the OP to help clarify. Feel free to send me a PM.

Cheers.
Fair enough, I should have made that clerarer, I'd misjudged whether there was still some debate in this. Having slept on it, I think there's 2 main issues. The first one is that a new player has no idea how their ship is going to feel after an engineering mod (good old lack of in game guidance). The current system almost pushes people to come and look at the forums because experimenting with which g4/g5 upgrade you want is far too expensive in mat costs (maybe this wouldn't be a problem if they were more common). Basically the system doesn't reward experimentation.

The unlocks are something I also think need looking at. I think they have it right with the basic access requirements (become friendly with the Empire to unlock an Empire supporting Engineer for example), however this has some of the same issues as being an Admiral and King in the navies at the same time. I can see unlocking The Sarge (cannons) and Broo Tarquin (lasers) being a bit of an immersion breaker for someone who wants to support Edmund Mahon in powerplay. Personally I don't care about the Alliance, but I do love Plasma Accelerators and I'll probably use them in Alliance space to cause trouble (thanks Bill Turner).

Perhaps the engineers could be faction in of themselves that you have to ally with first. There are too many rare goods runs for me.
 
Just some random thoughts, but: first off, I think the way the unlocks currently work is deliberate: it forces you to try certain gameplay aspects that you might not have tried otherwise (black market selling, mining etc). The ones I dislike are the bulk supply ones: 50 units of {rare} when you can only get 5 or 10 at a time. Those are just tedious.

That being said, I'd like Palin's unlock requirements to be a bit more interesting. My suggestion would be that instead of a straight 5,000ly trip you have to get first discovered (handed in to Palin) on a certain type of objects. So, say, first discovered on one each of all classes of gas giants, a Water World, an Ammonia World and an Earth-like.
 
What's the point? You're looking for credit sink? You unlock once and you're done. Using credits for mats would make more sense. Especially with all the stuff that tends not to work properly or noone can figure out on themselves.
 
My two cents: I think more power creep is the last thing Elite needs.

I would prefer to introduce new big money sinks instead which are mostly for fun and convenience, and not for a PvP advantage per se. I am thinking of base building and fleet carriers for example.
 
Feel free to continue the conversation from here without fear of the OP requesting the thread be locked. → https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/credits-to-unlock-engineers.511304/page-2#post-7782775

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Though it probably makes the most sense contextually in the game, using credits to unlock the Engineers would likely prove too difficult to balance for gameplay progression and be too easily abused.

That being said, as someone who prefers to play as an independent Commander in the Pilots Federation, I would definitely like to see some Engineer progression alternatives. Contextual gameplay isn't something that should be sacrificed to the soul crushing holy meta grind... at least when it doesn't have to be, to be able to still reasonably progress in the game. I'd hazard a guess that most people care to play this game for more than getting an "I win" sticker.

Cheers.
I would LOVE it if literally everything in the game was purchasable with in game credits, and then FD balance everything as they go on by changing the prices of stuff, and at teh same time keeping a real control of the reigns of credits in the game.
I know it takes a lot of flak - much of it justified - but i think this is what star citizen is trying to do.

this is far more realistic - in what universe could i not buy iron or sulphur with money, or get parts from ships - some of which are in the ship i am flying.

The only stuff not purchasable should be really rare context dependant stuff - thargoid hearts or very rare minerals etc - but in general, credits should make the world go round.

Sadly (imo) that ship has sailed. It would not work now because it would just mean anyone who exploited the game could get everything and those who didnt, cant. Also would force everyone to do the overpaid meta of the week even if it feels cheesy. The only way it could work would be if FD spent far more time balancing profits and also everyone being reset. it is just not going to happen. Materials are just the generic MMO trope of "new currency for new DLC".
 
Contextual gameplay isn't something that should be sacrificed to the soul crushing holy meta grind...

The whole system behind Engineers exists because there is no contextual gameplay around credits, because there is no actual economy or economic considerations.

Credits are just points in a game that's not keeping score.
 
The biggest gap between PvP ships and PvE ships is the skill of the pilot who has developed the ability to deal with human decisions instead of predictable AI patterns. For this reason PvP engineering takes into account what other people use, not what the pilot just prefers. There's no strength issues. People build to the point where they feel they can comfortably do the things they want. PvPers want to PvP.
this makes no sense imo.
Open is meant to be a mode for everyone, and is not meant to be PvP mode, and this is why FD allowing the PvP meta to be so overwhelmingly strong is terrible design. Sure, 1 answer is to just playin a PG and that is what i do, but it is a shame that i have to give up any chance of proper player piracy.

But allowing players to build ships so tergetted to just 1 thing PvP - so much so they cant even jump out of a system I do not see how anyone can defend that. From an ingame perspective there is NO PvP because there are no players there are PF members and PF non members and any differentiation is meant to be because we are part of the same faction and not meant to be so we can pew pew at will.

of course it is the players generally who fly these insane builds who shout the loudest for instant ship transfer - because silly meta builds are unable to actually be fit for purpose.

IF you truly believe the biggest gap is player skill and not meta builds then does that mean you feel an A rated vanilla vulture has even a remote chance against a G5 engineered A rated vulture? i would suggest even the most skilled pilot would have zero chance against even an average player in that scenario.
 
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Encouraging players to try different things is one thing. Forcing players to do otherwise contradictory things just to stay relevant and progress within the game by design is another, and in my opinion at least, more than a bit unfortunate.
 
Open is meant to be a mode for everyone, and is not meant to be PvP mode, and this is why FD allowing the PvP meta to be so overwhelmingly strong is terrible design. Sure, 1 answer is to just playin a PG and that is what i do, but it is a shame that i have to give up any chance of proper player piracy.

The PvP 'meta' is just a combat focus that has to deal with opponents who aren't intentionally hobbled.

But allowing players to build ships so tergetted to just 1 thing PvP - so much so they cant even jump out of a system I do not see how anyone can defend that.

The solution to that would be serious enough consequences for being shot down so that not being able to jump away would be an actual liability.

From an ingame perspective there is NO PvP because there are no players there are PF members and PF non members and any differentiation is meant to be because we are part of the same faction and not meant to be so we can pew pew at will.

The only reason my CMDR is still part of the Pilot's Federation is that they won't let him leave.

of course it is the players generally who fly these insane builds who shout the loudest for instant ship transfer - because silly meta builds are unable to actually be fit for purpose.

I min-max my builds with the best of them, and I'm not in favor of faster ship transfer. I want there to be more than tactical considerations to combat, including PvP. I want overarching strategy, logistics, and attrition to actually matter.
 
The whole system behind Engineers exists because there is no contextual gameplay around credits, because there is no actual economy or economic considerations.

Credits are just points in a game that's not keeping score.
this is definitely how the game has gone... it does not make it right however imo :(
un until fairly recently it was possible however to play the game in a manner which kept credits relevant - it has got harder and harder to do as the game went on - however it was not until 3.3 that it actually became impossible without chopping off what to me is an unacceptable amount of the game to play it where credits still mean something.
 
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