Dear FDev -- I'm *lovin'* this new mat-rich universe! So, thanks! But...(there's always a "but"!)
Hi, I'm Camisade, and I'm a mat-aholic. <pauses for courteous (and expected!) group response> ...Because I'm a compulsive ship-tuning geek, I'm a heavy mat user. Some might say, mat abuser...
And finding the mats I needed to satisfy my engineering jones has always required nasty, laborious, mat grinding -- which sometimes felt a bit like snipe hunting, only less fun ...and all too often less likely to be successful, especially for those certain, highly elusive mats -- usually the ones I wanted most.
In fact, it wasn't that long ago that I considered myself "mat rich" if I had more than 20-30 of each G4-raw (or G5-manufactured) material.
Now I'm beginning to feel like my balance is "low" when I have less than 50 of any single one, and I really like to be bumping right up against 100 or 150 mat limit! [yesnod]
...and I don't even have that much engineering left on the agenda!
For the first time, this galaxy actually feels like an abundant one, as it should. I appreciate that!
But if I have a complaint (and I believe the inclusion of at least one complaint is obligatory in these forums, isn't it?), it's that in delivering a MUCH improved experience when it comes to finding high-grade mats (between FSS investigation and the DSS's ability to find great mat-slurping locations on planets), its that you've totally snarfed up the good mid-grade mat USSs, specifically the "Combat Aftermath" USS's.
Those are now rubbish. I'm not sure whose bright idea it was to turn those into CA locations into instances having nothing more than some ship hanging around just to task a pilot with finding a data package or salvage item that's NEVER worth hunting (to my knowledge -- I'll be happy to be proven wrong). But I think that idea, which I believe to be the game designer equivalent of looking at something with beer goggles on, should have been looked at in that morning-after light of day. Because, to continue the metaphor, that idea was coyote ugly.
So, unless the implementation is still in some half- implementation stage, the Combat Aftermath USS's are pretty much rubbish now. Even more rubbish than the Degraded Emissions USS's, which were pretty much the poster children for waste-of-time content, before this update.
And, yes, I know that the ease of finding HGEs and using material traders can certainly plump up your mid-grade mat supplies. But there was an efficient elegance to dropping in on CA USS's as you flew around doing other things that we've lost.
But the rest is dang nice -- a huge improvement, other than this one small wart on the supermodel face of this content update.
<sits down>
Hi, I'm Camisade, and I'm a mat-aholic. <pauses for courteous (and expected!) group response> ...Because I'm a compulsive ship-tuning geek, I'm a heavy mat user. Some might say, mat abuser...
And finding the mats I needed to satisfy my engineering jones has always required nasty, laborious, mat grinding -- which sometimes felt a bit like snipe hunting, only less fun ...and all too often less likely to be successful, especially for those certain, highly elusive mats -- usually the ones I wanted most.
In fact, it wasn't that long ago that I considered myself "mat rich" if I had more than 20-30 of each G4-raw (or G5-manufactured) material.
Now I'm beginning to feel like my balance is "low" when I have less than 50 of any single one, and I really like to be bumping right up against 100 or 150 mat limit! [yesnod]
...and I don't even have that much engineering left on the agenda!
For the first time, this galaxy actually feels like an abundant one, as it should. I appreciate that!
But if I have a complaint (and I believe the inclusion of at least one complaint is obligatory in these forums, isn't it?), it's that in delivering a MUCH improved experience when it comes to finding high-grade mats (between FSS investigation and the DSS's ability to find great mat-slurping locations on planets), its that you've totally snarfed up the good mid-grade mat USSs, specifically the "Combat Aftermath" USS's.
Those are now rubbish. I'm not sure whose bright idea it was to turn those into CA locations into instances having nothing more than some ship hanging around just to task a pilot with finding a data package or salvage item that's NEVER worth hunting (to my knowledge -- I'll be happy to be proven wrong). But I think that idea, which I believe to be the game designer equivalent of looking at something with beer goggles on, should have been looked at in that morning-after light of day. Because, to continue the metaphor, that idea was coyote ugly.
So, unless the implementation is still in some half- implementation stage, the Combat Aftermath USS's are pretty much rubbish now. Even more rubbish than the Degraded Emissions USS's, which were pretty much the poster children for waste-of-time content, before this update.
And, yes, I know that the ease of finding HGEs and using material traders can certainly plump up your mid-grade mat supplies. But there was an efficient elegance to dropping in on CA USS's as you flew around doing other things that we've lost.
But the rest is dang nice -- a huge improvement, other than this one small wart on the supermodel face of this content update.
<sits down>
