Does anyone actually enjoy engineering?

GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
I'm sure everyone knows this already, but I recently discovered that you can now finish engineering at a different Engineer to where you started it.

So if you Engineered a Shield Booster to heavy duty Grade 3 at Lei Cheung, you can apple the grade 4 and 5 at Didi's without having to go back to Grade 1.

I'm as sure as I can be that it didn't used to be that way.
 

Factabulous

Factabulous
GreyAreaUK said:
I'm sure everyone knows this already, but I recently discovered that you can now finish engineering at a different Engineer to where you started it.

So if you Engineered a Shield Booster to heavy duty Grade 3 at Lei Cheung, you can apple the grade 4 and 5 at Didi's without having to go back to Grade 1.

I'm as sure as I can be that it didn't used to be that way.
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Been that way at least since they redid engineering. Probably before then as well...
 

GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
Factabulous said:
Been that way at least since they redid engineering. Probably before then as well...
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Yeah, I think it was probably changed when they implemented Remote Engineering. I'm almost completely certain that it used to be that if you Engineered a module at one engineer you had to remove it and start from scratch at a different one, even if it was the same type of upgrade.
 

ChrisF0001

C
So last night I finally got my Imperial rank to Duke. It was a little monotonous, sure, but not too bad.
Next is a few nights of VO mining to actually buy the cutter. I anticipate that being a little dull.
Then, oh yes, engineering the thing. I anticipate that will be loads of fun, and I can't wait!

This is not sarcasm. I'm actually looking forward to doing engineering and gathering the materials. Lots of variety, lots of different things to do and places to go, good things at the end, what's not to like?
 

[VR] scipio_77

[VR] scipio_77
I saw fairly early on that I would not enjoy the grind of engineering if I tried to push through it. So I decided that I wouldn't specifically grind it, but instead slowly accumulate what I needed when it was practical to do so and when I felt like it. I bring some collectors to fights, I do some surface gathering when exploring etc. I only do it when I feel like it.

It has taken a long time, nowhere close to the short time I see that some players can do it in. That's okay by me, they get rewarded for being more persistent.

So far, I don't have a fleet of fully engineered ships, but I have 2 fully engineered ones to specific tasks (Asp and FDL), 2 engineered to multi-purpose (Krait Mk II and Conda) and a smattering mid-engineered ones.

Comparing my experience to what I hear from others, I would say the engineering "grind" is fairly decently balanced when approached casually. You get enough mats over time to trade for what you need without stressing about it. There is still a a lot of "taxiing" when fitting experimentals, which feels akward and clunky though.
 

MPL3D

MPL3D
I guess I'm addicted to perform engineering upgrades to my ship, it is realiy pleasant to see how you maximize the balance and makes you think about the compromise of each possible option.
Amazingly adicctive to me.
 

Troopi

Troopi
I think Elite dangerous failed an amazing opportunity with the engineers. If they created modules with empty modification levels, obtained by mission or salvage exploration, (like a same kind of weapon with 1 to 5 empty slots for modifications - rarity factor!) and then allow engineers to reward players with one specific modification to it after one kind of mission, you would have more variety in the modifications, reduce the grind and increase the adventure factor.
Unless people still think that retrying missions to get an ultra-rare module would still be a grind... oh well... :unsure:
 

PavelKCZ

PavelKCZ
As a returning player, I must say that grinding the materials is not so hard as was couple of years ago. Now, there are missions with material rewards, there are those NPCs where it is possible to exchange one material for some other materials etc. But AFAIK there still is the stupid SRV riding and meteor shooting for elements.

But my main problem with the engineers (besides the problem that I cannot unlock engineers around Colonia when I am in Colonia) is different. This is so unrealistic. Just imagine that you want to tune your car, you go to some tuning company and they will say you "Of course, we can add 200 HPs to your motor. Just bring 100 kg of Chromium, 5x old calculator and some piece of legacy computer code crap. And yes, we make no warranty that the whole thing will work. If not, you will need another 100 kg of Chromium, 5x old calculator and another piece of bugged computer code..." :(
 

BlackSpaceCowboy

BlackSpaceCowboy
Troopi said:
I think Elite dangerous failed an amazing opportunity with the engineers. If they created modules with empty modification levels, obtained by mission or salvage exploration, (like a same kind of weapon with 1 to 5 empty slots for modifications - rarity factor!) and then allow engineers to reward players with one specific modification to it after one kind of mission, you would have more variety in the modifications, reduce the grind and increase the adventure factor.
Unless people still think that retrying missions to get an ultra-rare module would still be a grind... oh well... :unsure:
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You should just find engineered modules from ship debris. Either salvage or ships you destroy in combat. They should be rare and players should be able to sell them for credits in auction or sell entire ships in auction.

I'm talking about a Forza like system where people sell tuned cars.
 

BlackSpaceCowboy

BlackSpaceCowboy
Flying here and there to get to engineers or find some source of engineering materials involves a lot of flying around. A lot of real time is spent flying around just for an upgrade.

And that time spent flying around is not fun. I often feel like I played for 3 hours and have 5 minutes of actual fun.
 

babelfisch

babelfisch
BlackSpaceCowboy said:
Flying here and there to get to engineers or find some source of engineering materials involves a lot of flying around. A lot of real time is spent flying around just for an upgrade.

And that time spent flying around is not fun. I often feel like I played for 3 hours and have 5 minutes of actual fun.
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Just curious (and absolutely not meant as a derogatory comment), which activities / gameplay are actually fun to you?
 

WinterKing2112

WinterKing2112
BlackSpaceCowboy said:
Flying here and there to get to engineers or find some source of engineering materials involves a lot of flying around. A lot of real time is spent flying around just for an upgrade.

And that time spent flying around is not fun. I often feel like I played for 3 hours and have 5 minutes of actual fun.
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I think you're playing the wrong game. ED is a space sim, space is big, like really, really f@#$ing big, so it takes a long time to get from A to B, i.e. lots and lots of flying around! 🤣
 

WinterKing2112

WinterKing2112
Bill Clement said:
Serious question. I don't mean 'do you enjoy having an engineered ship' or 'do you enjoy trying out different engineering modifications', I mean do you actually enjoy the process, the things that you do to get to that engineered module?

Acquiring vast amounts of materials, trading them when (inevitably) you don't have the one you want, at a massive loss, getting a series of lousy rolls that eat all your mats before you complete the mod you're aiming for?

I read posters on here stating that they've engineered whole fleets of ships in next to no time. I believe them- why wouldn't they tell the truth?- but I'm not enjoying anything like the same rate of progress. I decided to fully engineer my mission runner, an 'A' rated Python, back in November. I'd been tinkering with it for a while, I had what I thought was a huge amount of materials stockpiled and I'd unlocked a few engineers. I gave up half way through December and, in spite of having a whole week off at the end of the month, I didn't even flash Elite up. I just couldn't face it any more.

For most of the last four years I've put in a couple of hours a night, two or three times a week. Not exactly a power player, but not 'casual' either. Now I'm watching ED videos instead of playing- what kind of saddo does that? :eek: It's over a fortnight since I last played and I don't have any particular urge to change that.

Each completed mod has been a revelation. The Python is transformed. I really can't express how much of a difference the engineering makes- it's vastly more than finally installing 'A' class modules when I started the game.

But that's just hacking me off. It's painfully obvious just how pants stock ships are compared to engineered ones. I've got a whole fleet of vanilla ships that are a real struggle to just survive in. I don't mind running away every now and then, but the AI is balanced against much tougher kit than I'm flying. I can see where the 'git gud' crowd are coming from- my partly engineered Python is just melting AI opponents! But I'm about as 'gud' as I'm going to 'git', my fleet needs a ton of work and yeGodsinHeaven I'm burned out just getting one of them up to scratch!

I'd love to try out some of the newer ships, but I know that stock, even 'A' rated, they'll be easy pickings for dumb as a brick AI with ridiculously strong weapons and shields. It's not about skill, or lack thereof, the game's set-up is suffering from power creep. I wouldn't object to that, if engineering to the new standard wasn't such a massive pain in the posterior for me.

Am I looking at this all wrong? Is engineering actually a fun activity that I'm just not 'getting'? [uhh]
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I'm having a ball! Unlocked Auntie Felicity last night, upgraded my FSD so the trip back home is 5 jumps instead of 8, pretty good considering I only had enough mats to upgrade to G2! So I'm heading back to home base, will transfer to Porkchop (my annie), upgrade his FSD then go back to Auntie Felicity to upgrade his thrusters 'cos ol' Porkchop flies like a fat ol' hog!! 😀
 

CMDR Slee Piboi

CMDR Slee Piboi
IMO the engineers "gameplay" should really be just the unlocks. I can withstand the tediousness of meeting the requirements once but going back just to stamp an experimental on a new module, or going for that other upgrade since you could only pin one, that's the type of completely artificial busywork which drives me insane. I've done your fetch quest, now just let me access each and every one of your upgrades, including experimentals, remotely, thank you very much!

I'm now on my second account at the point where I got an A-rated Mur-de-Lance for running local errands, and I would be completely satisfied staying that way if it weren't for the rest of the entire galaxy flying grade 5 metabois. I still say by far the best route of action would be to murder the engineers.
 

Blasphemous One

Blasphemous One
I like the outcome not the process, its grindy because its not initiative, heavy reliance on repetitive mat gathering burns you out quick, i just hope upcoming player base , fleet carriers don't end up same way, where in order to unlock x part you have to grind away, we already saw that in technology broker.
 

Navigare Necesse Est

Navigare Necesse Est
You see, I just dont want to waste money for game updates I never get to see because they are behind some ludicrous grindwall. That is better handled in F2P games with mtx. Like Warframe e.g. And while Warframe is grindy too, it doesn't even come close to the experience had in ED.
 

Brrokk

Brrokk
Dirtbird said:
Perhaps I'm the crazy one but I actually enjoyed the old random boink boink sliders engineering. The new engineering is boring.
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I'm with you. It was fun to think, "What amazing upgrade will I get?" The trouble is, there has to be a maximum to the allowed stats range, and other players come along saying, "I must have the max, and I want it now without having to engage in long game activity".
 
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