Does anyone actually enjoy engineering?

[zimms]

So just as the Thargoid thing hit Palin a week or so ago, I was reading on here about his G5 Dirty Drive engine mods. I checked and I had an invite. Just my luck. Never mind.

I have had the G3 mods on my ship (mainstay Python) forever.

So when I get home last night and receive a message from Palin that he’s open for business, I leap at the chance. I have a read about the sensor fragments I need, go out and get them. A doddle. Took about half an hour (including grabbing a few well directed screenies for my scrapbook).

Obviously having never been to him before I had no idea what mats were required. When I arrive I pay him his filthy lucre, now I’m able to sell him around 3,000,000cr worth of exploration data I had accrued the night before. To the engineers workshop I go.

I had enough mats to G5 (fully) my Python, pin the blueprint, get home and G5 another ship. Now, sure, I only just managed a second ship. I’m now out of one of the mats but it was so easy. No grind.

I guess, as has been said 100 times already, you can just collect these things as you go. You’re only going to run into problems if your sole interest is to never do anything but blow up ships and move onto the next target.

"You'll gather all the mats you'll ever need by simply playing the game" is really not very honest I think. It might be true for a few certain playstyles, but do tell me how many mats you actually gather in e.g. a combat zone? Or as a trader?

 

[[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos]

"You'll gather all the mats you'll ever need by simply playing the game" is really not very honest I think. It might be true for a few certain playstyles, but do tell me how many mats you actually gather in e.g. a combat zone? Or as a trader?

I don’t know about combat, I do very little of it. Trading however, you can earn mats as part of the rewards. Sure you may not find a cargo job offering the very specific mat you’re after but then you can accept the highest mat reward you can find (exactly like you do financially) then take them to a mat trader to get the ones you want.

No more of a grind than doing cargo jobs to save up for that new ship or 6A fuel scoop.

I must check how long I’ve owned this game, I keep saying it’s a year but it must be longer. In the first few months I only did cargo runs (and data transfers). With careful mission selection I was able to engineer some stuff before I’d even landed on a planet and I’ve never once (ever) done any mining.

I accept it is harder if you only combat but then it’s hard to rank up in combat if you only explore or trade. This are the decisions we have to make.

 

[Ethaidan]

UNLOCKING some Engineers is one of the most tedious things in the game. This is why I've decided that if I ever want a fresh start, I'll fly all my ships one by one into the sun (or a level 9 USS) and destroy them all like Tony Stark's suits in Iron Man 3, before I ever click "Clear Save". This is another reason for me to stay on the Playstation platform, LOL.

All the hyperbolic engineering threads momentarily gave me some nerves when I started an alt. I enjoyed all the exploring, learning, etc. the first time round - tbf, I started working towards unlocking engineers as soon as I sold my sidewinder, so I did it while learning about everything else and it fit in quite nicely.

The second time round, it was a piece of p***. I stacked all sorts of unlock tasks, and it flew by. I unlocked and maxed Zach, Selene, Didi and Marco in one short play session. Then the Thargoids attacked!

 

[Urbanski101]

The second time round, it was a piece of p***. I stacked all sorts of unlock tasks, and it flew by. I unlocked and maxed Zach, Selene, Didi and Marco in one short play session. Then the Thargoids attacked!

Did you enjoy it, was it fun?

The line "and it flew by" suggests something unpleasant or boring you have to get through rather than something you actually enjoyed.

I've put off many of these engineer unlocks for years, not because they are difficult but because they are boring and unimaginative and quickly kill my enjoyment of the game. I also (probably unreasonably) feel I'm being trolled by FD, "dance little monkey, dance" sort of thing. Some of the unlocks like gaining rep with a faction is fine, you're just running missions as you would anywhere else but this rares shopping list stuff is just awful. Still I only have to do it once....thankfully.

 

[Ethaidan]

Did you enjoy it, was it fun?

The line "and it flew by" suggests something unpleasant or boring you have to get through rather than something you actually enjoyed.

I've put off many of these engineer unlocks for years, not because they are difficult but because they are boring and unimaginative and quickly kill my enjoyment of the game. I also (probably unreasonably) feel I'm being trolled by FD, "dance little monkey, dance" sort of thing. Some of the unlocks like gaining rep with a faction is fine, you're just running missions as you would anywhere else but this rares shopping list stuff is just awful. Still I only have to do it once....thankfully.

I did. I had a fresh Cmdr with a new purpose, based myself in a new region of space, tried ships I had never flown before, and got with playing the game - with all the knowledge to ease through it while enjoying the early stage challenges. I look forward to visiting guardian sites and playing around there.

 

[Urbanski101]

I did. I had a fresh Cmdr with a new purpose, based myself in a new region of space, tried ships I had never flown before, and got with playing the game - with all the knowledge to ease through it while enjoying the early stage challenges. I look forward to visiting guardian sites and playing around there.

Ok...well, good for you.

 

[Old Duck]

I've put off many of these engineer unlocks for years, not because they are difficult but because they are boring and unimaginative and quickly kill my enjoyment of the game.

This is my problem with the unlocks as well. Thing is, it would have been easy for Frontier to give us true challenges instead of grind. For example, instead of having to make a dozen boring trips hauling tea, have us get just one ton of this rare tea but have it sold on the surface station located on a 5G (give or take) world. The challenge is landing your ship without smashing into the ground! This unlock would require actual skill and planning rather than grind.

But as boring as the current system is, at least once it's done, it's done.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

This is my problem with the unlocks as well. Thing is, it would have been easy for Frontier to give us true challenges instead of grind. For example, instead of having to make a dozen boring trips hauling tea, have us get just one ton of this rare tea but have it sold on the surface station located on a 5G (give or take) world. The challenge is landing your ship without smashing into the ground! This unlock would require actual skill and planning rather than grind.

But as boring as the current system is, at least once it's done, it's done.

The grind IS the challenge. I just don't accept every challenge.