Does anyone actually enjoy engineering?

[[VR] M4st0d0n]

Just gone all the way to Merope to get some meta-alloy to bribe Felicity Farseer with. Got shot at by some thargoids (never met one before and was somewhat surprised by just how aggro they were!) and just found a dead thargoid barnacle. Having fun with the meta-alloy hunt, hoping to find some soon! If it was not for engineering I would not have come out all this way, and would probably never have seen a barnacle or got shot at by some real live thargoids! If I can find the meta-alloy I'm going to engineer all my FSD's, including the one in my FDL, which currently can't jump further than a one-legged octogenarian! Does that answer your question?

You can find meta alloys at station markets like Darnielle progress in Maia.

Or just filter galmap with the civilisation filter and search for green thargoid systems. They will contain thargoid structures like the barnacles and bases, where you can shoot stuff for meta-alloy.

 

[Red_Beard_98]

I haven't read this whole thread, just skimmed through so what I have to add may be repetitive but hey, it's just my opinion.

I personally like engineering and the process around it. Unlocking engineers forces you out of your comfort zone to take part in activities and experience certain play styles you may not have otherwise tried. For me I had never attempted smuggling until I had to for the Dweller unlock. I had never tried mining until I had to for an engineer. In my opinion, it's a good way of introducing players to the different features the game has to offer. You do something, there is a reward involved (unlocking the engineer), then if you liked it you can keep doing it but if you didn't enjoy it then you never have to do it again. Certain ones that require X amount of rare goods can feel a little grindy but it really doesn't take long to complete those. I found that I really enjoyed mining and continue to do that but smuggling isn't really my thing; I'm glad I tried it though so I know from experience that I don't want to do it.

As for the material gathering process, this doesn't have to be the grind a lot of people make it out to be. Just throw some collectors into your bounty hunting/combat zone ship and you'll have more materials than you'll need in no time. Some of the high grade ones can be a bit tricky but I just scan for HGE's in every system as I do other activities. Also stop at some Encoded signals to gather data. There's also material rewards for most missions so I grab those whenever I need them. Then hit a material trader if there are things you lack but have others in abundance. There's not much that this game forces you to grind, it's the player who decides to make it a grind. At the end of everything, you get some pretty awesome ships.

 

[CLG 6]

I enjoy the grind aspect of the game and engineering is a part of that. I'm very glad engineering is in the game.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I enjoy theorycrafting my ship, and trying to make them a reality, but I've recently been struggling to find the G5 manufactured, in large numbers, I need to finish most of my projects off.
Which is annoying, because in PvP, that makes a huge difference.

If encoded and manufactured were as reliable as elements, I'd have zero problems with Engineering really.

But a nice Qol would be to have a 2-3 G1 Engineers dotted around the bubble with access to every single modifications, but only for G1. Just so I don't have to fly to each engineer to apply various special effects.

 

[znôrt]

I enjoy theorycrafting my ship, and trying to make them a reality, but I've recently been struggling to find the G5 manufactured, in large numbers, I need to finish most of my projects off.

you could theorycraft to your heart's content and then buy the modifications in outfitting for credits, like you do with modules.

why those qol? there is really no other point for engineers and materials to exist except to inflate gaming hours by coercing grind. same goes for the insane boosts that rendered an already precarious balance just nonsensical. who would resist?

 

[Commander Nicholas Jameson]

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? 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]

Yes. I do. And I know this is an unpopular opinion.

Engineering has got me to explore the corners of the game I would otherwise have lacked the motivation to tackle. Some of them I've not come back to, but others are things that I've learned to enjoy.

Now, I don't mind if I can't iinstantly have the best spaceship in the galaxy -- I'm happy to build things up slowly. But by and large, engineering makes me drop into signal sources I might not otherwise explore, go mining if I might not otherwise do it, spend time on planetary surfaces that I might otherwise fly past. As frustrating as it is, sometimes, not to have the item one needs, on the whole engineering has extended the life of the game for me.

Heck -- it might even encourage me to take a trip out to Colonia, which otherwise fills me with dread!

N

 

[GraphiteGB]

Doing the tasks to unlock the engineer the first time....
Yes fun as you have to figure out which web site worked best to find the items they want and then fly there to get them... See NEW systems and locations you may never have gone to... yes thats was fun... ( Palin excluded. that was just complete garbage, jump 5000Ly and then self destruct ship to avoid the boring return trip )

Data and Manufactured items are still fun as you can go and blow up stuff to get these grade 5 items...
Raw items were fun for first ship but that SRV became MIND NUMBING BORING as is the fact that the gun turret on the SRV has no radar screen ...
For surface items that are just loose on the planet thats not an issue you can just send collector limpets on a mass suiside run and get items ... but for POI raw sites the SRV is currently a forced usage a long with the garbage turret sytem...

I am working on a system to see if theres a way to use "Just" ship weapons to release items and then collectors limpets, to remove the SRV use completely...
This will make the need for SRV redundant...
You CAN collect items from SOME planets with out SRV with a low death rate of collectors around 33% other planets kill them to quickly only 1 - 20 make it back then...

 

[PaxtonNewt]

I've gotten one blue print for my fsd which it's half complete. I need phosphorus but never get round to finding it. I find the engineering tedious.. enjoying mining to much to worry about tweaking engines etc...

 

[Brrokk]

I've gotten one blue print for my fsd which it's half complete. I need phosphorus but never get round to finding it. I find the engineering tedious.. enjoying mining to much to worry about tweaking engines etc...

If you enjoy mining you've probably got tons of phosphorus.

 

[znôrt]

I've gotten one blue print for my fsd which it's half complete. I need phosphorus but never get round to finding it. I find the engineering tedious.. enjoying mining to much to worry about tweaking engines etc...

besides mining, phosphorus is really abundant on many landable planets. just driving around admiring the landscape and shooting any rocks you come by will yield more than enough. also, it's low tier so you can get a lot from any material trader.

 

[CLG 6]

I enjoy theorycrafting my ship, and trying to make them a reality, but I've recently been struggling to find the G5 manufactured, in large numbers, I need to finish most of my projects off.
Which is annoying, because in PvP, that makes a huge difference.

If encoded and manufactured were as reliable as elements, I'd have zero problems with Engineering really.

But a nice Qol would be to have a 2-3 G1 Engineers dotted around the bubble with access to every single modifications, but only for G1. Just so I don't have to fly to each engineer to apply various special effects.

I'm no expert but have you tried mission rewards?

 

[GraphiteGB]

I'm no expert but have you tried mission rewards?

That works when your allied with factions at the station, if your not allied then its having to unlock the higher tier station missions that becomes the issues...
Doing that to get allied first with every faction at the station could be a grind ... once allied data and manufactures grade 5 items are easy to get as mission rewards but those mssions may be activity that ithers will not want to do like killing 5 dolphin transports which get you wanted...

 

[Brrokk]

That works when your allied with factions at the station, if your not allied then its having to unlock the higher tier station missions that becomes the issues...
Doing that to get allied first with every faction at the station could be a grind ... once allied data and manufactures grade 5 items are easy to get as mission rewards but those mssions may be activity that ithers will not want to do like killing 5 dolphin transports which get you wanted...

Pick your system too. Once you're allied in an extraction system there will be well-paid one-jump delivery missions offering 5 MEF, biotechs or exquisites. Profits can be very nice when it's in boom.

Getting allied can take some time, but if you've played much you're probably already allied in several places. For a new place it's almost any kind of gameplay to get allied; it's not really arduous.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

The grindiest thing I have had to do so far is getting that bloody brandy for Didi Vatermann. However, after the first couple of trips I decided to do a mission out of Lave station just to break up the grind. I did the mission and went on to dutifully pick up yet another 12 units of brandy for that alcoholic cow, sorry, I mean wonderful lady, and lo and behold, I could now buy 24 units! So for that unlock I would recommend running missions out of Lave station simultaneously with delivering the brandy, speeds things up no end and you make a few credits on the side

It's dependant on the state. Boom or something bestows more stuff of the good. Or you go with a couple of friends who buy their allotment and disperse for you to pickup outside.

But these single grindstones is not what I mean - it's the overall crapton of ingredient bloat dispersed in unprobability space to collect and invest into powercreep dispenser so we get to overcome that vanilla equipment has been nerfed down to the ground by having the sick OP stuff creep all over the environment.

 

[dxm55]

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? 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]

The reason why I waited a while before doing engineering was so that all the players before me would have gone through all that painful grind, and then find easy ways to find all that mats the easy way and then share it out.

So you see. Just like buying new tech on the bleeding edge, leave it for the early adopters to feel the pain.

Now, I know I can get rare encoded by visiting some abandoned settlement or some med sec sites, and then scanning the data point, relogging, rinse repeat.
Instead of tooling around the galaxy scanning crap like a madman and getting low yields in the process.

Ditto manufactured mats. Just do the same as the above. Pick up, relog, pick up more, relog ad nauseum.

Raw mats are the easiest. Though I find bounding along the rough surface of a planet nauseating after a while.


Don't get me wrong. I absolutely HATE grinding mats. But I love engineered ships. Especially how fast engineered FSDs get you around.
How engineered power modules allow you to stack powerful weaps and stuff without having to prioritize power.
How engineered frag cannons and beams tear your target a new a-hole.

It's all good fun. Too bad it comes with the un-fun prerequisite grind.
But thanks to all those who have grinded their hours, before me, and shared their tips, I have an easier time.

And that's just how I like it.
Much like fast-travel.

 

[Abysinth]

Perhaps I am in the minority, but I preferred the old system but only because we were not sure what we would get; I find the new system boring, dull and repetitive.

That said, I would like to see an addition to the current system:

either:
a] a button to allow me to fully eng. a single module as far as it will go based on the mats I have collected rather then click, click, clickety-click [yawn], possibly with an "are you sure Cmdr?" msg with a response from the eng. saying "we can get you as far as Lvl4, perhaps a little further"

or

b] selecting one or more like wpns and getting the eng. to upgrade them all in a round-robin type process until the mats ran out leaving me with, say, 3 beam all at efficient lvl 3.

Even if these 'quick-eng. btns were only at the engineers themselves and not available as part of remote eng.ing

 

[dxm55]

Oh one more thing I hate about engineering.

The complete randomness of how many times (and wasted mat) you would have to go through to engineer a module up one grade.
Why the randomness of half a circle, 3/4 of the circle, or a single lousy radian or percentage?

Why not just fully the engineer the thing one grade when you click it?
Absolutely horrible time/effort/material sink. Somebody must have woke up, and fell out, on the wrong side of their bed and faceplanted themselves on the floor the day he or she designed that feature.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

Yes. I do. And I know this is an unpopular opinion.

Engineering has got me to explore the corners of the game I would otherwise have lacked the motivation to tackle. Some of them I've not come back to, but others are things that I've learned to enjoy.

Now, I don't mind if I can't iinstantly have the best spaceship in the galaxy -- I'm happy to build things up slowly. But by and large, engineering makes me drop into signal sources I might not otherwise explore, go mining if I might not otherwise do it, spend time on planetary surfaces that I might otherwise fly past. As frustrating as it is, sometimes, not to have the item one needs, on the whole engineering has extended the life of the game for me.

Heck -- it might even encourage me to take a trip out to Colonia, which otherwise fills me with dread!

N

Yeah, the engineers are the badly marketed story mode of Elite.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

engineering could definitely be better and i think they jumped the shark with the actual effect of engineering............. but in general yes i enjoy it.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Perhaps I am in the minority, but I preferred the old system but only because we were not sure what we would get; I find the new system boring, dull and repetitive.

That said, I would like to see an addition to the current system:

either:
a] a button to allow me to fully eng. a single module as far as it will go based on the mats I have collected rather then click, click, clickety-click [yawn], possibly with an "are you sure Cmdr?" msg with a response from the eng. saying "we can get you as far as Lvl4, perhaps a little further"

or

b] selecting one or more like wpns and getting the eng. to upgrade them all in a round-robin type process until the mats ran out leaving me with, say, 3 beam all at efficient lvl 3.

Even if these 'quick-eng. btns were only at the engineers themselves and not available as part of remote eng.ing

We have a candidate for loot box mtx here.