I don't understand what you are on about. I can buy anything, anywhere with credits, assuming the "store" has the items I want (Guardian tech notwithstanding). I can buy fuel, hire an NPC to pilot an SLF, buy ships, weapons, even tea! Where did you ever get this, "credits are only good inside the Pilot's Federation" idea of yours?
I don't understand what you are on about. I can buy anything, anywhere with credits, assuming the "store" has the items I want (Guardian tech notwithstanding). I can buy fuel, hire an NPC to pilot an SLF, buy ships, weapons, even tea! Where did you ever get this, "credits are only good inside the Pilot's Federation" idea of yours?
Credits aren't evil, but they are a single point of failure, without an upper bound. It just takes one credit fountain for credits to become a meaningless tool. We're already pretty much at that point now.
Engineering has two things:
1. A variety of unlock mechanics requires all players to at least dabble for a short time in all the possible game mechanics.
2. A capped storage requires regular game-play in a variety of tasks in order to do the engineering.
What you're suggesting is essentially just adding more items to outfitting. Frontier trialled this during the early beta phase and decided against it. Presumably because what we have has at least added some game-play elements, albeit somewhat artificially.
Engineering has two things:
1. A variety of unlock mechanics requires all players to at least dabble for a short time in all the possible game mechanics.
2. A capped storage requires regular game-play in a variety of tasks in order to do the engineering.
What you're suggesting is essentially just adding more items to outfitting. Frontier trialled this during the early beta phase and decided against it. Presumably because what we have has at least added some game-play elements, albeit somewhat artificially.
And then there's the Shield Emitters.
Do I really want to use Shield Emitters from a ship that clearly didn't have an especially good shield?
Yeah, but, that's life, at least in a capitalist society (which ED seems to be). As for "more items to outfitting", not exactly. Arms Dealers would be unique corporations that require "unlocking" and visiting their bases, just like Engineers. Once I land at "Stark Industries", then I would get an advanced outfitting screen that would let me first chose a weapon of a specific class (perhaps Tony Stark specializes in lasers and armor), and then subsequent customization screens that let you chose if it's a long-range laser or an efficient laser, and then give a purchasable perk like thermal vent.
Now I would be okay if Mr. Stark sees me as a first-time buyer and says, "You're not ready for a grade 5 weapon just yet. Let's see what you can do with this grade 1 weapon, and come back to me when you're proficient with it." This would be similar to unlocking weapon perks in many FPS games. It would also be exactly what Mr. Stark would do - Spiderman had to prove himself before he was given the "Iron Spider" suit.
Stations all have contracts with the Pilot's Federation to take credits for fuel, ammo, deeds to ships, factory-grade weapons, and haulage consignments.
And don't get me started on Didi 'Off Her Face' Vaderman. Have you seen how much Lavian Brandy she gets through? No way in hell is she touching my ship until she's dried out.
Not to be difficult but you know when travelling on a Jet powered aeroplane? Those huge fan blades at the front of the engine? Every one of them are slightly different. They are built within tolerance levels when compared to a master blade. Standard practice in much of engineering.
I don't think the guys at G.E., Pratt and Whitney and Rolls Royce would take too kindly to being called "after market mechanics"
Do we? Do you think Hera smokes 50 tons of cigars all at once too?
Did this come to you in a dream, or do you have a credible source? And are you telling me that Engineers somehow can't trade in credits, whereas the black markets can? What about these secretive NPCs who arrange meetings in the deep of space? If this is official lore, then it has as many holes in it as the rock I needed to break to get common iron.
The Dweller is the only Engineer that takes credits iirc. Row, row, row your boat, baby.
I fully agree with the OP, there is a lack of logic and "realism" on the whole engineer concept. Frankly speaking, the only thing that I like about engineers is the modded modules. The resulting variation of characteristics can make ship building a game of its own. Too bad I'm hindered by the periodical material gather (I'm not the guy who will tell you "you will gather the materials by playing the game how you like"). Periodically, I grind using all the tricks and shortcuts in the game (crashed ships, missions, barnacles, brain trees, installations, you name it) and renew my stash of materials. The actual game is, for me, between those gatherings. Imagine living on an island without electricity and, in order to play some game on your computer, you have to pedal to recharge the batteries: that's material gathering for me.
Not to mention the cringe-worthy blueprints or recipes... Someone at Frontier probably just discovered Mendeleev's table and said: "Problem solved!". The game could've been way more interesting with an actual logic construction: rare, I mean rare materials to be discovered on planes or asteroids, parts to be bought, ordered or fabricated and the whole thing going somewhere to your secret base where you modify your ships... Just a thought.
Not to mention the cringe-worthy blueprints or recipes... Someone at Frontier probably just discovered Mendeleev's table and said: "Problem solved!". The game could've been way more interesting with an actual logic construction: rare, I mean rare materials to be discovered on planes or asteroids, parts to be bought, ordered or fabricated and the whole thing going somewhere to your secret base where you modify your ships... Just a thought.
Me too! I actually enjoy going to the engineer base and tweaking my ship (I pretend engineer bases are actually Maker Spaces and I'm the one enhancing my ship). The gathering of materials I do not overly enjoy, but it is a necessary evil...
My "tricks" are as follows: I farm mechanical parts at a favorite HAZRES that's just seconds away from a material trader. My BattleConda with collector limpets makes this easy, though it's still a long and eventually tedious process. I also get a lot of data scans during this process. For raw materials (iron and other crap), I'll gather these when out exploring, because I like to land and look around my first discoveries anyway.
The thing that has made material gathering tolerable for me is the material trader, because I no longer have to scan wakes (hate, hate, hate) or blow up innocent cargo ships. Still, consider the amount of time and software code invested in material gathering, organization, the material traders, etc. that could all have been invested in other gameplay (like atmospheric worlds) had Frontier just given us Arms Dealers that accept cash instead of trying to copy the crafting systems of medieval fantasy games.
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It is not a level playing field from the perspective of those who have spent lets say 1700+ hrs in the game, compared to those who have not.
It is only a level playing field (in your context) at the time the engineers/guardians were introduced. Those playing after that will have acquired materials. Those joining the game later will have no materials.
Not obvious why it has to be a level playing field at all. Why it is correct to penalise those who have already been playing the game. (And I do not mean there will not be advantages to those already possessing fiat or barter currency - of course there will).
More likely, it is about 'gameply' or, probably, satisfying FD's internal business metrics.
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As a recent player of ED I have no experience of the game's previous mechanics, but did find it odd when meeting my first engineer that the 'rolling' for your upgrade wasn't as shown on several youtube channels...
For me gathering the materials is a side effect of exploring and mining, the requirements to unlock (and gain further introductions) the engineers even makes a certain amount of sense but not being able to bypass an engineer whose services you don't require (what use is a great big shooty thing to an explorer?) and gain an introduction through a secondary route I find frustrating, getting combat bonds lost me a couple of ships before I got the hang of going in for the 'kill shot' just before the local law enforcement did, but that is why we have insurance so low I don't have interest in combat, nor piracy (likewise you may not have interest in mining or exploration) so will 'miss' an engineer or two because of that.
That gripe aside, and it isn't a serious bleat, I find the overall progression logic of the game, if a little odd at times, to be linear enough to plan around (providing the question 'why?' doesn't rear its head!).
Still, it is a fun game, twisted, but fun!
For me gathering the materials is a side effect of exploring and mining, the requirements to unlock (and gain further introductions) the engineers even makes a certain amount of sense but not being able to bypass an engineer whose services you don't require (what use is a great big shooty thing to an explorer?) and gain an introduction through a secondary route I find frustrating, getting combat bonds lost me a couple of ships before I got the hang of going in for the 'kill shot' just before the local law enforcement did, but that is why we have insurance so low
I don't have interest in combat, nor piracy (likewise you may not have interest in mining or exploration) so will 'miss' an engineer or two because of that. That gripe aside, and it isn't a serious bleat, I find the overall progression logic of the game, if a little odd at times, to be linear enough to plan around (providing the question 'why?' doesn't rear its head!).
Still, it is a fun game, twisted, but fun!