Everything Should Require More Materials

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Engineers, Synthesis, the lot.

:p

*Awaits instant death*
...


Hear me out.

Storage and drop rates would also need to be much much higher, but listen. Read. Yes, actually read the following part, not just the title.

When a recipe requires you find 1 item, but it'll take you about an 1 hour to find it, you make absolutely zero progress for 59 minutes, then boom, done. You found your 1 item.
59 minutes of no progress, feeling like you're not achieving anything.

But if the same recipe required 60 of that item, but the drop rates were 60 times better(and storage infinity better!), you'd be finding something roughly every minute.. it'd still take you roughly an hour to find all 60, but it'd also always feel like you're progressing, despite it not actually being any faster at all.
You'd also know you're on the right track, if you're finding bits of what you need, rather than nothing until you find the 1 item you was looking for.

Of course, this is not practical at all, because a destroyed ship, for example, can't drop any faster than you kill them.
And we have a limit on ships per instance anyway, and even maximum materials per instance (I think).
But it could work better for just surface materials, having recipes require more elements, but those elements spawning far more often.
(And way more storage!)

But it's a funny idea.

Does anyone understand my logic here?
Or am I just waffling?

Not asking for this change, just discussing.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
 

Marc_Hicks

Marc_Hicks
CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
Engineers, Synthesis, the lot.

:p

*Awaits instant death*
...


Hear me out.

Storage and drop rates would also need to be much much higher, but listen. Read. Yes, actually read the following part, not just the title.

When a recipe requires you find 1 item, but it'll take you about an 1 hour to find it, you make absolutely zero progress for 59 minutes, then boom, done. You found your 1 item.
59 minutes of no progress, feeling like you're not achieving anything.

But if the same recipe required 60 of that item, but the drop rates were 60 times better(and storage infinity better!), you'd be finding something roughly every minute.. it'd still take you roughly an hour to find all 60, but it'd also always feel like you're progressing, despite it not actually being any faster at all.
You'd also know you're on the right track, if you're finding bits of what you need, rather than nothing until you find the 1 item you was looking for.

Of course, this is not practical at all, because a destroyed ship, for example, can't drop any faster than you kill them.
And we have a limit on ships per instance anyway, and even maximum materials per instance (I think).
But it could work better for just surface materials, having recipes require more elements, but those elements spawning far more often.
(And way more storage!)

But it's a funny idea.

Does anyone understand my logic here?
Or am I just waffling?

Not asking for this change, just discussing.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Click to expand...

You wouldn't even need higher drop rates *if* we had a brokerage and if we could have more flexibility in what you can offer up for the upgrade-in return for a buff or a nerf. For example, let's say I had an upgrade requiring 6 Chemical Distilleries (Standard Rarity), but all I had was 2.....but I did have 10 Chemical Processors (Common Rarity). At this point I'd have two choices-(1) Go find a Station, Outpost or Settlement with a Science & Research Contact, & see if they had any Chemical Distilleries to trade for any of my excess materials (exchange rate based on relative rarity) or (2) Go to the Engineer & offer up 6 of my Chemical Processors.....but in the expectation that my upgrade will have a, for example, -10% penalty on all the upgrade stats. With your idea, plus mine, you've suddenly got a significantly more interesting crafting system that increases player agency.
 

Limoncello Lizard

Limoncello Lizard
The problem is the horrible RNG nature of finding stuff, with little that skill, equipment, local knowledge or contacts can help. Adding a stack more boring gameplay isn't going to improve this at all.
 

Aussiedroid

Aussiedroid
Not a bad idea, but maybe not to the extreme suggested. It would be good to be more engaging that just driving in a straight line for mins and mins on end doing nothing, waiting for the right pattern to appear on your scanner.
 

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Technically, if what I suggested only applied to Elements and SRV gathering, it'd actually feel better.
There would be far more rocks to shoot, popping up more often, so planets wouldn't feel so... odd.
You could even have it so all rocks drop materials when shot(in varying amounts, bigger rocks dropping more than small pebbles), instead of loner rocks, that are somehow more special than the rocks that just hurt you.

So then, stuff will be dropping all over the place.

So instead of;
Drive
Drive
Drive
Drive
Drive
Drive
Drive
Drive
Drive
Drive
Oooh a rock
Shoot
Not the right stuff
Drive
Drive
Drive
Oooh a rock.
Shoot
Collect
Done.

You'd have;
Drive
Oooh a rock
Shoot
Collect
Drive
Oooh a rock
Shoot
Collect
Drive
Oooh a rock
Shoot
Collect
Done.

Ok, that example makes it looks worse...

Time for bed!

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
 

yolomcbobbinz

Y
I like this, I love elite but I don't like all the down time you have, like you said "spending an hour getting that 1 material" you pretty much wasted that hour.
 

Ian Skippy

Ian Skippy
Ceekay said:
Bring back engineering commodities that's what I say! ;)
Click to expand...

I actually liked how certain commodities were region-based. It didnt work for engineers, but I like the idea of a tier of commodities between 'normal' and 'rare' (which are unique): regional commodities.
 

Marc_Hicks

Marc_Hicks
Limoncello Lizard said:
The problem is the horrible RNG nature of finding stuff, with little that skill, equipment, local knowledge or contacts can help. Adding a stack more boring gameplay isn't going to improve this at all.
Click to expand...

Again, though, if you could trade materials & data via a broker; if you could haggle for materials with a friendly or allied faction; if you could swap out 1 type of material for another-then the RNG aspect would be much less of an issue. Of course, tying scanner use to the discovery of man-made materials might also be a nice touch (e.g. scan USS's to discover rarity or even specific type of materials within....before you exit SC).
 

Strangepork

Strangepork
CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
Engineers, Synthesis, the lot.

:p

*Awaits instant death*
...


Hear me out.

Storage and drop rates would also need to be much much higher, but listen. Read. Yes, actually read the following part, not just the title.

When a recipe requires you find 1 item, but it'll take you about an 1 hour to find it, you make absolutely zero progress for 59 minutes, then boom, done. You found your 1 item.
59 minutes of no progress, feeling like you're not achieving anything.

But if the same recipe required 60 of that item, but the drop rates were 60 times better(and storage infinity better!), you'd be finding something roughly every minute.. it'd still take you roughly an hour to find all 60, but it'd also always feel like you're progressing, despite it not actually being any faster at all.
You'd also know you're on the right track, if you're finding bits of what you need, rather than nothing until you find the 1 item you was looking for.

Of course, this is not practical at all, because a destroyed ship, for example, can't drop any faster than you kill them.
And we have a limit on ships per instance anyway, and even maximum materials per instance (I think).
But it could work better for just surface materials, having recipes require more elements, but those elements spawning far more often.
(And way more storage!)

But it's a funny idea.

Does anyone understand my logic here?
Or am I just waffling?

Not asking for this change, just discussing.

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead
Click to expand...

huff...
 

Maymo

Maymo
(Unless I’ve missed something)

Engineering is being fixed in the next few months so that every new roll you make will be better than your previous roll.

Should make things more bearable...
 

Limoncello Lizard

Limoncello Lizard
john willi said:
huff...
Click to expand...
I'll raise your Huff... with ...

images
 
Last edited:

metatheurgist

metatheurgist
Would be better to make more engaging or flexible means of getting stuff. For eg. I "hack" a base by scanning the beacons. Instead of getting a handful of random stuff thrown at me I get to pick from a (maybe random) list. Say it's a points based system and rare stuff costs more points but if I don't want the MEF I can get more CIF. The better the time I do the scan the more points I get/better the selection of data.
 

bladebss

bladebss
I get it in principle but i would not like it in practice as i like the feeling of relife when i find it in 10 mins instead of an hour.


But a thin stream of little rewards punctuated with bigger spikes of reward is nice.
It can get very frustrating when you get unlucky and that material you need just wont drop and you have been searching for ages. But it happens i get lucky much more than i get unlucky in this regard so, meh. (Thogh searching for unknown probes pushed me to the limmit at one point)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom