ANNOUNCEMENT Game Balancing Pt.3

[Danieros]

I could certainly see the other two needing increases. I don't think mining should contribute nearly as much to the trade rank as it currently does, if at all.

I believe it's due to combat rank progression being different from trade/exploration. Combat rank seems to use a hidden experience per kill value (not a credit per bond/bounty), while trade/exploration simply look at how much credit you earned from it. With the payout increases over the years, those have gotten significantly easier.

If trade/exploration had an experience formula that wasn't connected to the payout, the "elite" factor would have stayed constant throughout the years.

 

[Zieman]

Bold. I don't see this going down well with players who have spent many hours grinding the ranks. If we were to adjust rank gain, it should affect future commanders only, not diminish people's effort retroactively.

I'm afraid you're correct.
But as a long time player, I would not want to "punish" new players either.
I'd happily give away my paltry Elite-Elite-Deadly ranks to the cause of balancing.

 

[szymciu07]

I was thinking a little about how this would work when it goes live and here is my opinion:

• Cyclops usually takes around 5-ish minutes for killing one.
• Time to travel to the NHSS from the FC / Space Station can be 1 - 5 minutes
• You might have enough ammo (without synthesis) to kill around 3 (?) Cyclops
• Go back to the FC / Space Station to repair, rearm etc should take 1 - 5 minutes more
• Repeat

If we add all together in the best case scenario:

• 1 minute travelling from the FC / Space Station
• 5 minutes to kill the Cyclops (8 million)
• 1 minute to travel to the next NHSS
• 5 minutes to kill the Cyclops (8 million)
• 1 minute to travel to the next NHSS
• 5 minutes to kill the Cyclops (8 million)
• 1 minute to travel back to the FC / Space Station
• Repeat

Let's say 20 minutes per 24 million Credits
So, in theory 1 Hour should provide 72 million Credits in the really best scenario

Was this the intended Credit per hour ratio?

If you can kill a Cyclops in 5 minutes you are in a minority of players my friend Keep that in mind.

 

[Screemonster]

CZ encore! Cap ships are the Pie to the Face liability and a lot of people find them too easy to dispatch- I know this is not on topic as such, but will FD be looking at capital ships (Farragut and Majestic) to make them more pst bzt BWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOAARR (to use the techincal term?)

I often find captains way harder to deal with than capships, purely because they bulletsponge then run away. If I'm not on top of them almost from the instant they jump in then I might as well not bother.

 

[Jmanis]

Delivery Missions
The increase in minable commodity prices has had an unexpectedly large effect on delivery missions due to compounding multipliers, allowing large numbers of credits to be earned with minimal risk and effort. To re-focus the earnings on the effort made, the rewards for these have been changed so that the distance travelled and quantity transported has a larger effect on the pay. Payouts remain relatively high and will be monitored for any further necessary adjustments.

Mint... deliveries have always needed to be paid based primarily on quantity and distance, not the value of the cargo.

Look forward to this hopefully being a buff to 180t biowaste missions.

 

[Rubbernuke]

I often find captains way harder to deal with than capships, purely because they bulletsponge then run away. If I'm not on top of them almost from the instant they jump in then I might as well not bother.

I was about to write something and you put it really well. Cap ships are easier than the new engineered NPCs. FD need to put angry juice in cap ships and make us pay

 

[Mimix]

Combat Bonds
High-end NPC combat bonds will provide many more credits, seeing an increase from around 80,000Cr to 400,000Cr. Similar to the recently updated bounties values, the HUD will not reflect the new figure after a kill, but the transaction tab will. These may (rarely) appear to be issued by the Pilot's Federation.

Very nice set of adjustments!

Has the effect of combat bonds on factions been changed in any way?

 

[100.rub]

I must say that this change is very welcome (it surpassed my expectations, which are quite low at this point, granted), but it does not solve 2 fundamental problems with AX payouts:

• Nonsensical scaling between variants. Ask anyone who soloed a hydra how much harder it is than a Medusa. Hint - its not 50%, its much more.
• Gibbing. With the new payouts, I except a massive surge in gibbing activity, because it will provide a new source of effortless income for fresh accounts if they have a couple friends that can take them along.

Overall, as always, this is a good step in the right direction, but it must not be the last. FDev needs to continue to balance the game and fix bugs/issues, preferably more frequently than once every 3 years.

 

[Rat Catcher]

I often find captains way harder to deal with than capships, purely because they bulletsponge then run away. If I'm not on top of them almost from the instant they jump in then I might as well not bother.

This

A Cap ship is easy to get in close & personal and take little damage while doing plenty!
With mainly laser equipped for CZ 'fun' ships taking care of the Captains is painfully slow - if one can't get the shields down quickly and Railgun the FSD etc. quickly enough, they escape..

 

[CMDR Yates]

If you can kill a Cyclops in 5 minutes you are in a minority of players my friend Keep that in mind.

I think they're saying it too low? With the focus on it being the best case scenario? Not sure.

Seems like a pretty beefy profit to me, but that's a fair reward for someone with the focus and skill to 5-minute kill several interceptors in a row with no repair stops between them IMO.

 

[Robert Maynard]

Hopefully! I found this post very interesting: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...nishment-a-proposed-holistic-approach.559839/

Indeed it is interesting.

It calls for an 80% penalty to be applied to the Powerplay and BGS actions of players in Solo and Private Groups and notes that it would be "simpler to just nix BGS Influence gain and Powerplay merit-earning in any game mode other than Open, and this would be my real preference" - which would mean, if implemented, that the actions of players who eschew PvP, in a game where other players, and therefore PvP, are optional extras, would be made somewhere between worth less and worthless.

We've all been told to play the game the way we want to, with or without other players - yet it seems that a subset of the player-base who enjoy playing in a manner that not all players enjoy want those who don't play with them to be penalised for doing so.

All players affecting the shared galaxy, regardless of game mode, has been a part of the game from the outset - those seeking meaningful PvP by the removal / reduction of the effect of players who choose not to PvP would, in effect, be making the PvE of affected players meaningless / have less meaning in terms of their effect on the unique connected galaxy.

 

[Grasher21]

If you can kill a Cyclops in 5 minutes you are in a minority of players my friend Keep that in mind.

Then it would be even less than 72 million Credits per hour. In other words, I think these should be buffed even more then.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Indeed it is interesting.

It calls for an 80% penalty to be applied to the Powerplay and BGS actions of players in Solo and Private Groups and notes that it would be "simpler to just nix BGS Influence gain and Powerplay merit-earning in any game mode other than Open, and this would be my real preference" - which would mean, if implemented, that the actions of players who eschew PvP, in a game where other players, and therefore PvP, are optional extras, would be made somewhere between worth less and worthless.

We've all been told to play the game the way we want to, with or without other players - yet it seems that a subset of the player-base who enjoy playing in a manner that not all players enjoy want those who don't play with them to be penalised for doing so.

All players affecting the shared galaxy, regardless of game mode, has been a part of the game from the outset - those seeking meaningful PvP by the removal / reduction of the effect of players who choose not to PvP would, in effect, be making the PvE of affected players meaningless / have less meaning in terms of their effect on the unique connected galaxy.

As not to trigger the inevitable- while I think the BGS is fine as it is, Powerplay needs a weighting in favour of Open since other players are the real danger.

 

[PeterShadow]

Combat rank was already very time consuming. I kill at least four-five deadly Condas in a row to gain 1% (I am dangerous ranked). So after the nerf in Thargoids Scouts only PvP and deep core mining have some fun for me. PvE is boring. However we talk about good and wrong in balanching and the PWA is broken three months now.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Hopefully! I found this post very interesting: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...nishment-a-proposed-holistic-approach.559839/

Does this mean that Frontier will seriously consider forcing everyone into open permanently, or penalising those who prefer to work co-operatively in groups?

I, for one, have no wish to play that particular game.

 

[Henan]

You're missing the whole point... these activities are being better paid because mining would give you the best ships in 1 day of playing. Combat wouldn't ... or it would consume WAY more hours of game play. How can you even say such thing I wonder.

No, I understand perfectly why they are doing this, and YOU are missing my point.
When I played this game at the release, you had to buy multiple ships to get the one you wanted, you had to "work" to get it.
Now, by inscreasing the payout of all activities, the problem is still here... But now you can do other activities to get the "best" ship in 1 day of playing, which is completely idiotic

 

[rootsrat]

Looking good!

 

[DSP900]

Greetings Commanders,

Welcome to the third and final set of game balancing changes this side of 2021. In the new year, we'll turn our attention to other aspects of the game that you've raised in your suggestions and feedback. As promised, we're making some further balancing changes to other elements of combat which can be expected alongside a GalNet article later today:

Combat Bonds
High-end NPC combat bonds will provide many more credits, seeing an increase from around 80,000Cr to 400,000Cr. Similar to the recently updated bounties values, the HUD will not reflect the new figure after a kill, but the transaction tab will. These may (rarely) appear to be issued by the Pilot's Federation.

Anti-Xeno Combat
Thargoid combat bonds will provide 4x as many credits as before.

The experience gained from Thargoids which contributes to Combat rank has been re-scaled. This means that Thargoid scouts will provide less than before, however each interceptor will offer more than the last, all the way up to Hydras. The exact amount earned will vary according to the number of pilots who contribute to the kill as well as their various combat ranks.

Delivery Missions
The increase in minable commodity prices has had an unexpectedly large effect on delivery missions due to compounding multipliers, allowing large numbers of credits to be earned with minimal risk and effort. To re-focus the earnings on the effort made, the rewards for these have been changed so that the distance travelled and quantity transported has a larger effect on the pay. Payouts remain relatively high and will be monitored for any further necessary adjustments.

Thank you as always for your replies and insights. Your feedback continues to be invaluable and will drive the further changes in the new year. In the meantime, let us know what you think about the adjustments above!

o7

Greetings Commanders,

Welcome to the third and final set of game balancing changes this side of 2021. In the new year, we'll turn our attention to other aspects of the game that you've raised in your suggestions and feedback. As promised, we're making some further balancing changes to other elements of combat which can be expected alongside a GalNet article later today:

Combat Bonds
High-end NPC combat bonds will provide many more credits, seeing an increase from around 80,000Cr to 400,000Cr. Similar to the recently updated bounties values, the HUD will not reflect the new figure after a kill, but the transaction tab will. These may (rarely) appear to be issued by the Pilot's Federation.

Anti-Xeno Combat
Thargoid combat bonds will provide 4x as many credits as before.

The experience gained from Thargoids which contributes to Combat rank has been re-scaled. This means that Thargoid scouts will provide less than before, however each interceptor will offer more than the last, all the way up to Hydras. The exact amount earned will vary according to the number of pilots who contribute to the kill as well as their various combat ranks.

Delivery Missions
The increase in minable commodity prices has had an unexpectedly large effect on delivery missions due to compounding multipliers, allowing large numbers of credits to be earned with minimal risk and effort. To re-focus the earnings on the effort made, the rewards for these have been changed so that the distance travelled and quantity transported has a larger effect on the pay. Payouts remain relatively high and will be monitored for any further necessary adjustments.

Thank you as always for your replies and insights. Your feedback continues to be invaluable and will drive the further changes in the new year. In the meantime, let us know what you think about the adjustments above!

o7

This is much needed thank you. I hope the payouts for anti xeno either increase or stay at the new update 4x the payout. Please don’t decrease. As many others have said trade an exploration rank should be much more difficult to obtain I think we all want that change. Elite combat rank should stay the same or have an increase. Scouts not being elite is a good idea because it’s not that much of a challenge like the interceptors. These are great changes I love the game an the direction it’s going. Happy to see frontier interacting with the community an listening to us. The new community goals are great love the direction the story is going. I am more excited for odyssey then cyberpunk. Thanks for the hard work you all do at frontier with Elite.

 

[Andrix]

Delivery Missions
The increase in minable commodity prices has had an unexpectedly large effect on delivery missions due to compounding multipliers, allowing large numbers of credits to be earned with minimal risk and effort. To re-focus the earnings on the effort made, the rewards for these have been changed so that the distance travelled and quantity transported has a larger effect on the pay. Payouts remain relatively high and will be monitored for any further necessary adjustments.

Thank you as always for your replies and insights. Your feedback continues to be invaluable and will drive the further changes in the new year. In the meantime, let us know what you think about the adjustments above!

o7

Yes, kill the game!

 

[[PS4] Filthymick420]

If you can kill a Cyclops in 5 minutes you are in a minority of players my friend Keep that in mind.

Most exaggerate their epeen