Grinding CR is becoming boring...

[Chris_t0f]

Don't read me wrong, I love this game. The feeling of immersion with the Rift is unbelievable. Still, I see one big issue with the current ship prices... It is unlikely anyone can afford the bigger ones anytime soon.

Getting a Lakon 6 can pretty much be done in a couple of weeks of trading commodities, including upgrading it up to a 3M CRs value... Upgrading to the ASP currently at 7M takes a huge leap in the amount of grinding needed, not even talking about the Anaconda at a whooping 170M CRs...

On average, and on a good day, my 100T cargo Lakon 6, can make me a 100k CR profit per run. I have found very little routes that provides 2 or even 3 way trips that guarantees this.

This means to get the extra 4M to get an ASP (with no insurance backup), I got to make at least 40 perfectly researched runs. In reality, even with research, this is closer to 80. Assuming a doubling of cargo hold with each bigger ship, it would take literally forever to make enough CRs to even get closed to buying an Anaconda.

Unlikely I will still play this game by then...

I read the older alpha prices were way down, and you could get an anaconda for less than 10M... more like it.
Hopefully we will have many more ships (30 promised) to fill the ship cost gap... because right now, it is exponentially impossible to get bigger ones.

I would love to see more bulletin board multi 100k TRADING reward mission, but so far, I see one every 4 days on average.

Mining, Combat, Exploring are at this point useless to make the big money needed to upgrade past the Cobra.

Did anyone actually do the maths better than my back of the hand calculations above? Is ED just becoming a trucking game? Am I the only one feeling like this, or am I missing on some game mechanics?

Thanks

 

[MadDogMurdock]

What do you plan to do with the Anaconda when you get it?

 

[Chris_t0f]

Become a pirate, a bounty hunter AND a trader...

 

[sbdags]

Currently Styx - Aulin return runs are netting 133K profit for 100 tonnes.

 

[Jorlin]

Become a pirate, a bounty hunter AND a trader...

All of this can be done in a Cobra, just on a smaller scale.
So why don't you start doing what you want to do and move up to the next ship when it comes available to you naturally....just by doing what you want to do?

The only reason i grinded up to Anacondas or Asps in the different phases of beta was: limited time before the next wipe.

 

[Namix]

I don't mind the hauling , carefully researching routes and profit margins are half the fun for me, it is however still just a beta alot of this stuff is purely for functionality testing and bug finding, i am pretty sure that once the core functions are sorted then they will start to add more rewarding tasks.

 

[Chris_t0f]

Currently Styx - Aulin return runs are netting 133K profit for 100 tonnes.

Exploited that but got bored and moved on. BTW, these routes are not permanent, they change on a daily basis apparently. Plus one route nets 130k yes, but the return route is only 50k so overall 100k is the best bet.

I did find some 3 way routes (between 3 systems, often multiple jump) that garanteed 100k per run, but again, this became boring as hell... At least with the cobra, I could change it up... I hope to be able to do that with the ASP, if I still to it long enough... dunno yet.

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All of this can be done in a Cobra, just on a smaller scale.
So why don't you start doing what you want to do and move up to the next ship when it comes available to you naturally....just by doing what you want to do?

The only reason i grinded up to Anacondas or Asps in the different phases of beta was: limited time before the next wipe.

That's what I did... the next step is the ASP, which you definitely can't get grinding with a cobra and its 40T cargo max.

 

[Avnas]

to be fair 6m for an asp doesn't seem like much really. i've been floating 500k while upgrading my ship and doing superconductor/progenitor runs between tech/ind. it really doesn't seem that hard, i'm often making 40k/jump, not 40k/run, /jump.

in mmo terms that's a decent payout for a 5 minute flight. let's take a game with roughly the same currency scale, where the minimum price for a decent weapon is 1M currency units - runescape. so if i went to buy 250k worth of an item i'd be happy to make 40k in profit. the margins are good.

it probably takes longer to mine 1 runite ore in runescape than to do a 40k profit trade run, and being as the price-scaling is similar, and runite is worth 10k, a 40k trade run is good profit.

 

[Chris_t0f]

to be fair 6m for an asp doesn't seem like much really. i've been floating 500k while upgrading my ship and doing superconductor/progenitor runs between tech/ind. it really doesn't seem that hard, i'm often making 40k/jump, not 40k/run, /jump.

in mmo terms that's a decent payout for a 5 minute flight. let's take a game with roughly the same currency scale, where the minimum price for a decent weapon is 1M currency units - runescape. so if i went to buy 250k worth of an item i'd be happy to make 40k in profit. the margins are good.

it probably takes longer to mine 1 runite ore in runescape than to do a 40k profit trade run, and being as the price-scaling is similar, and runite is worth 10k, a 40k trade run is good profit.

Good luck sticking to doing this until you get a ASP, even with a 80k profit on 100T cargo trade runs, which I make all the times... It is still becoming boring as hell, not my idea of a challenge...

Unfortunately, with a Lakon 6 you can't do anything else to vary the routine a bit (like some combat once in a while), also out of the question to go play in Open Game...

 

[bendover]

I agree with this,the price difference Between the type 6 and type 9 is to high.The type 6 and type 9 are trading ships a trading ship primary purpose is to make money.The type 9 is a very poor investment of capital compaired to a type 6.The massive price difference between type 6 and 9 would be ok if the type 9 was a luxuary richmans plaything but its not.The only argument you can bring for making this ship so expensive is to put a break on the speed with which you aquire large ships.Its important to decide if you consider this a game or a simulation.Ok i know most of the thing in ED are not real and how they are simulated is a matter of speculation.But in the real world a large ship cargo is cheaper compaired to its ability
to carry cargo Than a smaller ship.Its called economy of scale and is a well documented fact

 

[Lobstris]

Unfortunately, with a Lakon 6 you can't do anything else to vary the routine a bit (like some combat once in a while), also out of the question to go play in Open Game...

Ummmm. I've got an Asp from trading in the Type 6 in Open. Just move down the 'sausage' (or pill, or whatever) to find a route. Get allied to the people at both ends, and watch for the 200,000cr delivery missions. Not sure how long it took in total mind. Having got the Asp and a 92T cargo hold, I churn out about 1,000,000cr/hour for upgrades. Though it almost all went spectacularly wrong today...

 

[Toscaner]

Good luck sticking to doing this until you get a ASP, even with a 80k profit on 100T cargo trade runs, which I make all the times... It is still becoming boring as hell, not my idea of a challenge...

Unfortunately, with a Lakon 6 you can't do anything else to vary the routine a bit (like some combat once in a while), also out of the question to go play in Open Game...

if you want to mix it up, why not get a 2nd ship, like an eagle or even a sidey?

 

[LukeP]

Don't read me wrong, I love this game. The feeling of immersion with the Rift is unbelievable. Still, I see one big issue with the current ship prices... It is unlikely anyone can afford the bigger ones anytime soon.

Getting a Lakon 6 can pretty much be done in a couple of weeks of trading commodities, including upgrading it up to a 3M CRs value... Upgrading to the ASP currently at 7M takes a huge leap in the amount of grinding needed, not even talking about the Anaconda at a whooping 170M CRs...

On average, and on a good day, my 100T cargo Lakon 6, can make me a 100k CR profit per run. I have found very little routes that provides 2 or even 3 way trips that guarantees this.

This means to get the extra 4M to get an ASP (with no insurance backup), I got to make at least 40 perfectly researched runs. In reality, even with research, this is closer to 80. Assuming a doubling of cargo hold with each bigger ship, it would take literally forever to make enough CRs to even get closed to buying an Anaconda.

Unlikely I will still play this game by then...

I read the older alpha prices were way down, and you could get an anaconda for less than 10M... more like it.
Hopefully we will have many more ships (30 promised) to fill the ship cost gap... because right now, it is exponentially impossible to get bigger ones.

I would love to see more bulletin board multi 100k TRADING reward mission, but so far, I see one every 4 days on average.

Mining, Combat, Exploring are at this point useless to make the big money needed to upgrade past the Cobra.

Did anyone actually do the maths better than my back of the hand calculations above? Is ED just becoming a trucking game? Am I the only one feeling like this, or am I missing on some game mechanics?

Thanks

Well, this is general problem with way systems are in beta. Generally you need to archive perfect repetition.
Want more credits? (how much you need)/(cargo space*1000cr/T) = number of runs. If i put my mind to it, I went up to 1100CR/min in shielded Cobra. And it would take me ~240 hrs of perfect runs to get to Anaconda. As in doing same bloody thing all over again.

Hopefully that is just Beta-level interactions, and we would have something that would award actual constructive, timely thinking over repetition.

Then again there are those who equate 100's of hours of mindless repetition with something hard.


And btw, unless you have guns to take down those 'condas , bounty hunting or pirating is actually net loss endeavour. So you need to grind cash via trading or face being stuck in sidey for a long time.

Any game behaviour should be evaluated in CR/hour manner. If there is something more fun for somewhat less cash - ok, but not when there is difference between net gain in 100's of 1000's and loss (or pitiful CR/hr in stock sidey)

 

[Jackie Silver]

An Asp costs 6M credits, plus another 9M* credits for fittings, plus 2M credits kept back to ensure you've got an operating reserve to cover insurances, plus 1M credits to cover the cost of cargo if you want to trade, plus 2M credits or so to cover the uber-fitted small ship you buy so that you remember what flying something nimble is like...

*roughly what I've got on mine, to make it the wonderful thing it is.

 

[Sir Render]

My day 'in game' fits in this thread.
Unlike many of you (not you Chris) I am not an anti social, a sexual teetotaller. If I was I would be an unhappy millionaire.
Mrs Render went out for the weekend with her sister. That gave me the sort of 'gamer time' that you truants think is normal.
Today was 10 hours and counting of pure escapism. Radio BBC 6 music on in the background on high, no need for headphones for the game.
I escaped all you inter ERS apart from one Cmdr who I left two T's of Indium for.
No errors, no server disconnects, just some stuttering.
The game was great until I upgraded to a Type 6- my first
In my haste I was left with 3076 credits, the next flight at 199 BMP heart rate, a sidewinder tried to pirate me, it sent me to solo play.
In solo play can not tell you where, I am increasing my bank balance slowly, currently I can not fill all my cargo slots.
I had to pause at a scene that Slartibarfast would have been proud of. Not a backdrop but a planet I could fly around and silently thank the art team.

I am going back into 'open play' so ers please ask before you shoot

NOT BORED TODAY

 

[Chris_t0f]

Hopefully this is just beta stuff and will be fined tuned later.

I also hope that we will get more diversity in Bulleting Board proposed missions, with new models; some could be requiring actual research to be accomplished (with longer timer), and not just rushing to deliver something fast, hoping not to get interdicted, or denied docking on arrival...

 

[Erik Marcaigh]

During these testing phases (except B3), I grinded to get to the larger ships because A) I wanted to test them and B) I wanted to see how they handled before they reached their "real" price in the gamma/final release. I didn't grind for B3 because it was too close to release and I didn't want to get burned out before another wipe. (Also, work got busy.)

I think the high prices are a good thing. It should take time, not grinding, to reach those ships.

I also think that it'd be more fun to play by tooth & nail, living on the edge, than floating around with enough credits to purchase Sol from the Federation. I will feel sorry for the people who grind to that level of credits quickly in the game because they will have very little risk by that point. But if that's the way they want to play, that's fine. It's their choice. I just see them as the first ones to post "There's nothing to do." (Like my kids with their rooms full of toys, books, and projects!)

 

[Morlock5K]

I've been finding loads of 100k+ trade missions that are easy to do in my cobra, as someone else has said once you have done enough missions in the area and get allied with factions then better missions become available and then the real money starts rolling in. Got about 185k the other day for taking about 20 units of gold from one system to the next and at the same time made a few more thousand profit from filling up on superconductors, then on my way back, without any missions active, I managed to pick up a few bounties and then just before I logged off I sold all my exploration data and made about 80k from that. 2 hour play netted over a million in my bank more than I started with and also I got a few upgrades in there as well! I think trade runs are ok but doing trade missions are a lot more profitable in the long run.

 

[Erik Marcaigh]

I had to pause at a scene that Slartibarfast would have been proud of. Not a backdrop but a planet I could fly around and silently thank the art team.

And did you get pictures of said planet?
And if so, can you post them here?? I'd love to see it.

 

[Krait_79]

Don't read me wrong, I love this game. The feeling of immersion with the Rift is unbelievable. Still, I see one big issue with the current ship prices... It is unlikely anyone can afford the bigger ones anytime soon.

Getting a Lakon 6 can pretty much be done in a couple of weeks of trading commodities, including upgrading it up to a 3M CRs value... Upgrading to the ASP currently at 7M takes a huge leap in the amount of grinding needed, not even talking about the Anaconda at a whooping 170M CRs...

On average, and on a good day, my 100T cargo Lakon 6, can make me a 100k CR profit per run. I have found very little routes that provides 2 or even 3 way trips that guarantees this.

This means to get the extra 4M to get an ASP (with no insurance backup), I got to make at least 40 perfectly researched runs. In reality, even with research, this is closer to 80. Assuming a doubling of cargo hold with each bigger ship, it would take literally forever to make enough CRs to even get closed to buying an Anaconda.

Unlikely I will still play this game by then...

I read the older alpha prices were way down, and you could get an anaconda for less than 10M... more like it.
Hopefully we will have many more ships (30 promised) to fill the ship cost gap... because right now, it is exponentially impossible to get bigger ones.

I would love to see more bulletin board multi 100k TRADING reward mission, but so far, I see one every 4 days on average.

Mining, Combat, Exploring are at this point useless to make the big money needed to upgrade past the Cobra.

Did anyone actually do the maths better than my back of the hand calculations above? Is ED just becoming a trucking game? Am I the only one feeling like this, or am I missing on some game mechanics?

Thanks

I would imagine the prices may be tweaked. You may also find from time to time they do discounts. I seem to remember 50% off a Cobra a while back.