Hair shirt grinding in Elite

[DeathFish]

If I went into tuning garage and asked for an engine remap, how likely do you think it would be for me to:

a. have to schlep over to a mafia clan and do their dirty deeds for them so that I could get a letter of introduction to an engineer at the risk of my pristine reputation (-:

b. have to fly 250 light years to a base on a planet that isn't listed anywhere in the vehicle manual, which the garage didn't know the location of, and which doesn't show up unless you scan the nav beacon on arrival?

c. have to hop 250 light years back with one lousy single unit of meta-alloys in the hold? (Better I guess than 25 modular terminals, which may possibly be entirely fictional. Anyone seen these critters recently?)

d. get interdicted half a dozen times by the same AI ship until I lose patience with the mother and spank him?

e. have to grub around on the surface of a planet to get some of the parts the tuners need?

f. have to risk my precious life in a res killing baddies so I can scoop other bits they need?

g. have fly back and forth getting interdicted from time to time while I rearm the ship, because I can't stockpile the bits?

h. have to yomp back to the tuning garage with all the kit, only to get made an offer that I can't understand?

I know that engineering is getting a tweak, as are mats, but....

Does the community believe that this process could in some way be improved? Does anyone believe that having an adequate section in the manual might be helpful to newbies, and might prevent folk quitting because it is too difficult? Does anyone think that having to spank an AI ship because it interdicts you every. single. time. you. get. back. up. to. full. flight. speed is maybe too much icing on the cake? I could get much the same quality of experience by sitting outside with my wife spraying me with ice cold water, but for some reason I choose not to do that. Why do I do it in this game????

I love Elite, and I have played it since 1984 one way or another, but the developers have a strong tendency to err on the side of making some of the tasks in the game worthy, rather than fun, and I think the points above capture quite a few the issues!

 

[JohnRoberts]

I know right? but this is why video games are so much more fun than real life!

 

[Watcher]

I'd say this is notionally fine

I would like to see better in game tools and information about various things though, yes.
Further I think that more than a single path to unlocking and Engineer and/or to being introduced would be nice.
I also think that some basic modifications should be available more widely at tune up shops for cash (maybe equivalent to grade 1 to 2 mods) with Engineers the province of high-level mods and experimental effects.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

If I went into tuning garage and asked for an engine remap, how likely do you think it would be for me to:

a. have to schlep over to a mafia clan and do their dirty deeds for them so that I could get a letter of introduction to an engineer at the risk of my pristine reputation (-:

That could depend on said Engineer and the nature of the work they do. If they're installing a directional High Energy Radio Frequency generator designed to knock out the communications and electronics in a pursuing police vehicle (which would keep your reputation pristine by preventing them from pulling you over or calling for backup), then yes, this would be potentially likely.

b. You could also simply scan the planet, or use an ADS.

c. Isn't there some East India group with hundreds of Cargo Cutters full of both of these, eager to trade them with people who find it too much trouble to go look for them themselves?

d. That happens all the time anyways, even when you have no cargo at all.

e. See "a" above.

f. "Clean up in aisle 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7." You could fly shadow with a well-armed wing mate, let them do the dirty work and just clean up after them.

g. See "d" above.

h. At least you can refuse it. And if you've ever talked to a grease monkey, you can't understand them half the time anyways.

Of course, there is one issue that always gets skipped over:

"I use to play in 1984, and this is not the same as it was in 1984. Why can't it still be 1984?"

 

[signal11th]

That could depend on said Engineer and the nature of the work they do. If they're installing a directional High Energy Radio Frequency generator designed to knock out the communications and electronics in a pursuing police vehicle (which would keep your reputation pristine by preventing them from pulling you over or calling for backup), then yes, this would be potentially likely.

b. You could also simply scan the planet, or use an ADS.

c. Isn't there some East India group with hundreds of Cargo Cutters full of both of these, eager to trade them with people who find it too much trouble to go look for them themselves?

d. That happens all the time anyways, even when you have no cargo at all.

e. See "a" above.

f. "Clean up in aisle 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7." You could fly shadow with a well-armed wing mate, let them do the dirty work and just clean up after them.

g. See "d" above.

h. At least you can refuse it. And if you've ever talked to a grease monkey, you can't understand them half the time anyways.

Of course, there is one issue that always gets skipped over:

"I use to play in 1984, and this is not the same as it was in 1984. Why can't it still be 1984?"

Funny really considering the game is pretty much the same as the 1984 one just with fancier graphics...

 

[GeneralIdea1964]

Funny really considering the game is pretty much the same as the 1984 one just with fancier graphics...

I'd +1 REP you if I wasn't on phone.
When I first got ED, I was quite able to dock at a rotating station with few issues. Having played more primitive versions over the years , I was able to get going with game pretty quickly.

 

[popuptoaster]

The whole gathering mats for buffs in MMOs concept should have been buried with the Pharaohs, it's a terrible system, has never been fun and is just a way to make sure only the players who can put up with boring tasks get the best stuff.

It's not fun AND it doesn't fit the lore of the game, most commanders are RICH why would they bother? They'd just find someone else who'd bothered and buy the modules ready built.

Make a lot more sense to have engineered gear as mission rewards or found loot in secure compounds or suchlike if we must have magic items in game at all that is.

wasn't keen on playing in open anyway but the engineers just shut that door totally when they arrived for me, can't be doing with the effort required to get the required magic shields to make survival possible.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Funny really considering the game is pretty much the same as the 1984 one just with fancier graphics...

I'd +1 REP you if I wasn't on phone.
When I first got ED, I was quite able to dock at a rotating station with few issues. Having played more primitive versions over the years , I was able to get going with game pretty quickly.

Having never heard of Elite, until Elite: Dangerous, and coming in around 2.2, I didn't have any real problems docking or undocking either... but I do think of myself as something of an average gamer. It wasn't until some time after I'd started that I discovered this was not a new game, or even a sequel, but a sequel to a sequel to something that started in 1984.

Then I looked at what the 1984 version was, and realized why I'd never heard of it or played it. Wireframe Oregon Trail In Space just wasn't my thing in '84.
Death metal and chasing skirts was... still like death metal, and I caught that skirt almost 16 years ago, so no more chasing for me.

 

[Roybe]

Having never heard of Elite, until Elite: Dangerous, and coming in around 2.2, I didn't have any real problems docking or undocking either... but I do think of myself as something of an average gamer. It wasn't until some time after I'd started that I discovered this was not a new game, or even a sequel, but a sequel to a sequel to something that started in 1984.

Then I looked at what the 1984 version was, and realized why I'd never heard of it or played it. Wireframe Oregon Trail In Space just wasn't my thing in '84.
Death metal and chasing skirts was... still like death metal, and I caught that skirt almost 16 years ago, so no more chasing for me.

Well you died a lot just like Oregon Trail.

 

[DeathFish]

That could depend on said Engineer and the nature of the work they do. If they're installing a directional High Energy Radio Frequency generator designed to knock out the communications and electronics in a pursuing police vehicle (which would keep your reputation pristine by preventing them from pulling you over or calling for backup), then yes, this would be potentially likely.

b. etc

Of course, there is one issue that always gets skipped over:

"I use to play in 1984, and this is not the same as it was in 1984. Why can't it still be 1984?"

OP had a sense if humour attached to it—should have used more smileys?

 

[DeathFish]

It isn’t really the grind that gets to me, it is the slight craziness of it in an example like this. I guess that folk who are into S&M probably love the idea of pointless tasks to death, but if there is one part of the game that isn’t fun, it is the engineers right now, because it is so outstandingly tedious even when you know exactly what you need to do. As our friend so promptly reminded us, sure, all of this stuff can be dealt with, even if you aren’t Mr. Ultimate Completer Finisher, but IMO the engineering trail is overworked right now and needs a rethink on top of the upcoming fix. Just to add some fun.

 

[Stigbob]

New versions due in five days IIRC, you need to get your whinging done in a hurry.

 

[Majic-12]

At least we don't have to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest with a herring.

Well, not often, anyway.