Has colonisation pushed Cmdrs out of open play?

[Cmdr Snuffler]

Got a reasonably large friends list, which covers a large demographic...PvPers, gankers, streamers, new Cmdrs, old kickstarter Cmdrs, casual and hardcore Cmdrs.
On any given day roughly 50% are in open, 25% in PG and 25% in solo.
During a CGs this changes to roughly 20% in open (but can be way lower depending on the CG), 25% in PG and 55% in solo...even the gankers who gank CGs then switch to solo to contribute to the CG (oh the irony )

What I've noticed since Trailblazers was released is that a large proportion are playing in PG or solo and the number of open players is less than 10%, sometimes 0%...even Cmdrs who are normally open play have retreated to PG or solo.
I'm assuming that trade routes for things like CMM Composites are being treated like a CG....high traffic, gankers etc.
Anyone else noticed more people not playing in open since Trailblazers dropped?

 

[Robert Maynard]

I haven't noticed a difference, but I've not been monitoring who is playing where.

That said, given the observations regarding mode preference for particular activities it may simply be that players don't much like waiting for landing pads, or don't want to be bothered by other players, when trucking commodities to CGs and even less so when doing something that may matter more to them, like trucking commodities to their SCS.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

Would make sense to be honest. I can't think of any reason whatsoever why hauling goods to a station would be better in open where you've got a timer that wipes your claim if you exceed it. Certainly for the first station you absolutely wouldn't want to risk being interrupted.

 

[mtfatboy3006]

I've noticed I haven't played in Open. I generally trade/haul in open, but for this, I not only didn't want to deal with potential gankers, but I didn't want to deal with the delays in addition to ganking cuased by clogged mail slots, etc, and if there were a mega ship close to me, I would absolutely not go to it in open. Any time saved would be wasted waiting for a pad.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I've not seen much difference in terms of my friends list. Maybe a slightly smaller fraction in Open right now, but I think that's just who happens to be online; none of the name-mode combinations surprised me.

I've seen surprisingly many players docking at the local refineries (all in various freighters, of course), given that everyone is now about twice as spread out as they used to be.
(Obviously once the post-release peak subsides a bit, what this will mean is that the chances of meeting anyone at all in Open without prior appointment are about halved)

Not seen anyone else in "my" system yet, though the traffic report suggests I get someone every few days jumping through on their way to somewhere else.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

I noticed the same as well.
My thoughts:
- the hauling required to colonize a system is hardcore and not worth the risk to meet hostile players when flying a shieldless T9 fully maxed out with cargo.
- Connection issues. Seems much better in solo (my experience lately, I have been using that, or switched to Horizon when I do space related stuff only).

 

[aRJay]

As usual I haven’t noticed what others are doing but I am just using a different PG every day as normal when in the bubble.
Why because the game runs smoother for me with fewer commanders in the instance.

 

[DoG Duggy]

ive seen 7 players in open in the last 7 days, and ive not been to any high traffic systems, just random encounters while doing my bgs rounds, i thought thats more than i normally see

 

[Doctor Dread]

Has colonisation pushed Cmdrs out of open play?​

Of course. People have haul to complete, not wander around looking for "exciting interactions".
And when you want to get things done...

 

[FixYourGame]

The Pilots' Federation is an independent organisation that monitors and represents independent pilots. Established in 2805 following a surge in private-starship ownership, it was created principally to allow pilots to share reliable trade-route information, and to provide them with a degree of mutual protection against the rising scourge of interstellar piracy.

 

[_Flin_]

Don't think so. What should happen in Open?
Been playing since a week before Colonization dropped, mostly in Open. Didn't get ganked once. Just the occasional o7. Mostly my encounters were limited to people from my squadron that worked on the same systems and construction sites.

 

[GroG79]

There is no one around in Open. As usual. Lot of player in Open if I have to believe my friend list. They must be busy hauling and not engineering in Deciat.

 

[Brrokk]

It's worth noting that hauling for colonisation isn't like a CG: everyone is probably hauling in their own system and is focussed on the job. There's not a single system that gankers would think of congregating in. Therefore, there's not much chance of meeting anyone, friend or foe, even in Open.

 

[AJ24]

Strangely enough, I normally play is PG/Solo, but have been hauling almost exclusively in Open since Trailblazers. Maybe I'm just contrary

 

[galahad2069]

I guess it has something to do with the insane amount of cargo required by colonization.
Probably everyone is using their maxed out cargo capacity, shieldless paperplane Open-incompatible Cutters.

 

[aRJay]

I guess it has something to do with the insane amount of cargo required by colonization.
Probably everyone is using their maxed out cargo capacity, shieldless paperplane Open-incompatible Cutters.

Also as @Brrokk there are no hotspots, or at least there weren't until the Trailblazers deployed.

 

[IstvaanDCIV]

I've been doing all of my colonisation hauling in Open. Honestly with so many efforts going on by individual Commanders, and the highly dispersed nature of available commodities, the chances of running into a piratical Commander are as low as they've ever been.

Last night I went in Open to one of the Colonisation Megaships to pick up some CMM Composites to help out someone else's colony, and I saw at least a couple of other Commanders there, who were also just hauling from what I could see. I was expecting the "spontaneous PvPers" to be all over those things. Maybe it's just a matter of time.

After all, it's not like in a hauling CG, where Commanders are funnelled into a single location that provides an ample opportunity for PvPers and Haulers to instance with each other. The Colonisation Megaships might do this to some extent, but probably not to the absurd extent that hauling CGs do.

 

[Sevenperry]

I’ve found…..or it’s seemed recently that open is less stable …..I’m doing colonisation hauling but after the second crash I revert from open to solo and then it seems ok.

 

[FixYourGame]

As piracy became more prevalent, the Pilots' Federation started issuing bounties on known pirate vessels – an initiative endorsed by the law-enforcement agencies of the time, which were struggling with a dramatic increase in criminal activity.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Maybe it's just a matter of time.

There's six of them, they're widely separated so if one of them seems quiet it's a pain to relocate, and most colonies most of the time will have a closer source of most of the commodities they sell so it's not even as if they're going to be particularly high traffic by CG standards.

I saw much the same as you at the one I went to earlier today (which is far enough away that it's only worth visiting once per construction, to pick up the Emergency Power Cells without having to cross half the bubble)