I just really liked the skimmer missions.

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I really really enjoyed Robigo, I never actually did the whole 'selling slaves back to the station' thing, I just did the missions, as intended, only I took on as many as my Asp/Python could fit.

10-20 different destinations, cops and pirates chasing you all the way.
Got it right, big pay out. Messed up, you lost it all.
I enjoyed plotting my course, figuring out the meta route, dodge cops, killing pirates, evading scans, etc.
Landing at military outposts was difficult, but rewarding.

It was basically perfect fun, if you removed the slave selling thing, and those "insta-dictions" on hyperspace exit. Lol

Skimmer/surface stacking 1.0 was also fun. Take on a selection surface missions at HIP 10716 (I think?), then bomb the generator, kill skimmers, rescue pilots, or salvage and get home.

Pay outs were good, but it was fun having to do them all in one place.

Bombing skimmers was oddly satisfying. Lol

 

[m0rl0ck]

Skimmer skeet shoot is excellent fun from a ship.

I thought it was fun too. I especially like seeing how many i could take down with one volley and catching them right on target without relying on splash damage too much.

I always wanted to try shock mines too. I guess now i will never have the chance.

 

[mojonaut]

However, killing off skimmers from the safety of a ship is the exact opposite of fun or exciting.

In your opinion.

For me it was great fun and even better seeing the credits roll in, a most enjoyable weekend (imho).

 

[Dural]

I liked them too, made a change to be attacking stuff on the ground from an SRV or a ship (apart from the 3 sleepy skimmers you find when exploring planets or doing scan missions) Shooting things which explode is always fun. I didn't even realise it were bugged until I searched for help on completing the missions (12 on 1 in an SRV is a bit of a challenge) Anyway, the only thing they need to fix is the stacking thing, however you look at it getting paid by several factions for the same skimmers or paid by one faction multiple times is a bit daft. Doing quite a lot of 5m-7m skimmer single missions put a nice few m credits in the rebuy pot so I'm not worried about going and trying out different ship configs in different situations now because it doesn't matter if the ship gets blown up.

 

[BrickHamfist]

Please, I certainly do not want to be misunderstood here.

A huge portion of what I found fun, was yes the gameplay aspect for sure, but it was the huge credit payout. Make no bones about it.

Once you have enough credits in this game, it opens up entirely. Like that South Park episode “now I can really start playing this game.”

I like to amass the space bucks, and these board flipping type missions, mission stacking, as it were, is just stupid fun. I constantly am on YouTube, and Reddit looking for the whif of a hint of where the action is at, and I will travel 1000ly to participate.

If I am not mistaken, when this latest ‘exploit’ was going on ED had its largest player base active in 2 years? Is that correct?

I can’t explain it really. When there is a 100+ million an hour video on YouTube, I dust of the ol HOTAS, and hit the black. After a while I get bored, but then you know what? I legitimately start playing the game. Like for real. HZ, engineers, hell I even multiplayered a HZ with another live human in my one engineered fixed turret last time these shenanigans were going on for the plametary scan missions.

ED, if I may, these ‘exploits’ are a dyed in the wool way to inject players into this game. If most of them are like me, they stick around for some time afterwards.

This latest round with the skimmers, give us a heads up. ‘WE ARE AWARE OF THE SITUATION AND SPACE COPS HAVE BEEN CALLED. WE EXPECT THEM AT YOUR LOCATION TO SHUT THIS ALL DOWN IN APPROX 4 DAYS.”

I seriously would have considered calling in sick at work during one of those four days to grind credits, while waiting for space cops to shut it down, and I wouldn’t be all waxing melancholy on the forums about it.

 

[n13L5]

You just really liked the credits.. don't be silly oh its a new forum user.. blah blah

I think you're dead wrong.
And the statements from a new forum user are in no way less relevant than those from an old forum user.

Yes, credits are good, they buy you ships and modules and insurance - all needed to have any fun in the game - and hauling cargo around for minuscule profits is just not fun.
At most, pure grind can be relaxing by occupying the minds of depressed people on meds. In any other sense, its just an annoying chore you'd just as soon prefer to avoid (or at least get paid real money for).

But being able to kill those stupid, annoying skimmers with decent guns from a ship is just so much good revenge against the stinkers, it is wayyy out there on the fun level!

I'd even reduce my hourly take, just to enjoy trying all kinds of different guns and different experimental effects on them!

Like a Cannon with Force Shells Make them dance for you!
Or trying to overheat them with some thermal shock laser effect.

Granted, the dumbfire missiles are already great... Its like playing StarCraft all over again! FD needs to get away from its shovel-ware roots and look toward studios like Blizzard and what they did to actually create things that are thoroughly enjoyable!

And we need trading among players, and players to be able to offer missions for each other for pay. Called "contracts" in EVE, and Star Citizen is introducing it in the upcoming version 3.2 for March.

Players can make way better missions than developers ever could... But I digress...

Killing skimmers with ships is awesome - FD just has to adjust it so its inline with whatever it is they have in mind for pay-outs - I really have no idea anymore what pay rates they actually do want in this game... And they don't seem to know how to program it, so that it does what they actually want...!

 

[Hellakitty]

I said it before, and I'll say it again.

Popping those little skimmers with rockets was fun. Other people found it fun too. One person had a Cobra fitted with mine launchers and pretended he was a B-2 bomber. I tried all manner of strafing attacks and CFIT'd a few times. I had a smile on my face on the way to the rebuy screen.

The thing about this is, Fdev has the mechanics in place to actually really expand on this and give us a really interesting set of missions and scenarios.

Another repost of this, but in principle the mechanics are in place for this to be a thing:

SRV on a hillside, painting the targets in a well-defended ground complex for a.....

Big ship launching guided missiles while dodging AA plasma repeaters and SAM attacks while....

Fighter cover takes on the ships that keep jumping in to attack the wing while....

Support ship works away firing off hull repair limpets and ammo synth limpets.

There. A wing mission.

I'd be all over that like one-bottle-of-wine-later-me would be all over Tom Hiddleston.

 

[n13L5]

Then you will have a blast when they bring them back soon... have fun!

That is not guaranteed, because what's fun is killing them with ship guns.

Without that, skimmers are just an annoyance, if you're in a sucky SRV...

 

[Deleted member 38366]

I don't want to post all crazy "THAT IS IT" type of nonsense. This game is great, and I feel like it is slowly and surely moving in what I feel to be the 'right' direction.

But I swear the skimmer missions stacking for millions was a blast.

FD, it was the most just stupid fun I have had in this game.

That's it really.

If FD had a boatload more missions with huge payouts like that, and they announced it and provided tutorials and a backstory... I would really prefer this game over others, and would tell other people about this game.

Instead, I just log in. Argue with myself if I want to ship some space trucking around, or take some mission to kill 128 Pirates. Then I log out and post here on the forums wishing that something stupid and fun would happen again out there in the Universe.

Hm, all you need to do is change the Title of the Thread and you're golden : I just really liked the easy exploited Credits.

If you can't play without casually making 100M Cr + per hour or any similar 1-click "I win" button, then ELITE is definitely the wrong Title for you.

 

[n13L5]

This game could really use the equivalent of “double xp weekends.” Screw the BGS and let’s focus on having fun for once in this game.

Make CGs once a month and more engaging with meaningful story. (A lot of missed opportunities during The Return)
Have mini “Gold Rushes” once every few months. (To be frank, we’ve been having them just unintentionally apparently. Has any irreparable harm come to the game?)
And I hate to say this but make these “events” open only so your community builds from them. These current style CGs could remain as weekly goals and be available in all modes just like they are now.

CG is just another name for mindless grind - rewarded at the end by a nasty ladder scheme... horrible mechanic, never in my life would I touch something like that...

So I'm all for what you're suggesting.

But I don't know if the current dev team knows what half the code does they're working with - since the game doesn't seem to do what they want a lot of the time...

 

[Hellakitty]

Hm, all you need to do is change the Title of the Thread and you're golden : I just really liked the easy exploited Credits.

If you can't play without casually making 100M Cr + per hour or any similar 1-click "I win" button, then ELITE is definitely the wrong Title for you.

The credits were nice, they added to the billions I already have. Couldn't care less about them.

The engineering materials were what I was there for mainly. I found skimmer popping from a ship incredibly good fun too.

What was that about in iWin button?

 

[shevek]

Would the skimmer missions be improved if either the base or the skimmers were given point defences?

Or do players prefer using ship missile spam rather than a mix of ship and SRV to complete the missions.

 

[Hellakitty]

CG is just another name for mindless grind - rewarded at the end by a nasty ladder scheme... horrible mechanic, never in my life would I touch something like that...

So I'm all for what you're suggesting.

But I don't know if the current dev team knows what half the code does they're working with - since the game doesn't seem to do what they want a lot of the time...

I do some bounty hunting CG's where I wing up with some friends and we go seal-clubbing the NPC's, and do silly challenges like gangbanging an Elite Anaconda to death by ramming. We have fun and there's a small amount of credits deposited at the end of it, just a drop in the ocean.

I once tryharded a CG and came in the top 10 commanders globally for a completed trade/hauling CG. I got a small amount of credits deposited at the end of it, just a drop in the ocean.

However I didn't even get an inbox message from the minor faction the CG was for thanking me for my incredible time and effort I put into...doing the thing to get them the thing they wanted. That's how completely deflating and uninspiring the whole thing was. I can't even remember what I was hauling, to where I was hauling it and why.

I didn't get a patch I could apply to my flight suit or jacket. I didn't get a decal for my ship, I didn't get a trophy or certificate or anything to put on a shelf in the vast bridge of my Cutter along with all the other things I don't have for doing good things for people. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Not even a mention on Galnet or in the local station news.

**** that noise. Never again.

 

[RamirezKurita]

If you enjoyed the missions because you enjoyed the act of blowing up skimmers, then don't worry as they'll be back soon enough.

If you "enjoyed" them because if what they were doing to your credit account, then you should stop grinding and actually start playing the game instead by doing stuff you actually enjoy.

 

[n13L5]

Hm, all you need to do is change the Title of the Thread and you're golden : I just really liked the easy exploited Credits.

If you can't play without casually making 100M Cr + per hour or any similar 1-click "I win" button, then ELITE is definitely the wrong Title for you.

Please explain to me who ELITE is the right title for?

I mean, you capitalized it - as far as a name goes, what does it stand for to you?

- Does it stand for insane grind only a handful of elite masochists can stomach?
- Is it just so pretentious you can only chuckle?
- Certainly, none of its players are part of the real world "Elite", which according to a study by a Swiss university - using a supercomputer - consists of only 147 families controlling 20 global banks, which control 140 global corporations, including all news agencies and media outlets from TV to News papers.
- So, since nobody here is member of any "elite" I guess anyone who takes the title serious in any form just likes to pretend.

Pretending leads to delusion and so I prefer to avoid it...
Lets just say I play this in spite of its title - for the fully rendered galaxy, good ship fitting options, engineering tweaks, a fairly enjoyable flight model and all the wonderful players who have made 3rd party tools and YouTube videos for this - they make this so much more alive than it would ever be without them.
The rest rates from just acceptable to utter bunk.


P.S. you're also forgetting that not all players play against the NPC's or even the other Players - some simply play directly against the programmers!
The line between an exploit and what gets advertised as "emergent game play" is very thin, so think twice before you denounce it

In this space, I'd like to add, that FD has been pretty reasonable in handling all the money makers they apparently didn't intend...
No heavy handed hammerings are known to me, and they actually communicate about it in a commendably open way. Kudos for that...

 

[verminstar]

I used to love the skimmer missions cos I could achieve several things at once in playing them.

First of all, I never went near the bases even though it was fun trying to fight and survive several skimmers and turrets combined in the srv...teaches ye how to drive angry if nothing else and was hilarious fun it has to be said...losing an srv was very possible. Or ye could take the lazy option and land about 10km away and explore the vicinity fer loot and minerals...any skimmers found guarding loot hoards counted towards the total so it was quite easy to complete the mission without ever going toe to toe with the base itself.

Compared to some of the more simplistic A to B back to A again, it was fun. Ye they paid out good coin and they could be pushed into exploit territory...but they were fun and engaging and gave ye multiple options as to how to complete them. Tis a shame the same cannot be said about a whole raft of 'legitimate' alternatives by not only removing the gold rush aspect and the fun gameplay.

This happened before with smuggling...cant have players having fun now can we? Well no they can have fun, but its gotta our idea of fun ^

 

[SentineI]

@OP
Yeah, I am playing ED much less because of removal of Skimmer missions. :-(

FDev threw the baby out with the bath water by stopping all Skimmer missions. Why don't they just disable the whole game because a few people are using cheats or exploits? That's SURE to stop any cheaters

 

[GG7]

They'll be back in due course.

I've never been a fan, but I wouldn't expect them to remain MIA for much longer.

 

[Lee Archer]

Did skimmer heaven, like missles, wish they were more powerful against ships, nice mechanics and visuals.
It was fun, I needed the mats for engineering. Just ranked to king to try new ships, trying to make the best of things.

 

[n13L5]

Its good to be King...

Beats the crap out of Admiral ;-)




I did Admiral before 3.0 hit but for Empire, I was at Prince - about 30% towards King, expecting a stiff grind for the last 70%, cause it had been slow going for those last two ranks.

But after 3.0 hit, I did one 20+20 boom data mission round trip and I was at 75%. 40% advance in one round trip, I hadn't seen yet!
A second round trip finished it off, with room to spare, I assume.

So I'd say in 3.0, FD has either decided to make ranking up a lot easier, or else they screwed the pooch again, mucking up some formula...