Introduction
Resource Extraction Sites (RES) currently represent the best opportunity for a variety of player types and NPCs to interact with each other in engaging, meaningful ways in Elite: Dangerous; but that's not what they're doing right now. Herein lies a proposal to help promote positive player experiences and interactions by tweaking the setup and behaviour of RES, making them more viable for a wider range of player occupations and skill levels.
The short version
The core idea is to give RES dynamic life cycles. A newly discovered RES will contain high resource density/quality and no authority vessels or pirates, encouraging miners to flock to the new find, gold-rush style. As word spreads about the resources, dangerous pirate vessels begin to show up, taking advantage of the lack of authorities. At this point bounty hunters are the only forces able to protect the miners; the rewards for doing so are great as there is little competition for kills and an abundance of high-bounty pirates capitalising on the boom. In time, System Authority Vessels will begin to show up and the high-bounty pirates will begin to leave - though small-time thugs will still try their luck harassing miners, making ideal targets for newbie hunters. As the site progressively stabilizes it also becomes increasingly depleted; safer but less rewarding for miners, who will eventually pack up and move on in search of richer seams. The entire cycle would last no more than a couple of hours from first discovery to full depletion, increasing variety as players move from RES to RES.
Players can scan a RES to see information about its current stage without having to enter it, reducing arbitrary 'fishing' for a good instance. Bulletin boards may also point players in the direction of the latest finds. Each system would have no more than a few active RES at any given time, increasing the odds of multiple CMDRs showing up at the same site.
That's the gist of it, anyway. For full details, read on!
Room for improvement
There are a few things about the way that RES are currently set up that seems to lead to frustrating experiences regardless of whether you're a bounty hunter, miner or pirate. I believe most of these issues are a direct result of the slightly randomised instancing of RES:
- Bounty hunters often get dropped into time-wasting low-profit instances, which has given rise to the common technique of exiting to the menu and reloading in the hopes of being placed in a better instance. Players who feel uncomfortable "gaming the system" like this can achieve the same result by jumping in and out of FSD or visiting other RES, but the end result is ultimately the same - you get dropped into a random instance, with no guarantee of better targets. Ultimately this punishes players for not gaming the system; if the end result is arbitrary, the time and effort spent getting there is utterly a waste... And so we power down the FSD, exit to the menu, and try again. There's also an issue with high-bounty instances tending to spawn tons of system authority vessels, greatly reducing the risks involved in taking on Anacondas, etc.
- Pirates in RES zones are begging to be annihilated - which is probably why they all seem to be NPCs; few humans are that suicidal. The potential rewards for a pirate are far outweighed by the risks posed by security and bounty hunters. Instead, they must rely much more heavily on interdiction and signal source hunting to turn a profit. Whilst this can be fun for a while, it's another system that ultimately comes down to luck of the draw. It also makes them far less likely to interact with human bounty hunters, whose time is better spent in RES zones than deep space, even given the aforementioned issues.
- Miners are likewise asking for trouble when they drop into RES, due to all of the NPC pirates. As with pirates, this leads to fewer human players mining in these zones. In the end this makes the NPC miners and pirates alike seem kind of dumb; why would either want to be in RES when they're guaranteed to be hunted?
The arbitrary randomisation also forces players of varying skill levels to waste time trying to find a challenge that appropriately fits their level of expertise, breaking flow. Ultimately these professions often feel more like fishing than hunting, piracy or mining. The relatively static nature of each RES also creates a lack of variety of encounter and a fairly flat level of difficulty per zone.
I believe RES could be so much more than this! They could be hotspots of deep, engaging interaction between players and NPCs of all types... They just need a few small(ish) tweaks.
Ideologies
Before I get into the finer details, I want to lay out a few of the core ideologies behind my proposal:
- Players should know what they're getting themselves into - not so much that they're never surprised, but enough to make them feel responsible for the situations they find themselves in.
- Player/player interaction should be encouraged as much as possible. Lone wolves have solo mode (or the exploration profession), pacifists have pve groups. Open Play should make it as easy as possible for players to chance upon each other.
- Players should spend more time doing their profession, less time finding a place in which to do it.
Proposal
As outlined in 'the short version' above, the plan is to create a dynamic life-cycle system that underpins each RES. Whilst the shifting cycle would be continuous/gradual, it's easier to describe it in terms of several key stages:
Stage 1 - New Discovery - 15 minutes
A short window to mine like crazy before pirates catch wind of the discovery.
Resources
High quality and density, very good chance of rare/valuable finds.
NPC Miners
Moderate density, high and low level ships.
NPC Pirates
Rare low level scouts; sidewinders and eagles.
NPC Authority
No authority vessels.
Ideal For
Miners of all skill levels - though low level ships won't want to stick around too long...
Stage 2 - Bountiful and Dangerous - 45 minutes
The secret is out. Without any system authority in the area, hunting season is on for pirates and bounty hunters alike.
Resources
Same as stage 1.
NPC Miners
High density, shifts towards higher level population as low levels are picked-off or forced to flee from pirates - though some small fish remain to try their luck.
NPC Pirates
High density, all levels. The most-wanted pirates are not afraid to show their faces here.
NPC Authority
Gradual increase to moderate density by the end of the phase, mostly low/medium level.
Ideal For
High level miners, pirates of all skill levels, medium/high level hunters.
Stage 3 - Stabilisation - 30 minutes
Defence forces begin to jump in, and the most-wanted pirates know it's time to move on. The best resources are exhausted, but there's still money to be made for low/mid level miners and the pirates/hunters who are drawn them them.
Resources
Moderate quality and density, gradually thinning out.
NPC Miners
Moderate density, low levels return whilst high-level ships move on to richer seams.
NPC Pirates
Moderate density, low/medium levels stick around whilst higher levels move on.
NPC Authority
Moderate density increasing to high density by the end of the phase, larger vessels begin to appear.
Ideal For
Low/medium levels of all professions.
Stage 4 - Closing Shop - 30 minutes
As resources run dry it's time for everyone to clear out.
Resources
Low quality and density.
NPC Miners
Low level only, gradually thinning to none.
NPC Pirates
Low level only, gradually thinning to none.
NPC Authority
Low population of a few high level watchdogs, gradually thinning to none.
Ideal For
The slow and the desperate.
Additional Systems and Ideas
In order to avoid Stage 1 RES becoming flooded with pirates, it may be useful to implement a system whereby the nav markers are only visible to ships which are clean in that particular system - or perhaps those whom have purchased a particular permit or have good reputation with local authorities. You can think of it as a tip-off rather than a scanned discovery. At Stage 2 the marker would become visible to all.
It could also be cool to dynamically spawn jobs in relation to each RES; I had the idea that a bounty hunter could hire themselves out as a system authority vessel. They would receive lower bounties (more like combat bonds), but their insurance would be covered by the authorities - something like that.
The Last Word
This turned into a few more words than I'd planned at the start! Honestly I'd be a little surprised if anybody actually reads this in full, but I wanted to put the idea out there in any case. E
is a brilliant game, and I'm very excited to see it grow whether it does so in the direction of my imagination or not - Hadyn // CMDR KNIGHT_ARTORIAS
