Hi Guys,
Here's a crazy idea that I've been kicking around for a little while (scroll down to "Here's what I propose" if you don't want to read my lead-up). Obviously, earning credits is an important part of Elite Dangerous. Without money you can't buy bigger and better ships, you can't purchase trade goods, you can't upgrade your modules, etc. So, in a game without a defined goal, money effectively becomes the goal (with a few exceptions, I'm sure).
How you make that money has been a topic of heavy discussion on these forums. Some people feel like we can't make money fast enough in order to purchase the big ships and awesome modules, at least not without investing many more hours than most are willing to put in. That's likely the reason why we see so many people using "exploits", such as the Smeaton Orbital Passenger missions combined with Board Flipping. For some, they feel like that would be the only way they'll see the inside of a Conda or a Corvette (myself included). Now that the Smeaton "exploit" has been effectively killed by FD, we've lost that source of high revenue. There must be a better way!
Here's what I propose: Let's add an investment mechanic. I've seen other games employ something like this, such as Assassin's Creed. You can build up your home base or Assassin Guild, or whatever they called it, and the more money you put in, the more money it generates in the background. In Elite, we all tend to do missions in specific "home" systems, and we take the time to gain rep with the local factions. How about fleshing that mechanic out by allowing players to "invest" in those factions? If the factions do well and enter into a BOOM state, your investment will generate lots of money. If they are in a WAR state, your investment will pay out less. This would increase player incentive to encourage growth in their home factions, do more missions for those factions, and still be able to make decent cash even when they're not playing (which will allow those who can't put 50 hours a week into the game a chance to earn some decent money).
What do you guys think?
Here's a crazy idea that I've been kicking around for a little while (scroll down to "Here's what I propose" if you don't want to read my lead-up). Obviously, earning credits is an important part of Elite Dangerous. Without money you can't buy bigger and better ships, you can't purchase trade goods, you can't upgrade your modules, etc. So, in a game without a defined goal, money effectively becomes the goal (with a few exceptions, I'm sure).
How you make that money has been a topic of heavy discussion on these forums. Some people feel like we can't make money fast enough in order to purchase the big ships and awesome modules, at least not without investing many more hours than most are willing to put in. That's likely the reason why we see so many people using "exploits", such as the Smeaton Orbital Passenger missions combined with Board Flipping. For some, they feel like that would be the only way they'll see the inside of a Conda or a Corvette (myself included). Now that the Smeaton "exploit" has been effectively killed by FD, we've lost that source of high revenue. There must be a better way!
Here's what I propose: Let's add an investment mechanic. I've seen other games employ something like this, such as Assassin's Creed. You can build up your home base or Assassin Guild, or whatever they called it, and the more money you put in, the more money it generates in the background. In Elite, we all tend to do missions in specific "home" systems, and we take the time to gain rep with the local factions. How about fleshing that mechanic out by allowing players to "invest" in those factions? If the factions do well and enter into a BOOM state, your investment will generate lots of money. If they are in a WAR state, your investment will pay out less. This would increase player incentive to encourage growth in their home factions, do more missions for those factions, and still be able to make decent cash even when they're not playing (which will allow those who can't put 50 hours a week into the game a chance to earn some decent money).
What do you guys think?
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