Is FD Trying to Discourage New Pilots?

[Brian of Ardagh]

I started playing before the new NPC mission givers mechanic was brought in. I decided to clear my save and I'm starting over in a SideWinder without the SRV. I'm a bit appalled at how FD treats new pilots!

First time I just wandered around doing light trading and the occasional mission. This time I figured I'd find a home base and rep up with a single faction.

On the one hand the contact at my stsrtinh location (a small outpost) offering a job for 10,000 credits to another system and helpfully telling my what to do step by step was good.

Then I decided to look for a suitable home base. The bases I had visited were all run by dictatorships or criminal organization. I decided to try a Federation aligned democracy.

My first meeting with the contact of the controlling faction was, to put it mildly, worse than any meeting I could imagine in my life. It was just simple dismissal but outright hostility. Like being treated like a piece of trash. Look what an excuse for a pilot is allowed to pass my office door would be a good paraphrase.

I won't go deep into the only mission I could take but I had to abandon it, it pitted my poor SideWinder against 3 NPC with lasers and missle volleys that shredded my ship in under 10 seconds with 4 pips to SYS. Not surprisingly but it was the only mission I could take at the time and I'd get paid 35,000 Cr if I succeeded. I tried a second time thinking silent running while trying to get the cargo might help but my bindings weren't set correctly at first. So I high waked when the dropped in again.

That being a failure I went back and there was a mission to deliver goods to a station 12 ly away for 22,000 Cr. I upgraded my FSD enough that it only meant 7 jumps!

So anyways I took it and the contact there was a major jerk. She wasn't just rude or dismissive. She referred to me as Space Vermin Brian of Ardagh!

I completed the mission but I decided to fill my hull with 4 tonnes of goods for the return trip to make about 8,000 Cr on the return trip. I got lucky but I was running on fumes when I made back home.

It was all fun but I do have to remember that I'm not in my A spec Cobra III or IV any more. I also stayed up much longer than I wanted, didn't see my bed until 4:30 am!

 

[Vasious]

Was it a mission with a Harmless/Aimless/Penniless rating or was it higher?

 

[insanephoton]

The attitude of the mission givers changes as you improve your Pilots Federation rankings and start to get more friendly with the local factions. Actually once you reach cordial with a minor faction you get a different mission giver. It sounds like you were doing a salvage mission. They can be quite tricky if you have one with a reception committee jumping in on you. They will appear every time you drop into mission instance. The trick is to boost towards the cloud of cargo and select one of your mission targets, Open the cargo scoop and slow down just in time, close scoop and high wake out before you get into trouble. Rinse and repeat until you have collected enough, but always be prepared to abandon the attempt and high wake out.

If you have Horizons it's a smart move to invest in getting a planetary hangar and SRV because the ground missions are usually safer and better paid.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

Was it a mission with a Harmless/Aimless/Penniless rating or was it higher?

The mission for the rebel transmission canister was a mostly harmless and of course I'm harmless. I know that's above me by one step but I think I would have had my hands full as a mostly harmless in my Cobra Mk III.

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The attitude of the mission givers changes as you improve your Pilots Federation rankings and start to get more friendly with the local factions. Actually once you reach cordial with a minor faction you get a different mission giver. It sounds like you were doing a salvage mission. They can be quite tricky if you have one with a reception committee jumping in on you. They will appear every time you drop into mission instance. The trick is to boost towards the cloud of cargo and select one of your mission targets, Open the cargo scoop and slow down just in time, close scoop and high wake out before you get into trouble. Rinse and repeat until you have collected enough, but always be prepared to abandon the attempt and high wake out.

If you have Horizons it's a smart move to invest in getting a planetary hangar and SRV because the ground missions are usually safer and better paid.

I've seen that they treat you okay at higher ranks and reps but this is the first time I've seen what it's like as a true beginner pilot. I'm just surprised how badly you are treated. It seems like FD wants to slap a new player in the face when taking your first missions. Maybe so you can show them you aren't space trash?

I'm not that good at running and scooping so that wasn't going to work out well. I did make a 2nd go at it but the canister bounced on the hull and I high-waked. That when I abandoned it.

I have Horizons but decided to forego the ship with the hanger and SRV, you don't then get room for a fuel scoop right? I know I can't fit one now without losing something else. I'll wait until I can get something with more slots.

 

[Ben Ryder]

I started playing before the new NPC mission givers mechanic was brought in. I decided to clear my save and I'm starting over in a SideWinder without the SRV. I'm a bit appalled at how FD treats new pilots!

First time I just wandered around doing light trading and the occasional mission. This time I figured I'd find a home base and rep up with a single faction.

On the one hand the contact at my stsrtinh location (a small outpost) offering a job for 10,000 credits to another system and helpfully telling my what to do step by step was good.

Then I decided to look for a suitable home base. The bases I had visited were all run by dictatorships or criminal organization. I decided to try a Federation aligned democracy.

My first meeting with the contact of the controlling faction was, to put it mildly, worse than any meeting I could imagine in my life. It was just simple dismissal but outright hostility. Like being treated like a piece of trash. Look what an excuse for a pilot is allowed to pass my office door would be a good paraphrase.

I won't go deep into the only mission I could take but I had to abandon it, it pitted my poor SideWinder against 3 NPC with lasers and missle volleys that shredded my ship in under 10 seconds with 4 pips to SYS. Not surprisingly but it was the only mission I could take at the time and I'd get paid 35,000 Cr if I succeeded. I tried a second time thinking silent running while trying to get the cargo might help but my bindings weren't set correctly at first. So I high waked when the dropped in again.

That being a failure I went back and there was a mission to deliver goods to a station 12 ly away for 22,000 Cr. I upgraded my FSD enough that it only meant 7 jumps!

So anyways I took it and the contact there was a major jerk. She wasn't just rude or dismissive. She referred to me as Space Vermin Brian of Ardagh!

I completed the mission but I decided to fill my hull with 4 tonnes of goods for the return trip to make about 8,000 Cr on the return trip. I got lucky but I was running on fumes when I made back home.

It was all fun but I do have to remember that I'm not in my A spec Cobra III or IV any more. I also stayed up much longer than I wanted, didn't see my bed until 4:30 am!

This game used to be a lot harder. Get hostile with any Empire or Fed faction and everyone was going to kill you. Yes everyone. Smuggle some good or find some scrap flaoting in space and yuo got a kill on sight bounty on your head. No docking computers. A galaxy map that was utterly wrong. And this wasnr for a few weeks it was for almost a year. There was loads more. New pilots do have it bad now ut fromlpaying for a while they alwasy should. ts not the kind f o game where you are MR JEFF!!! Commander of the Everything when you strat of on your bol dmission to erm save the day, You are nobody. You have ship that was loaned to you and no one has any reason at all to trust or respect you. Hey stranger Ive got this thing I need doin at it pays credist that are enough (several tonnes) to feed a community for years. Yeah sure I trust you. Just dont abandon the mission and sell the goods on the black market. Promise? Ok deal

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

This game used to be a lot harder. Get hostile with any Empire or Fed faction and everyone was going to kill you. Yes everyone. Smuggle some good or find some scrap flaoting in space and yuo got a kill on sight bounty on your head. No docking computers. A galaxy map that was utterly wrong. And this wasnr for a few weeks it was for almost a year. There was loads more. New pilots do have it bad now ut fromlpaying for a while they alwasy should. ts not the kind f o game where you are MR JEFF!!! Commander of the Everything when you strat of on your bol dmission to erm save the day, You are nobody. You have ship that was loaned to you and no one has any reason at all to trust or respect you. Hey stranger Ive got this thing I need doin at it pays credist that are enough (several tonnes) to feed a community for years. Yeah sure I trust you. Just dont abandon the mission and sell the goods on the black market. Promise? Ok deal

I get where you are coming from and I wouldn't mind some of those harder aspects you mentioned, those actions against you would be on your own head. A challenge is one thing but common human decency seems to have been left behind when humans made it into space.

Also, is space bad for human health because everyone besides the Princess looks like they have 6 months to live!

 

[kofeyh]

My first meeting with the contact of the controlling faction was, to put it mildly, worse than any meeting I could imagine in my life. It was just simple dismissal but outright hostility. Like being treated like a piece of trash. Look what an excuse for a pilot is allowed to pass my office door would be a good paraphrase.

They do not know you from a barge pole, do you normally invite complete strangers into your home and lavish attention on them?

I won't go deep into the only mission I could take but I had to abandon it, it pitted my poor SideWinder against 3 NPC with lasers and missle volleys that shredded my ship in under 10 seconds with 4 pips to SYS.

Weird. I'm guessing the rank was above your (then) pay grade?

That being a failure I went back and there was a mission to deliver goods to a station 12 ly away for 22,000 Cr. I upgraded my FSD enough that it only meant 7 jumps!

Gotta start somewhere, game isn't going to offer 30LY range day one; long time players become very 'used' to things.

I recently started a new commander account for streaming "elite academy" (since the tutes are pretty short and don't teach much!) and boy did I learn a thing or two, even whilst teaching others. Think of it as flight school of hard knocks with a pilot who's an occasional idiot. It was and is a blast!

So anyways I took it and the contact there was a major jerk. She wasn't just rude or dismissive. She referred to me as Space Vermin Brian of Ardagh!

Given your quite hostile attitude, we'll just assume it was that you had low reputation, and weren't trotting about yelling "I AM THE GREAT BRIAN OF ARDAGH, BASK IN MY GLORY" or anything like that. Which is totally something you should be doing. BASK, darnit!

It was all fun but I do have to remember that I'm not in my A spec Cobra III or IV any more.

This is about 99.9999999999999999999e03% of the situation. Commanders become used to 'patterns' and assumptions based on their rank and ship choices. Take all those comforts away and suddenly it's all a bit daunting again.

Sounds to me very much like the new player experience is awesome (a handful of frustrations aside). I've had a blast reacquainting with small ships and my newbie pilot account is loving his eagle and having a blast demonstrating things one can do to increase life expectancy (and occasionally exampling how not to do things).

 

[Codger]

Haha, this is a great story. You do start at the bottom rung of the ladder. Well, not really. You have a free spaceship. And all those NPCs at the stations really envy you. They don't have their own ships.

 

[metatheurgist]

If you watched the DB interviews he says that Pilot's Federation members are like itinerant workers, they drift from place to place seeking work and are not trusted or welcome. Like the dodgy gunfighter that just came to town, the sheriff is trying to run you out. Until you gain some standing in the community, you are regarded as trash. That's pretty much exactly what he said.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

They do not know you from a barge pole, do you normally invite complete strangers into your home and lavish attention on them?

Sounds to me very much like the new player experience is awesome (a handful of frustrations aside). I've had a blast reacquainting with small ships and my newbie pilot account is loving his eagle and having a blast demonstrating things one can do to increase life expectancy (and occasionally exampling how not to do things).

Yes, I do normally invite complete strangers into my home and lavish attention on them. Unless they are Jehovah Witness types! But even then I try not to treat them like the scum of the earth and make them feel low just to make myself feel superior, even though I am! But then I wasn't raised by a machine like these people appear to have been.

My new player experience the 1st time was different, it was before Horizons. I did light trading and some bounty hunting. By the time I ran some more serious missions my rank was already a few levels up.

I just started this thread after watching some of the Extra Credit videos on game design. Starting your players off the way I experienced it this time would not normally be recommended. Doesn't make it bad but doesn't make it feel encouraging. Sure, if you stick to it, the factions will only treat you like day old garbage which is an improvement. Eventually they will treat you like warmed leftovers and eventual they might say "nice to see you again" like a normal human.

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If you watched the DB interviews he says that Pilot's Federation members are like itinerant workers, they drift from place to place seeking work and are not trusted or welcome. Like the dodgy gunfighter that just came to town, the sheriff is trying to run you out. Until you gain some standing in the community, you are regarded as trash. That's pretty much exactly what he said.

That video is one of the reasons I cleared my save.

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Haha, this is a great story. You do start at the bottom rung of the ladder. Well, not really. You have a free spaceship. And all those NPCs at the stations really envy you. They don't have their own ships.

Totally understandable human reaction there, humans are pretty bad with the jealousy. I'm sure working as a low level contact with "privileged" fly boys might be hard to take. I guess their attitude isn't too much different than the low level DMV drones.

 

[Codger]

Once you have built a rep, you can look forward to them having 'Joy Joy Feelings' at your return. I'm not sure that's better.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

Once you have built a rep, you can look forward to them having 'Joy Joy Feelings' at your return. I'm not sure that's better.

I've never experienced that, I think I never repped up with any single faction high enough where they were more than indifferent.

We shall see! I've settled into a Orbis port in a federation aligned democracy in a boom condition. Not far from Eravate, one of those LTT 15xxx systems. Just for starters, not sure if I'd better off looking for a different state as a repeat newbie.

 

[Karl Marx]

Response to title since that's all that really needs to be answered: No. Why the heck would they? New players are an important source of income for FD and it makes no economical sense to hurt them.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

Response to title since that's all that really needs to be answered: No. Why the heck would they? New players are an important source of income for FD and it makes no economical sense to hurt them.

The title was meant to be click bait, threads with sane reasonable titles die in obscurity!

Just like my solution thread to the instant vs. delayed transfers debate. Compromise? What, we want war!!

 

[Maruun]

My first meeting with the contact of the controlling faction was, to put it mildly, worse than any meeting I could imagine in my life. It was just simple dismissal but outright hostility. Like being treated like a piece of trash. Look what an excuse for a pilot is allowed to pass my office door would be a good paraphrase.

[video=youtube;-YGlW4WB90Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YGlW4WB90Y[/video]

That may answer your question about their hostility.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YGlW4WB90Y

That may answer your question about their hostility.

Thanks but you missed the part of the thread where I mentioned watching that as the reason for clearing my save. My sentence was easy to miss though.

Thanks for linking to it though as I didn't. I watched all of the livestream videos from Gamescom and the Lave Radio interview with Sandro and Zac.

 

[the100thmonkey]

Once you have built a rep, you can look forward to them having 'Joy Joy Feelings' at your return. I'm not sure that's better.

I've never seen that flavour text myself. I'm jealous. Usually they want to either try to get me a job or tell me that I'm the reason they work there.

 

[Vasious]

I've never seen that flavour text myself. I'm jealous. Usually they want to either try to get me a job or tell me that I'm the reason they work there.

For a giggle at the other side of the coin of unfriendly NPCs

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/262068-Is-she-single

 

[Jaiotu]

I recently did the same thing one account #2. Complete reset. The dismissive attitude of the misson givers is, to me, lots of fun. They act like they don't expect you to be able to do the job which is a pretty good assessment of a typical unexperienced player. After a few runs for a single minor faction they start to warm up a bit as you get passed up to a better handler. Remeber: These low-level guys handing out starter missions only get to deal with the most inexperienced pilots ALL DAY LONG. They don't just hate YOU they hate their job.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

I recently did the same thing one account #2. Complete reset. The dismissive attitude of the misson givers is, to me, lots of fun. They act like they don't expect you to be able to do the job which is a pretty good assessment of a typical unexperienced player. After a few runs for a single minor faction they start to warm up a bit as you get passed up to a better handler. Remeber: These low-level guys handing out starter missions only get to deal with the most inexperienced pilots ALL DAY LONG. They don't just hate YOU they hate their job.

It was kind of fun being called a Space Vermin! I'm guessing I'll see more of that until I end up a bit.