This is my first post in this board, so OOC as well, I guess. I've lightly RP'd a character since starting the game, but my knowledge of ED's lore is fairly minimal, and broadly shaped as I go along, e.g. it started simply wanting to give context/motivation for why my character wanted to access the Sol system.
So, to the questions, and the general topic.
Is there any official source for the kind of socioeconomics that relate to ship pilots and ownership? As in; how common would it be, how large a proportion of a population group would either want to and/or be able to fly, how challenging is it to gain a Pilot's Federation license, how expensive would ships be relative to income, etc.
Gaining insight into that socioeconomic framework would, surely, unavoidably shape all RP's to varying degrees, and it's never been something I've thought about; I obviously considered my character's ethics and morality, but never their socioeconomic status.
...as an aside, the Sidewinder even poses some problems, because it arguably limits scope for that status, e.g. if your character is from a hugely wealthy family, it doesn't make sense that that hunk of relative junk would be one's first craft (unless there's another lore reason for why that's the player's first craft. I remember Frontier had something about a ship being passed down to you).
And as a more personal note regarding other people's RP's; however you view or treat the economics, what on earth does your character 'do' in their off time, in terms of making a wage? And how do you resolve the problem of a never changing balance, i.e. the cost of daily/weekly/monthly living is never reflected? Perhaps the balance we see in-game can be seen as a kind of ringfenced earnings, somehow related to the licence all players have? That's an explanation for what's seen in the game, but it's a fairly ridiculous notion in terms of how a galactic economy functions.
So, to the questions, and the general topic.
Is there any official source for the kind of socioeconomics that relate to ship pilots and ownership? As in; how common would it be, how large a proportion of a population group would either want to and/or be able to fly, how challenging is it to gain a Pilot's Federation license, how expensive would ships be relative to income, etc.
Gaining insight into that socioeconomic framework would, surely, unavoidably shape all RP's to varying degrees, and it's never been something I've thought about; I obviously considered my character's ethics and morality, but never their socioeconomic status.
...as an aside, the Sidewinder even poses some problems, because it arguably limits scope for that status, e.g. if your character is from a hugely wealthy family, it doesn't make sense that that hunk of relative junk would be one's first craft (unless there's another lore reason for why that's the player's first craft. I remember Frontier had something about a ship being passed down to you).
And as a more personal note regarding other people's RP's; however you view or treat the economics, what on earth does your character 'do' in their off time, in terms of making a wage? And how do you resolve the problem of a never changing balance, i.e. the cost of daily/weekly/monthly living is never reflected? Perhaps the balance we see in-game can be seen as a kind of ringfenced earnings, somehow related to the licence all players have? That's an explanation for what's seen in the game, but it's a fairly ridiculous notion in terms of how a galactic economy functions.
But sure our actions have impact. So yeah, some of that would be nice to see more just an 'mission completed' message.
