The Elite community is small enough as it is (compared to other big titles out there), and I think it's a shame that rather than adjust game mechanics to adjust risk/reward of being in open, Fdev instead provides ways to divide the community (solo, private groups, etc) who likely would rather a vibrant lively universe surrounded by other commanders, without the threat of being killed with no chance of escape or survival by another commander.
I realize some commanders claim they prefer to be alone in solo (and that's fine), but I imagine many of them would rather interact with other commanders if it was safer to do so.
Here are a few suggestions that come to mind:
high security systems should be completely safe from PvP or there should be very steep consequences (guaranteed ship destruction by police for the attacker).
The rewards should also be far greater in low security systems that compensate commanders handsomely for doing stuff in those systems (and counteract the once n' a while gank you might be subjected to). So really the solo vs open argument is a complete distraction from the real problem, and my overall critique isn't the "solo only player"... its the people that lack the imagination for a better unified galaxy.
instead what we have today, is very experienced players who are fully engineered, killing new commanders visiting Deciat for the first time. Those commanders likely end up playing solo after that experience for a long long long time before considering open again. The antics / trope of "Dangerous" is what elite is about is a tough pill to swallow, when you're provided little to no reward for that danger. I would rather a galaxy filled with commanders of all skill levels, not a galaxy of top tier players separate from other players like we have today. This to me is more important to the fabric of this game, more than space legs or atmospheric landings. The tragedy here is what I'm proposing is likely pretty cheap to implement compared to some of the other initiatives the dev team is working on.
I realize some commanders claim they prefer to be alone in solo (and that's fine), but I imagine many of them would rather interact with other commanders if it was safer to do so.
Here are a few suggestions that come to mind:
high security systems should be completely safe from PvP or there should be very steep consequences (guaranteed ship destruction by police for the attacker).
The rewards should also be far greater in low security systems that compensate commanders handsomely for doing stuff in those systems (and counteract the once n' a while gank you might be subjected to). So really the solo vs open argument is a complete distraction from the real problem, and my overall critique isn't the "solo only player"... its the people that lack the imagination for a better unified galaxy.
instead what we have today, is very experienced players who are fully engineered, killing new commanders visiting Deciat for the first time. Those commanders likely end up playing solo after that experience for a long long long time before considering open again. The antics / trope of "Dangerous" is what elite is about is a tough pill to swallow, when you're provided little to no reward for that danger. I would rather a galaxy filled with commanders of all skill levels, not a galaxy of top tier players separate from other players like we have today. This to me is more important to the fabric of this game, more than space legs or atmospheric landings. The tragedy here is what I'm proposing is likely pretty cheap to implement compared to some of the other initiatives the dev team is working on.