Isn't the concept of a game finding ways to deal with restrictions? Chess would become pointless if you just go: all these restrictions on the movement of my pieces restrict me gameplay, I want the pieces to be able to move anywhere I like.
This is a great example to use, Ziggy.
Chess is a
Closed System. Probably the most enjoyable, closed system in the context of gameplay there has ever been. The whole point of chess is to out think your opponent, within the confines of that system. Limited number of pieces, each with their own special moves, with a limited number of moves possible. A lot of moves in terms of permutations when starting a game, yes...which dwindle as the game goes on. The aim is to control that decline, ending up in a wining position.
Most Human vs Human or Unrestricted PvE Environments are not a closed systems, they are an
Open System. Open Mode especially as you introduce human behaviours displays Open System characteristics, but even Solo Mode should be treated as a Closed to Open System transition.
Imagine going to play another game of chess, to find that some of the pieces move differently, there is now a grey team and the board is different. This is what happens every time a nerf or a buff is made arbitrarily in ED. It's still chess, but it's something similar to "Chess". It's just no one found out until the pieces were laid out. This is not an evolution, it's just an uncontrolled closed system, which are not okay. You have to re-evaluate the techniques through which the Closed System is controlled if you do things this way, which FD do not. If boxed up and understood as something that is not Chess, but is similar to Chess, with a revision of the rules and how to go about things however, it is okay. Examples would be 3D chess on Star Trek, or 3 Team Chess invented by Sheldon of The Big Bang Theory.
An open system by contrast adapts in line with internal and external factors. Stuff which acts upon and affects the system in place. It never becomes anything other than an evolved version of itself. Control factors sort themselves out (if it's designed properly). Not just which ship you use, how well you fly it, and why based on pilot and ship capabilities. Not just how big your gun is, what you choose to fire upon, and why. Not just what trade information is available, how inclined you are to make a profit and why. Or indeed:
Now, perhaps the new trading mechanics that are being developed can help a CMDR finding exactly what you describe. If by analysing the various trade information after you take a mission, you can determine: if I fill the remainder of my cargo capacity with coffee machines, which are in high demand at my destination, I can make some additional profit when I do this mission.
That would make it a little more challenging than: gimme an endless supply of missions, and would take some actual gameplay which, who knows, might be enjoyable.
That sort of thing. And it's not just you, it's several thousand other Commanders all doing different things, some activities completely unrestricted (no rules), all for different reasons....
one would hope.
Add to that, ED is a
collection of Open Systems, all acting upon one another in sometimes random and unforeseen ways. A
Cybernetic System which brings with it a whole T-9 full of other issues. Or if I wanted to labour the point, a whole Squadron of the stuff.
Trying to manage it like a game of chess, as FD seem to do. Well.
This dichotomy is responsible for 95% of everything "debated" on these boards, and the approach will simply at some point...have to change.
So:
Dear Satan
What Ziggy and all the other sensible people said
Or engaging combination thereof
Before Christmas
Hugs, Six...
Oh, and no boring board flipping please <3
Yes, addressing this at a high level might get the game to look something like it should by the end of Beyond. Mostly due to if it's done, many other things having to be redone to bring the system capability of the ED Universe in line (the thing that maybe is proving to be the issue at HQ), making it a lot of fun for everyone concerned.
If it's designed properly.