Okay But Really, Proxima Centauri?

Crank Larson

Crank Larson
El Grillo said:
It's cool - you wouldn't have to use it. You could choose to jump to a star which was tens of thousands of LS from your destination, so that you can then sit looking at an effectively static screen for about an hour. If that's what you like, go for it! Different strokes.

Most people however have better things to do with their time than sitting and staring at what might as well be a blank monitor for an hour. So we'd prefer this system to be overhauled to remove stupid faults in the game design like this.
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And I can use the very same argument back to you - you don't have to visit any of these far away places if you don't want to. No need to change the game in any way. ;)

It isn't a fault in the game design, it's simply a decision that was made about its design.
 

IndigoWyrd

IndigoWyrd
El Grillo said:
Most people however have better things to do with their time than sitting and staring at what might as well be a blank monitor for an hour. So we'd prefer this system to be overhauled to remove stupid faults in the game design like this.
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Right, like playing a video game for an hour. Great resume material. Genuine life skill builder.

Of course, there are always things like:

Watching TV
Watching NetFlix
Reading a Book
Working on your Master's Thesis

while you wait to arrive....
 

Crank Larson

Crank Larson
El Grillo said:
And outside of Hutton, there are many, many instances of that and it is not something that can be avoided by players, without taking a whole lot of time to work out which missions might screw them over with ridiculously long SC times and how to avoid those particular missions/trade runs/whatever.
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You don't need to take any time to work out how far the station is, as the information is included in the mission notes. If it's too far, don't take it. :)
 

El Grillo

E
Crank Larson said:
You don't need to take any time to work out how far the station is, as the information is included in the mission notes. If it's too far, don't take it. :)
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Crank Larson said:
And I can use the very same argument back to you - you don't have to visit any of these far away places if you don't want to. No need to change the game in any way. ;)

It isn't a fault in the game design, it's simply a decision that was made about its design.
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You do though, don't you - lots of gameplay mechanics will lead you to need to go and take these extra long supercruise trips at some point, whether you're doing missions, trading, doing CGs, whatever. You can avoid them, but often that will mean taking a hit; maybe there are no missions about which you can do apart from ones which are going to stations where you'll have to spend 5+ minutes in SC, or maybe there aren't any particularly profitable trading routes at the moment except those which require you to go sit in SC for ages...
At that point, you have players either having to sit staring at a static screen for 10 minutes, or doing an activity which is far less worthwhile in terms of rewards, or they'll just logging off due to there being no other option (i.e. no other missions generated on the board). What is the justification for putting players in this position? Why wouldn't you want to ammend this system so that, at the least, you reduce the chances of them having to be faced with such a crap situation in the first place?

...and why on earth would you be opposed to this? If you want to sit staring at a blank screen for ages, do it! No-one's suggesting taking that away from you! Why do you want other players, who clearly find this boring as hell, to have to do something like this when it would have absolutely zero impact on you if the system was changed or upgraded to add multiple jump-in points??
IndigoWyrd said:
Right, like playing a video game for an hour. Great resume material. Genuine life skill builder.

Of course, there are always things like:

Watching TV
Watching NetFlix
Reading a Book
Working on your Master's Thesis

while you wait to arrive....
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I'm not sure what you're talking about here. Playing an enjoyable or fun or interesting video game for an hour, in my book, is a good activity to engage in - be it for me to unwind after work, or whatever.
Playing a video game where you sit in front of a static screen for an hour is none of those things, and therefore I suggest it is not worth doing for most people - hence Frontier should add a feature whereby players can sensibly avoid having to do such a boring thing if they choose. That is what this discussion is about.
 

damon8r351

damon8r351
El Grillo said:
You do though, don't you - lots of gameplay mechanics will lead you to need to go and take these extra long supercruise trips at some point, whether you're doing missions, trading, doing CGs, whatever. You can avoid them, but often that will mean taking a hit; maybe there are no missions about which you can do apart from ones which are going to stations where you'll have to spend 5+ minutes in SC, or maybe there aren't any particularly profitable trading routes at the moment except those which require you to go sit in SC for ages...
At that point, you have players either having to sit staring at a static screen for 10 minutes, or doing an activity which is far less worthwhile in terms of rewards, or they'll just logging off due to there being no other option (i.e. no other missions generated on the board). What is the justification for putting players in this position? Why wouldn't you want to ammend this system so that, at the least, you reduce the chances of them having to be faced with such a crap situation in the first place?

...and why on earth would you be opposed to this? If you want to sit staring at a blank screen for ages, do it! No-one's suggesting taking that away from you! Why do you want other players, who clearly find this boring as hell, to have to do something like this when it would have absolutely zero impact on you if the system was changed or upgraded to add multiple jump-in points??

I'm not sure what you're talking about here. Playing an enjoyable or fun or interesting video game for an hour, in my book, is a good activity to engage in - be it for me to unwind after work, or whatever.
Playing a video game where you sit in front of a static screen for an hour is none of those things, and therefore I suggest it is not worth doing for most people - hence Frontier should add a feature whereby players can sensibly avoid having to do such a boring thing if they choose. That is what this discussion is about.
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There are already features in game that prevent this. Mission briefs requiring delivery of cargo/passengers/data will include the distance in light seconds of the destination from its primary. As for missions that require a scan to find the destination, it's wise to bring the system up on your galaxy map; if it's in a system where a twin is more than 10k ls from the primary, you can virtually guarantee it will send you to the twin. If the mission sends you to an undesirable place, you can back out before you accept it. Also, the game is non-linear, there is no "story" mission that sends you on a long supercruise involuntarily. There's, in fact, no reason to subject yourself to an excessive supercruise if you don't want to as the game stands now. There are always alternatives to taking the long way.
 
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AkenBosch

AkenBosch
Steve Kirby said:
Hi,

I'm Steve.

[pause and wait for group to say "Hi Steve"]

I'm an Elite Dev and I've never done the Hutton Orbital Run legitimately.
[hangs head in shame]

You see the stories and make the plans to do it, but there's always an excuse. I'm working late, I'll get to it after this CG, maybe just one more buckyball run then i'll do it. Even promises of Free Anacondas did nothing.
But then you see you are just lying to yourself.

I realised I need to do this. I need to get to Hutton Orbital!

So tonight I'm going to start the new 12 steps to Hutton programme and get myself to Hutton Orbital, flying the Wendy 2* to get myself a mug and this monkey off my back.

Thanks

Steve K

(*exact ship might not match that advertised depending on where I left it.)
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"maybe just one more buckyball run then i'll do it."

Yes, that's exactly what I *always* tell to myself. :D

Should you manage to get back from Hutton in due time :p, you'll have all next week to have a shot at racing in a Dolphin if you fancy it (slapping of paper fishes on pilots' backs without their knowledge may happen, terms & conditions may apply).
 

Crank Larson

Crank Larson
El Grillo said:
...and why on earth would you be opposed to this? If you want to sit staring at a blank screen for ages, do it! No-one's suggesting taking that away from you! Why do you want other players, who clearly find this boring as hell, to have to do something like this when it would have absolutely zero impact on you if the system was changed or upgraded to add multiple jump-in points??
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Because it would fundamentally change the feel of the game and the perception of distance. And if in-system jumps were added, of course I'd use them - it would be stupid not to. That's even more reason why I personally don't want them. :)

I like flying spaceships. Supercruise is part of that. Sometimes, to get somewhere, you do just have to go straight on for a long time...
 

Rock Hunter

Rock Hunter
It’s the ability of this game to invoke the absurdity of human nature that makes it so endearing, interesting, frustrating and fascinating.

Racing to Colonia in under two hours, extreme exploring, SRV planetary circumnavigation, buckyball racing...and of course going to Hutton Orbital just because, well, just because I s’pose. I’m about two months in so still so much to try and so much still just to find out about but the game is clearly as much or as little as you want to make of it.

With all the frustrations that can come for some players from each update and variation it seems smart to squeeze everything possible from this game if it even remotely makes you think “yeah, I might give that a whirl.”

Full disclosure: I’ve not been to Hutton Orbital....but it’s probably going to happen. I hate feeling left out;)
 

El Grillo

E
mtt9999 said:
Some of us like the Alpha Centauri run! Or perhaps, as you suggest, we should just make every system the same.
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No-one suggested making every system the same, that would be boring as . This game already suffers from a relative lack of visual interest compared to other galaxy simulators e.g. Space Engine.
damon8r351 said:
There are already features in game that prevent this. Mission briefs requiring delivery of cargo/passengers/data will include the distance in light seconds of the destination from its primary. As for missions that require a scan to find the destination, it's wise to bring the system up on your galaxy map; if it's in a system where a twin is more than 10k ls from the primary, you can virtually guarantee it will send you to the twin. If the mission sends you to an undesirable place, you can back out before you accept it. Also, the game is non-linear, there is no "story" mission that sends you on a long supercruise involuntarily. There's, in fact, no reason to subject yourself to an excessive supercruise if you don't want to as the game stands now. There are always alternatives to taking the long way.
Click to expand...
There certainly is a reason; the game will in certain instances actively encourage you to go 'the long way' due to the rewards systems. Thus you will inevitably at some point (read: plenty of times, over any significant period playing the game) end up with a choice between sitting staring at a static screen for 5 or 10+ minutes waiting to get somewhere in SC, or having to do multiple other missions to make up the same amount you would have earned with a more pain-in-the- mission of the formerly mentioned type. These are not sensible things to force players to choose between.

What's interesting about all this to me is that is doesn't make any logical sense. If you have jump technology that somehow gives you a pathway between stars, why can it only send you to one star in the system, if there are multiple stars placed far apart? Is there some in-game justification for this?
 

Straha Yeagar

S
El Grillo said:
No-one suggested making every system the same, that would be boring as . This game already suffers from a relative lack of visual interest compared to other galaxy simulators e.g. Space Engine.

There certainly is a reason; the game will in certain instances actively encourage you to go 'the long way' due to the rewards systems. Thus you will inevitably at some point (read: plenty of times, over any significant period playing the game) end up with a choice between sitting staring at a static screen for 5 or 10+ minutes waiting to get somewhere in SC, or having to do multiple other missions to make up the same amount you would have earned with a more pain-in-the- mission of the formerly mentioned type. These are not sensible things to force players to choose between.

What's interesting about all this to me is that is doesn't make any logical sense. If you have jump technology that somehow gives you a pathway between stars, why can it only send you to one star in the system, if there are multiple stars placed far apart? Is there some in-game justification for this?
Click to expand...

Choices with consequences, pros and cons, drawbacks, positives, opening one door causing another to close...the horror!
 
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