Pilot Ejection Table - For those who want some risk in their game!

[KellyR]

I still pull boneheaded maneuvers inside the hub, especially if the pad is right inside, although I haven't splatted myself yet. The controllers must be thinking, "What in the name of Sirius is this fool doing?"

 

[No3kins]

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone on this thread for all the information that allows me to play IronMan mode. In particular to KellyR. I use your dice roll program to keep me alive (hopefully)!

I have been playing IronMan mode since the launch of ED and my present "life" is going quite well. For those interested I am (attempting) to start an IronMan mode group.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=165363

That thread has all the info in but in summary....

Ii is a place for people who play the same or similar game style (i.e. IronMan mode) to meet. In game, I haven't yet met a fellow IronMan mode player and if possible I would quite like to meet up and maybe wing up with a few others.

Please do take a look at the thread and join the group / send me a friend request if you are interested.

Thanks!

 

[KellyR]

You're welcome. I'm glad you like the program. It was the most challenging thing I've ever done in programming. Sure was fun to write it though.

 

[KellyR]

Well, I just got a new Python the other day. Did some trading and then took it to the Una community event. I had defected from Aisling to Torval (for the extra profit on Imperial Slaves), but I decided to defect back to Aisling. I saw there was a Mahon controlled system fairly close and figured I'd get some merits. I had 125 and had just killed another Alliance bureaucrat when I saw another red one on the screen. I targeted him and it was an NPC going by the moniker of Adjuster in an Anaconda. I assume he was there to hunt me for defecting from Torval. I had been having great luck and headed for him. That proved to be a FATAL ERROR. He took my shields and then thrusters down and was working on my hull. I was in the process of doing a repair/reboot when I hear "Eject! Eject!" and then I'm looking at a black screen saying my ship had been destroyed by Adjuster.

Ok. Break out the program I wrote, enter the parameters and click Generate. "Character death." Lovely. Ok. Wiped my save.

And you know what? I'm up to 257,000 credits still in the Sidewinder, haven't touched my Free Eagle and have not traded a lick or even deployed weapons. Although I do need to sell that scanner and get an extra 2 cargo spaces. I could have made 60k more if I'd had those 2 extra spaces. I'll be back in my Python and I won't take crazy risks this time. So for the experience alone, it was worth the wipe.

 

[mossfoot]

A thought occurred to me. Once we have the buggies I'll probably need to come up with a new table for if we're killed on a joy ride on a moon

(Also, will need to expand circumstances of ship destruction as well, but we'll see how it goes once it's released)

 

[Poy]

I don't use this (I'm too attached to my progress to leave it to chance) but it's really well made mossfoot, and I'm excited for the buggy update

(can't wait for: your ship has taken off/is still on the ground/your SRV class etc.)

 

[mossfoot]

I don't use this (I'm too attached to my progress to leave it to chance)

Come on, you know deep down you want to

You'd also be surprised how many people enjoy starting over, too. And if you've had to wipe your save once, you can bet you're going to be more cautious in a fight and more terrified of making sure you get out alive.

In the long run it's totally worth it

 

[KellyR]

And wiping your save and restarting isn't as bad as people think. People who do this ask, "Was I really that bad when I first started?" Yes. You were really that bad. You were a raw newbie with no seasoning whatsoever. You didn't know about trading. You didn't know about missions, you didn't know how to smuggle goods into a main station. But now that you've gotten some time under your belt, and some seasoning, you are much better. You have all the experience which you lacked when you first started out. I recently wiped my save. Within 2 days I was at more than 250k still in my sidewinder. Why was I still in a sidewinder? The missions didn't require more cargo space than the sidewinder could hold and paid very well. I'm up to an A class T-6 (well, the FSD is a B, but everything else is A). And a Cobra Mk 3 with almost all A modules. FSD is a B or C, but the rest is A. And I have more than 4 million. The T6 is worth slightly less than a factory default Asp. I'll be upgrading to the Asp shortly.

 

[Poy]

Come on, you know deep down you want to

You'd also be surprised how many people enjoy starting over, too.

Oh I believe you. I'm just no masochist myself

And don't worry, 3.5M is an enough incentive to NOT die in a fight, or avoid a fight... I haven't fought any PvP since wings basically...

 

[saab]

I'm a Premium Beta backer and have been playing by these rules for a couple of weeks - this is brilliant! I'm on my third CMDR - I pirate and smuggle - and this has given me a whole new perspective on the game. Among other things, it's very nice to go back to the early game and the thrilling again to upgrade from a Freagle to a E-grade Cobra. Highly recommended for those who find the game dull or 'grindy' or who feel like they've done it all.

 

[KellyR]

I'll accept almost anything as an option that can be turned on by people who want it, including an iron-man mode for the truly hardcore, where dying wipes their saves.

I am not that hardcore and will not use this; for me, it really does need to be optional.

I absolutely agree with this. Making this mandatory would be a HUGE mistake. But for those who want to do it, I did write the program. And the program doesn't clear your save. It just gives you the result and then, in the case of bad luck tells you you will have to do it manually if you want to play in this mode and neither the author of the program, nor Frontier Developments will be responsible if you clear your save/take the basic sidewinder. This mode of play isn't for everyone. It's for those who want some real risk in their play.

 

[mossfoot]

I absolutely agree with this. Making this mandatory would be a HUGE mistake. But for those who want to do it, I did write the program. And the program doesn't clear your save. It just gives you the result and then, in the case of bad luck tells you you will have to do it manually if you want to play in this mode and neither the author of the program, nor Frontier Developments will be responsible if you clear your save/take the basic sidewinder. This mode of play isn't for everyone. It's for those who want some real risk in their play.

Yeah, I thought all that was pretty clear.

 

[deMangler]

Just found this and I love it. Usually I play RP games permadeath with one life. I was going to give myself three lives in ED to compensate for the effect of fighting immortals with nothing to lose. I have had two insurance claims since release so I have one left. I am going to use your chart now to make it interesting.

 

[mossfoot]

Just found this and I love it. Usually I play RP games permadeath with one life. I was going to give myself three lives in ED to compensate for the effect of fighting immortals with nothing to lose. I have had two insurance claims since release so I have one left. I am going to use your chart now to make it interesting.

It certainly does make it interesting - mind you if you're like me you end up trying VERY hard to avoid getting into situations you're likely to get killed in

As it should be

 

[Aakkonen]

random dice roller gave me 3 nat 1's in row.... no ironman for me ( I have always had bad luck with dices... even wh40k my tyranid gaunts died in cc against tau XS due some very bad throws and friend throwed perfect sixes all time long... those were no cheater dices... )

 

[lysan]

Nice work, however waiting for the (hopefully) real Ironman mode to come out, where;

Death are based on skill, situation, equipment and not roll of a dice.

 

[Futuristic Kung Fu]

Do you use this system, Mossfoot?

 

[mossfoot]

Nice work, however waiting for the (hopefully) real Ironman mode to come out, where;

Death are based on skill, situation, equipment and not roll of a dice.

Well, I try to incorporate as much of that as I can already, situation and equipment at any rate... and as far as a roll of the dice goes, well unless there is some kind of absolute pass/fail involved, there would be a random element in ejection.

Though you bring up an interesting point - maybe there should be a bonus/penalty based on Elite Combat ranking?

- - - Updated - - -

Do you use this system, Mossfoot?

Absolutely. I love KellyR's program, but I do keep a d20 on my cockpit next to my headtracking webcam because of personal preference.

I've used the table several times, though only twice were combat related. I wall-pizzaed my Asp into stations during ill-advised boosts far more than I should have. But I haven't been shot down or had an accident in a very long time.

 

[KellyR]

According to the lore, the only modifier I think there should be concerning pilot rating is maybe a +1 or +2 if you are Elite. According to the lore, Elites are the best of the best fairly lucky. According to Elite: The Dark Wheel

What was this old man saying? Elite? An élite combateer? Alex's head span. He knew all about the space pilots who'd earned that title, of course. Few of them did. To be élite in combat was to be . . . well, as near invincible as made no odds. A great many pilots were 'dangerous'; you didn't last long as a trader if you weren't. Many more had earned the classification 'deadly'. So had a lot of mercenaries. So had a lot of pirates. But élites. Few and far between.

 

[mossfoot]

According to the lore, the only modifier I think there should be concerning pilot rating is maybe a +1 or +2 if you are Elite. According to the lore, Elites are the best of the best fairly lucky.

Something to consider...of course I've wondered if perhaps the table is already too forgiving as it is sometimes...