META DISCUSSION Please Improve the Profit Margin of Trade CGs

[Nekozji]

This is where FD should have got creative, in that rewards were more than money + module.

Heavily improved ratios at the materials trader? Maybe some unique paint jobs for medium and large trade ships?

Or even ARX... I would run my ass around for 20k ARX

But yeah, the payouts are deeply underwhelming. My cutter is averaging 330k per run... couple of years ago it was more like 10 million. If it is a trading CG, then it should be worth our time, not reliant on commanders' charity and good will.

 

[Rubbernuke]

Heavily improved ratios at the materials trader? Maybe some unique paint jobs for medium and large trade ships?

Or even ARX... I would run my around for 20k ARX

But yeah, the payouts are deeply underwhelming. My cutter is averaging 330k per run... couple of years ago it was more like 10 million. If it is a trading CG, then it should be worth our time, not reliant on commanders' charity and good will.

All good ideas- really it (CG rewards) should allow access to things you could never get. FDs biggest sin is giving players access to everything all the time.

 

[Darrack]

All good ideas- really it (CG rewards) should allow access to things you could never get. FDs biggest sin is giving players access to everything all the time.

The main issue is that if you give unique CG rewards (ie the upgraded FSDs) without the chance to obtain in future it may not be fair on folks who have RL commitments and miss out for 1 week of absence.
The way Fdev are doing the current CGs are by far the best way, grind to get free stuff but still be able to get these items which are a must for the ongoing story line from tech brokers.

O7

 

[Martind Forlon]

I simply like to make moneys as it perfectly fits playing mercenary RP ... this last CG was really tragic in this regard. If that would be not for making access to new special module, I would ignore such CG. Trading should be at least decently profitable, period. If not, then is not worth to getting trading vessel out of dock. All those deliveries which will keep me safely in Top25% arent enough to even paid single week of FC maintenance.

 

[Rubbernuke]

The main issue is that if you give unique CG rewards (ie the upgraded FSDs) without the chance to obtain in future it may not be fair on folks who have RL commitments and miss out for 1 week of absence.
The way Fdev are doing the current CGs are by far the best way, grind to get free stuff but still be able to get these items which are a must for the ongoing story line from tech brokers.

O7

Yes, but the context I was talking about was players being able to be 'in' with all superpowers at once & be able to buy anything at any time.

So like I mentioned, greater chummminess with one superpower would give that player greater access to markets in the Federation (while annoying and restricting Imps etc). With such a restriction having a CG reward that allows full access for a week or so would be something worthwhile for a trader if ED was a credit poor game (like it originally was).

ED is a clusterfudge because nothing is really off limits, there is no real restriction on anything and (IMO at least) this has led to rewards being so restricted.

 

[Nekozji]

The main issue is that if you give unique CG rewards (ie the upgraded FSDs) without the chance to obtain in future it may not be fair on folks who have RL commitments and miss out for 1 week of absence.

Be nice to see more sizes on offer too... either it's always for the same ships, or it's just my terrible timing. A rotation of varied rewards from modules to paintjobs to personal discounts with the host organisation would be good to see.

Not that I object to the more global rewards of "everyone will be able to get X component" - that's fine, that's good, even. But there is a limit to how many global unlocks can be imagined.

Side note; why not have generic CGs for expanding the bubble when there is no plot-based one? "Organisation X is starting a new settlement in the Y system, we need Z materials and some bounty hunters to secure the area" with the different tiers being how big that starting station is. Sometimes it would be setting up on a 2nd or 3rd planet in the previous system, but even 52 systems per year would not be an excessive growth vs 20,000 already inhabited. CGs as a mechanism to make the bubble more dynamic would be quite fun, imo

 

[OmegaPaladin]

Side note; why not have generic CGs for expanding the bubble when there is no plot-based one? "Organisation X is starting a new settlement in the Y system, we need Z materials and some bounty hunters to secure the area" with the different tiers being how big that starting station is. Sometimes it would be setting up on a 2nd or 3rd planet in the previous system, but even 52 systems per year would not be an excessive growth vs 20,000 already inhabited. CGs as a mechanism to make the bubble more dynamic would be quite fun, imo

I agree, this could be useful. Being able to resettle refugees and increase the population in systems outside of the warzone could help.

Right now, we could have a CG to build more Rescue Megaships or even Rescue Ports (either Orbis stations or planetary ports) It would help with congestion when delivering goods.

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

We already have more than enough rescue ships, the problem is only a select few are used as targets/destinations for missions.

 

[BinakAlgo]

I haven't participated in a CG since December 2022, I think. Back then I did a good profit. Before that, I remember that CG about the Gioconda that gave a ridiculous amount of money for tritium. I was late and only played for maybe 6 or 8 hours but I made enough for a fully equipped carrier. So I guess I am impartial enough to say that CGs give too much or too little money.

I like the idea of giving paint jobs. Giving some ARX would be fantastic too.

 

[tanner1ie]

How about, they return actual CGs to "legacy" mode, release a "next gen" version of Elite, "restart" console development and release Odyssey and 4.0 on the "next gen" consoles first*! - as CGs profit margins don't effect many of us anymore when we can't actually take part in them!!

(Also if you weight long enough, you will come across the odd CG that pays sillily high, but overall you should just try to have the most fun you can in this game, or any game, rather than pulling out a calculator to make sure you're actually having fun! .)

*While the "kind of" came back to "legacy" recently, as seemingly almost automatic, AX combat only, which have no story, announcement or context and have really weird targets, often finding before you can blink, so don't really count as being back! .

 

[tanner1ie]

The main issue is that if you give unique CG rewards (ie the upgraded FSDs) without the chance to obtain in future it may not be fair on folks who have RL commitments and miss out for 1 week of absence.
The way Fdev are doing the current CGs are by far the best way, grind to get free stuff but still be able to get these items which are a must for the ongoing story line from tech brokers.

O7

Unique CG rewards aren't bad if they repeat, say once a year and never disappear from the game, as proper ones have from "legacy" - even then, they wouldn't be so bad if they were made available in some other limited way .

 

[Brrokk]

If a multiplier is used for commodity sales price, then the best profits will be from the higher value stuff. That is one reason why the Tritium CG was so good.

Steve

The CG where they asked for mined tritium, but still paid the huge prices for bought tritium?

 

[Felix DiCestria]

The CG where they asked for mined tritium, but still paid the huge prices for bought tritium?

That and the silver one...