Requesting feedback regarding 'part time' players
- Thread starter hunterm101
- Start date
Well said. Thank you for posting this. I'm in a similar position myself.
No game disrespects your time more than Elite. If you are a casual player, this creates a huge challenge mid-game, made even more difficult by ongoing nerfs to the credits necessary to buy, outfit, insure, and replace third-tier ships. This can make it very difficult for casual players to move beyond second tier ships. You are more or less a second class citizens in Frontier’s eyes.
When new and casual players ask about this on reddit, I tell them the best strategy is to forswear one of the big three for now, and build your bank account. In place of third-tier ships, focus on the best second tier ships one can fly -- an AspX (for transport and exploration), a Python (for trading and mining), and an FDL (for combat). Fully engineered, these ships miss out on very little. The buff in cargo for the T-9 on beta may make it a good trading ship too.
Avoid Open, PvP, and risky business that might diminish one's credits. Join Mobius and play in Private or Solo.
Grab every credit making opportunity that arises, such as the lamented passenger missions to Smeaton. With this in mind, take a year or so and focus solely on reputation and credits. It gets dull, but the credits you earns will secure you into the indefinite future.
Good speed Cmdr.
What's the gameplay that owning a Cutter will unlock?
I have played 3 nights a week since launch and I wont even try to get a corvette or cutter, high rank locks are the worst mechanic and the cost of modules is too large to not make getting there a grind.
I have 20 ships mostly engineered and find there's nothing locked away by not owning a,cutter.
Yes they should rework rank or remove it and income needs to scale for larger ships but dude just set yourself a,better goal, stay casual
I have played 3 nights a week since launch and I wont even try to get a corvette or cutter, high rank locks are the worst mechanic and the cost of modules is too large to not make getting there a grind.
I have 20 ships mostly engineered and find there's nothing locked away by not owning a,cutter.
Yes they should rework rank or remove it and income needs to scale for larger ships but dude just set yourself a,better goal, stay casual
The actual honest answer is, you're never going to get into a Top 3 ship, if you only manage an hour or so a night. Well not in any acceptable timeframe.
Fdev have created a universe and play style that demands unending amounts of time and commitment to do anything.
Getting rank to buy a Cutter is around 40 hrs playtime. So that's 40 nights of 1 hour each.
Getting rank to buy a Corvette takes around 80 hrs..
Making the credits to actually A-Rate one of those is, well, insurmountable.
The big problem is the developers don't play the game they design and (in my opinion) give little thought to the actual players.
I guess I'm lucky. I milked the honey while it was flowing. All my accounts have top multiple top 3 ships and all rated and engineered.
If another honey pot comes along, my advice is to milk it dry. I was making a billion a day on one of my accounts.
Fdev have created a universe and play style that demands unending amounts of time and commitment to do anything.
Getting rank to buy a Cutter is around 40 hrs playtime. So that's 40 nights of 1 hour each.
Getting rank to buy a Corvette takes around 80 hrs..
Making the credits to actually A-Rate one of those is, well, insurmountable.
The big problem is the developers don't play the game they design and (in my opinion) give little thought to the actual players.
I guess I'm lucky. I milked the honey while it was flowing. All my accounts have top multiple top 3 ships and all rated and engineered.
If another honey pot comes along, my advice is to milk it dry. I was making a billion a day on one of my accounts.
I think you just need to learn how to make money rook.
As a 'part time' player myself these days (don't have the time to put hours into Elite anymore) I can still make 1-3 million credits a day. That's enough for me to make about 7-21 million a week. Enough to buy that conda you've been eyeballing in two and a half months. Kitting it's another story as that may take up to a year but once you have it, you can probably ramp up how much money you're making to reduce the time. It'd take me a year to outfit my dream corvette at the rate I'm going but you know what? That's me financing it though all those other missions, space combat, and exploration that I'm doing to build my BGS project. Two birds with one stone.
The main ingredient to my ambitions? It's time.
These are not things I can do in the span of a week. Even if I played all day every day and didn't have to worry about real life finances (ironic considering we're debating worthless virtual currency) this is not something I could pull off easily. And even if I had help, it'd take time and effort to coordinate other players to achieve my goal.
So I play the game.
And achieve the ship I want while doing it.
Two birds, one stone.
THAT is how you achieve 'efficient time management'.
When I started playing, I too struggled to make money.
I adapted.
I researched.
I learned.
And all without running for the biggest cash cow. To me, earning 10k at a time was a big deal. Then it was 100k. Then 500k. Now I'm aiming to try and break 10 mill.
I'm playing the game and learning how it work. In doing so I can make even the simplest objective contribute to three different goals I've set in Elite.
I'm taking things in phases. Each phase contributing to a massive overarching campaign. Things get tweaked, changed, discarded, added, and yes, even checked off.
I'm honestly embarrassed and a little humiliated that I had to relearn how to fly a combat Viper today. Trailing after the system Authority like a scavenger when I used to be able to pick these pirates apart myself with little effort. The fact I managed to solo two of them and keep my nose steady I take as a sign of progress and I feel proud to have achieved some basic combat practice and getting comfortable getting back behind a combat stick.
I almost got blown up when the servers wonked out on me and limped away a 4% from a prize I was picking at when I froze and then when the game restarted, something shot me in one of my components and the whole ship went screwy.
In the end. I escaped and now I have over 1 million in bounties and some hard lessons relearned. All in the span of a few hours. I feel good about today.
Today was meant to be a combat practice day. Not seeking credits. Though I did take the opportunity to take the rare massacre mission worth 4 mill bringing my earning well into the 5.5 million range today. So I got practice, 5.5 million credits, AND made a small step toward gearing my BGS faction into the war we need to finally conquer the system in it's entirety.
So as a part time player? No I don't feel as though any of the Big Three are "out of reach". They're just not in my price range... YET.
Taking the time to learn how to play the game helps you learn how to make money. Then you'll be scratching your head wondering why the hell you were so obsessed with 'end game' ships and earning billions of credits in a single day.
You'll be invested in learning how to master the smaller craft and perhaps even joining and supporting a faction. Whether it'd be a minor faction or power. Even advancing the narration of the game itself.
Keeping your eye on the prize is not a bad thing. But learn to master the tools you have first. You'd be surprised how much will get translated when you get there.
As a 'part time' player myself these days (don't have the time to put hours into Elite anymore) I can still make 1-3 million credits a day. That's enough for me to make about 7-21 million a week. Enough to buy that conda you've been eyeballing in two and a half months. Kitting it's another story as that may take up to a year but once you have it, you can probably ramp up how much money you're making to reduce the time. It'd take me a year to outfit my dream corvette at the rate I'm going but you know what? That's me financing it though all those other missions, space combat, and exploration that I'm doing to build my BGS project. Two birds with one stone.
The main ingredient to my ambitions? It's time.
These are not things I can do in the span of a week. Even if I played all day every day and didn't have to worry about real life finances (ironic considering we're debating worthless virtual currency) this is not something I could pull off easily. And even if I had help, it'd take time and effort to coordinate other players to achieve my goal.
So I play the game.
And achieve the ship I want while doing it.
Two birds, one stone.
THAT is how you achieve 'efficient time management'.
When I started playing, I too struggled to make money.
I adapted.
I researched.
I learned.
And all without running for the biggest cash cow. To me, earning 10k at a time was a big deal. Then it was 100k. Then 500k. Now I'm aiming to try and break 10 mill.
I'm playing the game and learning how it work. In doing so I can make even the simplest objective contribute to three different goals I've set in Elite.
I'm taking things in phases. Each phase contributing to a massive overarching campaign. Things get tweaked, changed, discarded, added, and yes, even checked off.
I'm honestly embarrassed and a little humiliated that I had to relearn how to fly a combat Viper today. Trailing after the system Authority like a scavenger when I used to be able to pick these pirates apart myself with little effort. The fact I managed to solo two of them and keep my nose steady I take as a sign of progress and I feel proud to have achieved some basic combat practice and getting comfortable getting back behind a combat stick.
I almost got blown up when the servers wonked out on me and limped away a 4% from a prize I was picking at when I froze and then when the game restarted, something shot me in one of my components and the whole ship went screwy.
In the end. I escaped and now I have over 1 million in bounties and some hard lessons relearned. All in the span of a few hours. I feel good about today.
Today was meant to be a combat practice day. Not seeking credits. Though I did take the opportunity to take the rare massacre mission worth 4 mill bringing my earning well into the 5.5 million range today. So I got practice, 5.5 million credits, AND made a small step toward gearing my BGS faction into the war we need to finally conquer the system in it's entirety.
So as a part time player? No I don't feel as though any of the Big Three are "out of reach". They're just not in my price range... YET.
Taking the time to learn how to play the game helps you learn how to make money. Then you'll be scratching your head wondering why the hell you were so obsessed with 'end game' ships and earning billions of credits in a single day.
You'll be invested in learning how to master the smaller craft and perhaps even joining and supporting a faction. Whether it'd be a minor faction or power. Even advancing the narration of the game itself.
Keeping your eye on the prize is not a bad thing. But learn to master the tools you have first. You'd be surprised how much will get translated when you get there.
I suggest you try and enjoy the time grinding for the Cutter...cause once you get it you'll realise there is really nothing else to do.
I understand the frustration. I generally only get 30 to 40 mins a day and that's only because I get up earlier than I need so I can get game time before work.
I found a lot of missions are effectively blocked because of time frame to complete. Personally, I'd like some missions to be based on in game time rather than elapsed. Eg, gimme an hour to complete it, but let that hour be 2 separate 30mins sessions across 2 days. Can't be for all missions as it would be illogical and probably knock the BGS.
My 1st year gained me around 16m in assets. I doubled that at the start of the distant world's expedition after returning home from 10,000ly.
Year 2 was 75m gained from exploration during DWE.
Year 3 was in the bubble trying gain access to the cutter. I didn't make it. I got the Clipper and was over trying gain rep. Got something like 600m now though. In my opinion, earning credits today is way easier (I think unrealistically easy to be honest.) than it was.
Get into the Community Goals. You generally make decent profits on the deliveries themselves and then the CG pays out on top. If you can get in the top 50% they frequently pay 10's of millions.
I'm useless at combat, but even accepting I will spend several times looking at the rebut screen, doing the CG's for combat bonds can be very lucrative.....head to resource sites and 'protect' the miners rather than hit the conflict zones if you're as useless as me in combat. The bonds pay well (get a KWS) and the CG then boosts massively.
Fwiw....i got a Conda and used it for trade CGs (shieldless to Max the carrying capacity). I figure it'll take another year in the bubble to get a cutter and by the time I get back from DECE the DW2 will be starting, so......I won't get a cutter. Schucks. I won't have a Ferrari in real life either.
I actually like the fact it might take me years to achieve goals. This has already been the best value game ever, and the thought of having another couple of years entertainment whilst I unlock *existing* content is just incredible to me. And more content will be added. I'm in no rush.
I found a lot of missions are effectively blocked because of time frame to complete. Personally, I'd like some missions to be based on in game time rather than elapsed. Eg, gimme an hour to complete it, but let that hour be 2 separate 30mins sessions across 2 days. Can't be for all missions as it would be illogical and probably knock the BGS.
My 1st year gained me around 16m in assets. I doubled that at the start of the distant world's expedition after returning home from 10,000ly.
Year 2 was 75m gained from exploration during DWE.
Year 3 was in the bubble trying gain access to the cutter. I didn't make it. I got the Clipper and was over trying gain rep. Got something like 600m now though. In my opinion, earning credits today is way easier (I think unrealistically easy to be honest.) than it was.
Get into the Community Goals. You generally make decent profits on the deliveries themselves and then the CG pays out on top. If you can get in the top 50% they frequently pay 10's of millions.
I'm useless at combat, but even accepting I will spend several times looking at the rebut screen, doing the CG's for combat bonds can be very lucrative.....head to resource sites and 'protect' the miners rather than hit the conflict zones if you're as useless as me in combat. The bonds pay well (get a KWS) and the CG then boosts massively.
Fwiw....i got a Conda and used it for trade CGs (shieldless to Max the carrying capacity). I figure it'll take another year in the bubble to get a cutter and by the time I get back from DECE the DW2 will be starting, so......I won't get a cutter. Schucks. I won't have a Ferrari in real life either.
I actually like the fact it might take me years to achieve goals. This has already been the best value game ever, and the thought of having another couple of years entertainment whilst I unlock *existing* content is just incredible to me. And more content will be added. I'm in no rush.