Resource Extraction roulette stinks... Proposal

Mr_Blastman · Jun 22, 2015

Lately I've been doing something even scummier than pirating due to the 20 ton cargo nerf--Bounty Hunting! Bounty Hunters ARE worse than pirates. They'll turn their own mother, own wife... even children for a bounty! Scum. But, alas, with the 20 ton nerf it's how I've been earning a living until it is fixed.

And with bounty hunting come high intensity resource extraction sites. Except... the spawns are random. You always get high skill opponents... but the credits per hour with sideys and eagles versus clippers and pythons is drastic! (unless you own a python which I do not). So the usual... leave... come back, leave... come back... over... and over... until you get a high dollar "golden spawn" stinks. It can take hours sometimes before you get that random roll of big ships.

So I started thinking... what else in this game is random? Well, let's see. Pirating is, of course. You never know what you're gonna get against AI (it's crap all the time, trust me, so not _really_ random but... sometimes they have gold). Humans are a little more predictable but not by much (no giving tricks of the trade or anything). Exploring is random as you don't know what you're going to get despite the pre-seeded galaxy.

So what isn't random? Trading. Trading isn't random at all. You know what you're gonna get and using trading tools, it's easy peasy. In you go, out you go, over and over keep buying the same slop and making the bucks.

So I have a proposal...

Let's randomize trading too! YES! I'm serious! If everything else is random, trading can be random too!

Every time you dock... goods are randomly determined and prices are random too. Then you have to randomly pick another outpost and sell for random prices! Now traders will experience the frustration everyone else does. The circle will be complete!

So make it so, Frontier, make it so.

Random roulette sucks. So let's make it ALL random.

CMDR Atmosfera · Jun 22, 2015

do you want a python?seems like the game got you down for some reason

Mr_Blastman · Jun 22, 2015

CMDR Atmosfera said:
do you want a python?seems like the game got you down for some reason

Don't really care if I have one or not.

I (was) having a blast without one until the 20 ton nerf.

CMDR Atmosfera · Jun 22, 2015

i tell you whats not random-its that 50 million payout PER WEEK for rank 5 of any of those faction leaders

Senex VII · Jun 22, 2015

Hmm... I seem to get random NPC interdictions while trading...
Did I miss the config option that calls up the desired number of interdictions per trip?
Or is it hiding on the main screen somewhere...

Chaodiurn · Jun 22, 2015

Trading isn't random?! Excuse me?! Do you know how random it is what credits a station pays me per ton? Sometimes a station would give the same loan for ten runs, sometimes it would lower the profit over time as expected. Sometimes it would give me actually more credits per ton on every further run completed! Sometimes it even would be lowered, just to be raised again. All of that being possible without a single other trader present in open play! Not a big deal you say? A mere 100 credits per ton on a 500 tons T9 makes a difference of 50.000 credits per run. And I lately saw differences of 500 and above!

Then there's the interdictions that can't be predicted and cost you time and under circumstances repair costs. Oh no no no, trading is not the 100% rng-free playstyle you make it out to be.

LetoAtreides2 · Jun 22, 2015

Every time you dock... goods are randomly determined and prices are random too. Then you have to randomly pick another outpost and sell for random prices! Now traders will experience the frustration everyone else does. The circle will be complete!

So, you want to make the economy even more unrealistic and unfun? You want to throw another element of bland randomness in the game?

If anything, trade should be more volatile - but not random. It should actually be affected by players - and maybe, someday, NPCs (like might be expected in a game like this). Supply and demand should fluctuate A LOT more for it to be realistic, and players should have to capitalize on this quickly (and be able to reap the awards if they do!). As it stands, the commodities are just names attached to relatively static (and close-together, in range) prices. It's the most boring way possible to code an "economy."

Mr_Blastman · Jun 22, 2015

LetoAtreides2 said:
So, you want to make the economy even more unrealistic and unfun? You want to throw another element of bland randomness in the game?

If anything, trade should be more volatile - but not random. It should actually be affected by players - and maybe, someday, NPCs (like might be expected in a game like this). Supply and demand should fluctuate A LOT more for it to be realistic, and players should have to capitalize on this quickly (and be able to reap the awards if they do!). As it stands, the commodities are just names attached to relatively static (and close-together, in range) prices. It's the most boring way possible to code an "economy."

I'm feeling spiteful at traders right now, so yes.

Truly though I'd rather all the random crap go away completely.

LetoAtreides2 · Jun 22, 2015

Mr_Blastman said:
Truly though I'd rather all the random crap go away completely.

Well, me too. We have this whole procedural skeleton to work with, yet all the elements (RES, CZ) are the same random garbage. I'd rather see it more deterministic (let system variables actually affect stuff, and tell us what that is).