See, THAT's why I don't play Open.

[Jorun]

Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time in busy systems where rare goods are sold and bought. Lots of human players. I was flying a T-6, trading. I got pulled out twice.

In both situations the players told me to throttle down and wait for scan. I did. In one of those instances a massive Anaconda piloted by a master was pointing right at me, almost within touching distance of my little competent self in the T-6...LOL. I was like, C'mon man! He so much as burped and I would have been part of the cosmic microwave background. He demanded 10 cargo for the Code and then was off. Whew! I'm not messing with those pilots. Second time I had no cargo and the pirate told me to be on my way.

Darn tense, and fun! Honorable pirates. I have been destroyed once for no reason by a player while learning the game in a sidewinder. But in my time playing, the good has far out numbered the bad. Never have played solo. There are massive numbers of systems where you will rarely see anyone if you dont want.

Dont give up open.

 

[Mercy Killing]

Tell me honestly, when was the last time you went to a RES site or did a mission where you felt excitement or danger?

Just yesterday(Sunday).

I was in a RES in solo mode after upgrading to a fully stock Vulture. Canopy crackled and I nearly died. Against NPC's. Turned tail and ran as fast as I could to get repairs. Got down to 50% hull before I was clear of mass lock.

In solo. Against NPC's.

 

[NeilF]

Honestly I see ZERO reason to play in Open if you are a trader or miner. It's not like you make any more credits for the additional risk you take on. It's not like getting ganked for no reason gives you anything extra game wise or lore wise. At this point I'd have to say if you trade or mine in Open you are probably being a fool. Those professions are better served by playing in a big pve group, hopefully one with rules that still allow interdiction and piracy, but not killing for the sake of killing to get stats.

Exactly... So as I suggest earlier, if playing with friends in a group earns you extra credits, why not trading ONLINE (with strangers) earning you extra credits (over SOLO)? And then if we add proper penalties for murder, so trolling isn't as easy (pain free) as it is now?

Surely, ideally, we want traders, pirates and bounty hunters all ONLINE... At the moment, as you say, traders find it a hard decision to make with the risk of mindless murder costing them hours of effort.

 

[UOcUKAkira]

Well, that escalated quickly. I'm not even going to attempt to answer some of the very good points made while I was away, except to say I'm glad some of you actually read what I wrote and understood it and offered advice or help. I appreciate it. It's certainly been an interesting read.
I will certainly be playing more in Open and if any of you spot CMDR Akira, just a hi before you blow me away will take the edge off

After reading through some of the thread I must apologise, op, for my initial pokey reply. You seem like a decent chap and willing to learn.

So I will just quietly leave this here and back out the room.

(seriously, study that and practice your butt off)

Not at all, your meme made me chuckle. o7

 

[Cosmos]

SC'ing back to the station from a RES, and a CMDR interdicts my Viper in his Vulture and just kills me for no reason. Didn't want anything, I hailed him, no reply, stowed my weapons, no reply, was drifting helplessly, no reply. I'm not that bothered, it was only 144k rebuy but it's 144k this guy took off me with no profit for himself or anything. In an hour of open play I've met 4 CMDRs, 2 killed me, 1 talked to me, 1 sparred with me. I know, it's only an hour but still..why bother?

Well, my view on this is that at present the NPCs don't represent much of a threat - but if you did get killed by an NPC or they just start attacking, for 'no reason' I doubt you'd be here posting about it. May I suggest that you see other players as representing interesting content - adding an element of danger which the pve game doesn't offer.

Probably not much solice if you're starter ship just got slaughtered by a python but... wait you were in a Viper and you got killed by a Vulture? Odd, the Viper is way faster.. hmm

 

[CMDR Holycow]

Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time in busy systems where rare goods are sold and bought. Lots of human players. I was flying a T-6, trading. I got pulled out twice.

In both situations the players told me to throttle down and wait for scan. I did. In one of those instances a massive Anaconda piloted by a master was pointing right at me, almost within touching distance of my little competent self in the T-6...LOL. I was like, C'mon man! He so much as burped and I would have been part of the cosmic microwave background. He demanded 10 cargo for the Code and then was off. Whew! I'm not messing with those pilots. Second time I had no cargo and the pirate told me to be on my way.

Darn tense, and fun! Honorable pirates. I have been destroyed once for no reason by a player while learning the game in a sidewinder. But in my time playing, the good has far out numbered the bad. Never have played solo. There are massive numbers of systems where you will rarely see anyone if you dont want.

Dont give up open.

This is what makes open so much fun!!! I like these stories

 

[Mercy Killing]

i had once two cmdr's intercepting me,one after the other one i was able to outrun second one killed me with this reason only,he texted me that if i failed to give him my login credentials for the game he would destroy me, i told him to go f... himself.
i had no bounty on me,no cargo just doing some missions. the first cmdr spoke about some "order" called the code,but in a threatening way so i ignored and tried to make a run for it.
i play open but not in the core systems

If this really did happen, the best thing you could have done is F10 to get a screenshot of the chat and report the person. Guaranteed that would result in a ban.

 

[Ghostwind40]

Exactly... So as I suggest earlier, if playing with friends in a group earns you extra credits, why not trading ONLINE (with strangers) earning you extra credits (over SOLO)? And then if we add proper penalties for murder, so trolling isn't as easy (pain free) as it is now?

Surely, ideally, we want traders, pirates and bounty hunters all ONLINE... At the moment, as you say, traders find it a hard decision to make with the risk of mindless murder costing them hours of effort.

Completely agree with you. Maybe they might try that with 1.3? Sounds like they will be touching roles and professions and how they interact in a greater way. Perhaps there will be something in that update to encourage trading in Open.

 

[Riktar]

Hope as much as you can, I have GOOD internet (40Mbps) and still get stuttering.... usually about that time I have to go tell the kids to get off of stinkin Youtube, but sometimes even then it doesn't fix it .

Your not helping,,,,,,,,

 

[Majinvash]

Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time in busy systems where rare goods are sold and bought. Lots of human players. I was flying a T-6, trading. I got pulled out twice.

In both situations the players told me to throttle down and wait for scan. I did. In one of those instances a massive Anaconda piloted by a master was pointing right at me, almost within touching distance of my little competent self in the T-6...LOL. I was like, C'mon man! He so much as burped and I would have been part of the cosmic microwave background. He demanded 10 cargo for the Code and then was off. Whew! I'm not messing with those pilots. Second time I had no cargo and the pirate told me to be on my way.

Darn tense, and fun! Honorable pirates. I have been destroyed once for no reason by a player while learning the game in a sidewinder. But in my time playing, the good has far out numbered the bad. Never have played solo. There are massive numbers of systems where you will rarely see anyone if you dont want.

Dont give up open.

Cough.. That as me.. Cough...

And people think I just kill for sport..

 

[Ghostickles]

game needs a 'somebody killed me in open' mega thread. everytime someone is beaten in a pvp situation they post a thread. I thought repeat threads went against tou?

 

[Lodorenos]

Elite: Dangerous strikes again.

 

[Jorun]

Cough.. That as me.. Cough...

And people think I just kill for sport..

Ha! I hope you enjoyed that Lave Brandy or whatever the heck it was I gave up.

I have enjoyed my time dog fighting in an Eagle and a Vulture, but one of the most tense, edge of the seat moments I have experienced in game is being in a t-6, spending an hour collecting rares and then traveling 160 light years through lawless systems, and to be making that final run from the star to the final station. After traveling far, the rares are worth a ton. You are just glued to the radar. And with an eye on the return trip, the final destination is often a popular station also with rares, which means it attracts humans. My heart gets beating in the final, agonizing mm to the station. Man, when you hear that jarring interdiction sound, it's like nooooo! Or when you come out of jump and see that station, it's fist pumping time. That's the thrill of riding the shipping lanes in open play.

I know I'm off topic from the OP as I'm talking trading. If you are in a fighter and you dont have a bounty on you and someone interdicts you, well, in that case, I'd prob throttle up rather than down.

 

[Nonya]

And people think I just kill for sport..

Why not? I sure do.

 

[Mltdwn]

Another facile arguement.

Do any of these books tell of a brave (psychotic) hero endlessly attacking random ships with no real purpose than to see pretty explosions? Police never turn up, no character justification or resolution, the hero just carries on mindlessly blowing up ships? I can see it hitting the top of the bestseller charts already.

Um, you're assuming everyone is playing a hero. Last I checked this is a sandbox game with no actual forced plot storyline. So if you want to be a psychotic, a hero, a villain, a corrupt Federation or Imperial officer, etc. you are free to. It's all about the story you make up in your head.

And actually, yes in SEVERAL of the stories in "Tales From The Frontier" the main character/protagonist is a lot like that (for example, blowing up an entire Orca full of innocents, including children to get one person on the ship that had a bounty, and note this wasn't a "special" bounty or anything, just a job on the bulletin board). Remember again, you're not playing a "hero" you are simply the protagonist of your particular story.

When you exist in a galaxy where the ruling governments will happily take people prisoner for perceived slights, openly assasinate others, and interdict and take hostages in systems where they have no authority (such as Imperials coming into Federation territory to kidnap people they want working for them and vice-versa) it makes sense. Again you seem to have this pre-conceived notion of what Elite is and want it isn't (in terms of the universe and history) which is at odds with what it has been stated to be in the literature. It is more like William Gibson and a smattering of Frank Herbert in the house politics of Dune than anything else where the people can just as easily be mindless killing machines who randomly kill people (Ida in Tale of the Comet, though technically she only killed those ranked as Elite, she was still essentially a psychotic serial killer similar to Karl in Johnny Mnemonic), the politicans are total scumbags and corpulant people who take whatever they want, and the heroes rarely are heroes. Rather they are simply people trying to survive and willing to do anything to do so whether that be trading, bounty hunting, killing, robbing, pirating, etc. (ala Molly Millions).

Again like I said I had to take a break for a day or so from a few of the books because they were THAT dark... Yes in some the protagonist is little better than a psychotic, and truly "good" heros (i.e. Pax and his wife) all end up dead in the end while nothing bad truly happens to the worst of the bad guys. Generally yes, in the stories the truly "good guys" finish last (or not at all because they were flung into an asteroid or a gas giant). And pretty much everyone is a scumbag, even the protagonists (heck the protagonist in Mostly Harmless hates pretty much everyone in existence except two people and thinks they are pathetic in some way or the other).

Ha! I hope you enjoyed that Lave Brandy or whatever the heck it was I gave up.

Totally unrelated but can someone explain to me the point in trading in rares? Given that you only generally have like around 10 tons available when you pick it up, and most only pay out maybe around $20,000 credits once you jump out 160+ light years, why bother trading it? I mean it is far better to find say a refinery system and tech system that are within one jump distance and trade things like mineral extractors and palladium back and forth for the same amount of profit each 2 way trip as you get from hauling 10 tons of rares out 170 light years, and each round trip generally only take 5-10 minutes meaning you are getting around 1.2 or more million per hour.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Totally unrelated but can someone explain to me the point in trading in rares? Given that you only generally have like around 10 tons available when you pick it up, and most only pay out maybe around $20,000 credits once you jump out 160+ light years, why bother trading it? I mean it is far better to find say a refinery system and tech system that are within one jump distance and trade things like mineral extractors and palladium back and forth for the same amount of profit each 2 way trip as you get from hauling 10 tons of rares out 170 light years, and each round trip generally only take 5-10 minutes meaning you are getting around 1.2 or more million per hour.

if you only have a low capacity ship, say cobra or below, and you know a good rates route you can make more than you can ormal trading. its not just about the single pick up of rares... you fill your hold at a bunch of rares in 1 area and then do a full scale drop off.

 

[GunnerBill]

If you'd rather play solo than risk 144k, then play solo. If you like the online element with bigger risk, then play online. Just don't come here to tell us why you made the decision, no one really cares.

Which roughly translated says you are the kind of 'person' that likes doing that.

OP makes a good point and you?

ED fundamentalist/internet Jihadi... play nice why don't ya?

 

[Mltdwn]

Which roughly translated says you are the kind of 'person' that likes doing that.

OP makes a good point and you?

ED fundamentalist/internet Jihadi... play nice why don't ya?

I think the point is those who would like to play in the Elite universe as envisioned by the devs and with the player interactions which fit the universe as defined by the literature then you can play online... If you would like to play in a universe of your own creation by yourself or with friends you have those options as well. One chooses to engage in the online field and they must be willing to accept that those kinds of encounters are going to happen and just accept them and move on, or try to perform their own form of justice in game if they choose to. I mean we do have the tools with which to exert our will in game, we just have to use them. We also have the choice with whether we wish to interact with other players and all the good or bad that comes with that, or remain in a more controlled and protected environment.

 

[MrTomsk]

Um, you're assuming everyone is playing a hero. Last I checked this is a sandbox game with no actual forced plot storyline. So if you want to be a psychotic, a hero, a villain, a corrupt Federation or Imperial officer, etc. you are free to. It's all about the story you make up in your head.

And actually, yes in SEVERAL of the stories in "Tales From The Frontier" the main character/protagonist is a lot like that (for example, blowing up an entire Orca full of innocents, including children to get one person on the ship that had a bounty, and note this wasn't a "special" bounty or anything, just a job on the bulletin board). Remember again, you're not playing a "hero" you are simply the protagonist of your particular story.

When you exist in a galaxy where the ruling governments will happily take people prisoner for perceived slights, openly assasinate others, and interdict and take hostages in systems where they have no authority (such as Imperials coming into Federation territory to kidnap people they want working for them and vice-versa) it makes sense. Again you seem to have this pre-conceived notion of what Elite is and want it isn't (in terms of the universe and history) which is at odds with what it has been stated to be in the literature. It is more like William Gibson and a smattering of Frank Herbert in the house politics of Dune than anything else where the people can just as easily be mindless killing machines who randomly kill people (Ida in Tale of the Comet, though technically she only killed those ranked as Elite, she was still essentially a psychotic serial killer similar to Karl in Johnny Mnemonic), the politicans are total scumbags and corpulant people who take whatever they want, and the heroes rarely are heroes. Rather they are simply people trying to survive and willing to do anything to do so whether that be trading, bounty hunting, killing, robbing, pirating, etc. (ala Molly Millions).

Again like I said I had to take a break for a day or so from a few of the books because they were THAT dark... Yes in some the protagonist is little better than a psychotic, and truly "good" heros (i.e. Pax and his wife) all end up dead in the end while nothing bad truly happens to the worst of the bad guys. Generally yes, in the stories the truly "good guys" finish last (or not at all because they were flung into an asteroid or a gas giant). And pretty much everyone is a scumbag, even the protagonists (heck the protagonist in Mostly Harmless hates pretty much everyone in existence except two people and thinks they are pathetic in some way or the other).

I was not critiquing your point of dark literature, and the fact of psychotic behaviour having a place in it, just in it's use of justifying the actions of a number of players who seek only to find targets (and the easier the better, which is why starter systems are popular), for cheap thrills.

It has nothing to do with Roleplaying, quite the opposite, it is players used to an FPS environment having "fun" killing other players.

I'd like to reiterate my earlier point, how is easy mode killing new pilots of any benefit to the wider player base if they stop playing open or like me, never bother?

The open server just turns into some sort of open pvp server for those that want that sort of thing, everyone else stops playing or moves to mobius or solo.

My point is that there is no downside to giving new players room to get used to the game on the open server whilst being protected for as long as they wish, then if they want to try the lucrative dangerous area's then they can with the full knowledge of possible consequences.

As an aside, if you like dark Sci-fi try Stephen Donaldson's Gap series.

 

[Mltdwn]

Does it really matter if everyone plays only solo or mobius? I mean this isn't a game which requires a monthly fee to play, and they don't get money from subscriptions, so does it really make a difference? I mean the people who generally ONLY play solo or mobius weren't going to like open anyways and were never really going to play solo or mobius as it was.

The devs income only comes from sales of the product and sales of the books, paint jobs, and the like.