Smuggling missions now pointless.

These smuggling missions were about exploiting game mechanics by constantly switching modes for a hour. I bet most of the server instability (long hyperjumps, BB etc) is comming from the thousands CMDRs stressing the servers by logging all day.



Maybe FDEV should address mode switching, lock players out if they switch more than 10 times/hour. Additionally they could increase cargo space requierements for high paying missions. Generally I agree with good money for long range missions though.

PS I don't think that 40.000.000 for 1-2 hours was proper balancing.
This echo's a concern I was beginning to have , were mode swap and server instability issues linked.
 
Smuggling Mission - Immersion vs Reward

I can see the reduction in payout for the smuggling missions and I agree with it. I don't think that I should make a buttload of money for merely running ~30 jumps through barren systems where your biggest threat is fuel scooping. I do think this can be adjusted as follows:


Tune the mission parameters: I just got paid 500k for transporting 7 units of beer 250 LY. Are you telling me that the system there cannot find beer anywhere nearby? It wasn't even illicit cargo. Smuggling missions should not require the transportation of stacks as we do it now. Instead of "transport 7 units for beer", create a unique cargo item of 1 unit "unique_weapon_part_xyz". The unique item cannot be sold in the open market, and it should cost one unit of cargo space.

Payout vs Trips: With a reduced cargo space requirement for each mission, the rewards can stay lower but as a counter-balance, the smugglers can work on picking up more contracts. The more contracts you carry around with you, the more challenges you face and the more heat you get from authorities.

Difficulty: Presumably NPCs can scan me in supercruise and try to interdict me, because that happens regardless of what I am doing. But there are two problems here: The aggressiveness of the NPCs is not relative to the value of the cargo I carry. I get interdicted by ships when I have a 'haul' of 7 units of beer. If the NPCs can detect the cargo, then their level of effort and aggressiveness should be relative to the value of the cargo you are carrying - not the reward value of the mission. But you shouldn't be paid 500k for beer transportation either.

Interdictions: I understand interdictions-to-kill happening when I'm wanted, or I am and enemy, but not for carrying illicit cargo. Why does every NPC wants to blow me up? That won't net them the cargo - they should be doing what we do, and use limpets or requesting we drop the cargo. Exploding my ship serves them no purpose. In real-life, if the feds find a human-trafficker, they don't kill the captives. The same should apply for pirates when I don't have a bounty.

Start/Destinations: As a smuggler, I have a ship loaded with heat sinks and some guns so that I can sneak into the port, but also fight back if interdicted. The challenge I'm prepared for reflects the ship modules I've chose, but unfortunately the current smuggling missions leave me feeling like a trader due the the lack of challenge. I shouldn't be running a mission through empty space, that's not what you want a smuggler to do. That's something for a trader to do. Smugglers should be presented with a challenge of avoiding authorities in populated space. We are traders of illicit goods, not long distance transports on the fringes of space.


Using some changes like the above, I think we can have a true risk/reward for smuggling where the potential reward is relative to the challenge, but not as easy to acquire as just getting on phat mission with 30 jumps through empty space.

Thoughts?
 
Unfortunately some of us don't get to spend their lives on games so this was nice for us "time-restricted" folk.
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You're hardly the only one with real-life restrictions, but this is like telling your boss to pay you for 40 hours a week when you only worked 20. At my peak profit, I've had about 4m. I'm okay with that because I get very few opportunities to play for long sessions.

time = money.
 
So it went from omg big time money to pointless?

It was scaled across the board.... so even the 120 Ly range missions stopped completely at stations within the bubble. Replaced by mundane 150K jobs instead.

No more heart pounding moments evading local security and station scans. No more countless interdictions by every one-eyed scurvvy pirate and chancer in the system or along the route.

Back to ........ well time to park the Asp up and go kill for undermining again :(
 
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This is how MMOs all work.

The devs make a mess of things, people make a stack of in game cash, the devs re-balance the game.

People come on the forums bragging how much cash they make, other people whine about it, then it gets nerfed and people whine about it. You get whining about whining ;)

Make cash when you can if that's what floats your boat. Do something else when the cash flow gets turned off. If there is nothing else you like doing then really you shouldn't be playing, you're wasting your life. If making the credit ticker go up as fast you can is all you are about then there is no longevity in this game for you. Other people don't care about how many credits you have, or how big your ship is. There are people flying Eagles in this game having plenty of fun.

I hate trading and smuggling. It could make a billion per run but I don't intend to do stuff I don't enjoy. Shooting stuff is pretty much all there is. Although I'm on a pilgrimage across the galaxy at the moment which is oddly entertaining, I have no idea why. This jaunt won't make any cash as I can't be bothered to fly back. I have an Asp a Vulture and 10 mill that's pretty much all I need in this game.
 
Well, my wife is happy........much less desire to fly around bored = more time for her. I'm just upset that I spent money on the pre order for Horizons.

After seeing how they handle issues within the game I hope I can get my money back for the pre order, but I'm pretty sure I'm out of luck.
 
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FDev did a quick fix of the bounty missions. As with all quick fixes; it's a bit ugly. They'll rebalance it when they've had a longer time to look at the mechanics and pay outs.
 
Well, my wife is happy........much less desire to fly around bored = more time for her. I'm just that I upset that I spent money on the pre order for Horizons.

After seeing how they handle issues within the game I hope I can get my money back for the pre order, but I'm pretty sure I'm out of luck.
A bit extreme for just a nerf that was 101% expected, right? It's just smuggling, a small part of the game. Horizons is going to kick serious ass, and I will have forgotten about this smuggling nonsense the moment I hit the surface of a planet with my ship/SRV.
 
I don't understand why they put these high paying missions in place at this payment level in the first place? You can earn 1m credits in a CZ in about 30 mins, this was more like 3m credits in these missions!
They should have a lots at 500k missions and one at 3m which has a very tight delivery time, that would be good?

Surely they know all this when they plan this? Instead we have this constant pendulum of balancing the game which is not good for the players.

We should use a swing ometer for the balancing in this game!
They really need a committee of players to run new (small) ideas past to balance before they go live.
 
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Well there's no missions there at the moment and been waiting. Money isn't the object, most can do 5-10m an hour trading slaves in a conda, however it gets grindy. This was just fun and at an equivalent rate (factor in getting there, mission stacking (not switching open/solo - have never even considered entering solo), getting back - sneaking in/out for a couple of hours, racing back.
Kept you engaged.
Today - there's no missions at all................FD - they fudge up every CG and every time there's a bit of fun in this game!
 
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Well there's no missions there at the moment and been waiting. Money isn't the object, most can do 5-10m an hour trading slaves in a conda, however it gets grindy. This was just fun and at an equivalent rate (factor in getting there, mission stacking (not switching open/solo - have never even considered entering solo), getting back - sneaking in/out for a couple of hours, racing back.
Kept you engaged.
Today - there's no missions at all................FD - they fudge up every CG and every time there's a bit of fun in this game!

I made the trip to Sothis yesterady, not to take part in the big money business but to see whats going on there, meet CMDRs etc. I think I will stay for a while and do some missions. The best part is that I never wanted to go exploring but I thought fitting a discovery scanner and selecting economic route doesn't hurt. 600k in exploration data is a nice side effect and it might be that I'll make my first real tour until Season 2 lands.
 
Well what can I say, we all know about the Sothis nerf not that I really had a problem with it anyway but smuggling was the only thing that brought me back into the game.
I knew about Sothis and the riches to be made there but I wasn't greedy I found a nice system that was giving me missions for 600k for a 90 LY trip, I was happy carving out my own little space slowly building up a nest egg to buy a ASP and go exploring the outer reaches.
The system wasn't even handing out multiple missions like Sothis was just one or two a time, nice little payment of couple mill an hour that was enough for me I was happy due to my limited time I get to play anyway.

So what happens Sothis get nuked of course, you can't have an MMO without the usual moaning ers that seem to infest everyone of these games, but why has every other system got nuked as well? Smuggling missions from what I've seen tonight have been made completely pointless yet again. Now all I get are the same missions for a quarter of the price to do further jumps...why am I going to do that.

Unfortunately some of us don't get to spend their lives on games so this was nice for us "time-restricted" folk. The game is a bloody grind fest as it is already without making it flipping worse.
I haven't got a problem with nuking the big payouts although I still don't understand why everyone was complaining, so what someone earn't 40mil an hour? (fair play to them). Just because your line of work doesn't pay that much what's the problem?

It's just sad that a DEV can't seem to make a balanced judgement on these things, ok nerf it fair enough but don't destroy it. Now I sit in my system looking at missions that to be honest aren't even worth my time reading let alone actually doing.

This is me too. I spec'ed my ship to smuggle, i did smuggler missions for rep, for rank, and sometimes would sneak into 4+ stations i the same system. Now i cant find a single smuggler mission? Didn't care about the sothis kids and disappointed Frontier apparently can't let me and my ship (Neptunes Fortune) just play the game w/o being affected by other players behavior.
 
It is really absurd that "you play this game to earn credits?" fanboys are the "nerf smuggling!!!!!! you earn 20 mil in Sothis!!!!!! q.q" whiners. Whiners, if you don't play this game to earn credits then please don't cry for a nerf. Let credit lovers run after credits while you are after "fun".
 
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