So, about the new mining gold-rush...

[Stealthie]

I've always been in favour of the idea of ED having "gold-rushes".
They'd show up regularly and people who had dwindling bank-balances would be able to chase them to refill their coffers.

However...

In my head, at least, they'd be a temporary thing.
A system where one faction has a heap of surface outposts would go to war and you'd be able to earn credits by taking planetary-scan missions - until their opponents had all the data they wanted about the enemy outposts.
A system would be in outbreak or famine and there'd be an opportunity to supply food or medicine for big profit - until the emergency ended.
Or, perhaps, a system with a low population would go into Boom and there'd be a heap of opportunities to transport people from nearby systems to the Boom system - until the supply of immigrant workers dried up or the Boom ended.

The current thing with mining, though, would seem to be a fairly permanent state of affairs.
You need credits, you find a pristine ring system, go there and pick it clean.
Rinse & repeat for apparently limitless funds.

This doesn't seem like an especially good idea, to me.
It is, basically, making credits completely worthless.

It seems a bit bizarre that FDev would limit people's opportunities to earn credits from missions in the way that they have and then give people a limitless source of income from mining.
Spend a day mining, spend a month doing whatever you want.
Rinse & repeat.
Doesn't seem to provide many viable alternatives in regard to the whole "blaze your own trail" thing.

And then, if FDev decide to impose some credit-sinks to soak up all this newfound wealth, it's going to create a situation where those credit-sinks are going to hit the people not mining much harder than those who are.
We've only just put an end to the imbalance between those who were willing to board-flip and those who weren't, and now we're likely to see that replaced by another imbalance between those who mine for easy-credits and those who don't.
And, given that mining is perfectly legit', people would have to be nuts to ignore it as a source of income.
Which will be great for the popularity of mining but it'll render pretty-much every other source of income in the game completely redundant.

 

[Vedmo]

I've seen their statement on it, and I am of the opinion they had no clue the new BGS with multiple states would create multipliers leading to this, but decided to just play it off as a nice working as intended Holiday treat that they'll be monitoring. I doubt it will last as is.

Be it a gold rush of the past, years of slow accumulation, or mining now, once you stack a few billion and have the big ships you want as you want, credits are really become pretty meaningless. My first 100 million will always be more meaningful to me than the following billions. I'm with you though, that if they really do want mining to continue to offer the ability to earn a billion credits in a few days with very little ship/outfitting/rank investment required, it would seem odd they wouldn't just up the pay on everything else as well, because they really are stating that credits are no longer a time sink that are supposed to keep you playing.

Regardless, engineering components are the real commodity of value to me.

 

[Yure]

I've always been in favour of the idea of ED having "gold-rushes".
They'd show up regularly and people who had dwindling bank-balances would be able to chase them to refill their coffers.

However...

In my head, at least, they'd be a temporary thing.
A system where one faction has a heap of surface outposts would go to war and you'd be able to earn credits by taking planetary-scan missions - until their opponents had all the data they wanted about the enemy outposts.
A system would be in outbreak or famine and there'd be an opportunity to supply food or medicine for big profit - until the emergency ended.
Or, perhaps, a system with a low population would go into Boom and there'd be a heap of opportunities to transport people from nearby systems to the Boom system - until the supply of immigrant workers dried up or the Boom ended.

The current thing with mining, though, would seem to be a fairly permanent state of affairs.
You need credits, you find a pristine ring system, go there and pick it clean.
Rinse & repeat for apparently limitless funds.

This doesn't seem like an especially good idea, to me.
It is, basically, making credits completely worthless.

It seems a bit bizarre that FDev would limit people's opportunities to earn credits from missions in the way that they have and then give people a limitless source of income from mining.
Spend a day mining, spend a month doing whatever you want.
Rinse & repeat.
Doesn't seem to provide many viable alternatives in regard to the whole "blaze your own trail" thing.

And then, if FDev decide to impose some credit-sinks to soak up all this newfound wealth, it's going to create a situation where those credit-sinks are going to hit the people not mining much harder than those who are.
We've only just put an end to the imbalance between those who were willing to board-flip and those who weren't, and now we're likely to see that replaced by another imbalance between those who mine for easy-credits and those who don't.
And, given that mining is perfectly legit', people would have to be nuts to ignore it as a source of income.
Which will be great for the popularity of mining but it'll render pretty-much every other source of income in the game completely redundant.

I wouldn't call credits worthless. They still have in game value. I could see the prestige of having so much credits being diminished by other players having more, however this is a moot factor as there is no official in between player economy. Well except EAst India Trading Company... But I'm pretty sure they are being smart about this boom boon... Rack up on stuff and wait for the crash... Cause that's what EIC does...

 

[777Driver]

Earning is still lower than system state trucking. Never tried those Sothis pax runs, pretty sure some are claiming to make 50+ mill for flying a few LY's in under 15 minutes. Tbh compared to trucking the mining feels like I am actually doing some work, currently there is only one station that I can sell to in the Pleiades (Inara says another six back in the bubble). Will have to see how things are once the BGS sorts itself out.


I made just under 250 mill today in a large mining ship, my Cutter /T9 could have easily pulled that in 5 weeks ago doing solo mode trucking 4LY hops. Checked one of my main ports today, that was offering 20 mill to haul some basic cargo, system wasn't even in boom, if it wasn't for mining I'd be loading up on those. Experienced Players have been earning large amounts of credits for years now.

Remember meta alloys? 50 million for 180 tonnes, we where pulling in 200 million to fly under 10LY in a 700+ tonne capcity T9/Cutter (that was around 6 mins flight time) Was in the game for months.

Materials are the new currency.

 

[CMDR Rusty Dog]

Do you see the irony of talking abour a 'gold rush' when it comes to mining ?

 

[Yure]

Do you see the irony of talking abour a 'gold rush' when it comes to mining ?

No... But I do see the goldieny in it.... Actually more like the opany....

 

[Vedmo]

Earning is still lower than system state trucking. Never tried those Sothis pax runs, pretty sure some are claiming to make 50+ mill for flying a few LY's in under 15 minutes. Tbh compared to trucking the mining feels like I am actually doing some work, currently there is only one station that I can sell to in the Pleiades (Inara says another six back in the bubble). Will have to see how things are once the BGS sorts itself out.


I made just under 250 mill today in a large mining ship, my Cutter /T9 could have easily pulled that in 5 weeks ago doing solo mode trucking 4LY hops. Checked one of my main ports today, that was offering 20 mill to haul some basic cargo, system wasn't even in boom, if it wasn't for mining I'd be loading up on those. Experienced Players have been earning large amounts of credits for years now.

Materials are the new currency.

The one big difference with void opals is it doesn't matter what your rep is with a faction, whether or not they're in the right state, or what missions happen to pop up. I'm with you on trucking, as I've spent a lot of time (enjoyably) in game finding optimal systems and building up great paying mission routes, and I've been able to pretty reliably bring in 100 million an hour, but it isn't always there, and if others show up it can go downhill fast from wars/expansions, etc. This mining just requires maybe a couple million in ship to start, and in a few hours you'll be able to fully outfit a Python that can bring in 1/4 billion ever couple hours.

I'm pretty sure I could start a new game and be a billionaire in a matter of days. That can't be said of trucking.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

No... But I do see the goldieny in it.... Actually more like the opany....

I think that would be Opalinity, not to Void your attempt.

But Stealthie is roughly on to something here - something that is going to have to wait a bit longer though...

Raiding bases for data is a good start, but picture this - a vastly more complex system of things, where NPC-operated SRV's can meet you on the ground to defend their bases, just as you might be called on as well, to do for one of a faction you are supporting, making cooperative play (and even PvP play) both more desirable and more fun. Perhaps you are one of 10 human commanders, operating an SRV on the ground, or a patrol ship in the air, against just as many human commanders operating their own SRV's on the ground and assault ships in the air. As a defender, you have to hold off your attackers from stealing your data for a period of time until the data can be encrypted, transmitted to another location, and purged from your systems.

As an attacker, you have to obtain that data, and get out of the system with it, returning it to whomever requested it. Ships could be tagged with trackers fired from ground-based turrets or even SRV's, allowing the defenders to pursue the attackers all the way back whence they came. And these sort of, let's call them "Skirmish Missions", could be used to trigger War between the defending and attacking factions, and make for an even more "alive" game universe.

 

[777Driver]

I'm pretty sure I could start a new game and be a billionaire in a matter of days. That can't be said of trucking.

True, although as mentioned materials is the new currency, and you can't really fast track that (or engineer unlocks)

Funny thing is I have a mate who started recently, he's in an Asp, really want's to go it alone and figure things out without using forums/youtube etc. He sent me a msg all excited because he made 10 mill today, is on his way to getting his first Python and unlocking some engineers. I reckon you'll find the bulk of the player base is like that, just casuals that drop in every now and then, no idea about finding the best place to sell opals on inara, or how to use the BGS to find high paying trucking routes.

 

[redmantab]

I wouldn't call credits worthless. They still have in game value. I could see the prestige of having so much credits being diminished by other players having more, however this is a moot factor as there is no official in between player economy. Well except EAst India Trading Company... But I'm pretty sure they are being smart about this boom boon... Rack up on stuff and wait for the crash... Cause that's what EIC does...

Since you've been playing for a long time (recognize you on these forums since I was playing at the start with my DK2), does credit earning really even do much for a veteran anymore? Don't you have anything in game you want/need? No sarcasm here, I'm actually interested as I come and go with Elite and am trying to commit myself to more game time. I play in VR and it is by far the best sim/game in VR imho. Please share any thoughts.

 

[Vedmo]

True, although as mentioned materials is the new currency, and you can't really fast track that (or engineer unlocks)

Funny thing is I have a mate who started recently, he's in an Asp, really want's to go it alone and figure things out without using forums/youtube etc. He sent me a msg all excited because he made 10 mill today, is on his way to getting his first Python and unlocking some engineers. I reckon you'll find the bulk of the player base is like that, just casuals that drop in every now and then, no idea about finding the best place to sell opals on inara, or how to use the BGS to find high paying trucking routes.

For sure, all the billions in the world just buy you any A-rated ship you want, the real journey is in engineers and ranks (if you want those ships).

The story of your friend reminds me of when I started, and I hope he sticks to doing it 'his way' for as long as he enjoys it. My first million, I was still trudging around in my Sidewinder and decided to make the leap out to this CG mission I had accepted. I think it was like 100 LY away, and I was wondering how many people had actually traveled that far in this game after doing it in a Sidewinder that jumped maybe 10 ly. I hauled some cargo in 2 tons at a time, then when it ended I got payed enough to bring me over a million, and I was pretty sure I just used some broken exploit. Asp X earned me my first 10 with passenger missions, and a Type-9 my first 100 million. I don't remember any ship or experience as fondly as those 3.

 

[Tikanderoga]

This mining gig sure is profitable. Around 100m/hour is a good number, made 2.9b over the Xmas holidays. Sometimes I bounce from Void roid to void roid, sometimes it's nothing for 10 minutes other than wasted limpets.

 

[deathmagnet]

Materials are the new currency.

This right here. Credits are not as important anymore because money can only buy you so much. The most expensive A rated ship will not compare to a ship a fraction of the price that is fully engineered.

 

[Stealthie]

Be it a gold rush of the past, years of slow accumulation, or mining now, once you stack a few billion and have the big ships you want as you want, credits are really become pretty meaningless. My first 100 million will always be more meaningful to me than the following billions. I'm with you though, that if they really do want mining to continue to offer the ability to earn a billion credits in a few days with very little ship/outfitting/rank investment required, it would seem odd they wouldn't just up the pay on everything else as well, because they really are stating that credits are no longer a time sink that are supposed to keep you playing.

That's the main thing that concerns me.

if it is just a temporary thing, I gues that's just good luck for everybody who's taking the opportunity to go mining.
I read something about FDev saying it was "working as intended" though, and coupled with the recent changes to mining and this being about the best possible way to encourage people to do it, I'm a bit worried that FDev might just let it remain as it is, to the detriment of, erm, pretty-much every other aspect of the game.

It'd be kind of like playing Fortnite when everybody's got a nuke, so you just go through the motions of picking gear and running around and then everybody wipes each other out, thus removing any need for genuine skills, strategies, experience or anything else.

Like I said, I'm all for the idea of gold-rushes but exploiting them should be a skill in itself, not the thing that everybody routinely does whenever they want credits.

 

[Stealthie]

Materials are the new currency.

And, is that something we should be okay with?

I'm not really keen on the idea of just looking at an aspect of the game and saying "okay, well that's broken beyond repair" and then just abandoning it and leaving something else to replace it instead.

Seems, to me, that what FDev should really be doing is asking themselves exactly how difficult they intend for engineering to be and looking at sorting out the financial situation so that a variety of different options are equally viable.

 

[Yure]

Since you've been playing for a long time (recognize you on these forums since I was playing at the start with my DK2), does credit earning really even do much for a veteran anymore? Don't you have anything in game you want/need? No sarcasm here, I'm actually interested as I come and go with Elite and am trying to commit myself to more game time. I play in VR and it is by far the best sim/game in VR imho. Please share any thoughts.

Absolutely. I've only been playing for about 3 years. And only have about 230 million. But I have about a billion worth in assets including ships and spare parts. Money is facilitator not a goal. It helps me enjoy the game more, to that end I can never have enough money, but I also don't make it a priority to harvest it.

Uses for credits at the end is basically for ship transfers, and different rig set ups. It really blows having to swap modules around and re-engineer stuff. Re-buys also give a nice peace of mind. My main goal to playing is for exploration and story element discovery. So something that is not as money intensive as combat. But yes credits still matter...

 

[metatheurgist]

Possibly relevant.

Oooo. That suggests an update, should I sell all my Opals?

A server side update, yes.

 

[Bortas]

At least, unlike many past "gold-rushes", mining requires us to actually actively play the game, instead of relogging 20 times and then going afk for 30 minutes.

I like it... I think they hit the sweet spot with it, making it engaging and reasonably rewarding. Good stuff. Who would have thought I would become an active miner after almost 4 years of ignoring mining entirely.

 

[Hacker#451563]

Keeping an easy route to good money that doesn't mean you rank up in something you shouldn't (ahem...passengers anyone?) will mean people can earn new stuff when they want to more easily, thus allowing them to concentrate on things like BGS work, squadron business, Thargoid hunting, specific exploration (as in looking for something instead of looking for anything), PvP, and mat hunting, which, as others have mentioned is the new "real" currency.

It might change a bit in the future but there is no reason that it should change too much.

We all might need a steady stream of cash when the Thargoids and the rouge Guardian AIs are both rampaging through the core....

 

[BL1P]

Do we even know what the respawn timer is on Core roids Yet ?