As part of my recovery program, my owner said that I had to at least try Power Play, since I was complaining so much about it.
HRH, The Princess Grace, (our Golden Retriever) immediately suggested going for drunken missiles. Her thought was that getting me drunk would result in more food coming her way.
Here's what I found, after crossing inhabited space, to pledge with Let's Make A Deal, the purveyor of Drunken Missiles. Please note that I'm not a great combat player, and all this is built on non-combat examples.
First, you should start by getting your first 100 merits for Rank 2 just before the cycle change. I had to suffer through being stuck in Rank 1 all weekend. You get ten tons of cargo every 30 minutes at rank 1, 15 tons at Rank 2, and 25 tons at Rank 3. There is a reason I'm omitting the other ranks.
*The Skinner Box*
Getting to rank 2 is 100 merits. That means collecting 100 tons of cargo, and delivering it. Each half hour, you must press the pellet bar manually, to get the cargo. I was getting up in the middle of the night, taking my bathroom breaks, and pressing the pellet bar for cargo. When my hold was full, I could make a run, and collect merits.
It is possible to get cargo, deliver it, and collect the next load in half an hour. Unfortunately, there are the interdictions every time you make a run. So, it makes more sense to use a larger ship than a smaller one, and wait out the timer.
Frontier has a fiendish gambit, taken straight from a casino. You can avoid the wait by paying Cr 100,000 for your load. And, you can do this an unlimited number of times. Yes, an internal pay-to-win.
It takes lots of cargo to make a difference. You could spend weeks, using an Adder, to reach a trigger level on some of the mission goals. Cobra's, and the like are slightly faster. You need a T-6, at least. Cost basis for ships goes up. Risk goes up, because your opponents are going to be dedicated combat ships.
So, Rank 2 is a million credits, if you want to get it over with. A dozen runs, roughly, in a T-6. Otherwise, you are going to spend a day on getting it cheaply. No problem, right?
*The Goodie Trap*
Rank 3 is where the special weapons and equipment gets handed out. It takes 750 merits to reach it. Waiting for the cargo at Rank 1 would take 37.5 hours. At Rank 2, 25 hours (assuming a zero merit balance). Or, you could just shell out 7,500,000.
The trap is simple. You have to be pledged to a power for four weeks to get the goodie. Even if you achieve Rank 3 on the first day, you will have to wait a month to collect.
From the dev's standpoint, you don't want players just quitting after a day. Or a week. You want them *invested* in the gameplay.
And, oh joy, will you *ever* be investing. The effort needed to reach game event triggers is staggering for a single player of limited means. You will be making very little money from trade or exploring as you rack up the merits. To change your power's standing, you will need to make a fantastic investment in time and money. This is great, if you are a billionaire, and have no other time commitments.
*The Heat Death Decay Trap*
Every week, after the end of the cycle, half your merits are removed. You have just become radioactive. You will need to regain the lost merits to maintain your rank. Rank 4 is 1500 merits, Rank 5 is 10,000 merits. That's 15,000,000 Cr for Rank 4, and 100,000,000 Cr for Rank 5. Just try to wait for enough cargo to reach Rank 5. It's a hundred hours of pellet-bar pushing, alone, from zero merits.
*The Existential Trap*
What are you expending the effort for? A near-random result at the end of each week's cycle, for your power. Some players are invested in the role-play, and that's OK for them. Combat players will be quite satisfied with killing each other.
So, otherwise, this is a game for rich guys, with lots of time on their hands.
This dog gave up, at one wasted weekend, for 388 merits. Obligation satisfied. I tried it. My owner settled for my buying her dinner.
And Princess Grace got her bone.
HRH, The Princess Grace, (our Golden Retriever) immediately suggested going for drunken missiles. Her thought was that getting me drunk would result in more food coming her way.
Here's what I found, after crossing inhabited space, to pledge with Let's Make A Deal, the purveyor of Drunken Missiles. Please note that I'm not a great combat player, and all this is built on non-combat examples.
First, you should start by getting your first 100 merits for Rank 2 just before the cycle change. I had to suffer through being stuck in Rank 1 all weekend. You get ten tons of cargo every 30 minutes at rank 1, 15 tons at Rank 2, and 25 tons at Rank 3. There is a reason I'm omitting the other ranks.
*The Skinner Box*
Getting to rank 2 is 100 merits. That means collecting 100 tons of cargo, and delivering it. Each half hour, you must press the pellet bar manually, to get the cargo. I was getting up in the middle of the night, taking my bathroom breaks, and pressing the pellet bar for cargo. When my hold was full, I could make a run, and collect merits.
It is possible to get cargo, deliver it, and collect the next load in half an hour. Unfortunately, there are the interdictions every time you make a run. So, it makes more sense to use a larger ship than a smaller one, and wait out the timer.
Frontier has a fiendish gambit, taken straight from a casino. You can avoid the wait by paying Cr 100,000 for your load. And, you can do this an unlimited number of times. Yes, an internal pay-to-win.
It takes lots of cargo to make a difference. You could spend weeks, using an Adder, to reach a trigger level on some of the mission goals. Cobra's, and the like are slightly faster. You need a T-6, at least. Cost basis for ships goes up. Risk goes up, because your opponents are going to be dedicated combat ships.
So, Rank 2 is a million credits, if you want to get it over with. A dozen runs, roughly, in a T-6. Otherwise, you are going to spend a day on getting it cheaply. No problem, right?
*The Goodie Trap*
Rank 3 is where the special weapons and equipment gets handed out. It takes 750 merits to reach it. Waiting for the cargo at Rank 1 would take 37.5 hours. At Rank 2, 25 hours (assuming a zero merit balance). Or, you could just shell out 7,500,000.
The trap is simple. You have to be pledged to a power for four weeks to get the goodie. Even if you achieve Rank 3 on the first day, you will have to wait a month to collect.
From the dev's standpoint, you don't want players just quitting after a day. Or a week. You want them *invested* in the gameplay.
And, oh joy, will you *ever* be investing. The effort needed to reach game event triggers is staggering for a single player of limited means. You will be making very little money from trade or exploring as you rack up the merits. To change your power's standing, you will need to make a fantastic investment in time and money. This is great, if you are a billionaire, and have no other time commitments.
*The Heat Death Decay Trap*
Every week, after the end of the cycle, half your merits are removed. You have just become radioactive. You will need to regain the lost merits to maintain your rank. Rank 4 is 1500 merits, Rank 5 is 10,000 merits. That's 15,000,000 Cr for Rank 4, and 100,000,000 Cr for Rank 5. Just try to wait for enough cargo to reach Rank 5. It's a hundred hours of pellet-bar pushing, alone, from zero merits.
*The Existential Trap*
What are you expending the effort for? A near-random result at the end of each week's cycle, for your power. Some players are invested in the role-play, and that's OK for them. Combat players will be quite satisfied with killing each other.
So, otherwise, this is a game for rich guys, with lots of time on their hands.
This dog gave up, at one wasted weekend, for 388 merits. Obligation satisfied. I tried it. My owner settled for my buying her dinner.
And Princess Grace got her bone.
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