So, what’s min/maxing?

Branithar

Branithar
I googled the term and it’s something like “making your character really strong in certain areas, but weak in other areas”.

How does that translate to Elite: Dangerous? I hear min/max bandied about with combat and specifically, PvP ships.

Is min/maxing when a commander outfits an exploration ship to have an awesome jump range, but sacrifice everything else (hull/shield/firepower). What about when people talk about min/maxing PvP ships?
 
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Aashenfox

Aashenfox
Branithar said:
I googled the term and it’s something like “making your character really strong in certain areas, but weak in other areas”.

How does that translate to Elite: Dangerous? I hear min/max bandied about with combat and specifically, PvP ships.
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Minimum vulnerability, maximum offensive capability is another way to say it, but yeh, that definition you have is the classic. On its basic level we're taking about the trade off a mage makes in defense by wearing cloth that boosts magical abilities rather than armor that restricts movement. That kind of min maxing is what the trinity is based on (tank, healer, damage), each gets to focus on his role and not worry about the specializations of others. The tank protects, the dps do damage and the healer heals. They gear in such a way to maximize only that role.

In elite, just engineering your ships is a form of minmaxing, as most engineer modifications have downsides for their upsides. Hybrids minimize shield size for fast regen, and stack hull so they can survive between recharges, minimizing mission utility for maximizing combat effectiveness, there are lots of interpretations that are valid under this umbrella of having the best possible trade-off of attributes
 

Ziggy Stardust

Ziggy Stardust
Branithar said:
I googled the term and it’s something like “making your character really strong in certain areas, but weak in other areas”.

How does that translate to Elite: Dangerous? I hear min/max bandied about with combat and specifically, PvP ships.

Is min/maxing when a commander outfits an exploration ship to have an awesome jump range, but sacrifice everything else (hull/shield/firepower). What about when people talk about min/maxing PvP ships?
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That's the only min/maxing that is allowed (by a group of select CMDRs). Often you will hear them scoff at traders or explorers for wanting the biggest so called bang out of their proverbial buck. But you won't find a ton of cargo space or a discovery scanner on their builds.
 

GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
Ziggy Stardust said:
That's the only min/maxing that is allowed (by a group of select CMDRs). Often you will hear them scoff at traders or explorers for wanting the biggest so called bang out of their proverbial buck. But you won't find a ton of cargo space or a discovery scanner on their builds.
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If I don't have a discovery scanner I feel naked.

And not in a good way.
 

CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost

C
Branithar said:
…
How does that translate to Elite: Dangerous? I hear min/max bandied about with combat and specifically, PvP ships.
…
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Optimizing your ship for a specific task while sacrificing it's use for anything else.

Min/maxing for combat = good.
Min/maxing for anything else = greedy, bad, unworthy

Min/maxing for combat usually consists in sacrificing jump-range to the bare minimum to get into SC (moving around a combat ship is doable with ship transfer), adding as many defensive modules as possible and using the flavor of the month weapon and special effect.
Bonus points for sacrificing damage over time potential for burst damage (alpha damage) to be able to educate greedy, unworthy players how greedy and unworthy they are.
(additional bonus points for complaining about time to kill being to high, the grind and the shield meta)

;)
 

Achilles7

Banned
Achilles7
Ziggy Stardust said:
That's the only min/maxing that is allowed (by a group of select CMDRs). Often you will hear them scoff at traders or explorers for wanting the biggest so called bang out of their proverbial buck. But you won't find a ton of cargo space or a discovery scanner on their builds.
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Yeah but tbf those players rarely face the rebuy screen because of their min/maxing! It's slightly easier to ridicule someone's choices in a multi-player environment when the ship in question is not fit for multi-player environments.

The above is one of the defining features of condescending, derogatory statements in this area (general hypocrisy aside)...'doesn't really work the other way when a trader says "Yeah but my cr/hr is waaay more than yours!" or "You should see how far I can jump without that shield!" - all of that is somewhat moot if one's ship has just been blown up!
 

Krash

Krash
Branithar said:
I googled the term and it’s something like “making your character really strong in certain areas, but weak in other areas”.

How does that translate to Elite: Dangerous? I hear min/max bandied about with combat and specifically, PvP ships.

Is min/maxing when a commander outfits an exploration ship to have an awesome jump range, but sacrifice everything else (hull/shield/firepower). What about when people talk about min/maxing PvP ships?
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I'm glad you asked this question since I've been curious about it as well. Based on the following comments, I'm a min/maxer in training and didn't even know it.
 

Archvillain

Archvillain
Min-maxing is when you try to boost (to the max!) those things you think you'll need/use the most, while trying to push the costs of doing that onto the things you think you'll need/use the least.

A related term is the "dump stat" - in Dungeons&Dragons a player might use character-building points that would normally go towards increasing Wisdom and shift them over to increase Strength instead, because the player puts higher priority on combat prowess than on good decision-making. Wisdom is then their "dump stat", the min that offsets Strength's max.
 

Archvillain

Archvillain
If anyone hasn't already, type your last name into the star map. See what comes up that you can retroactively decide was named after you and your exploits :D

Clearly, Fisher Station belongs to my family estate and I shall inherit it. Fite me :)
 

Krash

Krash
Archvillain said:
If anyone hasn't already, type your last name into the star map. See what comes up that you can retroactively decide was named after you and your exploits :D

Clearly, Fisher Station belongs to my family estate and I shall inherit it. Fite me :)
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Lets say your RL name is Bobby Fisher, you're bounty hunting in a Haz Res and come face to face with a wanted pirate named "Bobby Fisher". Do you kill him?
 

Ziggy Stardust

Ziggy Stardust
Achilles7 said:
Yeah but tbf those players rarely face the rebuy screen because of their min/maxing! It's slightly easier to ridicule someone's choices in a multi-player environment when the ship in question is not fit for multi-player environments.
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The context I heard it in was that is was unfair how traders in solo/pg could min-max their builds, since they could leave combat out of the equation.

If you fly in a popular CG in Open, you're asking for trouble, you better come prepared.

The above is one of the defining features of condescending, derogatory statements in this area (general hypocrisy aside)...'doesn't really work the other way when a trader says "Yeah but my cr/hr is waaay more than yours!" or "You should see how far I can jump without that shield!" - all of that is somewhat moot if one's ship has just been blown up!
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Both those statements are just as meaningless.
 
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