Suggestion: Expansion for Material Trader

[JetLaGGed]

I'd like to start off by saying I don't think the material trader justifies the relatively slow and exceedingly dull material grind, but I acknowledge it is here to stay, so I can only ask that this improvement be implemented to at least limit the periods of doing essentially nothing at all (this is not "gameplay") while you wait for almighty RNGesus to bestow upon you that HGE with Pharmas in it so you can FINALLY finish the world's fastest Type 9 (~338m/s boost in case you are interested):

Currently Materials are divided into 3 broad categories (Raw, Manufactured, Data) with smaller sub-categories (i.e. Alloys, Shielding, Capacitors, etc.). Material traders only trade between items of the same macro-category, i.e. you cannot trade Core Dynamics Composites for Antimony or Datamined Wake Exceptions, and there is a "loss" in each transaction, i.e. trading a Grade 5 for Grade 4's results in a ratio of 1 G5 to 3 G4's, however when one attempts to trade back, it is not 3:1 like one would expect, it's 6:1. An additional loss is factored in for trading across material rows. A Grade 5 for a different row Grade 4 trades with the ratio 2 G5's for 3 G4's, and a grade 5 for a grade 5 from another row results in a trade ratio of 6 inputs to 1 output, which is absurd especially given the tedium of getting any particular material.

I would like to see materials conserved within each broad category, such that it would be possible to trade 1 Grade 5 for 3 Grade 4's, then trade those Grade 4's back into one Grade 5, perhaps for a small transaction credit fee proportional to the number of trades made i.e. if each trade costed one credit, trading one grade 5 to three grade 4's would cost one credit, trading three grade 5's to nine grade 4's would cost 3 credits. Trading between rows of same-type materials (i.e. Imperial Shielding for Biotech Conductors) would carry no "loss" of materials and would be completely reversible, the only actual cost is in credits for the transactions. However, Material traders would be willing to exchange across types (i.e. Datamined Wake Exceptions for Core Dynamics Composites) for the current trading-across-row penalty of 6 inputs to 1 output for same grade materials.

This would be nice to have for if you happen to enjoy one form of material gathering over another and is generally aimed at making the material trader feel less like you are doing one of the following:

bashing your head against a wall relogging at a crashed conda because the thought of driving around the middle of some nameless procedurally generated moon for Technetium has you wanting to drink bleach
chasing after bird droppings with your wake scanner and praying RNGesus poops out Datamined Wake Exceptions before you die of old age
sitting in supercruise waiting for Judgement Day...I mean a HGE that contains Core Dynamics Composites.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Trading between rows of same-type materials (i.e. Imperial Shielding for Biotech Conductors) would carry no "loss" of materials and would be completely reversible, the only actual cost is in credits for the transactions.

If you can cross-trade like that 1:1, then is it actually necessary to have multiple types of material at all?

When you can earn hundreds of millions an hour with void opals, but not everyone does, any credit cost to the trade would either be "basically free" or "extortionate" with very little middle ground.

 

[JetLaGGed]

If you can cross-trade like that 1:1, then is it actually necessary to have multiple types of material at all?

When you can earn hundreds of millions an hour with void opals, but not everyone does, any credit cost to the trade would either be "basically free" or "extortionate" with very little middle ground.

The multiple rows of materials would be purely to differentiate the different types of each grade, basically (edit: ) so you pay a little bit for farming different materials to what you need (can't make it one material since I know for a fact Frontier would never go for it). As for credit costs I was thinking of something like 15-20k per trade, that way average players that don't have a bottomless bank account could still use it. If the choice has to be made between "basically free" and "extortionate" the price should be "basically free", since material trader is ALREADY a grind system, there is no need to layer additional grind on top of it. Of course knowing Frontier they will go with extortionate because that's what they do.

 

[Lestat]

Remember the Grind keeps the game going. If there was no Grind there would be no game.

 

[JetLaGGed]

Remember the Grind keeps the game going. If there was no Grind there would be no game.

Sounds like a poor design choice, but there is actually content afterwards. It's just getting to it that feels like the grind is the game, which is why I'd like to make it feel less painful.

 

[BinakAlgo]

Sounds like a poor design choice, but there is actually content afterwards. It's just getting to it that feels like the grind is the game, which is why I'd like to make it feel less painful.

Think of Elite as one of those old RPGs made back in the '90s. The credits are the main XP to level up (ships and modules) and the materials are the tech points (the extra "magic" and health).

Also, remember that the material grind it is entirely optional, all the players who only have the base Elite don't even have access to that and you keep playing as usual.

Finally, you keep your materials when you get killed and I think that you keep the engineered stuff but you have to pay for it.

 

[Lestat]

Think of Elite as one of those old RPGs made back in the '90s. The credits are the main XP to level up (ships and modules) and the materials are the tech points (the extra "magic" and health).

Let me guess Runescape or Wow? But good point either way.

Also, remember that the material grind it is entirely optional, all the players who only have the base Elite don't even have access to that and you keep playing as usual.[/QUOTE]Note Non-Horizon players don't have materials.

Finally, you keep your materials when you get killed and I think that you keep the engineered stuff but you have to pay for it.

If it on your ship and you don't have credits. I think you lose it all.

 

[BinakAlgo]

Let me guess Runescape or Wow? But good point either way.

Actually, the example that always comes to mind is the "Cursed Shield" from Final Fantasy 6 (or 3, back then). It was something that just blew my mind. It was a useless counter-productive item, it made the character equipped with it weak, with most negative effects applied permanently, it was worth nothing, but if you kept with it and won 256 battles with it equiped to one of the characters without that character dying then it turned into the "Paladin's Shield" the most poweful shield in the whole game to the extreeme to be overpowering, but you had to grind for it, hard! And no one was sure of it would work, it was a rumor, like moving the truck in Pokemon, ages before google.

That thing completely blew my mind for years.

 

[Lestat]

Actually, the example that always comes to mind is the "Cursed Shield" from Final Fantasy 6 (or 3, back then). It was something that just blew my mind. It was a useless counter-productive item, it made the character equipped with it weak, with most negative effects applied permanently, it was worth nothing, but if you kept with it and won 256 battles with it equiped to one of the characters without that character dying then it turned into the "Paladin's Shield" the most poweful shield in the whole game to the extreeme to be overpowering, but you had to grind for it, hard! And no one was sure of it would work, it was a rumor, like moving the truck in Pokemon, ages before google.

That thing completely blew my mind for years.

I went from Ultima 1 to 6 solo then Runescape online which had no class type than to Lotro. Then I ran 2 LM at the same time dual boxing. I use my Pets to tank Note LM are not tank they tend to DPS and heal and I think buff. When the games started changing for people to make it easier I left the game.

 

[Eckee]

Material Trader is fine, ofc it would be costly. The grind behind obtaining mats is problematic.