I made three runs to Smeaton Orbital and back to Allen Hub this evening.
The first two carried bulk economy passengers. The third carried named passengers.
I was unable to time the first bulk passenger run because of a delay caused by problems handing in a mission. The second bulk passenger run took 52 min from entering the passenger board to landing back at Allen Hub
Bulk passenger missions available were often for more passengers than would have been the case in 2.4. As a result on both runs I was able to fill my 160-passenger Anaconda with a minimum of board-hopping. One circuit through solo, open and two private groups then back to solo sufficed in both cases.
The first run paid me Cr 11.6m.
The second run paid me Cr 9.2m.
A small additional amount was made during both runs by picking up passengers who were headed to Allen Hub from the available board at Smeaton Orbital.
In the light of these figures I focused my efforts for the third run on named pasenger missions.
I acquired 8 such missions. This required substantial board hopping, a total of fourteen individual hops requiring twenty minutes to complete.
All named passenger missions were of the format:
Does not react well to danger - Laid back - Low value target - Neutral - Demanding.
I am unable to say how demanding they actually were as I made a point of not opening any mission-critical messages during the trip.
No missions were failed as a result of my neglect. All offered substantial payouts of between Cr 3m and Cr 9m, and several offered tempting grade 5 materials as alternatives.
The named passenger loop took 70 minutes to complete and paid me Cr 57.6m.
This represents an hourly rate of Cr 49.3m.
It seems then that bulk passenger missions will in future not pay well enough to make the Smeaton run worthwhile; but that in the absence of a more profitable alternative named passenger missions from Allen Hub to Smeaton Orbital, while not quite replacing the bonanza of yore, will ensure that those of us who prefer not to spend the majority of our game time grubbing for credits will still be able to take one day a week to ensure that the rest of of our play time is free of money worries.
I can't of course, speak for those who are seeking to stockpile Cr 50m rebuys. Whether this will be enough for them is for them to say.
One last observation. It strikes me as a bit rum that FDev should take the trouble to increase passenger numbers in bulk passenger missions so as to reduce the need to board-hop; then nerf the payouts on these missions to the point where players will no longer be interested in board-hopping or indeed doing them at all, but will instead turn to an alternative which, it turns out, requires almost as much board-hopping as did bulk passenger missions in 2.4.
I can only conclude that these two different decisions were taken independently. Left hand, that's your right hand over there. You two should really get to know each other.
The first two carried bulk economy passengers. The third carried named passengers.
I was unable to time the first bulk passenger run because of a delay caused by problems handing in a mission. The second bulk passenger run took 52 min from entering the passenger board to landing back at Allen Hub
Bulk passenger missions available were often for more passengers than would have been the case in 2.4. As a result on both runs I was able to fill my 160-passenger Anaconda with a minimum of board-hopping. One circuit through solo, open and two private groups then back to solo sufficed in both cases.
The first run paid me Cr 11.6m.
The second run paid me Cr 9.2m.
A small additional amount was made during both runs by picking up passengers who were headed to Allen Hub from the available board at Smeaton Orbital.
In the light of these figures I focused my efforts for the third run on named pasenger missions.
I acquired 8 such missions. This required substantial board hopping, a total of fourteen individual hops requiring twenty minutes to complete.
All named passenger missions were of the format:
Does not react well to danger - Laid back - Low value target - Neutral - Demanding.
I am unable to say how demanding they actually were as I made a point of not opening any mission-critical messages during the trip.
No missions were failed as a result of my neglect. All offered substantial payouts of between Cr 3m and Cr 9m, and several offered tempting grade 5 materials as alternatives.
The named passenger loop took 70 minutes to complete and paid me Cr 57.6m.
This represents an hourly rate of Cr 49.3m.
It seems then that bulk passenger missions will in future not pay well enough to make the Smeaton run worthwhile; but that in the absence of a more profitable alternative named passenger missions from Allen Hub to Smeaton Orbital, while not quite replacing the bonanza of yore, will ensure that those of us who prefer not to spend the majority of our game time grubbing for credits will still be able to take one day a week to ensure that the rest of of our play time is free of money worries.
I can't of course, speak for those who are seeking to stockpile Cr 50m rebuys. Whether this will be enough for them is for them to say.
One last observation. It strikes me as a bit rum that FDev should take the trouble to increase passenger numbers in bulk passenger missions so as to reduce the need to board-hop; then nerf the payouts on these missions to the point where players will no longer be interested in board-hopping or indeed doing them at all, but will instead turn to an alternative which, it turns out, requires almost as much board-hopping as did bulk passenger missions in 2.4.
I can only conclude that these two different decisions were taken independently. Left hand, that's your right hand over there. You two should really get to know each other.
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