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Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
Merged into the ongoing thread debating exactly that point (among others) relating to the three game modes, single shared galaxy state and the ability for players to choose which mode to play in on a session-by-session basis.
How fix PP to encourage more player interaction?
I have a strong suspicion that Power Play was intended to fix several problems with Elite Dangerous, the biggest of which was the lack of player interaction in multiplayer (as that has the possibility to greatly extend the shelf life of Elite Dangerous)... unfortunately PP in it's current incarnation has various issues that (a) discourage people from playing PP in the first place, and (b) encourage playing PP in Solo (or small Private Groups consisting of just one Wing).
If you were FD, how would you fix Power Play to encourage playing it in Open? (The aim being to encourage multiplayer interactions.)
To get things started, here aretwo three suggestions of mine:
* PP heavily focuses on merits to reach particular Ratings, and Solo is one of the easiest/safest ways to grind merits. So simply reduce merits gained while playing in Solo. (But this breaks FD's "play it your way" mantra, so I'm hoping others might be able to make better suggestions.)
* PP heavily focuses on merits to reach particular Ratings, and Solo is one of the easiest/safest ways to grind merits. So increase the number of merits for killing enemy CMDRs (compared to NPCs), and for stealing propaganda from enemy CMDRs (compared to NPCs). (This might have the unintended consequence of encouraging some CMDRs to play Solo, hence it would be best if Solo also gives less merits in the first place - see first suggestion.)
EDIT: I have a third & far more subtle suggestion:
* PP heavily focuses on merits to reach particular Ratings, and Solo is one of the easiest/safest ways to grind merits. So (as FD's Sandro has been considering) get rid of merit decay (at least for 'casual' CMDRs), so that they don't have to worry about grinding merits before the week is up. Then 'casual' CMDRs can consider playing PP in Open, without having to worry if they are doing it the most efficient way.
I have a strong suspicion that Power Play was intended to fix several problems with Elite Dangerous, the biggest of which was the lack of player interaction in multiplayer (as that has the possibility to greatly extend the shelf life of Elite Dangerous)... unfortunately PP in it's current incarnation has various issues that (a) discourage people from playing PP in the first place, and (b) encourage playing PP in Solo (or small Private Groups consisting of just one Wing).
If you were FD, how would you fix Power Play to encourage playing it in Open? (The aim being to encourage multiplayer interactions.)
To get things started, here are
* PP heavily focuses on merits to reach particular Ratings, and Solo is one of the easiest/safest ways to grind merits. So simply reduce merits gained while playing in Solo. (But this breaks FD's "play it your way" mantra, so I'm hoping others might be able to make better suggestions.)
* PP heavily focuses on merits to reach particular Ratings, and Solo is one of the easiest/safest ways to grind merits. So increase the number of merits for killing enemy CMDRs (compared to NPCs), and for stealing propaganda from enemy CMDRs (compared to NPCs). (This might have the unintended consequence of encouraging some CMDRs to play Solo, hence it would be best if Solo also gives less merits in the first place - see first suggestion.)
EDIT: I have a third & far more subtle suggestion:
* PP heavily focuses on merits to reach particular Ratings, and Solo is one of the easiest/safest ways to grind merits. So (as FD's Sandro has been considering) get rid of merit decay (at least for 'casual' CMDRs), so that they don't have to worry about grinding merits before the week is up. Then 'casual' CMDRs can consider playing PP in Open, without having to worry if they are doing it the most efficient way.
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Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
Merging into appropriate thread where the sub-topic of adding bonus to one mode / penalty to another mode is discussed.
As was told/written 100 times or more. The counter measure to undermining is fortyfiing, not direct PvP. Not only because Solo/Group but also because there are platforms like XBox and PS4. XBox players are playing in the same Galaxy, the same PP and you will never meet them, because PC and XBox does not mix in Open.
Ooo OOO I Knows this answer!
The design of the game is indirect PVP of groups through the collection of PvE Trophies! Woot!
I as well,...I backed the game for the same reason; all features for all people. Also couldn't get Solo/Offline, this is as close as I can get.
You're not losing anything by having people working in solo or group. The instancing system means that people may be able to work against you in Open, and you'll never get to see them. People enjoy different things at different times, and Frontier have done the right thing to recognise this diversity. The game should cater for both extroverts and introverts.
Cheers, Phos.
Up to about 4.5m / 5yd you can extend USB cables with common, unpowered extensions; just make sure the rating of the extension is equal or higher than the rating of the device (i.e., don't use an USB1 extension on an USB2 device). Unpowered extensions might work for longer lengths, but the standard doesn't guarantee it.
Above that (and in 4.5m/5yd intervals for really long cables) you need something capable of strengthening the signal, like an USB hub or repeater. At work I once had to plug an USB keyboard+mouse to a computer some 20m away using repeaters, and it worked fine.
Add to that the fact that PC and XB1 players will never meet in Open, people are still dramatically overstating the ability to counter.
I wanna throw something in.
From what I have heard (could be wrong), Star Citizen will have just one big universe. How would you do stuff in SC compared to ED? Now I am obviously comparing a wheel with a box ... a salad with meat! But it is still food (or a transport item).
Whatever, imagine ED being just one big universe with no oppotunity to 'hide'. What gamepaly elemts would change in ED from groups-modes to one big instance. I ask everyone here regardless of the mode(s) they play.
From what I have heard (could be wrong), Star Citizen will have just one big universe. How would you do stuff in SC compared to ED? Now I am obviously comparing a wheel with a box ... a salad with meat! But it is still food (or a transport item).
Whatever, imagine ED being just one big universe with no oppotunity to 'hide'. What gamepaly elemts would change in ED from groups-modes to one big instance. I ask everyone here regardless of the mode(s) they play.
My point is that in this example it's not mindless. It's part of the game. You can fortify but then they should re-balance that. It's far too easy to undermine these days. Even though the points requirement is higher it's obtained much faster. Shooting down underminers is as part of the game as trading or RES hunting is.
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Well, since ED is in fact one big galaxy, if you took away the possibility to hide (ignoring the fact that you are being just a tad offensive by suggesting that people who don't wish to engage / play with you are hiding), then you'd probably have exactly the same situation as you have now.
Except... Since pretty much everyone who wants to play in Open is presumably doing that now, the other people, who don't want to play Open wouldn't be playing at all, so not giving FD any money, so development may stall, so you wouldn't have a game to play anyway.
Thing is: you are wrong. Star Citizen has (will have) a very similar mechanism as ED has now: you can choose if you want to meet any other players, while playing in and influencing the persistent universe.
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There would be nothing wrong with a game like this but I would not buy a game like this, its not my thing. I get why some people want that kind of game but this is not it and I will of course always be against a change that turns the game into something I don't like after I paid money for it.
Alright - then the "PvE" modes are the only ones in which trading, RES hunting, combat zones with AI in them or any form of game play that doesn't involve direct competition with other players can occur. It's all restricted to solo and private groups. Also, the money made there can't be taken to open.
Do you think that sounds like a good idea?
ALSO:
I wish I had read this book twenty years ago.
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Thanks, I never knew that you could go that far. I just paced from my PC to TV and its 20m.
Now possibly with a powered hub at the TV end (for KM,M, Hotas,head set & ED tracker) I might be able to play on my TV. Food for thought.
I would not be playing.
I'm a Star Citizen backer, but form day 1 I was already fairly certain that I wouldn't bother playing it online exactly because of that. If I can't opt out of PvP, then I don't play, and in Star Citizen the only way to fully opt out of PvP is to play offline.
(I might choose to only play offline in Star Citizen even if the online mode was PvE only, to be honest; the game is supposed to have good support for modding both in the client and in the officially supplied private servers, but for obvious reasons the official servers won't support mods. Between playing online without mods or offline with mods, I would be really tempted to play offline anyway.)
And yeah, Star Citizen will support both offline play and private servers.
Also, you might be interested in knowing about some of the other planned differences in Star Citizen compared with ED, such as:
- Insurance for cargo.
- A "PvP slider" that controls how often the player might see other players in SC's equivalent of Supercruise. The idea is that it can never be set to fully exclude players, but can be set very low, to the point that meeting other players even in the most populated regions of space would be the exception rather than the rule.
- Security forces that actually matter in the core systems. The idea being that, like in EVE, attacking other players in supposedly safe places will be a death sentence to the attacker.
- The matchmaking system in Star Citizen is supposed to match not only ping, but also take into account player skill, number and sizes of ships, etc. The idea is that PvP situations should be more balanced than in a typical open PvP game, with the matchmaking working behind the scenes to guarantee that.
So, I doubt Star Citizen will become the free for all gankfest some seem to desire or expect. It will still have enough PvP to keep me from even considering the official server, but if CIG/CR can implement that they described in the past, there's a good chance PvP in Star Citizen won't be prevalent and that one-sided fights will be rare.
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