07-25-2018, 07:11 AM
As Durandal and others mentioned, scidata isn't a pure money sink, but a money sink for some and a huge money source for those who are able to get it in events.
There are several ways to make the scidata reward gear money sinks (just sell it for very high prices at conn). Although overall, I think gear as well as commodities could use some tweaking:
Step 1: Reduce every single price in the game (ships, gear, commodities, ore) by a factor 4, to beat the 1.8 billion char value bug
Step 2: Reduce commodity and ore prices again by a factor of 2 (commodities cheaper than 8 credits will jsut become more expensive compared to the rest), to make credit progress less fast. Missions need to be rebalanced a bit anyway, but thats another topic
Step 3: create additional gear items which are a little better than existing items, but much more expensive. The performance/price ratio should be low enough so that people who have many chars don't get easily get the best stuff on every char (as it currently is for most vets), but only for their favorite chars. Gear items should have between 2 (for example guns) or 3 (for example armor) categories. For armor, it should be balanced so class 1 armor is very cheap but a substantial upgrade (like doubling hitpoints) so noob can upgrade their ship early on without saving for the best one with a boring grind. Class 2 should be the standard for vets (about a factor 2.3 or 2.4) , and class 3 (factor 2.5) should be that much more expensive that vets wouldnt want to use it on all chars. Similar balancing philosophies for guns/thrusters/scanners. All in all, there should be a "this is my best ship" feeling for favorite characters, instead of a "just another throw-away ship I only used to go around ZOI restrictions and engagement permissions)". To reduce workload for devs, most "elite" guns should be generic and not faction base and sold in few locations.
Step 4: More and heavier credits fines for sanctions, and shorter bans.
That would enable players to do more harm to other players than they already can (like with bases), which would result in having the community even more at each others throats.
There are several ways to make the scidata reward gear money sinks (just sell it for very high prices at conn). Although overall, I think gear as well as commodities could use some tweaking:
Step 1: Reduce every single price in the game (ships, gear, commodities, ore) by a factor 4, to beat the 1.8 billion char value bug
Step 2: Reduce commodity and ore prices again by a factor of 2 (commodities cheaper than 8 credits will jsut become more expensive compared to the rest), to make credit progress less fast. Missions need to be rebalanced a bit anyway, but thats another topic
Step 3: create additional gear items which are a little better than existing items, but much more expensive. The performance/price ratio should be low enough so that people who have many chars don't get easily get the best stuff on every char (as it currently is for most vets), but only for their favorite chars. Gear items should have between 2 (for example guns) or 3 (for example armor) categories. For armor, it should be balanced so class 1 armor is very cheap but a substantial upgrade (like doubling hitpoints) so noob can upgrade their ship early on without saving for the best one with a boring grind. Class 2 should be the standard for vets (about a factor 2.3 or 2.4) , and class 3 (factor 2.5) should be that much more expensive that vets wouldnt want to use it on all chars. Similar balancing philosophies for guns/thrusters/scanners. All in all, there should be a "this is my best ship" feeling for favorite characters, instead of a "just another throw-away ship I only used to go around ZOI restrictions and engagement permissions)". To reduce workload for devs, most "elite" guns should be generic and not faction base and sold in few locations.
Step 4: More and heavier credits fines for sanctions, and shorter bans.
(07-25-2018, 06:34 AM)Thyrzul Wrote: [ -> ]Can't we just replace the PvP Death Penalty of forced off-hours with cash loss upon death? Something like 1% of total ship and equipment cost (except ammo, you lose it either way), how about that?
That would enable players to do more harm to other players than they already can (like with bases), which would result in having the community even more at each others throats.