Discovery Gaming Community

This isn't going to degenerate into a rant, I just want to bring up a few observations, and we should be able to discuss them.


Firstly, Bases and RP:

There needs to be more RP in this development... there is a problem though. You RP your base, suddenly people are working out where it is, and you have a horde of people out to blow it up because destroying something valuable of another person is fun... so you're being cautious... and not breathing a word of the secret rebel base in case the Evil Empire brings it's Death Star and we have Alderaan mk II...

(waves cheerily to certain people... but man being Tarkin is fun)

People are complaining, But Alvin, I don't have time to RP... all my time is going into building and maintaining the base... and I feel for ya. I know what it's like... the cost of base maintenance alone is staggering... way beyond the potential rewards... that's something we will chat about in another part.

Please, please, please find the time to bring the RP into this, the RP tool capabilities of these bases are amazing. I think it outweighs the risk of destruction.

My advice, build smart, and RP but if you have to, keep things vague when it comes to location.

Honestly, the best defense is a base no one can find (*coughs* 30k above the sun in a capital system isn't secret dumb-dumbs... you know who you are... and don't think my Death Star won't go after it up there)


Next Part II (I am breaking this up for the TLDR's)

Amen.

Bases and Metagaming:

Your base is going to be metagamed. It's something you just can't avoid... if you tell someone a secret, that secret is going to get out... and let's face it... look around you at some of the other players on here... would you trust them not to blow it up? Gods no.

I know about bases in Bretonia the second they start being built. People rush to tell me... I then have to sort through what I know and what I don't know... as a character.

I do have regular scouts who sweep the systems end to end looking for your bases.

But here is the crux of it, if I know where the base is already, it taints every little bit of information I get in on base rumours...

True, I have been told by nine, count that, NINE different sources that the RM are building a base in Omega-3. Every time I investigate, there is nothing there.

Misinformation is probably your best weapon here. You want to save your base, tell a few you trust the real location, and then spread about five or six bogus locations around.

Flooding random info out there will ensure that people leave you alone...

Best one I came across was someone built three bases... yep, three of them.

only one is the primary... but people were so busy chasing down the dummy bases, they missed the main base until the shield went up.

Be smart, and don't trust people to keep a secret.

Part Three:

Costs

I just found out how much it costs to keep a shield up 24hours... a whopping 17thousand units of Mox/Promethene.

That's half a barge's worth... for a single day.

I know the shield system is about to be changed, but dear gods...

It took four days to fill a barge with high level fuel, using two freighters, at an amazing cost.

we were even buying cheaply at $500/unit.

Here's the thing ladies and gents... shields suck.

Sure you're invulnerable...

But here's the thing, you're going to run out of fuel before you have time to stock a base full of fuel. Unless you're parked right next to LD-14... you're literally going to be spending 50% of your time shipping fuel.

That's a massive investment of time, money, for what, something that isn't really going to matter that much in the grand scheme.

But Alvin, what if we turn the shield off and on...

you could. You could have a player sitting on the base loading and unloading fuel each time danger shows up... but again time isn't on your side. A proper siege needs only wait a day... One day.... Most bases on the server can only support a few hours of fuel at a time. And only a few factions have a barge handy, fewer still having that barge stocked with fuel... fewer still with someone who can spare the time to play watch dog.


Even then, you're going to still need someone shipping fuel.

So that is two people who are taken out of the server game play, just to maintain a base. This is excluding repairs, food, oxygen, and crew shipments.

I will get into cost/benefits in part V

This brings me to the nextl part

Part IV bases and time:

Quote:Be smart, and don't trust people to keep a secret.

I never told anyone where my base was.

Only I knew where it was.

And now I have a cloak.

Couldn't be more true, Alvin.

This game turns more and more into an MMORPG.

Don't trust anyone with your stuff. EVER.

By the way, it's in Sigma-13.

Have fun looking for it.

sad that if your base dies you cant learn who destoyed it. and yes, no trust to anyone... this is true... its sad but its true...
good job people: no trust - no RP - no fun - no point to play

and meh... Im sure player bases are not worth what it takes. unless you unofficial faction without proper bases. or well organised faction with many credits and time

Part IV time:

It's a massive investment.

Without a shield, you're probably better off if you want to build stuff... but at this point your base is in a secret closet, under the bed, in the phantom Guard system, defended by all and sundry...

So, in other words, it's in the middle of Bug *cough* nowhere.

This is a sacrifice you make in time.

Your adding an extra 40K up or down from the plane... maybe halfway across a system... maybe all the way from the nearest jump hole. Add asteroid fields and nebulas... and you get an even greater distance.

let's say it's 100K

ever flown 100k? It's about ten minutes of flying time, and that's not counting what you have to do to go get the supplies you need.

Your investment in money to buy the goods is actually compounded by the flight time. Your not making any money if you are shipping to your base. It's dead time, time where you loose money.

You aren't out mining, or trading, watching your money climbing up. Your watching massive chunks of it vanish at the end of a very long journey.

Cryocubes, for example... Maine... For the Corsairs that's the other end of the map. THE OTHER END OF THE MAP.

Libertonian bases are in the best postion, they can reach everything in equal distances... but for others, some is close, but the rest is far.

It took five people over a day of constant shipping to build a shield. FIVE. That's five people taken out of RP/profit earning and dedicated solely to a modual enhancement.

If you add on the two I mentioned earlier for maintenance... that's now SEVEN people investing days, just to get the most basic of the moduals done.

Most factions can't support it, realistically. You are going to see super groups and collaborations for bases because it has to be so. Nothing wrong with that... that's RP... except where is that RP? I have found no shred of it anywhere.

Right now it's a grind, the noses to the stone, wondering what is going to run out first, manpower or money.

But at least we get something out of it... right?

Part V Cost/Benefit analysis.

tell ya what base security is an easy fix

just set that puppy right next to the last battlestar.

now lets see how many people pew it.

Aha. A new discovery, a new adventure.:)

Yep. My base has already been metagamed.. from within the oc general chat. Though that's over with, and won't happen again.

And yes indeed, RP > destruction. It's AMAZING what you can do right now with these things in terms of RP... One of my newest additions to the, "DRV's Guide to being the a-hole terrorist in FL you thought you never could be!" is Base Piracy