(08-26-2014, 11:26 AM)Mímir Wrote: Also aren't we just adhering to contemporary ideologies when we assume that corporations are better at everything? Has that really ever been proven? Isn't it just an imaginary/tentative conclusion spurred by our own lack of imagination, by being products of contemporary society?
Maybe it is this way, maybe it is just more logical that corporations, who have more opportunities, more connections, more access to higher tiers of technology are more capable of doing things than other organizations without such perks.
The entire game is based on our contemporary societies, why would this be different then?
- More opportunities
- More connections
- More access to higher tiers of techs
But from what I can see those things are pretty unfounded in the actual lore, but solely hinges on our (contemporary) perception of what corporations are/can do.
- Junkers have opportunities with the unlawful side, Corsairs & Outcasts both need resources and could arguably be bigger players in the market of purchasing scrap metal than any lawful organization or house, as they have fewer options of actually acquiring the resources. Do they have "more" opportunities than ALG? I don't know, but either can be argued.
- Junkers have connections on both sides of the fence, lawful and unlawful. In terms of quantity ("more"), I'd say they actually outmatch ALG.
- The Salvager is a true technological marvel. Also the Collector and other ships in the junker line are good and specialized. ALG only have the Golem, again in terms of quantity, the Junkers have "more".
What I think you are actually meaning to imply is that ALG have "better" opportunities, better connection and better access; ie. qualitative criteria, but that can certainly also be debated. ALG is a Rheinland corporation, and while that is a strong ("better") domestic connection, Rheinland has a host of mining corporations bringing in the good stuff already, marginalizing ALG at the get-go as more of a waste collection service than actual resource-extraction (one doesn't rule out the other, obviously). It also leads to ALG being part of territorial conflicts involving Rheinland, although to a lesser extent than other Rheinland corporations - that is a clear weakness. The opportunities in my eyes are far from "better" as well. If you move out of Rheinland, their opportunities are linked to Junker-controlled scrap fields, marked by Junker installations and NPC's. It is true that they have access to house corp technology, like 5K'ers and military-grade ships, but if the focus is mining scrap metal, can these ships really be seen as "better" than Collector and Salvager?
In my view, the "problem" stems from the ALG player faction having extremely good leadership with lots of player connections to various key players in different factions, making ALG a very interesting faction to be in and cooperate with. That makes their popularity and "power" in-game bigger than what ALG on paper ought to have. One example is how Junkers allowed ALG to mine their fields, it doesn't make sense from a junker point of view, as resources are finite and everything ALG scoops up will be a future loss of profit for all junkers. So through skilled and charismatic leadership we see a faction that is overachieving IMO and nothing wrong about that (rather the opposite!) it's just worth taking into account when discussing strengths and weaknesses of the NPC faction.
P.S.: Also yes, I am the master of off-topic and I have no proper input regarding the actual prices of stuff (which this thread is about) as I don't mine or trade.
(08-26-2014, 11:26 AM)Mímir Wrote: Also aren't we just adhering to contemporary ideologies when we assume that corporations are better at everything? Has that really ever been proven? Isn't it just an imaginary/tentative conclusion spurred by our own lack of imagination, by being products of contemporary society?
Maybe it is this way, maybe it is just more logical that corporations, who have more opportunities, more connections, more access to higher tiers of technology are more capable of doing things than other organizations without such perks.
The entire game is based on our contemporary societies, why would this be different then?
And Junkers haven't attained far more opportunities than ties than a corporation may have? You forget that Junkers span across all of Sirius, have a massive stake in the black market almost to the point of control as well as having ties to almost every unlawful faction and a dozen or so lawful factions.
Just because they mine Scrap and don't put themselves out there as much as a corporation would does not mean that they are powerless.
And I agree with Mimir. Lets lay off the inRP reasonings and things here. This is a balance discussion more than anything really.
I welcome that the 14k buff is finally over. It was too much, as ingame realities showed.
In my opinion the biggest mistake with this buff was the near- total buff of Junker activity. Alg were the losers by a big margin even though scrap is also their main roleplay.
In numbers.: Junkers go to Valetta: 14k. Alg to an Img guard base in Tau44 with ~160 k cruise attached for 9k (just to realize it is guard iff). If I were Karst, I'd have been furious about this exclusiveness.
About the current pricing:
Echo wrote that there will be an overhaul of the mining system. That's necessary. Karst? Didn't you volunteer to do miming devving? This would be the chance to get things right this time for Alg and to get a fair balance between all the Scraplovers in the game.
(08-26-2014, 01:01 PM)Jack_Henderson Wrote: I welcome that the 14k buff is finally over. It was too much, as ingame realities showed.
In my opinion the biggest mistake with this buff was the near- total buff of Junker activity. Alg were the losers by a big margin even though scrap is also their main roleplay.
Which is why we should've looked at finding a way to nerf the amount of Junkers doing the route rather than curb-stomping the thing entirely so that it's useless to both Junkers as well as every other ID that might have even the slightest interest in hauling Premium Scrap...
(08-26-2014, 02:17 PM)VinitS Wrote: On the other thread people are discussing to get GOLEM out of Mining Bonus.....what you people have against...ALG..*sighs*
The Golem isn't the only ship ALG has a mining bonus on ....
(08-26-2014, 02:17 PM)VinitS Wrote: On the other thread people are discussing to get GOLEM out of Mining Bonus.....what you people have against...ALG..*sighs*
Nothing at all. I just think that the bad prices you got now are a result of ALG's (and Junker's) advantage to solo mine it. It looks as if low prices were the counterbalance for solo-mining capability. I can onl guess but it for sure makes sense because being independent from another player is a huge (!) advantage.
The idea is: if ALG/Junkers mined like all other miners, they should have the same ore prices.
I do not think there is a wish to hurt ALG as a faction in tbis discussion. At least not on my part.
Just give ALG a very good Toxic Waste run (or Plutonium or some kind of hazardous material bonus) to balance their options vs Scrap Mining and that would help solve any inequality issues.