I don't necessarily disagree with the premise in the opening post (I didn't read the entire 10 pages), but I would like to point something out.
I can do powertrading while there are maybe 20 people on the server, during downtime, while I'm also coding, in a meeting, reading a book or watching Miami Vice on the other monitor.
I can't really do that with missions - missions require full attention, while AFK powertrading Xeno Relics during downtime doesn't even need clicking the lanes - you literally just press F3 every ~100K.
@edit: Also, I think that without any changes to the NPC AI in the vain of HHC that makes NPC in missions behave a bit more like players, fighter missions aren't that good or helpful or useful. On HHC a very common advice for new players (especially those who had yet to loot their first nomad guns) was to go and shoot nomads in Unknown Gamma because it was good aim practice. I don't really expect much to be done about this here, cause I don't even know the precise implementation details of how the NPC AI on HHC was done, but it was there.
(06-15-2020, 08:55 PM)Corile Wrote: I don't necessarily disagree with the premise in the opening post (I didn't read the entire 10 pages), but I would like to point something out.
I can do powertrading while there are maybe 20 people on the server, during downtime, while I'm also coding, in a meeting, reading a book or watching Miami Vice on the other monitor.
I can't really do that with missions - missions require full attention, while AFK powertrading Xeno Relics during downtime doesn't even need clicking the lanes - you literally just press F3 every ~100K.
@edit: Also, I think that without any changes to the NPC AI in the vain of HHC that makes NPC in missions behave a bit more like players, fighter missions aren't that good or helpful or useful. On HHC a very common advice for new players (especially those who had yet to loot their first nomad guns) was to go and shoot nomads in Unknown Gamma because it was good aim practice. I don't really expect much to be done about this here, cause I don't even know the precise implementation details of how the NPC AI on HHC was done, but it was there.
The NPC AI on cruisers is buggy and doesn't make sense but actually makes it balanced
Because they ram heavy BS, flip them and move into blind spots vs heavies + primaries. If they flew normally those missions would be broken
That's not the case with the gunboats as you shoot em with secondaries that have arcs everywhere on heavy BS with occasional prim shoot when they are frontal, even flipping you doesn't do much. N1 thing this thread will accomplish is tone down gunboat payments a bit I'm sure
AFK TRADING
+10000 to that
I used it to calm down during work
And to have some nice break of routine with the occasional interactions. I think it seems frowned upon here though if I'm not wrong
I always used Bristol - New London as it had waypoints, always stocked PoBs and working gates and was just RP run trading since the change, but I will give Xeno Relics a shot
Fair enough on the Sleipnir, I don't play Rheinland, I just saw 5 gun vhf vs 6 gun vhf. But you just gave a major counter argument to your own point.
Quote: flying for a faction should also be motivated heavily by the faction's lore and one's RP intent
If people want to RP traders, they're still going to RP traders. Even though I despise it, I still log my Albatross or GAT to trade minor cargo because I feel like playing that character. If someone abandons their traders for mission grinding, then they didn't want to fly those ships anyways. Which is preferable; meaningful RP with people who want to be there, or people who just go "hi, get out of my way" to maximize their c/s? I've had more interesting encounters recently doing missions than I have trading.
PvE has been out for awhile now. You can look at the faction tracker and see that trading factions still populate the top of the list. Trading isn't dead, no matter how much you insist it should be. You'll still find smugglers too, even though ore trading is OP compared to how much you make on cardamine/artifacts/nox/whatever
You can't alt-tab while doing missions to watch YouTube like you can while you're trading. If anything, rewarding people more for a task that requires actively paying attention to the game is a good thing.
A way a lone a last a loved a long the riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay,
brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.
Missions shouldn't be more profitable than ore trading (as they are now).
The pay rates before the 50% increase were more or less fine IMO, but the mission locations could be reviewed to create more spontaneous encounters between players.