I think for a lot of people the trader RP isn't rewarding enough,
though traders are the lifeline of disco , only a small percentage of players actually enjoy it.
I think this is not the way it's supposed to be , playing a game shouldn't become a chore.
The player base's that need supplies will make it more rewarding to trade ,
as there will be more cooperation between traders and others, I think..
Now this is only a observation , and I might be wrong.
I am interested to hear and brainstorm about possible solutions instead of nagging about the problems.
So , anyone got ideas?
edit: with rewarding I don't mean the amount of credits to earn , but the quality of gameplay
i do agree to a large amount with "give them good weapons"
when being pirated - there should be a 50/50 choice between ... run ... or fight.
right now - its about 95/5 ... run/fight - or rather ... its just pay up or get destroyed.
but what effect does it have when traders get teeth?
from experience:
while playing gaian - my BEST piracy experiences are those where i got into situations where .... suddenly ... the prey became a match.
it was a situation - where i caught a trader in tau-31..... at a jumpgate... i had uttered my demand - and the trader was RPing nicely. - then.... the rest of his convoy jumped in. - and i sat there ... a gunboat.... facing 5 shire.
it was a cool situation. the convoy did NOT open fire .... it was just an awkward situation of silence for half a minute.
then i excused myself and left - and they left me to leave ... in peace.
that is one of the best experiences i had - as a pirate.
such a situation cannot be fabricated easily though ( through stats )
for those who missed it: the moral of it all is ----> traders with teeth are fun for pirates. - within reason.
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By viable, I don't just mean buff the current turrets. I mean, give us some real variety of weapons and special weapons. Weapons for every other class in the game are branching out and becoming increasingly more complex and interesting, but transports are still stuck with the same 4 sub-optimal firework displays that they've had since time immemorial.
Well, I have a huge Bison with a huge armor and lot of guns on it. It's always fun when it's attacked. Can't wait to see it in a convoy. But I go out to pirate and what I see? Trains and Whales without armor. Being well defended just doesn't worth it - most of the time, noone will bother you, and you make more cash.
So. We pirates are too few. We should be more tough. So go out, not just in peak hours, get 'em! :$
Also quoting myself from skype:
[2012.01.09. 23:57:30] Evan_: I just love the 4.86 trade system. Wherever I try something, it works well. I got to the point pretty fast when I don't even calculate my profit, just take what I want to take where. I can't even estimate how cool it is. Thought you don't hear it enough.
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' Wrote:[2012.01.09. 23:57:30] Evan_: I just love the 4.86 trade system. Wherever I try something, it works well. I got to the point pretty fast when I don't even calculate my profit, just take what I want to take where. I can't even estimate how cool it is. Thought you don't hear it enough.
This is actually how I feel about it too. Xoria. (bow)
It's a matter of perspective and timezones. For those who play and trade in peak hours, interaction is inevitable. With current cash cow stats that transport have, as Jinx said, it's 95% pay or die. This balance is unacceptable as most will find it more profitable to simply pick up a bomber and pirate than trade through hard work.
If you want to buff transports, it doesn't have to be weapons. An increase in hit points and change the shields so they don't deliberately suck (on request of certain players, no doubt), would be a welcomed change.
' Wrote:Give transports actually viable weapons. That would help with this problem a lot, I think.
I hope giving the trade factions access to gunboats will already improve the situation, even though the variety of possible ships isn't that wide yet (what happened to the supposed civilian GB?)
' Wrote:Go play the game, within the given limitations. That is how role play games are played. Not by trying to work around those limitations or whining about them.