Why are community goals so bad?

[drunkenturtles]

I'm trying to make some money in solo mode and I know community goals are a good way to make money, but why are they so bad? Most goals are across the universe in a lonely system and I get a horrible reward for some 4 hours of travel. The current community goals are like 20,000 ly from the bubble and would only pay 1 mil at most. How do FDevs expect us to enjoy a game we paid 60 bucks for if none of the missions pay enough and all the goals are out of reach for most players. It took me 13 hours of grinding to afford a fully decked out vulture and have some money for the expensive rebuy since I'm gonna die as a bounty hunter.
I want to have money to afford doing the things that are fun in the game, like messing around with your freinds as hunters or pirates, doing deep space exploration, doing trading in a type 7/9, or tourism with an orca. But all of those things are most enjoyed with ships that are too expensive or the rebuy cost keeps you from doing dangerous activities. The only reliable way I found to make reasonable money if through power grids.

I know I might be doing something wrong; and I'm open to suggestions, but I think what I said is a reasonable critisism of the money system.

[yminale]

1. Your first mistake was to buy the game
2. Exagerating isn't going to buy you sympathy. There CG for Colonia but most CG are in the bubble. The latest one is in Maia and that's 400 ly from Sol.
3. It's clear that the games is "optimized" for "low end "ships like the Cobra Mk III and Viper Mk II especially when it comes to missions.
4. That being said downgrading to an A rated Viper Mk II is not wrong.
5. Keep an eye on the official forums and Youtube. Eventually someone will find a new exploit like Quince or 17 Draconis.

[drunkenturtles]

Originally posted by yminale:

1. Your first mistake was to buy the game
2. Exagerating isn't going to buy you sympathy. There CG for Colonia but most CG are in the bubble. The latest one is in Maia and that's 400 ly from Sol.
3. It's clear that the games is "optimized" for "low end "ships like the Cobra Mk III and Viper Mk II especially when it comes to missions.
4. That being said downgrading to an A rated Viper Mk II is not wrong.
5. Keep an eye on the official forums and Youtube. Eventually someone will find a new exploit like Quince or 17 Draconis.

1. I still like the game, but I feel like FD is ignoring something that people have been complaining about for a long time, the grind for money.
2. I'm not a begger, when I lost 78mil through my own stupidity I didn't beg FD for a second change, so I don't want your sympathy. Also, the nearest CG is in LAVE and it only pays 1mil, not even worth my time. I've been playing this game for the past 2 months and I only saw two CG that are close to the bubble and have reasonable pay for the effort put forth.
3. Hasn't been apperent to me since all the good things are way far out there or are behind a pay-wall.
4. no idea what that means.
5. I do, only good thing I've found is slaves and power grids.

[ZombieHunter]

CGs are smoke and mirrors to cover up the core problem in the game world. It is primarily static and cannot create its own stories per se. Maybe one day we will get something that can. Powerplay was supposed to be something like that but it is quite obtuse and has no narrative.

But to be fair even if you had 100 random events that could happen or 1000 they would eventually get boring. What is needed is some way for the BGS to look at more than one system and look at the interaction between systems. In that way the Feds could actively try to take over territory from other factions and you could choose whom to fight for. Territory would change hands, etc. PP tries to offer this but fails miserably at it. Another cool thing might be allowing us to take on 'jobs' within the local factions and make ranking up with them mean something. Give us missions to go on with the AI of that faction, etc. Let us join up with pirate factions which would give us access to their base, etc. What we have now is essentially every system is the same, operates by the same rules, don't have all that many unique qualities and thus cannot be differentiated from each other. When everything is the same or can be the same it is boring. Now some system sell rares, etc and some have engineers and those systems are unique for sure but it would be much nicer if systems had secret bases that were only accessible if you were a member of X faction or the pirates. Freelancer did this quite well. What we need is to feel more a part of the world. Right now I feel like all we are doing is doing random things in the world to get credits but we don't really care about anything in the world b/c the game doesn't allow us to or give us that type of interaction.

I have hope that more quality of life features can be added that add some depth rather than breadth and grind.

[drunkenturtles]

Originally posted by ZombieHunter:

CGs are smoke and mirrors to cover up the core problem in the game world. It is primarily static and cannot create its own stories per se. Maybe one day we will get something that can. Powerplay was supposed to be something like that but it is quite obtuse and has no narrative.

yeah, and PP is also a grind for merit, something to fill time and give no real gameplay value.

[yminale]

Originally posted by drunkenturtles:

Originally posted by ZombieHunter:

CGs are smoke and mirrors to cover up the core problem in the game world. It is primarily static and cannot create its own stories per se. Maybe one day we will get something that can. Powerplay was supposed to be something like that but it is quite obtuse and has no narrative.

yeah, and PP is also a grind for merit, something to fill time and give no real gameplay value.

Welcome to Elite

But you should think about going to a Viper if money is an issue and parking your Vulture.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

It pays 1Mil at a current reached tier. When you reach the next one, the payment grows, too. For example, just finished CG at Maia has reached, I think, Tier-5, and I got a bit over 10 Mils for being in top 10%. But it wasn't all easy money, I had to jump 12 jumps one way and 18 jumps back to do deliveries.

[drunkenturtles]

Originally posted by yminale:

Originally posted by drunkenturtles:

yeah, and PP is also a grind for merit, something to fill time and give no real gameplay value.

Welcome to Elite

But you should think about going to a Viper if money is an issue and parking your Vulture.

I am using a cobra mkIII, I said I lost all my money.

[drunkenturtles]

Originally posted by Dolphin Bottlenose:

It pays 1Mil at a current reached tier. When you reach the next one, the payment grows, too. For example, just finished CG at Maia has reached, I think, Tier-5, and I got a bit over 10 Mils for being in top 10%. But it wasn't all easy money, I had to jump 12 jumps one way and 18 jumps back to do deliveries.

In the first sentence I said solo since open will constantly screw you over. there are two systems, one is lave and it's close but top tier is 1mil and the other CG is 21k ly from sol.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

Originally posted by drunkenturtles:

In the first sentence I said solo since open will constantly screw you over. there are two systems, one is lave and is close but top tier is 1mil and the other CG is 21k ly from sol.

It doesn't matter in which mode you play. Solo, PG, Open - they all work at the same background simulator. So you can even switch between modes, while doing a CG.

The CG always starts from the lowest tier and lowest payments. When commanders do more and reach higher tiers, the payments grow, too. That's how the CG works.

[drunkenturtles]

Originally posted by Dolphin Bottlenose:

Originally posted by drunkenturtles:

In the first sentence I said solo since open will constantly screw you over. there are two systems, one is lave and is close but top tier is 1mil and the other CG is 21k ly from sol.

It doesn't matter in which mode you play. Solo, PG, Open - they all work at the same background simulator. So you can even switch between modes, while doing a CG.

The CG always starts from the lowest tier and lowest payments. When commanders do more and reach higher tiers, the payments grow, too. That's how the CG works.

Then I haven't seen the Maia CG anywhere. and the Lave top 10 only will pay 1mil for bringing them things.

[drunkenturtles]

I know how the CG tier system works, I've done CG before

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

Originally posted by drunkenturtles:

Then I haven't seen the Maia CG anywhere.

It finished 12 hours ago. CGs usually run for 1 week and start/finish on Thursdays at 15:00 UTC (game time).

and the Lave top 10 only will pay 1mil for bringing them things.

Please, read what I wrote: the payment grows when you reach the next tier. At the current tier it is 1Mil, at the next tier it, for example, will be 2.6Mil, and so on.

That's what makes commanders to keep delivering things and helping each other to get to the next tier. But commanders also compete with each other to be higher on delivering ranks. Top 10% haulers will get much more money than those in top 75%. So, if you want to stay high, you start delivering as soon as you can, and do as much as you can.

[drunkenturtles]

Originally posted by Dolphin Bottlenose:

Originally posted by drunkenturtles:

Then I haven't seen the Maia CG anywhere.

It finished 12 hours ago. CGs usually run for 1 week and start/finish on Thursdays at 15:00 UTC (game time).

and the Lave top 10 only will pay 1mil for bringing them things.

Please, read what I wrote: the payment grows when you reach the next tier. At the current tier it is 1Mil, at the next tier it, for example, will be 2.6Mil, and so on.

That's what makes commanders to keep delivering things and helping each other to get to the next tier. But commanders also compete worth each other to be higher on delivering ranks. Top 10% haulers will get much more money than those in top 75%. So, if you want to stay high, you start delivering as soon as you can, and do as much as you can.

So if I get to the top 10 and still keep delevering I'll make more than promised? Okay. Still stuck behind a pay wall since I would need a type 6 or a hauler to make the hunt for the product and trip worth my time.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

Originally posted by drunkenturtles:

and the Lave top 10 only will pay 1mil for bringing them things.

Originally posted by drunkenturtles:

I know how the CG tier system works, I've done CG before

Well, you obviously don't know, as you state that the current Lave CG will only pay 1Mil. Then just ignore everything I said. And I might, for the fun of it, go participate in that CG, and show you how much I really shall be paid in a week.

[drunkenturtles]

okay, have fun with that, never had the time to make top 10 so I didn't know I could go above the top tier, and as I see it, with only having 3mill and a cobra mk3 the time and effort I would put into the CG is better spent on power grid missions, making 600k to 900k per mission that takes at most 15 min each.