Shipwright Archive

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Jagged-F3l wrote:

Since the beginning of this game the devs have told us they can't do a lot of things because they believed it would hurt the economy. For example, for a long time people have been asking for "uber loot", and the devs said they wouldn't ever do it because it would hurt crafters. With the introduction of JTL, I don't understand many of the devs' decisions based on past ones:

• Looted Ship Components - decent looted ship components drop too frequently. Even when these components are mediocre, players are going to use them. Given a choice between using the looted component and having to spend your hard earned credits on a player crafted ship component, your average player will use the looted component. Why? First, pilots know they are simply going to have to turn around and replace all those components with higher tier components. Second, a pilot's income is not sufficient to sustain their profession.
  
• Starter Ships - now the devs want to introduce more sophisticated starter ships and a starter ship at tier 2. Yet more business that we would have had taken away by a questionable decision on the devs behalf.
  
• Decay - I realize that ship chassis and components do experience decay. However, let's be realistic. How many SWs have had a customer come back to replace a ship chassis or component due to decay?

If these issues aren't addressed, then this profession will suffer the same fate as Droid Engineer. I would like to toss some proposals out on the table:

• Greatly reduce or eliminate worthwhile looted space components.
  
• Introduce looted space component upgrades. The precendent for this already exists in the ground game. For example, a combat type can loot Janta Blood, which results in superior medicines.
  
• Introduce looted space component "attachments". For example, introduce an "Engine Turbocharger" which would increase speed by a couple of points.
  
• Introduce space missions that can sustain a pilot's financial needs.
  
• Keep the starter ship thing the way it currently exists on live.

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I don't completely disagree with you, but I do have some issues with your points.

LOOT:
First, I spend a lot of my time gathering loot (it's fun!) and only on rare occasions do I find items worth using to replace the mostly crafted components I am using. Even then they generally have a critical flaw that needs REing to repair. I'm not saying there isn't some problem with uber-loot, but I think it gets blown out of proportion.

The idea of looted space components and attachments is a great one (I've seen it around before), and I have no idea why the devs didn't implement it at launch. It's something they already know from the ground game. However, as a pilot I would not want to see that replace the current loot system entirely, just make fully functional component loot a little rarer, because pilots would be getting attachments when they could be getting components; the RE system is very interesting and fun to play with, and it would be sad to see it gone. Nevertheless, a component/attachment system could make crafted engines and capacitors viable without altering their current stats/experimentation.

CASH:
Space missions are probably the highest paying missions in game by the way. 45 minutes of work can bag a pilot 150k or thereabouts. I am funding a gradual shipwright grind, a piloting career, and the decoration of my house/expansion of my wardrobe entirely by flying, and have had no want of cash yet.

DECAY:
I've had to replace dozens of components due to decay, and I don't die often at all. Armour is the worst, but I've driven three reactors, several engines, two chassis (one a rihkxyrk), and a few other odds and ends into the ground now. Admittedly I usually replace before I have to (because I can make a lot of money as a pilot, and I like to have the best stuff) but decay replacement will only get more frequent as pilots get more entrenched.

STARTER SHIPS:
Yeah, they can't change the starter ship to be swappable. It would still be a kick in the teeth for SWr. And a tier 2 ship? I haven't heard more than rumours about that, and it doesn't ring true to me, but if it IS true it's an incredibly foolish move.

Actually, I can see one way I wouldn't mind swappable tier 0 handout ships... if they upped the mass on the crafted tier 0 ships to make them more viable for later pilots, maybe to 20-25k or so, but put the starter ship at around 8k. That would get rid of the annoying fact that the starter ships (especially the scyk) are pretty cool but almost useless at high levels, and still give new pilots the ability to get into the game with no money or contacts (this is important, I think). I'd wager crafted tier 0 ships would sell even better than now, too. If they did that I'd be very impressed.