Rod Stealsly
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Posted - 2003.07.07 01:49:00 -
[1]
Two things are wrong with the latest patch:
Highway Gates
Sentry Guns in 0.5 and lower systems
Let me address each in turn.
The Highway gates remove the time element that made trading trade goods a second choice to mining or pirate hunting. It was possible to do better than either of those two activities, but it was more a rare occurance, not a constant. Now, the good runs that were 35 jumps apart, are now within the 10-15 range, making it way too easy to make good money. Altho, I must admit, those runs may dry up very quickly (3-4 days) which in some sense would be self-correcting (most traders don't have the self-control to wait for the really good prices, all about that immediate gratification).
By placing Sentry Guns in all systems in Empire space, the risk of trading has been removed. If you expect the NPCs that gate-camp the gates to take out an industrial before it reaches the gate, then you have never flown an industrial. With no risk, then trading is not balanced with other methods of acquiring ISK. And let's be honest, ISK IS EVE. He who is richest is most powerful.
Some possible solutions:
Remove the Sentry guns from 0.5 and less and make the police respond in those systems. Some of the most heavily policed cities in the world have the highest crime rates in the world. The Empires gave them a low security rating for a reason, either they don't really care what is going on there, the police have been bribed, or whatever, but there should be piracy of varying levels in those systems near the gates.
Turn on random trade reseeding. Part of the ease of trading is knowing that every day after restart there is going to be good prices somewhere in a region. With the random trade reseeding, at least the amount of guarrenteed money is reduced for the "select few" who are able to "camp the respawn." This spreads the wealth among many as opposed to few, and is in some sense a proxy-nerf.
Place all of the really good trade runs near the fringe systems of Empire space. Any system close to the Highway gates should never have one of the really good prices because at the very least other NPCs can supply them (this may happen anyway just due to the way traders trade). But, all of those factories way out in the boonies should be paying premiums (risk, reward).
Anyway, I think this last patch was a step backwards in two areas: pirating and trading. But, the game is not too broken and can be easily fixed.
EDIT - btw, since we all know why the Sentry Guns were added, wouldn't it have just been easier to change Mara and Passari to 0.5 systems and place guns just there instead of reworking the entire system?
Edited by: Rod Stealsly on 07/07/2003 02:28:43 |