Has your Medium to Small Starbase been ground to a Halt?

born2bwild1

What's the low down on your med sized to small starbase dreams? Have they come to a "grinding" Halt?

I think Cryptic said they based the starbase on the avg fleet size of 25

So how does this Starbase system that the designed treat the Avg fleet that it was based around?

born2bwild1

If a mod could change that title from "you" to "your" it would be great. Thx.

thisisoverlord

Pretty much yes, we had 8 dedicated players who were on every weekend in Season 6.

Now it's just me

born2bwild1

thisisoverlord wrote: »

Pretty much yes, we had 8 dedicated players who were on every weekend in Season 6.

Now it's just me

So your small fleet is for all intents and purposes - finished as a viable fleet/base progression?

yakumosmith

Yup.

Mines will be getting mothballed shortly at Tier II. Then i'll have to look for a new home with my four active characters. The remaining alt army will stay with the sinking ship.

jexsamx

Only because it's back-to-school season for a lot of the college-going and high school members of my fleets. We were trucking along just behind the largest fleets (at least fed-side) right up until fall semesters started.

So, with that in mind, I can almost guarantee that S7 isn't the only reason small to medium fleets are slowing down right now.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

selraxxx

We're a small fleet of about 8 pretty close and very active mature players. We have a tier 2 starbase with most of the upgrades and on the way to tier 3. The need for dilithium in everything now and the high cost of it has slowed us down considerably to a near standstill. ( a few of us would just buy the dil needed for the special projects for the fleet in the past... not now with the rates). The Klingon starbase is suffering the most but is still the coolest looking.

We're down, but not out.

btw- We are totally ignoring the useless embassies.

born2bwild1

It seems ironic that the starbase system was supposedly designed for fleets in the 25-person range -yet I get the feeling that they are either failing miserably or were forced to get much bigger with more drama - just to keep going.

Why were starbases see as the bees knees of the game? The must have thing? The biggest most exciting thing that everyone wanted?

selraxxx

born2bwild1 wrote: »

It seems ironic that the starbase system was supposedly designed for fleets in the 25-person range -yet I get the feeling that they are either failing miserably or were forced to get much bigger with more drama - just to keep going.

Why were starbases see as the bees knees of the game? The must have thing? The biggest most exciting thing that everyone wanted?

I think many of us thought they would be a little more functional from the get go, ie; Bank, mail, exchange to start. Someplace to go where you could do transactions, you know...a reason for you to go there, a reason for it to exist.

To get your base semi-functional requires a massive outlay of material and time... those who have done that are reluctant to see that all go to waste so many will hold onto what they have.

skyranger1414

born2bwild1 wrote: »

Why were starbases see as the bees knees of the game? The must have thing? The biggest most exciting thing that everyone wanted?

That's the most obvious thing. They were given a lot of importance by players simply because it was the first real new thing we'd gotten in FOREVER and it was something the players had been asking for since before launch.... sadly the actual implementation was nothing like players had wanted but it was still something new to a playerbase desperate to find something to do in the game.

Remember, STO is in an unique position because people WANT to like it. They WANT to have a reason to play. They are willing to forgive and pay a lot more than one might imagine simply because they so so SO want to like it.

dkeith2011

I abandoned my small base and joined a friends larger fleet. We are currently working toward T3 but even with a larger fleet it is slow going.

Personally, I was excited about bases because I (initially and eventually mistakenly) assumed that they would be at least as customizable as bases in City of Heroes.

Sadly, that is not what we got. Now I see bases as just something to do to pass the time while waiting for playable storyline content to be released.

mirai222

Our small KDF fleet is Tier 1 and steadily trickling forward to Tier 2. We only have a few active players, plus a number of others who log in every long now and then. Progress is slow, but I don't think it's slowed down any.

Our medium-sized Federation fleet is moving along well, although it will still be a while before we reach Tier 3.

aelfwin1

born2bwild1 wrote: »

Why were starbases see as the bees knees of the game? The must have thing? The biggest most exciting thing that everyone wanted?

Not everyone ... more like the MMO players who came to STO .
(whom can still be Trek fans so it's cool !)

selraxxx wrote: »

I think many of us thought they would be a little more functional from the get go,

And some of those said MMO players imagined we'd get "player housing" .
Instead we got generic starbase #42 for me and #87 for you .
No individuality what so ever (aside from the ability to "name your starbase") .

I would ask a different question : how much time do you spend at your starbase ?
Because aside from what you get out of them (fleet ships) , that should be the #2 point of interest for investing in such a monumental effort .

born2bwild1

dkeith2011 wrote: »

I abandoned my small base and joined a friends larger fleet. We are currently working toward T3 but even with a larger fleet it is slow going.

Personally, I was excited about bases because I (initially and eventually mistakenly) assumed that they would be at least as customizable as bases in City of Heroes.

Sadly, that is not what we got. Now I see bases as just something to do to pass the time while waiting for playable storyline content to be released.

Why are the bases so generic? Why are they not customizable? How much time to you spend there? And if its only a few minutes now and then - are they worth the effort for the equipment that you only "need" for PvP - something 90% of the people building bases don't do?

Why do the players put up with the lack of customization and options? I guess i kind of answered myself - they are giving up contributing to these things as they see them as a waste of time and resources.

most people say Season 7 is a fail - what about season 6?

azurianstar

The Fleets I was in was on the verge of unlocking the Tier 3 Starbase until Season 7 hit, then everything completely stopped. The nerfing of the Foundry Clickies (I know why they did it, but for some of us we had no choice), the early S7 Dilithium nerfs and taxes, and of course all the extra grinding added with Season 7. It just made everyone disinterested and they left for TOR due to grind overload.

Right now, we are 8 Projects away from unlocking the T3 Starbase, when we were 9 at the start of S7. And we barely completed one bar in the Embassy projects.


Cryptic really hurt small fleets and at this point we are just going to give up.

born2bwild1 wrote: »

Why are the bases so generic? Why are they
not customizable? How much time to you spend there? And if its only a few minutes now and then - are they worth the effort for the equipment that you only "need" for PvP - something 90% of the people building bases don't do?

Why do the players put up with the lack of customization and options? I guess i kind of answered myself - they are giving up contributing to these things as they see them as a waste of time and resources.

most people say Season 7 is a fail - what about season 6?

I don't know why they wouldn't let us customize our bases either, I could easily see furniture and fixtures being part of the crafting system.

In addition, which we got a choice of starbases as well.

koppenflak

azurianstar wrote: »

Cryptic really hurt small fleets and at this point we are just going to give up.

Pardon my presumption, Azurian - but I thought you were part of Jupiter Force? Or do I have you mistaken for another of "those guys".

starkaos

My KDF Fleet's Starbase just finished their Tier 3 Starbase this week and my Federation Fleet's Starbase is Tier 3 with only the ship customization project left. It has about 20,000 XP left to reach Tier 4 Science. Progress has slowed down some, but not completely. Early next year we should have the Tier 4 Starbase done and will have to see how far we have come this time next year.

hanover

Yeah, there's only two of us left in mine, but what are we supposed to do, just abandon all of the time we've already put into it?

skyranger1414

dkeith2011 wrote: »

Personally, I was excited about bases because I (initially and eventually mistakenly) assumed that they would be at least as customizable as bases in City of Heroes.

Am I the only that thought there would be fleet missions that would open up as you leveled the base? And what about Base PvP? I could've sworn some of that was mentiond as well.

thisisoverlord

skyranger1414 wrote: »

Remember, STO is in an unique position because people WANT to like it. They WANT to have a reason to play. They are willing to forgive and pay a lot more than one might imagine simply because they so so SO want to like it.

This is the sad truth, if it wasn't for the Star Trek brand this game would be dead by now considering how poorly managed it has become. However because a lot of us need this Star Trek fix in our live we're willing to come back time after time.

The other problem with this is the developers know this and therefore know they can stave off fixing bugs or working on anything that doesn't directly give them financial reward.

As a player-base we're like one of those wives that despite all the domestic abuse keeps on coming back home regardless.

skyranger1414

hanover2 wrote: »

Yeah, there's only two of us left in mine, but what are we supposed to do, just abandon all of the time we've already put into it?

Yes. Take a deep breath, calm down and think rationally. The resources sunk into the base are gone, but if you care about using the perks of a high level base what will be better for you and your remaining fleetmate? To never get there or to cut your loses now and join a larger fleet?

You can always move an alt into your old base so its not lost forever, even if you never go into it again knowing that an alt is keeping your old fleet and by extension your old base alive helps a lot.

azurianstar

koppenflak wrote: »

Pardon my presumption, Azurian - but I thought you were part of Jupiter Force? Or do I have you mistaken for another of "those guys".

Sorry, but I never was a member of Jupiter Force.

born2bwild1

I wonder just how many "Ghost" Bases there are out there now - just floating on the severs with someone strolling through once a week?

darkenzedd

Honestly, it was the worst thing that happened to this game having fleets. Just my opinion though....

squonkman

We're only two in the kdf fleet now and on our way to T3 for the starbase. We haven't even reached T1 for the ambassy. As of now, we're able to run ONE project every two weeks.

With 5 projects running concurently, we need 2640 fleet marks (3 x 600 + 2 x 420). With the officer report "3-clicky", it would be much more easier to fill those fleet mark slots. Now, I do Incursion and Alert once in a while. But Incursion only gives around 40 fms during the event and on a good run and Alert only gives 22 fms on a good run (also during the event).

Also, with the new restrictions on doff recruitement and my eternal luck with them (now, more than ever, I get green doffs instead of white ones and if I exchange the green ones, i either get civilians or sci doffs (which my mailbox is filled with enough to fill 2 sci projects).

And with the personal rep projects and the "new and improved" stfs, I have a lot of trouble gathering ecs that I'd want to throw in the fire for the starbase (buying batteries, torpedos, commodities, etc.).


And I just dont want to shell out the dil all the ambassy projects. So the ambassy wont reach T1 before... never!

I just can't wait to face the tier 3 upgrades and the gazillion dil involved in them.

born2bwild1

seems like there has been a mass exodus from smaller fleets - just leaving a couple die-hards that don't want to abandon what they have built.

So where have all your fleet mates gone? Have they left for bigger fleets? Are they still on you fleet roster but never sign in?

chalpen

born2bwild1 wrote: »

seems like there has been a mass exodus from smaller fleets - just leaving a couple die-hards that don't want to abandon what they have built.

So where have all your fleet mates gone? Have they left for bigger fleets? Are they still on you fleet roster but never sign in?

this was the plan all along. It is hard now and people are dropping smaller fleets.
But there is nothing "new" really to do until next may.
Cryptic will be saying they are "studying" the metrics of the progression.
Then by next may cryptic will turn around and drop the cost of everything to make a starbase.
Then they will turn around and add a new dilithium grind.

The reasoning behind this is that they don't want to discourage new players and smaller fleets.
All apart of the plan.

aoav160

In a financial article a few months ago PWE hoped to make ~$1600 per star base.

Here it is Monetizing Perfect World's Latest Update

atomictiki

aoav160 wrote: »

In a financial article a few months ago PWE hoped to make ~$1600 per star base.

Here it is Monetizing Perfect World's Latest Update

Approximate tier construction costs were $35, $116, $233, $466, and $699 USD respectively for castles one through five (for detailed calculations see the comments section). Given that the last castle builds upon successive renditions, each top tier building is worth potentially $1,550 in sales for Cryptic. This value could rise further should virtual currencies become scarcer. Not bad for a "free to play" video game.

Emphasis mine. Season 7 explained. Thanks for the link.

mattmiracle

My fleet is almost ready for Tier 3 upgrades on Fed and Tier 2 upgrades on KDF. That is with 2.5 active players and multiple alts (for me). When Bases were first started, we had a goal to reach Tier 3 for both factions. After realizing that we were not playing the KDF that much, we decided to focus our efforts on Fed side.

We are at 48K in Mil, Sci, and Eng as of this post and we will just focus on Tac to get the Tier 3 shipyard project. Hopefully, we can get that done and ready for the base upgrade before the first of the year.