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Positive steps to move forward after Commodity to EC change.

Love it, hate it, it is a done deal.

If you lost donations already made, please don't complain about that here, as there are other threads for that.

If you had assets like ships, doffs or Ferengi, that you feel are now damaged or outright destroyed, feel free to point it out (politely please), but really what I am hoping we in this community can do here on this topic is to explore what might be a good way to put some value back into those.

I think it is a fair topic, given that many in the community did invest time and energy to improve holdings, buy ships, etc.

If we explore this, maybe the devs will pick out some of the better ideas and try them. My suggestion, to get this started ...

I am for having EC donation boosts, or EC packages that can be purchased like commodities used to be, with the restriction that they be Fleet only. The benefit is that they would give back a +10% on the investment (ie 1milllion ec gets you 1.1 million to invest in your Fleet) and that the packages benefit from Tuffli/Cell. Ferengi, and Fleet vendor bonuses so they can be accordingly cheaper where those assets are available. Those assets damaged by the recent change would regain some of the lost value, and personality that went with it.

I am not a big stickler for the exact math, as long as there is some benefit returned to those assets.

For fun, what if there was an actual 'trade game' built into space travel. Letting you buy commodities from one vendor who sells low, and fly them to another vendor who will pay more for them. It could be a daily mission with an encounter or two thrown in like pirates. It could be fun! If you let people share the mission it could bring people together for something new. "Hey, lets team and do that Medical Provisions delivery run!"

I have no idea if commodities are on the way out entirely, but if not, they should be good for something besides doff missions.

Anyway, I hope some of you will jump in on this hopefully positive discussion? Thanks in advance.

Qapla! Live Long and Prosper. Remember the I.D.I.C.

Comments

  • admiralkogaradmiralkogar Member Posts: 875 Arc User
    Also what strategies might help folks to maximize the system exactly as it is now?

    I think Tour the Galaxy is easy enough for most people to get the hang of, but I know many who feel the exchange is the best way to go for fast EC. What do you all think?

    Qapla!
  • salazarrazesalazarraze Member Posts: 3,794 Arc User
    edited October 2016
    Nothing much is changed going forward. Before, you needed to acquire EC to buy commodities to fill projects. Now you need to acquire EC to fill projects. Cut out the middle man. So the "strategy" mostly stays the same, meaning "acquire EC."

    I don't think that there's any "damage" done to Ferengi or Cell Ships as players will still buy commodities for doff projects and the special cell ship doff missions are still prized. There are plenty of people who enjoy playing as Ferengi for the sake of "being Ferengi."

    Going back to EC, buy low sell high for the fastest free EC. If you must grind, grind Argala, Ker'rat, N'Vak, KSF, SB24, or any of the other grindfests. Also grind dil for zen for keys for EC.
    When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
  • admiralkogaradmiralkogar Member Posts: 875 Arc User
    Nothing much is changed going forward. Before, you needed to acquire EC to buy commodities to fill projects. Now you need to acquire EC to fill projects. Cut out the middle man. So the "strategy" mostly stays the same, meaning "acquire EC."

    I don't think that there's any "damage" done to Ferengi or Cell Ships as players will still buy commodities for doff projects and the special cell ship doff missions are still prized. There are plenty of people who enjoy playing as Ferengi for the sake of "being Ferengi."

    Going back to EC, buy low sell high for the fastest free EC. If you must grind, grind Argala, Ker'rat, N'Vak, KSF, SB24, or any of the other grindfests. Also grind dil for zen for keys for EC.

    I was kind of thinking the trade game idea could be something a little more fun ... like a real mission. The USS Enterprise was sometimes called on to make emergency deliveries, or ferry diplomats, like at Coridan. The Temporal Agents got to revist that one, but what if more daily missions had such an element. If the Foundry was up and running I might take a stab at that kind of plot as an experiment.

    Maybe more of that sort of thing should happen ...?

    Anyway, thanks.

    Qapla!
  • spiritwalker1969spiritwalker1969 Member Posts: 406 Arc User
    edited October 2016
    I would say that smaller or less active fleets are going to find the change more challenging. Prior to the upgrade players with a few KDF toons could reasonably expect to "harvest" most of the commodities needed to fill projects over a short time and use account bank to move them between KDF and Fed toons for use. With the amounts of EC needed to achieve Tier upgrades in particular in mind and considering that players also have personal uses for EC, progress for some will be slower.

    Before anyone jumps in and says but we have armadas - please consider that not all fleets are in armadas and in some cases smaller fleets where only a few players are active can get removed from armadas for "not pulling their weight". So armadas aside there does need to be some means for players to get bonus EC - perhaps something along the lines of a Fleetwide EC boost similar to the current weekly boosts from Fleet Research Lab.

    However, at present we do not have this so we are left with (a) selectively slotting Admiralty Missions that reward EC and where possible ensuring that these crit to boost the reward. (b) Grabbing as much space trash as possible and selling at the most advantageous price. (c) Grinding out massive amounts of Dil to buy keys to sell to what might become a depressed market if other players either don't buy due to needing EC elsewhere or because the price is forced down as players offer bargain deals to at least get something back or everyone is trying to sell keys rather than buying.

    Perhaps, removal of some of the DOFF missions which needlessly swallow EC or converting these missions to use the now redundant commodities making them more of a trading mechanism.

    (Edit for typo)
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,660 Arc User
    Harvest over a short period of time? Maybe if you each have 5+ alts constantly farming Marauding. If you need 200 of something that's a lot of Vulcan freighters to pillage :)

    You could farm dil instead, then dil > zen > keys > EC. Or sell off contraband for EC instead of farming it for dil. Small fleets with no budget can just change what they farm.
  • warpangelwarpangel Member Posts: 9,427 Arc User
    I am for having EC donation boosts, or EC packages that can be purchased like commodities used to be, with the restriction that they be Fleet only. The benefit is that they would give back a +10% on the investment (ie 1milllion ec gets you 1.1 million to invest in your Fleet) and that the packages benefit from Tuffli/Cell. Ferengi, and Fleet vendor bonuses so they can be accordingly cheaper where those assets are available. Those assets damaged by the recent change would regain some of the lost value, and personality that went with it.
    We just got rid of having to buy some intermediate items to invest EC into projects and you're already suggesting replacing them with new ones? No thanks.
    For fun, what if there was an actual 'trade game' built into space travel. Letting you buy commodities from one vendor who sells low, and fly them to another vendor who will pay more for them. It could be a daily mission with an encounter or two thrown in like pirates. It could be fun! If you let people share the mission it could bring people together for something new. "Hey, lets team and do that Medical Provisions delivery run!"
    Since travel times in sector space are in the range of seconds and zero with transwarp and there is no framework for random unskippable encounters of any kind, that doesn't work. It would just be gold farmers jumping between two locations ad infinitum for easy money.
    I have no idea if commodities are on the way out entirely, but if not, they should be good for something besides doff missions.
    I hope they are. Like with rep and fleet projects, replicating some junk (and clearing inventory space to replicate it in) every time I want to do dump colonists for example, is just a needless hoop to jump through that adds nothing of interest to the game.

    Speaking of, remove the "provisions" replicated with fleet credit holding projects and replace with straight fleet credit input next?
  • jaguarskxjaguarskx Member Posts: 5,945 Arc User
    Harvest over a short period of time? Maybe if you each have 5+ alts constantly farming Marauding. If you need 200 of something that's a lot of Vulcan freighters to pillage :)

    You could farm dil instead, then dil > zen > keys > EC. Or sell off contraband for EC instead of farming it for dil. Small fleets with no budget can just change what they farm.

    Actually, a single KDF captain can get a pretty decent amount of commodities through marauding missions in a rather short period of time. For me it is a byproduct when trying to acquire contraband / prisoners. I keep commodities that are used for other Doff missions such as shield generators, industrial energy cells and provisions. For commodities I have no need for to run a lot of Doff missions like weather control systems, warp coils, and industrial replicators I simply sell to the vendors.
  • spiritwalker1969spiritwalker1969 Member Posts: 406 Arc User
    Harvest over a short period of time? Maybe if you each have 5+ alts constantly farming Marauding. If you need 200 of something that's a lot of Vulcan freighters to pillage :)

    You could farm dil instead, then dil > zen > keys > EC. Or sell off contraband for EC instead of farming it for dil. Small fleets with no budget can just change what they farm.

    The question has to be asked though, if the majority of players are selling keys to get EC who will be buying keys for EC?

    Ok this is the devil's advocate position but supposing a majority of players do flood the market with keys, then the per key price will undoubtly fall as players look to offload keys, whilst this will be good for future lockbox promo's etc we are back to a viscious circle of grinding for diminishing returns.

  • admiralkogaradmiralkogar Member Posts: 875 Arc User
    warpangel wrote: »
    I am for having EC donation boosts, or EC packages that can be purchased like commodities used to be, with the restriction that they be Fleet only. The benefit is that they would give back a +10% on the investment (ie 1milllion ec gets you 1.1 million to invest in your Fleet) and that the packages benefit from Tuffli/Cell. Ferengi, and Fleet vendor bonuses so they can be accordingly cheaper where those assets are available. Those assets damaged by the recent change would regain some of the lost value, and personality that went with it.
    We just got rid of having to buy some intermediate items to invest EC into projects and you're already suggesting replacing them with new ones? No thanks.
    For fun, what if there was an actual 'trade game' built into space travel. Letting you buy commodities from one vendor who sells low, and fly them to another vendor who will pay more for them. It could be a daily mission with an encounter or two thrown in like pirates. It could be fun! If you let people share the mission it could bring people together for something new. "Hey, lets team and do that Medical Provisions delivery run!"
    Since travel times in sector space are in the range of seconds and zero with transwarp and there is no framework for random unskippable encounters of any kind, that doesn't work. It would just be gold farmers jumping between two locations ad infinitum for easy money.
    I have no idea if commodities are on the way out entirely, but if not, they should be good for something besides doff missions.
    I hope they are. Like with rep and fleet projects, replicating some junk (and clearing inventory space to replicate it in) every time I want to do dump colonists for example, is just a needless hoop to jump through that adds nothing of interest to the game.

    Speaking of, remove the "provisions" replicated with fleet credit holding projects and replace with straight fleet credit input next?

    Well we have boost for Fleet marks, so why not Fleet only EC boosts? Only you can buy them with EC which may seem redundant until you realize that if you can buy them with EC you can take advantage of reasonable discounts!

    The boosts can take the form of investment packages. Maybe they could be traded to others?

    There is a framework for random unskipable encounters in star systems maps that are required for most other types of missions. Like when we rescue the freighter from Orions in the early Fed mission. You have to beat the Orions! Make the Trade/Delivery mission require a few extra system stops like a foundry mission sometimes does, and that is where you have to resolve any of the daily encounters. (Defeat pirate ambush #1, Defeat Pirate Ambush #2, Optional, avoid detection by sensor grid)

    Make it a daily and toss in a few Marks or Dilithium even. Give reputation Marks for the 'Galactic Trader' reputation. Why not? Have Rewards for the rep that help your Fleet projects! Maybe Fleet Marks boosts or common Doff packages. maybe a Univeral Doff type that can be used for ANY project slot, not sorted by career. There are some possibilities ...

    Flavor is somewhat subjective. Some people like the auto-victory that comes from things like Plasma explosions. I think that is dull, and boring.

    I would say that I dislike the different project provisions as well. if they do convert them, I hope they do a smoother job of it than they did with EC, but we will have to see. ;)

    I hope this clarifies where I was going with my own ideas. What are some of yours? :)

    Qapla!
  • warpangelwarpangel Member Posts: 9,427 Arc User
    Well we have boost for Fleet marks, so why not Fleet only EC boosts? Only you can buy them with EC which may seem redundant until you realize that if you can buy them with EC you can take advantage of reasonable discounts!
    Yes, it was immediately obvious that you were just after discounts. Still, no thanks. Buying all those commodities was a horrible experience I'm glad its gone.
    There is a framework for random unskipable encounters in star systems maps that are required for most other types of missions. Like when we rescue the freighter from Orions in the early Fed mission. You have to beat the Orions! Make the Trade/Delivery mission require a few extra system stops like a foundry mission sometimes does, and that is where you have to resolve any of the daily encounters. (Defeat pirate ambush #1, Defeat Pirate Ambush #2, Optional, avoid detection by sensor grid)

    Well sure, that'd work, but it wouldn't be a trading game. As in, buying stuff from a location where its cheap and selling for higher price where its in demand. It would be yet another combat mission, just with a trading theme.

    Maybe if they ever do a Ferengi rep, it will have missions like that.
  • turbomagnusturbomagnus Member Posts: 3,479 Arc User
    Personally, I'm starting to wonder if it's not all part of some grand scheme to nerf income sources; first the Contraband-for-Dil Security Officer assignment had its cooldown increased, reducing the amount of dil that people could earn that way (and causing a trickle effect that nearly doubled the price of Keys on the Exchange)... now, with no Commodities needed for Fleet projects, players won't be able to sell extra commodities (especially KDF players), reducing their ability to earn that currency...
    "If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid." -- Q, TNG: "Q-Who?"
    ^Words that every player should keep in mind, especially whenever there's a problem with the game...
  • admiralkogaradmiralkogar Member Posts: 875 Arc User
    warpangel wrote: »
    Well we have boost for Fleet marks, so why not Fleet only EC boosts? Only you can buy them with EC which may seem redundant until you realize that if you can buy them with EC you can take advantage of reasonable discounts!
    Yes, it was immediately obvious that you were just after discounts. Still, no thanks. Buying all those commodities was a horrible experience I'm glad its gone.
    There is a framework for random unskipable encounters in star systems maps that are required for most other types of missions. Like when we rescue the freighter from Orions in the early Fed mission. You have to beat the Orions! Make the Trade/Delivery mission require a few extra system stops like a foundry mission sometimes does, and that is where you have to resolve any of the daily encounters. (Defeat pirate ambush #1, Defeat Pirate Ambush #2, Optional, avoid detection by sensor grid)

    Well sure, that'd work, but it wouldn't be a trading game. As in, buying stuff from a location where its cheap and selling for higher price where its in demand. It would be yet another combat mission, just with a trading theme.

    Maybe if they ever do a Ferengi rep, it will have missions like that.

    Well I do appreciate discounts, but that isn't what I am all about .. ;)

    I just got tired of some other parts of the game. Not so much fun. I took to looking at other things that could be fun. Exploring, looking for cool contacts, etc. The commodities game as it was, was more fun than just replicating stuff till infinity.

    Anyway, thanks. :)

    Qapla!
  • admiralkogaradmiralkogar Member Posts: 875 Arc User
    Personally, I'm starting to wonder if it's not all part of some grand scheme to nerf income sources; first the Contraband-for-Dil Security Officer assignment had its cooldown increased, reducing the amount of dil that people could earn that way (and causing a trickle effect that nearly doubled the price of Keys on the Exchange)... now, with no Commodities needed for Fleet projects, players won't be able to sell extra commodities (especially KDF players), reducing their ability to earn that currency...

    Yeah I think there is some manipulation going on.

    Meanwhile do you have any ideas about what would be fun (or worthwhile at least), to hope for in terms of adding back into the game? I think some things were nerfed, and I wouldn't mind if those were un-nerfed a bit. I know a lot of people who benefited directly, and indirectly from those other players in Fleets, who had either desire to bargain shop, or the tools to get better prices, or both.

    l Also kind of want to see an attempt to keep this 'world' detailed in ways that give it more texture. Thanks.

    Qapla!
  • turbomagnusturbomagnus Member Posts: 3,479 Arc User
    Well, the Lukari starting their Warp Exploration Program (whatever they call it) would be a good excuse to add Exploration back to the game in some form. I actually miss some of the old Exploration Cluster missions; the ones where you checked in on planets (typically finding them in need of commodities) especially, it was a subtle reminder of all the times Enterprise (any of them) would be on a humanitarian mission when whatever the main plot of the episode was took over matters. I could easily see Republic Commanders on aid missions to other Romulan worlds that are in chaos after Sela's disappearance, the collapse of the Tal Shiar and so forth...

    Of course, they'd definitely need work. Wanting them back doesn't mean I want the cookie-cutter word game missions where we got the "Second Borg Dynasty" from...

    ...And making System Patrols both repeatable AND open to KDF and Romulan players would be nice, I suppose... some of the current and removed 'Diplomacy' side-missions too, for that matter; like on DS9 where you negotiate for the Vedek Assembly some land or Bajor Space exonerating the Cardassian Gul, ones like that...
    "If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid." -- Q, TNG: "Q-Who?"
    ^Words that every player should keep in mind, especially whenever there's a problem with the game...
  • admiralkogaradmiralkogar Member Posts: 875 Arc User
    Well, the Lukari starting their Warp Exploration Program (whatever they call it) would be a good excuse to add Exploration back to the game in some form. I actually miss some of the old Exploration Cluster missions; the ones where you checked in on planets (typically finding them in need of commodities) especially, it was a subtle reminder of all the times Enterprise (any of them) would be on a humanitarian mission when whatever the main plot of the episode was took over matters. I could easily see Republic Commanders on aid missions to other Romulan worlds that are in chaos after Sela's disappearance, the collapse of the Tal Shiar and so forth...

    Of course, they'd definitely need work. Wanting them back doesn't mean I want the cookie-cutter word game missions where we got the "Second Borg Dynasty" from...

    ...And making System Patrols both repeatable AND open to KDF and Romulan players would be nice, I suppose... some of the current and removed 'Diplomacy' side-missions too, for that matter; like on DS9 where you negotiate for the Vedek Assembly some land or Bajor Space exonerating the Cardassian Gul, ones like that...

    I like those ideas!

    Qapla!
  • admiralkogaradmiralkogar Member Posts: 875 Arc User
    Well, the Lukari starting their Warp Exploration Program (whatever they call it) would be a good excuse to add Exploration back to the game in some form. I actually miss some of the old Exploration Cluster missions; the ones where you checked in on planets (typically finding them in need of commodities) especially, it was a subtle reminder of all the times Enterprise (any of them) would be on a humanitarian mission when whatever the main plot of the episode was took over matters. I could easily see Republic Commanders on aid missions to other Romulan worlds that are in chaos after Sela's disappearance, the collapse of the Tal Shiar and so forth...

    Of course, they'd definitely need work. Wanting them back doesn't mean I want the cookie-cutter word game missions where we got the "Second Borg Dynasty" from...

    ...And making System Patrols both repeatable AND open to KDF and Romulan players would be nice, I suppose... some of the current and removed 'Diplomacy' side-missions too, for that matter; like on DS9 where you negotiate for the Vedek Assembly some land or Bajor Space exonerating the Cardassian Gul, ones like that...

    I would be up for anything that seemed to fit the travel and explore theme, if anyone cares? I like the direction you are thinking in. :)

    Qapla!
  • turbomagnusturbomagnus Member Posts: 3,479 Arc User
    Considering the way they added comets, nebulae and abandoned ships to Sector Space with the R&D Revamp, there's also the possibility of adding 'distress signals' in the same way, randomly placed, representing planets, stations or ships in need of aid; whether it's giving them commodities, beaming over/down to effect some kind of repairs or rescue - finding missing colonists would be a good non-combat mission, complete with medical aid for injuries or the like, or repairing a warp core before it can breach - or even investigating an abandoned ship (finding out it's Devidians or Elachi as the cause, for example)...
    "If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid." -- Q, TNG: "Q-Who?"
    ^Words that every player should keep in mind, especially whenever there's a problem with the game...
  • admiralkogaradmiralkogar Member Posts: 875 Arc User
    Considering the way they added comets, nebulae and abandoned ships to Sector Space with the R&D Revamp, there's also the possibility of adding 'distress signals' in the same way, randomly placed, representing planets, stations or ships in need of aid; whether it's giving them commodities, beaming over/down to effect some kind of repairs or rescue - finding missing colonists would be a good non-combat mission, complete with medical aid for injuries or the like, or repairing a warp core before it can breach - or even investigating an abandoned ship (finding out it's Devidians or Elachi as the cause, for example)...

    It shouldn't be to hard to add more similar content. When the Foundry is back in service I figure people could chip in on making encounters themselves even. I have not used the Foundry to create anything yet. I should though.

    Ilike what you say about more variety. That is the only flaw with just using the Foundry, since the mission after You make it, is sort of set in stone. :)

    Qapla!
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