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Provision item projects - some ideas to alleviate the demand > supply problem
boldlygoing4
Member Posts: 4 Arc User
A lot of the heated discussion right now is over how fleets can come up with a fair way of distributing all the cool new ships, space weapons and ground equipment that everyone is anxious to get their hands on, and how the systems in place at the moment are very open to abuse. My own fleet recognised the problems early on and has been having the same discussions as everyone else to try and find some fair and workable solutions.
It occurred to me last night that a lot of these issues are only made worse by the nature of the projects that generate these items - they generate very few requisitions for each project, and take some time to do so. Also, the way the lists of available projects seem to be heading you often may not have the option of running a project when you need it. So, you are stuck with the old problem of demand far outstripping supply for most fleets of any size.
A lot of the potential problems of abuse of the system by fleet leaders could be reduced if the supply of items could be scaled up to meet the demand ? to do this, while maintaining some sort of balance, I suggest the following:
Increase Supply
Balance
The advantage of all of the above points except no. 3 is that they should not require any large scale changes to the systems that are already in place, but rather should involve little more than adjusting the appropriate values on existing code. No. 3 would be a little more involved, but hopefully only involve changing the system that generates the project lists to prioritise the provisioning ones.
One way or another, Cryptic is going to have make some effort to answer players' concerns, and the ideas I've put forward seem to be one way to move towards that with a minimum of effort on Cryptic's part.
It occurred to me last night that a lot of these issues are only made worse by the nature of the projects that generate these items - they generate very few requisitions for each project, and take some time to do so. Also, the way the lists of available projects seem to be heading you often may not have the option of running a project when you need it. So, you are stuck with the old problem of demand far outstripping supply for most fleets of any size.
A lot of the potential problems of abuse of the system by fleet leaders could be reduced if the supply of items could be scaled up to meet the demand ? to do this, while maintaining some sort of balance, I suggest the following:
Increase Supply
- Reduce the duration of the provisioning projects - cut them in half to 12 hours at least, so that they may be run more often.
- Increase the number of requisitions that each project rewards - hopefully at least double what they are now, at 5 or 10 items a time now they are insufficient for a fleet of any but the smallest size.
- Ensure the provisioning projects are always available - not having these available at all times further cuts into the supply.
Balance
- Drastically reduce the Fleet XP rewarded for these projects - assuming the above items were implemented, this would prevent the provisioning projects being used to drastically speed up progression in the system. Make them along the lines of Special Projects, with 20xp of each type, or take the reward away entirely.
- Fleet Progression - putting all of the above forces a fleet to make a choice between choosing projects that advance the Starbase or ensure a steady supply of equipment for its members. Choosing the latter ensures the Starbase content is further stretched out, which I'm sure Cryptic would see as a good idea.
The advantage of all of the above points except no. 3 is that they should not require any large scale changes to the systems that are already in place, but rather should involve little more than adjusting the appropriate values on existing code. No. 3 would be a little more involved, but hopefully only involve changing the system that generates the project lists to prioritise the provisioning ones.
One way or another, Cryptic is going to have make some effort to answer players' concerns, and the ideas I've put forward seem to be one way to move towards that with a minimum of effort on Cryptic's part.
Post edited by boldlygoing4 on
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Rules of Acquisition at Priority One
And I agree with you, that it would be nice to see the projects moved and the duration reduced to that sort of level for the item provison projects, but I thought it better to push for something less radical to start with.
I also considered suggesting having these provisoning projects being moved to be under their own section, or under the Special Projects heading, but I discounted that because it would take more work for Cryptic to implement, and would likely reduce the number of oppertunities you have to run them.
By offering something that should only take some simple value adjustment, and balancing the increased item production by reducing the other rewards, I was hoping the Dev's might give the ideas more consideration than a proposal that simply demands more for less and not giving up anything in return.
Provisions should be things that you either purchase via fleet credits OR something fleet leaders control.
Do the math if you want. The system is gated so that regardless of fleet size, only a certain number of ships in a fleet could ever be outfitted with MK XII weapons. Because of the abundance of fleet credits, after a certain point, say 40 characters in a fleet, it's more valuable to have fewer members in a fleet all concetrating only on major projects than to have a large fleet under one starbase using the special mission for fleet credits.
Bottom line, until the number of allocated resources has some connection to fleet credits, the system is fatally flawed and favors fleets that are small while severely punishing larger fleets.
I believe a dedicated fleet could outfit 5 ships in 4 days. That's 35 ships a month regardless of fleet size. Under such a totally stupid and flawed system, it is smarter for large fleets to break themselves up into 35 character fleets, do only the primary projects, and outfit all their people faster that way than to work together under a single banner.
The Starbase economy is broken, and punishes fleets. In the same amount of time it takes to do the primary missions for the ship allocations, a larger fleet may earn 20-30x more fleet credits than is required to purchase what is allocated. What the hell kind of economy has a currency that is earned 20-30x the rate possible to consume the currency through purchases? Stupid.
Rules of Acquisition at Priority One