Space is Emptier than Ever

hfmudd · April 2015

This isn't a doom post by any stripe, just commenting on a change to the feel of the game, for me.

Sector space now caps at a mere 25 ships per instance - and since instances now cover entire quadrants, not just sector blocks, that means I can fly from one side of said quadrant(s) to the other without ever seeing another starship (or only as distant blips, at the edge of sensor range). It's enough to make me think wistfully of the Miranda swarms that kicked off this event.

I'm hoping that in the future, we'll get a raised cap and fewer, more populated instances. For all that I usually prefer to solo, I do like to feel that there are other players out there - and not just know that they are, but actually see them, going about their business.

duncanidaho11 · April 2015

I prefer the new feel. Players are there around the hubs and in the various PVE's for when you need to feel like you're in a multiplayer game (life in the places that should have it). In deep space though, well let's just say that the "freeway" feel of the old game always jarred. Not only was it meaningless (how many times do you give a second thought to traffic?) but it definitely subtracted from the presentation of space as something remotely space-like.

drakethewhite · April 2015

I love the new empty sector space. If I want to see other random PC ships, I have ESD and other hubs to sit in.

Given the choice I'd make it even more empty of PCs, and add back the cargo transports and some other random encounters.

jestersage · April 2015

As a guy that main KDF, it's very jarring... you usually see Klingons findign prey after prey.

As Feds? It should be right up the canon's view, that they are all independent. Heck, the big thing about Connie (and the official decendent, Galaxy) is that they are suppose to operate completely independent for ongoing missions.

fatman592 · April 2015

I like the big empty feel, much more space like to me. And yet sector space zone chat is fast becoming like ESD. At least I'm not clipping on 22 Scimtars to cross a sector anymore.

dongemaharu · April 2015

I like the more empty feel too. Really gives you the impression of being on your own more than before.

bobtheskull99 · April 2015

fatman592 wrote: »

I like the big empty feel, much more space like to me. And yet sector space zone chat is fast becoming like ESD. At least I'm not clipping on 22 Scimtars to cross a sector anymore.

lol, no kidding....its like finally hitting a nice wide open road after being in traffic for 2 hrs

lotusteadragon · April 2015

It's empty and dark. Like space.

I love it.

steaen · April 2015

Another one in favour of the new setup here - you never saw Kirk or Picard fly past 50 different ships crossing one sector and now neither do we.

As others have said if you want to find other people go to the hubs, but being out on your own a lot of the time in space is much more realistic if that's the right word in this context.

stofsk · April 2015

Put me down as another for 'space is empty? Love it' camp.

fovrel · April 2015

Space is empty and star ships aren't going to fill it up. It is good as it is and I like it. It is empty, it feels empty and it looks empty. Go to a hub if you want to clutter with other players.

mirrorchaos · April 2015

hfmudd wrote: »

This isn't a doom post by any stripe, just commenting on a change to the feel of the game, for me.

Sector space now caps at a mere 25 ships per instance - and since instances now cover entire quadrants, not just sector blocks, that means I can fly from one side of said quadrant(s) to the other without ever seeing another starship (or only as distant blips, at the edge of sensor range). It's enough to make me think wistfully of the Miranda swarms that kicked off this event.

I'm hoping that in the future, we'll get a raised cap and fewer, more populated instances. For all that I usually prefer to solo, I do like to feel that there are other players out there - and not just know that they are, but actually see them, going about their business.

i mentioned this in tribble months ago, that there are not npcs in the new galaxy map. apart from the ocampa npc floating around near the jenolan sphere, i havent seen a damn thing.

so i will state it again, add some basic npcs to the galaxy map, give it some sort of feel of being alive.

peterconnorfirst · April 2015

mirrorchaos wrote: »

so i will state it again, add some basic npcs to the galaxy map, give it some sort of feel of being alive.

Starting with space vendor freighters in every second sector would be a nice start but nope none to be seen or found.

leviathan99 · April 2015

hfmudd wrote: »

This isn't a doom post by any stripe, just commenting on a change to the feel of the game, for me.

Sector space now caps at a mere 25 ships per instance - and since instances now cover entire quadrants, not just sector blocks, that means I can fly from one side of said quadrant(s) to the other without ever seeing another starship (or only as distant blips, at the edge of sensor range). It's enough to make me think wistfully of the Miranda swarms that kicked off this event.

I'm hoping that in the future, we'll get a raised cap and fewer, more populated instances. For all that I usually prefer to solo, I do like to feel that there are other players out there - and not just know that they are, but actually see them, going about their business.

I can chart how I think this will go. Please stop me if there's anything unreasonable here:

1. The devs will slowly work on increasing sector space caps. But these are gated by performance thresholds. So maybe you'll see 50-75 eventually. It won't matter.

2. The devs may try to create events that get people to congregate in areas of sector space like turning on the Omega Particle event by area. This will have some impact perhaps but would make the rest of space seem more deserted and players will chafe at being corralled.

3. Eventually they will implement the ability to travel from starship interiors. The stated reason that "you can't be in two places at once" means nothing if people cannot see one another in meaningful quantities anyway. If there are 25 or even 50 people in a very large instance, they will simply not see one another ANYWAY so "not being visible in sector space" is meaningless.

4. Devs will eventually work on shipboard travel. Maybe it can even be a social feature. I have suggested that having a friend aboard while traveling to the same destination might improve travel time. This suggestion gets ignored but I think it WILL happen once devs look at the issues posed by sector space.

5. People will want things to do aboard their ship while the timer counts down and will request more complete interiors for lockbox ships. Right now, we're caught in a catch-22 where nobody spends time on their ships and there's nothing to do there. One feeds the other. But I think we'll eventually hit a point where devs look at attractive features that the community has requested, see the irrelevance of sector space, have to devise new roles for sector space, and have to devise both a travel timer system for ship interiors and other missions or activities to do in the meantime. Both interiors and sector space need new purposes and functions attached to them.

6. The longer we wait before arriving at Step 5, the less impact solutions will have.

Can we just skip straight to acknowledging that Step 5 is going to be where we wind up, agree that the solutions are not trivial, and hinge Expansion 3 on ship interior travel, ship interior content, and sector space activities that are not purely travel based?

sennahcherib · April 2015

i like also the new sector space; at the launch, i felt myself a little bit alone, but after few days, it's more immersive. And i'm glad, because now, no scimitars everywhere; thx for that

peterconnorfirst · April 2015

sopwithsnipe wrote: »

How about a big no. While I respect both of your opinions I never heard Kirk, Picard or even Sisco ever say, "Rendezvous with the nearest freighter I want to pick up a burrito." :P

True but those captains neither had the side quests of building star bases nore the fortune to play 400 lobi for a set now turned useless.

emacsheadroom · April 2015

If the sector space cap was set to 200 and it completely filled up with players, we'd still have the same empty experience. Sector space is frigging enormous.

ussdelphin2 · April 2015

It's much better now, I hope they keep the cap as it is.

virusdancer · April 2015

emacsheadroom wrote: »

If the sector space cap was set to 200 and it completely filled up with players, we'd still have the same empty experience. Sector space is frigging enormous.

Outside of being able to cross the whole thing in a few minutes...

lotusteadragon · April 2015

I was way out in the middle of nowhere, in the Delta Quadrant, when I came upon an abandoned ship. Every time I scanned it, I got R&D materials. A few minutes later, the ship had repaired itself, and vanished. It was awesome!

Also, yes, more exploration please!

bobbydazlers · April 2015

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

I prefer the new feel. Players are there around the hubs and in the various PVE's for when you need to feel like you're in a multiplayer game (life in the places that should have it). In deep space though, well let's just say that the "freeway" feel of the old game always jarred. Not only was it meaningless (how many times do you give a second thought to traffic?) but it definitely subtracted from the presentation of space as something remotely space-like.

I agree here, keep the other players in the social hubs and leave space empty and just give me plenty of eeerm....space.

sometimes I just want to be left alone other times I just like the solitude.

sennahcherib · April 2015

lotusteadragon wrote: »

I was way out in the middle of nowhere, in the Delta Quadrant, when I came upon an abandoned ship. Every time I scanned it, I got R&D materials. A few minutes later, the ship had repaired itself, and vanished. It was awesome!

Also, yes, more exploration please!

yes, this is really cool; same thing for the comets or the nebulae

yes, more exploration please! + 1

nyxadrill · April 2015

lotusteadragon wrote: »

I was way out in the middle of nowhere, in the Delta Quadrant, when I came upon an abandoned ship. Every time I scanned it, I got R&D materials. A few minutes later, the ship had repaired itself, and vanished. It was awesome!

Also, yes, more exploration please!

I had no idea about this! I will go exploring tonight

Has anyone used "Follow" on a friend since the change? Its hilariously broken. It follows the "target" but when your friend stops you go powersliding by lol

jodarkrider · April 2015

I really like the new feel of space. Space feels actually... vast, and the illusion of there not being an abundance of ships and other Captains is actually appealing to me. I personally think they should keep this as it is. :-)

jellico1 · April 2015

the new sector space is a step in the right direction and good

but its still tiny and travel is way too fast not to mention all of the transwarp gates..without a gate

carlosbfly · April 2015

It takes some getting used to but I do like it. Gimme the warp lines back and I hope they keep it this way. It feels more Trek to me. It wasn't like Picard was tripping over ships every episode.

allyoftheforce · April 2015

I like the new sector space map "empty" feeling. Just not the constantly decreasing ground instance pop cap. I can finally use all of QSS without hitting a wall and zoning. I don't run into 20 others while passing through a sector. Finally makes it feel like it should, out there on your own.

foxrockssocks · April 2015

I like the emptiness overall, but my scimitars are extra happy for this. Nothing like trying to get to where you are going only to be unable to get close enough because you can't get past the AFK fleet in orbit.

jonsills · April 2015

Space is big. I mean really big. You may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space. Listen...

Besides, if it weren't pretty much empty, how could we ever wind up being the only available ship in the sector?

zedbrightlander1 · April 2015

lotusteadragon wrote: »

I was way out in the middle of nowhere, in the Delta Quadrant, when I came upon an abandoned ship. Every time I scanned it, I got R&D materials. A few minutes later, the ship had repaired itself, and vanished. It was awesome!

Also, yes, more exploration please!

Found a Nebula in Beta that gave R&D mats and vanished, too.

As I approached it I saw the words [Unknown Nebula] floating out there in the big void and I thought, "Did the Devs forget to name something during the big switch?" so I changed course to check it out, scanned it and sure enough - something new in sector space.

Enemy Signal Contacts have changed too. Getting to them before they disappear can be a challenge if you're not Admiral Warpy, but once you get in the zone, it's much more fun than they were. Once you start the battle, new enemies come to YOU.

IOW - Klingons are always off the Starboard bow.

aelfwin1 · April 2015

Call me Mr. Vain, but I always liked to look at my ship from different angles when on a longer trip .
Now everything is so dark, that it's kinds pointless & eye stressing .

I also enjoyed looking at other intrepid players flying by, doing their own thing, be they Vets or newbies .
Now it's a whole lot of "quiet time alone" .

So hurray for "realism" , but booo for the MMO experience .
Well that & the "space barbie" element died .
The only place to view other ppls ships now is in orbit of Earth or DS9 ... , and I usually have stuff to do whenever I get there, so I don't have time to just relax and take in the unique looks & names when I hit orbit .

I too enjoy the seeming vastness and the freedom .
But that freedom came at a cost (actually multiple costs) .

zedbrightlander1 wrote: »

IOW - Klingons are always off the Starboard bow.

Scrape'em off Jim !

Space is Emptier than Ever

Comments

When I think about everything we've been through together,

maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,

and if that journey takes a little longer,

so we can do something we all believe in,

I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.