Elite: Game talk

23 Oct 2021, 11:13am
SakashiroI wonder if there's a technical reason for FDev to make traveling with a carrier so expensive. I like the option of mining for fuel, but why does it have to be such a grind?


I suspect that this is, yet again, a byproduct of FDev not focusing the necessary resources on development of actual ED rather than Odyssey. If you remember, back when FC's were introduced, tritium was MUCH more plentiful for mining and there was a gold rush with players mining tritium for profit. Then, FDev nerfed the tritium gold rush with a huge mallet, as they usually do, by reducing the frequency of tritium by an extraordinary amount which created a relative shortage of tritium. To respond to the new FC owner's complaints, they simply reduced the amount of tritium needed for jumps, rather than try to restore a balance of tritium in mining.

So, in short, they bumbled and created a problem, over-reacted which created a bigger problem, and then used a sleight of hand fix rather than try to actually fix the original problem correctly.
23 Oct 2021, 12:52pm
EpisparhAnd for the last time - LEAVE TRITIUM MINING AS LAST RESORT!
Some people just like mining!
23 Oct 2021, 2:16pm
Meowers
Some people just like mining!

Even if some like mining they should do it for the fun not for the need.
23 Oct 2021, 2:27pm
Episparh
SakashiroI wonder if there's a technical reason for FDev to make traveling with a carrier so expensive. I like the option of mining for fuel, but why does it have to be such a grind?



As with all that Frontier do - grind == gameplay. With that being said, I do not think that the fuel requirements are so high. For example UNX Conqueror as it is requires 12.8k tons tritium to reach Beagle Point. That is roughly 1.2bil CR for fuel to cover the longest distance from Sol with a FC.

Needless to say this is a pointless activity, IMO.

And for the last time - LEAVE TRITIUM MINING AS LAST RESORT! You can always plan your need and buy it prior your departure.

All activities in the game are pointless.

My squadron's home system happens to have a tritium hotspot, so I recently spent some time mining tritium there to get a feel for it. Mining 1000t of tritium obviously takes a long time, but mining enough tritium for one carrier jump is easy. So here's my plan:

Instead of traveling in the carrier, I'll travel in my Python which has a reasonable jump range. I'll scan systems along the way to pick up exploration data. And I'll look out for icy rings. If I find one with a tritium hotspot, I'll call in the carrier and start mining. By the time the carrier has arrived and cooled down, I should have enough tritium to replace what was consumed by the jump. I'll dock the Python, sell exploration data, and donate the tritium. And then I can continue or do something else, because all my ships and modules will be at my disposal. I can do risky stuff I would otherwise avoid during exploration. Scanning systems will no longer be a pointless exercise because Universal Cartographics will pay my carrier's upkeep.
23 Oct 2021, 5:43pm
Do we have news from FDev about Inara issue on bugtracker?
23 Oct 2021, 5:45pm
SakashiroI wonder if there's a technical reason for FDev to make traveling with a carrier so expensive. I like the option of mining for fuel, but why does it have to be such a grind?


100% agree!

I like mining as well, but I think I prefer to do it in the bubble when I WANT TO. Not because I have to solo mine 700-800 tons of Tritium seven times just to get my carrier home after a year in the black.

It seems to me we got our carrier out here on a single tank. Things have obviously changed. Thanks FEDV. lol
23 Oct 2021, 5:59pm
RealzonderDo we have news from FDev about Inara issue on bugtracker?

If you mean the in-game stats problem, no news yet. But the bug report made it to the top ten bugs reported, so it will get some priority I guess.
23 Oct 2021, 7:02pm
Artie
RealzonderDo we have news from FDev about Inara issue on bugtracker?


If you mean the in-game stats problem, no news yet. But the bug report made it to the top ten bugs reported, so it will get some priority I guess.

thx
23 Oct 2021, 9:51pm
Sakashiro
Episparh
SakashiroI wonder if there's a technical reason for FDev to make traveling with a carrier so expensive. I like the option of mining for fuel, but why does it have to be such a grind?




As with all that Frontier do - grind == gameplay. With that being said, I do not think that the fuel requirements are so high. For example UNX Conqueror as it is requires 12.8k tons tritium to reach Beagle Point. That is roughly 1.2bil CR for fuel to cover the longest distance from Sol with a FC.

Needless to say this is a pointless activity, IMO.

And for the last time - LEAVE TRITIUM MINING AS LAST RESORT! You can always plan your need and buy it prior your departure.


All activities in the game are pointless.

My squadron's home system happens to have a tritium hotspot, so I recently spent some time mining tritium there to get a feel for it. Mining 1000t of tritium obviously takes a long time, but mining enough tritium for one carrier jump is easy. So here's my plan:

Instead of traveling in the carrier, I'll travel in my Python which has a reasonable jump range. I'll scan systems along the way to pick up exploration data. And I'll look out for icy rings. If I find one with a tritium hotspot, I'll call in the carrier and start mining. By the time the carrier has arrived and cooled down, I should have enough tritium to replace what was consumed by the jump. I'll dock the Python, sell exploration data, and donate the tritium. And then I can continue or do something else, because all my ships and modules will be at my disposal. I can do risky stuff I would otherwise avoid during exploration. Scanning systems will no longer be a pointless exercise because Universal Cartographics will pay my carrier's upkeep.


That is a good plan.
23 Oct 2021, 11:46pm
Hint: demand 2t

If your cargo is more than 10% of demand you are getting low price.

Looking at the prices - your best bet is Teaka system.
24 Oct 2021, 9:39am
EpisparhIf your cargo is more than 10% of demand you are getting low price.


I believe the value is 25% of demand.
24 Oct 2021, 10:05am
Hugues De Payens I like mining as well, but I think I prefer to do it in the bubble when I WANT TO. Not because I have to solo mine 700-800 tons of Tritium seven times just to get my carrier home after a year in the black.

It seems to me we got our carrier out here on a single tank. Things have obviously changed. Thanks FEDV. lol


I don't believe anything has changed. I think it's just a case of planning on your part.

The tritium depot can only take 1000t but your cargo can take up to 20+k tonnes depending on what you got active. It's crucial to fill up your cargo with enough tritium for your journey while you're in the bubble where tritium can be purchased at decent cost. To get to SAG A and back (26kly) works out (roughly) at 11 - 14k tonnes, so there's plenty room to explore wherever you want and get back to the bubble. The key is keeping half your fuel safe for the return trip. Remember to return home when you hit that half full cargo bay.
24 Oct 2021, 11:46am
Burstar
I believe the value is 25% of demand.

After 25% it drops dramatically. I think at 10% the price drop is negligible... at least by my observations.
24 Oct 2021, 3:26pm
“Pointless game activities” I can only give you this advice. Once you’ve ground your way up to having all the engineered ships you need/want, stop doing stuff you don’t like to do.

My favorite pastime is Combat. I don’t like just going out mining for Tritium. I do like doing mining missions. Say, get 60 tons of Bromelite for 20 million credits. 60 tons is something I can oversee and do in a reasonable amount of time. While mining Bromelite I also stock up on the mats needed for rearming while bounty hunting. The rings that contain Bromelite also contain Tritium most of the time so I pick that up on the side, same with LTD’s or other high value minerals. While mining I jump around the hotspots to attract pirates to get my combat fix in. My mining Cutter is armed so not much risk there. If there are interesting CG’s I join those. That’s the only travel the FC does so my Tritium use is low.

If I bored or life gets in the way of the game I take a break. Park the FC near a good hotspot and put in a buy order for several things. When I get back I sell those things with a profit, hopefully as mission goals. That way the FC pays for itself.

Whatever you do, don’t become a slave to the grind, It’ll burn you out. I quit a few times because of it but the VR aspect pulled me back in. Once I let go of the grind and do MY thing I really started enjoying the game.


Last edit: 24 Oct 2021, 4:57pm
24 Oct 2021, 4:58pm
A few years ago, I committed myself to getting 1 billion credits so I could get myself a powerful ships with umpteen rebuys to spare, since I often came a cropper in combat. So I ended up working my way up through the T-series of ships, till I got a T9, and ended up plying whatever was the most profitable routes wherever I happened to be based and just relentlessly bought one lot of commodities, launched, jumped, docked, sold, bought some more commodities, and repeated the process. Whilst I was able to break the monotony by looking at trade route finders for new routes and loops, it became real tedious so I soon stopped doing this once I bought my Python and become confident flying her. A few years later, I start doing different types of missions, get into mining as part of roleplay, participate in community goals, and most recently, started doing repair runs to a damaged station, and in that time my credit score has consistently gone up and up, and it took me about half the time to earn my next billion as it did my first, because I was just doing my own thing rather than constantly focused on earning more credits above all else.

Sometimes a bit of grinding is inevitable (especially when you are hunting for Engineer materials) but it shouldn't dominate your game, once you let it do so it stops being fun, and that's ultimately what gaming should be about.

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