Should the bar to entry for professions be hi?

[RoughGalaxy]

I was chatting with some Star citizen buddy's tonight and the thought came into my head. If I want to be a mechanic... it should have a decently steep bar to entry. If it doesn't, Every tom dick and jane in the verse is going to fix their own stuff, and being an engineer/mechanic isn't going to be a real profession.

What are your thoughts? what do you think CIG should do to make choosing a profession matter?

I, for one, would be happy to trade my main weapon slots for mechanic tools. Maybe the gear for doing things like on site mechanics or mining is bulky and you can only carry a side arm?

 

[Printimus]

If everything was stupid difficult to get into, it wouldnt make for a very fun game. I think the profession entry levels will allow anyone to partake.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

In regard to repairs, I think in the s42 vertical slice there was a blowtorch thing that may turn out to be some kind of Multi-tool.

That'd be basic mechanics. Break this or weld that or carry this spare part to this computer bank and replace it to stop the ship from running out of air in two minutes... Not advanced repairs, but good enough to get something working again in an emergency to get to you where it can be fixed permanently - Remember one of the aims of the game is to have one of your crew running around the Jeffries Tubes in your Starfarer repairing the thing as it's taking a beating.

Thats not going to replace a lost wing which is vital for Cooler performance through. There will be bigger tasks for higher up mechanical tasks and that'll probably be the progression.

 

[Bruce]

What are your thoughts? what do you think CIG should do to make choosing a profession matter?

I believe Chris answered to entry / progression questions long time ago - this game barrier will be equipment and skill ( i.e. anyone WITH MONEY could buy tools and pretend to be a mechanic, but results will be skill based) .. so yes - you have tools and ability - go fix your plane and face the outcome :)

 

[CosmicTrader]

I agree that a players skill will make the difference.

 

[Wolfy]

High* Though it was Superbowl night so that can be excused.

 

[Bambooza]

In regard to repairs, I think in the s42 vertical slice there was a blowtorch thing that may turn out to be some kind of Multi-tool.

That'd be basic mechanics. Break this or weld that or carry this spare part to this computer bank and replace it to stop the ship from running out of air in two minutes... Not advanced repairs, but good enough to get something working again in an emergency to get to you where it can be fixed permanently - Remember one of the aims of the game is to have one of your crew running around the Jeffries Tubes in your Starfarer repairing the thing as it's taking a beating.

Thats not going to replace a lost wing which is vital for Cooler performance through. There will be bigger tasks for higher up mechanical tasks and that'll probably be the progression.

I believe Chris answered to entry / progression questions long time ago - this game barrier will be equipment and skill ( i.e. anyone WITH MONEY could buy tools and pretend to be a mechanic, but results will be skill based) .. so yes - you have tools and ability - go fix your plane and face the outcome

Here is the Design Notes that still seem relevant if you want more details then what @NaffNaffBobFace and @Bruce have stated.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/engineering/15062-Design-Notes-Ship-Repair-And-Maintenance

 

[Ezz]

Getting better with time. So if you repair stuff on your own ship .. you're a hobbyist and not high skilled, takes you more time and not always succeed. If you repair all your org-members ships you are a professional and comes with more skill/knowledge. Ingame wise it could be like skyrim-skill system. Not spending skill points but becoming good at something by doing it.

 

[DoctorProfessor]

A mix of gear/equipment and actual skill would be best, but at the end of the day, it can't be too complex because this game needs to cater to both the hardcore gamers and the more casual gamers too -

Easy to use, hard to master has always sat best with me personally, if the system's not all that difficult but you can only really do a slap-dash job of it without practice or skill, seems fine to me.

 

[RoughGalaxy]

Thanks for the input guys. I agree. low bar to entry but skill based means if you want it done WELL you want someone who does this as a profession, not a hobby.

Edit: Reading the design notes it really exciting. It seems like they had the idea for what they wanted to do in place for a long time. If this is in fact the way they intend to do repairs (as of 3 years ago) all the components to do this job should nearly be in place.

I particularly like that there is a mobile repair tool, which I think may only be limited by the amount of materials you have on you. In theory, someone like me could have materials in their titan and still manage to do a form of mobile garage (at least until the crucible is in)

 

[Takeiteasy]

I'll just use my repair bot and feed it the materials and buy blueprints.

Who needs a mechanic when I can just fit new parts myself and 3D print replacements for the broken ones.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

I'll just use my repair bot and feed it the materials and buy blueprints.

Who needs a mechanic when I can just fit new parts myself and 3D print replacements for the broken ones.

I always wondered why they didn't make the ship call/ship store mechanism more like a 3D printer? You land in an Avenger, the pad melts it down into raw material. You then buy a blueprint for a Hornet and the pad reconstructs the AvengerGoo into a Hornet for you.

Yeah your custom paint and fuzzy dice would not survive but it just seems like a more futureistic way of having a fleet of ships with you wherever you go in the 'Verse. You don't buy ships, you buy Blueprints that landing pads construct the ship for you instead of just materialising it out of nowhere.

 

[SullyQuindarius]

I always wondered why they didn't make the ship call/ship store mechanism more like a 3D printer? You land in an Avenger, the pad melts it down into raw material. You then buy a blueprint for a Hornet and the pad reconstructs the AvengerGoo into a Hornet for you.

Yeah your custom paint and fuzzy dice would not survive but it just seems like a more futureistic way of having a fleet of ships with you wherever you go in the 'Verse. You don't buy ships, you buy Blueprints that landing pads construct the ship for you instead of just materialising it out of nowhere.

But how does 1x AvengerGoo™ equal 1x Reclaimer? How would you fit that into bigger ships vs smaller ships?

 

[Greengiant506]

But how does 1x AvengerGoo™ equal 1x Reclaimer? How would you fit that into bigger ships vs smaller ships?

That’s where resources and mining/trading come in. Keep the resources flowing to keep to goo building.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

But how does 1x AvengerGoo™ equal 1x Reclaimer? How would you fit that into bigger ships vs smaller ships?

A tank of raw Goo sits under the pad. A Caterpillar comes in and sells it's wares. You've either got a very long, slow, boring trip back out or downsize to a Freelancer and halve your trip time. What happens to the excess? well, leave it there. You get to place Z, reclaim some Goo someone else left and you're in a Cat again.

You wouldn't have to pay for more/less goo, as it would be a "take a penny leave a penny" system where everyone understands they wouldn't be able to take the goo with them if they downsized from a Starfarer to a Constellation Phoenix.

Actually scratch this idea, it's retarded. How are you going to have "Luxury" ships if a pad can print up whatever materials it's made of... You could print yourself up a luxury Herald if that were the case: Maybe an idea for a different game.

 

[RoughGalaxy]

yeah I don't think the goo tech would fit well as it would remove any reason to have repair stations. also, mass printed bengals for everybody! lol

 

[maynard]

if you can suspend disbelief to where you're living in 2948 is credible, why not believe you are a world-class industrialist, bounty hunter, or whatever?

there should be no barriers to entry to any in-game occupation

however, the ability to earn credits should depend on experience and skills learned with an investment of time

so, no pay-to-win

the n00b who pays cash for the most massive mining ship with the best mods won't make as much as the vet who earned his big ship with the profits from operating his smaller ships

 

[Carlos Spicyweiner]

If the bar is going to be high for entry into professions, I'm gonna end up restocking Big Benny's machines or loading cargo with my mighty Argo.

 

[Tealwraith]

If the bar is going to be high for entry into professions, I'm gonna end up restocking Big Benny's machines or loading cargo with my mighty Argo.

Ditto

 

[Lorddarthvik]

The Entry to the Bar should be Hi, nothing more.

I want to be able to try everything, without going all out for it for months, but I don't want to necessarily succeed at everything just by trying.
Blocking off professions behind an ingame paywall is never compelling to me. Giving meaningful progression to professions is important though!

Spoiler: my generic thoughts on the matter

The entry into a profession should be as low as "just do it", nothing complicated or really expensive. But, the low entry shouldn't really pay off!
Going out with your Aurora and mining a rock with a hand tool should be okay for special cases (mission related maybe) but should not pay the bills, but scraping enough together for the smallest mining ship should also be achievable with some time investment, so you can start a career and see if it works out for you.

Patching up a hole on a ship just enough to stop it falling apart, fine, but doing a proper repair should require more investment in tools (like repair bots, or a whole ship for that) and experience/skill , like using the tools fast but precisely and such (owning extra "blueprints" for repair methods/materials was talked about a long time ago).


I'm afraid that the progression for professions like repairs and mining will be somewhat barred from those who like to play alone, with both higher tier mining and repair ships requiring a quiet large crew to run effectively.
Those who tried making money mining in EVE will understand this. You can get a mid-tier mining ship in EVE without much hassle but it's still kinda low income compared to the investment, and then you hit a wall where you have to make soooo much money for the next tier (and literally spend half a year to research the skill for it ) that it only pays off if you are part of a clan that supports you as a miner, with cargo ships, protection and organized mining "raids". This was the moment I stopped playing eve for good, I just didn't want a second job where another random guy tells me what to do and when to do it... I wanted to play a game for fun.