Feeling blah about getting ships

[Thalstan]

For the longest time, I felt excited about planning and executing additions to my ship collection. However, these past few months, I have felt ambivalent about getting a new ship, a new paint set or emended playing SC. It seems like the game is just more about work than it is being fun.
Anyone else feeling or felt that way? Anyone have a solution to it?

Thanks

 

[BUTUZ]

The solution is don't bother buying anything - I reached the same apathy a couple of years ago. I now spend the ship money on good stuff that enhances my real life fame fortune or just increases fun instead. No ragrets.

 

[Montoya]

Its the natural place to be.

I think the RSI Galaxy is an awesome looking ship, but I did not buy it.

I fly around in one or two ships, grab a fighter for some combat, but most ships are just there in case somebody in my party wants to use one.

This will all make a lot more sense once the actual game is out.

If you are 7hrs away in some corner of the galaxy, you may be limited on what ships you have available.

There could come a time where having some ships stashed away in different corners of the map will be the best way to use your collection.

 

[Sintha]

For the longest time, I felt excited about planning and executing additions to my ship collection. However, these past few months, I have felt ambivalent about getting a new ship, a new paint set or emended playing SC. It seems like the game is just more about work than it is being fun.
Anyone else feeling or felt that way? Anyone have a solution to it?

Thanks

i dont think a solution is needed, if you have what you'd like then there is no need to add more cash, if you just don't want to spend more do that then.

 

[Vavrik]

For the longest time, I felt excited about planning and executing additions to my ship collection. However, these past few months, I have felt ambivalent about getting a new ship, a new paint set or emended playing SC. It seems like the game is just more about work than it is being fun.
Anyone else feeling or felt that way? Anyone have a solution to it?

You're definitely not alone feeling like that.

 

[Montoya]

The TOS does not say you need to be excited 24/7 for 10yrs!

Ive taken a nice long break from playing actively.

There are periods where Im playing every day for months, then at night before bed I like doing some solo bunkers or just flying around between trees.

Then there are periods where I dont even log in for weeks.

When I came back its all new and exciting again!

 

[CosmicTrader]

The TOS does not say you need to be excited 24/7 for 10yrs!

Darn, I , missed that part.

 

[Raven_King]

Hey Thalstan, to agree with the others, I'm not sure you need to worry about having a solution to that feeling. I've also taken some extended breaks in the past year, and when I dip in and play for a few sessions again, it's actually quite fun and fresh... and then the many bugs and rough edges become as irritating as they were before, and I get a bit jaded. It's cool. The game's nowhere near finished, doesn't nearly have enough gameplay content to keep you playing every opportunity you get, the bugs are still widespread, and that's totally fine for now. I'm still excited about SC's future, I'm super excited about playing SQ42 when that comes out, and in the mean time there are a LOT of other fantastic games out there. I lost so much time to Elden Ring last year and still haven't completed it, but I loved playing something so darn polished!

Not to court controversy (I don't care for the drama), but I'm really looking forward to Hogwarts Legacy coming out in a couple of weeks. The Witcher III is still amazing. There is so much to do, in so many other outstanding games, for such trivial amounts of money compared to what I've spent on space JPEGS for SC. Even logging off and going outside once in a while is pretty great!

Don't feel bad, have a well-earned break, this game will still be here when you're in the mood for it again.

 

[Brictoria]

I've only been playing the game for a year or so, but I can certainly understand the lack of "excitement" about purchasing new ships, although the cause may be slightly different...

In my case, while a number of new ships look interesting to me (not all: Combat focussed ships have limited\no appeal, due to my competence (or lack thereof) in that area of the game), the lack of concrete (or even simply reliable) information around a number of aspects of the game [1] prevent me from choosing to commit to their purchase - This doesn't stop me "collecting" CCU's to form chains to a number of ships (both flyable and concept), but these are unlikely to be applied until I can be confident that they will be useable by me in their final state - If I decide against certain ships I am chaining towards, these CCU's may eventually end up being sold\traded, or simply melted to recover items from buyback\hangar flair\armor.

[1]
As I play solo, ability to (effectively) "use" multi-crew ships will require:
AI Blades.
NPC crew members.

Some gameplay areas that I need more information regarding:
Data running.
Passenger\VIP transport\touring.
Exploration.
Refining.
Repairs.
Cargo load\unload and better economy - Large scale cargo runs (either inter or intra systems).
"Science".
"Reporting"\"news".
"Medical".

Other factors:
Viability of operating across (spreading fleet over) multiple systems Vs choosing one system to "live" in with occasional\rare excursions elsewhere (Multi-system gameplay may benefit from\require "duplicating" certain industry ships in each system, using a shuttle to jump between systems, rather than having to ferry a fleet when relocating between systems frequently "played in").
Ways to return to ships if you die and have to respawn somewhere (will you need to lodge insurance claims for ships\shuttle to use to get to ship, and what cost\time delay will there be), or can you hire player\NPC "taxis".
Impact of "security" levels (and lawful\unlawful "reputation") on possibility\probability of being able to do what I want with minimal interuptions: If I want\need to relax on my own, will there be areas with extremely low chance of combat...

 

[Pistol]

Yes I feel you.

So much of the intended gameplay is still absent that it can seem like that sometimes and I also too find myself using 1 ship most of the time. I have other ships but I always seem to use 1 or 2 ships to scout about the verse usually.

I remember someone at CIG mentioning that our ship is intended to be like another player character. My interpretation of that is over time our ship/s will become more personal beyond the initial base hull, with things like paints, component upgrades, repairs made, dirt n'wear, badges and other such modifications (that have yet to be seen) would perhaps make using one ship in particular the "intended" overall gameplay mechanic?....Like Han Solo's Millennium Falcon maybe, I dunno.

Perhaps some modifications will be locked behind certain reputation grinds? Hypothetically something like a salvage upgrade or even mission types that are only available once you reach a certain rep in salvaging, which would make owning a top-tier ship like the Reclaimer with no salvaging rep fine, but not optimal. Like a chef owning a $10k Snap-On tool chest when they really need a $10K set of Japanese chefs knifes. you may not be getting the best out of the tools you have.

Personally I've always thought having a big fleet containing a multitude of different ships types like Racing, Salvage and Bounty hunting may in-fact not be ideal (for an individual) given we'll eventually have reputation etc. to think about and that may mean we find ourselves following a gameplay/grinding path that means we are not able to make full use of every ship type in our fleet as we do now, that is once more RPG style gameplay elements come into play.

All hypothetical of course and I guess $buying a certain ship now that may be hard to acquire/find/unlock once the game is live regardless of how much UEC we have is a head start...maybe haha.

Like Brictoria said and I agree we need more info on what certain gameplay loops will even look like before anything becomes more than just speculation at this point, for me anyways.

Personally I go with what I feel is cool and I know I'll like regardless of any FOMO and what will be "the best" when buying a ship with real money and taking a break from logging in or even thinking about SC is normal for me. I try to treat any purchase I make like placing a bet in a casino at this point.. Have fun and spend what you can afford to potentially lose.

Listen your gut, free your mind and your ass will follow.

P.S. If you have an Aurora then you're winning already....get one in yellow and black and you've beat the game already!

 

[Vavrik]

P.S. If you have an Aurora then you're winning already....get one in yellow and black and you've beat the game already!

HAHAHA I win then - and I didn't even have to pay for the Aurora. It was a reward for getting someone else to spend all his money join the fun.

 

[Pistol]

HAHAHA I win then - and I didn't even have to pay for the Aurora. It was a reward for getting someone else to spend all his money join the fun.

Legendary achievement unlocked Sir!

 

[Dirtbag_Leader]

Anyone else feeling or felt that way? Anyone have a solution to it?

As others have mentioned sometimes just taking a break is best. On the other hand, if you're LOOKING for something new/exciting in this game, I expect 3.18 with the Vulture and salvage ought to scratch that itch at least for a little while. Yes personally I think I'm only going to be playing on/off casually unless/until we get some more delicious Xenothreat (which you should prioritized if available!) Having dabbled some in the current PTU I can attest that CIG has really been working hard on this patch and I really expect the new mechanics to breath some interesting life into things, at least for a month or two.

 

[Bambooza]

Yes I feel you.

So much of the intended gameplay is still absent that it can seem like that sometimes and I also too find myself using 1 ship most of the time. I have other ships but I always seem to use 1 or 2 ships to scout about the verse usually.

I remember someone at CIG mentioning that our ship is intended to be like another player character. My interpretation of that is over time our ship/s will become more personal beyond the initial base hull, with things like paints, component upgrades, repairs made, dirt n'wear, badges and other such modifications (that have yet to be seen) would perhaps make using one ship in particular the "intended" overall gameplay mechanic?....Like Han Solo's Millennium Falcon maybe, I dunno.

Perhaps some modifications will be locked behind certain reputation grinds? Hypothetically something like a salvage upgrade or even mission types that are only available once you reach a certain rep in salvaging, which would make owning a top-tier ship like the Reclaimer with no salvaging rep fine, but not optimal. Like a chef owning a $10k Snap-On tool chest when they really need a $10K set of Japanese chefs knifes. you may not be getting the best out of the tools you have.

Personally I've always thought having a big fleet containing a multitude of different ships types like Racing, Salvage and Bounty hunting may in-fact not be ideal (for an individual) given we'll eventually have reputation etc. to think about and that may mean we find ourselves following a gameplay/grinding path that means we are not able to make full use of every ship type in our fleet as we do now, that is once more RPG style gameplay elements come into play.

All hypothetical of course and I guess $buying a certain ship now that may be hard to acquire/find/unlock once the game is live regardless of how much UEC we have is a head start...maybe haha.

Like Brictoria said and I agree we need more info on what certain gameplay loops will even look like before anything becomes more than just speculation at this point, for me anyways.

Personally I go with what I feel is cool and I know I'll like regardless of any FOMO and what will be "the best" when buying a ship with real money and taking a break from logging in or even thinking about SC is normal for me. I try to treat any purchase I make like placing a bet in a casino at this point.. Have fun and spend what you can afford to potentially lose.

Listen your gut, free your mind and your ass will follow.

P.S. If you have an Aurora then you're winning already....get one in yellow and black and you've beat the game already!

Well said! While I would stress more the fact that it really does look like we will be spending most of our time with one ship due to the extensive travel time and physical inventory meaning all of our stuff exist at the last place we left it. I am not sure how they will handle edge cases like your ship docked in a friend's Idris that's not online when you log in.

As for the game I thing we will not see a huge update until citizencon and the intro of Pyro if they can land it in time. I like others have stepped away to play other games and only peek in once in a while to keep tabs on things. So no harm in owning the ships you want and not buying more some of us have a drive to collect them all for no other reason and I'm sure they will be all to willing to share.

 

[Sky Captain]

I still get excited about cool, new starships.

But .... I am hitting the wall of 'practicality.' I have a big fleet to support Test Squadron! But how many ships that I own can I practically fly?

I'm assuming that its going to be a big universe and there will be some value in strategically stationing ships in different sectors of space to enable better game play options.

However, I'm definitely at the point where I'm considering what a ship's role is and whether I need another ship for that role.

CIG's shenanigans with LTI on 'modules' for 'modular ships' like we saw with the Galaxy is another matter. That turned me off. I'd rather buy an LTI variant than a hollow LTI shell with non-LTI modules.

 

[Dirtbag_Leader]

One other small point in favor of MOAH ships: It's kinda nice to have a backup ready to roll when one gets destroyed. For this reason alone I kinda like to have 2x biggish, 2-3 med, and 2-3 fighters always on tap to minimize down-time-during-claims!

 

[Bambooza]

One other small point in favor of MOAH ships: It's kinda nice to have a backup ready to roll when one gets destroyed. For this reason alone I kinda like to have 2x biggish, 2-3 med, and 2-3 fighters always on tap to minimize down-time-during-claims!

Wait you plan on taking them out into the world and depreciate them? Mine are going to sit in their highly secure environment safe hanger where I drive my golf cart along the bumper path and admire them.

 

[Vavrik]

Wait you plan on taking them out into the world and depreciate them? Mine are going to sit in their highly secure environment safe hanger where I drive my golf cart along the bumper path and admire them

Even if they get scratched and dented, or soft dead (?... er....) all you need is a repair and a new paint. Good as new. Except when you have a torque converter fail. Like, why is that even a thing in a space ship? And it's the only thing that goes wrong? Good lord it's not a 8 cylinder F150 it's' a space ship. Apparently they're made by a descendent of Dodge.

 

[Sky Captain]

Regardless, having a worthy 'backup' is definitely on my mind when it comes to starship ownership.

(Although I'll admit that Butuz' post about nurses is distracting me at the moment).

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

For the longest time, I felt excited about planning and executing additions to my ship collection. However, these past few months, I have felt ambivalent about getting a new ship, a new paint set or emended playing SC. It seems like the game is just more about work than it is being fun.
Anyone else feeling or felt that way? Anyone have a solution to it?

Thanks

Hi, further to just not feeling like grabbing more toys, yeah I hear you about the grind that the game can be sometimes.

In Media there is an audience model called "Uses and gratifications" and yes collecting and making a fleet is a valid and fun use of SC which some players get big gratification from as seen with the infamous Fleet Pic it really does provide fun for some... But once that use doesn't supply such gratification anymore, once a player has their gratification fulfilled in that respect, what other uses can we derive gratification from?

Personally, I have a float of about 100k aUEC due to buying some UEC in the early days to get stuff from Voyager Direct to upgrade my ships for AC when it was one of the only things to do. This means I don't have to grind up missions to get going after a wipe and I can just tool around in my favourite ship.

I've seen Benny Henge, I've been to the crashed Javelin, I've seen Jump Town 1 as an observer and usually avoid most other Live events since the first Xenothreat like JT2 and Siege of Orison...

Last thing I did was decided to do in game was to find a Station to call home, visited them all, took a look around and decided on Faint Glen. It was either that or Long Forest as they are mostly single-level stations without having to take the elevator to other parts of it. Faint Glen is more central though. This things do give me my gratification, the next thing I plan to check out is the Kart Track coming in 3.18...

But that's just me...

What else to do? What other uses can provide gratifications in a 'Verse of possibilities which won't end up being just another grind-a-thon? Well, hang out with your TESTies of course! One of the core things about playing online is playing with other people and although I'm a solo player at heart I can't deny on the few TEST outings I've been on they have been huge fun. Be another pair of hands on someone else's adventure and you'll not only see some aspects of SC play you may not be aware of, you'll likely find some wild fun shenanigans!