Feature suggestions
Kismeteer's Feature Suggestions
This is just my list of things that I think will help the game.
Over all goal - Make new players less overwhelmed, make some of the more obscure and pointless mechanics less annoying, and make it easier for people to get into the game, getting shooting people, and at the same time get them to the parts of the game that are fun.
Alpha Skills increase
I have said this elsewhere, but the key is to help new players get into the game faster. Less training to do the day to day shit. I'm fine with not being able to shoot as fast or as hard or as well or as long etc. It's the 'I can't do basic shit' like warp with the fleet. these are all busy work, like the learning skills, required skills almost everyone has to 5.
Ths skinner box does not work if they put a skill in and the increase is tiny. We know people have quit over this.
Give everyone the magic 14, including existing characters. Or just remove the skills. This reduces complexity. The game is complex enough, extra training just to do the fittings everyone else is doing is stupid at this point, 20 years in. A time gated game that punishes new players so severely isn't fair. The days are for alphas, less for omega. All just make a slow game EVEN slower.
CPU and Power Grid management - Stop punishing new players for not starting the game 20 years ago. Let them fit their ship easier, nothing worse than waiting a week just to change your fit. 10 days each.
Capacitor Management, Capacitor Systems Operation - Make people's capacitor standard. 35 days and 11 days respectively.
Mechanics, Hull Upgrades - Extra HP, just standardize this. 11 days and 24 days respectively.
Shield Management, Shield Operation - Extra HP, again just standardize. 35 days
Signature Analysis - Let them target at the same speed as everyone else. I assure you, they'll still be slower. 12 days
Long Range Targeting - Let them locka t the same range as everyone else. 24 days
Navigation, Evasive Maneuvering - Velocity and Agility again, standardize. 11 days and 24 days respectively.
Warp Drive Operations - worthless skill unless you're flying a recon. 12 days.
Spaceship Command - Agility again, standardize. 11 days.
This is 230 days for an alpha character and puts them at 4.97 million skill points, IF you include the omega only ones. This is JUST to break even with an existing player.
If they are alpha never, this is 72 days of training to max all these, and puts them at a significant disadvantage to trained players. 1.55 mil skill points out of the total of 5 mil they can have.
IF they are omega, they can actually train all these, this is 115 days.
Give everyone the upgrade skills that affect fitting.
Advanced Weapon Upgrades - Again, just standardize grid usage for weapons. 65 days.
Shield Upgrades - Maybe the biggest mystery for 'why doesn't this fit for me' for new players. Standardize grid for shields. 24 days.
Weapon Upgrades - Same CPU for everyone, allow new characters to use the same exact fits everyone uses. 24 days.
Electronic Upgrades - Again, standardize CPU usage for Signal amps, co procs. 23 days.
Energy Grid Upgrades - Same CPU for everyone for batteris and PDUs. 23 days.
Mining Upgrades - Just make it so fits get standardized. Maybe too powerful but ... who cares, it's mining. 47 days.
This is 222 days for an alpha character and puts them at 4.8 mil skill points, IGNORING the Magic 14, and include the omega levels. Again, this is JUST to break even with existing players.
If they are alpha never, this is 94 days, total of an extra 2.1 mil sp. again, not including magic 14, and only under the 5 mil sp.
If they are omega, they can actually train all these, this is 111 days. On top of the magic 14.
Rigging skills
Just get rid of them. They used to matter, they shouldn't anymore. The Fitting ones just make people's lives difficult.
Each one is 36 days, if Alphas could train them all.
Total 344 days for an alpha. Or 7.2 mil skill points. Which is insane.
Total 172 days for omega.
Targeting skills - again just punishes new players, making it so they miss out on killmails and generally struggle to target things.
Target Management - Let them lock everyone up. they are overwhelmed anyway. 6 days. easy gimme.
Next, cut the cord on 'get rid of attributes'. Or just set them all to 28 by default for everyone. Which I still have a character with a broken int and low charisma (me_irl).
Remaps are just confusing. It doesn't matter. We have enough complexity to the game.
Setting everyone to 30 for everyone does reward old school players with +5 implants that are skill farming but meh.
If you want to reward people with bonus remaps still, give them like ... 500k sp for each one?
That's my talk. Make the game easier for new players to find a fit they can fly. Let them cookie cutter. Stop the ones and twoies of making it hard for an existing player to come back and figure out 'what ship still fits with these skills'. It's annoying and stupid and just punishes people who return to this game.
tldr: reduce complexity on the hardest things in the game for new players and give them minor things to help them. Don't worry, it's still 36 years of skills.