Let's be honest here. I'm not happy. Things are pissing me off. Seeing as how I've not elaborated in a while, some newbs don't know what it is that pisses me off or why it should piss them off too, so off I go again, crossing my fingers and "contributing" for the first time in almost a week.

Thingy number one: Mining.
I never liked mining. When people were suggesting it in the forums back a little over a year ago I simply ignored the threads, thinking "there is no way the devs are that stupid." Guess what...
Anyway, I guess I should add some justification to my mild distaste for mining. You see, mining is even stupider than trading. It takes about as much skill and effort as picking lint out of your belly button. It's also about as exciting as working at McDonalds. Fucking "SimJob." This, of course, is merely the ebil aspect of mining I saw at it's conception. Over the ages I've come to realize that mining is taking place of trading as "most boring activity ever idiots and newbs like to do." This is a problem because while traders do occasionally travel between systems and sectors, and even appear in somewhat populated sectors, miners are entirely isolated, humping their favorite roid with their large mining beams. Great news for the newb miner that came to VO for SimJob because his mom won't let him get a real one so as to keep some sort of control with an absurdly large allowance. The people that DO have a problem with it are, of course, the people that used to prey on the boring traders. You see, all the boring traders are now boring miners and the chance of finding and killing such a boring bastard are right around 0.0000000000 and so on. So, to wrap it up, mining is a complete and total fuckup and has been from the beginning. The faster it's made not such a fuckup the better, because the longer you wait the more "ZOMG I R LE GUNNA QUIT IF U DU DAT!!!" bastards you'll have on your hands.

Whassitcalled number two: the faction system.
I admit, I actually thought the faction system was a good idea. Some "omg RP!!" bull or something. Thankfully, I now realize my mistake. The faction system means that anyone looking to operate anywhere somewhat distant from their nation space with fair weapons has to trade do trade missions. Good news, right? More people trading, eh? Oh, yes, hurrah. If I kill that loser on a mission from corvus I might get... FOUR AQUEAN ORES! FOR THE WIN! Combine this with the fact that it's quicker, safer and easier to make money through mining, and the ONLY reason people trade is for a few more points of standing they need to buy flares within four systems of their favorite sector. So, to conclude for a second time, the faction system is a fuckup. Get it unfucked up, please. It pisses me off that after a week of botting for flares the only place I can buy them is where I never am.

Whassit number three: The combat system.
"Hey, great game you should speed everything up!"
"Uh, no."
"You should speed everything up!"
"I don't think so"
"you know, it would really help if you sped everything up"
"I doubt that"
"lolz u relli sud sped ships up!!!"
"jousting with thumbtacks"
"...and furthermore, I conclude that the obvious conclusion is that everything should go faster"
"Alright! Fine! Here! Everything's faster now!"

YOU FUCKED UP.
Thanks to the genius move you kept trying to avoid, combat now consists of holding on for dear life, picking a favored dodge pattern and spamming as many shots as possible. While it is true some players manage to fit some actual thinking into the fight, it's usually of the "oh, he's got gats, I better hold my strafe buttons a bit longer" variety, and the ones that are quick enough for that tend to be maybe four in a hundred, the freaks born with unnaturally fast reaction time.

Anyway, I'd like to finish of by apologizing to the devs for telling them how to do their job. I know I hate it when someone tries that shit with me, but sometimes I just don't want to hold back.

I'm telling genkas dad he's been sneeking into the beer and mushrooms again...

on another note, lmao111!!!1111111!!

Martin and I were fighting with hogs last night, both neut+megaposi.

The fights were great, perfect speed, enough time to react to the weapons fire, but not insane by any means.

So I agree with you genka (wow, that feels wierd), combat HAS gotten too fast. Fighting centurions is like fighting an electron cloud. There's a probability that you'll hit, but if its an intelligent electron cloud, the thing is never going to get touched.

The vultures are about as fast (acceleration-wise) as I think these things should get. And since those have been fixed a bit to compete with the cents, those should be slowed down too.

Likewise, rockets would need to be fixed a bit to handle the slow-down.

Energy weapons should still be fine, you can dodge axia posi fire in a centaur still.

But yeah, I think most of the balance problems come from everything just being too damn fast.

i think combat is fine now. i for one fire very few shots (compared to most of my oponents) i finde combat is about the combination of distance controle, and using the difference in velocity between your weapons and your oponent's to your advantage (ie having your guns lined up and theirs not)

Wow shape, I'm glad at least one alpha that's seen the quality combat of the olde days agrees with me.
Oh wait...

Anyway, I missed an important bit regarding combat: All this speeding up bull has made it less and less about actual skill(which I did touch on) and more and more about what ship you're flying. This combat-is-now-a-race-for-equipment shit is probably the one thing that pisses me off the most. Whereas I used to tell newbs that "levels don't really mean much in terms of combat" I now realize it's a pathetic, dirty lie. That makes me sad.

But still, tamagachi in space forevah!

Wow. A well thought-out and true post from genka. *faints*
Although... I like mining. It's something to do when you don't have time to get into a big mission or something. Plus it has promise crafting-wise.

Yes, mining is boring. I stopped doing it. That had nothing to do with some idiot overheating my favorite roid. Anyways, now I live off racing money and the occasional job.

The faction system is a way to penalize players who like station killing. And it makes sense that you have to work for a special ship.

and NERF THE CENT!!!

I dunno about you fooz, but I hope to never, ever, ever sink as low as to have to do something as boring and stupid as trading missions in real life.

I mean, if you're happy with making four dollars an hour working in mcdonalds, that's fine by me. Your choice, capitalist piglet.

Edit: removed unnecessary vulgarities.

Dammit, I never thought I'd say this but.........I agree with genka too. O.o

Slow combat down and it could be really good.

I say this all the time but.......stop lauding this pile of banality as a "breath of fresh air."

This is nothing new, so don't patronize me with your "OMG he ani't suck a bad trull aftr al!!!!" drivel. It's yet another one of those things that make me mad.

Another vote for slowing down combat (or at least ships) somewhat. Also, I believe mining is essential to the crafting system. However, I would really like to see hoards of NPC miners just as there are hoards of NPC traders.

It's Ok, genka, you have transcended the impossible and reached the zenith of trollgodhood. Please, have a seat while we shower praise upon your post.

Here is a helpful summary of genka's post for those who comes in late:

(a) Mining is boring
(b) Trading is meaningless
(c) Combat is too fast

/me makes no pretense in his ability to be able to present it in as entertaining a fashion as genka did.

Troll's been fed, move along.

Genka what gives you the right to post about combat?

You suck at it.
Too bad...

BCR: combat is pretty darn fast these days. Being a guy who flies slower ships like the Warthog, it's occasionally frustrating to have IBG centurions literally flying circles around me. And the Warthog isn't even all that slow... well, okay, the model I fly is. Whatever.

Personally, I think combat is just right. A Corvus vult and a rev C are SUPPOSED to fly circles around a centaur or a rag. If everything was the same speed, the game wouldn't be balanced, it'd be boring.

-tm

For balance's sake, at that speed it should be spit, glue and tissue paper strapped to a big engine and a gun. Y'know, one or two solid hits should kaboom it.

Yeah, but you don't have a 250+ ping tumble. :P

There was a thread a little while back about a 5% reduction in all velocities. I think this is the best solution.

True martin, but I'm also terribly impatient :D

CP,
Hogs are extremely good at taking down centurions.
Gat + Sun = death.
Jack + Sun = death.
Mega posi + Sun = takes more skill but still kaboomage.