Forums » Suggestions

Trident Timescales

«12
Feb 26, 2016 Phaserlight link
Every player who has attempted to build one has cursed it

I can be a living counterexample to that. Player-owned tridents have been around since... 2010? I've worked toward one since then in bits and pieces; here we are, six years later, still no trident for me :-).

This is a very good thing.

I'm pretty much with Whistler on this; make the Type M more individually "achievable" and you devalue not just the endgame, but all the parts that go in to building the Trident from an economic perspective.

Is having a Trident really that big of an advantage? If you really wanted to know what flying one was like, you could join the PCC and write a mission on the Test Server to give yourself a Trident; that would probably be easier than going through the suffering you are describing here. I am a long-term subscriber and I certainly don't feel that I am handicapped in any way or unable to "progress" without a Trident, although I am somewhat in awe of those that have built one.

Instead of aiming for a whole Trident, why not aim for a smaller objective; just an Internal Bulkhead Assembly. If that's too much, what about just a Reinforced Bulkhead? If that's too much, just start collecting Synthetic Silksteel.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Perhaps you will find that once you reach a certain 'level' of having acquired the right parts, other players will be willing to trade with you in barter or with credits. If you are smart about it, you can begin operating in higher and higher echelons of trade. There is somewhat of an exponential (or at least geometric!) effect to this.

Perhaps I'm sounding too much like a psychologist, but it seems like you are focusing too much on the end result, and not enough on the journey. I'd pay attention to my own attitude and mood while playing; if it isn't "fun" anymore, then something is definitely off... with me. I'd try a different avenue of gameplay, or if there really is nothing out there then really VO may not be the game for me.

To me, the "fun" in building a Trident isn't necessarily in having a Trident, but in being part of a journey that other players are on as well, and having that journey ascribe value to things like Synthetic Silksteel such that it becomes possible to barter and trade in a real economy.

Seeing five Tridents listing through Sedina B-8 in a domineering way is also an impressive show of force: one that carries the connotations of having gone through the effort of such a massive undertaking.

Lastly, as others have mentioned, there are ways to speed it up, and not all of them rely on other players I might add. You are UIT, yes? Have you played Hazardous Site Investigation and the ensuing missions? Incarnate mentions "limited creation of capship components" being the reward to the missions that were added last September. Ever wonder what those are, or how it works?
Feb 26, 2016 Hoban-Wash-Washburne link
Then quite clearly the effort is not worth the reward to you. Either accept what is involved and build it or forget about it and do something else.

Your guild was brought up because it gives you an edge in building (pretty much unlimited station access) that other players do not have that have completed the task. A member of your guild just finished one that I know of, SWA just finished a dent with limited station access.

I've done the grind with help and it does suck donkey balls but moment you hit the build button it makes it all worth while.

Do the work or don't it is your option.
Feb 26, 2016 jordanmorgan14f link
After the comments I think I understand. I still think k it's an insane task, but it's not the fault of the mechanics that it is so negative to complete. Instead of letting it consume your game time, ddo it as a side project, one piece at a time. Yes it will take a very long time, bit with the right resources, and patience, it sounds doable
Feb 26, 2016 yodaofborg link
It is an insane task, and one I will probably not complete. I have played a lot longer than most people too.

All I hear is "wah wah wah, I cannot have a Trident so I will quit".

Cya, and do not let the door hit you where the good lord slit you.
Feb 26, 2016 greenwall link
it doesn't need to stay stupid just to justify other peoples wasted time

Should be hard, doesn't need to be this hard. the end


^
Feb 26, 2016 biretak link
+1, Nyscersul.

I'd like to see everyone hauling stuff around endlessly. If trident insurance didn't exist, the build time could be made reasonable and we would all be in a constant state of building more stuff to replace our tridents when they go boom. We would all have more to do. Guild members could stockpile parts for each other, etc.

I'd love to see hoban in moths again :)
Feb 26, 2016 Pizzasgood link
-1. For the way Trident ownership currently works, this is fine. I would only support significantly lessening the construction burden if the idiotic insurance system were abolished as well.

That said, the "you must build a whole new one every time it dies" concept is also pretty silly. I have a better idea that I'll go post in its own thread.
Feb 26, 2016 Kierky link
The Trident when I built mine was in CD's days, prior to the nerf, when it was at least 2 times the effort that it currently stands at.

Although it was a lengthy process (as a mostly casual player), it wasn't terribly hard. Sure I lost a few XC's in storms, but I was usually doing something else at the same time as hauling.

The actual requirements are not that substantial, it's more the time taken to haul the sub-components around that galaxy. I spent probably 80% of my time hauling instead of farming SSS or finding commodities, or other rare items.

When the devs made Tridents, I don't believe they meant for it to be so stupidly hard in the beginning (hence why they nerfed it by about 50%), but they underestimated how much hauling time there would actually be. The commodities and drops all make sense, but for a relatively shorter hauling time, they could have made them available a little closer to where they were required.

Things like the Hull Panels, you have 2 systems of super boring Nation Space travel (to Nyrius). Why couldn't they be available in Azek? This would save a lot of boring travel time, and make people less likely to ragequit. It's not any less dangerous, you still have to travel to Grey space to deliver them, so it's not lacking on the danger scale.

Little things like this can make a very large build go a little faster and with less boring traversing systems that are largely empty.
Feb 26, 2016 Jaks link
A significant number of items can now be purchased in Latos N2, which reduces the amount of hauling needed. Those of us who finished our tridents recently have had it damn good.
Feb 26, 2016 csgno1 link
I worked on mine on and off for 2.5 years. It doesn't need to consume you. And as said previously, if you're good at trading for credits you can buy a lot of stuff and have it delivered.
Feb 27, 2016 The_Catman link
Things like the Hull Panels, you have 2 systems of super boring Nation Space travel (to Nyrius). Why couldn't they be available in Azek? This would save a lot of boring travel time, and make people less likely to ragequit.

As Jaks says Hull Panels are usually purchasable in N2 now...something that made dent building quite a bit less insanity inducing. I don't think I could have faced hauling all those from Nyrius, so I salute the early dent builders even more for their efforts.

To respond to Nyscersul's original post, it is really difficult to reply on one this - yes, building a trident is ridiculous, both time consuming and obsessive. But...I built one in about 5 months and as you say it would feel even more of a waste of time if someone could now make one much easier or buy one.

Having finished the dent (largely through my own efforts but I want to thank Xeha, Adrestia and Max Lulz for the 4 key dent trips, and to SKV's key policy over the course of most of my build time), I am surprised to find that it isn't actually a solution to much that VO throw's up. The reality probably is that the dent is more of a badge of that commitment than a necessary ship to play VO.

Maybe there should be some sort of "Dent-lite" available with less onerous build time, that confers perceived benefits of ownership but doesn't devalue the effort that those that have undertaken the long haul.
Feb 27, 2016 csgno1 link
The second dent goes a lot faster, experience helps. Ask the people that have done it how to build efficiently.
Feb 28, 2016 The_Catman link
The second dent goes a lot faster, experience helps. Ask the people that have done it how to build efficiently.

The second dent goes faster because you use the first.
Feb 28, 2016 csgno1 link
The second dent goes faster because you use the first.

That's part of it, unless you don't want any contact between the characters.

But what I mean is after finishing the first you have an appreciation of the relative scale differences between the parts. The first one I did in a very inefficient way, the second time I came up with a completely different plan.
Feb 29, 2016 The_Catman link
But what I mean is after finishing the first you have an appreciation of the relative scale differences between the parts. The first one I did in a very inefficient way, the second time I came up with a completely different plan.

Agreed, you can be more efficient with your hauling , and have a better perspective on key processes.
Mar 02, 2016 Nyscersul link
My main point about the accessibility of the trident still stands, but the long and the short of it is that if we are to believe the future plans for the game, eventually a trident will not be the biggest ship available. However having the full range of comments here, i do feel that my initial suggestion of shortening the build times would not necesarily be the best or fairest solution, wen it could be solved by adding, as suggested here, a dent-lite. Or maybe a better idea would be to add an altogether different ship, maybe a super-xc that in fact would carry maybe 350 cu, allowing an increase in efficiency, and maybe some kind of badge available for those who created it without the new ship. Either way, the trends and balances of ships cargo and speeds seems nicely arranged, so maybe it should be slower again, whilst requiring manufacturing to create. The general overall build WORK would in fact be increased assuming the stepping stone was used, but with careful arrangement allowing an additional ship along the way to offer an increase in productivity, and some more enjoyment to the process. Still, a combat ship would not be appropriate, hence the idea of a super-xc rather than a dent-lite.
Mar 02, 2016 davejohn link
TGFT is working on Trident No. 25 .

Quit whining and play the game.
Mar 02, 2016 Dr. Lecter link
When Ecka and I have the same reaction, it's time to throw in the towel and move on.
Mar 03, 2016 jordanmorgan14f link
Lol TGFT is on Trident #25 and they are still worthless. Says something about the actual value of Tridents.